by A. J. Macey
“The well-behaved bit is one reason certain animals are selected to be used for the ‘familiar pool’ as most witches coined,” Torryn explained. “There are certain traits animals have to exhibit like sensitivity to magic, visually adept, temperament. Once animals pass all of those, they’re selected for the familiar pool. How else do you think Aris was able to play and feed an alligator as if it was a pet?”
“So, I know we had familiar training on how to care for animals and to give us exposure to a potential familiar,” Caspian started. “But what do they actually do? I may have zoned out during that part of the lecture, but all I can come up with is what Drayce said, that they’re just a symbol of power.”
“That’s because that’s all the council and witch society care about,” Kye bit out. “Who has the biggest show of power. What’s more powerful than an animal magically bonding to you?”
“It’s not well documented what they were used for in the past. There are some really old records, but in the last couple hundred years, the mentions and tracking have died out,” Torryn continued. “When I was studying to be a mentor for familiar training, I dug deep. Unfortunately, most of what we know isn’t written into coursework for familiar training.”
“What is that?” Aris asked with excitement, her eyes bright as she leaned forward, entranced by Torryn’s teachings. “I love Mr. Stripes, but he’s not just a pet as much as I forget that a lot of the time. I want to know what they’re for, so he can be the best familiar ever.” Her enthusiasm made me smile, knowing, even in the middle of the woods sitting on the solid ground, Aris could be happy.
“Well, they’re not mentally connected to us, it’s their magic calling to ours. That’s why they picked us. It was documented, depending on the strength of the familiar and the witch, over time, that magical bond grows. There are even some myths that the familiar can use the witch’s power if they’re both strong enough. What happened tonight doesn’t necessarily surprise me, now that I think about it. They’re animals, and just because they’re well-behaved doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have that innate ability to sense which items and ingredients are useful or dangerous.”
“What about them communicating?” I asked. “I know you said we’re not connected mentally to them, but how could they tell what was going on?”
“Simple, they’re observant. What happened right before you got up to follow them?”
“Blast of cold air,” Xan stated with a nod, “and we all shivered.”
“Exactly, they’re able to see how we react to situations, and as they grow comfortable with us, they’ll slowly start to work with us. Like these.” Torryn held up one of the warming leaves. “Though the communication between them might be something to do with how animals communicate, I had always wondered if they had a similar bond as we do.”
“How so?” Kye asked. All of us looked at Torryn, enraptured by his explanations and teachings. While he may have been boring during a traditional classroom lecture, it was clear as day, he loved to teach.
“One woman, five men. One male, five females. They also had the sense that something was wrong during Samhain. As I said before, what familiars can do is still very vague, but it’ll definitely be something to watch. Hellsticks, you may even want to start documenting them, Drayce, since you were observant enough to see them do something like this.”
“That’d definitely be interesting. Anyone have a notebook I can use?” I offered, excitement building at the idea of learning new things.
“Oooh!” Aris exclaimed as Torryn passed over a notebook from his pack, jumping up with a giant smile on her face. “I have an idea.”
Aris
“What are you doing, Cupcake?” Caspian asked as he crouched down next to me as I was rifling through Torryn’s bag, looking for one of the Witches Glasses. Ignoring him for a moment, I dug through the ridiculous amount of supplies he had in there.
“Looking for this!” I said triumphantly, holding it up. He cocked his head to the side in confusion.
“Now isn’t the time for a movie, Cupcake,” he laughed, watching me flop back down in my seat. I rolled my eyes at his teasing, too excited to banter back.
“The familiars helping us got me thinking. What if we used the Witches Glass for more than just movie nights? They’re for communication too, right? What else is the council hiding from us? Magical tech never really took off after the paper airplanes came about. Why not?”
“I mean, it’s not like people don’t use them. There are news apps and games on them,” Cas said, not understanding why I was so worked up.
“Mainstream. But what about what’s out there without an app? Just on the ScryNet?”
Xan walked up, catching the end of my argument, and looked intrigued. “The ScryNet is notably used for research outside of the main apps. Of course, there’s the holographic chatting capability as well,” he added.
“What about blogs and vlogs? I hear about those when I research human tech,” I said, already opening up the search portal and typing in Aether Academy to see what would pop up.
“Those are harder to find. Most upload to YouSpells, and those are fairly regulated,” Xan said, his frown deepening. “Fuck, Aris. I’ve never thought deeper about this. It’s one of those things we just accept as what’s available and don’t dig deeper.”
“Which was exactly my point,” I said, clicking on a few of the sites but not finding much. The others joined us around the fire as Caspian and Xan brought up my questions about the Witches Glass. My focus stayed on my search, clicking link after link. Finally, I switched tactics and entered my name, shocked when it actually worked.
Mixta proves there’s more to magic than the Big Five!
“Holy Hellsticks,” I whispered in awe, clicking the icon and playing the holographic video. The guys fell silent as a girl popped up on screen, her hair a mix of deep blues that cascaded over her shoulders, adorable with her big black glasses and freckles. Something about her eyes felt familiar, but that was probably because they were so expressive.
