Page 23 of How Does It Feel?

It was so magical looking. I needed to get closer.

I grabbed my phone to take photos—

Except I’d left my phone in the tractor.

Poop.

Okay, it’d be fine. Alone in the woods in a hooker dress and high heels with no ride or phone. Perfect.

I turned down a deep bend past a large hemlock as I followed the golden trail in an attempt to get a better look at the moths that fluttered ahead of me.

My lungs filled sharply with cold air. I had to grasp ahold of a nearby tree to keep myself up.

There had to be a hundred of them.

They all had stopped in the same area.

Pale-green wings seemed to reflect brighter under the sultry glow of the moon. Dozens and dozens of wings flapped slowly. Most of them had collected on the bark of trees or fallen logs surrounding the area. A few fluttered by wistfully in the air. They seemed to have gathered in a large circle deep within the secret depths of the forest. The large gap in the center of the trees gave way to silver mists of moonlight casting down gracefully upon them. It was beautiful, ethereal. Enough to distract you from the doomed feeling hovering over the area like a foreboding blanket.

A shrill scream sounded somewhere in the distance, severing the doleful quiet of the night.

I know that sound, that’s a—

Suddenly it was before me.

A fox.

A red, snarling, angry fox.

I screamed, nearly falling backward in surprise. Normally a fox would not hurt a human, but this was not a normal, average fox.

It was the very same glittering golden fox I had seen before. I backed away from its snarling red and black face.

It wasn’t glittering now in the darkness—not exactly. When the moonlight hit its fur unshadowed, it looked . . . magical? It seemed to ghost a golden glow that you couldn’t quite focus your eyes on. Was this all my imagination? Was I really starting to lose my mind? Was it the mushrooms?

In a startling move, it nipped at my foot, and I leaped backward toward the center of the gathering of moths with a shriek.

My action only seemed to cause it to act more frantic. Was he hurt? I shifted back along the ground, suddenly very afraid. I’d never had an animal act like this toward me.

“It’s okay, I won’t hurt you. I promise. What are you?” I attempted to coo at the reddish-orange creature.

Maybe he thought I meant him harm?

His bushy tail flicked at my words. I’d never heard a fox snarl before, but it was terrifying. Shrill, more high pitch than a dog’s growl, but every bit as fear provoking, maybe more so with his pointed nose wrinkled up in anger. I moved to step around him. I needed to get to the moths.

I needed to see more.

“What the fork!?” I screamed as it went to rip my ankle off, barely missing.

The fox’s amber eyes stared at me as he pinned his ears back, away from his bushy red and black face. White patches blended with rust-colored fur. He was beautiful. Don’t ask me how I knew it was a he. I could feel it. Just like I could feel that he wasn’t quite normal. Even if I couldn’t see the shimmering gold fur in the moonlight, there was something in his eyes, something unlike anything I’d ever seen. I should have been running home now, but I couldn’t. It was like I was hypnotized. I felt such a harsh pull to see the moths. I couldn’t have ignored it if I had tried.

Most of my life had revolved around the hope of this very moment. If this glowing fox thought he would stop me, he had no idea how determined I truly was. I stepped back.

He snapped at me again, growling. This time, shoving his trim, fluffy body into mine and knocking me away from the moths.

He was trying to block me from the circular clearing where the moths and lightning bugs waited patiently.

“It’s okay,” I cooed in my softest voice, “you have a family in there, don’t you? I promise I won’t hurt them. I just want to get a better look at the luna moth, okay? Whatever you are.”