Free Kitsune Tales: Two Short Stories by Emily Kay Singer Page A

fact that his attention was fully centered on the phone
meant he wasn’t waiting for an amusing response. He truly wanted her to track
down a sphinx, find a weak place in the wall between worlds, and throw the
creature back all on her own.
    “I’d start in City Park, if I were you,” Piccolo muttered,
apparently oblivious to Yuri’s panic. “Looks like someone’s advertising a
chance to see a ‘magic talking cat’.”
    Yuri glowered at him, her hands still shaking. “I’m not
walking to City Park on my own.”
    “Don’t have to. Got you a cab. Should be here any minute.” He
finally looked up and grinned at her, white teeth flashing.
    “ On my
own .” She emphasized each word with a forceful poke to his upper arm. The
panic had already begun to give way to anger, sizzling in her blood.
    Piccolo sighed and finally tucked the phone away in his
breast pocket. “You can’t sit in the shadow of gods forever, little kitsune . I know you’re afraid because of what happened last
time, but I believe in you.” He paused, then sighed and gently took her chin,
urging her head up. “Yuri, look at me.”
    She reluctantly tore her gaze from the bustling street and
back to his placid face. For a moment, she wondered what would happen if she
just turned tail and ran. Left Piccolo high and dry, forgot about this stupid
sphinx altogether. She knew the answer, of course, and driving half of Denver’s
population mad wasn’t something she wanted to take the blame for.
    “If you want to be part of this team, you have to learn to
work on your own. I’m not always going to be here to drag you out at the last
minute.” He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into an awkward, sideways
hug.
    Her shoulder dug into the bottom of his ribcage. She couldn’t
tell if it was more uncomfortable for him or her, but she didn’t want his
awkward comfort. She squirmed out of his hold. “I know you’ve got other stuff
to do, Piccolo. I just—”
    “Just use your head and kick ass,” he interrupted as a dirty,
yellow taxi pulled up to the curb. With a grin and a wink, he opened the cab’s
rear door. “Off you go.”
    She stared at him for a long minute. The car’s idling engine
filled her ears and a light breeze blew the acrid smell of exhaust into her
sensitive nose. She wanted to drag Piccolo into the cab with her—-and she
knew tricks that would have had a mortal man on the seat in seconds-—but
she knew he wouldn’t budge. “Are you sure you can’t come with me?”
    “I know you can manage.” He jerked his chin toward the open
door. “Quit wasting time.”
    Still trying to stop her nervous shaking, Yuri reluctantly
slid into the back of the cab. It smelled like spearmint gum and sweat. The
leather was hot under her thighs where her miniskirt ended. The door slammed
and she jumped. She rolled down the window to swear at Piccolo, but a group of
giggling girls strolled between him and the car. He was gone by the time they
passed.
    She left the window down the whole drive in an attempt to
avoid making small talk with the gum-chewing cabbie.

 
    By the time she reached City Park, Yuri’s hands had stopped
trembling. Her insides still squirmed at the thought that no one would be able
to help her if things went terribly wrong, but at least she looked calm and
collected.
    The cab dropped her off on the western side of the park, in a
roundabout just off 17 th Avenue. She paid for the ride with a bundle
of rice charmed to look like bills and climbed out of the cab. Standing beside
the fountain in the center of the asphalt circle, she opened her mouth to take
a whiff of the park air. The chemicals in the fountain water burned the back of
her tongue, making it hard to smell anything beyond chlorine and algae poison.
    She wrinkled her nose and trotted across the roundabout to
the rest of the park. A group of humans gathered around a portable grill
nearby, shouting and laughing over a loud radio. A few late-day joggers