Finding the Fox

Infobox Book |
name = "Finding the Fox"
author = Ali Sparkes
illustrator = David Wyatt
country = England
language = English
series = "The Shapeshifter"
genre = Fantasy/Science Fiction
publisher = Oxford University Press
pub_date = 2006
pages = 328
preceded_by = None
followed_by = 'Running the Risk'

"Finding the Fox" is a fantasy/ science fiction novel by Ali Sparkes. It is the first book in the Shapeshifter series, and was first published in 2006 by Oxford University Press.

Major characters

*Dax Jones: The book's principal protagonist. Dax is a teenage boy who lives with his annoying stepsister Alice, and his abusive stepmother Gina. He possesses the power of shapeshifting.
*Gideon Reader: A fair-haired, freckled telekinetic. Gideon enjoys football, and has a penchant for chocolate of all kinds.
*Lisa Hardman: A somewhat spoiled rich girl who hates being at Cola Club, and avoids interaction with the other students. Lisa possesses extremely strong psychic powers, but refuses to accept them or be trained how to use them, causing her to be constantly tormented by visions and various other paranormal communication.
*Mia: A gifted healer. Mia is kind, caring and gentle, as well as being a vegetarian.
*Principal Patrick Wood: The principal of Tregarren College. He is the book's principle antagonist, although his role as such is only made certain toward the end of the book. Wood possesses the power of glamour, which he uses to gain the respect of the students of Cola Club without their knowledge.
*Owen Hind: A government official who helps to find new Colas and bring them to Tregarren.

ynopsis

The book opens on one of the many unhappy days in the life of Dax Jones, who lives with his abusive stepmother, Gina. On this particular day, Dax is forced by Gina to weed until the lawn is absolutely spotless, an extremely difficult task owing to the terrible state of the lawn. As he is getting equipment from the shed, the door hinge falls, locking Dax in. After several hours trapped inside the shed, Dax feels extremely thirsty, and is beginning to become somewhat delirious from the heat in the shed. Dax sees a lemonade bottle containing a yellow liquid, but assumes that this liquid is not lemonade. However, thirst and panic eventually overcome his reason, and he opens the bottle. The bottle actually contains turpentine, the scent of which causes him to fall unconscious. When Dax regains consciousness, he discovers that he has somehow turned himself into a fox.

Dax spends the afternoon enjoying the sensations of being a fox, and ultimately lying down to sleep under an oak tree. When he wakes from this sleep, Dax finds himself human again. When he arrives home, suddenly remembers Gina's instructions to clean the garden, just as she and Alice arrive home. He crawls back in the shed just as Gina arrives to check on him to make sure he had done as she instructed. Dax tells her he was locked in because of the wind, an claim which Gina believes

The next day, he goes to his school and talks to his friend Clive, who is exceptionally clever, and unfortunately a target for bullying. During break, two bullies force Clive into the basement with the intention of beating him. Dax dollos and tries to defend Clive, but one of the bullies hits him with a wooden plank, which brings on brief unconsciousness. While unconscious, Dax shifts into a fox. He uses his feral viciousness and strength to injure the two bullies, who run off screaming. After ensuring that Clive is not badly injured, Dax leaves the scene.

When he reaches home, he finds a government official named Owen Hind speaking to his stepmother. This official has told Gina that Dax is one of several children who are showing "unique signs of ability". Gina believes him and agrees to send Dax to a school called Tregarren College.

The next day, a lorry pulls up and two burly men carry Dax into the container, in which Owen Hind is waiting. Dax panics and attempts to escape from the van, but finds it locked. Owen then forces Dax to inhale the vapour of a chemical which induces panic and brief unconsciousness, forcing Dax to shift. As a fox, Dax's enhanced senses reveal to him that Owen means no harm, so he forces himself to be calm and listen. Owen explains that Dax is one of the 'Children of Limitless Ability' (or Cola, as they are sometimes known), children who possess amazing supernatural powers. He has arranged for Dax to be admitted to Tregarren College, a haven for Colas, where Dax will be taught to control his power. He informs Dax that, in the past two years, over 100 children have been brought to Cola club, and that of all those children, only one has ever exhibitted the power to shapeshift. Sadly, that boy died before he could be brought to the college.

