The Shadow Fox Read online

  Prologue

  Mack filled the teakettle and set it on the stove, carefully measuring green tea into his jiichan’s, or grandfather’s, Japanese teapot. Then he began to tidy up the living room to get ready for this morning’s gathering.

  Life had been a whirlwind ever since the first day of seventh grade, when Makoto “Mack” Kimura had been told that he was a Changer—someone descended from a line of magical shape-shifters who had been forgotten by history. Changers can transform into different magical creatures that hold incredible power. To ordinary people, Changers are mythological animals that only exist in the pages of fantasy books, but Mack had learned that they were real.

  In his Changer form—a kitsune—Mack became a massive fox whose paws blazed with fire. He had two tails and could earn even more by learning new abilities and completing heroic deeds. Mack was still a long way from mastering his powers, but luckily, he wasn’t alone. Three of his classmates were also Changers, and together, they were being trained to use their powers to protect both human- and Changer-kind alike from powerful witches and warlocks who sought to control the world with dark magic.

  Mack’s classmate Fiona Murphy had learned she was a selkie, a seal, with a repertoire of magical songs that were incredibly powerful. Gabriella Rivera, a nahual, could transform into a powerful black jaguar; she was practically unbeatable in a fight and had a cool spirit-walking ability to boot. And impundulu Darren Smith could become a huge bird with the power to channel lightning and summon storms.

  The seventh graders were being trained by the First Four, a group of Changers who had led the Changer nation for the last thousand years. Mack’s grandfather, Akira Kimura, was part of the First Four. Mack’s grandfather was a kitsune like Mack; he’d earned nine tails throughout his very long life, the most tails a kitsune can earn. Dorina Therian, a werewolf, was the seventh graders’ main teacher and led a Changer class in the secretly enchanted gym at Willow Cove Middle School. Yara Moreno, an encantado, or dolphin Changer, was often away on missions, but Mack liked having her around. Yara trusted Mack and his friends, and their abilities, more than any other member of the First Four—she never treated them like little kids. On the other hand, Sefu Badawi, a bultungin, or hyena Changer, was Yara’s polar opposite. His role in the Changer nation was to protect Changers from outside threats, and sometimes he could be a bit, well, overprotective.

  Together, the First Four steered Mack, Gabriella, Darren, and Fiona in the discovery and control of their new powers. And they were all coming for this morning’s meeting.

  Mack fluffed couch pillows, folded newspapers for the recycling bin, and shook his head thinking about how steep his learning curve had been ever since he got the news in September. Powers begin to develop in a Changer’s twelfth year, and he had learned what he was just before that started to happen. The first day of school immersed Mack and his friends in a new, secret, and sometimes confusing world.

  Changers, witches, and warlocks weren’t always hidden away. They used to live openly alongside normal humans, bringing rain for crops, protecting villages, and healing the sick. But a thousand years ago, a warlock used a magical horn, the Horn of Power, to force Changers to do his bidding. Many people were hurt; entire villages destroyed. Even after the First Four put an end to the warlock and took away the horn, non-magical people believed that Changers were dangerous. They turned on the Changers, hunting them down until the Changers had been forced to go into hiding. Despite everything, Changers continued to do what they could to protect mankind, but now they had to do it in secret.

  Just as Mack, Gabriella, Darren, and Fiona were starting to learn how to handle their powers, a new warlock, Auden Ironbound, stole the Horn of Power and tried to recreate the terrible events that had transpired a thousand years ago. When Auden used the horn to take control of the First Four, it fell upon Mack and his friends to battle the warlock and his army on their own. Under the cover of a massive, magical storm, Mack himself had fought and defeated Auden on the beach of their small town, Willow Cove. Mack had even damaged the Horn of Power.

