FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Through unconsciousness, I felt the sensation of being dragged. When my eyes opened, my head was filled with a throbbing ache. I could see the empty branches of the autumn trees above and a quickly darkening overcast sky beyond. I groggily looked down my body to see the dog, massive and black pulling me through the woods by the edge of my pants. When it... when he saw I was awake, he spat out the cloth and sat down. I assumed he was waiting for me to stand and walk on my own. I did so.

We must make haste. Jonas's voice echoed in my ears.

"Wait. Why did you bite me?"

There was more anger in my tone than I had intended, but part of me was still angry at him.

Forgive me. I was desperately trying to get you away from your human life.

The dog hung his head as if being scolded. I looked at him suspiciously.

"And why didn't you cross the stream in the ravine?"

He cocked his head to the side.

I don't remember that. Are you sure it was me?

I had to admit that I wasn't sure. The black dog in the ravine could have been a normal animal. Though after everything I had witnessed lately, I doubted that anything was actually normal. I still had many questions, but an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach about the wooded area we were in made me hold off on asking them. Instead I just nodded.

"Alright. Lead on."

We walked for what seemed like hours. When darkness fell, I realized that it wasn't as difficult to navigate by moonlight as I previously thought it would be. The trees more and more resembled twisted giants, reaching for us with gnarled fingers as we hiked deeper into the underbrush. Eventually, we were so deep into the woods that the heavy branches overhead blocked most of the moonlight. I gripped a tuft of fur on Jonas's back for guidance. The fur was softer than it looked and I was surprised by his steady and careful steps. His more bestial aspects had drawn a more terrifying picture in my mind. My hungry stomach protested, sending bile to the back of my throat. I coughed and swallowed it as best I could.

Not long now... Jonas told me.

I followed obediently. He stopped at a patch of bramble and beckoned toward it with his glowing green eyes. I cautiously got down on my hands and knees and started crawling through the small opening. Jonas followed, shuffling along with his belly dragging on the ground. I crawled for a good two minutes with the dog chuffing through the dirt behind me. At the other end, I emerged into a small, dark cave. Jonas entered behind me and I could hear him changing. It was an unsettling sound.

"Give me a moment," he said as he crossed in front of me.

I could hear him rustling about in the darkness for a while and then he lit a lantern in the center of the cave. A makeshift bed sat on the ground to the right and the lantern sat on a stump that looked to be a table of sorts. A rack for hanging meats was near the entrance and on it were two hares and a bird of some kind. My stomach pestered me again. Jonas had donned some clothes now; a flannel shirt and jeans that looked to be in relatively good condition. I sat on the dirt floor, unsure of what to do with myself. Jonas handed me half of a loaf of bread and I devoured it eagerly. It was obviously homemade and delicious. Water was also offered and I took that as well.

"I must apologize again for my behavior," Jonas said. "Living for so long as I have can take its toll on the mind."

"What are you doing out here all by yourself?" I asked.

"I was being hunted and I had to escape."

"Hunted by who?"

"I see," he said with a grimace. "You have much yet to learn."

"What are you talking about?" I whined. "You talk about my 'human life' as if I have a choice in how I live. Anyway, what makes you think I'd want to live like a stray dog instead?"

Jonas was unfazed by my attempted insult.

"You do have a choice, Malcolm," he said. "There are people who have tried to manipulate you for your entire life. When you have matured, they will come looking for you."

"Whatever," I replied. "Can I go home now?"

I was still angry.

"To the uncle who beats you? To the servants who don't understand you or him?" Jonas stood up and approached me as his voice grew more serious.

"Malcolm, let me show you who you truly are."

"Don't touch me!" I yelled at him.

The forcefulness of my words made him stop in his tracks. I couldn't stop the anger and tears that were threatening to overwhelm me.

"You think you can just waltz back into my life after ten years as if nothing's changed?" I said. "Where were you when I needed you? Where were you when my parents were murdered?"

I looked away from him as the tears started rolling down my cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Mal," he said.

I laughed dryly to myself as I wiped the water from my face. I couldn't tell if he was surprised by my cynical chuckle or not.

"You're right, though," I said. "I can't go back to my uncle's house."

Jonas stood there, listening as I told him about my nightmares and about the conversation I had overheard the night before. When I finished he let out a long sigh.

"So that's why he was after you," he said.

"You mean the wolf earlier? Is he... like you?" I asked.

Despite my initial anger, I was growing more and more curious about the world Jonas lived in. I blame my overactive imagination for that. Thoughts of the supernatural being true had always made my life easier to cope with. Jonas chuckled at my question.

"No. He and I are quite different," he said. "I can show you more if you like."

I nodded.