As Clive is walking past his house, later, Dax joins him and finds out that Clive actually saw him transform into a fox. On his way home, a reporter named Caroline Fisher talks attempts to interview him about the attack on the pupils. She implies that she is aware of Dax's power to turn into an animal, but Dax pretends not to know what she means. Later that day, Owen arrives to take him to Tregarren College.

After spending a long night sleeping in his dormitory, Dax is rudely awakened by his roommates, Gideon Reader and Barry, who are telekinetic and a vanisher respectively. Gideon had been floating a football above his head and had lost concentration. They explain to him the different types of Cola abilities such as telekinesis, vanishing, clairvoyance, clairaudience, alchemy, palm-reading, rune-reading, soothsaying, healing, dowsing, snake-charming, and astral projection.

At breakfast, Gideon points out Lisa Hardman, a well-dressed and clearly rich girl who behaves very secretly about her ability, and apparently hates being at the college. During a conversation about their families, Gideon and Barry explain to Dax that all Colas have lost their mothers at or before the age of four. Dax is shocked by this revelation, but Owen arrives to take him to meet the principle, and calms him down by speaking to him on the way. Dax meets the principal, Patrick Wood, and his French deputy, Paulina Satre, the latter of which possesses rather eccentric mannerisms due to her psychic powers, and whom Dax finds somewhat disturbing. When Dax is introduced to the principal, he is given the impression that the man is charming, despite the fact that he possesses no physically attractive qualities. Using her empathic abilities, Mrs. Sartre discovers that Dax's shifts are triggered by anger or fear, as well as detecting that Dax is mouch too used to suppressings his emotions, especially anger, and that this may cause problems in the future. Just as Dax is about to leave, Mrs. Sartre has a vision which causes her to cry, in French, "My God, so dark. No-I am blind, perhaps..." Once this vision ends, she claims that it was of no consequence, but Dax's fox senses detect fear. Outside the office, Owen explains that Mrs. Sartre is the one who locates all Colas through her powers, and that she "frets about every single student in the college." Gideon then shows him around, and they encounter Spook Williams, a spoiled, rich illusionist who taunts Dax by calling him a skin-walker (an evil shapeshifter).

Dax watches Gideon paly a football match, and Spook uses his powers to make the goalposts appear further away than they really are, so as to throw Gideon off. However, the illusion does not effect Dax, and when Gideon complains about it later, Dax does not know what he is talking about. Gideon and Barry discuss this with him, and determine that he is resistant to glamour. The three boys decide to keep this a secret.

During "Development" class, in which the students are taught to control their powers, Owen hypnotises Dax and tells him to remember exactly the conditions which were present at his first shift. This almost works, but something causes Dax to experience a mild panic attack while in the trance, and Owen has to wake him in case he case he injures himself. Owen lets Dax out of the class early, and the boy encounters Lisa Hardman, who is weeping alone in a cave. She yells at him to leave her alone, but he persists in asking her why she hates the college. She eventually makes vague references to possessing unwanted psychic abilities, and tells that it does not matter where she is, "they" still harass her. He gets up to leave, but, because she is grateful to be left alone, she warns him to drop to his knees when he gets back over the fence. He does so, and this prevents him from being hit in the head by a football, suggesting that Lisa has profound and astonishingly accurate visions the future.

Dax receives a letter from Clive, along with a cut out from a newspaper, which talks about and attack on two schoolboys by an animal which is being referred to as "The Beast of Bark's End". He meets with several other Colas in the TV room, and enquires of Jessica Moarland, a medium, whether any of the psychics ever receive messages from the Colas' mothers. She replies sympathetically that they never do, but informs him that his great-grandad wishes him to 'watch where (he) stand(s)'.

That night, in his bedroom, Dax succeeds in inducing a shift, and wanders the grounds as a fox. On the running track, he meets Lisa Hardman, who uses her telepathic abilities to read his thoughts and communicate with him despite the fact that he is unable to speak as a fox. She tells him that she enjoys running because it "keeps them off (her)". She tells him that, about a year ago, she began to develop several psychic powers (precognition, mediumship, dowsing, telepathy and others), which she has fought against ever since, in the hope that the spirit world will eventually leave her alone and seek to contact the living through another medium. She has also been refusing to attend Development class, so that the college will think that she is "not really of any use", and send her home. Dax tells her that even if she sent home, the visions and spirits will still plague her, whereas the college, may be able to teach her to control her powers. She stubbornly tells him that she will not speak to any of the teachers, but asks him to pass on a message from a particularly strong spirit who has been harassing her for the past while. He agrees, and she tells him that the man's name is Stephen Seabright, and that his corpse is lying on a rock below Roche Rocks on Bodmin Moor; he wishes for his family to locate his body.