  As the Changers soon discovered, though, Auden was down but not out. Mack and his friends clashed with Auden’s henchmen as they sought out a magical artifact, Circe’s Compass, which Auden could use to find younglings, or Changers who hadn’t yet come of age. Auden needed the magic of five different younglings to mend the Horn of Power. Once the horn was repaired and Auden rounded up another army to march on Willow Cove, all hope seemed lost. But once again, the Changers pulled through, thanks in part to Fiona, who had learned a magical selkie song that stripped the evil warlock of his magic once and for all and destroyed the Horn of Power for good.

  But perhaps even more shocking than their sudden victory a few months ago was a secret that had been revealed to them just before the battle: hundreds of years ago, Mack, Gabriella, Darren, and Fiona had been foretold to be the next leaders of Changer-kind. It wasn’t chance that the four of them lived in the same small town of Willow Cove—a town that was home to an important Changer base. It was also why the First Four took such an interest in Mack and his friends and why they were training them personally . . . and why Mack was so impatient for more information.

  After several long months of waiting, today—finally—the First Four planned to tell Mack and his friends more about the prophecy and what it meant for their training and their futures.

  Mack finished tidying up the living room and sought out his grandfather. He found Jiichan meditating in his office. Hearing Mack’s footsteps, Jiichan opened his eyes and then smiled.

  “Is everything ready, Makoto?” he asked.

  “Almost,” Mack said. “I just have to shovel the walk. . . .” In truth, something had been weighing heavily on Mack these last few months, ever since his last battle. Something other than the prophecy, but he wasn’t sure if now was the best time to broach the subject with Jiichan again.

  “I know the wait has been difficult for you,” Jiichan began, sensing that Mack was holding something back. “But the time wasn’t right to reveal the prophecy. You needed more training before beginning the next phase of your journey—”

  “There’s actually, um, something else that’s been bothering me, Jiichan,” Mack cut in. “Remember a few months ago, after the battle with Auden, how I saw a golden kitsune on the battlefield, with seven tails? I’ve been wondering about her. I know Sefu said she used to be your student—”

  Jiichan cut off Mack midquestion. “I’ve told you already that I will not discuss this, Makoto. I have lived a very long life, and made my share of mistakes. Not every memory I have is a happy one. There are some things that I simply choose not to dwell on. I’d prefer we not discuss this further.”

  Mack clenched his teeth. Jiichan could be so mysterious when he wanted to be. Mack knew that Changers lived much longer than non-magical people—that Jiichan was at least a thousand years old—but what could be so bad that his grandfather wouldn’t even talk about it? Based on the First Four’s reaction to the golden kitsune, he knew that she was important and possibly dangerous—too dangerous to be ignored.

  Wouldn’t it be better to clue Mack and the others in on the threat? They’d proven themselves more than capable of dealing with the Changers’ enemies. Sure, they lacked experience, but Mack felt like his grandfather was always underestimating them.

  Mack took a breath, ready to press the matter.

  Jiichan interrupted again. “This is not a story I want to tell. Not now.”

  “But—”

  “Leave it alone, Makoto.” Jiichan’s tone was frighteningly final. Mack rarely ever heard his calm jiichan raise his voice.

  Mack quickly realized any further argument was useless. It was no secret that he and Jiichan were alike in more
than just their Changer ability—they could both be stubborn and prideful. With nothing else to say, Mack trudged to the kitchen and lit the fire under the teakettle before heading outside to shovel snow.

  Will the time ever be right to tell me everything? Mack seethed.

  More and more it had been bothering Mack how little the First Four revealed to him and his friends about the wider Changer world. It seemed like they divulged one little secret at a time, and even those secrets hid more secrets.

  Secrets within secrets within secrets. I’m tired of being kept in the dark. Will they ever tell us the whole truth?

  Just then, a flash of light in the corner of Mack’s eye caught his attention. He looked up and saw a streak of gold bolting across the tree-lined field in the distance.

  Was that—? Mack thought as he started to walk forward to get a better look.

  “Mack!” Gabriella called out a car window, jolting Mack from his thoughts. An SUV pulled into the drive. Gabriella and Darren climbed out of the backseat, followed by Ms. Therian and Sefu from the front.

