by Ariel Hunter
“Breathe deeply, Marnie.”
I relaxed into looking at the inside of my eyelids, imagining going out into the surf. The waves pushing up under the board, the water rushing over my body . . .
“Release some of your magic.”
I called upon the harmony inside of me, pushing away the nerves that popped up as I recalled why I was here: I was going to be bonded to a fantastic familiar animal.
All around me, a chanting grew. The Seers’ voices combined into a lyrical melody of many voices and many languages. I could sense the fizzling buzz of their magics nuzzling my skin.
I willed my magic to burn from my fingertips and hover up into the air. I didn’t know exactly how much they needed, but I wanted to make sure we got it right, so I poured extra effort into a billowing cloud around me. It blazed in my chest. I exploded outward with so much magic. The surge rushed through the surrounding air.
A sweeping wind roared around me, pulling at my robes, tugging at my hair where I sat in the grass, but I kept my eyes squeezed shut. The fragrance of the crushed flowers poured into my nose and then was whipped away. My skin tingled, the hairs on my arms stood up. My scalp buzzed. I could feel their magic merging with mine. Their chanting grew louder, wrapping around me, filling my ears, coaxing me into a transcendent experience.
It felt like I was one with a vast community of people beyond this courtyard. There were tens of voices—no. Hundreds, that crescendoed up and echoed around me. The wind wove into my hair, their magics tickled my skin, swept around under my jaw, brushed against my cheeks, kissed my eyelids.
I breathed in deeply, in and out, keeping the meditative state, as the swell of magic and tension of the music intensified. The expectation rose in my chest, a deep burning, an impression of something deeper, anchored elsewhere. I was bigger than myself. We had to be getting close . . . So close . . .
Then with a whooshing sound, the wind was swept away, and the chanting stopped.
It was silent in the courtyard, then, slowly, I could hear a breeze tickling the apple tree leaves. I could hear the rushing of the waves on the ocean again. My robes settled back against my body from the wind that had been whipping them.
There was still a tingling of magic in the air.
“Marnie, you can open your eyes,” Cassandra called, but her voice sounded like it was very far away.
I took another deep breath. This was it. This was it. I would see my familiar.
I peeled open one eye, then the other. Pink smoke was still settled over the entire courtyard. Orange, purple, and red sparks glittered in it.
I couldn’t see any animal. Where was it? Where was she? He?
The Seers were vague figures at the edge of the circle around me. I stood up, looking around frantically, pushing aside the smoke. It should be right in front of me. The familiar was supposed to form right in front of me. My heart pounded in my ears as I swung my head from side to side, scanning.
A deep sea-breeze burst through the courtyard, the pink smoke whirling away out of the courtyard’s open-air quad.
There, emerging from a tight curl in the grass, scales spiraling and flexing, popped up the spritely red head of an otherwise electric-blue lizard.
Chapter 9
“Look at him . . . just look!” I flipped the phone call to video and turned the phone so Anya could see my new lizard companion crawling all over the stacks of books on my desk. One clawed foot knocked a pen off the edge as he slipped on the slick surface. He swung his red head to look at me, shiny gold and black eyes gleaming. His mouth parted slightly, and his bright pink tongue flicked out. He did seem happy exploring.
Anya laughed. “He’s a little agama,” she cooed. “Super cute.”
“Anya, you should have seen the familiars of the other Seers. A wolf, a lynx, a hawk, the tiger that Cassandra has. I mean, those are fierce animals. Intimidating familiars that will help a Seer control their power and strike fear in the souls of enemies. And I got . . . I got . . .” I waved my hand at the little agama as he shimmied up the window curtain, finger-like claws spread out so he was unfurled on their wispy fabric. A breeze luffed the curtains, and he clung tightly, riding the wave.
“Look, he’s surfing,” Anya laughed again.
I couldn’t help but laugh too. It did seem like the little lizard was surfing. His whole body was a shiny, electric-blue, but his head and top shoulders were a fiery red. He was a little less than two feet long, his body only about half that length. He could curl up in my hand.
“What did the other Seers say when they saw your familiar?” I swung the phone back to look at Anya, lounging against my pillows.
“They didn’t seem to be judging me, but they didn’t seem impressed either.” I recalled how the agama had crawled toward me, then leapt up into my hands, peering into my eyes, then winding up to sit on my shoulder, his tail wrapped around the opposite side.
It had been pretty cool. As soon as his little feet had touched my skin, a shiver had run all the way through my body.
The Seers had all rushed to congratulate me and welcome him to the family.
But I just hadn’t expected such a weak familiar. What did that say about me? That I had powerful magic, but I was weak?
I watched him scramble up the curtain cloth to prance across the top rod. He swung his head and gazed at me, bobbing his red head up and down. I smiled.
“He is pretty adorable.”
“What are you going to name him?”
“I don’t know. I was thinking he needs something big and intimidating. Since he is such a little tyke. Like Brutus or Spike. Or Godzilla.”
