Foxheart by Claire Legrand

you?
    Quicksilver’s stifled laughter came out as a giant snort.
    Anastazia turned, narrowing her eyes. “Were you listening to me?”
    Sly Boots piped up from the fence. “You were talking about how magic must never be used to harm another person, unless that person is the Wolf King or one of his associates, or unless your life is in danger and you’re forced to use magic to defend yourself—”
    â€œNot you , boy. Quicksilver?”
    â€œI . . . what Boots said?” Quicksilver shot Anastazia a hopeful smile.
    Anastazia sighed. “Quicksilver, this is serious. You’re a witch now. You can’t act as though you’ve no responsibilities in the world. Your blood contains power that, when used improperly, could do a lot of damage. You must pay attention during these lessons. Otherwise you’ll never be strong enough to face a unicorn, much less the Wolf King.”
    At the word “unicorn,” the cows made alarmed noises and bumped into one another in their haste to hurry away.
    But Quicksilver was already planning thieving jobs in her head, and imagining all the many ways she and Fox could trick their marks. How much magical, witchy loot they would bag, and how they would live in the mountains someday like kings, and never have to talk to anyone ever again.
    We’ll have to work hard, Quicksilver thought to Fox. I’m not sure we could steal a piece of candy right now, much less riches and gold. That means you’ll have to listen to me, do as I say.
    Fox’s indignation was like a tiny black cloud in her mind. As long as you actually pay attention to what you’re doing , he thought back, we should be fine.
    Quicksilver stomped her foot and screamed in frustration. Fox stomped his paws and echoed her scream—only much sillier—and then rolled his eyes at her.
    â€œAnastazia, he’s being incredibly rude!” said Quicksilver, pointing at Fox. “Aren’t you going to do something?”
    But Anastazia only muttered, “I wasn’t nearly this impossible when I was your age,” and stalked away, popping candies into her mouth.
    Quicksilver stared, her temper fading. The annoyed look on Anastazia’s face was so familiar and so perfectly echoed how Quicksilver felt whenever she grew annoyed with something . . . it made her feel as though she’d stepped outside her body to float in the sky.
    How bizarre it was, she thought, to look at this old, hunched woman and realize that, though her body would change over the years, her messy, grumpy soul would stay safe and unchanged inside her.

.15.
T HE L ITTLE H URTS

    T hat night they slept on the ground near the cow pasture, on soft mounds of sun-warmed grass dotted with white flowers. Anastazia had fallen asleep with her bag of candies in hand. Her snores were wet and thunderous.
    â€œDo I snore?” Quicksilver whispered to Fox, but he lay on his back beside her, his paws up in the air, twitchily asleep.
    Quicksilver smiled at the sight, but a thorn of fear pricked her heart. She yearned for things between them to be as they once were—Fox and Quicksilver, Quicksilver and Fox. The best thief—and dog—in all the Star Lands.
    â€œThings with Fox will get better,” Sly Boots remarked, his voice hushed.
    Quicksilver whipped her head around, ready to snap at him to leave her alone—but couldn’t do it. Sly Boots lay on his back with his hands clasped behind his head, chewing on a long stalk of grass and staring up through the wind-whispering trees to the stars overhead.
    He looked almost . . . tolerable.
    â€œThere’s the Three Sisters,” Sly Boots said, pointing to a cluster of stars. “See that bright one in the middle?”
    Quicksilver blinked and looked away from him, settling her head back onto her pack. “Yes.”
    â€œThat’s the heart they share. And there—that’s the White Bear, and that bright blue star is his