Family of the Fox, #1

by F. M. Isaacs

  He placed a small bowl of water down for me, and smiled as I sipped it and threw my head back to swallow.

  “Yes, you got the hang of drinking as a bird. Took me a while.”

  I looked at him reproachfully. Well, I don’t really have a choice, do I?

  “No you don’t. You do not.” He went off to his computer, shaking his head in amusement. Yes, I served as Allen’s live-in entertainment now.

  After my feast, I sat quietly, combing my feathers into place with my beak. They weren't as shiny as when I'd first been transformed, and it suddenly dawned on me: I hadn't showered since before I’d become a bird. That kind of disgusted me, and I guess Allen picked up on my dismay. He glanced up from his computer, chuckling.

  “You want to take a little bird bath, huh?” He rose and made his way over to the counter. “Yes, I guess you're overdue for a shower.” He cleared away several plates that had been sitting in the sink for days, and then plugged up the drain. “You only need a little bit to bathe in. We don't want you drowning in my kitchen sink.”

  His laughing infuriated me, but I held my tongue. The welcome sound of water met my ears, and Allen swept his hand through the basin. “That's about good,” he announced. “Your bath awaits, Madame!” He made an exaggerated bow in my direction.

  Thank you, I responded tightly, and flew right into the sink. The temperature was bearable, and my bird instincts kicked in on contact. I fluttered and splashed the water over myself, just like the sparrows did in my mother's birdbath. Allen observed nearby, a giant grin on his face.

  This time, his scrutiny made me feel hugely self-conscious. Stop watching me, Allen! I demanded, shaking out my wings and splattering him in the face. I did this on purpose, and as pointless as it was, it made me feel better.

  He merely wiped the water away. “Oh, but Corinne, you're quite adorable!”

  I scowled, trying to splash him again, but he moved out of my reach.

  “Oh, what, are you embarrassed? You have feathers! It's not like you're naked! Plus, you're doing much better than I do when I'm a bird. My feathers get pretty dirty before I remember to clean myself!” He retreated back to the computer and settled down yet again.

  With a few final shakes, I perched on the sink edge. I was refreshed, but incensed at what I deemed an invasion of my privacy. Even though I was covered in feathers, Allen had witnessed me bathing. Did he even think of me as a person anymore?

  All the way from the kitchen counter, I analyzed the perfection of his features. His silhouette curved in perfect proportion, as if it had been carved by a master sculptor. I remembered that the first time I'd met Allen, I'd imagined he seemed too fantastic to be real, but I never thought that that could literally be true. Now, armed with greater knowledge about his capabilities, I puzzled once more over whether his appearance was genuine.

  “No,” he said, without bothering to turn to me, “I don't really look this way. Well, I'm close, but not exactly. I made myself into what you found most attractive in a man.”

  Thanks a lot, Allen. I wish you'd get out of my mind.

  “Sorry,” he said airily. “Here's the real me, if you're interested.”

  His whole form grew brilliant, and a different man twisted back.

  He was slightly older and shorter. His wavy hair was near-black like my father's, but his skin was more olive-toned, and the nose more aquiline. What completely shocked me were the eyes.

  They were exactly the same color as my father's.

  I couldn't help but exclaim, Your eyes!

  He smiled, leaning back in the chair and crossing his legs. “Yup, after all these centuries, if we are related, maybe you don't see much family resemblance, but these famous greenies... Aaron the Changer's got them!”

  This made no sense! Dad's family had green eyes. That's where they'd gotten the last name from. It had originally been Grinoygen, which meant “Green eyes” in Yiddish.

  Allen would be from Mom’s father’s side – the Fox family.

  “Corinne, you know that way back we're all related. Jonas even said it's likely that anyone with these abilities probably stems from a common, very powerful ancestor who lived centuries ago.”

  Not you, I answered nastily.

  “No,” he chuckled. “Since I have a family history of astoundingly powerful people over the generations, I assume that ancestor is many centuries before me.”

  So are you my great-great...whatever grandfather?