Anya burst out in laughter. “Godzilla! Absolutely. That’s the best one.”
I grinned. “I can call him Zilla for short. Use Godzilla when he’s being an asshole.”
“Perfect. Zilla it is.”
Just as she said it, Zilla launched himself from the curtain rod and landed on the top of the bookshelf. He skittered across the top and then slunk down one shelf, headed for another.
“I am sure I will adjust to having him around.” What I really meant was adjusting to the feeling that I was never going to fit in no matter what magic I had. I couldn’t even fit in with the weirdest witches there were because they had badass familiars.
“You’ve never had a pet, right?”
“No, but a familiar isn’t really a pet. As we spend more time with each other, the closer our connection will become. Cassandra will work with me the first time I funnel some of my magic through him.”
“Is he . . . is he strong enough to have your magic go through him?”
I shrugged as I looked at the agama where he brushed his tiny paw against one of the books on the shelf. “He better be.”
“Well, I think—”
A knock interrupted Anya’s words. I groaned. Callan’s look of surprise and smirk when he had seen my lizard had been all the conversation I needed when I got home from the Seer induction.
I didn’t move off the bed where I was sprawled. “What do you want, Callan?”
“Marnie, it’s your mom.” I hadn’t recognized her sulphur and vanilla smell teleporting outside the house. I had been distracted by Zilla.
Anya raised her eyebrows. “Good luck with that . . .”
“Yeah, I’ll call you later.”
We clicked off the call, and I swung from bed, opening my door to let my mom in. I was actually happy to see her. The last time I had, I had been saving Anya from a brain wipe in front of the heads of the Council. My mom’s support then had been not only well-warranted, but very welcome and surprising. It just felt strange that she was a member of the Council that was ruling over my actions. It put a strain on the relationship.
Yesterday, I had had a pretty vicious lack of control over my magic. Mystic Tamsin had threatened there would be consequences. I really couldn’t know if my mom was here as my mom or as an agent of the Council. I hated that feeling.
“Hey mom, it’s good to see you.”
And there it was. Not just a social call.
“I’m sorry that I haven’t been to visit you sooner, and I am sorry that I am now here because . . . well, the Council isn’t thrilled, Marnie. Mystic Tamsin used her privilege to request an emergency meeting this morning. We conferred after hearing her testimony as to what took place at Dimlight’s class session yesterday.”
A tightness took hold in my chest. “So, you heard from Mystic Tamsin, but I don’t get a chance to defend myself?”
“We also had the written report from Callan about what had taken place, as well as reports from two of the other Mystics. The medical details of what the student Julia endured was also considered.”
Callan had written a report? That made sense. I just wondered when he had done it. Maybe while Anya and I were surfing. Had it defended me? Had he been able to stand up for my position in the situation? More likely it was the straightforward fact of what happened, especially since he and I still hadn’t spoken about it. He had no way of knowing what had motivated me.
“Is Julia okay?” I asked lightly.
“Yes, she is fine. Perhaps a little traumatized. Tamsin relayed that this was the second attack on this student. So, we have to wonder if it is personal, or if it is situational.” My mom paused, eyebrow raised, then put her palm out, inviting me to discern which it was. I sighed. I didn’t know if this was an on-the-record type of conversation if I did discuss it with her.
“I don’t particularly like Julia. She’s a horrible harpy. Actually, she’s a downright snotty bitch. But this isn’t just about her. I’m having trouble with my magic. It is just a lot to control. Did Callan’s report mention that I also stopped the vines and unwound them? That I was the one that was also able to put an end to the spell I was casting?”
“Yes, all the reports mentioned that Callan coached you through ending the spell and fixing it. However, being able to terminate the spells you cast is a mandatory obligation of being allowed to cast spells at all. And from what the other Mystics stated, it didn’t seem like you were chanting. This was all just wild magic that you willed?”
I nodded, looking at the ground. “When my emotions get in the way . . . it just seems to spiral.”
“That part is pretty clear.” My mom tapped her lips lightly. Her eyes jerked away from me as she caught sight of Zilla where he was wiggling up and down the bookshelf. She laughed. “Oh my goodness. Is that your familiar?”
“Yes. This is Godzilla. Zilla for short. But . . . how did you know about that?”
“Callan told me about your visit to the Seer and that you would be getting a familiar.” My chest grew even tighter. How often did Callan make reports about me? “Don’t worry, the report was just to me as your mom, not to the Council. Though they will find out, obviously.”
My mom moved closer to the bookshelf and stuck her finger out for the agama to sniff. He propped one of his feet up on her hand for a moment, then scurried away, back into his exploration of my room.
“How adorable.” She turned back to me, her smile sincere. “I’m so proud to have a Seer for a daughter, Marnie.”
That took me back a moment since she was on the Council. Wasn’t she afraid of even more conflict between us? I already rebelled against all that she and the Council were telling me to do. Surely, having an alliance to a group that blatantly disregarded their ruling would just cause more strife between us.
