The Girl and The Fox
Chapter 18

Scarlett bit down on the stalk of the Venus fly trap, wishing she had teeth as strong as a wolf's. She edged back from the plant, seeing that her attack had done no harm. She was going to have to replace something stronger to defeat it with. Something much, much stronger. The poisonous plant lunged at the fox once more, it's teeth snapping, aiming at the vixen's neck.

The trees around the back rose tall with millions of branches sticking out like a swan in a team of ducks. Scarlett thought through her plan. That was one of the advantages of being a fox, they may be less strong but they are more thoughtful and tactical.

The reynard lurched towards the trees, digging her claws into the trunk. She clawed her way, scaling up the tree until her head was a millimetre away from the first thick branch. The ugly flower stretched its neck out again, trying to rip the she-fox to pieces. Scarlett started gnawing away at the base of the branch, hoping that the thick piece of wood was liftable. After a few minutes of intense gnawing, the branch came loose and Scarlett clamped her mouth down on it. Once the wood was secure inside her jaws, she leaped up into the air, throwing the branch above her and faster than the speed of light, transformed into a human, caught the branch in her hand and stuck it right into the Venus fly trap's mouth, tearing its skin down to the stalk.

Scarlett stood there panting, loud breaths in and out. The dead weed was sprawled in front of her, the neon green sap coating her red dress. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, wishing the dead organism away, and once she opened her eyes she turned round to a shocked father. His eyes were like a porcupine had pricked them, wider than anyone would have thought possible.

'Why did you kill our defence? Our way to protect the back door?' Eric started, slowly.

'I...The wolves don't know about the back door, so I thought if they did a surprise attack and somehow got into the palace, we could use the back door. Preferably without getting killed by a plant.' Scarlett may have got being a fox from her father, but the thing she got from her mother was her ability to lie and persuade. She could persuade anyone to do anything, and her lying was beyond anyone's abilities. If you think you can lie well, think again. Scarlett is much better than you.

Scarlett led her father away from the escape party, asking if he had any ideas how to obliterate the wolves. 'Has Isabella giving you anything, or being stubborn like her mother was?' Scarlett asked, spitting out Isabella with disgust. Truly, she was thinking, had they got there in time to save her. She didn't want to be responsible for the death of any of her family members. She looked at Eric, noticing that he was looking at his ring. He still kept them on, even though Crystal was a wolf. Even though he betrayed her. 'Father?' The girl questioned, wanting her question to be answered.

'I wish I had known she was a wolf. She was willing to keep our bond even though she knew I was a fox,' Eric remembered out loud, then sighed. 'I guess I shall have to carry on my tantrum when this war is over,' he concluded, his emotions not showing anymore. The red-headed man told his daughter that Isabella had an hour to come up with useful information and she had failed to do so, so she would have drowned by now. Then, he decided to end it with saying, 'I should probably check she is dead and dispose of her body. I wouldn't want a rotting body in my torture room.'

Scarlett, shocked at his outburst, quickly replied, 'I'll meet you there. I just need to use the toilet quickly. You go on ahead.'

Eric, suspicious of something, threw his thoughts to the side of his mind and started walking back the way they had just came. Maybe she just didn't want to see a dead body, he thought, but something at the back of his mind was nagging him that she was running. That she had done something that he would kill her for.

Soon, he reached the drowning room. He glanced at the dead body of his Venus fly trap, sad that it had gone, and then entered through the metal door. As he entered, he stopped in the middle of the doorway. The door was open. Not the door he was standing in, but the door to the place he trapped his daughter. He looked on the floor. The flooded floor. There was water varnishing everything. He wondered if the hybrid's saviours had got to her in time. Hopefully not! Then they would know about this place. Maybe even their weaknesses to invade. They could know anything. The only question was, where were they hiding?

Scarlett wandered towards the toilet, slowly, until her father was out of sight. Once he was, without a second to lose, she shifted into a fox and sprinted on all fours to the portal. She got out without being asked or accused of anything, and she only knew one place to go. To warn her mother. She carried on running through the forest which she knew so well. She knew every tree, every root sticking out... well, almost every root. Her foot got caught between to close roots and she tripped up, making a huge gash with blood flooding out. She went back to her human form, ripped the bottom part of her dress off and tied it round her wound. After that, she got straight up and started limping to Crystal's house.

When she finally got there, she waited a few seconds and then pushed the door open from its half closed state. Why do people never check if the door is closed? She thought. She entered straight through, and only a second too late did she notice her mistake. She entered a house full of wolves. And she was one fox. One fox couldn't defend herself again millions of wolves. She couldn't even defend herself against one wolf. Her mother.

The pack circled themselves around the vixen, snarling as they did so. Scarlett, however, was still in her human form and all the wolves were in their attack form. Their wolf form. One wolf was still human, slowly circling her way around to the back of their prisoner when she didn't notice. When she got all the way around, she seized Scarlett's arms and immobilised her. Scarlett let out a small whimper...