by Leigh Kelsey
It made no sense but, still half asleep, Kati didn’t question her utter belief. She strapped her holster to her arm and slid her wand inside, slowly peeling open her bedroom door and letting out a screech of horror as a small shape collided with her legs. She had her wand out of its holster, her thumb pricked on the thorn, before what she was seeing filtered into her brain. A dog. A fucking dog.
Kati expelled a breath and slumped against the wall beside her door, holding her breath to see if Naia or Rahmi had heard and would come to investigate. But only silence answered her. Well, silence and horrible wheezing breaths from the damn dog.
“You little shit,” Kati whispered, lowering her wand but fixing the squashed-face creature with a glare. It was a french bulldog or a pug, something small and ugly. She debated waking Rahmi to ask her to deal with it, but that was more trouble than it was worth. Kati would just let the dog out into the corridor and hope it went away. “How the hell did you get in?” she demanded, not expecting an answer.
Oh, I don’t know, a female voice drawled inside Kati’s head. Through the door?
Kati blinked, then blinked again, staring at the little black dog. “You’re my familiar,” she said dazedly.
No? the dog gasped. Really? Her voice was sweet, all butter wouldn’t melt, but her words were nothing but acid and snark. She and Kati ought to get on well.
“Bitch,” Kati hissed.
Thanks for noticing, the dog replied and turned her back on Kati, her curl of a tail high in the air. Are we going to this study hall or what?
Kati’s mouth flopped open and closed like a fish, useless. “How the fuck do you know that?” she demanded, stalking after the little dog through the living room and giving her an expectant look when they reached the door. “Go on then, you managed to get in here fine. Work your magic.”
The dog scowled from Kati to the door, and then a snort of frustration gusted from her nose. Fine. I didn’t let myself in, okay? I stared pitifully at the door until someone opened it for me.
Kati stopped dead in the middle of reaching for the key in the lock. “They shouldn’t have been able to do that. There are privacy shields on the doors, only we and the teachers can get in.”
Mmm-hmm, the pug replied, sticking her nose in the air in what she probably thought looked dignified. She just looked like she had a stick up her arse, but Kati wouldn’t tell her that; let her keep looking like an idiot. Exactly.
“Exactly?” Kati echoed, staring at the door. “A teacher let you in,” she realised, horror shooting through her. “Was it a woman?” She thought instantly of Mrs Hale, coming to murder Kati in her sleep, her blotchy face stretched in a grin as she choked Kati’s life from her.
Nope, the familiar replied in a sweet tone that still hinted at smugness.
“You’re not going to tell me, are you?” Kati sighed, swinging the door open quietly and peering down the hall. It looked fucking weird in the daytime, with sunlight streaming through the windows and illuminating usually hidden corners; it was almost too bright, nowhere to hide as Kati quietly shut the door behind her, feeling the privacy shields kick in with relief, and crept down the hall.
You look like a cat burglar, the dog remarked.
“Shut it,” Kati hissed, and realising she kept thinking of her familiar as ‘the dog’, asked, “Do you have a name?”
The look she got in reply was so scathing that even Kati blinked. Obviously, not. Do you know nothing about familiars?
“No…?” Kati ventured, peering around the next corner before realising her familiar was right. She looked guilty, creeping around like this. So she threw her shoulders back, lifted her chin, and walked normally. If anyone asked what she was doing she’d tell them … she had no fucking idea. She’d blame the dog if it came to it. She had to shit somewhere, right?
It occurred to her now that sneaking out in the day was exactly the sort of thing everyone would expect from a murderer. Cursing herself, Kati ground her teeth, but it was too late to turn back now; she’d reached the foyer.
You have to name me, the dog said in exasperation, trotting alongside Kati. That’s how it works; I’m your familiar, you give me a name, and the whole thing bonds us together.
“Right,” Kati murmured, pausing to look at the small dog. She debated giving her a really bad name like Gloriella or Tuppence, but a familiar was for life and she wasn’t using the name Tuppence for seventy damn years. “Dolly,” she said eventually, thinking of her mum’s favourite singer.
Dolly scrunched her nose. I hate it.
“Then it’s perfect,” Kati said cheerfully. “Get used to it, Dolly.”