“Hey, Witches! It’s Indigo here with another update from the Witches Bitch Blog. So, last we heard, Aris and her elementals were invited to see the council under the pretense of an investigation. Well, our sources say they disappeared the night they arrived, and council enforcers are searching high and low.
“What’s so interesting about this group of Witches, you ask? Let me tell you. Aris was simply a Mixta and could only do minimal magic at Aether Academy. Then one day at school, power burst out of her.
“This is the part where my skeptic followers say, ‘But Indigo, she clearly wasn’t a Mixta!’. Our sources have dug up some dirt on our pink-haired heroine, and she was very much a Mixta. She is what we call a conduit, meaning her powers weren’t awakened until she had the other members of her group.
“But it’s deeper than that, my friends. This is living proof there is more magic outside of the Big Five, as we’ve decided to call them. Now, this doesn’t mean all Mixtas will become a conduit because that shit is rare. Think of it more as proof there’s so much more to our magical community than just the main five magical categories. All magic matters, my friends.”
Hearing enough, I clicked off of the vlog and turned to the guys, their faces stunned. Xan was the first to break the silence.
“Well, I’d say you were right that there’s more out there. People are finally taking notice of how the Mixtas are treated.”
“It’s not about people finally taking notice. It’s always been an issue, and if it’s big enough to have a whole vlog about, I’d say people are far past noticing and fully into demanding change,” Torryn said, his voice serious and eyes unfocused as he seemed to be mulling over everything.
“It’s something to think about,” I agreed, sliding the Witches Glass back into Torryn’s bag.
“As long as they don’t somehow give away our whereabouts. If we know about it, it’s almost certain the council does,” Tor explained. “We’ll keep an eye on it
and see if we can figure out how they’re getting the information. As much as I would like to believe they’re posting these with the best intentions, it’s hard to trust anyone other than us.”
Sighing, I agreed silently, sinking back into my place, lost in thought.
I have a feeling, things are only going to get more interesting from here on out.
November 26th
Tuesday Night
Torryn
Despite how awful it was to be on the run, especially in the frigid temperatures, it was freeing. My hand was openly wrapped around Aris’ smaller one, and there was no protesting. Well, mostly, no protesting. Caspian had made comments from the moment we left about me hogging Aris’ attention, but I think the increase in complaining had to do with being tired and cold. Or at least that’s what I kept telling myself, knowing we didn’t have time to argue.
“How much further are we going?” Kye asked, his voice muffled under his scarf. We had collected as many of the warming leaves as we could but were using them sparingly so we wouldn’t run out. At his question, I looked up at the sky and did a quick calculation.
“I’d say we’ve got about three hours until nightfall, which gives us enough time to work our way through the thick of the forest. Let me double-check the map, but I think there’s a clearing up ahead that would be perfect to set up camp.”
Opening the pack on my back, I pulled out my enchanted map. It automatically switched to the viewer’s current location when opened, centering itself, so you could see what was in the immediate surroundings.
“That’s so cool!” Aris gushed, her eyes bright and excited like they got when she discovered something new. Her open enthusiasm for life was one of my favorite things about her. Even in class, she was one of the few students who paid attention and genuinely seemed to care what we covered.
“It is,” I agreed, giving her a wink, then turning my attention back to Kye. “Yeah, it’s just a few miles ahead.” Kye nodded. Unlike my brother, his tired eyes were the only indicator of how he felt about this leg of our journey.
“Onward!” Aris called out, quieter than she usually would since we were trying to keep a low profile, just in case.
“Cupcake, watch out!” Caspian screamed. Time seemed to slow as the rest of us turned in time to see her disappear. Her arms came up as she fell into a hole. The shrill scream faded until she let out a loud grunt. What the hellsticks is happening?! Caspian was the first to reach the spot where she disappeared, crouching down and peering into a hole. “Cupcake?!”
“Ow,” she whimpered, not saying anything else for a moment. Drayce corralled the familiars off to the side, not wanting them to follow her into the hole.
“Fucking hunters,” Kye growled, glaring at the broken net that had covered the trap. “She’s heavier than the kitsune that they hunt.”
“I thought those were a stupid myth?” Caspian said, his eyes wide and panicked.
“Of course they aren’t a myth,” I scoffed, holding back an eye roll. “Their fur alone is worth way more coins than I make in a month.”
“I’m not stupid, Torryn, you don’t have to act like I am!” he thundered, snatching his own bag off of his back and grabbing out a spelled torch.
I held back a retort because now was not the time for arguing. I noticed Aris flinching at our fighting and made a mental note to try to work things out with my brother. We were both too on edge and defensive with each other, and it wasn’t going to end well if we didn’t sit down soon like adults and talk it out.
“Cupcake, I’m going to lower down a torch, so you have light. It might give us a chance to see how to get you out.”
“Okay. It’s not very big, but it goes down too far to climb out,” she called back, her voice further away, the distance making me uncomfortable. Caspian had a solid plan, and I knew I needed to get over the fact I hated to admit it. Cas was no longer a little kid I felt the need to watch over. He was an adult and could make his own decisions, regardless that I wanted to guide him more than was probably necessary. He always did tell me I was too bossy.
