Fox Among the Demons

by Trudie Collins

  He picked up his cup, but put it down again before it reached his mouth. He felt sick and coffee wasn’t going to help.

  “Where’s Trey?” Lukine asked. “Does he know any of this?”

  “Yes,” Bolene said. “He now knows everything. He left with Nat and I have no idea where they went or when he is coming back.”

  Lukine took out his communicator and tried to contact Trey, but there was no response.

  “How did Nat get here?” Komi asked. “How did she know where to find us? Come to think of it, how did she get in the house without anyone letting her in?”

  “I have no idea,” Fox said. “It was like she materialised out of thin air. She was suddenly in the room. I can’t explain it.”

  “It sounds like she created a ‘door’,” Lukine said. “For ages magic users have been trying to find a way to create them that doesn’t involve the combined efforts of numerous witches and wizards. Maybe she found someone on Earth who has discovered the secret.”

  “That makes no sense,” Bolene said. “This is Nat we’re talking about. She wouldn’t be able to create a ‘door’ no matter who showed her how.”

  “She is a witch, remember.”

  “But she doesn’t know how to use her magic.”

  “She does now,” Fox said. “She used it to attack me when I wouldn’t let her go.”

  “This is a serious problem,” Komi said. “We thought Nat would be safe on Earth, but if she is learning magic, then she could be in more danger than we thought. From herself as much as anyone else.”

  “Maylan must be teaching her,” Fox said. “Though how she found her is anyone’s guess.”

  “Who’s Maylan?” Bolene asked.

  “Nat said that someone called Maylan told her not to trust anyone. Joonie’s sister is called Maylan. That seems like too much of a coincidence to me.”

  “If you’re right, and Maylan is working with her sister, Nat is in real trouble. We have to find her and get her back here.”

  Komi tried to contact her, but there was no response. They tried Trey again, but had no luck.

  “He’s switched his communicator off,” Bolene said. “This isn’t a good sign.”

  With trembling hands, Fox tried Natasha once more. This time it could not connect. Her communicator wasn’t switched off, it was no longer available. “What has she done?” Fox said quietly.

  While the others discussed their options and how they could find Natasha, Fox went to his room. He wanted to be alone. The pain he was feeling was becoming unbearable. He wanted to speak to Natasha, to tell her he was sorry, to beg her to forgive him, but there was no way for him to do so.

  He sat on the edge of the bed and stared into space. It took him a while to notice that Komi had left his bag of weapons on the floor. He went over to it and took out one of the weapons made from kadar wood. He didn’t like the thoughts running through his head, but they began to consume him. All he needed to do was cut one and create a splinter, then all of his problems would be over. He was not happy about seeing Natasha without being able to touch her, but he could live with it. Now she was completely out of his life and he had nothing to live for. Ending it would be so easy.

  He was so consumed by his grief that he didn’t notice Komi in the doorway, watching him, waiting for him to try to do something stupid.

  Fox returned to the bag and took out a knife. With the weapon in one hand and the knife in the other, he looked at them, building up the courage to do what he knew had to be done.

  Then images of Natasha flashed through his mind. She was in trouble and he would be of no use to her dead. She might not want to see him anymore, but that wouldn’t stop him doing all he could to help her.

  When he put the two weapons back in the bag, Komi let out an audible sigh of relief. Fox didn’t need to turn around to see who it was. “I’ve lost her,” he said.

  “For now,” Komi said as he entered the room. “But not forever. She’ll come round.”

  “You didn’t see her. She hates me. And she has every reason to.”

  “You were doing what you thought was best and she will see that sooner or later.”

  When Fox looked at Komi, a tear trickled down his face. He should have been embarrassed to be caught crying, but he was too numb inside to care. “I can’t live without her.”

  Komi took Fox in his arms. “I know,” he said. “I know.”

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  “Where do you want to go?” Trey asked Natasha as soon as she got into the vehicle.

  “I need to see a wizard called Jamit Diwoka, but I don’t know how to get to his house.”

  “I do,” Trey said. “I’ve been trying to track him down. I hate to disappoint you, but he isn’t home. He’s gone away somewhere.”

  “He’s come back,” Natasha said.

  Trey didn’t ask how she knew. He instructed the vehicle to take them to their destination then sat back in his seat. “Is Lucy really dying?” he forced himself to ask. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the answer.

  “Yes,” Natasha said. “But Jamit is working on the cure. In a few hours it will be ready.” She tried to smile, but failed. “Everything is going to be okay.”

  As soon as she said the words, she knew she was lying. She was confident that they would be able to save Lucy, but everything else in her life had just fallen apart. She loved Fox with all her heart, but he had betrayed her and she could never forgive him for that. The tears started to flow and Trey held her as she wept for the rest of the journey.

  It didn’t take them long to reach Jamit’s place. Natasha dried her eyes and thanked Trey for the lift. He asked if he could stay. He didn’t want to go back to his family; Natasha wasn’t the only one feeling betrayed. He also wanted to meet the man he had been searching for.