  “Not necessarily. No proof there yet. I told you. I come from a family of eight children. You could stem from a sibling of mine, or even a cousin. But we'd still share a common ancestor.”

  His face dared me to ask more questions, and that was fine, because something else was eating at me. He could only read minds when the person was transformed.

  Exactly how did you find out what I liked in a man? I asked. Even I wasn't sure what I liked in a man. I never thought about it much.

  “This isn't the first time you had wings.”

  What? I was afraid to hear what was coming next.

  “I've met you before.”

  No, I would have remembered you... Unless he could make people forget like Mom could.

  “No, I can't do that. But I visited you as a moth before we ever met, and for a moment or two, I made you one also.”

  How dare you? I yelled, furious. He'd altered with my body without my permission! And yet I didn't recall anything about the experience whatsoever. But you couldn't have! I don't remember it!

  He laughed heartily. “You weren’t awake. I'm pretty good at a nice, gentle transformation. I picked at your mind, learned all about you, and you slept through it all. Your thoughts were an open book when you were sleeping. You were an attractive insect, too.” He winked.

  I was sickened. I felt so violated that I flew at him, talons aiming for his skin.

  “I wish you'd stop doing that,” he waved two fingers at me. My body flashed and became limp and powerless. I tumbled to the ground in a heap, unable to move.

  Taking time to click off the computer, he rose and gathered me up. My mind was fighting, but my body would not budge.

  What did you do to me now? I demanded, enraged.

  “You're made of cotton. And if you go at me again, I'll leave you that way.”

  Suddenly I could move again. I fluffed myself up in a huff.

  He reverted back to the blue-eyed Allen I knew, and tossed out, “Go preen yourself. You just had a bath, and already your feathers are messed up.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  The next time I got out, Allen allowed me to roam. “You're probably safer at night,” he pointed out. “And there's a nice moon coming out. You can go lunch on whatever unsuspecting creatures catch your fancy.”

  My bird-stomach growled. The idea of raw meat sounded so good. Living on pizza crusts and whatever Allen was generous enough to create for me was usually not enough, but I couldn't admit that to him.

  “Go plot with your oak tree-brother,” he snickered. “And good luck.”

  As I often did, I thought about how much I loathed that Allen controlled us. I flew over the forest, wishing I could return to his house and peck his eyes out. Of course even if I somehow got close enough to hurt him, he could always fix himself up. I was nothing compared to such a powerful man.

  Flapping through the twilight sky, I could almost sense the dark closing in on me. Although I was high up on the food chain, I was no longer human, and I couldn't safely assume that nothing would try to attack me. The night sounds were loud and harsh on my ears, and I jumped as a katydid buzzed past. It looked tasty...

  A bat whizzed by me and finished it off, and I swerved into a branch to dodge the furry mammal. I lost a few feathers to that encounter...

  Extremely on edge, I continued to search for Daniel. The woods loomed below me, a black void threatening to swallow me up. Daniel, I cried in my mind. Daniel, where are you? I'm so scared!

  Unintentionally, I let his name fall from my m
outh, but it materialized only as an anguished screech that echoed through the night. I hadn't realized how helpless it felt to be robbed of the ability to form words. But perhaps my call had done some good after all. I was suddenly aware of my brother's consciousness, a well of calm and content. I followed the familiar pull until he came into view, a defenseless young sapling, glowing in the moonlight.

  Daniel, I'm here.

  It took a moment for the tree to rouse from its slumber. Did trees sleep? But his reply was all the answer I needed, strange as it was.

  Sorry, I was napping. No sun to photosynthesize with, you know? Hey, don't hurt my branch when you land this time. Last time you sunk your nails right into me. My sap was flowing all over. It's all dry on me now, see it? Kinda like a scab!

  Viewing the dried sap on his bark, I was laughing in my mind, despite our grim circumstances. I could always count on Daniel to brighten up my day. He was the one who could lift me from any funk, although it was often through making fun of Matthew.

  And now he was a tree.

