Family of the Fox, #1

by F. M. Isaacs

  My first reaction was to find someone to capture this runaway horse. But then, the animal waved its front leg at me and retreated into the trees.

  Most horses didn't wave at people.

  “Allen?” I exclaimed, running across the parking lot and into the brush. “Allen? Is that you?”

  The animal had stopped in a clearing, waiting for me to catch up. “Allen?”

  He nodded.

  He was truly splendid, tall and shiny, his muscles rippling in the light. The sun cast a glow around his form, and a black silky mane ran down his back.

  I could only gape. “Can...can I pet you?”

  The horse leaned its head down, and gingerly, I swept my hand down his long face. His dark eyes remained on me, and suddenly words pierced my mind.

  She's so beautiful, so lovely. The thoughts came into my head, but they were not mine. I was not thinking of them, and they were in a man's voice.

  Yanking my hand away, I stepped back. “Did you just say some-thing?”

  The horse jolted its head back up but kept an intent gaze on me, its visage registering what seemed to be complete shock.

  You hear me, Corinne?

  What was going on here? “Yes.” I hit at my head, as if to knock the foreign sounds from it. “It's in my mind! What is this? Like...telepathy?”

  The horse flapped his ears, stamping proudly. Yes. It's something changers can do. Also telepaths, some mind-readers...

  I clasped my hands together, ready to burst. Was I a mind-reader? A telepath? A psychic?

  You might be something. Normal people can't hear me like this.

  Never before had the possibility that I might not be normal made me so ecstatic. Was I more than a seer? Could I read people's minds?

  The strangeness that this horse was really Allen drew me back into the here-and-now. “Can you talk out loud if you want to?” I asked him.

  Yes, but horses don't talk, so I'm not going to. But I don't have to speak aloud to you, apparently. Ah, yes. You are most definitely of the Greene and Fox families. And now you must learn to be part of nature.

  “Why?”

  I feel it in you...Climb up on my back.

  “No!”

  Why not?

  “I've never ridden before, and, well, you're a person!”

  So?

  “I'm scared, and it's really, really weird!”

  He knocked his head into my side and knelt down. What are you scared of? I'm not going to jump or anything. I have my mind still. I just have a horse's body.

  This whole experience was almost too bizarre for me to take.

  Get on me. Hold onto my mane.

  Finally I gave in. I climbed onto his back and grasped the shiny mane hard. “Oh God,” I moaned.

  Hang on tight! He stood up and galloped back out to the road. Now we were visible for the world to view.

  “Allen, this is crazy! Get in the woods! Someone will see us!”

  So? They'll see you riding a horse. So what?

  “And where did this perfect, amazing animal come from?”

  He took a moment to bask in the glory of my compliment. There's a horse farm about a mile or two down the road. You must know that.

  Well, he wasn't wrong. “I'm not hurting you by being on your back?”

  Oh, please! In this form, I hardly even feel you're there. Horses are big, strong animals. Your hundred-and-whatever pounds are nothing to me.

  He was quite impressed with himself. I swear I could sense it coming off him in waves – kind of like when I'd felt that immense pride those several times. Could that have been Allen?

  Hey! If I was picking up feelings, then maybe I was an empath!

  When I finally relaxed and allowed myself to enjoy the ride, the experience was invigorating. The breeze played with my hair as Allen trotted down the street, proud and equine. There was also something very satisfying knowing that the horse I rode was really a man. Maybe it was a power issue or something, I wasn't sure – but it was just awesome.

  When we re-entered the woods farther down the road, a burning smell combined with the scent of blossoms met my nose. Allen drew to a halt, emitting an “Oh...wow...” from his mouth.

  “I thought you don't talk when you're an animal!”

  He didn't respond.

  “What, Allen?”

  The verdant mass of underbrush and white flowers seemed oddly familiar. Several trees had blackened bark, but they were all in leaf, and some had wild roses crawling up them.

  Yesterday I burned these, Allen said, flicking his tail.

  “You couldn't have. Everything's growing.” But I knew he was right. This was where he'd been a dragon. This was where he torched the trees. Now this area was lusher than the rest of the woods.

  You wanted it back the way it was.

  The spot was just as I had wished it to be before we left the other day. Flowers bloomed, bushes crowded out the charred brush...

  You did this.

  I hopped to the ground to investigate. “How?”

  Shaking his head in a very horse-like gesture, he replied, I can affect plants in little bits; I just discovered it recently. Perhaps if I develop that, I can do it on a grander scale. But I did not do this. This is nature. You are one with nature.

  “That nature junk is getting really irritating, Allen. You sound like some kind of...mystical guru,” I murmured. But perhaps he was right? “Is that something that empaths, or seers, or whatever I am... Is that something I can do?”

  Well, I'm not sure what you are yet. I'm still trying to figure it out.

  Stepping where I could, I fingered the new plants while Allen watched through his animal eyes. We remained there for a few minutes more, but the idea that this was my doing became so overpowering that I begged him to take me away.

  In a second. You said that you foretold the future, Corinne?

  I told him about my dream and the attack, recounting what the two had in common.