Dolly gave her a look that could melt iron. I hate you, she said sweetly.
Kati bent and patted her condescendingly on the head. “You’re so cute.”
Dolly growled in the back of her throat; grinning, Kati ignored her and walked quickly around the corner and across the foyer, hurrying up the sweeping staircase and ducking out of sight at the first opportunity.
Aren’t you going to ask me which teacher let me into your dorm? You might find it interesting…
“Nope,” Kati replied, keeping her eyes and ears open for movement but sensing nothing but herself. A radius spell would come in really handy about now but they hadn’t learned that yet. She wondered if she could persuade Mr Worth to teach it next lesson… “Oh, tell me he didn’t,” she sighed, but the smug glint to Dolly’s brown eyes suggested he had. “What the hell’s he doing watching my dorm anyway?” Unease skittered down her spine. Had she been wrong about him?
Oh, nothing, Dolly said, trotting past the spells classroom to the stairs to the third floor. She sounded way too pleased with herself.
Kati pursed her lips. “Do familiars need feeding?”
Outrage echoed into Kati’s head; it took her a second to realise it came from Dolly. Of course we do!
“Right, then.” Kati nodded, scaling the staircase and craning her head to make sure they weren’t being followed. “Go ahead and keep your mouth shut if you want to starve.”
Dolly reached the landing and turned, firing a dark look at Kati. You’re a pitiful excuse for a human being.
Kati grinned. “Aw, thanks, babe.”
Three girls set up a magical trap outside your bedroom door. It would have hexed whoever walked out first, and they would have made sure it was you. Sweet Mr Worth heard them laughing about their plan a couple hours ago and came to undo their nasty work. He let me in when I explained I was your familiar. He’s friendly, and kind. Souls know why he’s interested in you.
“He’s not interested in me,” Kati sighed, momentarily stunned by the sun splintering through the Diamond Rotunda. It was a prism of beautiful, multicolour light; the sight of it filled Kati’s soul with awe. “He just gets what it’s like to be villainised.”
Dolly made a sound in the back of her throat. I’ll remind you that you said that when your tongue’s down his throat.
Kati rolled her eyes but she had to shake her head to clear a daydream from it. She needed to focus; she was sneaking around in the middle of the day for souls sakes! Her eyes snagged on the closed door across the mezzanine, past rows of empty infirmary beds and cubby holes full of vials, pots, and tubs of healing solutions. It was the same door as in her dream, the brass plate nailed to it proclaiming it STUDY HALL.
“This is crazy,” Kati whispered, her stomach in knots. “How did I dream about this place before I’d even seen it?”
Dolly shrugged, or at least it looked like a shrug. Magic, she responded, which did explain it, to be fair.
“Right,” Kati whispered, ignoring the nausea in her gut. “Magic.”
Magic and dreams and a teacher who was so purely good that he was looking out for her even when she didn’t know it. What did he get out of it, a cynical voice demanded. People didn’t do anything for nothing. But … he got a friend and someone who understood him back. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.
It was a shame it couldn’
t be a more beneficial arrangement, but Mr Worth had too stubborn a moral compass for that.
Are you going in or what? Dolly asked, prodding the door to the study hall with a paw.
“What do I do if there’s actually a desk like in my dream?” Kati whispered, not bothering to worry about the fact that she was talking to a pug about a dream and somehow the dog knew exactly what dream she was talking about. “If Theo left me a message or…” It almost hurt to speak that hope. What if the answer to every question she’d ever had about Theo was just beyond this door?
“I can’t go in,” she breathed, not sure she could handle it even if Theo had left a message. And beyond certain she couldn’t handle it if there was nothing.
Dolly scoffed. You didn’t come all this way following a dream just to back out. Sweetly, she added, don’t be a quitter, Kati.
“Don’t be a bitch, Dolly,” Kati fired back, but she marched across the mezzanine to the door, pushed down the handle, and walked inside. Was this more magic, or did Mr Barron just not lock up the study hall like he locked all the other classrooms? She supposed there was nothing dangerous in here, unlike in the P&P classroom, which was full of serpents, potion ingredients, and poison.