  And what was more, he still didn't seem to mind.

  How's it going, Corinne? Any nice male birds taking you out for drinks?

  Daniel was definitely Daniel, no matter what form he was in. Daniel, how could you joke? Aren't you scared? Don't you want to be a person?

  He hesitated for a moment. Not really.

  Why?

  One of his leaves fell lazily to the ground. This is so much nicer and easier, and I have a much longer life span.

  Life spans? Who was thinking of life spans here? Who cares? You'd still be a tree!

  Corinne, you should ask Allen to make you one so you see what I mean!

  I purposely dug my claws into his branch. I’d swear he visibly cringed even as a tree, but in any case, he didn’t say anything.

  Daniel, he made me into a jade statue before. There's no way I want to go back to being an object.

  I'm not an object! I'm a living organism!

  I didn’t answer him. There really was nothing to say. We sat there in silence, just listening to the sounds of the forest. Daniel’s forest.

  Sorry I missed your graduation, kid, he said out of the blue. So busy sunbathing, you know?

  How do you even know what day it is? I asked morosely.

  Oh, Allen keeps me up on the news. He apologized for keeping me from your celebration, and he told me how it went.

  My brother spoke like Allen’s actions were completely acceptable. And they weren’t! Daniel, aren’t you angry that he wouldn’t let you go to your own sister’s graduation?

  Well, I would have liked to be with you–

  I could see there was no reasoning with him in this state, and I was too miserable and tired to fight with him. Oh, Daniel! What should we do? I don’t want to be a bird forever!

  Finally, he suggested what he had said right before Allen had discovered us: Go to Mom and Julian.

  AS I FLEW FAR ABOVE my neighborhood, I sensed my parents even before I neared their house. Just as with Daniel, I could feel a tug in my gut, a familiarity beckoning me to come join them.

  I flapped over to the back door and looked in. No one was there, but I had a sneaking suspicion as to where my father would be. I knew I was getting closer to him as I approached the piano room window. It was kind of like a game of hot and cold.

  Peering in, I could see Dad slumped over the piano. He wasn’t playing; instead, his fingers stretched across the keys while he stared ahead, a vacant expression on his face. And for once, he looked old.

  I had never seen him in this light – I couldn't imagine Julian Greene as an older man. He was always so full of life even in his darker moments. Now that I knew so much more about him, viewing him this way only hurt more. My handsome father was more than just a doctor or pianist. Many people owed him and my mother their lives. What would this world be like without these brilliant men and women whom my parents had rescued?

  I pecked at the window. It was open a crack, but the screen kept me from entering the house. I probably could have teleported in, but I didn't want to scare my father any more than I needed to.

  When Dad didn’t respond, I tapped louder. He slowly turned to face me, and a look of annoyance passed over his face. “Brian?”

  Brian? Why was he calling my grandfather? No one else was in the room.

  He got up and walked grudgingly toward me. “Patricia's in the shower.”

  I shook my head “no” and waved my wings around a bit.

  Dad crept closer, regarding me intently as he opened the screen. “Brian?” he said again. “What’s with all the theatrics?”

  This time I squawked and shook my head back and forth several times.

  “Not...Brian?” He peered into my eyes, his mouth falling open. “But you have an aura...” Stunned, he reached out to me. “Corinne? Daniel?”

  I nodded, fluttering into his hands.

  “Corinne?”

  More nodding led him to draw me up and kiss me on my head. “Oh, my God! We were so worried! We couldn't find you!” He paused, looking me up and down. “Aldous got ahold of you. I knew it. Let me get your mother.” He didn’t bother to walk up the stairs. He just disappeared.

  It was funny – he was so happy to see me, but he didn't seem overly worried that I was a bird.

  Seconds later, he reappeared with Mom. Her hair was wet and she had thrown a bathrobe hastily around her dripping body. She ran at me, clasping her hands together and crying.

  “We looked all over for you, but we couldn't sense you!” She threw her arms around me and held me tightly. “We figured he was blocking your signature. He needs to be stopped. I'm so glad you were able to escape him, Corinne.”