  Well, he made an equine snort, if you heard sounds outside, then they might have set off the dream. That's not necessarily telling the future.

  “But I hear you in my head! I have to be doing something! And this nature regrowth thing? What's that?”

  I told you. I'm still working on figuring you out.

  Great. I was now officially Allen's project. He bent down to munch on some half-dead stalks at our feet.

  “Allen! You're eating grass!” I exclaimed in disgust.

  He licked his lips with his huge tongue. It's good! It's like a mid-day salad treat.

  Then he smiled. I think it was the freakiest thing I had seen in my life. It was worse than seeing some cartoon horse do it. His long face scrunched up comically as he tried to use muscles I'm not sure a horse even had.

  Come on. Let's get you going, he said, the grin lingering.

  I looked away from it.

  As we galloped home, I still could not quite accept that I had created a little Garden of Eden in the forest. I had longed for the woods to be perfect, beautiful, and unharmed, but I hadn't concentrated on making it happen.

  When we reached my backyard, I jumped down from his back with a bit of regret that the afternoon was coming to a close.

  “That was wonderful,” I admitted, more to myself than to him. Without thinking, I ran my hand down Allen’s side as if he were any other horse.

  Thanks. That feels good, he said in my head.

  I snatched my hand away, embarrassed. “It does?”

  Sure. Doesn't it feel good when someone massages your back?

  “Yes, but you're a horse!”

  Before you said I was a person! Suddenly the animal was engulfed by a bright light and human Allen was back.

  “Want to try it?” he asked.

  “Um...you mean I should be a horse?”

  “You need to, Corinne.” There was almost a warning look in his eyes, and I was taken aback. Was this a threat?

  “Why do I need to?”

  “Why? You see what's hap
pening all around you? Reality is not as you knew it. The seemingly impossible is very real! Aren't you curious what's out there?”

  “Well, yes, but why does it make it important for me to be a horse?”

  He sighed. “You don't ache to change?”

  I listened closely to my body. There was no “aching”.

  “I want you to share it, Corinne. Please, consider it.”

  “I'll think about it,” I replied guardedly. “You’ll have to give me

  some time.”

  “Good. I'll see you tomorrow.”

  I ARRIVED HOME TO FIND Uncle Jonas reclining comfortably at our kitchen table with my parents standing directly behind him. His hands were crossed in front of him primly, and he wore a deep, focused demeanor. “You have some questions you want to ask me, Corinne?”

  My face burning what had to be a crimson hue, I threw myself onto the chair directly across from him, glaring at all three of them. I guess my parents had suggested he come by to set things straight with me.

  “Of course I have questions! Tell me what that fake death certificate is for, to start with.”

  “It's not fake,” he responded slowly and deliberately, pausing between each word for emphasis. I’d swear I felt his gaze boring into my skull.

  “So you're dead?”

  “No, of course not.” A slight smile played at the corner of his eyes. “But I did die.”

  I snorted, more bewildered than ever. “What are you talking about, Uncle Jonas? How old are you?” Despite my confusion, it felt liberating to finally be stripping away at the veil of mystery that had always surrounded him.

  “Well, that's not really fair, see–”

  He paused, at a loss for words. I had never known the brilliant physicist to have a problem speaking, and I felt a twinge of guilt for pushing him to places he didn’t want to go. I pressed on, needing to know the truth. “Everything says you're born in 1908. Are you one-hundred twenty-three years old?”

  “No, I'm more like...”

  Mom leaned over toward me. “Time travel, Corinne. Back in 1976 a truly evil man got him drunk and, well, Jonas was hit by a car in 1922.”

  Professor Jonas Fox got drunk? I’d never even seen him tipsy. “So he died in 1922?”

  “Originally,” Dad contributed. “But your mom and I rescued him and brought him here to our present.”

  “That was back in 2012,” Jonas interjected. “So I've been back among the living for nearly twenty years, I'm pleased to tell you,” he added with a grin.

  I did some quick math. That still made him nearly ninety.

  “Yes, he's old,” Mom verified. “My dad helps him out with that.”

  “Helps?”

  “He can make people look younger and keep them healthy. They can live for many, many years.”

  So my grandfather was some kind of healer too. Did that mean that the family tree listing of “Leah (Lisette) 1761-2013” was correct? I had to look at that tree again.

  “Who took you back in time, Uncle Jonas?”

  “Oh, Corinne, it's quite a story,” he glanced at my parents, who looked remorseful. “Someone your father rescued was angry at us for many reasons. In short, he blamed us for ruining his life. To get back at me, he got me drunk and forced me to travel back. See, I'm a time traveler too.” He pushed his hand into his pocket and played with his keys.

  My jaw dropped. Of course he was a time traveler. Every physicist should be a time traveler. It was perfect.

  “It's nearly impossible that there are so many travelers now. There was me, and then there was Julian. Patricia either picked it up from us, or inherited it. Daniel apparently got it from her. It shocks me, as travelers are one in a billion, yet our family has produced so many in one century.”

  “Corinne, you come from very strong family lines on both sides,” Mom said quietly.

