Jaci Dawn

Billie let go of Ella. “But we never checked to see whose car is parked out there. If it’s Mike, he might be looking for us. He would know we might come out here. He’s our friend – maybe he could just drive us to the cabin.”
Ella nodded. She really didn’t like this tele-transportation stuff. “I think Billie is right. We should at least see who is parked out there, and if it’s Mike…”
“No, the fewer people who know about us, the better,” Twerp interjected.
“Mike’s my friend, too, Billie, but his dad has always been pretty anti-wizard,” Gran raised a paw.
“Shh! Guys! There’s a bike coming! I can hear it!”
Everyone jumped back into the shelter of the fern. Their ears automatically swiveled in the direction of the sound: someone was pedaling and doing stunts, grunting, and coming closer. Billie and Gran poked their noses out to see who was coming. A whoosh of rubber on dirt, then a skid. A tire threw dirt and small rocks at the fern as the rider stopped suddenly. A large foot bound in leather came down in front of Ella, and she jumped back.”
“Come on, text back!” The voice sounded frustrated. “Where are you Billie?”
Gran pulled Billie back, shaking his head ‘no’. She struggled against his hold, but by the time she was free, the bike had taken off toward town. Billie burst out from under the fern and yelled as loudly as she could, “Mike! I’m right here!”
“Come on, Bill, you think he’s going to believe you’re a mouse?”
“Why’d you hold me back!?” Billie whirled on Gran.
“You saw how close he came to stepping on El. He wouldn’t have seen you and you could’ve been caught in his spokes or run over!”
“You’re jealous! Mike asked me out before you could!”
“In your dreams!” Gran threw up his paws. “I don’t care if you go out with my friend. But getting run over first would be a stupid idea.”
“I’m going to try to get his attention before he loads his bike in his car.” Billie whirled around and began to jog down the middle of the path.
“What if he makes one more circuit? You’ll get run over!” Gran chased after her, with Ella and Dish on his heels.
“I’ll help you, Billie!”
“C’mon, Gran, it’s worth it to see if he can help us!”
Billie disappeared around a corner. Gran and Dish were nearly side-by-side and Ella was considering running on all fours to go faster. Suddenly, Billie screamed. Well, squeaked a shrill squeak that sounded like life or death.
Three mouse voices called out, “Billieee!!” The boys rounded the corner and skidded to a halt so suddenly that Ella ran right into them, knocking them over. She scrambled for ground.
“Oomph!”
“Ow!”
“Slow down, El!”
“Billie!”
“Guys. Guys. We have a big problem…” Dish had regained his footing and was staring upward.
Ella saw Billie in front of her, staring almost straight up. She ran forward and hugged her friend. “Bill…”
“El. Up.”
Ella peered upward. A large black dog’s nose hovered just above her. A nose on the end of a narrow, white muzzle. A nose above a sly grinning muzzle. Greenish-yellow eyes with cat’s pupils. Very large, pointy, red-furred ears.
“Well. I see you are still running pell mell into danger, young wizards.”
“Pell what?”
“Who are you?”
The girls merely huddled, holding each other closely.
“’Pell mell’, Mr. Cartwright. It is a term of speech meaning ‘in a hasty, and unthinking manner’, much in the way you have all been behaving the past 24 hours. You are very, very careless. I suggest we all make our orderly way back to the rest of your companions and away from this very obvious wide trail where anyone can see you. Now.”
The fox emphasized the last word it a point of a black paw. “You trot, or I carry you.”
Ella pulled Billie back ward, then slowly turned around, keeping a wary eye on the fox. It didn’t lose its wicked smile. Gran and Dish followed the girls, Gran still arguing. “Where do you get off calling me ‘Mr. Cartwright’?”
“March, young man. I used your formal name; there is no ‘getting off’ about it. You are Gran Cartwright, are you not?”
They came over the hill to see Aric, Twerp, and Horace standing in the trail, staring back at them. Ella and Billie dropped their hands and ran toward the boys as fast as they could, “Fox!!!!!” They screeched.
Gran glanced over his shoulder: the fox was gone. He elbowed Dish, “It’s gone!” They exchanged a look and took off running toward the others. They skidded to a halt just in front of the rest, their noses pointing upward, above Horace’s head.
Horace’s eyes got larger. “It’s behind me, isn’t it?”