Dax finds Owen and tells the teacher about his success in inducing a shift. He also delivers Lisa's message, but, as agreed, does not mention Lisa's name. Later, Lisa gives Dax another message, from a woman named Georgia Felstein, who is begging for the police to "find the sailor" and exonarate someone named Michael. Dax asks Lisa to talk to Owen about her visions, but she refuses.

Before the students depart for their weekend trip to the local village, Principal Wood makes an announcement warning them not to use their powers. The students appear to be far more focussed on Wood than is normal, and Dax realises that the principal is using a glamour to gain their attention and respect. He does not think much of it, crediting it to mere vanity. At a chocolate shop in the village, Caroline Fisher tracks Dax down, and attempts to convince him that the people who run Tregarren College may in fact pose a danger to the Cola children. She asks him to give Principle Wood her mobile number so that they can arrange an interview, claiming that she will give the principle copy approval if he agrees to the interview.

Despite Owen and Paulina Satre's warnings, principal Wood invites Carolina Fisher to visit Tregarren. The children do not use their powers at all while Caroline is at the college, and the principal uses glamour to charm her so as to make her less dangerous. Wood convinces Gideon to telekinetically remove a tape recorder from Caroline's bag. After the visit, Patrick give Caroline directions to the town, via the swamp, clearly pointing out the way she must go.

Dax is suspicious of Patrick and when his friends arrive, they ask him to point in the direction in which Caroline has walked. This makes him remember that Principle Wood pointed out the bridge to her, and Dax realises that the principle was in fact using hlamour to trick her into believing that the bridge is several metres away from where she is walking. She has therefore walked across the open swamp, which is too soft to support her weight, and will therefore drown her in its mud. His theory is confirmed when Lisa has a vision of Caroline sinking, as well as experiencing the pain from the reporter's broken ribs. As a fox, Dax locates her, and finds her as she is sinking into the mud. He tries to pull her out but she is too heavy, so Gideon uses his telekinetic abilities to lift her. Mia prepares to heal Caroline's broken ribs, while Dax sets off after the principle.

When Dax finds Patrick Wood, the principal explains to him that a principal needs to have control in order to be respected, and that C.O.L.As need to be controlled more than any other children. Owen then comes in and Patrick uses his to manipulate Owen. He tries to make Owen shoot Dax with a gun at him but when Dax moves, he uses the gun butt to injure Dax, this makes Dax change back to a boy. Patrick Wood then falls into a 150 fathom pit below his office instead of Dax. Patrick, however, grabs onto Dax's right ankle and almost drags him over. Owen grabs onto Dax's arms to keep him up. Dax shifts into a fox so that he will be light enough for Owen to pull him up, but Patrick cannot keep hold once Dax has shifted, and the principle falls to his death.

While going to the infirmary, Lisa attacks Owen, claiming she had a vision of him pushing Dax down a pit. Dax assures her that Owen in fact helped him to escape from falling down the pit, which she accepts with some reluctance, because her visions have never been incorrect before. When they get closer to the college, Spook attacks Dax because Mia has fainted, having absorbed too much pain in her attempt to heal Caroline. They return to the campus, and Mrs. Startre instructs all of the other healers to absorb a little of Mia's pain in order to relieve her predicament.

Dax receives a letter from Caroline thanking him for saving her life. With the letter is the address "The Owl Box" somewhere on Exmoor, as well as a key for the same place. In the letter, Caroline tells him that The Owl Box will always be there for him if he need it. She also mentions how she still stands by the fact that Dax should not trust everyone at Cola club.

Allusions to other works

A copy of Louisa M. Alcott's Little Women is among the books in the common at Tregarren College.

Publication history

"Finding the Fox" was first published in 2006 by Oxford University Press.

External links

* [http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780192754653 "Finding the Fox" at OUP]
* [http://www.oup.com/oxed/children/authors/sparkes/ Ali Sparkes at OUP]
* [http://www.alisparkes.com/ Ali Sparkes's website]