  Mack looked into the distance again. He was almost sure . . . the golden kitsune . . .

  But whatever he saw, it was gone.

  Chapter 1

  The Prophecy

  Mack led the group into the living room just as Jiichan was emerging from the kitchen, carrying the teapot and eight porcelain teacups on an antique tray.

  A moment later Fiona and Yara, the two waterborne Changers, arrived together.

  Fiona looked in Mack’s direction and raised her eyebrows. Did you learn anything else about the golden kitsune? she thought to him. Another useful ability Changers had was being able to speak telepathically to each other. It came in handy when they were all in their animal forms and speaking English, or even just speaking out loud, wasn’t exactly an option.

  For the last few months, Fiona had tried to help Mack find more information about the golden kitsune in an ancient book of Changer history known as The Compendium. It had family trees, the locations of Changer bases, and detailed accounts of Changer battles, but the book only allowed certain people to read certain pages. It never really gave you the whole picture, much like the First Four.

  Nothing yet, Mack thought back, still feeling frustrated.

  Fiona gave him a sympathetic smile and joined the group around the coffee table, where Jiichan was carefully pouring tea for each of them.

  Mack and his friends had waited a long time for this day. Fiona’s eyes sparkled with curiosity while Gabriella, a superathlete in both her human and Changer forms, was ready to leap into action and do whatever needed to be done. Even Darren, who’d had doubts about his new Changer life, waited a little impatiently to hear what the First Four had to say.

  The First Four exchanged pleasantries about the weather and sipped their tea. It was all Mack could do not to shout, Spill it already! Tell us about the prophecy, but he knew that would only slow everything down and upset his grandfather.

  Ms. Therian caught Jiichan’s eye and nodded. “It’s time, Akira,” she said.

  “Before we begin,” Jiichan addressed Mack, Gabriella, Darren, and Fiona, “I want to be sure that each of you is ready. Once you embark upon this path, there is no turning back. You’ll be more than Changers; you’ll be leaders in training. That’s not something you can walk away from. It’s also something we’d hoped to delay for a few more years, but as Yara would say—”

  “The cat’s out of the bag,” Yara finished.

  In the tense silence that followed, Jiichan’s dark eyes took in each of the younglings, one at a time. Fiona nodded solemnly, as did Gabriella. Darren hesitated and then did the same.

  “I’m ready,” Mack said. “No turning back.”

  Ms. Therian stood and carefully reached into her satchel, pulling out an exquisitely carved box made of silver maple. Mack recognized it immediately. It was the box that held the Changing Stone—the stone that had revealed their Changer abilities to them on the first day of school.

  There was total silence as she lifted the box’s lid and removed the large, round moonstone from the folds of midnight-blue silk. Mack remembered that it had been forged by magic thousands of years ago. A non-magical person looking at it would simply see a beautiful gemstone, milky-white streaked with color, like a giant opal. But when a Changer gazed into it, the stone revealed his or her true form.

  But they knew all about their Changer forms now. . . . Why did they need the stone again? “We already know—” Mack blurted.

  Ms. Therian’s eyes on his were enough to make him be quiet. More waiting, he thought.

  “Stand with me and put your hands on the stone,” she said. “All together.”

  Mack, Fiona, Darren, and Gabriella did as she asked. Then the First Four filled the spaces in between them and started to do the same. The whole thing was a little awkward, almost like a team huddle. But as soon as Jiichan, the last of them, placed his fingers on the stone, it began to emit a shimmering light that pulsed and quivered. The magic drew him in, until Mack could feel the room around him falling away. All was dark. It was as though Mack had been transported somewhere else.

  What is this? Mack wondered. Even though he couldn’t see anyone else, he thought he could still sense the presence of the others nearby. Where on Earth are we?

  Mack’s thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a beautiful and ethereal woman, stepping out of the darkness. Her white robes fluttered against her dark skin as her long coiled hair swirled. Then, with a flick of her wrist, a scene began to materialize around him. That’s when Mack noticed her eyes—bright amber eyes that seemed to hold all the peace and joy and magic in the world.

