The cover image was drawn by Linda Zhao as part of our collaboration with the MHS Youth Arts Movement Club
Her eyes seem almost mad with lunacy as she points the gun at the center of my forehead. At this point, I’m not even surprised, although being held at gunpoint right on the edge of a 60-story building is extremely inconvenient.
One wrong step and I fall. Down to the asphalt below. I can nearly imagine my body splayed out, with blank eyes, and the blood. Lots of it.
“Give it.” Her voice is sharp and jarring. I snap out of my thoughts.
“Give what?” I smirk as her grip falters. She composes herself, and her glare bores into me like two twin lasers.
“You don’t want to do this.” I smile, but I’m grasping at straws. “You don’t know what would happen if you shoot me—”
My stalling is interrupted when twenty more agents burst through the rooftop hatch and point their weapons at me.
Great.
The leader steps forward. While keeping his rifle trained on me, he shoves aside the woman holding me hostage and demands the same thing from me: “Give us the crystal and we’ll let you go, Fox.”
I raise an eyebrow.
“I give you our word.”
“Oh?” I gasp. Outstretching my arms for balance, I saunter across the low concrete railing of the rooftop’s edge. “You give me your ‘word?’ And what happened to my dear friend Camelia when you promised ‘your word?’”
The leader looks away.
“I wonder,” I continue, “how different this would be if she was still alive, without a bullet in her head from the rifle you’re holding right there.”
“She stole the crystal!” he spits. “The only one in this universe! Its anti-gravitational properties—”
“I mean, you swore not to hurt her if she gave the crystal back. And yet—” I pause, gazing wistfully at the sky. “Not even five minutes after she returned it, you shot her dead.”
I glance down, locking eyes with the leader. “It’s a shame, really. Killing your top agent all because she wanted to stop you from abusing the power of a special rock? I’d say you deserve to lose it.”
The agents surrounding us all stare at the ground. Some shuffle their feet.
Good. Let them be ashamed.
“Fox! Just give us the crystal!” the leader demands, brandishing his rifle.
“No,” I jeer. Leaning forward, I grin widely and do jazz hands in front of his face. “You’ll never have it. I don’t have it with me anyway!”
His eyes turn wide for a moment. I turn and skip back and forth along the edge of the building, carefree. Like I haven’t quite noticed that if I lost my balance, I would die.
Suddenly, my pocket grows hot, and the crystal within glints brightly. It’s at full power.
Finally.
My dread and terror skyrocket, but my smile does not waver.
Calm down. He may not have noti—
Immediately his features harden. His eyes are narrow when he says, “If you think we are that easy to fool, then how stupid are you?”
He tilts his head back and laughs. The other agents join in, sounding like wolves. A deadly pack that would stop at nothing to get what they want.
But I am the Fox. I outwit and deceive.
Foxes are not caught so easily.
He catches his breath and glances behind him, exclaiming, “She’s bluffing!” He lowers his rifle in the process. Bad mistake.
I lean back over the edge of the building, the precious pale blue crystal secure as I pull it out and grip it. The sharp, circular edge digs into my palm. My black hair blows in front of my face as I fall in a graceful dive and hear frustrated shouts from the top of the building.
The wind rushes past, delightfully cold, sharpening my thoughts and senses. I arc my body back and it feels like slow motion.
And right before my feet hit the ground, I stop.
Floating a foot off the ground, I tuck the crystal back into my pocket, and my feet land on the pavement. Gravity is normal again. Turning around, I gaze up at the skyscraper I just leaped off of, its top not quite piercing the clouds. It will take a while for the agents to come down to the ground, but I’m not taking any chances.
Humming, I cross the street and disappear into a small alley, already making plans to avoid getting caught for the rest of the day.
I’ve got the crystal, Cam. You can rest in peace now.
Wolves are fast, but The Fox is faster, and I live to see another day.
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