In the end, having a Seer in the family was a genuine indication of magical ability.
She looked at Zilla with a proud smile and then shrugged happily. “I think a lizard is very fitting for you.”
I grimaced and rolled my eyes. “Great.”
“It does. I guess we’ll just see how well you work together. I hope that it does help you control your magic, because in all seriousness, the Council fears the wild nature of it. The vine incident, and Mystic Tamsin’s very loud declarations, make a strong case that Callan is too easy on you. The Council is considering placing you with a less biased Mystic.”
My anxiety level shot up. The tightness in my chest had grown extreme. I didn’t want someone other than Callan. Even though I hated the arranged marriage overtones, he at least seemed to understand the struggle I was going through. I didn’t think he was too easy on me. Our training sessions throughout the week were hard work.
“Don’t I have to be paired with a Mystic who has stronger magic than I have? There aren’t any other golds available, I thought.”
“The Council plans to test you at Beltane. If you fail the test, we are going to attempt to put you with Trent Brecker, the only other gold warlock we can have as a Mystic. I believe you met him at Dimlight. He has expressed interest in staying around Eastbrooke for a while. You can work with him.”
I recalled the gold warlock I had dueled with at school when he was a guest speaker. The spell I had willed around him had intended to choke all life from him. He had been impressed, it seemed. The handwritten journal of spells he had left me had inspired me twice. Once with the sleeping spell outside the pawn shop, and it potentially had been the reason I thought bringing Anya back to life would be possible: I had just been reading about it in a book he left for me without explanation.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Contrary to what you might think at times, I do love you and just want what is best for you. I really don’t think Trent Brecker is that.”
“Is he a poor option, or is Callan just a better option?” I was determined to press my mom for more specifics if the Council was again going to meddle in my life.
“Callan is the better option, by far. Trent is a fine warlock. He has had a great deal of different types of jobs and missions across the centuries. He is much older and more experienced than Callan. I am sure you could learn a lot from him. I just don’t think your style of learning would be compatible with his style of teaching. Not, at least, at this critical moment in your magical development.”
That was interesting. I wondered how often Trent had functioned as a Mystic, if at all. I didn’t remember that being part of his fame and fortune story that was so well publicized of him as basically a rockstar of the witching warrior world. “Beltane is only two weeks away. I’ve made progress in my work with Callan and at Dimlight, but I still need a lot of work. What kind of test will it be?”
“I’m not really sure. I don’t know if they will even tell me before the time arrives, in case I tell you and give you a better chance to prepare.” My mom spoke slowly, shyly, as she asked the next question. “Were you already planning on going to Beltane?”
My face flushed. “Yes, Callan asked me. I said I would go with him.”
Her eyes lit up and she tried to pull the smile away from her face.
“Ugh, mom. What is the deal with the arranged marriage, anyway?”
“The Council still thinks it’s a good magical match. But Callan is pushing them to give you time.”
“What? He hasn’t said anything about that.”
“Well, you’ve been very vocal about wanting out of the arrangement. He, on the other hand, specifically requested it. He wants to be with you when you seem to consistently, and without care for how loud or often you say it, throw it in his face that you want out. Maybe it’s time you find out why he has a different mindset about it.”
I cringed. I knew how vocal I had been. And when she put it that way, I kind of sounded like an asshole. But it was an arranged marriage. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be against being sold off for your power? Handsome or not, nice or not, it was still taking away my choice.
At the end of the day, Anya and my mom were suggesting the same thing, but any time I approached Callan about it, he showed such reservations to be real about the arranged marriage. It wouldn’t be an easy talk, especially because I was starting to really enjoy his company. I wasn’t quite sure how I
would respond to questions if he asked them reflexively.
I crossed my arms and realized how defensive that seemed as my mom’s eyebrows raised.
“It’s just a thought, Marnie. Information gathering is not always easy, but you are always better off with more knowledge at your disposal.”
She was right, of course.
My mom clapped her hands. “I’m off, I suppose. It was good to see you, my dear. Oh, also, I would really like to have you over for dinner. Your Uncle Wyatt is back in town.”
I jumped a little. My uncle had been my father figure since my dad disappeared. He was often away on missions for the Council for months at a time, but they allowed him to keep his seat because he was too invaluable. The Council functioned with thirteen members when he was around, but otherwise just had the twelve head members. “That’s awesome. He was here for such a short time at my color reveal before he had to go again. We haven’t really seen him in forever.”
“Great, well, then I expect you to come over sometime soon. I will let you know what day works best for us.”
“Okay, just let me know when. I’ll have to clear it with Callan.”
“I’m sure you’ll be safe from the Collector with Wyatt and Lila McTavish watching over you for one night,” my mom said, her voice grating a little.
“I know, I know. But he is under strict rules to protect and monitor me: Council rules, remember?”
My mom waved her hand and showed a forced smile. “Of course. I will let you know what works best for your uncle and then I will confer with Callan. I will set up more wards around my house to make sure you are protected.”