Mr. Tompkins always said how him and his sons were risking their lives by hiding all these wolves on their land, but Mr. Tompkins acted like he could just barely stand them. And his sons acted funny around them too, like they felt…guilty about something. They did nice things for the boys, like sneaking them books, but they didn’t act as if they liked the boys too much. Why would they risk everything if they didn’t even like them?
What was really on the other side of the fence? Why didn’t Mr. Tompkins want them to see it? Why had Fergus died when he’d tried to find out?
“What’s wrong with him?” asked Duane, one of the older boys, walking over. He looked down at the baby.
Bruce put his little hand on the baby’s forehead. “He feels hot. He has a fever.”
“We have baby aspirin,” David said. “That orange stuff with the dropper. I’ll go get him some.”
“If it doesn’t work,” Bruce said suddenly, “we’ll go over the fence and look for a doctor? Maybe the doctor won’t know we’re wolves. We’ll just stay human while we’re there. We could pay the doctor with…books. I’ll give him all my books. To fix the baby.”His most precious things,David thought.He’d give them up to make the baby get better.
David and Duane exchanged glances.
Duane had been the one to dig the dirt-hole for the last baby that hadn’t made it. His face had scrunched up the whole time and he’d blinked a million times and his eyes had been all shiny.
“We’ll go over the fence,” Duane said firmly.
David hesitated, then nodded. “If he doesn’t get better, we’ll go over the fence,” he agreed.