Scion of the Fox by S.M. Beiko

Author:S.M. Beiko
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ECW Press
Published: 2017-09-06T18:13:34+00:00

*

“. . . So, that led me to wonder, since Geneve passed her power on to me, maybe another Rabbit could give their power to Barton.”

It was just after sunset as we made our way back from Phae’s, the powdery fingers of dusk streaking everything with colour. The street lights had come on well before sunset, and the wind kicked snow up in their halos. The three of us had clung together as long as we could throughout the day, but I couldn’t stay away from Cecelia’s place forever. As much as I wanted to. Deedee’s worry-texts were blowing up my phone, and not in a pop-song way.

“I dunno, that Deer had to sort of, um, die for that to go through. Right?” I looked to Sil for reassurance. She was trotting openly beside us as we made our way up the Osborne Bridge and to my bus stop. I’d had to retire my bike after my ill-fated encounter with Arnas. I dared any of the curious passersby to make a comment as I walked stiffly beside her, but we were met with stares and the occasional tripping sidestep as people tried to avoid her. God, what is it going to take to show everyone in this city there is something weird going on right in front of them?

No one volunteered to answer my question about the open possibility of sacrificing some hapless flufftail, taking his powers, and letting Barton devour them, tribal-heart-eating-ritual style. We may have been moonlighting as a fringe secret society, but we weren’t at the sacrificing part just yet.

Sil stopped just as we passed the Roslyn building and the bridge started over the river. Her nose was in the air, seeking.

“What’s wrong?” I hissed. We were leading the pack with Phae and Barton a bit behind us; I’d wanted to give them some space. I hadn’t wanted to so blatantly walk over the river that wanted to eat me, but there was no way around that in this city.

“I can’t tell,” Sil murmured, still sniffing as we came to the middle of the bridge, the Assiniboine as still as death underneath us.

The Manitoba Legislature loomed nearby, and I’d fixed my gaze on it just as Sil barked “Wait!” and I lurched to a stop, looking around. Phae and Barton came up short behind us as I wheeled my bag around, grabbing the hilt of the garnet blade. I didn’t draw it yet — not with a crowd on all sides.

“What is it?” Barton asked in a tight tone, as though the wrong words would set off a bomb.

The street lights flickered above us. I was the first to see it, even though I didn’t know I had. A black shape parted from the sky above the dome of the legislative building, heading straight for us with grim intent. It banked towards the river, momentarily vanishing in the darkened treeline. “What —” I muttered, but Sil snarled, “Owl!” just as a torrent of screeching wings barrelled into

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