Jonas stripped out of his clothes again and turned to face me in the lantern light. I was suddenly struck by how handsome he was. I had never noticed his strong jaw line or his muscular physique when I was younger. Probably because I hadn't cared about such things before puberty. My groin twitched as I watched the lantern light dance across his ample endowment. Jonas's arms rested loosely by his side as his green eyes twinkled in the dim light.

"Name something or someone," he said.

"Anything?" I asked.

"Within reason. Something that will fit in this space."

"Um... a motorcycle?" I said.

I watched as Jonas closed his eyes and lifted his chin toward the ceiling of the cave. He raised his arms, bending them at the elbows as his skin turned silver and started to shimmer like chrome in the lantern light. His back feet turned black and he squatted down in the dirt. His chest and chin became a rubbery front tire as the middle of his body filled out with chrome pipes and machine parts. His face flattened into a broad headlight and a flashy, red wheel guard. The motorcycle in front of me teetered slightly before he put his kickstand down into the dirt and leaned slightly to the left. I was speechless. After a few moments, I watched the transformation reverse itself until Jonas was once again standing naked in front of me.

"W-what are you?" I asked.

Jonas chuckled.

"I believe Irish folks would use the name, 'pooka,'" he said. "I prefer that you just call me Jonas."

A wry smile crossed my lips.

"So you're a fairy, then?" I asked with a hint of humor in my voice.

He smirked in response.

"Can you change into literally anything?"

"Not anything, really. Size does matter in this case," he said.

His twinkling smile was back.

"Now it's your turn," he told me.

"But I'm not a changeling," I said.

"No, you're not."

Jonas turned toward the lantern and turned the flame up as high as it would go.

"You might want to remove your clothes as well," he advised.

I reluctantly did so, hoping that the act wouldn't arouse me in front of him. He opened his lower palm and tossed a pinch of what looked like blue sand into the flame. As the lantern's orange flame erupted into white and sent vibrant blue light and smoke cascading around the cave, Jonas looked into my eyes and said:

"Sicut pater tuus fuit; gerulphus es!"

The words sent fire streaking through my chest. I clutched my heart and started wheezing against the pain. I collapsed onto the dirt floor of the cave as the fire shot through my bones. Jonas's expression turned from joy to worry in an instant and he knelt down beside me as my body spasmed in the dirt. I clenched my teeth against the burning sensation that moved from my heart to my right arm and to the tips of my fingers. I watched in horror as my fingernails began to grow into claws and long, grey hairs sprouted from the back of my hand. They burned like acid and I cried out from the agony. Jonas placed a hand on my forehead and muttered something under his breath. His palm was cool to the touch and the heat inside of me subsided shortly after, leaving me gasping for breath on the floor of the cave. I couldn't immediately speak as I tried to refill my lungs.

"I'm sorry, Mal," Jonas said. "I didn't realize the extent of their magic."

"W-what...?" I tried to speak through my heavy breathing, but Jonas shushed me.

"Don't try to talk. Let the glamour run its course."

Jonas picked me up and gently placed me in his makeshift bed. Eventually my breathing calmed. I lifted my hand to see that it had returned to normal. Jonas had been pacing the cave on the other side of the lantern, his face etched with concern. Before I could say anything, he spoke.

"We need to go to the Low Court. The Black Scholars there are the only ones who would know how to remove your glamour before the ritual is complete."

"What happened to me?" I asked. "I don't even know what a glamour is."

Jonas sat down on the bed next to me and touched my forehead with a cool palm.

"To put it simply, a glamour is an enchantment. In your case, one is being used to prevent your true nature from revealing itself. Normally, you would have had your first... well... normally, it would have made itself known much sooner."

I gave him a sidelong glance.

"It's difficult to trust you when you hide things from me," I said.

"Forgive me, it's just that I am not the best person to explain these things. I feel your parents would have done a much better job of it."

I pushed the grief-filled memory of my parents back down into the pit of my mind.

"And you call yourself a tutor," I joked.

Jonas let out a surprised chuckle.

"Did I not teach you well when you were young?"

He was even more surprised when I hugged him. I pushed my head into his chest and locked my tears behind tightly closed eyelids. My arms slid around him as if they were meant to do so.

"I missed you," I said.

Jonas rested a hand on my head and gently stroked my hair.

"I'm sorry."

After a while I released him and sat back on my knees.

"How far away is this Low Court?" I asked.

"Louisiana," he said.

I balked at his response and stared at him wide-eyed.

"But... what about my life here?" I asked. "Can I at least say goodbye to Trevor?"

"No," was his stern reply. "No one must know where you disappeared to. If even one person can recognize you, then our enemies will be able to track and follow us. You should get some sleep. We will leave at dawn."

I was silent for a moment.

"Who are they?" I asked. "Our enemies, I mean."

"Your parents and I used to think they were decent folk. But... they have since become a cabal of monsters."