  Mack barely had time to wonder who she was when many voices began to talk in unison. Without anyone telling him, Mack knew in his heart that the voices were those of every Changer leader who had ever lived, speaking as one.

  “In the beginning, when mankind was in its infancy, there was a woman named Circe. Circe wasn’t like other humans. She could see and feel the magic that flowed through our world, and harness it. She used her magic to do good, creating abundance and prosperity for all who knew her.”

  Mack watched as the woman he guessed was Circe calmed the stormy waters of the ocean, saved villagers from a mudslide, stopped a war, and healed the sick. Everywhere she went, it seemed, peace and happiness blossomed.

  “As time passed, Circe found that she didn’t age like other humans did. In fact, she didn’t seem to age at all. Her gifts became stronger with time, and she decided to awaken those gifts in others. She took on five apprentices and taught them how to wield magic, but one of them, a girl named Morwyn, was the most powerful.”

  Mack watched as the five apprentices joined hands with Circe, and then one—Morwyn—stepped into the center of the circle. Morwyn had bright eyes, similar to Circe, but somehow, this feature didn’t instill the same peace in Mack as Circe had. Morwyn’s eyes were also angry and defiant. Mack felt a shiver of uneasiness creep up his spine.

  After a brief pause, the voices continued.

  “When they were ready, the five apprentices moved throughout the world. Four of them used their magical abilities for good, as Circe had. But Morwyn was different.

  “Morwyn didn’t want to use her magic for the benefit of mankind; instead she used her magic to inflict pain and turn normal humans, whom she believed to be inferior, into her servants.”

  Mack watched a trail of people stumble across a hot desert, following Morwyn. Their expressions—sad and frightened—made Mack want to turn away from the scene.

  The Changer leaders continued their story. “When Morwyn’s fellow apprentices heard tales of the terror she had wrought, they threw themselves at Circe’s feet and begged her to make them stronger so that they could defeat Morwyn. But Circe knew that to defeat Morwyn, normal magic wouldn’t be enough. So Circe dug deeper, and awoke in her four apprentices something greater—a magic that was transformative—Changer magic.”

 
Mack watched with amazement as the four apprentices transformed—one into a kitsune like him, another into a spider, and the last two into a bear and a sea serpent, respectively.

  “With this new power the apprentices became the first Changers. They took on animal forms and defeated Morwyn, but Circe found she could not let them harm her prodigy. Rather, the dark apprentice was banished to the north.”

  Mack observed as Morwyn, still defiant, walked away from the others, ultimately disappearing into a mist. Behind her he saw another long trail of followers. These people were not the same sad and powerless lot that he had seen earlier. These beings had an anger and malice that nearly matched Morwyn’s.

  “In her exile, Morwyn found many followers who became the witches and warlocks we know today.”

  Mack watched Morwyn’s followers form a circle around her. As if there was a movie camera pulling back for a wide shot, the circle got bigger and bigger and bigger as more witches and warlocks joined Morwyn. He shivered at their overwhelming number as the leaders continued the story.

  “Meanwhile, Circe awakened the Changer ability in anyone she met who was in need of magic, and some of them passed that ability to their children, and so on. From the original Changer apprentices, the First Four, the Changers soon grew into millions.”

  The vision pulsed again, and the Changers, Mack saw, quickly outnumbered the witches and warlocks.

  “The Changers needed strong leaders,” the voices said. “The First Four apprentices stepped up to the task, and that title has been passed down to new leaders through the millennia. The First Four keep Changers focused on their sacred mission to guard and protect mankind, as Circe has done. Every so often, four new leaders are foretold, trained, and protected until they come of age.”

  Mack saw a vision of himself and his friends on the first day of seventh grade, each staring in awe at the Changing Stone.

  “Today a new age draws breath, one of peace between Changer- and magic-kind. Four younglings shall bear the banners of change. . . .