  Jamit and Trey greeted each other in the traditional demon way, touching both palms together. Natasha made the introductions and when he heard the lengths Trey had gone to to find him, Jamit welcomed him into his home. The potion was not yet ready, but would not take much longer, so Jamit was happy to answer any questions Trey had. Trey also wanted to know Natasha’s story and how she arrived in Yong.

  Natasha’s communicator sounded but she ignored it. When Trey’s communicator made a noise, he didn’t answer it, choosing instead to switch it off. Before anyone could try to contact her again, Natasha placed her communicator on the floor and stamped on it repeatedly until it was nothing but a pile of plastic and metal.

  “Well that’s one way to stop anyone contacting you I suppose,” Trey said.

  Jamit checked the potion regularly and as soon as it was clear, he poured it into a bottle and handed it to Natasha. “She needs to ingest this,” he told her. “Give it to your aunt, she will know what to do.”

  Natasha nodded. “I will be back as soon as I can.”

  Trey watched in fascination as she sliced her thumb then drew the shape of a door on the wall in her blood while whispering words he could not quite hear. The ‘door’ activated, then vanished the moment Natasha stepped through it.

  “Will she really come back do you think?” Trey asked. “If this works, why would she? Why wouldn’t she just stay with Lucy and forget all about Yong and demons? It would be the sensible thing to do.”

  Jamit smiled at the young man’s concern. “Two reasons. First, she left her bag here. Second, she promised to do something for me and I trust that she was telling the truth.”

  Natasha returned much sooner than expected. She had handed the potion over to Maylan, who promised to do what was needed. She couldn’t bring herself to be present when it was given to Lucy, just in case it didn’t work.

  “Maylan and my father will contact us as soon as there is any change in Lucy’s condition,” Natasha said.

  “Your father?” Trey said. “You know where your father is?”

  “There is a lot I haven’t told you yet. Why don’t we start now?”
>
  Natasha told Trey all of the things she had kept from Fox. The fact that his family had kept him in the dark about what they were doing, or, to be more precise, were not doing, told her that they believed he would happily put Natasha in danger if it meant saving Lucy. That told her he could be trusted.

  She hadn’t completed her story when a note appeared beside her. She couldn’t stop her hands from shaking as she unfolded it. She read it quickly through, then once again, more slowly. Tears began to flow again and she threw her arms around Jamit.

  “Thank you,” she said and kissed his cheek. “Lucy has woken up.”

  Trey picked Natasha up and swung her round, whooping with joy as he did so. “When can I go and see her?”

  “Not yet,” Natasha said. “The doctors want to examine her properly and run some tests. It will probably be a few more days before she is allowed out of hospital.” She smiled at him. “Her first words were to ask about you.”

  She turned to Jamit. “I made a promise to you and I don’t go back on my promises. How are we going to do this?”

  “Come with me,” he said and led Natasha to his workroom. Trey was told to stay behind and wait for them. Jamit gave Natasha a potion to drink then placed an enchantment on her. It made her feel cold, then she felt nothing at all. She knew something had been taken from her, but she didn’t know what.

  “How do you feel?” Jamit asked her.

  “I don’t feel anything,” she said in a flat, monotone voice.

  “Good. Are you happy? Sad? Angry?”

  Natasha displayed no facial expression as she said, “I don’t know.”

  “Do you want anything?”

  “I don’t know,” she repeated.

  Jamit smiled. “If I give you instructions, do you think you will be able to remember them?”

  Natasha indicated that she would, so Jamit told her where to go and what to do. She would only be able to gain entry into the cave where his sister was being held first thing in the morning, when the sun’s rays would hit the opening.

  Natasha repeated his instructions back to him in an emotionless voice. He made her repeat them three times before he was satisfied that she had remembered them correctly. If she did anything wrong, she would not gain entry and would have to try again the next day and he didn’t want her to be without her emotions any longer than was necessary.

  They returned to where Trey was waiting for them and, at first, he didn’t notice that anything was wrong. There was no animation in her, but he put that down to a mixture of relief and tiredness.

  Jamit explained that he had to go away for a while. He told Trey that Natasha had volunteered to rescue his sister in the morning and that he had to find her a secure location where those who had taken her would not be able to find her again.

  “If you know who is holding her, and where, why didn’t you go to the authorities?” Trey asked.

  “Because they are the ones who are holding her.”

  “Oh.”

  Jamit assured him he would be back in the morning and asked Trey to keep an eye on Natasha. She had still not said anything and Trey was surprised that she had not reacted to what Jamit had said about who was holding his sister captive.

  “Are you alright?” Trey asked her.

  Her response startled him. “I don’t know.”

  He looked suspiciously at Jamit. “What’s wrong with her?” He didn’t know what the problem was, but he knew that Jamit was to blame.

  “Nothing for you to worry about,” Jamit said. “I have just temporarily taken away her emotions.”

  “You have done what?”

  “As I said, it is nothing to cause concern. It is necessary if she is to gain access to my sister.”

  “I agreed to it,” Natasha said. She sounded like she was in a trance.

  “I need to go,” Jamit said and quickly left the room before Trey could question him further.

