Aesop's Secret

by Claudia White

  Felix shivered. Only escaping from this loony bin, he thought. “No, I was just going out for some fresh air. Please come in,” he said in a very formal voice. “I’ll get my parents.”

  “No need, Felix, I heard the voices from my office,” Elaine said, startling Felix as she seemed to appear out of nowhere.

  The sound of voices carried upstairs to Melinda’s ears. “They’re here!” she shrieked as she patted her furry cheeks and threw a blouse that she had left on the floor over her blue rabbit.

  At the same time Jake walked by her room and glanced in. “Melinda,” he whispered calmly, “get rid of the hair on your face and whatever else you have that doesn’t belong to a human.”

  She stood up and smiled the sweetest smile that her little rabbit lips could muster. “I’m trying,” she lied.

  “Good girl,” he said, ruffling the hair on top of her head. “When you’re finished, come downstairs.”

  She watched as he walked along the hallway and disappeared down the stairs then clicked her door shut and closed her eyes. After about three seconds, her hands sprang to the top of her head where long floppy ears greeted her fingers. The rest of her was still very human, but she didn’t mind. “One step at a time,” she sighed happily.

  “Aesop, look!” she squealed, holding out her ears to their full eight-inch length. She ran over to her bed and pulled the blouse away from Aesop so that he could admire her ears but Aesop wasn’t there. She looked under her bed, then searched every corner of her room, but he simply was not there. “Oh my God,” she whispered.

  She cracked open her door and listened to the voices of her parents and the two professors fade as they moved to the back of the house. With her face still covered in fur, her little nose twitchy wildly and her ears hanging at the sides of her head, she carefully slipped out into the hallway, then quickly and quietly crept down the stairs.

  Professor Stumpworthy walked around the living room, looking at the statues and paintings of mythological creatures that seemed to be everywhere. Felix cringed as he watched him scrutinize the weird half-animal, half-human objects, wondering what he would think if he found out that those were the Huttons’ relatives.

  “These are lovely,” Stumpworthy smiled, turning to face Felix. “I’m a big fan of mythological art. As a matter of fact I collect similar pieces.”

  James Mulligan nodded from where he had made himself comfortable in the big blue chair in front of the fireplace. “Indeed, Horace is well known for his collection.”

  “Mum’s somewhat of an expert on mythology,” Felix bragged.

  Stumpworthy met Felix’s eyes, then turned to face Elaine. “I’ve heard a lot about your work: connecting facts with fiction. I’m pleased to say that I’ve read some of your books. Wouldn’t it be interesting to find out that some of these wonderful creatures,” he said pointing to a picture of a goat-boy playing a flute, “were actually based on something that was once real?”

  “Perhaps they were,” Elaine smiled, while Felix looked over nervously.

  “Perhaps,” Stumpworthy smiled, “I have read some old accounts that suggest that they were.”

  Elaine walked over to the bookcase that the professor was standing in front of and pulled a volume off the shelf. “It sounds like you’ve read a bit about the Athena Theory,” she said, handing the book to him.

  “I have indeed. The theory that there may once have been a race of people called Athenites is marvelous. You can imagine that for a mythology fan like me, references to beings that could take the shape of other creatures would hold a certain fascination.” He glanced at Felix, who seemed uncomfortable with the topic. “Now that would be something, wouldn’t it, Felix, knowing someone that could transform into something else.”

  Felix shook his head. “A bit farfetched, wouldn’t you say,” he said in a cracking voice.

  “Of course it is,” Stumpworthy smiled. “It would be physically impossible but it would be fantastic if it was true.”

  “If anyone could prove it was true, it would be Elaine,” Mulligan chuckled.

  Stumpworthy grinned pleasantly. “I’m quite sure of that. I understand that you have quite a following. It won’t be long before people will believe whatever you put in front of them is an absolute fact.”

  Elaine smiled nervously. “That may be true but I can’t say that everyone who reads my research is a fan.”