  Jonas bowed his head and continued, “I told Daniel this, and I'll tell you too. You can't interfere with history, as we learned so many times. Can it be changed? Absolutely! Your dad's done it more times than I can count! He and Patricia changed my history completely! But sometimes, and you never know when or how, the effects can be catastrophic.”

  Both of my parents nodded vigorously in agreement.

  But why was he telling me this? “Uncle Jonas, I'm not a time traveler!”

  “Have you tried it?”

  “Well, sort of,” I mumbled.

  He leaned closer in to me. “Corinne, you are the daughter of very powerful people. You are the product of two exceptionally gifted families coming together. You may very well be extraordinary!”

  “Or not. And that's okay, too,” Mom tacked on.

  “I made flowers and stuff in the woods,” I said weakly.

  “You're in the woods again?” Mom reprimanded.

  My father took an involuntary step forward. “What do you mean, Corinne?”

  I was loath to tell them about Allen, so I passed over his role in all this. “There was a burnt area, and I wished that it was restored, and the next day, it was.”

  All three glanced at each other.

  “Like my father,” Mom whispered.

  “Like you too, Patricia,” Dad said.

  “You fixed that bleeding heart plant in our backyard,” Mom pointed out to me.

  Well, I guess if I could create a garden, I could fix a plant. “I also had a dream that came true.”

  Dad poked Mom in the shoulder. “You've had that too.”

  “Yes. But it happened only once to her so far, so we don't know if it's real or coincidence.”

  “But what set her abilities off?” Uncle Jonas cut in.

  When Jonas said “her abilities” in relation to me, the enormity of the whole situation hit me, and I swallowed hard. Was I really “special” now, too?

  The three adults studied me like they were researching a science experiment.

  “You haven't had anything horrible happen to you lately,” Mom stated, although it was more like a question. Actually, I'd had the life scared out of me by a man transforming into a monster before my very eyes, so that could be it... Although I had replanted the bleeding heart plant before that...

  Was it possible to have abilities that worked without being set off? I wondered if anyone knew.

  So many things had been disclosed to me, and there were many more questions to ask, but I couldn't sort them out in my mind. It was hard to completely accept any of the fantastical events that were attacking my hold on reality from every angle. But if I really had this plant ability, maybe there were more discoveries ahead of me!

  Greatly excited, I joined my family in a hearty dinner that my mother “conjured”, as she called it. She provided a veritable feast, with every choice of food we could ask for. Now I knew how Mom had gotten all the food for the party. She had created it from nowhere while cooking a few things on the stove for appearances' sake.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Allen came to my window that night in the form of a large moth. I sensed his presence, even in my sleep. This time he was more exotic-looking, with a reddish body and enormous feathery antennae.

  I'm a cecropia moth, he told me.

  Mesmerized, I opened the window and he fluttered into my moonlit room. I sat back down on my bed, and he landed beside me on the night table.

  Have you thought about letting me change you?

  “Allen, I told you I'd see you tomorrow!”

  Oh, Corinne! I couldn't wait! Look at this night! It's the perfect early summer evening, and I was flying through the skies and... I was lonely. I love it here, and I never want to go back, but at the same time, I do miss my friends and family...

  “But it's two in the morning!”

  And yet he set me to thinking. What was it like for him to be in the future? Had it been hard to learn our customs and language? Did he experience culture shock from how advanced everything was? Our technology must have seemed magical to him, and yet he didn't seem at all flustered enduring life in the
twenty-first century.

  I leaned down to study the perfect patterns on his delicate wings. “You really are beautiful. How do you do it?” I breathed. “You're this big man, and then you're this small creature. Where does the rest of you go?”

  Jonas thinks the extra mass stays as an aura of energy. Now, from what I've learned of physics, that would be a lot of energy, you know, with E=MC2 and all. Jonas says the energy must be contained somehow, since no changer has ever caused an explosion...

  I figured that the haze I saw around him was simply due to the moonlight. But it suddenly hit me that each time he was in a transformed state, he possessed that same nearly-indiscernible glow. I stared intently at the area surround his current moth body, and he noticed.

  You see my aura, don't you? For once, Allen was the one who seemed genuinely astonished.

  “Maybe?” I replied, for some reason not sure if I should reveal this information to him.

  Come, come. All the more reason you must change with me. Come fly!

  “I...I don't want to be small like that... And I'm afraid...”

  So we'll start off easy. Meet me in the yard!

  “Um, again, it's two in the morning!”

  Perfect! No one will see us! Hurry!

  He flapped back outside, and I hesitated. My heart was thumping in my chest. What would it be like to not be human? What would it feel like to change? Building up my resolve, I made up my mind. After all, if Daniel could do it, I could too!

  I threw on a shirt and shorts, then crept downstairs as cautiously as I could, trying not to let the stairs creak. If my parents saw what I was up to, they'd probably land me in the next century – literally.

  I unlocked the back door and went out, closing it behind me carefully. Allen brushed at me with his wings, and I almost swatted him away instinctively, laughing as I realized what I was doing.

  Hey! Stop it! he protested.

  “Sorry, sorry! I wasn't thinking! Now, I guess we should go into the woods so my parents don't see flashing lights from when you change me.”

  Follow me!