Uly hopped into the faint light, making little splashes. There came another rustle from above, and the foxes cowered, eyes wide, waiting to see if the bats would awaken.
When the rustling fell still, Mia studied her friend. His fur was covered in mud. It was no wonder she couldn’t smell him.
“No, I’m sorry,” she said. “Sorry it took me so long to get down here. Wynn doesn’t leave the rocks very often. And he won’t let me take food out of the vixens’ quarters.”
“It’s okay,” Uly said. “I’m used to being hungry.”
It was so pathetic Mia wasn’t sure whether to whimper or laugh.
“You should come up to the rocks!” she whispered brightly. “There’s lots of food and nice ladies that clean your face.”
Uly shook his head. “If Mr. Scratch sees me, he’ll kill me.”
“Riiiiight,” Mia said. “But what if he doesn’t? What if your dad’s not as bad as you think? He fed me and gave me a good place to sleep. He even said I could stay here through the winter if I wanted.”
“Easy for you to say,” Uly said. “You still have all your paws.”
Mia huffed, irritated. “No one cares about that. And your dad’s name is Wynn, by the way. Not Mr. Scratch.”
Uly trembled. He hadn’t really stopped trembling.
Mia gave up the argument. Uly was afraid of everything, and there was nothing she could do to talk him out of it.
A drip echoed somewhere deep in the darkness, swiveling her ears.
“How far back does it go?”
“I dunno,” Uly said. “I haven’t left this spot. Far, I think.”
Another drip echoed deep in the cave’s throat.
A breeze blew into the cave, and Mia thought she smelled lilac.
“I should get back before the vixens wake up,” she said. She gave Uly’s muzzle a lick. “But at least let me clean some of this mud—”
“Don’t,” he said, wrenching his head away. “He’ll smell me.”
Mia pulled back, a little hurt. “Fine,” she said. “We’ll leave tomorrow. My throat’s feeling better, and my claw’s almost healed enough for walking. Not sure my tail will ever grow a white tip, though.”
Uly stared into the water around his forepaw. “I … I don’t want to leave.”
Mia gave her head a shake. “Wait, huh?”
She spoke a little too loudly, and the ceiling shivered, making them both crouch.
Once the bats quieted, Uly’s eyes shined toward the entrance. “My mom’s up there. I can smell her.”
Mia quirked her head. “You sure?”
“Yeah. I didn’t think she’d come here so soon. My sisters must have left to start their dens. Either that or something happened to them.”
Mia thought of the two vixens in the roost. Odette and Mercy. Their glazed eyes. Their strange manners. Could one of them really be Uly’s mom?
“I hate to say it, Uly,” Mia said, “but the vixens up there seem … well, happy.”
Just a weird sort of happy, she didn’t say.
“They’re not,” Uly said.
Mia narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure you’re not just being selfish?”
Uly stared at his forepaw.
“What’s your mom’s name? Odette? Mercy?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I just called her Mom.”
“Okay, what’s she look like?”
“Um … like me?”
Mia examined his muddy face. Little black wisps were forming on his muzzle, and his sunset eyes were blazing away the last of the blue. She almost told him he was starting to look more like his dad than anything but then thought better of it.
“Oh,” Uly said. “I just remembered something. My mom has the top of one of her ears missing.”
“Great!” Mia said. “I’ll go see which vixen is missing part of an ear and then tell her you’re here! We can all leave together!”
“But,” Uly whispered, “what if he follows her down here, and he … finds me?”
“Well, Uly,” Mia said, “either we leave or we stay. You can’t have it both ways.”
When he didn’t answer, she sloshed toward the cave mouth. “I’ll go find your mom and come for you next time Wynn goes hunting. We’ll all sneak out of here. No problem.”
Uly did not look encouraged there in the darkness.
“Come on,” she said. “Have I ever led you astray? And remember, following that raccoon’s tail in the swamp doesn’t count. That was all you.”
He sighed in defeat.
“Sleep tight!” she whispered. “Don’t let the cave bats bite!”
As the horizon grew hazy with dawn, Mia crept back to the vixens’ quarters.
