by Viola Grace
Imara needs a familiar, but what she ends up with is the toughest kitten in the magical world.
Imara has lived a life separate from her family. She wasn’t shunned, just never acknowledged. The seventh child of a seventh child, she had had the bad taste to be born a girl. Her father’s family had no use for a girl, so she was sent to a city where the populace didn’t use magic.
Now that she is grown and entering college, she has chosen the best magical college in the country. It just happens to be located in her birth city.
When family begins to encroach on her education and someone threatens her life, can her new familiar do as he promised and keep her safe, or will Imara have to use what little magic she has learned to keep herself alive? Either way, things are going to be unpleasant.
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2017 by Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-987969-26-9
©Cover art by Angela Waters
All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.
Published by Viola Grace
Smashwords Edition
Look for me online at violagrace.com.
Soul Casting 101
Hellkitten Chronicles Book 1
By
Viola Grace
Prologue
Mirrin was exhausted but delighted. She had carried out her contract and given her husband what he wanted and a little more.
The nurse turned toward him, holding the dual burdens. “Mr. Demiel, here are your children.”
Mirrin watched as her husband started forward and then paused. He growled, “Which one is my son?”
The nurse frowned. “Um, here. This is your son.”
Mirrin reached out for her daughter. “Please give her to me.”
Holding his precious son in his awkward arms, he shook his head. “Mirrin, you know we are not going to keep her. I have what the family needed. We have the seventh son of the seventh son. The lucky one. Our fortunes are going to turn, but in the meantime, we are not going to feed an extra mouth. You know that arrangements have been made.”
“Desmond! It is just a little girl. What kind of harm could she do?”
The nurse was hesitating with the little girl in her arms.
Mirrin pushed herself up, her body protesting mightily. “Give her to me. She may leave tomorrow, but today, she is my baby. My little Imara.”
“Mirrin, let her go. She is unlucky.”
“You have your seventh son, Desmond. Our contract is over. I am taking our daughter to Sakenta, and then, I am leaving.”
Her husband was shocked. “What? You have seven sons to care for.”
“My contract was to bear you your seventh son. I did that. I am not going to live with you screaming and ordering me around anymore. You wanted those hellions, you deal with them. I have my own life that I want to get back to.” Mirrin was somber as she stroked the pink cheek of her daughter.
She couldn’t keep her girl. All children that she bore were the sole responsibility of the Demiel family. She was simply a conduit of her family’s genes and their own debt to the Demiels. If she could keep her daughter, she would, but that wasn’t in her contract.
Imara Demiel was going to grow up without the burden of a family history or being a ley-line mage. Her world was going to be wide open, and Mirrin hoped she lived long enough to see it.
Against all odds, Imara had been born before her brother in the same minute. She was the seventh child of a seventh child, and while the Demiel’s didn’t set any store by that, Mirrin knew that her family would cherish their new addition if they were allowed to claim her. The Deepford-Smythe family would keep an eye out for their newest member. They may have lost everything, including their family honour, but they loved their own.
Little Imara couldn’t have direct contact with her mother, but the Deepford-Smythe family would find her and take care of her. Some way, some how, her daughter would know how much she was wanted.
The hospital was silent as Mirrin walked slowly to the nursery. She just wanted to hold her daughter one more time before she was taken.
Mirrin crept into the nursery, reading the names on the plastic cribs until she found the one that said Demiel. The blue wrappings adorned her son, so she stepped to the next crib only to find it empty. There was no tag, no baby.
“They took her away at dinner. Your people said they will care for her.” A nurse stood there with a sad but kind expression on her face.
Mirrin dropped to her knees. “Gone?”
The woman came over and placed her hand on Mirrin’s shoulder. “Yes, Mrs. Demiel. Your daughter is gone; now, let’s get you back to bed.”
She got to her feet, and as they left the nursery, Mirrin kept looking back at the empty crib that should have contained a baby she should have been able to keep. Too many shoulds.
Mirrin hoped her daughter got the freedom and power that she had been born to wield, and she wished more than anything that her father never found out what she was.
The seventh child of the seventh child was just as powerful as a seventh son. With Mirrin and Desmond both seventh children, their seventh child was bound to be immensely powerful. Their seventh child was their daughter, and Desmond would never know.
Chapter One
“Imra, we need a calm-down at twelve B. There is a wild mix of something going on.”
Imara looked at him with a weary gaze. “Come on, it’s my last night.”
“This is your job, Imra. Your last night to do it.”
