Page 14 of Wishing for a Werewolf

Dear Mr. Rune,

Congratulations! Your farm has been chosen to host this year’s hay maze for the Ferndale Falls Fall Festival. Your submission was excellent, and we look forward to seeing the completed maze.

As you may recall, the unseasonably warm weather we’re having this year means the festival will be held the weekend after Halloween instead of before tocoincide with peak fall-leaf color.

Please confirm that you’ll have your hay maze up and running by midday November 7th, so that we can arrange for hayrides from the town green out to your farm.

Sincerely,

Greta Greely

Ferndale Falls Events Committee President

“Hay maze?” He scowls. “What’s a hay maze?”

“It’s where you use hay bales to create a temporary maze for people to solve. When they find the exit, they get a prize.” How the hell did he get the thing I’ve wanted for years without even knowing what a hay maze is? I glare at him. “Why would you apply for itandhow did you create the blueprints for a great maze, if you don’t even know what one effing is?”

“I didn’t apply for it. The only thing I did was offer to run some kind of gourd cutting competition. I was sketching on the town green, and a little old lady asked if I’d do it since I like art. I said yes, because I thought it would make me feel like part of the community.”

“The pumpkin carving contest?” I flap the letter at him. “That’s not the same event at all!”

“So this is a mistake.”

“Let me see something.” I pull up the events committee website on my phone. It’s slow and outdated, like someonemade it with Paint 2000, but Mrs. Greely’s grandson taught her how to make simple blog posts, so…

The page with the fall festival submissions finally loads, and I scroll down the list to get to the hay maze. “Only two applications for the hay maze. That will be me and Maria, so how can you win it without even applying?”

“I told you I didn’t.” He frowns down at me.

“Hey, I’m just doing my due diligence over here, trying to figure this out.” I unpinch my fingers and zoom in, but the website keeps saying the same thing. “None of this makes any sense. It’s not logical.”

“Magic seldom is.”

My eyes snap up to his. “What do you mean?”

“You did this. Your spell.”

“I sure as hell didnot!” Anger pulses through me. “If I could do magic, why would I mess up the thing I really need to—” I choke off, unwilling to admit my worries about the farm’s future.

“I know your magic did something to me.” He picks up the letter. “Andthisis what’s gone wrong.”

“Nope. Nuh uh. I didn’t do this, and I’ll prove it to you.”

“How?”

My lips twist as I look him up and down. “It won’t be easy. You’ll need to be charming.”

“I can be charming.” Rune scowls harder, which only makes his cheekbones stand out even more than usual. He looks good, but charming is pretty much the last thing I’d call his expression.

“You’d better be. Because Operation Events Binder will depend on it.” I flourish my hand across the air like I’m highlighting a banner and start humming theMission Impossibletheme song.

CHAPTER SIX

Autumn

As soon as Mrs. Greely steps into the Town Hall’s meeting room the next evening, I whisper-hiss out of the corner of my mouth into my phone, “Operation Events Binder is a go. I repeat—it’s a go. We’re radio silent from here on.”

Hannah and Skye’s excited confirmations ring in my ear right before I disconnect the call and silence all sounds on my phone.