Red Rider's Hood

7 The back room that didn't exist

My Mustang was parked near the Cave again. Cedric, in his arrogance, was making no attempt at hiding it, as if he were taunting me. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door to the old pool hall and stepped inside.

The place was true to its name: dark, dingy and smelling of stale cigar smoke and spilled beer. The pool hall was empty except for the overweight manager, who stood behind a counter, yakking on the phone. Even though I saw no customers, I heard the crack of billiard balls somewhere deep in the recesses of the place. My heart began to race, and I had to take a few deep breaths to get it under control.

The manager hung up the phone and plodded out from behind the counter. "We don't open till five," he said.

"Sounds like your back room's open."

"I ain't got a back room."

Again I heard the crack of the balls being hit from the back room that didn't exist. I grinned at him, and the manager sighed. "Listen, I don't want any trouble."

"You've already got trouble back there," I told him. "A little more won't make a difference."

Still, he didn't let me pass. He just stood there, wide as a wall, leaving no way for me to squeeze past him. I wasn't about to give up. The only way he was going to get rid of me would be to pick me up and throw me out bodily, and if he tried, I wouldn't make it easy.

Then, from the shadowy threshold of the back room, came a voice.

"Cedric says it's okay."

I recognized the voice as Loogie Stefano's, a kid I knew from school―that is, until he dropped out last semester. His real name was Luigi, but an endless stuffy nose had earned him the name Loogie.

The manager stepped aside. "Welcome to the Cave," he said. "The management cannot be held responsible for injuries or death."

By the time I reached the back room, my eyes had adjusted to the dim light. There were about a dozen of them there― some faces I recognized, some I didn't. I realized I had no idea how big Cedric's gang was. Was this most of them, or just a small handful? Were there dozens and dozens of them around town that nobody knew about? I didn't see Marissa's brother, Marvin, there, and that was just as well.

When they saw me, they all looked at one another. Could it be that they were a little bit scared of me? Or maybe they were scared of what Cedric might do to me. Either way, I felt like I had some kind of power in the situation.

Cedric was at a pool table, ignoring me. He kept shooting until he missed. Then he finally looked at me. "If you got busi­ness here, spit it out. Otherwise, get lost."

I held back an urge to go postal on him for stealing my car―but I knew that would just get me a one-way ticket to the hospital, or worse, the morgue. I had to play this like a game of pool, cleverly banking my intentions off the sides.

"I know all about you, Cedric Soames," I told him. "I know all about the 'Wolves,' and what you really are."

Cedric returned to his game. "So what are you gonna do about it?"

"Who says I'm going to do anything? There's a roomful of you, and only one of me."

He sank the six ball in a side pocket. "Then why are you here?"

I didn't answer. Instead I threw a set of keys onto the table. They hit the cue ball and knocked it to the side. "These are the spare keys to the Mustang," I said. "I got no use for them, see­ing as I don't have the car anymore."

Cedric was not expecting this. He looked at the keys suspi­ciously, like they might blow up in his face. We both stood there on either side of the pool table, the keys between us.

"Go on, take them," I said. "It's not like they're made of silver."

He scowled at me and slowly came around the table toward me, like a wild animal stalking his prey. Part of me wanted to turn and run, but a bigger part of me wanted to stand my ground.

When he got to me, he sniffed the air around me, once, twice, three times.

"I smell fear," he said with a quiet intensity. "But not nearly enough."

I sniffed the air around him. "I won't tell you what I smell." It was something like a locker room, and something like a zoo. I'm sure he knew it. I'm sure he was even proud of it.

"You should be wetting your pants in terror, Little Red, but you're not." And then he grinned. "You're just full of sur­prises." He reached out his hand. I thought he was going to hit me, but instead, he leaned over the pool table, scooped up the car keys, and slipped them into his pocket. Then he turned to Loogie. "Bring Red a cue stick, and rack them up for a new game."

Loogie sucked up some snot and did what he was told.

"If you win, I let you live," said Cedric. "If you lose, I get to kill you any which way I like."

"What if I don't want to play?"

He smiled, but it looked more like an animal baring its teeth. "Not an option."

With Cedric's whole pack between me and the door, I didn't have much of a choice. I was a pretty lousy pool player, but I could put on a good show, slamming the balls hard, once in a while sinking them into a pocket I wasn't aiming for. The others watched our game, grunting their approval each time Cedric sank a ball and sneering each time I missed. For a few minutes I let myself get so absorbed in winning that game, I had forgotten why I had come, and what I intended to do.The plan, the plan, I told myself. Even though my life was on the line, I had to get back to the plan.

"My grandma's preparing to hunt you down," I told him.

"Tell me something I don't already know."

"You tell me something first," I said. "Tell me why you let me and my grandma live."

Silence from the whole gang. Cedric only shrugged. "We didn't let you live. Little kids and old women just aren't worth the time it would take to get rid of."

"Yeah, and after we threw you down there, the basement reeked of wolfsbane," said Klutz McGinty, who was about as stupid as he was clumsy. "Ain't no way we was goin' down there after that!" Cedric threw him a look that could have spoiled milk, and Klutz looked down at his oversize feet, shutting up.

"I think you've got a much better reason for letting us live," I said. "A reason that you're not telling anyone."

"And what might that be?"

"Revenge."

Cedric kept his expression cold and hard to read. "Keep talking," he said.

"You could have just taken the money, but you didn't―you took my car as well. When you took my car, you knew I'd come looking for you. You wanted me to find you. You even parked it out on the street to make sure I would."

By now the others had uncrossed their arms, and had moved a little closer, listening intently.

"You wanted me to come," I said, "because you figured you could get me to turn. You could convince me to join the Wolves. And wouldn't that be the ultimate revenge on my grandma? Taking me in, and turning me into . . . one of you."

Looking at Cedric, I couldn't tell whether I had gotten it right. Maybe that had been his plan all along, or maybe not. But one thing was certain―now that I had said it, it was his plan.

Five of my balls were still on the pool table, and Cedric had only two more to sink. He took aim, then suddenly took a completely different aim, and made the only move that would end the game in a single shot. He put the eight ball in a corner pocket. It was an automatic loss.

"You win," Cedric said. "Guess this wasn't your day to die."

"Dang," said Klutz, who just didn't get it. "I thought you'd win for sure, Cedric."

Cedric laid his cue down on the table. "Time for you to leave, Red."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Not an option."

I took a step closer to him. "Oh, I think it is."

Cedric looked at the others, and then back at me, with a grin. "Are you asking to be a Wolf?"

"Everyone knows what an honor it is to be in your gang," I said.

"Answer the question," said Cedric. "Are you . . . asking . . . to be... a Wolf?"

I took a deep breath. "I'm asking to live forever. I'm asking to feel what it's like to be two things at once―man, and ani­mal. I'm asking to be a part of the pack."

"What about your grandma?"

I shrugged. "Her issues aren't mine."

Cedric thought about it and nodded. "Keep it up, Red― you might just get your car back."

I smiled. "I was hoping you might say that." Then I pulled up my sleeve, like I was at the doctor's office getting a shot. "Do it!" I said. "Give me the bite right here, in front of every­one, so they all know I'm one of you."

Cedric put down his cue. "Won't work now," he said. "Only works on the full moon."

I pulled down my sleeve. "Guess I'll just have to wait."

"Fine," Cedric said. "Until then, you'll be a pledge―and if you prove yourself worthy, when the time comes, we'll offer you full membership."

"Fair enough."

"And if I ever think you're not playing straight with me, you're wolfchow."

I nodded. "That's fair, too."