The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest

In Deadwood Forest, a perpetually autumnal wood where nothing else lives, an undead cross fox named Clare serves as the Usher of wandering souls, guiding the spirits of recently deceased animals to one of four Afterlife realms: Peace, Pleasure, Progress, or Pain. Clare died as a young kit after being struck by a truck, and his body bears the evidence: a missing eye replaced by a decorative monocle, a shriveled ear, and patchy fur hidden beneath a beetroot-colored velvet cloak. The previous Usher, a white fox named Brickbane, rescued Clare by offering him the choice between dying and becoming the next Usher. Brickbane told Clare that his mother was not waiting in the Afterlife and that Clare's soul belonged to Pain. A playful, omniscient narrator who calls themselves the story's bard addresses the reader throughout.

Clare tends a mushroom garden beside his cottage, with his oldest mushroom, Captain, serving as his closest companion. He trades dried fungi with Nine, a dump-dwelling rat called a trashrat, who sells them to animals in neighboring Fernlight Forest. During one visit, Nine mentions a premonition from Hesterfowl, a self-proclaimed visionary grouse: on All Hallows' Eve, Deadwood will bring mayhem to Fernlight, and "the one in Deadwood will vanish forever" (33). Clare tries to dismiss the omen but cannot stop dwelling on it.

His unease deepens when the shimmering spirit of a badger named Gingersnipes appears in his garden. Clare hates badgers: on the night of his undeath, a passing badger stole the mouse he had caught and left him to die with the words "You'll be dead soon anyway" (92). He calls up the four realms to usher Gingersnipes, but no pull comes from any direction. Recollection, a technique in which touching a spirit's shoulder grants a vision of their past, yields nothing. Clare sends Gingersnipes toward Pain, but the realm's light leads her in a circle back to his cottage. He sends her to each remaining realm, and each time she returns. The Tome of Ushers, an ancient record kept by every previous Usher, offers no precedent. Connecting her situation to the premonition, Clare decides they must travel to Fernlight to consult Hesterfowl.

Nine refuses to reveal Hesterfowl's location, but Nine's shy sister, Little Two, speaks to Clare for the first time, providing directions and warning about cottonmouth snakes. On the road between forests, Clare and Gingersnipes hide from a mother and her small daughter, Greta, a red-shoed girl who hums a song calling Clare a monster. Their bond triggers a painful awareness in Clare that even humans care for their young, while no one cared for him. He also notices unusual exhaustion and thirst, sensations an undead creature should not experience.

During the raft crossing, cottonmouth snakes attack, but Gingersnipes, invisible to them, fights them off and saves Clare. Afterward, she appears less translucent, growing more solid. When Clare touches her shoulder, a Recollection finally comes: her father laughing at her and calling her "Useless girl" (106). Inside Hesterfowl's cabin, the visionary grouse reveals she has known every Usher and is herself incapable of dying. In her attic, she instructs Clare to look through his empty eye socket. He sees Gingersnipes living in his cottage, wearing his cloak. Hesterfowl delivers the devastating truth: "The badger is not here to help you, Clare. She's here to replace you" (119). She offers a sliver of hope, explaining that some visions do not come to pass when choices leave the Universe with no other options. Meanwhile, while waiting outside Hesterfowl's cabin, Gingersnipes wanders to a nearby birthday celebration in Fernlight and meets Ragginold, an ancient tortoise who has lived long enough to remember Clare's early life and who confirms Clare was the kit of a rare lavender fox who abandoned him and never returned. When animals at a nearby gathering recognize Clare from the premonition, they attack him. He can now feel pain, proof that the Afterlife has stripped its protection.

Clare finds Nine, who proposes a plan: on All Hallows' Eve, when all four realm doors stand open, Clare should trick Gingersnipes into wandering close enough to be absorbed permanently. Clare agrees and tells Gingersnipes she has been specially chosen to enter the Afterlife that night. They spend the day working in the garden and talking at the river, where they observe Gingersnipes's brother Greg, a handsome badger who manipulates and abandons a chipmunk. Gingersnipes challenges Clare's belief that he belongs in Pain, arguing that anyone can receive love, but "only the good souls can give it" (194). She tells him he is "a good soul" (198) and returns the monocle she rescued during the Fernlight attack.

Clare's guilt deepens when he returns to the cottage and finds Gingersnipes has ushered a wolf spirit on her own. The wolf was the predator who killed Gingersnipes, yet she guided its spirit with compassion. Overcome with remorse, Clare confesses that he lied about All Hallows' Eve, admitting he planned to exploit the open doors to trap her. Gingersnipes is deeply hurt, calling his behavior "very Greg" (241), but Clare admits his motive was fear and declares her his friend. A cautious trust is restored.

That evening, human children in Halloween costumes invade Deadwood and destroy Clare's garden. The bearish leader spears Captain with a stick. Gingersnipes drives the children off, and Clare resolves to confront them so they never return. He disguises himself and stalks them to the riverbank, where Greta falls into the raging river. Clare races along the bank, catches her by her braid from a fallen log, wraps her in his cloak, and builds a fire, breaking his monocle on the final spark. The girl's soul begins separating from her body, but when Clare curls against her for warmth, she stabilizes. She calls him "Good boy" (266), and the word resonates deeply. An involuntary Recollection, triggered by the girl's half-separated soul, shows Clare the night of his own death: Greta's pregnant mother had stopped her car and laid her scarlet sweater over the dying kit. Greta was born the same night Clare died, and his act of covering the girl with his cloak mirrors her mother's kindness. Clare realizes the Afterlife is not abandoning him: On All Hallows' Eve, he can choose any realm freely.

When Clare returns to the cottage, he finds Nine inside, stealing mushrooms. Nine reveals that while Clare was away, he tricked Gingersnipes into running south toward Pain by claiming Clare needed help. Clare is horrified and races south. He finds Gingersnipes sheltering in a tree near Pain's howling door and tells her the full truth: She is the new Usher of Deadwood. Gingersnipes refuses at first, but Clare counters that her greatest asset is curiosity, "the parent of understanding" (287). She accepts, and Deadwood responds with a low hum from every rock and root, greeting its new Usher. As midnight strikes, the realms close with a final surge, and Clare is dragged through Pain's crimson door. Pain immediately rejects him, confirming he does not belong there. He realizes Brickbane's words were a misunderstanding: "You will be in pain, young fox" (296) was a warning about continued mortal suffering, not a declaration about the realm.

Clare returns and asks Gingersnipes to call up the realms, her first act as Usher. The forest blooms with light. Clare bounds into the glowing woods like a joyful kit. Gingersnipes calls after him, "Travel true!" (301), and hears the comforting crackle of a soul finding its place, which she believes is Peace. An epilogue set over a year later shows Gingersnipes settled into her role, with new mushrooms sprouting from the old garden's remains. Hesterfowl arrives with an ominous warning, setting up a future story. In a closing Narrator's Note, the narrator reveals their identity as the Lavender Fox, Clare's mother, who has been lingering in the space between worlds rather than entering any realm, her phantom presence felt throughout as a paw on Clare's shoulder. She now prepares to reunite with Clare at last.