She made a face at Death Keeper Thomins and got to her feet. Most of the students in her high school were not fortunate enough to find a job at the repository of the dead. Being an Apprentice Death Keeper had let her save up, and when she was ready to apply, she had gotten into the most prestigious magic college for three provinces.
The next day she left for her new school to learn the basics of charms, spells and magic in general. For that night, she had to find out what was going on in twelve B.
She smoothed her cassock and lit the lantern outside the door. With a sense of finality, Imara hooked it onto her staff and walked through the repository, past the active graves until she reached what was supposed to be the newly silent.
Imara walked down the rows of those who had been retired by their families, their knowledge no longer required.
Her lantern illuminated the three specters floating above their resting places. “Good evening, lady and gentlemen. Is there any particular reason for your rising?”
She approached them and set the lantern on the grass. She folded her hands in front of her and waited.
Madame Gregoria Limack floated toward her and extended her hand. Imara mimicked her gesture and smiled as the specter made contact.
We worked out that you are leaving us. We wished to give you a proper send off. You have been a treasure to watch as you grew into the young lady before us.
“Thank you. I will be sorry to leave, but I am very excited to go to Depford College.”
One of the men floated forward and touched her arm. We are excited for you, as much as we are able. We wish you luck, and we wanted to offer you a gift.
She blinked at Mr. Frimaldi. “Thank you for the thought.”
Mr. Exeter grinned and touched her shoulder. We managed to arrange it with a little help.
“Well, Imra, you seem to have made an impression on our guests.”
She turned to see Thomins approaching. He was g
rinning, and he had a small object in the hand not holding the lantern.
“You are in on this?”
“They asked me when we were moving them. They wanted to give you something and forced their families to chip in. It was hilarious.” As a Death Keeper, he always sided with the guests. They were the ones he had to work with, after all.
She stared at the spectral and physical gathering around her. “You threatened your families?”
Madame Leemra laughed silently. We did not give them all our secrets. They may have decided to retire us, but that does not mean we have been drained of all knowledge. We are not leaving until we are good and ready.
Imara sighed. “You didn’t have to do anything.”
Thomins smirked. “They wanted to. This is a letter to the Dean of the College. There is also a small box with a letter in it. They are yours with the compliments and best wishes from our locals.”
She took the gifts and looked and them with stunned amazement. “Thank you. Thank you all so much.”
They converged on her and caressed her cheeks and arms. She caught the thoughts, the well wishes and the flashes of them sending their children and grandchildren off to college. She was their chance to live a little past the veil of death.
Silently, she promised to check in with them whenever possible. They laughed at that. She was going to be getting on with her life and that was good. Life was for living, and for the living. They were just happy that they could force their descendants to contribute to their going-away gift.
The party lasted for an hour, and then, the inhabitants of twelve B retired for the evening, their energy spent. The copies of ancient mages retreated to their soul stones and rested in the monuments that held them. A living life was reduced to a six-inch wide by three-foot high pillar of stone with the gem embedded in it.
As an Apprentice Death Keeper, she had had to monitor the energy level in the stones and keep them clean. Planting flowers around them that bloomed and glowed in the darkness was something she did on her breaks. Apparently, it was appreciated.
She wished she could do more for them than tend their tombs, but that was the job, so she did it.
When they all winked out, she picked up her staff and lantern, holding the gift with the other hand.
Thomins was grinning at her. “There were others who made their families contribute, but they have faded already.”
“Why?” They returned to the office next to the parking lot.
“Because for a moment when they met you, they saw someone with potential for a future that they wanted to contribute to. They do not get many opportunities to participate in the living world.”
Imara nodded. “I know that, but why me?”
“Madame Ikohn is one of your ancestors. She needled the others into participating since she could not address you directly.” Thomins dropped that little bombshell casually.
“My... I did not think I had family here.”
He chuckled. “She was born here and moved when she married. She was a contract bride and returned to her family when the contract was fulfilled. I believe she was deputy mayor for a decade.”
Imara’s mind was spinning as they extinguished and stowed the lanterns. She set the staff in its slot and looked at the objects in her hand. The letter addressed to the Dean of Students was a heavy, cream-coloured parchment with a black wax seal. She didn’t recognise the family mark, but she would deliver the letter.
The box that was only slightly larger than the letter and was black and purple, carved with glyphs and humming with power.
“I don’t think I can accept this. It looks old.”
Thomins grinned and sat with his feet up on his desk. “They ordered the family to give it to you, so it is yours. I have a record of transfer if anyone requires it.”
“Which family is it from?”
He chuckled. “You will have to open it and see, but it is the end of your shift and you need to be getting that transport to the college.”