“And where have you been this night?”
Wynn stared down at her from his high roost.
“Good morning!” she said quickly. “Did you get that food I asked for?”
He nodded toward the ground at a shriveled apple filled with worms.
Mia wrinkled her muzzle. “Ew.”
“You did not answer my question,” Wynn said.
Mia looked toward the chasm to the north. “I was just trying to figure out where I wanted to search for my mom, now that I’m all healed up. I’ll probably leave tonight or tomorrow.”
Wynn narrowed his eyes.
“I know, I know,” Mia said, rolling hers. “Dark things in the mists. Don’t want to draw their attention and stuff.”
“The creatures are not the only thing you should fear.”
“What do you mean?”
He sniffed down the hill. “I believe I’ve smelled an intruder. A male fox. Young.” Wynn’s sunset eyes flashed toward her. “Have you smelled anything?”
“Nope,” Mia said.
“Mm.” A growl crackled in his throat.
“Just out of curiosity,” she said, “what would you do if a fox did come here? Chase him off like you did the badger?”
“I would kill him,” Wynn said.
“Oh,” Mia said, gulping. “That’s a relief.”
She wanted to ask if that included his own son, but that would give Uly away.
Wynn leapt from his perch, landing so close Mia had to move her tail. “With all of these creatures sneaking into my kingdom—badgers, foxes—I am going to advise that you delay the search for your mother.”
“But … if I wait too long, I might lose her.”
“Perhaps,” Wynn said. “Is that not what growing up is all about?”
A heat spread to Mia’s ears. He didn’t know that she’d had to leave her den too soon. That she never got to say goodbye. “How come you want me to stay so bad?” she asked.
He chuckled. “It is you who wants to stay. You just don’t realize it yet.”
He padded circles around her, and Mia turned her paws, keeping him in sight.
“You have everything you could ever want here, Mia,” Wynn said. “Food. Safety. Vixens to call sisters. If you desire anything else, all you have to do is name it.”
“I told you like three times already,” she said. “I want to find my mom.”
He continued to pace. “This is the season you would have left your den, is it not?”
“Yeah. So?”
“Your eyes are nearly golden. You’re now able to make choices for yourself.”
“That’s true,” she said. “And I want to leave.”
Wynn stopped pacing with a sigh. “Perhaps I was mistaken. It seems you’re still too immature to understand how dangerous it is out there. Fortunately, I am an adult who can make choices for you. And I choose to have you stay.”
The sun broke over the horizon and beamed on Wynn’s ashen face. Mia’s breath caught. She had seen the lord of the Lilac Kingdom only by moonlight. But in the light of the sun, his skull seemed crooked in his fur. His fangs held a yellow tint. One eye rolled ever so slightly in the wrong direction.
A coldness crept through Mia’s bones. “You said I could leave. Anytime I wanted.”
Wyn
n laughed quietly. “You can. But only if you can outrun me.”
Her body went numb.
“I must go and rescent the border,” he said, padding along the chasm’s edge. He looked back and smiled, showing his yellow fangs. “I will give you time to get used to the idea of remaining in my kingdom.”
He descended, and Mia sat in shock. Soon, great wafts of lilac scent crept up the rocks, making her eyes water and her stomach roll. She had to get Uly out of there before Wynn found him. She remembered what Uly said about his mom’s clipped ear and slipped back into the vixens’ quarters.
“Good morning, child,” Odette said.
“Is another storm coming?” asked Mercy.
Mia’s jaw clamped shut. Both vixens were missing the top of one ear.
FIVE
AS MERCY AND Odette went about their day, Mia snuck glances their way. One of these vixens was Uly’s mom. But which one?
Their fur was different colors—elk’s blood for Mercy and raspberry for Odette. But Uly’s coat was darker, with blackberry tones, and a muzzle growing black with autumn. He didn’t share either of their ears, noses, or eyes.
If Mia told the wrong vixen about Uly, Wynn would find out. She was sure of it.
“Come bask in the sun,” Odette called to her.
“Yes, join us,” said Mercy. “Before the rain returns.”
