It was like I was coming awake after an operation. The wolf had been staring into my eyes one minute, then she was gone, howling and flying back across the chapel. The wolf, Lola, seemed to be in my head as she had stared into my eyes. I could hear her breathing and a sound that I hadn’t heard inside me for a long time — the sound of a beating heart. Lola had been matching with me. But something had stopped her before the process had been complete. I looked up, and through the flashing lights I could see someone or something spinning through the air towards me. At first I thought it was a wolf, but the figure coming towards me was too agile. They moved with lighting speed as they fired…fired their crossbow.
“Isidor!” I screamed, feeling as if I was going to explode with happiness. I watched him spin through the air like some freaky trapeze artist as he rained down stakes on the wolves that leapt into the air after him. The wolves he hit flew backwards, their claws scraping against the wooden dance floor.
“Kayla!” someone shouted, and I spun round to see Sam being pinned to the floor by a silver-haired wolf. Its face was just inches from Sam’s, and a glistening line of drool swung from its foaming jaws and spattered against his face. “Kayla!” Sam screamed again, and then fell silent.
I raced across the dance floor, my claws out. But as I made my way towards Sam, I watched as the wolf’s eyes began to light up like two burning pits. Sam’s face glowed yellow beneath their stare. My friend stared back into the eyes of the wolf and then something strange started to happen. I had seen a lot of things in my young life, but nothing so freaking weird as what I was now witnessing. Sam’s face seemed to be stretching upwards, like it was made of putty. It was like the wolf was pulling his face off with his eyes. I watched as Sam’s face almost seemed to wrap around the wolf’s head like a mask. With my blood turning ice cold inside of me, I knew that the wolf had started to match with Sam.
“No!” I screamed, leaping into the air. My wings shot from my back, as I rocketed down on top of the wolf. I sank my claws into its meaty neck and yanked backwards. Looking down, I could see Sam’s face stretching like a latex mask.
“You won’t take my friend,” I screeched into the wolf’s pointed ear. “Release him.”
With all my strength, I wrenched backwards again. Then, flapping my wings furiously, I lifted the wolf off the floor. But Sam came with him, swinging by his face from beneath the wolf. Their faces were now joined together and I feared that it was too late to stop them matching.
Isidor swept past me and I screamed at him. “Isidor, help me. The wolf has got Sam!”
With crossbow in hand, Isidor flipped backwards, releasing two stakes which buried themselves into the eyes of the wolf. The beast shuddered beneath me, then, let out an agonising howl. Its eyes ran like liquid from their sockets and it looked like custard. For a moment, I thought I was gonna puke as the smell was disgusting — like rotten eggs. With its eyes dribbling across its snout, the spell that it had cast over Sam was broken and he fell to the floor. I released the wolf. It staggered onto all fours, its giant tail swishing to and fro in a frenzy. Blind, the wolf didn’t know which way to go. It howled, then dropped to the floor, a wooden stake sticking out from the back of its skull.
I dropped to the floor and knelt beside Sam. He didn’t move. “Sam!” I shouted, and shook his shoulders. In the sparks of light that still flashed on and off around us, I looked at Sam’s face. It was swollen like a bruised melon. It was so puffy that I could barely see his face. His eyes were swollen shut and his lips were purple.
“Is he dead?” Isidor shouted over the music.
“No, I can hear his heartbeat,” I told him, taking one of Sam’s hands in my claw.
“He should be safe now,” Isidor said. “I think Potter is making light work of the…”
“Potter’s with you?” I gasped, looking up at him. “Where’s Kiera?”
“Under that wolf,” Isidor said, pointing across the dance floor.
“Go and help her and I’ll get Sam out of here,” I said, lifting him into my arms.
“You can’t bring him with us, Kayla,” Isidor warned me. “He’s human.”
“I’m not leaving him here,” I said. “Sam is my friend.”
“Potter isn’t going to like it,” Isidor smiled, then winked at me.
“That should make you happy then,” I smiled back at him, as I carried Sam in my arms across the dance floor.