As Kat, the children, and I approached the cabin, I thought about something Mr. Mallard had said. About how the Knowledge was as unique and varied as the people who could wield it. After everything I'd seen so far, I guessed a talking owl wasn't so out of left field.

Something about that German Shepherd, Hero, made me think he was more than just a dog. I bet, if he had been so inclined, he could talk too.

But talking animals aside, why was Hornroot and its 'Lady' so interested in me? Gust said I was supposed to be friends with the owl, but most of the things he said did not make much sense. Like being enemies of Kat and his dad.

His dad was probably the sanest person I've met in a while and even if Kat and I were having some problems right now, I wouldn't consider her an 'enemy'. She already risked herself to save my life more than once; I wouldn't consider someone who would do that to be an enemy.

So then, what did I consider her? Maybe more importantly, what did I consider myself? I still had little idea of how I fit into this nightmare, despite being of a great interest to a variety of people.

Hero always seemed to be keeping a close eye on me. Fawn was appalled when she somehow discovered I was with Mr. Mallard. And now this Hornroot was very displeased that I was in the state I was in, even though I had never met him before.

Mr. Mallard, Kat, Mutt, and Stallion did a lot of questionable things to ensure that I would do what they wanted. At first, I thought it was just because they needed Mary back with them, but they kept me around even after she was brought back into their fold. And I haven't been exactly the most willing participant. However hard it was for them to hold on to me, I made it that much harder by being so understandably unwilling. So much so they had to resort to keeping me near death.

But, why?

As I continued to think back, there were so many opportunities where I could have died. But every time, Kat, Mutt, or Stallion would risk their own lives to save me. Why? It was hard to believe they did it because we were friends. I still knew next to nothing about them and, after everything they put me through, I haven't exactly been showing them my softer side. They probably considered me a friend just as much as I considered them as one. Which is to say, not at all.

So then, why?

I was interrupted from my train of thought when Kat and the kids reached the large cabin. Dr. Quincy was already sliding open the glass door, drying his hands with a dish cloth, and looking quite worried.

"Kat," he greeted, looking between her, his kids, and then finally to me. "What happened?"

"Daddy, it's the fox-!" Gust began to say, until Kat cleared her throat- silencing him immediately.

"I do not think it is wise to keep secrets from me, Master," Kat said. The even way she spoke, with a hint of malice, sent shivers up my spine. Dr. Quincy's expression told me he was feeling a similar level of uneasiness.

"Maple, why don't you take your brothers and sisters inside and help daddy start making lunch?" Dr. Quincy suggested.

Maple, still holding her brother, looked back up at him, studying him with those probing eyes. Dr. Quincy looked back at her until she seemed satisfied and nodded. "Thank you, sweetie."

"But, daddy-"

"Go with Maple, Gust. Your daddy and Miss Elizabeth have some things to talk about."

Gust made another one of his sour faces but eventually followed his siblings. Though, he made sure to slam the sliding door shut as hard as he could as he left.

"Now, Miss Elizab-"

"Kat."

"Kat...I have to tell you that I'm not sure what you're talking abou-"

"Foxy ran into Hornroot during our run," Kat interrupted again. "And I know you have something to do with that."

Dr. Quincy held his mouth shut as he looked between Kat and me. He finally rested his concerned gaze on my cuts. "Did that owl do that to you, Alex? Here, I have some stuff inside to help."

Dr. Quincy reached out, maybe to take me from Kat's arms, but then Kat jumped back and hissed at him. Like an actual cat--like how Mutt had growled.

I held my breath. Dr. Quincy appeared rooted in the spot, his hand still outstretched. Slowly, Kat placed me on the ground beside her before straightening back up.

"You brought him here," Kat said in that even voice. "He would not have known to come here unless someone told him."

"It was the owl's...Master; she somehow found out that Alex was with me. She offered to send me extra protection. When I agreed, I did not know it was going to be another familiar. I assumed witches only wanted familiars when they didn't already have one. Either way, Kat, I'm only doing what I believe is best for my children."

"Working with a witch is not doing what is best for your children. You should know that better than most people, Master."

That one stung me. The look that came over Dr. Quincy's face forced me to lower my eyes.

