Fox Got Your Tongue?

Percy scribbled in his notebook; his back leaned against an oak tree. He scrunched his peppered nose as he always did while in deep thought. His dark gray eyes scrutinized every detail his charcoal pencil scratched against paper. He sat on a hill perched above his creaky wooden middle school. The dead grass whipped in the wind. He focused on capturing each wave and bend of the beige high stalks. Sheltered on the rolling hill with him was a scarlet fox. Percy caught the flash of her hide through the grass below and intently gazed after her, holding his breath quietly, barely daring to let it out. His eyes flicked up and down from his paper. Never had he seen another person with his hair color in this small town, but here was this brilliant fox with fur the same shade of red. Percy stroked his charcoal pen against the paper, smearing black to illustrate the tips of the fox’s ears and ashy snout. He thought of how the black markings were like his bruises from bullies trailing down his freckled cheeks. Intrigued, Percy leaned forward out of the shelter of the tree. Rain drizzled and whisked his clothes. He became enchanted by her fiery spirit.

The fox swept her trail swiftly behind her, lightly rustling the grass. She counted on the wind to mask the sound. Her nose crinkled like the boy’s did while he was in deep thought. Solara's thoughts were different from Percy's. They were on the rabbit hole up ahead of her. She held her breath patiently, utilizing her strong sense of hearing. She could smell and hear the strawberry plants the rabbit tore up for his family. Solara tensed her haunches.

Percy finished his sketch of the fox and flipped to the next page, placing a stone on the top left corner to keep it from frenzying out of control in the howling wind. He switched to oil pastels and drew the fox’s form as she pounced. He used rose tinted watercolors to splash the fallen berries and blood across the rabbit’s sable neck. The fox held its body in her mouth remotely and calmly, and to his surprise her yellow eyes met his before she dashed into the misty forest behind him.

Percy gathered his books and shoved them into his backpack. He slung the royal blue bag on his back and pushed his baseball cap down on his head tightly to keep it from flying off. As he stood up, he observed that ominous thunderclouds grew on the horizon; a sharp slate gray. 

He glanced at his watch and saw he had an hour to walk home. A creeping, curious feeling grazed upwards through his chest and traveled up into his throat, warming his head with strange ideas. He thought of the fox’s amber wise eyes and he kept his head down while he trotted into the forest. The wind pelted his back with such force he was pushed into the dusky woods. There was no turning back now. 

Click. Percy used his flashlight and followed the fox’s muddy footprints. He felt her eyes as an invitation, and he enjoyed watching her in the evening light. Something else stronger than the storm led him towards her. He slyly navigated the winding tree roots and thorny bushes. Percy could barely make out her trail as he fought through branches, but he could see a slight parting underneath him in the brambles, just large enough for a fox. He got down on his hands and knees, crawling through the prickly tunnel. Instead of going towards light, the tunnel grew blacker and blacker. Percy had a jolt of regret mixed with anxiety, but he kept going, wincing as prickly twigs lashed his sore cheeks. His heart clenched with the fear he was lost and wouldn’t be able to find her. It felt familiar. 

“Ah, you found me,” Solara purred, and her voice was as sweet as the wind chimes on Percy’s porch. He thought of his black cat who would be sitting beside his dad on their old rocking chair, waiting for him to arrive home. For an instant. Then he completely forgot about the sound of wind chimes and a cat’s purr.

“Huh-what? What…?” Percy balked, and sat up slowly. He felt as though he was sitting on something, so he shifted and looked underneath him. To his surprise, he had a shimmering tail.

“What’s happening?” he yelled, and circled himself, like a dog chasing itself stupidly.

“Hmm,” Solara watched him, hiding her amusement by drawing her sleek paw up to her face. “Come here.”

Percy hesitated, then approached her slowly. “Yes?”

Solara pressed her head against his, her yellow eyes warm and sparkling like champagne. “That tunnel transforms us, my beloved. I am so glad you’ve finally found it.”

“‘Us?’ ‘Finally?’ What’s going on?!” Percy shouted again, but this time it came out as a whiny yelp.

The fox chuckled. She said nothing, and began to skin the rabbit skillfully with her fangs. “Help me, and I will tell you.” 

Percy had always avoided helping his family skin deer, to his father’s disappointment. He grimaced inwardly and inched closer to the strange mistress. He heard the clack of his nails on her den’s stone floor.

He carefully ripped the brown fur, sidling his eyes sneakily over to Solara’s to make sure he was doing it right. He was thankful he didn’t gag. When they were done, Solara gestured by turning over her paw so her black paw padding faced him. Her flaming eyes stared at him with the same welcoming invitation. 

“Eat,” she mewed gently, and retreated to a corner of her den.

Percy cocked his head. Did he get struck by lightning? Why was he here? Suddenly he couldn’t remember anything except for weaseling through the wet, mossy tunnel on his belly and that this den was his home. He let out a frustrated sigh and shook his shaggy head. His wispy orange cheeks were streaked with mud and his back with splinters.

“Thank you,” he nodded at Solara and tenderly bit into the rabbit. He found it delicious.

“Now that you have done what I have asked. I will answer your questions. It will not be easy to hear," Solara sighed, and continued briskly. “Your father decided to stay in human form through dark magic long ago,” She shook her head sadly. “He thought it safe to raise you on his own because of the - well, never mind, we won’t talk about that yet. I always watched from afar, but I was careful you did not see me. Respecting what he thought was safest,” she scoffed. “The fact you saw me today, well, I suppose it was only fate that you would follow me." She ended by smiling at him affectionately. 

“You’re my mom? No…I thought…My dad…” Percy grimaced. “I can’t remember what he looks like! Just the smell of his sweat and farm clothes.”

Solara cocked her head and flicked her ear. “Hmm. Maybe this transformation is different from others since you’ve waited so long to perform it.” She sighed again, and Percy heard the faint thunder boom. “Don’t worry, I will fix it for you.”

Solara stretched, and she seemed to glimmer radiantly like the sun in the shadows of the den. She paused talking to gingerly pull his nettles and lick his matted fur. 

“Sleep, and we will see what we can do about your memory tomorrow…Storm,” she whispered the name Storm so lightly Percy swore that it was the wind whistling outside. He nestled his wet head in between his legs and naturally curled his fluffy tail around his face, shivering. Solara nudged the rabbit fur onto his soaked coat.

At home, Jessie, Percy’s father, did sit on his rocking chair, but he had brought it inside out of the chaotic weather. He sat in an old cabin with floorboards that squealed and sunk with each step. He grunted as he flipped through his photobook, his hands calloused and encrusted with dirt and dust from tending the chickens. Their black cat, Bandit, groomed himself on the armchair, unbothered by the storm raging and rattling their windows. In the photobook was a middle-aged woman with striking orange hair and golden eyes. She was grinning and holding a baby boy. With a groan, Jessie closed the photobook and rubbed his eyes and unshaven face.

“That boy,” he muttered. “What has he gotten himself into now?” 

Beneath the house, fox traps loomed with violent, silver jaws.