  Stumpworthy nodded. “Some people don’t like their fantasies reduced to reality. Others might enjoy their skeptical view of the world better than knowing the truth. But as a man of science, I happen to find your research refreshing.”

  Melinda inched her way down the stairs, hoping that the conversation from the others remained at the other end of the passage. With every step she looked around and whispered for Aesop but it wasn’t until she reached the bottom step that she saw his white coat. “Aesop, come here,” she called quietly. He hopped away, towards the room where everyone had gathered. Forgetting about everything except the fact that Professor Mulligan was in that room, Melinda lunged forward in an attempt to grab him as he deftly leapt forward into the room.

  Aesop sat up, lifted his nose and sniffed the air. He looked from Elaine to Jake to Felix calmly. His ears twitched when he looked at Professor Mulligan, then laid back flat as his gaze rested on Horace Stumpworthy. He lowered himself back onto his front paws, never taking his eyes off of the professor. Grinding his teeth while emitting a tiny low growl he crept slowly, stealthily forward, pausing only briefly before launching himself powerfully at Horace Stumpworthy’s upper right thigh. The professor shrieked painfully as Aesop anchored himself by biting directly into his groin.

  As blood trickled down Stumpworthy’s leg, Professor Mulligan gasped, “My word, what is that thing!” while Elaine and Jake stood dumbfounded, watching their daughter’s pet rabbit dangle from their guest’s trousers. Felix shrieked for Melinda to “COME AND GET YOUR RABID RABBIT” and Melinda rushed into the room, forgetting completely about her appearance.

  Elaine and Jake watched in horror as their furry-faced, floppy-eared daughter raced to the professor’s side, wrenched her rabbit off his leg, then darted back out of the room.

  Felix wanted to run too, as fast as possible away from the insanity that he had just witnessed. He closed his eyes and wished that he could just disappear, or that his family could—either way, made no difference to him. He felt his prospects with Stumpworthy were over as he listened to what sounded like sobs and coughs and gasps for air. Reluctantly he opened his eyes, then sat bolt upright. Tears were streaming down Stumpworthy’s face and Mulligan was gasping for breath but it wasn’t what Felix had expected. Both men were hysterically laughing.

  “That was the funniest thing I have ever seen,” said Mulligan between mouthfuls of food at dinner that evening. “Horace, I have never seen you in such a panic…what did you do to that rabbit before you gave him to me?”

  Horace Stumpworthy shook his head. “I have absolutely no idea. Maybe it was something I said,” he laughed warmly.

  Mulligan turned to Melinda and winked. “What do you think, my dear?” Melinda shrugged then looked over at Professor Stumpworthy and shivered. Mulligan continued, “Now that you know that the rabbit originally belonged to Horace before me, I’ll bet you could come up with a reason why the little bunny might attack him.”

  Melinda smiled and shook her head shyly.

  Stumpworthy smiled amiably. “There was no real harm done. Animals often react strangely when their environment changes.”

  Mulligan nodded. “Come to think of it, I’ve seen other animals behave strangely towards Horace,” he said as he looked around the table. “There is a dog in Horace’s neighborhood that would love to take a bite out of his backside, hey, Horace?”

  “I’m just one of those people that attracts animals, albeit in a less friendly way than I would like,” laughed Horace. He smiled at Melinda, sending goose bumps bubbling up her arm. “What I’m more interested in than my animal m
agnetism is hearing how you made that superb rabbit costume. I have never seen anything so lifelike—it was absolutely brilliant. Are you going to a fancy dress party or is it for a school play?”

  A blanket of silence fell around the table until Melinda winked. “Neither,” she said with a giggle. “I’m an Athenite.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The smile hadn’t left Felix’s face for a week. Nothing bothered him, not even Melinda’s antlers at breakfast the day before. All that mattered for the moment were the clothes he was stuffing into his suitcase and making sure that he was on time to catch his plane at three o’clock that afternoon.