The door squeaked, unlike in the dream, and Kati jumped, her head swivelling to scan the infirmary and the stairs for someone alerted to the sound. She even looked over the railing but no one downstairs came out, either. With a breath of relief, and her heart hammering, she ducked inside the classroom and shut the door behind herself and Dolly.
Which one? Dolly asked, trotting down the aisle between tables, her tail bouncing with the movement. She looked like a dressage horse, but in miniature, with stubby legs.
Kati drew a breath, held it tight, and drew up her trusty resting bitch face. It strengthened her enough to head across the room to the desk she’d been drawn to in her dreams. “This one.”
She reached out to run her fingers across the various tags and names carved into the tabletop but pulled her hand back at the last moment, feeling for a second as if an outside force was in charge of her, as if she were a character in a game and someone outside this world was holding the controller. So instead she unholstered her wand and prodded the desk with the tip, her eyes snagging on exactly what she’d expected to see: the graffiti-style depiction of Theo’s name. And unlike in the dream, in the exact same style, below it read: T. O. A.
Theo, T.O.A.
“What the hell does that mean?” Kati whisper-hissed.
Why’re you asking me? Dolly asked, trying to jump onto the desk. I’m just a bitch, remember, what would I know?
Kati was so distracted she forgot to even snark back, her belly twisting and twisting until she was fighting back sickness. T.O.A. What the hell did that mean?
What was Theo trying to tell her?
ANGRY TEARS. OF ANGER.
By the time Kati’s alarm went off to wake her for a new day—well, night—the sky outside was mostly dark, still tinged purple by the sunset, with faintly twinkling stars, and Kati felt like shit. At least she hadn’t dreamt when she came back and climbed into bed, but it was far from a restful sleep.
The pug curled up at the end of her bed, snoring in her sleep, did not help. Kati nudged Dolly with her foot until she came violently awake, snuffling and snorting, and fixed Kati with a glare.
“Rise and shine,” Kati said with a wicked grin.
Dolly just glared harder. She pushed up onto her stubby legs and circled twice, then flopped back onto the bed with a huff, and went back to sleep. Well at least she wasn’t going to bother Kati this evening.
A hot shower later, dressed in an SBA jumper and black jeans, Kati was almost in a good mood. At least until she opened the bathroom door and found Naia waiting for her, her hands twisting the hem of her purple and green checked skirt and an expression on her face that Kati knew all too well. Suspicion. Doubt. Accusation.
“What?” Kati asked, her voice flat and crushed of all feeling. It had been bound to happen. Sooner or later, the friends she’d made were going to ditch her.
Naia wrapped her arms around her middle, glancing away before fixing Kati with a brave scowl. “I heard you sneak back in last night. Day. You know what I mean.” Her eyes narrowed to slits behind her turquoise glasses, but Kati could sense her discomfort with the confrontation, especially as Kati glared back, straightening to her full height. Not to intimidate Naia but to strengthen herself, to remind herself that she’d got through worse and she’d get through this too. “Where did you go?”
Kati fixed her jaw, a muscle flexing in her cheek. Inside, a sinking sensation filled her stomach but she ignored the sick twist. “How is that your business?”
“You’re my roommate,” Naia said defensively. “And I thought you were my friend, but if you’re keeping secrets…”
“Fuck this,” Kati hissed, storming past her to the kettle and angrily getting out coffee and a mug. “I don’t have to justify anything I do to you.”
“Where did you go, Kati?” Naia repeated, sounding … disappointed. Like Kati was the one who’d let her down, who’d proven her worst suspicions were true instead of her living up to Kati’s expectations.
Kati didn’t answer, grinding her teeth as the kettle boiled and she poured it over her coffee, adding milk. “Where do you think I went?” she asked quietly, seething, breathing hard. Her eyes stabbed with tears but she ignored them. She should have known better. She did know better. She’d told herself not to make friends or get attached. And yet she’d made three fucking friends and let down her walls around them. Soulsdammit, she was stupid. “To set up a ritual murder?”
Naia didn’t answer for a long time, and then in a small voice she said, “I’m just asking, Kati. But you’re keeping secrets and…”
“And you’re thinking the papers and the accusations must be right. I must be a psycho killer just like Theo. Right?”
