The Shapeshifter

Book 1

The Fox

Chapter 1

I stared around the bush, trying to locate the earthworms. For a daughter of the wealthiest family in Manhattan, I was sure dirty.

"Lucy?" My stepmom, Beth, yelled. "I'm going to bring Alicia into town. And when we get back, the garden had better be free of weeds!"

"Can't you get the gardener, Ilicia or Benjamin to do it?" I said, exasperated.

"NO I CAN'T AND YOU KNOW WHY?" Beth bellowed.

"Why?" I asked in a small voice.

"Alicia, Ilicia and Benjamin are my children. And you're the odd-one-out here. SO don't complain, because I've already given you a home. Your father, Jude, wouldn't even think twice if I told him to leave on the roads. Do you know how many people there are? How many children living on the roads? You could become one of them, very soon, if you don't listen to me," Beth said. I didn't try to point out that while I donated loads of my pocket money ( which was basically all my mother's fortune ) to the road-side people, they didn't give a damn about it. By 'they' I mean Beth, Ilicia, Benjamin, and my father.

Alicia grimaced. I was so grateful for her. She was the only Wildarts that didn't hate me. Jude Wildarts, Beth Wildarts, Ilicia Wildarts, Benjamin Wildarts, and her. I didn't change my name to Wildarts, simply because right before my mother died, I could hear her and my dad arguing. My dad had apparently been going out with some women. And right after my mother died, Dad had married Beth. It was like Dad didn't love Mom.

"One day I'll rule the family and I'll make them all work – except Mom and Ben, of course – and I'll make sure that you're comfy," Alicia promised. I smiled appreciatively, but I didn't think that dream was realistic. For example, Beth hated Alicia. She didn't treat Alicia as badly as me only because Alicia was her blood and bone. Beth favoured Ilicia, Alicia's older sister. Honestly, Ilicia was such a stuck-up person! Then again, nobody liked to communicate with me, except Alicia. In this household, I was sorta the outcast, except that I had been here before any of my stepmother or siblings.

The Wildarts family looked so different from the Heartfilia family. First of all, my mother, Layla, has long blonde hair and soft brown eyes. I'm almost the splitting image of her, except that I have darker eyes and straight hair streaked with aquamarine ( an awesome colour ) and purple ( lavender actually, and an awesome colour too ), while Mom's is wavy.

The 'Wildarts Look' determines the heir, so it means I'm already out. Dad has short, neat black hair, and stony black eyes. His features were handsome but stern, and I never liked him. Beth has long, curly red hair, with streaks of bright pink. Her face is young and beautiful, but not kind like Mom's. Besides, her face is almost constantly in an ugly frown or sneer. Next up is Ilicia, the oldest among the Wildarts children. Ilicia takes more to Beth, with neat, curly pink hair, streaked by black, and pinkish-blue eyes. Her face is cold and devoid of any emotion, unless it's disgust or a show-off kind of glow.

Benjamin Wildarts has shoulder-length red-black hair, which he ties in a short ponytail. He usually wears sneakers, designer pants and a sweater, which kind of gives him an 'I'm awesome so you should admire me' kind of look, but Ben's really kind. Benjamin's face has the lines of handsomeness, and he doesn't look the tiniest bit stern or strict. In fact, his eyes are a very glittery amber.

Alicia is albino. She has beautiful waist-length straight white hair and kind, soft pinkish eyes, tinged with light lavender. But Alicia isn't normal Albino. Her eyes swirl light lavender when she's feeling medium emotions, and go completely, bonkers, lavender when she's feeling strong emotions, such as anger. I always joke around with her whenever she's lavender-eyed around Davéd Aashwhélé [ Day-vid / Day-ved Aash-well ], teasing that she likes Davéd. Her face is also kind and full of laughter. If I had to guess who would become the Wildarts heir, I would have to say, Ilicia.

"See you!" Beth yelled angrily. I trudged off to the garden. Oh, I knew better than to think that Beth was kidding. I tried asking the gardener, Jacky Williams, to do it, but he didn't want to.

I went into the barn. Suddenly, the door slammed shut. Oh no! It was probably locked! I tried pushing against the door but I couldn't. Panic began building up in me. I was thirsty and hungry. So thirsty and so hungry! My vision became tinged red and my breath quickened. As a sharp burst of pain sent me shaking, I turned over and found that now, I was a fox.

I didn't yell. Nope. I wasn't a tiniest bit surprised. All I could think of at that moment was water, and food.

My whiskers touched the hole at the side of the shed. They fitted just nicely. Partly as an instinct, and party because I had read about it before, I knew that my whiskers were a measurement of whether I would fit in something – or not. Sure enough, I slipped through the hole easily. I let my nose take over as it sniffed for the fresh smell of water.

Ah! There! I ran to the stream, and began lapping at the water. Oh, it was heaven. Sweet juicy liquid streamed between my mouth and I whistled ( if a fox could whistle ) in appreciation.

I spotted a bird nearby. Falcon, I think. I stalked it eagerly, careful not to make any noise.

And finally, I scooped up the falcon in my jar. The human part of me screamed, NO!, but the fox part screamed, YES!, and you know what? The animal part won over the girl part.

I chewed for a while and then swallowed. Now that I was full … I wanted to sleep. I went back to the Wildarts garden. Finding a comfy-looking bush, I went in, and spikes poked me in the fur. I yelped ( in my mind ), as I realised that it was a thistle bush. I immediately ran out.

Settling for a bougainvillea bush, I snuggled down, dimly aware of some worms underneath me, as sleep overtook me.