  He was going to study in France and he owed his great fortune to Melinda. After her comment about being an Athenite at dinner during the professor’s visit, everything fell into place. The professors had both laughed, causing his parents to relax. It had taken him a bit longer to understand what exactly was happening, but before the end of the evening it had begun to sink in. It was so painfully obvious that he refused to admit that he hadn’t understood at first what was going on. His mother had always said that humans cannot accept the supernatural, and therefore they ignore those things and those beings that hold such qualities. In essence, Melinda could have galloped through the room on zebra legs and the professors would not have believed their own eyes.

  The rest of the visit had been perfectly relaxed, and in the end he was given permission to attend the Horace Stumpworthy School of Science in Paris.

  Felix latched his suitcase and pulled it off his bed, placing it next to another bag by the door. He was finally ready. He looked out the window at the brightening sky then glanced at the clock for the first time since waking nearly two hours earlier. It was nearly six o’clock in the morning.

  “Be careful,” Melinda had whispered when she had hugged him goodbye at the airport. Although that was nearly ten hours ago, Felix couldn’t stop thinking about the edge in her voice and the look in her eyes. Neither was very Melinda-like. It was like she was trying to tell him something important. He had tried to brush it aside; what could she have to say that was especially important? Still, as the hours passed he could not shake the uncomfortable feeling that she did have something ominous on her mind, something that he needed to know but there hadn’t been time for her to tell him. “Nerves,” he said over and over, “just nerves. What could she possibly know?”

  Felix felt the nose of the plane dip down as the seatbelt sign illuminated and the flight attendant announced that they would be landing soon. He pushed his glasses back up his thin nose and looked out the window. In the distance the outline of the Eiffel Tower was barely visible. Melinda’s words finally stopped haunting him.

  Felix’s excitement was replaced with nervous energy as Stumpworthy’s imposing mansion came into view. The huge black iron gates closed behind the taxi as it drove up the long stone driveway, pulling to a stop in front of the thirty-two-room, grey-stone palace. Whatever tiredness he had felt after the long flight disappeared the instant he stepped out of the car and looked up the twelve marble steps that led to the massive, elaborately carved wooden front doors.

  He pushed his glasses back in place and ran his fingers through his thick brown hair, trying to smooth its normal bushiness, then straightened his trousers and shirt as he began the climb towards the entrance. His stomach churned painfully with each step, and for the first time since leaving his bedroom back in Seattle, he wished that his parents were with him.

  He was shown into the foyer, where a manservant named Hector asked him to wait while he announced his arrival. The entryway was easily the size of the Huttons’ entire living room and was decorated with the same mythological art pieces that his family owned, except that these were at least a hundred times bigger. In the centre of the room was a six-foot statue of Bes, the Egyptian god of mothers and children, with a massive lion head topping its squat body. Felix decided it was even uglier than the one they had at home.

  At the base of the stairs was a huge statue of a Minotaur. It was taller than Bes by at least a foot and also more imposing. With the eyes in its bull’s head staring down angrily and its muscular man’s body poised to attack, Felix felt uncomfortable in its presence.

  “Ah, Felix,” Professor Stumpworthy’s voice boomed as he came into view. “I told you I was a collector of mythological art.” He shook Felix’s hand, then gestured towards the Minotaur. “They were the guards of the king’s fortune. I must say that he is doing an excellent job protecting mine,” he laughed as he motioned for Felix to accompany him down a long hallway.

  The marble floor of the hallway was covered in brightly coloured Turkish carpets, and the walls were lined with more sculptures and paintings depicting half-animal, half-human scenes. If Felix had hoped to escape the constant reminders of his ancestry, it wasn’t going to happen here.

  Off the hallway on either side were magnificent rooms: a media room on one side and a music room on the other, a study on the left and a billiard room on the right. When they were almost to the end the professor stopped and smiled. “This is my library―my pride and joy and where I spend most of my time.” In an after you gesture he stood back and watched as Felix walked in.

