“You aren’t very good at this game.” He teased. “That’s clearly a coyote.”
“Well smart guy, what would my second soul be?” She asked, turning her head as if to display her features. He stole quick glances at her between traffic lulls. He did not answer for some time. Briar wondered if he didn’t want to play anymore.
“European hare.” He finally answered quietly.
“A freaking rabbit?” she said, wrinkling her nose.
“Hey man you asked.” Eric said defensively. “It fits.”
The ride became tense, until it wasn’t. Briar laughed at the absurdity of arguing with a fox about what animal she was, with a possible owling inside her. Eric glanced sideways at her as she let herself laugh like a madman. Eric joined in, although he didn’t seem to know why. Maybe he had his own reasons. Their laughter died as they pulled up to their destination, as if they forgot what they were doing in the car to begin with.
“Time to show off for the animals,” he said glumly.
***
She did not realize that seeing his friends would mean having to pretend. To the town, the press, the police, her and Eric consummated their relationship after he nursed her back to health. On the rare occasions that the two had to go somewhere together hushed conversations followed.
To his Woodswalker friends, he came home with a mate just as planned. Everyone in his life knew what his trip really meant. She wondered what it would mean for his reputation when she went back to living on her own. Whenever that was. If ever that was. If she gave the child up for adoption, she would have no reason to stay. If she kept it, she would not want to be a burden on him. He had been through enough thanks to her.
They sat in a rough circle in the mostly unfinished basement of another family of foxes. Briar glanced at Eric as they had descended the stairs. His fists remained clenched the whole way down. She wondered how he could do this every week.
“We didn’t think he would actually do it,” a tall boy with a badger skin said. They had made a very obnoxious show of running out in their true skins as they pulled up to the battered white house.
“He kept saying he wouldn’t honor the tradition and yet here you are,” the host said, a darker furred fox who lived in the basement.
“Here I am,” Briar said nervously, patting Eric awkwardly on the shoulder. “Nice to meet y’all.”
“And with a human no less,” another thin boy said, peering closer at her dull eyes with an annoyed expression. A weasel in both skins as it turned out.
Briar remembered what Pepper had said about weasels. She knew it was rude to ask but she was awfully tempted to ask him about his views on creation. Her heart hurt thinking about her, but the pain was lessening every day.
“You guys are just jealous,” Eric said, shoving the weasel playfully. Or at least, it should have been playfully.
They settled into their nest of pillows and blankets in front of the large television resting heavily against the concrete floor. The badger held up two VHSes, arguing with the host fox over which to watch first. The lights were hushed.
He held his hand out by his side, palm up. He did so slowly, he did not look at her directly. It was as if he were approaching a frightened animal. She supposed she was. There was no expectation of taking it. All of his friends were focused on themselves. This small act of comfort was only between them. She placed her hand in his.
Maybe it did not feel like pretending.
Please Enjoy an Excerpt of
PINFEATHERS
The second book in the woodswalker novels coming December 2020
Preorder available Soon on Amazon!
Prologue
There was another moment, at another house, that Heather wasn’t sure if she had dreamed. She was small, not yet in school and finally finding her voice.
The barbeque was celebrating something, but she did not remember what. All the smells of meat and snacks excited her. She spent the first hour running beneath all of the new strangers until she was finally allowed to put on her water wings and swim in the neon yellow inflatable pool.
She laid on her back in the water, feeling the world get muffled and far away. There was only sky, thick clouds racing away from the mountains. She wanted to go where they made the clouds, up where the land meets the sky. When the house was empty save for her mother and herself, she always told her the rest of the grown ups were visiting the cloud land.
Her bubble of sky was interrupted by an unfamiliar face. Heather sat up in the water. Her new friend was a younger toddler, barely able to walk without swinging her little arms out for balance. She did not have a bathing suit , nor any other clothing.
The new girl splashed the pool water with her hands, giggling in a strange sort of high pitched tone. She splashed the new girl. They splashed each other. The little girl stumbled her way over the inflated edge of the pool.
“Briar,” a stranger said.
She did not remember if they spoke, or how long they were playing together, but she did remember distinctly the look of panic on her mother’s face when she came back outside from grabbing more drinks from inside.
“Heather,” her mother shouted.
Sharp words from her mother. The exact words did not stick, but the tone stuck to her. Her little face twisted in confusion. What had she done wrong?
The other adults grew silent as her mother pulled her from the kiddie pool. There was no drying off. A trail of water followed them into the house. She tried to look over her mother's shoulder to say goodbye to her new friend but her mother held her down.
Her father rushed in from outside, beer in hand. “What happened?”
She wiggled out of her mother's hands to run to the sliding glass door. She searched for her new friend but could not see her. Her disappointment was short lived, when she spotted a shivering form. A fawn, walking back towards the treeline.
“Daddy a baby deer!” she squealed.
Her mother rushed over to her, pulling her up and away from the door. She complained about her mother's already wet clothing.
“Is there anything funny about daddy’s eyes?” her mother asked. “It is very important that you tell me.”
Her father gave her a smile, but it did not reach his eyes. The mood in the room was uncomfortable. She just wanted to go back to playing.
“No,” she said.
Her arms soften around her. A shaky mouth kissed her damp hair. She allowed her to run back to the door. The friend was gone, the fawn was gone. At least she could get back in the pool.
“We have to move, Eric,” she said. After a pause, “I have to move.”
Then there was no house, there was no cloud maker, and her sky felt wrong.
A Word From the Author
Thank you so much for reading my debut novel, Pluck. I wrote it all during NaNoWriMo of 2017, my senior year of university. Sorry to all my professors who thought I was taking very thorough notes while I was writing graphic shapeshifter sex. My bad! It took me a year of edits and rewrites to release Pluck on eBook the following year, with lots of help from my close friend and fellow author Rebecca K. Sampson.
You can follow me on Instagram @emiliasmorrow, or get in touch via my website below.
https://emiliasmorrow.wixsite.com/emiliasmorrow
If you enjoyed the novel, please consider posting a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or on social media. Every review means the world to an indie author. If posting on Instagram, use #plucknovel and tag me @emiliasmorrow.
Thank you.
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