Sora’s breath caught, following the horrific scene as it unfolded; three brown coated werewolves ran into the front room, Devin at their center. Her dad flew across the room to strike a couch, flipping it over before tumbling into a wall.

What … Why are they…

Turning with a grin, Devin seemed happily surprised to see her. “Oh, great, you saved us the trouble…”

Feral rage bubbled up Sora’s chest as her fur bristled; she could hear her dad’s heartbeat, but he wasn’t moving after hitting his head. Foxfire birthed at her tail, time slowed while creating an illusion of herself running right; she darted left, bending light around herself.

Skipping a step, she twisted, flicking her tail to send a red and orange combustion toward the nearest werewolf. The inferno struck the small werewolf in the side, sending it flying back into the balcony and smashing into the bar; it yelped, splintering the wood and dropping the granite countertop on its head.

Her heart froze as Devin moved toward her father.

No! No! No!

Sora tried to intercept the boy, her fur prickling as red lightning sparked around her tail, making it two steps before a mass of hair barreled into her. Her blast of electricity went off-course, splitting the ground while they flew back into the entry hall to slide across the smooth granite.

Bearing her teeth as they flew through the air, Sora’s claws instantly extended to screech across the polished stone when she landed, but the werewolf was on top of her in an instant.

The lightning messed up my senses!

As she slowed, her clawed right hand ripped into the body atop her. “Get off me!”

The werewolf screamed as her sharp nails shredded its chest, blood dripping across her front. Swiftly scrambling away, Sora pushed herself up, wild eyes widening as a chair shot straight for her face.

Feeding power to her legs, she leaped to the ceiling, clawed toes, digging into the sheetrock as she scanned for her dad. Her heart plummeted; Devin had her dad’s throat in his grip.

“Now, now! Let’s settle down.”

“Devin!” she yelled, preparing to launch at him, but his expression and tightening grip caused her to hesitate; the terrifying mental picture of her dad’s throat being ripped out played across her thoughts and forced her to drop back to the floor.

“Stop!” Sora pleaded, chest heaving as panic started settling in; she couldn’t think, tears coming to her eyes. “Please, just … Why are you doing this?”

She watched the recovering werewolves shakily collect themselves as Devin appraised her. Please … don’t hurt him … I can’t … I can’t lose him! Illusions? No—I can’t risk it! Please … Please…

“Woah,” he whistled. “Lori didn’t say anything about foxfire or illusions like that, Man. I guess it was the right move to grab your other friend too. Wanda, was it?”

Sora’s gut dropped; frustration and fear crept into her tight chest. “You—kidnapped Wendy?”

Breathing through his teeth, Devin nodded. “That’s it, Wendy—boring name, but she wasn’t all that pretty, I guess. Yeah, she’s been real compliant,” he snickered. “She lives in that rundown place in Normandy. Right? Heh, it’d be awkward if we got the wrong girl, ya know! Eh … guessin’ by your expression … Good, yup, bingo!”

Sora’s ears twitched as she heard Ron moaning behind her, uncertainty digging at her core when she caught the scent in the air. Nilly left a while ago, and … human blood, Ron’s bleeding! Wendy, Ron, and my dad?

“Why is it always me?!” Sora cried.

“Woah! Man, killin’ the mood here. Gah, whatever—I was gonna nab you, knock you out, and take you back, but that seems like too much work now,” he mumbled with a short laugh. “I’ll tell you what—why don’t you follow us. Eh? I’m sure you can follow our trail; unless you’re the worst Vulpes in existence! Maybe your friend Wendy will be alive when you show up—that’d be nice, right? Really depends on how long you take.”

Easily lifting her dad, Devin held his fingernails close to her dad’s throat as he slowly backed toward the balcony. Should I use illusions? Mind control?

“Stop!” Sora commanded. Devin wincing, and she felt her body sag. No … am I too drained?

Fingernails extending to claws, they pressed against her dad’s throat, drawing spots of blood. “What the—that’s new! Try that again, and your dad’s dead—on the spot! I have a killer headache now...”

He glanced over at the werewolf she’d hit with foxfire with a sneer. “Figures he was useless.” The werewolf’s fur was scorched as it weakly crawled out from under the granite top; furniture had caught a bit of the flame, which was starting to spread..

