Chapter 1

Present day

Brock woke up and stretched out his fur-covered arms. He yawned. Not out of tiredness but out of boredom. He had lived this life for four years now, and in all honesty, he was getting a bit fed up with it. But what young human boy in a fox’s body wouldn’t? He missed his old life, the life that left him forever on his sixteenth birthday.

The highlight of Brock’s day was always visiting his older cousin, Macie, at her house not far from the forest where he lived. She would feed him, speak to him �" by some miracle, Brock could still talk �" and generally give him good company. Today was one of those days when he definitely needed that company. He walked to her back door and tapped on it lightly.

“Morning, Macie,” he called out.   

“Hey, Brock,” Macie smiled, walking over to the back door. She gently stroked Brock’s head. “How are we today?”

“Not good,” Brock sighed. “I miss my old life. I miss the excitement.”

Macie laughed. “If you can call going to school and looking after your mother ‘excitement’.”

Brock’s mother had been sick when he was younger. All the more reason for Macie to take good care of him, she thought.

“It was better than the life I have now,” he admitted. “I can’t even socialize with my friends, because I’m not allowed anywhere near them. And besides, they don’t realize I’m still here.”

Brock had told his friends he was moving shortly before his sixteenth. He hadn’t spoken to them since, apart from the odd e-mail. Brock was grateful that he could still use technology. Thanks to Macie, who lent him her smart phone now and again.

Macie admitted she thought this curse was a bit weird. She wondered why, if he was supposed to be resigned to life as an animal, Brock still had the mind and some of the abilities of a human. She decided it must have been a glitch in the system.

Brock had never had a relationship, never had a girlfriend, and he desperately wanted one. Not that he had met the right girl yet. However, he could never have a relationship with another human now anyway.

“I’m going to hang out near the park,” Brock said sadly. “At least it’s something.”

Macie waved him off, and then went back to the book she was reading.

It was called, The Book of Spells.

 

“Sorry I’m late!” Sixteen-year-old Aurora-Belle Smith had not made a good start to her first day on her new job at the little café near the woods.

“It’s OK,” her boss, Pete, replied. “Just don’t make a habit out of it.”

Aurora-Belle, who preferred to be called simply Aurora, had long brown hair and blue eyes. She was a small girl, only about 5 foot 3 and very slim. She sighed and gently blew her hair out of her face. “I’ll try.”

Pete led Aurora into the small kitchen hidden away behind the counter where food and drinks where served. There was a blonde girl, a little older than Aurora, washing the dishes in the sink.

“This is Stephanie,” Pete said. “She’ll be looking after you, teaching you how to use the till, make drinks, serve customers.”

“I think I know how to serve customers,” Aurora said.

Stephanie smiled. “Answering back to the boss. I like you already.”

“I’m Aurora.” She smiled back at her.

“Nice to meet you,” Stephanie replied. “Pretty name, too.”

“Thanks,” Aurora said. “What would you like me to do first?”

“We’ve only been open for about 10 minutes, so, there’s not much to do,” Stephanie said, “but you can serve the customers once they start pouring in. Well, I say pouring in… but it’s more like slowly dripping in!”

Aurora giggled. “Not very popular, huh?”

“We don’t get much traffic, being on the edge of a forest and all. Pete wants to pack up and move. But I like it here. It’s pretty. And then there are the animals. I love animals. So, tell me about yourself?”

“There’s not much to tell, really,” sighed Aurora. “I’m leaving school soon �" it’s actually my prom tomorrow night �" and I have a boyfriend, Nick. He’s great. I met him at school. We’ve been going out about three months.”

“That’s nice,” said Stephanie. “I wish I had a boyfriend.”

Aurora was surprised. The girl standing before her was very pretty, and yet she was single.

The café was only about a mile from Macie’s house. Brock made his way to the back door of the café, which led directly into the kitchen, as he usually did. Stephanie would usually feed him with leftovers from the day before. Although he mostly survived on food he could find for himself, he still had a natural taste for human food.

“See what I mean about the animals?” Stephanie said to Aurora, giving Brock a small bread crust.

“Yeah, lovely,” Aurora replied, stroking Brock’s head gently. Brock looked up into the eyes of this new girl. He hadn’t previously let himself fall for human girls, for obvious reasons, but he was instantly attracted to Aurora. Her blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight.

A loud beep rang out into the kitchen, distracting Aurora and Stephanie. It was Aurora’s phone. She had a message from her boyfriend, Nick.

Her eyes grew sad as she read the message:

Hi Aurora, I know this isnt the right way to do this but I think we need to break up. I know its prom tomorrow night and I'm really sorry, but there is someone else. Nick. x

“What’s wrong?” Stephanie asked, noticing the emotion in Aurora’s face. Aurora showed her the message.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, babe,” Stephanie said, putting an arm around her new friend.

Brock watched as tears fell from the girl’s eyes and her friend comforted her. He wondered what was wrong.

“I can’t believe he would do this, the day before prom,” Aurora cried.

“There will be someone else,” Stephanie reassured her. And for a moment, Brock imagined it could be him. But he shook the thought away immediately. What human girl would fall for a fox like himself? He started making his way back to Macie’s house, all the time still thinking about the pretty girl in the café.

 

When he arrived back at the house, Macie could see that Brock was a little distracted. She had never seen him like this before.

“Are you OK?” she asked him, putting her book down on the coffee table next to the sofa she was sitting on.

“Oh, Macie,” Brock replied. “I’ve done something bad. Very bad.”

“What have you done?” she asked, eyes widening.

“I’ve…  I’ve fallen for a human girl!”

Macie sighed. She knew this day would come, in the back of her mind, but she hadn’t really bothered to think about how they would handle it when it did arrive.

“Who is she?”

“She works at the café beside the park, and she’s amazing,” Brock explained. “Brown hair, blue eyes… beautiful.”

Macie walked over to the back door to let Brock in. He lay down on the rug beside the sofa, and she stroked his head.

“What am I going to do?” he asked sadly. “I can’t stop thinking about her.”

Macie had a thought. She had just read a very interesting chapter in her book, which may be the answer to Brock’s problems.

“You could become human,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Excuse me?” Brock spluttered.

“There is a spell I could put on you, that will make you human again for 24 hours. That will at least give you enough time to get to know this girl, to experience being with her. But it does only last for 24 hours though.”

Brock shook his head in disbelief. “I’ll try anything. But could we do it soon? It’s her prom tomorrow night. That would be an ideal time to get to know her better.”

Macie smiled. “Come back at 10.30 tonight, and we’ll go through with it.”