Alex couldn’t believe it.

He’d finally got his dream come true—to get a fox pet. He and Aether had been celebrating for the past hour after dark, which was how long it took to unlock the cage door. Inside, the fox looked hesitant. Their friends were snoring not very far away.

Alex remembered what the seller of the fox had said. “Exotic!” he’d shouted at passersby. “Cheap! Come get your magical fox!”

The fox had looked so frightened. It was clearly starved; its ribs were showing prominently. There were scars along its back.

The problem was the lock.

Aether had diagnosed that it was magic, and only magic could remove it. She’d been trying different spells for a while, until finally she had a breakthrough.

“THERE!” she said triumphantly. The cage creaked open, and the fox’s ears perked up. Alex grabbed the chicken leg they’d been saving since dinner and held it out tentatively.

The fox snatched it in its mouth with a cry of glee and began to chew ferociously. Alex and Aether laughed good-naturedly.

“What will we name him?” Aether asked.

“Just like you said,” Alex replied. “Alastor.”

The fox made an odd sound, like a chuckle. Then it went back to eating.

“Turquoise thinks it was a waste of time,” Alex said after a pause, “but I don’t. he needed rescuing.”

Turquoise…

Ever since they’d escaped Trade Island, she’d changed. She wouldn’t explain it to Alex, but it had something to do with that helmet. He knew it. But why would a piece of headgear change a person?

Sure, she’d looked scary when rescuing her friends. Alex hadn’t known that Turquoise could swordfight so well, and it was weird not being able to see her face.

Also, the fact that she couldn’t even remove said piece of headgear was weird. Turquoise had tried all day while they were flying to get it off, but it wouldn’t. She didn’t seem to mind, and it had been her to suggest they touch down in a small forest, providing cover for themselves along with plentiful berry bushes and animals. Everyone thought she was fine, but Alex knew something was up. Before, she was loud and brave and joking. But now, she paused before saying anything, or sometimes didn’t respond at all. She seemed distant, more thoughtful. Alex wished she would tell him what was going on.

The fox must’ve picked on his somber thoughts, because it walked over and licked his hand, giving him an adoring look. Its eyes…something about them made Alex want to look again after a glance. They weren’t green like a normal fox’s was supposed to be. They changed constantly, and not just the irises. The pupils morphed from slits to dilated, or sometimes weird symbols—a plus sign, an hourglass, and infinity symbol, even a triangle. The colors were infinite: a spiraling, galaxy pattern; a mix of green and gold that reminded Alex of trees and forests; a silvery grey mixed with blueish white stripes that looked like lightning; a sea blue. Even the colors of the pupils and eye whites were changing.

“How is he DOING that?” Aether murmured in wonder. “It’s MAGICAL.”

The fox gave them a knowing look. Could normal foxes do that?

There was one thing for sure: Alastor was not any common fox. Maybe the seller had been right, and he was possibly magical.

“If he is magical, we’re not going to try and squeeze it out of him,” Alex decided. “He’ll show us in his own time.”

Alastor opened his mouth and chattered, a cute sound almost like fox laughter. Then he climbed up to Alex’s shoulder and sniffed him, barking.

“I probably need a bath,” Alex admitted. Alastor barked again in agreement.

Alex tiptoed over to his friends.

“Turquoise,” he whispered, “I’m going to go get clean. I’ll be right back.”

Turquoise was still for a moment, and Alex thought she might not have heard. “Turquoise—”

“Do it at the lowest point at the river you can find, while still being close to us,” Turquoise whispered. “Avoid plants with leaves of three, and don’t wade in too far.”

Alex was taken back by surprise. He quickly recovered. “Got it.”

When Alex saw the river, he knew Turquoise was right. It was wide, and in some places he couldn’t see the bottom.

Aether and Alastor went off respectfully to hunt berries. Chuckling, Alex realized that they all had “a” names.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

When he finished, he felt clean for the first time since going out of the caves. He stretched and let out a sigh. “Aether? Alastor?”

“HERE!” Aether trotted out of the bushes wearing a pleased expression. She was carting an entire wingful of berries with her. Alastor came behind her, carrying a chicken.

“We won’t need to gather tomorrow!” Alex said with a chuckle.

Alastor chuckled too.

They all stared at him.

“Oh, erm,” the fox said. He cleared his throat. “I mean, bark bark squeak! No wait, um. Hold on.” he let out the foxish laughter from before.

Aether’s tail went limp. Her eyes grew as big as Alex’s Evening Meal plates.

Alex’s jaw hit the ground. “You can talk?”

“Hehe. Um, yep.” Alastor looked sheepish. “that’s me! Alastor the Talking Fox.”

“But this is great!” Alex exclaimed, his shock turning into excitement. “Wow! That’s so cool!”

“It is? Oh, I mean…it is! Yep!”

“Is it okay if…?” Alex hesitated.

Alastor paused, then nodded slowly. “Yes, you can tell your friends. I’ll stick with you guys, as gratitude for my freedom.”

“Yes!” Alex whooped, picking up Alastor and stroking his head.

“That feels nice,” the fox said, closing his fluorescent eyes and twitching his ear. “Keep doing that.”

Aether grinned. “HOP ON, guys. Let’s TAKE A RIDE.”

