Charlie Bone and the Wilderness Wolf

Charlie Bone and the Wilderness Wolf (US title: Charlie Bone and the Beast) is a children's fantasy novel by Jenny Nimmo. It is the sixth novel in the Children of the Red King series.

Plot summary
Life should be absolutely perfect for Charlie now that he's found his long lost father, who was disguised as Mr. Pilgrim. But mystery and adventure always find him. This time, Asa, a fellow classmate who changes into a beast at dusk, and Charlie's sometime-enemy, is missing. His parents are away on a holiday. Manfred is holding Asa captive in a forest cave and now Charlie needs the help of the Flames (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius) Claerwen (his wand that is now a moth) and all of his friends to rescue his classmate. Manfred has also taken the new endowed student, Dagbert Endless, under his wing, and Charlie is highly suspicious of the pair. Can Billy, Claerwen, Charlie and all his other friends rescue Asa without being caught by Manfred and Dagbert? Or will Dagbert drown their plans?

Plot summary
Charlie Bone and his Uncle Paton are visiting Charlie's old house while his parents are out whale watching. While in there he finds that his whole upstairs floor area was ripped up and they find that there were people inside the house earlier. When Charlie goes to Bloors Academy he finds a new boy is there that he has to guide around. His name is Dagbert Endless because his last names are "as endless as the seas". Dagbert's endowment is to drown other people, controlling water. Dagbert has to be around Charlie all the time, so he starts to drive his friends away by insulting them. Later Charlie finds out that his great Aunt Venita is getting married to a man who has two little children.

Meanwhile, there is a weird howling that the whole town could hear. The town decides to call it the "wilderness wolf" and thinks that it's dangerous. When Charlie goes home for the weekend his Uncle gets bitten by a creature outside their house. He claims that the things were defiantly not a wolf as everyone else thought, but more of a human. When the town holds a meeting, Charlie's friend Benjamin thinks of the idea that Charlie's classmate Asa Pike might be the creature since earlier he betrayed Manfred Bloor and helped Charlie get his father back. Charlie's great Aunt Venita dropped her new children at Indiglews bookshop. Little Erik was endowed, but Miranda was not.

When Charlie goes back to Bloors he is told by Billy Raven that the Wilderness Wolf is shouting "Help". When there is gunshots one night Billy tells Charlie that he heard it howl "Father". Later that week Charlie wakes up to his friend Naren sending the message goodbye. When he tried to talk back Dagbert sees the message and Charlie confronts him. While talking Dagbert experiences wild symptoms, such as glowing and pain. He keeps telling Charlie to get his Sea Gold Creatures from under his pillow. When he gets better Dagbert explains how it is his birthday and how he is now more powerful then his father. When Charlie goes home for the weekend Benjamin explains his plan about Asa Pike and Charlie thinks that that could be right. He decides that he has to help Asa because Asa risked everything to help him and his father. So he, Olivia and Runner Bean go into the forest looking for him. Instead they find Asa's mother as they realize that Asa's father was shot and was now dead. On their way across a dangerous metal bridge the water rises so high that Runner Bean was washed away. Charlie's wand ends up helping them from drowning and Charlie sees the red knight across the bridge. Benjamin goes off to find Runner Bean and Charlie and Olivia bring Mrs. Pike to the Pet's Cafe. There she explains her story of how she thought that Asa would be good at Bloors Academy with Manfred as his friend, but they explained how they took him away because of how he betrayed them. Charlie leaves and remembers that he has to pick up Billy's Rat from a Kettle store. When he gets there the lady gives him a strange kettle that gets warm when he was in danger.

Charlie and Billy make a plan to go save Asa from under ground. When they go they see Asa in his beast form, but Charlie finds that Billy lost his endowment. They decide that he needs to change back into his human form before they can talk to him. When Billy uses his special candles and Charlie uses his moth Asa turns into his human form as they leave the area. They see the Red Knight and they agree that Asa should go with him. Asa thanks Charlie for helping him and leaves.