The True Confessions of a Nine-Tailed Fox

Chapter 166: The Oyster with Ideas above Its Station

As if Den's words had shattered the mirage, all of a sudden I could see clearly again. Those weren't Bobo, Steelfang, One Ear, and the other wolves swimming back to shore with their haul of pearl oysters. The wolves weren't there at all – their shapes had been nothing but illusions conjured up by a spirit who had never seen a wolf before and whose understanding of fur was distinctly fuzzy, hence why I'd thought I'd glimpsed scales.

And Bobo – the "Bobo" who was cutting through the waves so aggressively – that was the oystragon itself! Gone were the bright green scales, the yellow belly plates. The long, lean body shortened and grew stout, and in the bamboo viper's place was a creature shaped like a cross between a dragon and a lion dance costume, with bulbous eyes and coarse scales like oyster shells.

"An oystragon?!" shrieked Floridiana. She scrambled to sit up on the beach where Den had flung her. "What in the name of the Kitchen God is an oystragon?"

Who cares what it is? I yelled back. Kill it first, ask questions later! Lodia! Run!

The girl had frozen in knee-deep water, gaping at the monster that had suddenly appeared in place of our friends.

"But Bobo...Steelfang...One Ear...everyone else," she whispered. "Where are they?"

To my absolute horror, she did move then – but not backwards towards the safety of the beach. She splashed deeper into the ocean where the monster held sway.

Stripey flew around and pushed against her chest with his forehead, trying to shove her back, while I grabbed loose strands of her hair and tugged.

Go back, Lodia! I ordered. We'll find them! Den! Get her out of here – Den?

The dragon was gone. Everyone was gone. I hovered alone over the waves that lapped at the empty beach behind me.

No. I wasn't alone. I could feel the strands of Lodia's hair between my beak still.

Lodia! Stripey! Den! Where are you? Can you hear me?

No answer but the sea breeze that rustled the coconut palm fronds, and the surf that struck the rocks.

Hey! Hey! Everybody!

As I battled my senses, trying to see what I knew to be there, rather than what I saw to be there, garbled voices filtered into my ears, as if from far away underwater.

Not good enough. Where was the monster now?

Keeping hold of Lodia's hair, I flew around the side of her body and fluttered my wings. They brushed a sleek, feathered neck.

Stripey! Stripey! Can you hear me?

Yes! His voice was still garbled, but at least it was intelligible now. We have to get her onto dry land!

Come on Lodia! Listen to us! Move your feet!

Both of us shoved with our heads and beat our wings as hard as we could, trying to force her back.

"I can't!" her voice filtered through to us, from the spot that my eyes insisted was empty air but that my brain knew had to be her mouth. "Something has my legs!" She shrieked.

At that moment, the cloth I was pushing my forehead against vanished. I shot forward, strands of hair dangling from my beak. They were no longer connected to Lodia's head.

Lodia! Lodia! I flapped about until I crashed into Stripey. Pain screamed through my side, which I'd injured when I fell out of the air during the festival. Stripey! Where did she go?