Alex hopped on Aether’s back and set Alastor in his lap. When he had first started flying, he had thought that the dragons might need saddles (something he had learned about when coming to the Surface) to hold the humans in place. But now, he realized it was quite easy to find the center of gravity on Aether’s back. He just squeezed his legs on Aether’s shoulder blades and hung onto Aether’s spines, and managed to stay relatively secure. It helped that Aether flew as smooth as a still lake when flying.

“Woo hoo!” Alastor cried, sticking his tongue out into the breeze. It was a short ride, but Aether managed to stick some loop-the-loops and barrel rolls into it.

They touched down on the sleeping camp. Alex hadn’t realized how dark it was, but the fireflies were out. Alastor stared wonderingly at them.

“Should we WAKE them UP?” Aether whispered. Alex looked at Turquoise. It was hard to tell what state she was in with that helmet on her head. Was she awake or asleep?

“This seems important enough,” Alex decided.

Aether nodded. She closed her eyes and took one step forwards. However, instead of being one step away from Alex and Alastor, she disappeared. She stepped out of the air next to Andy.

Alex grinned. He'd seen her use this trick before—teleporting to a different location. She called it “walking through the alternate reality interdimensional space of time”, but he didn’t understand what any of those terms meant, so he called it Portal Walking.

“PSSSTTT,” she whispered, poking Andy’s side with her talon repeatedly. “ANDY. WAKE UP YOU TOAD SNIFFING SLEAZEBAG.”

“Uh-uhm?” Andy grunted, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “Aether? What—?”

“SHHH.” Aether put one talon to Andy’s lips. Andy blinked and fell silent, looking startled.

Slowly, Aether woke up the entire group. Alex realized her motives—she didn’t want to make enough noise to notify anything nearby, but still wake them up.

Turquoise rose up on her own, which didn’t surprise Alex much.

“What is it?” Jade whispered. Alex gently set Alastor on the ground in front of them all.

“Really, Alex?” Pyrite asked skeptically. “You woke us up for—”

“Alex has a valuable reason,” Alastor said. “I told him to.”

There was stunned silence.

“There’s no way,” Andy said, awed. “I’m still asleep and dreaming. When I wake up, this won’t be real.”

“We’d all be having the same dream, then,” Sapphire pointed out. “The chances of that are approximately 0.0000—”

“Okay, okay.” Andy raised one hand submissively. Sapphire flinched slightly, which Alex found odd, but then he directed his attention to the talking fox.

“How are you—?” Pyrite couldn’t even finish the question.

“I don’t know, or remember,” Alastor replied. As far as I know, I was born in that cage. I have no memories of my past, if I had any siblings, or if I even have any other powers besides talking. Inside the cage, my mind was fuzzy and clouded. I acted like a normal fox. If Alex hadn’t of freed me, I would’ve never known that I could talk at all.”

Sapphire made a sympathetic noise. Alex noticed that Turquoise had stayed silent, which was highly unusual of her.

Thinking fast, Alex made a decision.

“Turquoise, what is going on?” he demanded. All eyes turned from Alastor to Turquoise. Even the little fox gazed up at her.

Turquoise tilted her head.

“Ever since you put on that helmet,” Alex continued, “you’ve been acting strange. You hardly talk at all, and everything you say seems calculated perfectly. This isn’t the Turquoise that I know.”

There was a charged silence.

Then, with an eerie sigh and a clang, the visor of Turquoise’s helmet fell open.

“W-what?” Turquoise said, looking slightly confused. She tapped the helmet on the top. “Don’t leave me now! What am I supposed to do?”

Who is she talking to? Alex wondered. Whoever it was, there was no answer. Turquoise looked severely distressed.

“Alex, you wouldn't believe me if I told you,” Turquoise said hesitantly, meeting Alex’s eyes. She still seemed upset about something.

Alex folded his arms. “Try me.”

Turquoise took a deep breath. “I have a talking helmet.”

She removed the helmet and held it in her arms. “He told me that you guys wouldn’t be able to hear him even if he shouted as loud as possible. Something about the creator of this helmet not being the brightest cloud in the sky. But you have to believe me, Alex,” she rambled on. “And the rest of you, too.”

Alex paused, then looked at Alastor and back to Turquoise.

“I believe you,” he said simply.

“Really?” Turquoise’s eyes widened.

“Sure. Why not? I have a talking fox, you have a talking helmet,” Alex answered. “Now that I think about it, I’m not sure which one sounds more ridiculous.”

“Well, the helmet is an inanimate object,” Sapphire interjected, looking startled but amused. Alex grinned at her, and she blushed. “Just saying, that sounds crazier.”

“I’m just glad we sorted that out,” Andy said. He nudged Turquoise. “I had noticed that you were acting weirder.”

“Weirder than normal, you mean?” Turquoise asked, wiggling her eyebrows and crossing her eyes. Andy laughed.

“Can we sweep now? Carrion asked groggily. Th poor little dragon looked exhausted. “Yes? Okay. Bye bye now.”

“Carrion’s right,” Jade said. “Let’s get some sleep. We should probably move under the trees where it’s safer can more covered.” He shot a worried glance at the sky, fingering the sword hilt on his back uneasily as he led the others to the forest. Alex noticed that the eye on it seemed narrowed, almost as if sensing Jade’s mood. He dismissed that theory almost instantly. It was just a sword.

Right?