“I am driving. It is only two hours away.”
“Then, you had better be going. It has been fun having you here, but your destiny lies with the living. I have been around long enough to know that. Life as a Death Keeper is not for you.”
She walked over and extended her hand. “Thanks for all that you have shown me, Thomins. You truly have a knack for soul manipulation that is enviable.”
He gripped her hand and grinned. “You were definitely grasping the basics. I have high hopes for your future studies. Don’t be a stranger.”
Imara nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat. “Thanks. I will keep you posted on my progress.”
“Do, or I will call the school myself. I am fairly sure that I am going to be inundated with status requests from the occupants here. I am going to need every tidbit of your life that you can share.”
She laughed. “They are relentless.”
“They are, but stimulation is good for them. It makes them last longer.”
She looked through the window at the carefully organized repository of mind imprints held together inside painstakingly enchanted gemstones. The soul might be gone but the mind remained, and the minds needed stimulation. She had unwittingly provided that stimulation with her tales of high school and her boarding house.
Her life had become their link to the living world. She was going to miss being that bridge.
She sniffled as she drove from the boarding house to her new—temporary—home at the college. The box was on the passenger seat next to her, along with the letter.
Her bags were in the back seat. A few weeks of clothing, notebooks and pens were all that she owned.
Dawn was a thing of the past, and she would be reaching the college in minutes. A nervous clenching of her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t had breakfast, or dinner for that matter.
Her first stop was the office of the dean of students, and after that, she was heading straight to registration.
Chapter Two
The parking spot she had been assigned was at the far end of the universe from any of the class buildings. It wasn’t great, but it was secure.
Imara tucked the letter into her jacket and zipped the box into her backpack. Her suitcase had excellent wheels, and it would make a lot of noise but remain intact wherever she dragged it. It was her big splurge purchase, aside from tuition and lodgings.
She locked her car, checked the map on her phone and went to deliver the letter.
Senior students and freshman were beginning to arrive on campus. She passed nearly a dozen as she hauled the rumbling case across the sidewalks and pathways.
The soil under her feet contained magic. The college had been built on a wave site, and the ancient magic still simmered below the surface. This was where she would learn to hone the skills she had been born with.
The feeling of walking through somewhere she had always been meant to be was strange. Sakenta had been a great place to grow up, but the lack of magic use in the population was a stark reminder that she didn’t belong. Each and every day she was thankful for the guidance counsellor that had put her in touch with the Death Keepers. It was a small outlet, but it had been welcome. Her first experience with using magic had been talking to the dead. It was not a normal introduction, yet it had confirmed her desire to seek out more information and education on the subject. She was destined for magic.
Anticipation was pushing past her hunger. The dean of students was located in the same building as registration, which meant that there was only a small diversion necessary.
She crossed the inlaid marble floor, passed the registration tables for first years and walked up two flights of stairs to the dean’s office.
Behind the heavy door, she found a young man seated behind a desk, and he appeared irritated as he set his phone down. “Can I help you?”
She reached into her jacket and pulled out the letter. “I have this for the Dean of Students.”
The young man with the dark brown hair an
d deep green eyes smiled. “I will give it to him.”
Her fingers tightened. “I think I am supposed to deliver it myself.”
“You have brought it to his offices. That means you have delivered it. Give it to me, and I will send it through.”
She didn’t know what that meant, but she extended the heavy parchment to him.
Without looking at it, he opened a small, flat box on his desk and he set the letter inside. He closed the box while smirking at her, and the glyphs glowed. “There, the dean has it. You can be on your way.”
She opened and closed her hands, turned and hauled her stuff out of the room, feeling as if something was undone.
Ah well, there was registration, checking into her room and getting a meal to do before she could spend some time focusing on what she had left undone.
The young man named Anton had given her excellent directions on how to find Reegar Hall. The pity in his eyes was something she could have done without, but as long as the place had space for her to sleep and study, she had what she needed.
Going to magical college on a budget was not going to be easy.
Imara looked at the exterior of Reegar Hall, and she wrinkled her nose. Where the other buildings had ancient brick and stone, Reegar was all concrete and cracked mortar. She walked inside and was greeted by a chipper redhead who seemed relieved to have something to do.
“Hiya, are you lost?”
“No. I am one of the students assigned to Reegar.”
“Oh. Oh!” The woman pumped her hand happily. “I am the Resident Advisor for Reegar Hall. My name is Bara. Bara Wilmington.”
“Imara Mirrin. First year.”
“Right, of course. Do you have your food card?”