Naia just sighed. “I trusted you, Kati, but you shouldn’t be sneaking out during the day. I don’t know what I think now.”
Kati gulped down hot coffee, ignoring the burn. She spun, her eyes flashing. “Fine. You want to know where I went, fine! There’s a study hall on the third floor—I was there. Ask my goddamn familiar, she went with me.”
Naia’s eyes flew wide but she looked more sick than shocked. Because of the arguing? “You have a familiar?” she asked weakly, the pleats in her skirt non-existent thanks to her nervous mangling of the stiff fabric.
“Yep.” Kati gripped her mug so hard her fingers locked.
Rahmi’s door opened with a squeak and the song she’d just begun to hum—Let’s Get Physical—cut off dead. She glanced between Kati and Naia with raised eyebrows. “What’s going on?”
Kati set her mug down hard, coffee sloshing over the top. “Naia thinks I’m a fucking murderer.”
“What?” Rahmi exclaimed, storming over to them. “No, she doesn’t. Tell her you don’t, Naia.” When Naia just looked at the floor, wrapping her arms around herself now, Rahmi’s face fell. “Naia?”
“She snuck out,” Naia said weakly. “I’m not saying murder but…”
Kati laughed, a horrid, twisted sound, and shoved past both of them, not caring that she didn’t have her bag, or her wand, or anything else she needed for classes tonight. Fuck, they had P.E. first lesson, and she didn’t have her kit. Fuck it. Just … fuck everything.
“You know, I thought I could trust you two,” she said on the threshold. “I thought you were decent people but—” Kati’s voice cracked and the stinging in her eyes suddenly became tears rolling down her cheeks, either of anger or hurt, she couldn’t tell.
“Oh, Kati,” Rahmi said softly, and then there were hands turning Kati from the door and wiry strong arms folding around her. Rahmi squeezed her so hard that an oomph sound escaped Kati. She fought against the octopus-like grip to no avail. Kati was a necromancer, but Rahmi was a reaper—they were naturally stronger, and Rahmi had already started training in the gym on the
basement floor of the academy. It was hopeless to struggle against her.
“We don’t think you’re a murderer,” Rahmi said, pulling back to wipe the tears from Kati’s face. It was uncomfortable, this kind of intimacy, but Kati had never had a really close girlfriend, just people she hung out with. Maybe this was what it was like to have one. “Don’t be an idiot, Wilson.” She shook Kati until her brains rattled, grinning when a glare settled on Kati’s tear-damp face again. “Come on, we need more coffee.”
“For what?” Kati asked suspiciously, but allowed herself to be towed along to the sofas and deposited on the comfiest one.
“We need a chat. A proper one.” Rahmi pointed a finger to stem the argument on the tip of Kati’s tongue. “Non-negotiable. Naia, you sit too.”
All at once, with her hands on her hips and an unyielding scowl on her face, Rahmi gave the impression of a mum who wasn’t to be fucked with. Naia slumped into a chair without comment, apology written on her face when she met Kati’s eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, folding her legs up on the chair and resting her chin on her knees. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Kati scoffed. “I’m not upset.”
From the kitchen counter by the window, Rahmi snorted. “There are still tears on your cheeks.”
“These are angry tears,” Kati snapped. “From anger.”
“Mhmm,” Rahmi replied, “I totally believe you.”
Kati scowled until Rahmi placed a hot mug in her hands and sat beside her on the sofa, her legs curled up beneath her, blowing steam off her own coffee.
Kati took a sip of her drink and sure enough, it was spiked with Rahmi’s signature good vibes potion.
“So…” Rahmi started, still in mum-mode as she gave Kati a look. “Where did you go? Because not being funny, Naia, but if I saw Kati sneaking out in the middle of the day, I wouldn’t go straight to murder.” She grinned. “I’d go to illicit hook up.”
Kati rolled her eyes. “It’s nothing like that. I doubt he’d even make out with me, let alone hook up. He’s a goody two shoes.” She meant to sneer, but it came out fond; Kati scowled and gulped down more coffee. This morning called for immense shots of caffeine. And to think she’d been in a good mood earlier.