They both fell silent for a short time, until Dr. Quincy said: "What would you have me do, Kat?"

"Keep Foxy and your children inside, Master. Do not leave this place until I deal with Hornroot."

Dr. Quincy did not respond. Kat was no longer beside me. I looked back down the incline of the mountain and saw that she was already heading down the path that led into the trees. I was still blown away by how unnaturally fast she was.

When I looked back to Dr. Quincy, I saw that he was staring down at the ground, his fists clenched at his sides.

"What would you have me do?" he said again, softly.

"Quinn?"

"Oh, Alex," he was almost surprised to see that I was still there. "I'm sorry. Here, let's get you something for those cuts."

Dr. Quincy carried me to the cabin and into a bathroom near the kitchen. It was smaller than the one in his bedroom, but still larger than any I had seen before it.

After he sat me on the counter, I stared at the new cuts in my chest while he dug around in a closet for medical supplies. They looked bad and stung even worse, but it was nowhere near the pain from the cuts I once had on my back. I could handle it.

I thought again about how I fit into all of this. Dr. Quincy said Hornroot had a Master, and that he was sent as extra protection because I was here. So that was yet another person who had an interest in me. Were familiars really that sought after? It would help if I could start making some headway into what a familiar was, exactly.

            Even though Dr. Quincy seemed unwilling, I was prepared to ask him, when he placed a cotton swab of alcohol against my cuts.

            "Oh, sorry, Alex. I guess I should have warned you," Dr. Quincy said with an awkward chuckle as I hissed against the pain. "Didn't realize you were off in dream land."

            "Quinn, why do you want a familiar?"

            He took the cotton swab away from my cuts. I tried to find something in his expression, but he kept his face guarded.

Why? Why all the secrecy? I was already trapped in this nightmare with no foreseeable way out. Why is it always hard to get straight answers?

I was about to lose my cool right then and there, when Dr. Quincy spoke. "Because having a familiar is the only way I could hope to kill my wife," he said. I felt the anger inside me drain away like it was never there, but he did not stop. "Without a familiar, she will hunt the children...and kill them, or worse, and there would be nothing I could do to stop her."

            "Quinn..."

            "And I hate it, Alex," he said to me, his dark eyes brimming with tears. "I hate that I have to become my wife in order to stop her. I hate that people like me need people like you."

            "What do you mean?"

He didn't respond and tried to look away when I leaned in closer. "Quinn, what do you mean? What are familiars like?"

            Dr.Quincy shook his head as he stood up. I reached out, grabbed his wrist, and he almost fell down in his attempts to shake me off and put distance between us.

When he flailed his arm, I was forced to let go and my hand hit the mirror. The impact caused it to crack in various places. It nearly shattered.

            I stared at the mirror. I had not hit it that hard. My hand had only fallen into it, but the impact made it look like I had forcefully tried to smash it with my fist.

I caught sight of Dr. Quincy's horrified face, the cracked reflection making it appear much worse. I turned to his real face as the concerned calls of his children began to echo down the hall.

            He met my look, and I was taken over by the amount of fear in his face--in his eyes. Was this the way I looked at Mutt?

            "I'm sorry, Alex," he said, and then he was gone.

            I stared at the door, then back into the mirror. My reflection was obscured by the new cracks. I was still sweaty and dirty from the encounter with Hornroot.

I really looked like a monster. Weak, feeble, clinging to life.

I got down from the counter. It was difficult and I almost fell, but I found the dark wood cane resting against the wall of the bathroom. Grabbing it, I slowly hobbled out of the room.

...

Kat returned the next morning. She reported to Dr. Quincy that there were no signs of Hornroot but that she would spend the remainder of my recovery time searching for him. Dr. Quincy tried to talk her out of it, but it was like trying to reason with a brick wall. It made me wonder who was more the familiar and who was more the Master in their relationship.

            I could hear them arguing from the other room as I picked at bacon strips. I was watching the children play outside from the kitchen when Kat stomped through the room. I lowered my head but continued to watch her as she pulled open the sliding glass door, went outside, then slammed it shut again.