  Felix’s glasses slid back to the bridge of his nose as his head jerked up to look at the stained-glass domed ceiling three stories above the circular room. It was the most impressive place that Felix had ever seen. The first floor was comfortably furnished with three large sapphire-blue sofas and a big leather overstuffed chair positioned around a massive inglenook fireplace. On the other side of the room was a small study with a big wooden desk and chair. Luxurious colourful carpets lay across the marble floor, and bookshelves lined the walls between tall curved windows. A circular staircase at the other end of the room led to the upper galleries, where more books and windows lined the walls. Each of the upper floors opened to the centre of the room with low, ornately carved banisters serving as walls.

  “I can see from your expression that you like my little sanctuary.” The professor grinned as he invited Felix to sit down on the closest sofa. “I’m happy to see that, because we’ve had a bit of a change with the scheduling at the school.” Felix looked nervously over as the professor sat on the sofa facing him. “Don’t worry,” he said, noticing Felix’s expression, “it’s only temporary, but we have a bit of a problem with the dormitory that you were meant to live in so you’ll be staying here with me for a while. I’ve also invited James Mulligan to stay with us for a few weeks; he has work to do at the school and it will be nice to have someone you know here while you get settled in. I hope that’s all right with you.”

  Felix was at a loss for words. He glanced at the thousands of books that surrounded them, then smiled. “That would be great,” he said as he adjusted his glasses nervously.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Melinda’s eyes sprang open. Her room was dark except for a sliver of moonlight that shone in through the slit in her curtains. She was wide awake and knew that she would have trouble falling back to sleep, but she didn’t care. She was happy to have left that dream behind.

  It had been three weeks since Felix had left for Paris and exactly three weeks since her dreams had turned into nightmares. She woke up each night worrying about Felix, her night dress saturated in sweat and her muscles trembling. Night after night her eyes would open with the same foreboding feeling, but because the uncomfortable images of her dream faded immediately, she didn’t know why.

  The smell of formaldehyde was heavy in the classroom as Felix took his seat. Dr. Harmony Melpot stood at the table in the front of the room, waiting patiently for everyone to sit down. She was a tall young woman with an athletic physique and chiseled features that made her look almost statuesque. Her short blonde hair was always perfectly styled and her dark eyes were uncomfortably intense.

  “Good morning, everyone,” she said curtly. “In a minute I will ask all of you to come up and choose a bullfrog, which you will be dissecting today.”

 
Felix heard a squeamish moan to his left and noticed that Rupert Merewether’s normal rosy complexion had turned green, which along with his shockingly scarlet hair made him look rather Christmassy.

  “Amphibians are fascinating creatures,” Dr. Melpot continued. “Some have actually been found to transform themselves to survive, as in the case of the Spadefoot Toad.”

  Felix’s hand shot up before he realized what he was doing. “Miss, what do they transform into?” he asked eagerly.

  Dr. Melpot arched her eyebrows and met Felix’s eyes. “They stay as toads, Mr. Hutton,” she said firmly, while the rest of the class snickered. “BUT,” she continued with emphasis to quiet the others, “as tadpoles they develop into either carnivores or omnivores depending on the available food supply.”

  After a short lecture the class focused on the dissection of their toad’s respiratory system until the bell rang. “Place your toads inside their plastic trays and seal the lid; we’ll examine the circulatory system tomorrow,” Dr Melpot announced. In a flurry of activity each student shoved their toad’s remains inside their containers, gathered their books and papers, and prepared to leave for their next lesson.

  “May I have a word, Mr. Hutton?” Dr. Melpot called as Felix was nearing the door. He turned and smiled sheepishly, still a little embarrassed about his question earlier. She motioned for him to come over to her desk. “I have heard a lot about you from Professors Mulligan and Stumpworthy. I trust that you will be happy at the school and I hope you will feel comfortable in coming to me if you have any questions or need anything at all.”

  Felix smiled uncomfortably. “Thank you, I will,” he said without conviction.

  “I mean it, Felix,” she insisted. “If you have any problems at all, my door is always open.” Felix nodded and turned to go. Then she added, “I have read all of your mother’s books.”