Foxfire (An Other Novel) by Karen Kincy Read Free Book Online

dressed, of course,” she says, without a hint of sarcasm.
    After Michiko shuts the door, I lower the toilet lid and sit, my legs Jell-O as the adrenaline leaves my system.
    You need to go. She is coming .
    Leave now. It is almost too late .
    A tight thrill runs from my stomach to my chest. I can’t tell if it’s fear, excitement, or both.
    Let her come.

    All throughout dinner, Tsuyoshi asks polite questions about our day, and Gwen and I pretend like we had the most boring time in Harajuku ever. Later, my grandparents announce they are going to bed early because winter makes their bones ache. I’m secretly glad, since I’m not about to admit that I, a strapping young man, am also feeling dead tired at the ungodly hour of nine o’clock. After saying goodnight to Tsuyoshi and Michiko, I surreptitiously follow Gwen to her bedroom.
    She lies on her bed and stares at me. “What happened?”
    “When?”
    “In the bathroom, earlier. Michiko told me something about you drawing kanji on the mirror.”
    “Oh.” I lie beside her and put my arm around her waist. “Guess.”
    “Your kitsune mom?”
    “No.” I wrinkle my nose. “I highly doubt she’s spying on me in the bathroom nowadays.”
    “The noppera-bō?”
    “Bingo.”
    The muscles in Gwen’s back tense beneath my touch. “What did it say?”
    “ ‘Leave now. It is almost too late.’ ”
    “Well, that’s cheerful,” she says.
    “I know.” I’m silent for a moment. “But I’m not the type to run away. I’d rather let my kitsune mother come to me, and find out what’s really going on.”
    Gwen says nothing, just snuggles closer to me and sighs.
    We lie together, then, warm in the chill of the night. Outside, in the amber glow of the streetlights, it begins to snow. Gwen’s breathing slips into the slow rhythm of sleep. I glance at the door. I know I should go back to my own bedroom, but … just a little while longer. Gwen feels so good in my arms, like a puzzle piece clicking into place.
    “Tavian.”
    It’s just a whisper, so quiet I’m not sure I heard or imagined it.
    “Come to me.”
    A cold eel twists in my stomach. It’s my kitsune mother’s voice. How does she know the name that Mom and Dad gave to me?
    “Tavian.”
    Impossibly, she sounds like she’s right outside the door. I slip away from Gwen, gently so I don’t wake her. My heartbeat knocks against my ribs as I cross the room. I grip the doorknob with a sweaty hand, then twist it and fling the door open.
    Darkness. At the end of the hall, a white ball of light disappears around the corner. Foxfire.
    “Tavian.”
    My whispered name echoes off the walls in a way I know defies the physics of the house. I run down the hall and come to the genkan. The foxfire glows from the crack beneath the front door. When I open the door, I see the foxfire flit into the elevator just as the doors slide shut.
    Why won’t she stop and face me? Why does she keep running away?
    “Wait!” The stillness of the hallway swallows my voice. “Okāsan!”
    The elevator dings, and the doors open with a soft clunk. It’s empty. I dart into the elevator. My hand moves to the button, but one of them is already lit: 40, the top floor. The elevator ascends. In the polished steel of the walls, I can see myself reflected. The noppera-bō walks behind me, then vanishes. It’s too late for him; I want to find her now, and I will.
    The elevator dings, then opens.
    I’m in a dark room illuminated by a bare light bulb. Before me, snow falls on a steep staircase leading to the roof. The white flecks floating in the black look like the drifting of marine decay in the deep ocean, and for a moment, I feel like I’m sinking. I grab the railing of the stairs and drag myself upward, to the roof, where the whiteness of snow surrounds me.
    She is there. Standing at the edge of the building, staring out at Tokyo.
    She’s wearing a dark jacket and jeans, not a kimono—maybe that was my imagination—but her long hair