  Trey took Natasha’s hand. “Sit down,” he said. “How do you feel?”

  “Why do people keep asking me that?”

  Trey took a deep breath. “Please, just answer the question.”

  “I feel nothing.”

  Trey shivered. Her voice sounded cold and detached. He decided to test her. “Can I contact Fox?”

  She didn’t react. “Do whatever you like.”

  Trey took his communicator out of his pocket and switched it on.

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  Fox was in the dining room when his communicator sounded. Food had been placed in front of him, but he couldn’t face eating.

  “I need your help, Fox,” Trey said.

  “What’s the problem?” He could hear the panic in Trey’s voice.

  “Something’s happened to Nat. She’s in trouble, Fox. A lot of trouble.”

  Seer

  “Does Nat know you are talking to me?’ Fox asked. “I don’t think she will too pleased when she finds out.”

  Trey laughed, but there was no humour in it. “Trust me, right now she really doesn’t care. Just get here, please. I don’t know what to do for her.” He provided the address and disconnected.

  “We have to go,” Fox said to Komi.

  “What is going on?” Bolene asked.

  “I don’t know. All I know is that something has happened to Nat and Trey needs us.”

  “Go,” Bolene said. “And make sure you bring them both back with you.” Fox made no promises.

  Trey was pacing up and down outside the house when Fox and Komi arrived. He couldn’t bear being inside with Natasha any longer. She was acting like a zombie and it was freaking him out.

  The fact that Fox and Komi had lied to him no longer mattered and he greeted them warmly.

  “How’s Nat?” Fox asked.

  “Come and see for yourself.”

  He led them into the lounge, where Natasha was reading a book, and Fox instantly knew that something was seriously wrong. Her usually animated face was expressionless as she turned the page. She must have heard him arrive, but she gave no indication that she had done so.

  Fox took a seat opposite her, while Komi chose to remain standing. “Hello Nat,” he said.

  She looked up at him with dead eyes. “Hello,” she said. Fox never thought he would want to see again the hate that had been in her eyes the last time he had seen her, but anything would have been better than this.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she said, then returned her attention to her book.

  “Trey,” Fox said. “Explain.”

  Trey told them everything that had happened from the moment he and Natasha left them, right up to the point when she went to the workroom with Jamit.

  “Lucy really is alright?” Komi asked, interrupting him.

  Trey nodded. “Nat says she is and I don’t believe that she would lie about something like that.”

  “Thank the Creator.”

  “Go on,” Fox said. “I want to know why she is like this.” If Natasha had heard anything that had been said, she gave no indication.

  Trey told them about Jamit’s sister and what he had done to Natasha.

  “So she has no emotions at all?” Fox asked.

  “Jamit says not.”

  Fox decided to put this to the test. Knowing how Natasha had felt about him when they had last seen each other, he was risking getting slapped, or worse, but it was a risk worth taking.

  He went over to Natasha and asked her to put her book down. She did as requested and he took hold of her hands. She did nothing to stop him. He took this as a bad sign.

  He told her to stand and when she had, he placed his arms around her and kissed her. She didn’t push him away, but she didn’t kiss him back either. Her lips were hard and unyielding. It was like kissing a store-front dummy.

  When he released her, she sat down and picked up her book once more, as though nothing had happened. With his head, Komi indicated that Fox and Trey should join him in
the corridor.

  “At least she doesn’t hate you now,” Komi said.

  “Not helpful,” Fox told him.

  “Let’s talk in the kitchen,” Trey said.

  The first thing that Fox noticed was the remains of Natasha’s smashed communicator on the table. He winced.

  “That explains why she couldn’t be contacted,” Komi said. “I bet you’re glad she doesn’t have her emotions right now.”

  Fox glared at him.

  “Speaking of being out of contact,” Komi continued. “Trey, never turn your communicator off. What would have happened if we needed to contact you in an emergency?”

  “I didn’t want you to be able to contact me. If I wasn’t so worried about Nat, I would have gone back to Earth without letting any of you know.”

  “Now is not the time,” Fox said when Komi opened his mouth to retaliate. “How are we going to help Nat?”

  “I have a suggestion,” Komi said, “but you’re not going to like it.”

  “Tell me anyway.”

  “Do nothing. Let her do what she needs to tomorrow and Jamit will restore her.”

  “There has to be an alternative. Can Lukine help?”

  “No idea. Nat might know.”

  “And if he can’t?” Trey asked. “I don’t want to stay with her. She’s creepy.”

  “I’ll stay,” Fox said. Komi gave him a funny look. “Don’t look at me like that. I have no intention of taking advantage of her. If she says Lukine can’t get her emotions back, you take Trey home. I’ll stay here tonight and go with her in the morning.”

  “Alright,” Komi said. “Call me if you need me.”

  As they expected, Natasha said ‘no’ when they asked about Lukine. That was all she said; a robotic ‘no’ and nothing more.

  “Keep in touch,” Komi said. “I’ll tell Bolene and Lukine everything.”

  Fox promised he would, then returned to Natasha. “You need to eat something.” The state she was in, he wasn’t sure if she even knew if she was hungry or not.