Foxfire (An Other Novel) by Karen Kincy Page B

bite mark, big enough to be a dog’s. Sourness rises in my throat.
    “Inugami.” Gwen’s voice is husky, like she’s been screaming.
    “What happened?” I say.
    “A dog bit me,” Michiko says, matter-of-factly. “But I know how to bandage myself. My father was a doctor, and my mother was a nurse. There’s no need to go to the hospital.”
    Gwen heaves a growling sigh. “It’s going to get infected. Tavian, don’t you agree?”
    I ball my hands into fists. “What happened ?”
    “They attacked us.” Gwen’s eyes flash gold. “They must have started stalking us the moment we stepped out the door. On the way back from grocery shopping, on this little back street, we hear a dog’s nails clicking on the pavement. There’s nobody else around. We look back and Ushio’s charging at us. He knocks Michiko over, and—”
    “A lot of perfectly good pickles wasted,” Michiko muses, daubing antiseptic on her arm. “Smashed all over the sidewalk.”
    “Obāsan!” I say. “I don’t care about pickles. I care about you. You’re hurt. Gwen is right, you need to go to the doctor.”
    Michiko actually rolls her eyes at me. “Unnecessary.”
    Gwen sighs. “Do you want to know what happened or not?”
    “Sorry,” I say.
    “So Michiko is on the sidewalk,” Gwen says, “and Ushio is growling and slobbering in her face. I grab the inugami by his collar and try to yank him off her, but he’s too heavy. He snaps at me, then bites Michiko on the arm. Of course this makes me really angry, because he just won’t let go, no matter how much I hurt him.”
    “He is a rather strong dog.” Michiko unwraps a gauze bandage.
    “Here,” I say, “let me help you with that.”
    My grandmother glances at me. “Do you know how?”
    “Well, no, but I can still help.”
    Behind Michiko’s head, Gwen mouths, “Impossible.”
    Michiko holds out her arm. “Wrap it tight enough to stop the bleeding, but not too tight or it will restrict circulation.” She speaks in a brisk, I-have-medical-savvy way.
    As I follow her instructions, I glance at Gwen. I can see now that she’s wearing her shirt inside-out, which means she must have shapeshifted completely, but I’m still trying to figure out how she fought off the inugami single-handedly and protected my grandmother.
    I cough. “So how did you beat Ushio?”
    Gwen rubs the back of her neck. “I bit him.”
    “As a snake,” Michiko adds.
    “Not a venomous one,” Gwen says quickly. “Well, not very … ”
    I raise my eyebrows. “Seriously?”
    “Tavian!” Gwen says. “It’s shapeshifting, not science. I don’t know exactly what kind of snake I was. I don’t always have a particular species in mind when I visualize the animal I want to become.”
    “Ushio staggered away,” Michiko says. “He was alive when we left.”
    “You’ve never turned into a snake before,” I say to Gwen.
    “So?” she says, her eyes flashing.
    “Fascinating.” Michiko says.
    “Yeah, fascinating,” I say. “But Obāsan, you really should see a doctor. Just to be on the safe side.”
    My grandmother scoffs. “Inugami aren’t like those werewolves you have in America. One little bite won’t change me into a dog-spirit. Your grandfather doesn’t need to worry.”
    “You’re not going to tell him?” I say.
    “I will tell him that a dog bit me, because a dog did bite me.” Michiko meets my eyes. “There is not much else we can do without provoking the inugami. We don’t need this in the news.”
    I clench and unclench my fists. “So this was their way of humiliating us? To bite an elderly woman in the street?”
    “I don’t think so,” Gwen says.
    “Was it a crime of opportunity?” I say. “Why was Ushio alone?”
    Gwen thins her lips, suspiciously quiet.
    I narrow my eyes. “Tell me.”
    “After I shapeshifted back,” she says, “I helped Michiko up and started getting dressed. Then we heard somebody laughing. Yuta and Katashi came down the street. Katashi