Mia lay on the open rock, eyes cracked, watching the vixens for Uly’s mannerisms. But they both made the same relaxed movements and spoke with the same quiet kindness.
“You look upset, child,” Odette said.
“Yes,” Mercy said. “What’s on your mind?”
“I, um, had a nightmare last night,” Mia said. “About … ears. How’d you lose the tops of yours?”
Mercy gave a soft smile. “No need to be frightened, dear. It won’t hurt too much.”
Mia’s ears flattened. “What do you mean?”
Odette pricked her tipless ear proudly. “This is Wynn’s way of marking us as part of his kingdom. It means we get to remain here forever.”
Mia gulped. The tips of her ears started to ache.
“Don’t worry,” Mercy said. “He’ll do it when you aren’t looking, and it heals quickly.”
Mia’s head jerked to make sure the lord of the Lilac Kingdom wasn’t sneaking up behind her. Here was another reason to figure out which vixen was Uly’s mom and escape as quickly as possible; Mia wanted to get her ears far away from Mr. Scratch.
She cleared her throat. Uly had mentioned he came from the Boulder Fields.
“Where did you both live before you came here?”
“We came to Wynn as young vixens,” Mercy said.
“But not before our first winter,” said Odette. “You should be honored.”
“I am,” Mia lied.
What could she do? If neither vixen looked like Uly, and they wouldn’t tell her about their ears or if they came from somewhere bouldery, then how was she supposed to tell which of them was—
Mia’s whiskers perked.
“I’m hungry,” she said. “Are you guys hungry?”
She headed toward the food stores. But instead of walking, she curled her front left leg into her chest and hopped.
“What happened to your paw, child?” Odette asked.
“What, this?” Mia said, looking at it. “I just stepped on a sharp rock.”
“Don’t let Wynn see you like that,” Mercy said.
“He despises weakness,” said Odette.
“I won’t,” Mia said, continuing to hop. “Thanks.”
She’d seen exactly what she needed. At Mia’s first hop, Odette’s lips had curled ever so slightly. But Mercy’s eyes had softened.
* * *
That night, Mia waited until Wynn was tucked in his roost and then crept from her corner and gently nuzzled Mercy’s side.
The vixen awoke with a jerk, and Mia said, “Shh.”
Mercy curled her lips into a soft smile. “What is it, dear?”
“I need to tell you something,” Mia whispered. “Outside.”
Mercy’s eyes made a little upward pull toward Wynn’s roost. “Whatever it is, child, surely you can say it here.”
Mia glanced at Odette, sleeping in the corner. She second-guessed herself. Was Mercy trying to keep them hidden from Wynn’s eyes, or was she saying there were no secrets in the Lilac Kingdom?
“Uly’s here,” Mia whispered. “He’s hiding in the caves.”
Mercy tilted her head, as if she had no idea what Mia was talking about.
“He’s waiting for us to come get him,” Mia whispered, “so we can all get out of here.”
Mercy’s smile didn’t so much as twitch.
Mia kneaded her paws, feeling as if she’d just made a terrible mistake.
“Go to sleep, child,” Mercy said, laying her head back down. “Go to sleep.”
Mia returned to her corner. But sleep would not come until the quarters flooded with lilac scent, making her eyes droop and then fall shut.
SIX
THE NEXT MORNING, sunlight bled between the rocks, stirring Mia’s eyelids.
All was quiet. The winds were still.
Something was wrong.
She rolled upright and found the quarters empty. No Odette. No Mercy.
Mia leapt to her paws and slipped outside. Forget waiting for the perfect moment—she was going to get Uly from the cave and leave the Lilac Kingdom right then. Even if she had to drag him by his scruff.
She rounded the chasm’s edge and then stopped when she saw Mercy. The vixen was dragging Uly’s freshly bloodied body up the hill. He was alive and whimpering.
Mia’s heart started to pound. A snarl ignited in her throat. Would she be able to beat Mercy in a fight?
“Well, well,” a voice said behind her. “Look what Mercy found.”
Mia turned to find Wynn.
“Did you know about this?” he asked.
“I—I—”
“She did not,” Mercy said, dropping Uly’s scruff near the rocks. “I smelled him in the cave when the winds fell still.”
