Le Renard

Fox 9

"That reminds me..." Alistair began before clearing his throat. "While we were in the forest the hiking path disappeared on us."

"The forest has a mind of its own to be honest. During the day there is a clear path that hikers can travel along however at night the path disappears and hikers are on their own. That is why students are not allowed inside the forest after sundown even if it's not curfew yet." He explained.

"Well that's really weird." I mused.

"Certain things on Academy grounds can't be explained nor do we try to explain it. Now if you'll excuse me the Headmaster is calling for me. I will be back to speak to your further about what happened last night." He excused himself and walked out.

"Wait! Did he say last night?" I questioned.

"Yeah, you've been asleep for quite a while. Jason says he thinks it's because of the flames. He believes that your Kitsune used up a lot of your energy trying to protect us and once your Kitsune saw that things were alright it went away leaving you unconscious." Alistair explained.

"That's so much to try and understand." I sighed heavily.

"You have to remember that your Kitsune spirit is a part of you and it's what makes you an excellent familiar but at the same time it's an entirely separate entity that has intense primal instincts that causes it to react in certain ways. He saw Levi and I in trouble and the need to protect emerged regardless of how much strength you physically had it was determined to protect." He explained.

"My head hurts..." I groaned just trying to piece everything together.

"Don't worry we'll discuss it all later and I'm sure Jason wouldn't have a problem trying to explain it better to us." Levi suggested.

"No, I wouldn't at all." Another voice entered the conversation.

"Did they catch the creature?" Levi questioned excitedly jumping up.

"No they haven't but don't you worry about it I'm sure they will. There's only so much ground to cover and the spell they have up now means that nothing can enter or leave the grounds until it's been lifted." He explained. "The three of you will be staying here in the infirmary until Tae is completely healed and is given the go ahead from the head nurse. Mr. Corin and I will come down to check on you later. Get some rest you guys."

With that Jason left for a second time that day leaving me with more questions than answers. There was something that they were trying to keep under wraps and the more I thought about it the more confusing everything seemed to get. I was already an anomaly when it came to familiars and then now this.

Before anything else could be said Levi shifted into his smaller fox and hopped into the bed besides me. He curled his bushy red tail around his small frame and went to sleep. Alistair smiled lightly before he as well climbed into the bed on the other side of Levi and instantly fell asleep. My guess is that they had been up for a while waiting to see what happened with me.

I lay back in the bed as the lights dimmed on their own accord and tried to get some sleep but it just wasn't happening. Lying there with my eyes wide open I stared up at the ceiling and tried to recount something, anything, no matter how small that would tell me what it was that I was missing.

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"I heard that they snuck out after curfew and went back to the mortal realm for two nights."

"Well I heard that they went to a realm that wasn't even their own." One whispered.

"I heard that they're not actually students here at all."