Slowly, everyone turned around. The fox was sitting on its haunches, grinning. “Right. Now that I have all of you together, can we move off of this trail before those miserable cretins come around on their little bikes? This way.” It motioned with its nose. “You lead. I will tell you when to stop.”
Meekly, everyone turned and began moving deeper into the gloom of fir forest. Horace hopped alongside, making no move to try to fly away. They made their way quietly through sword ferns and fading bracken, around chanterelles, and over little rises and up little dips. They came to a small rivulet surrounded by twisting old rhododendrons, shaded from the towering firs.
“Stop. Here, we can talk. Turn around, all of you.” The fox sat on its haunches and continued to grin.
“Well?” Gran tried to sound brave, but he sounded more like a teenage boy trying to bluster his way past the coach.
“A well is a deep hole in the ground that sometimes holds water, Gran. There, I used your ‘Christian’ name. No need to be so formal, now that we are away from the trail. “Allow me to introduce myself: I am Kitsune. I am Zenko, or a good fox. A shape-shifter. A true shape-shifter, not one who needs to use a magic wand to change shapes.” He looked pointedly at Twerp.
“I stopped you because you are attracting a lot of attention to yourselves with your reckless antics, and you needed to be stopped. Read: every time you summon magic, you ping back to the owner of the wands you are carrying. It won‘t be long before those you seek to avoid figure out where you are, and come hunting.”
They looked at each other. “But I used Ella’s dad’s wands and that would be a good thing, wouldn’t it?” Gran pulled the wands out of his pocket.
“Are you certain they belong to the party you borrowed them from, or do you suppose he had another reason for keeping those in the attic? Perhaps they belonged to someone who should not possess a wand, but did at one time?” The fox let the question hang in the air.
“So, if you’re Kitsune, like in Animé, aren’t you, like, someone we know in real life?” Twerp changed the subject. I mean, a shape-shifter and all…”
“I can take human form, Deacon, yes. That is all academic. I sense that I need to explain to you what a grave danger you are in, and the danger the wizarding community as a whole is in.”
“I think we know that,” Dish muttered.
“Yeah,” Aric said.
The fox shook its head. “You do, perhaps, understand something of the gravity of the situation, but not all of it. You see, young people,” the fox sounded like old Mr. Nagato, the retired librarian, “someone in a very high place of government is suddenly missing a powerful talisman. This person who is missing this prized possession has determined that someone within the magic community is in possession of said item, and she will do everything she can to not only retrieve the wand, but cripple the community.”
But why, Mr. Nagato?” Ella overcame her fear of the fox.
The fox tipped its head and grinned even more. “Very good, Ella. Yes, sometimes, I masquerade as Mr. Nagato. You have always been a very observant young woman. As for your question, I cannot answer that. You must understand that from here on, you should not practice any frivolous magic.”
“Can we change back to ourselves first?”
“You are safer in your present form, especially as your hunters will be looking for you. You should, however, distance yourself from your natural predator here, one Horace.”
“But – we were trying to get to my folks’ cabin, and then regroup and make a plan. How can we do that as mice?”
“Intelligent musing, Dustin, but foolish. You should never divulge your plan to anyone you do not fully trust. Now, I can assure you that I will not betray you, but I could very well be someone you shouldn’t trust. The woods have ears – many of them. I will answer you: follow this stream. It will take you where you need to go. Horace can fly where he wills, and I advise him to stay to the deep woods and night flying.”
“You’re not coming with us?”
Kitsune laughed. “A fox traveling with mice? What did I say about not traveling with your enemy?”
“Wait,” Aric lifted a paw. “You said not to trust just anyone. So we might meet more talking animals. How will we know if we can trust them or not?”
“Your sister, Aric. Ella has powers she has not yet tapped into. She will be your bellwether.”

11619 words