Coyote Tricks: The Bone Eaters Well

Kit has been acting odd since his encounter at the well, what can it mean?
This chapter is rated PG-13 for violent scenes. If you have not read the disclaimers in chapter 1 please do so before proceeding.

The Voice from the Well

The next morning Shippo found Spirit Singer and Toshiro setting in the common room.
“Has Kit been up yet?” he asked.
“Yes” Toshiro answered “he is back in his room getting dressed now.”
“Did he seem ok to you?” Shippo asked.
“Yea he seemed fine” Toshiro said.
“He didn’t seem to be acting odd in anyway?”
“Why do you ask?” Singer inquired.
Shippo quickly explained to them his early morning encounter with Kit.
“You know now that you mention it something did strike me odd.” Toshiro said.
“What is it?”
“Well” Toshiro said slowly “watching him in the kitchen this morning, every time he went to use something like the microwave or the sink it was like he had to stop and think about it first. He knew how to use them so I figured it was just stress or something.”

The two foxes fell silent as their spirit senses informed them the subject of the discussion was coming down the hall. Kit entered the room and at a gesture from Shippo took a seat.
“Kit” Singer said “can you tell us what happened.”
They watched as the coyote closed his eyes as if trying to recall something.
“I don’t remember to clearly” he said “there was some sort of backlash of energy from the well. It struck me and that is all I can remember before waking here.”
“Odd” Singer said thinking “are you sure there isn’t anything else you can remember?”
Kit’s face lit up. “There was something else! I heard a voice calling out to me from the well. Yes I’m sure of it, a woman calling out to for help. I think she was trapped on the other side of the original portal.”

“That is possible” Singer said thinking “when the new portal formed there may have been fluctuations in the original portal that could have let something slip out momentarily.”
“But a voice?” Shippo said.
“Yes, not an actual voice mind you but a psychic contact” Singer said.
“Wise Elder is there someway we could open that original portal?” Kit asked very intent “I think there is someone there that needs our help.”
“I would not be easy” Singer replied. “Whoever closed that portal in the first place intended it to stay closed. If they hadn’t botched the job in the first place there probably wouldn’t have been a nexus there to use at all. As it is I think I could open it but doing so would risk the new portal which would endanger history as we know it.”
“But we must try!” Kit almost shouted. “She needs our help.”

“Kit” Singer answered him calmly “whatever is beyond that portal has been there a long, long time. It will not hurt to wait a little longer. I personally want to know a bit more about this voice and what it might be before I attempt to free it. There may be a good reason why it was imprisoned. You know enough about the demon realm to know that much.”
Kit looked defiant a moment.
“Yes you are right of course.” He said at last and got up and went back to his room.
Spirit Singer watched him go. “Very odd” he said.

Kit walked back into his room and shut the door. He leaned on the dresser breathing hard and trembling a little bit. Sitting on the dresser in front of him was a ceramic frame with a picture of a Buddhist Monk, a dark haired girl, a dog eared boy with bright silver hair and a Kitsune child that was obviously Shippo. All four were wearing clothing centuries out of date and the picture appeared to have been taken with an instamatic camera. With a growl, Kit picked up the frame and crushed it, shredding the photo within, and then throwing the remains into a corner.

There was a knock on the door.
“What?” Kit yelled.
Shippo entered the room, closing the door behind him.
“Kit, are you sure you are ok?”
“Yes I’m fine” Kit answered a little briskly.
Shippo came up behind the coyote and started to wrap his arms around him.
“No!” Kit jumped free of the fox’s embrace. At Shippo’s concerned look he continued.
“Please, Shippo I just don’t feel like being touched right now.” Kit turned to face opposite wall and run his hands through his hair. “I just keep hearing her voice over and over begging me for help. I just feel we have to help her. Can you talk to Singer for me, maybe change his mind?”
“Alright” Shippo said the concern no less in his voice. He turned and left the coyote alone.

Kit spent the rest of the day to himself and went to bed early. Shippo, Singer and Toshiro sat up discussing their observations of him.
“He is just not himself” Singer said. “Have you observed the same?”
Shippo nodded “You are both aware that Kit and I have an intimate relationship” Shippo said nervously “and well Kit has been avoiding any contact with me all day. Any time I touch him he jumps away. He always has some excuse for it but it is fairly obvious that he doesn’t want me touching him.”

“Yes” Toshiro added taking Shippo’s comment far better than either of them expected. “I’ve tried to engage him in conversation but it always works back to the same subject. He is obsessed with this voice from the well.”
“Perhaps that is the answer” Shippo said “could this voice be possessing him in some way?”
“That is a distinct possibility” Singer said after thinking a moment. “There are some tests I can perform to determine if he is being possessed or controlled but it will take a little preparation. We will try it tomorrow afternoon.”

-
The nightmares would not end. The themes were always the same, the superiority of demons, the cruelty of humans, etc, etc. He had been hunted by demons as unworthy, hunted by torch bearing humans as a monster, beaten by Singer, killed by Singer. The last one he was taken to the vet and neutered by Singer. And always there was the dark laughter in the background. The only respite was when She would come. Between each succeeding nightmare, She came to him. A dark unseen presence, she cuddled and comforted him driving away the fear and terror. Kit began to look forward to her return each time, willing to do almost anything to prolong those brief moments of bliss.

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Author’s Notes: Nightmares and shadows growing ever darker, who is the mysterious She? Next Chapter: Nightmares and Insanity.