Werewolf of Fever Swamp Read Online Free PDF

just part of the dream.
    Climbing out of bed, I realized I felt fine. Yellow morning sunlight poured in through the window. I could see a clear blue sky. The beautiful morning made me forget my nightmares.
    I wondered if Will was around this morning. Maybe he and I could go exploring in the swamp.
    I got dressed quickly, pulling on pale blue jeans and a black-and-silver Raiders T-shirt. (I’m not a Raiders fan. I just like their colors.)
    I gulped down a bowl of Frosted Flakes, allowed my mom to feel my head to make sure my fever was gone, and hurried to the back door.
    “Whoa. Hold on,” Mom called, setting down her coffee cup. “Where are you going so early?”
    “I want to see if Will is home,” I said. “Maybe we’ll hang out or something.”
    “Okay. Just don’t overdo it,” she warned. “Promise?”
    “Yeah. Promise,” I replied.
    I pulled open the kitchen door, stepped out into blinding sunlight—and screamed as an enormous, dark monster leapt onto my chest and heaved me to the ground.

 
    12

    “It—it’s got me!” I screamed as it pushed me to the ground and jumped on my chest.
    “Help! It—it’s licking my face !”
    I was so startled, it took me a long time to realize my attacker was a dog.
    By the time Mom and Dad came to my rescue and started to pull the big creature off my chest, I was laughing. “Hey—that tickles! Stop!”
    I wiped the dog spit off my face with my hands and scrambled to my feet.
    “Where’d you come from?” Mom asked the dog. She and Dad were holding on to the enormous beast.
    They both let go, and it stood wagging its tail excitedly, panting, its big red tongue hanging down practically to the ground.
    “He’s enormous!” Dad exclaimed. “He must be part shepherd.”
    I was still wiping the sticky saliva off my cheeks.
    “He scared me to death,” I confessed. “Didn’t you, fella?” I reached down and stroked the dark gray fur on the top of his head. His long tail started wagging faster.
    “He likes you,” Mom said.
    “He practically killed me!” I exclaimed. “Look at him. He must weigh more than a hundred pounds!”
    “Were you the one scratching at our door last night?” Emily appeared in the doorway, still in the long T-shirt she used as a nightshirt. “I think this clears up the mystery,” she said to me, yawning sleepily and pulling her blonde hair behind her shoulders with both hands.
    “I guess,” I muttered. I got down on my knees beside the big dog and stroked his back. He turned his head and licked my cheek again. “Yuck! Quit that!” I told him.
    “I wonder who he belongs to?” Mom said, staring at the dog thoughtfully. “Grady, check his collar. There’s probably an ID tag.”
    I reached up to the dog’s broad neck and felt around in his fur for a collar. “Nothing there,” I reported.
    “Maybe he’s a stray,” Emily said from inside the kitchen. “Maybe that’s why he was scratching the door last night.”
    “Yeah,” I said quickly. “He needs a place to live.”
    “Whoa,” Mom said, shaking her head. “I don’t think we need a dog right now, Grady. We just moved in, and—”
    “But I need a pet!” I insisted. “It’s so lonely here. A dog would be great, Mom. He could keep me company.”
    “You have the deer for pets,” Dad said, frowning. He turned to the deer pen. The six deer were all standing alertly at attention, staring warily at the dog.
    “You can’t walk a deer!” I protested. “Besides, you’re going to set the deer free, right?”
    “The dog probably belongs to someone,” Mom said. “You can’t just claim any dog that wanders by. Besides, he’s so big, Grady. He’s too big to—”
    “Aw, let him keep it,” Emily called from the house.
    I stared at her in shock. I couldn’t remember the last time Emily and I had been on the same side of a family argument.
    The discussion continued for several minutes more. Everyone agreed that he seemed like a sweet-tempered, gentle dog despite