Magic In The Woods

Chapter Seven

It was beautiful.

Bright lights adored the place, smiling faces and astonishing acts filled Cosette with pleasure. She stood in awe.

"After you, m'lady," Jack held out a hand and motioned her to go inside.

Cosette's eyes glimmered and she giggled, excited by the things she was seeing and might see. She soon left the cold breeze of the night and welcomed the air of thrill and festivity. She trotted forward and was even more amazed when she entered. Her head looked up and down, and all over the place. A ballerina was dancing on one side, with her grace and poise in every movement and step. A fire breather lit up the place with huge flames on one side of the tent. She had never been to this kind of place before, surely.

Finding no words to say, Cosette can never remove the huge smile on her face. A lion was being fed by its master, and an elephant was trying to stand on a funny- looking ball. The whole place was glowing.

A man with bunny ears riding a one- wheeled bike swooshed past Cosette, which startled her and at the same time, impressed her. "What is this place?" She asked without removing her eyes from all the wonders. A lady with wings as white as cotton flew over them, her wings magestically lifting her and twisting her through the air. Cosette soon realized she had been standing there for too long, and so she turned around to find Jack.

He was nowhere to be found. Her grip on the backpack tighten. "Jack?" She was starting to worry. Did he left her? Is she on her own now?

"Jack?" She called again, desperately looking for his figure among the circus people. Her feet started moving backwards, thinking that she could see better if she moved from her place. Her head turned from left to right, but saw no Jack.

Then, she heard him. "I'm here."

Jack!

She turned to the direction where the voice had come from.

Her eyebrows met instantly. Is he playing with me?

There was no one, just the performers and the actors. "Darling, look down." This time, Cosette heard Jack again, and actually saw him; but in a furry and small way.

"Jack?" What was standing infront of Cosette was no human, but a fox. A fur- coated and an adorable red fox.

It looked up at her with its beady, black eyes. "Yes, it is me," the fox answered. Cosette gasped in shock. "What happened?" she asked. She can't believe this! Jack is a fox! It's impossible!

The fox sat down on the dirt. "What happened is, your damn brother cursed me. And oh, blackmailed me," it answered.

"My brother?" She was utterly confused. "I don't have a brother, Jack. I'm an only child!"

"Well, if that's what you think, then I'm sorry to tell you love, but you. Have. A. Brother."

What is happening?

She placed her hand on her head, trying to clear things up and wake up into reality.

"Anyway," Jack, as a fox, stood on his paws. "Before you faint, or make any dramatic move, like ahem, running away from your aunt, we should go meet him now. And then you go take a rest, because I am sure that once you faint, it's not going to be easy for me to drag you to a room." Jack turned around. "I don't have hands, I have paws for God's sake!" And so he started walking.

Cosette followed him with his tail swishing as he walked. Jack led her to another tent, which was connected to the first one she came into. But this one was smaller, but more grand. It's walls a shade of maroon with a chandelier hanging above the roof. Wooden cabinets covered the walls, containing weird- looking jars and stuff that Cosette had never seen before.