Read Online The Sorcerer's House by Gene Wolfe - Free Book Online Page A

my twin? About Ieuan?"
    "Cold anger? I recall that."
    "I said he would wait for an hour or longer, then do something quite horrible. Well, he has." For a moment, Emlyn smiled at Winkle. "Your friend here is a facefox, so I assume you know about them. One--"
    "I don't know what they are!"
    "Really?"
    "Yes, really. I know what a fox is, of course."
    "Do you know what a werewolf is?"
    I was about to say I did, George, but that I didn't believe in them, when I realized that I do. Too many strange things have been happening to me. My old disbeliefs have been crumbling.
    "If you do, it's quite simple. Make it a fox instead of a wolf and do it backwards."
    Winkle smiled at my confusion and put her paw in my lap. "Tho thimple . . ."
    "It may be so simple," I said, "but it confuses me just the same."
    "It really is simple," Emlyn told me. "A werewolf is a man or a woman who puts on a wolf's skin. A facefox is a fox who puts on a human face."
    I stroked Winkle's head. "Is this true?"
    She nodded.
    "A werewolf may look like a wolf," Emlyn told me, "but it's really a man. Or a woman. When I was small I thought it would be fun, but there's nothing fun about it. They want human flesh, as much as they can get. They'll do just about anything to get it. Brave any danger."
    "If you're saying Winkle's like that, I don't believe it."
    "Oh, she isn't. Facefoxes are foxes who become human. As foxes they may kill poultry and so forth--do the things foxes do. But when they become human, they act like other women." Emlyn rose. "They're nearly all women, and there may not be any men. I've never heard of one, though there might be some." He picked up the triannulus.
    "Where are you going?"
    "Up to the attic. It's where I was going when you hit me with your stick. Ieuan caught a facefox, you see, and caged it. I think it may be in the attic."
    "It's not. That's where I found Winkle."
    "Really?"
    "Yes," I said. I got the cage and showed it to him.
    "I wish Father were here."
    "So he could discipline your brother?"
    "So he could explain things to me." Emlyn sighed. "To tell you the truth, Bax, Father's not much of a one for explaining. Or for disciplining, either. But if he were here, I'd know that someone understood. Just knowing that might make me feel better."
    "If you were to explain it to Winkle and me, you might understand it better yourself."
    "I suppose. What I did, you see, was to set up the triannulus to find a facefox. I'd never tried it before. Never tried anything like that before, really. Only I know it can be done. Father could have done it in a wink."
    He got the triannulus to show me. "Here in the outer ring is a fox. See?"
    It was certainly a rough picture of a four-legged animal with a tail.
    "And here in the second ring is a face. I lined that up with the fox. Then the first ring has an arrow. See? I put that in line with the other two. Find the facefox. Then I moved the pointer to them and lit my longlight."
    I cleared my throat. As you know, George, I have been a substitute teacher in the public schools when there were no alternatives on the horizon; and at that moment I felt that I was once more in a classroom. "I feel compelled to point out," I said, "that your longlight was extinguished before you found Winkle."
    "Exactly." To judge by Emlyn's looks, he certainly had the wind up. "I have found a facefox now. Or perhaps the facefox found me. She stole my longlight just to get me to chase her."
    "Us to chase her. I remember."
    "Girls enjoy being pursued, and so do foxes. It may be that was the end of it. I hope so. But I ought to go up to the attic just the same. I may find another facefox there. There could even be more than one. In entanglements, you never know."
    "You won't object if Winkle and I come with you?"
    "I was hoping you would mend the window Ieuan broke while I was gone."
    I shook my head. "I can't keep replacing the glass over and over. I'm not going to do it again until I get some sort of commitment from him."
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