You’d be upset too if you turned into a poodle instead of a wolf. Freddy Lupin is gearing up for the most exciting night of his life. It’s the evening of his one-hundred-and-twenty-first month (that’s ten years and one month to a human), and he’s about to undergo his very first transwolftation. But when Freddy is introduced to the much-honored Hidden Moonlight Gathering of Werefolk, the rite of passage quickly morphs into an episode of humiliation. Because Freddy doesn’t turn into a wolf. He turns into a poodle. A funny and fast-paced adventure ensues, in which Freddy is thrown out of his pack, uncovers the truth about his legendary father’s mysterious death, and discovers that a werewolf hunter is planning to destroy all of his family and friends—and Freddy might be the only one who can stop him. He might be small, pink, and groomed, but luckily, Freddy Lupin is one hundred percent wolf. Jayne Lyons has worked as a geologist/geophysicist for fifteen years and is the author of the Freddy Lupin series. She lives with her family in Australia. You can visit her at JayneLyons.com. Victor Rivas was born and raised in Vigo, Spain, and he lives outside of Barcelona. He has been a freelance illustrator for thirty years, illustrating children’s and teen books, comics, and concept art for multimedia games and animation. Chapter One: Freddy Lupin CHAPTER ONE: FREDDY LUPIN A werewolf is only actually a wolf for one night each month, when the moon is full. Anyone can tell when a wolf is a wolf, but how exactly do you spot a boy who is a wolf? That is the challenge for a wolf hunter, as Dr. Foxwell Cripp would tell anyone who would listen to him (which wasn’t many people). One clue is to look for hairs growing in the palm of the hand. Frederick Poncenby Lupin had them. Right there, a little black tuft in the middle of each palm. Frederick was called Freddy by most people, but not by his uncle. He called Freddy “that foolster Frederick!” His uncle was the terrifying (and very hairy) Sir Hotspur Lupin, mayor of Milford. He was also the Grand Growler and High Howler of the Hidden Moonlight Gathering of Werefolk. In other words, he was the most pompous and powerful werewolf in Britain, and he couldn’t look at Freddy without becoming purple with anger. Sir Hotspur liked everything to be just so. Freddy was always doing and saying the wrong thing whenever his uncle was around. And just as often when he wasn’t. Just last month he had accidentally put superglue on his uncle’s hairbrush. It was a mistake anybody could have made. “It wasn’t me, anyway,” Freddy had tried to lie. Sir Hotspur wasn’t fooled. Nor did he see the funny side of walking around for a week with a hairbrush stuck to his head. Freddy, on the other hand, had seen the funny side so much that he had lain down on the floor, banged his fist, and cried with laughter. He had of course been banished to his room for the rest of the day. Again. “You, sir, are a foolster!” Uncle Hotspur bellowed. “You will bring shame upon the Werepack of Lupin. If you don’t transform into the world’s most ridiculous werewolf one day, I’ll eat my trousers. Eat ’em, sir!” Relations with Uncle Hotspur had never been good. They were about to become much, much worse as tensions in Farfang Castle began to rise. For the moon was waxing toward a perfect full bright circle in the black sky and Freddy Lupin’s wolf blood was warming. His first Transwolfation was approaching, and Freddy couldn’t wait. At last! Tonight the April moon would be full. “Where are you, little pink piggies? Wolfie is coming,” Freddy called as he ran. It was a Saturday, and the morning of his one hundred and twenty-fifth birthday. (In Wolfen time, each full moon is counted. It would be about ten years and one month for a human pup.) He had already run around the house three times, shouting triumphantly. The “house” was in fact a castle—Farfang Castle, the home of the Lupin Pack. It was an ancient building, three stories high and complete with battlements, a tower, and a moat. Across the moat was a wooden bridge where a drawbridge had once stood. Farfang was very grand, but to Freddy it was just home. The castle was surrounded by perfect lawns and rose gardens, beyond which was a dense wood. A high stone wall and gates protected the grounds from unwanted eyes, eyes that might see things to make their owner’s hair stand on end. Sometimes a visitor (who of course knew the Lupins only as a respectable family and not as wolves ) was invited to visit the mayor. After entering the large front door, visitors found themselves in the Great Hall, the walls of which were covered with spears, swords, stags’ heads, and tapestries. On their tour they found that the castle was a square, with an open courtyard and an ornamental fountain at the center. On the far side of the castle was the kitchen, and next to it a narrow stone corridor that led to the tower. At the top of this tower, as far from the g