“You mustn’t do that,” Ivy warned. “You’ll only provoke them.”
“I’d love to pet one,” Abby said. “They look so beautiful.”
“They are wolves!” Ivy said. “They aren’t pets.”
The school administrator’s voice came over the loudspeaker.
“Everyone please remain in your seats and in your classrooms with your doors and windows locked. We are under a Code Yellow. I repeat. Code Yellow. No one is to leave the classrooms or building at this time. We will inform you when it is safe to resume the normally scheduled day.”
Now I was frightened.
Just then Mrs. Clark returned to our classroom and instructed us to immediately take our seats. She secured the door and double-checked to make sure all the windows were locked. A pack of wolves was such an unusual sight, even she hung by the window as we all peered from our seats.
Within a few minutes, there were at least five wolves howling outside our window.
I glanced back at Brandon—the only other student who had remained seated through all of the chaos. He had his head buried in his textbook. I wondered what was going through his lycan mind.
I couldn’t imagine why the wolves were here—if it was purely coincidence, if they were lost, or if there was some paranormal connection. Mrs. Clark tried to resume her lecture, but it was impossible with five howling wolves focusing on our classroom.
“This is so freaky!” Ivy said.
“They are cool,” Abby said.
“They could rip your head off,” Dylan said.
“They must be following you,” Ivy teased me. “Everywhere you go there are wolves!”
“I wonder if we’ll be on the news,” Abby said excitedly.
I was still scared. I clung onto my writing binder as if it could protect me. The situation was so unreal. And although I knew we were safely locked inside, the threat of a pack of wolves outside our window was disturbing.
Finally, a few police cars pulled into our school’s entrance. An animal control car followed closely behind.
“We can calm down now,” Mrs. Clark said. “Animal control is here.”
We eyed the outside action, some of the students sitting on top of their desks for a better view.
Several officers stepped out of their cars covered in protective gear and using their open doors for further protection. A few animal control wardens came out of their cars with tranquilizer guns and nets.
“They’re going to shoot them,” I said.
“They have to,” Ivy said. “Did you think the police were going to handcuff the wolves and put them in the back of a squad car?”
“Let’s return to our lesson,” Mrs. Clark said, her voice unsteady. But no one focused on our teacher.
“Brandon,” Mrs. Clark said. “Please remain in your seat.”
I could feel the presence of someone walking by me.
Brandon brushed past me and headed to the window.
“Brandon,” Mrs. Clark said. “Get away from the window! You must sit down!”
But Brandon ignored her. Instead he took off a glove and placed the palm of his wounded hand on the pane of glass. He stared down at the leader of the pack, transfixed.
The wolves stopped howling. Brandon and the wolves locked gazes, as if the wolves were hypnotized by Brandon’s stare.
It was spellbinding to watch. I didn’t know what was happening, but the tiny hairs on my skin and the back of my neck tingled.
“What is he doing?” Ivy asked.
Brandon continued to stare at the leader of the pack.
“He thinks he’s talking to the wolves,” Abby said.
The wolves remained fixated on Brandon as if he was their trainer, as if Brandon was one of them and they were looking up to him as their new leader.
The police held their stance by their patrol cars, apparently working out their plan of action. The animal controllers, now at least twenty yards away, slowly crept toward the wolves.
Just then the leader of the wolves howled at Brandon.
As the handlers took aim, the pack tore off. They raced away from the campus and disappeared into the woods behind the gym.
Mrs. Clark, my classmates, and I watched in astonishment as Brandon replaced his glove and calmly walked back to his desk and took his seat.
I was dumbfounded. Along with my classmates, we were perplexed, confused, and amazed at what we’d just witnessed. It was as if we all were wondering if we had really just seen a student, one who didn’t speak in class or make himself known, communicating with a pack of wolves. We looked to Brandon for answers, but by the way he was avoiding all eye contact or questions, it was clear he wasn’t about to give any.
“That was totally freaky!” Ivy said. “Did you see what I just saw?”