The Howling III Read Online Free PDF

world out there. When he is ready to know about us and about Drago, we bring him back.”
    “Am I ready now to know those things?”
    Derak smiled at him. A strange, sad smile. “You are more than ready, Malcolm.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “Have things been happening to you? To your body? Things you can’t explain?”
    “Y-yes. Sometimes… in the night.”
    “It is usually in the night at first. Or when you are afraid. Or hurt. Or very angry. We always try to bring the child back and explain these things to him before the changes occur. Because of troubles here, we could not bring you back at your proper time. So you are late, Malcolm, through no fault of your own. You have already experienced some of the things that will happen to you, things which you cannot understand.”
    “Will there be more?”
    “Oh, yes. Much, much more.”
    The boy’s throat constricted with the rush of emotions. Finally he got out, “Why?”
    “It will all be explained to you, Malcolm. Who you are, what you are. What we all are, and what our lives must be.”
    “When?”
    “Tomorrow. There is a ceremony. Nothing big, just our people - your people - gathering around you to show you our secrets, and teach you our ways. You will spend tonight alone. After tomorrow, you will know who you are, and you will never be alone again.”
    “Why do I have to wait? Why can’t we do it now?”
    Derak looked out the window at the deepening shadows. “Tonight there is something else we have to do. After tomorrow all of our lives will be changed. You will join us then.”
    There was a finality in Derak’s tone that would permit no further discussion. Malcolm was taken to a small cabin at the edge of the village. There was a low cot of wood and canvas with a woollen blanket, a single candle for illumination, and nothing more. The door closed behind Malcolm, and he was alone.
    *****
    He could hear them outside, the people of Drago, as they walked toward the big building at the centre of the village. The big building was sometimes a barn, and sometimes a meeting hall. And there were times of celebration when the people danced and the music was something to hear. Tonight there was no music. The voices of the people as they walked were sombre and subdued. Malcolm lay awake, shivering, on the stretched canvas of the cot and waited.
    *****
    Inside the building Derak stood in the centre of the wooden floor. The others entered and took their places in a circle around the leader. The quiet talk among them faded and finally died as they waited for Derak to speak.
    “My friends… my family. We have lived in Drago without trouble for many years. Longer than our people might have hoped when first they settled here. Our history is not one of places, it is one of movement. From the Carpathians to the Urals to the Andes. From the icy lands of the far north to the steaming jungles of the equator. Always there comes a time when we are forced to move on. Here in Drago we have lived well, but it is over. Now we must move again. There are people, outsiders, who suspect what we are. They fear us, and in their fear they will try to destroy us. As always before, that means we must go.” Derak turned slowly and looked at the people ranged around him in a circle. Shadows from the flickering lanterns danced and skittered over their faces.
    “But before we go,” Derak said, “we will give them something to remember.”
    And he began to change.
    Derak tore the shirt from his back and flexed the powerful muscles of his shoulders. His chest swelled and cracked as the bony structure within reshaped itself. His lips drew back to show the strong yellow teeth. The killing teeth.
    Around him the others followed the lead of Derak. They threw off their clothes while their bodies twisted and stretched in a jerking dance of metamorphosis. The faces, human a moment before, thinned and lengthened. The ears grew, the noses pushed forward into muzzles. Short, coarse hair sprouted