            She looked like she was planning on going straight past the kids and back into the woods, but they intercepted her, grabbing on to her arms and legs, jumping and smiling and seeming to say a million things at once. In the mood she was in, I was half expecting her to just shake them off. Instead, she knelt down and hugged one of them. From my vantage point, I could see the child's face, one of the girls, and she seemed pretty surprised.

            One by one, Kat hugged each of them. The kids had lost their smiles by the end and none of them said a word. When she stood up again she captured me in those green eyes of hers. I couldn't break away and, like always, I struggled to figure out what she was feeling--what she was trying to tell me.

Before I could really consider it, she turned away and ran down the mountain, disappearing almost instantly for me, but I watched the kids watch her go. They stood still at first, but one by one they grabbed each other's hands as they stared down the mountain together.

            "Alex, could I ask a favor?"

            I jumped in my seat. I swallowed the food that sat in my mouth as I turned to Dr. Quincy. His large frame took up most of the doorway that sat between the kitchen and the room where he and Kat had been arguing. His face and the top of his head were still red from their interaction.

            "I have to go down into town this morning," he went on, walking into the kitchen, his dark eyes glancing out the glass door. "Would you mind watching the children while I'm gone?"

            I swallowed again--though there was no food, just a lump in my throat. I was no good with kids. Especially kids with a predisposition towards hating me. But it wasn't like I could just tell him no. He was sheltering me, feeding me, and even if he was a 'Master', he was leagues better than Mallard.

Still, it was only fair to let him know.

            "Sure, I can try." I pushed bits of egg around with my fork, unable to look him in the eye. "But you should know, I'd have absolutely no idea what to do. I've never taken care of kids before."

            I peeked through my bangs as he nodded, his face riddled with lines. Kat must have really put him through an ordeal. He looked nothing like the person who woke me up with breakfast in bed.

            "And now I'm asking you to look after six." He scratched his beard absently, still staring outside. "I know this is a big favor of me to ask, but Kat isn't giving me much choice. I have to go into town, I have to do my job, or word will spread about the hermit who lives secluded in the mountains like he's hiding. And she will catch wind again, she will find us, and she'll..."

            I put my fork down when Dr. Quincy fell silent. He appeared rooted in the spot, unable to move, to speak. His eyes remained closed, like he was trying to forget it all. To escape, drift away and never return. I stared down at my pale, bony hands. The long nails that would grow back overnight if I cut them, the soft, supple skin that wasn't my skin.

            "It's alright, Quinn. I will look after them."

            He opened his eyes, the lines in his face receded. He blinked a few times as I tried to hold his stare.

When he smiled, I focused again on the scraps of breakfast. "Thank you, Alex. Really. I would be lost without you."

            "It's...Don't worry about it. I just hope I do more good than harm."

            "You'll do fine." He was already walking back out, grabbing a dark grey jacket that hung from a peg in the wall. "They seem like a handful at first, but once they warm up to you you'll wonder if they take better care of you then you do for them."

            I didn't know what to say to that, and he was already leaving the room, putting on the jacket as he walked.

            "Tell the little ones I said goodbye. I'm running late as it is, they will understand. Have a good day, Alex."

            "You too," I called after him. He never turned around and he was soon gone from my line of sight. Not long after that, I heard the front doors open and close.

            Outside his kids had gone back to playing. I reached down for the cane. Better sooner rather than later they find out what's happening.

            I was halfway out of my seat when I looked back to the glass door and saw that Gust had stopped chasing his siblings around. He was standing still, facing me, and was staring at me with his new stick pointed right at me. When our eyes met, he brought the point of the stick across his throat before spitting at the ground. I sat back down as he returned to playing.

            Maybe it was best to wait to give them the bad news.

...

*Author's Note*

Foxy playing nanny to a bunch of kids that both hate and fear him? What could go wrong?

And how exactly do you guys think he fits into all these talks of witches and familiars? Are you all as lost as poor Foxy is, or do you think you have this whole mystery figured out? Comment below and let me know! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, or anything else that leaves you feeling like you signed up for more than you can handle!

Oh, and I could use someone to babysit the vote button for me. It's not a tough job, just one little click should be all it needs. I'll only accept applicants that enjoy this story, however. So be sure to keep that in mind before making the commitment!