Uly tried to push up onto his forepaw but then collapsed. His fur was slick with blood. Mia tried to meet Mercy’s eye, but the vixen refused to look at her.
“What will you do with him?” Mercy asked Wynn.
“I?” Wynn said. “I will do nothing. I told you that it must be the mother who takes care of useless kits.”
Mercy gave Uly a pitying look. “If I kill him,” she asked Wynn, “will you let me return to the Boulder Fields and check on my girls?”
Teeth clenched around Mia’s heart.
Wynn sneered. “I suppose the cripple’s death would make up for your keeping him a secret … Very well.”
Mercy looked at Uly. “I’m sorry, my son.”
Uly trembled, blinking the blood from his eyes. “Mom. Please. I’ll be good. I’ll leave and never come back. I’ll—”
Mercy shook her head. “I can’t spare your life and lose your sisters. Your father made me leave them when he discovered I’d betrayed him. They’re all alone back at the den and still need guidance before…” Her voice trembled and failed. “Be still now.”
Uly looked so tired. Like he had given up. He squeezed his eyes shut as his mother opened her jaws around his throat.
“Stop!” Mia cried out. “You can’t kill your own son!”
Mercy finally looked at her, jaw quavering.
Mia whirled on Wynn. “Why do you want Uly dead? He’s not hurting anyone!”
Wynn curled his lip. “So. You did know he was hiding here.”
Mia’s legs started to shake. She couldn’t help it.
Wynn huffed. “The runt was born deformed.” He nodded toward Mercy. “This wife took pity on it and gave it some of the stronger kits’ rations, without my knowledge.” His voice grew quiet and dangerous. “I do not abide other male foxes in my kingdom. Especially crippled ones.”
So that’s why Uly had never told Mia about his p
ast. His family had tried to get rid of him, and he was ashamed. But she couldn’t think about that now. If she could just make Wynn angry, she could get him to chase her, giving Uly and his mom a chance to escape.
“Guess you’re just afraid of your own son, then,” Mia said to Wynn.
His smile sharpened. “You’re joking.”
“Nuh-uh,” she said, starting to back downhill. “You’re worried he’ll steal all the vixens.”
Wynn laughed. His paws didn’t budge. “What vixen would ever den with that?”
“I would,” Mia said, avoiding Uly’s eyes.
Wynn laughed outright. “What, and have a litter of wall-eyed, wobbling kits with crooked ears and dangling tongues?”
He wasn’t coming after her. She had to get meaner.
“Anything is better than you,” Mia said.
“Excuse me?” The words rolled out of Wynn, gravelly and slow.
He took a step toward her, making puddles of Mia’s legs, but she kept backing up.
“You heard me,” she said. “Uly’s a far greater fox than you’ll ever be. He may be missing a foreleg, but at least he isn’t missing a heart.”
The sound Wynn made might have been a laugh had it not been so filled with rage. He stepped closer as Mia continued to back away.
“Also?” she said. “Your scent? It smells like shrew butts.”
Wynn stopped walking. His eyes flashed upward, and he smiled. “Well, I do hope you’ll grow accustomed to it in the years to come.”
There was a rush from above, and then teeth were around Mia’s throat, pinning her to the ground. Mia struggled, but Odette’s jaws clenched tighter, making it hard to breathe.
Wynn padded close. “Watch,” he said, his snarling lips near Mia’s. “Watch what happens to crippled kits who enter my kingdom.”
Odette wrenched Mia’s neck so her eyes were pointed toward Uly. He only shuddered as his mother again opened her jaws around his throat.
“Wait!” Mia said. “I’ll stay!”
“Don’t, Mia,” Uly said pathetically.
“I will!” Mia cried to Wynn. “I’ll stay here if you let Uly go! I won’t put up a fight! I’ll even say nice things about you!”
“Silly girl,” Wynn said. “What makes you think I can’t have both?”
Before Mia could even blink, Mercy seized Uly by the throat and shook him until he fell still. Then she reared back her head and hurled his body into the chasm.
Scary Stories for Young Foxes Page 14