  What did it matter? I'm destined to be a house pet, I thought to myself.

  “No you're not.”

  Before I could wonder if she had heard me, there was light, and I was me. Person-me.

  I stood open-mouthed, staring at my mother. “You?”

  “Yes,” she said, slightly embarrassed.

  A mixture of anger and shock welled up inside of me. Had I known this, I would have left Allen the very first night he let me fly. “Why didn't you tell me that you’re a changer? I can’t believe–”

  “Shh,” Mom calmed me. “It’s okay. I didn't get around to telling you yet. I would have soon, but I wanted to ease you into things a bit at a time. Transformation is a tough thing to accept. But now that Aldous divulged it all...”

  I wanted to scream. This whole calamity could have been avoided had I known about Mom. Yet if I had just told her about Allen...

  I swallowed hard.

  “Corinne, you can't let him know about us,” Mom whispered.

  “Us?” Now I was even more confused. “You mean you and Dad?”

  “Not Dad. I mean other changers.”

  “There's more?”

  “You know that crow?” my mother began. “The one that was cawing at you when you were re-planting the bleeding heart?”

  I gulped. The realization that was dawning on me was as hard to accept as learning that my own mother was a changer. “You called me Brian when I was at the window, Dad.”

  He nodded.

  “And Mom, why did you ask if Grandpa Brian had planted that plant? Was he there?”

  Dad coughed. “Oh, he was there.”

  I didn't say anything, and he continued, “The god-damned squawking crow? That was Brian. It's always Brian. He's a pain in the–”

  “Julian! That's my father you're talking about!” Mom cut him off.

  The revelation was yet another slap to my long-held beliefs about my life. I’d always had crows and birds flying around me. Or so I thought until now. Maybe they were my relatives all along... Grouchy Grandpa Brian, who watched history programs all day and often yelled back at them, could also become a crow?

  “Oh, Corinne,” Mom looked at me lovingly and started to choke up. “We flew all over the forest and the town, we were calling you...”

 
; I remembered the night I'd thought I'd detected voices as I was drifting off on my perch. “I think I heard you once, Mom.” Perhaps they'd flown overhead?

  “I really think he must have been blocking you, because we couldn't sense you. He's young to be so powerful.”

  “He's sure powerful,” I grumbled. “Look what he did to Daniel.”

  Mom jumped up. “What did he do? Do you know where he is? Is he alright?”

  I grimaced. “He’s a tree.”

  “Oh, thank God he’s okay!” She swept her hand across her face. “What happened to you both? How do you know it’s Daniel?”

  Well, he was hardly okay if he was a tree, but I didn’t say that to her.

  “Allen...Aldous turned me into a bird so I couldn't take him back to his own time...” The tension, fear, and horror of the past days rushed over me, and I finally ran into my mother's arms, sobbing and shaking. “Oh, God, it was so awful... He tied me to a perch at night!”

  My father’s face grew so red and enraged that I worried he would have a stroke. “Tied you?” He smashed his fist into the piano bench cushion. “An eighteen-year-old girl? He transforms you, ties you up at night, and what, keeps you as a pet?”

  “Oh, Corinne, Corinne. I’m so sorry! What a horrible man!” my mother exclaimed, vehemently shaking her head in disbelief. For several seconds, she ran her hands through my hair, smoothing out the tangles. “Don’t worry. You're safe now, and we'll help Daniel.”

  “Damned changers!” Dad spat, throwing himself back down on the piano bench. He snapped shut his Chopin book and tossed it to the side.

  I looked into Mom’s eyes, searching for more explanation. “Oh, Mom, I can’t figure it out... Daniel’s happy as a tree! He said he wants to stay like that! His mind is all messed up!”

  She smiled. “His mind is fine. Don’t worry about that.”

  “You know,” Dad remarked, “you still could have taken Aldous back in time even in bird form.” I could hear him struggling to control his anger. He rose from the piano, and then came over and placed his arms around us both.