Sora’s face went white as she turned; the hallway to the elevator had the shattered remains of an armchair strewn across it. Ron was lying on the ground with blood dripping down his face and a splintered section of a chair leg penetrating his side. “No! Ron, you’ve—you’ve been stabbed! Why am I so useless!” Sora exclaimed in horror.

Devin breathed through his teeth with a tick of his tongue. “Too bad. You close to the guy? Gotta say I’m enjoying this ‘woe is me.’ ”

Ron weakly rubbed his forehead in shock, looking at the blood on his palm. “Am I—bleeding, Sora?” Coughing, he cleared his throat, pain shooting across his face. “Good thing it’s not that bad. Huh?” His eyes moved down to his stomach, “Oh—crap.”

Sora was locked in place, her mind blank; she didn’t know what to do anymore.

Ron groaned. “This—crap, that hurts. Stephanie—she’ll…” Looking up at Sora with a concerned frown, he cleared his throat. Coughing again, he spat up some blood to his side, trying to shift a little. “Look, Sora—you need to—to go.”

Devin laughed behind her. “That sounds like a good plan because she needs to follow me! If—you want to see your father and friend again, that is. You’ve been summoned.”

Turning to the burned werewolf, he snapped, “Stop her with your life!” Giving her a derisive wave, he leaped out of the window with the other werewolf following.

Sora was frozen in place, lungs heaving with panic as she tried running to Ron. Her senses warned her, but she was too flustered to react; the smaller werewolf tackled her. Rolling to a stop, it pinned her with its body.

Becoming manic, Sora cried. “Get—off!”

A frantic lack of mental clarity broke the fragile chains holding her reality together; she couldn’t feel her heartbeat. Flicking her flaming tail around, she pressed it against its face. “Die—I don’t care!”

The werewolf screamed and shoved her away. Claws screeching across the granite while she slid, fingernails meeting the wool blend carpets and ripping into it. She lurched to Ron, forgetting about the werewolf entirely.

“Ron, I-I need to call an ambulance!”

Ron took a calm breath before shaking his head. “Look—you need to go after your dad. Stephanie—she’s all kinds of hormonal-pregnant scary right now, and i-it would be, gah, awful for anyone to be here when…”

Sora’s ears twitched as she heard a small boy’s whimpers. Looking back, she found the werewolf had reverted to an eleven-year-old boy. Black burns ran from his face to his chest as he began to convulse.

Her barely functioning heart shattered, mind becoming hollow. “Did I just—kill a kid?”

Ron groaned as he pushed himself against the wall, examining the boy. Grabbing her leg to refocus her, Ron grunted, “Sora—just trust me—okay. Take that boy and heal him—you can do that! Stephanie’s occupied, but she should be sensing…”

He cut off as his pain and concern-filled face deepened.

Sora’s hair stood on end as a chilling aura exploded across the entire area, and her breath began to mist from her mouth. She couldn’t breathe, her blood felt as if it was frozen, and a massive, terrifying pressure tightened around her entire frame; the air was compressed into solid ice that defied gravity.

Sora blinked in shock as Ron gripped her shoulder, ice creeping up his stomach. “Stephanie will not be in her right mind—she’s…” he cut off, bright glittering ice crystals appearing around the room. “She’s locking the area into her dimension—you just need to go—now!” Ron yelled. “This is only reactionary—when she learns … go!”

Questions flooded Sora’s mind, but she didn’t hesitate. Running to the boy, she lifted him with surprising ease.

Her world was collapsing. Stephanie’s a monster that’s strong enough to have her own dimension? Is everyone in on monsters but me?

Sora’s jaw locked as the shimmering crystals began to multiply, and it became harder to push forward; it felt like a tsunami was washing over her as she became heavier and heavier.

Fighting through the mass of force, she felt what little energy she had draining at an alarming pace, her vision going white as her senses started to vanish.

Am I going to make it?

She suddenly broke through into the open air. Tensing with sudden vertigo, her tails locked in place as they started free falling, energy rushing into her as they hit the open sky.

Looking down, she saw a truck stopped in front of the hotel. Bracing herself and clutching the boy with all she had, she landed in the bed; she felt a chunk of energy leave her as the shocks broke their fall.

The frame violently rocked, her ears catching curses from the passengers and outside attendants. Leaping out and jumping over the barriers, she ran onto the beach as fast as she could before anyone could identify them.

Breathing heavily, Sora sat the seizing boy behind a mound, gauging the damage she’d inflicted. He’s just a kid, and Devin threw him at me like trash!

