Foxheart

Chapter Forty-Two

Fox pulled the bandana up his face, touching the knot behind his head to ensure it was secure. He stretched out his hand, eyeing his glove, and tapped the dial. It fuzzed softly, indicating it was charged. He felt ready but nervous.

When they finally reached Farmire, Catriona was eager to show him the school but Fox was not having Dupont near the thing if it was crawling with Wizards. She was not happy when told. She was already in a bad mood, covered in mud and glowering at himself and Catriona. Despite him trying to lighten the mood in the bog by teasing her and claiming jealousy was causing her scowls every time he interacted with Catriona, her mood worsened. Being told to stay in Catriona's shop turned her bad mood into silent rage.

Dupont, despite her face twisted and dark like a storm, did as asked. In fact, she stormed straight up to the spare room with Absolon and didn't utter a word. Fox sighed when he heard the door slam. He knew she hated Witches but he hadn't realised she couldn't at least be civil when it would keep her alive. It was frustrating.

In the end, Fox was glad he made Dupont stay at Catriona's shop. Scouting out the school turned out to be very illuminating. The place was small, capable of holding maybe two hundred children, and stood haphazardly near the centre of the town and surrounding by crooked roofs and chimneys. Despite the small playground attached to its side, its steeple roof and coloured bricks, it didn't look like a place of learning, more of a hospital. Standard Wizards and police hung outside, helping out the civilians who entered and left. White plastic flaps covered the entrance where someone with a clipboard and covered head-to-toe in white overalls and half his face covered in a face-piece. Ambulances lined the small staff carpark, filled with medicine and supplies which were ferried in an out by more people in white overalls.

Fox was surprised by it all but wasn't when he and Catriona were refused entry if they showed no symptoms. Fox also wasn't very willing to pretend otherwise. Getting stabbed by needles, blood removed and examined in rather intrusive ways by doctors didn't appeal to him. Slipping in and out of a building was his speciality. This was no difference than a job from Doe. He just needed intel.

Catriona and Fox got a good look around though on the outside and he wrote down his own map as Catriona answered questions and trying her best to describe the layout inside. Fox figured out where he was going to enter and the general ticking over of guard shifts. The Wizards were the biggest threat however. They weren't like the magicless, they'd sense when he was using magic and no level of invisibility was going to keep him unnoticed. He hoped Glenna's idea of luring them out worked.

By the end of their trip, Fox had a haphazard map covered in notes and a general idea of where he was going. It wasn't the in-depth layout Doe gave him but it was better than going in blind. He just hoped Catriona's memory of her school life was reliable. At least she was certain about where her whistle was. Witches just knew where their whistles were, she claimed.

And now here he was. Dusk was creeping in fast and he sat hunkered in an alley, peeking out to watch the front door of the school. Police and Wizards continued to hang about but the slim trickle of civilians seemed to have stopped. It was quiet but Fox still didn't move. Glenna had to do her part yet.

As Fox watched so intently, he hadn't noticed something moving silently behind him, not until it brushed passed his bare hand. Instantly he flinched at the conact and his heart leapt to his mouth but the brief fear was quickly replaced by annoyance when he saw a haughty, well-groomed vixen beside him, accompanied by a balloon like Sprite.

'Thought I told you to stay at Catriona's.' Fox hissed.

Dupont huffed and turned her face away from him, snout pointed upwards. Obviously she was still angry at him that, once again, he had told her to stay put. She had put up a fight this time, refusing to stay anywhere near Catriona on her own, but he thought he had managed to convince her to. Apparently not. He glowered at her stubborn face.