Xan, Kye, and I stood back as Caspian uttered the words to light the torch before stretching over the edge and lowering it down as far as he could and letting go.
“I could just use Earth magic,” I said, feeling like an idiot for not thinking of it sooner.
“No, you can’t, these traps are almost always runed against magic. Mystic foxes have magic and can manipulate the Earth, too,” Xan explained, letting out a frustrated sigh.
“Yeah, this will be a purely physical rescue, no magic involved. If you use the wrong spell, it could backfire and cause the tunnel to collapse,” Kye said, his mouth pressed into a thin line, betraying just how worried he was.
“Got it!” Aris cheered, then fell silent.
“Can you see her?” I asked, leaning forward to peer down the hole.
“I could when she grabbed it, but she disappeared. I think it’s a tunnel down there. We can’t just reach down and grab her,” Caspian said, finally glancing at me. Seeing the fear in his eyes had protectiveness flaring up in my chest once more. My mind flashed to all the times, seemingly forever ago, he’d looked up to me as though I was his hero. There was once a time when my brother looked at me as someone who could save and protect him, who loved him rather than this antagonism that had grown between us over the years. What happened to us? Shaking the spiraling thought away for future me to think about, I reached over and squeezed his shoulder before turning to Kye.
“Are these traps usually connected to tunnels?” I asked him. Kye glared down at the dark hole, shaking his head quickly.
“Not that I’ve ever seen,” he growled. A moment later, the light came back into view, and Aris’ sweet but dirty face peered up at us.
“So good news, there’s a door down here. Bad news, it’s sturdy and clearly spelled,” she called up. “There are also runes etched into the ground and walls all over down here.”
“Be careful, Angel,” Drayce called down, his usually calm demeanor, tense now.
“Where’s the door?” Xan asked.
“It’s not far; the tunnel is fairly short, but it looks like there’s another hole in the opposite direction, too,” she explained, her voice wavering despite trying to put on a brave front. We had to squint to see which direction she was pointing.
“We need to do this survival style,” Kye said, looking around to check we were all paying attention. “We need terra vines. They’re strong enough to hold her, and we can make rope from them if we can find enough. It’s the thick, twisted looking vines without leaves.”
Thank the Gods for his survival skills since I didn’t have the foresight to bring one of the most basic survival items. Guilt ate at me as I listened to Kye direct us where to look for the terra vines. I’d never doubted myself before. I was the one who was always prepared and made proper plans. Being responsible for our group was tough most days, and now Aris was hurt, and I was utterly useless.
Ruby seemed to pick up on my distress, bumping her head into my leg before pawing at me to pick her up. Bending over, I scooped her up and propped her on my shoulders as I readied to work alongside the others to scour for vines.
“Should we split up and some check out the door? Xan has fire magic now, so maybe he can melt the bars? If you leave the lock intact, it shouldn’t cause any issues, right?” Caspian asked, looking to Xan and me for confirmation.
“I’ll try it,” Xan said quickly, already turning in the direction she’d pointed.
“I’m going to stay here with Aris,” Drayce said, plopping down on the edge and letting his legs dangle over the side. “Thankfully, Mr. Stripes wasn’t hanging onto her when she went down.”
I winced at the thought, glancing over at the lemur. Pacing, Mr. Stripes was clearly in distress that his witch was in trouble, and he couldn’t help, but Drayce was right; it wouldn’t have ended well. Mr. Stripes more than likely would have been hurt in the fall with how narrow the hole was
or by the hard impact down below, and that wouldn’t have been good for Aris to stay as calm as she was, even if it was a facade.
A few minutes later, we all met back up, everyone handing their vines to Kye, who started knotting them together. By the time he had five tied together, Xan had come back, shaking his head in defeat.
“No worries, the vine rope is finished. Just loop the bottom, so she has a foothold, and we’ll pull her back up,” I said calmly, realizing the others were starting to panic even worse now that Xan hadn’t had any luck. Ruby’s tail flopped against my back, the motion keeping me grounded as we stepped closer to the hole.
“Alright, Sweets, I’m lowering a rope. Put your foot in the loop and hold on tight,” Kye called down, slowly lowering the vine down to her.
“Got it!” she yelled. We took that as our cue to grip the vine, using our combined strength to slowly pull her up. Each time she gasped or grunted, my heart stopped for a moment. I don’t think any of us took a normal breath until her dirt-covered pink hair came into view.
“Let’s not repeat that anytime soon,” Drayce grumbled, tugging her into a bear hug. “You scared me, Angel.” I let them pass Aris around for a few minutes before finally claiming a hug of my own, my arms closing around her trim waist, breathing her in.
Finally releasing her, I waved my hand toward the hole, leaking my emotions into the earth and letting it reclaim the space, removing the threat for future travelers and animals.
Satisfied with the results, I linked my arm through hers and started toward the clearing again. We’d lost most of the sunlight and still had a bit to go. At a brisk pace, we made the two-hour trek to the clearing in under an hour, the adrenaline from Aris’s fall pushing us to walk faster than we had before. Anything to get as far from the trap and the memory of Aris in that hole as possible. The shock of seeing her disappear before our eyes had momentarily smoothed any issues, and we made it there without complaints.