Her lungs froze; fourth-degree burns traced across his face and neck, and the smell caused her stomach to twist with nausea. She tucked in her lower lip as she followed the horrifying burns down his chest. He wouldn’t stop shaking in her arms, mind unable to process the pain.

I did this to a little boy…

Thoughts returning to Ron’s instructions and her dad’s story, she closed her eyes and wished to heal him with all her heart. The energy within her shifted, flowing to her tail.

Eyes snapping open, she brought her glowing, deep blue tail around, hovering it over the boy’s face; power drained out of her faster than the sky could recover, yet the burns turned to ash as new skin and organs replaced it. Sweat gathering at her temples as she finished healing his burns

The boy gasped, fearful eyes flying open to gaze up at her; whimpering, he started to struggle in her arms.

She set him down, instinctively wincing as he hit her across the face with his flailing fists, but she didn’t feel any force behind it. That was more draining than I thought … The sky’s giving me a lot of energy right now, and it still sapped me … should I have done it? How can I even think that!

Lip tucking under, tears fell down her eyes again. What’s right and wrong anymore?

The boy backed up a few feet before feeling his face and chest; his gym shorts had shrunk but were still a bit big, loosely hanging around his waist. “You—healed me?” Fear still in his voice.

Taking a shuddering breath to release stress, she tried to smile. “I didn’t want to hurt you. I just—just wanted to save my dad. Are you—feeling okay now?”

No, I should go … I need to save him—there’s too much … too much…

He nodded, looking around with fright. “I’m supposed to stop you—I don’t want to hurt anyone else,” he sobbed.

Taking a deep breath and sniffing back her snot, Sora looked into his brown eyes. “Can you tell me where Devin is taking my dad?”

The boy’s fear faded as he relaxed. “Devin said to meet him at the golf course if we got separated.”

“North or south golf course?” Sora pressed, clearing her throat and trying to be strong.

“North.”

Slowly nodding, Sora used the back of her hand to dry her cheeks. “Okay, I want you to go where it will be safe—and make sure you’re safe getting there.”

“I’ll go somewhere safe,” the boy repeated. Getting up, he ran toward town, and a sad smile moved Sora’s lips upon seeing the top of his butt, wondering if his shorts would make the trip. Getting up, Sora hummed while looking after him.

I hope he doesn’t get hurt.

“Get it together!” she screamed, smacking herself to try and stop the shakes in her arms

Feeling slightly better as her energy continued to be refilled and feeding off the starry sky, she wrapped herself in illusions, rushing toward the North Shore Open Space Park. She became faster with every passing second; her heart pumped again as the panic subsided.

Making it to Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel, she ran to Collins Avenue and sprinted across a short dock to leap across the waterway onto a slow-moving boat. Her claws dug into the wood to steady herself. Gaining balance, she jumped the rest of the way to Pinetree Park.

She breathed deeply, finding her dad and Devin’s scent.

Gritting her teeth, she continued through the park, leaping atop the red-tiled roof of a mansion. Devin’s odor was getting stronger—she was making headway.

Tail bristling, Sora shot left as a teenage Nilly appeared next to her with a wide grin. “Nilly?” Sora panted, pressing forward to Pine Tree Drive.

“Nilly will always win against bad foxes like Sora. Practicing won’t help!” she giggled.

Hope filled Sora’s chest. “Nilly—have you seen werewolves tonight?”

Nilly wasn’t breaking a sweat, starting to do acrobatics beside her. “Wolfies? Yeah, Nilly saw lots of wolfies. Sora knows wolfies?”

Shaking her head while slowing a little, Sora swallowed hard and panted, “No—the wolfies took my dad! I need to catch…”

Sora cut off in confusion as Nilly’s head tilted up with excitement. At the same time, Sora noticed a sharp and familiar scent that was like Kari.

“Nilly needs to go!” Nilly clapped excitedly before doing an Arabian double front, followed by a round-off back handspring double layout with a half twist. “Nilly’s playtime!” she cheered.

Sora couldn’t say a word before Nilly touched the ground and vanished.

Cursing under her breath, Sora sniffed the air and caught Devin’s scent again; she could faintly smell her dad’s blood with it.

Taking a deep breath, she continued her chase. It’s better Nilly doesn’t get involved, but is she going to hunt a Fenris Wolf? Nilly seems a lot stronger than I thought.