Soul Casting 101

by Viola Grace

  “No. Most mages pick a more impressive creature as their familiar. Go ahead.”

  With that resounding endorsement, Imara looked at Mr. E and reached out with her thoughts. His orangy-gold eyes locked with hers, and she felt a prickle in her mind. The prickle became a tunnel, and soon, she heard thoughts around her that weren’t hers.

  Welcome to my mind, mage.

  Not a mage yet. I am still a Death Keeper’s apprentice.

  You are much more than that.

  So, who do I have the honour of communicating with?

  You have narrowed it down to two choices. You are correct. I am indeed one of them.

  Which one?

  I will let you know at a later date. For now, know that we are indeed bonded until the end of your natural life.

  Oh. Goody. Imara sat up straight and nodded to her instructor. “All done.”

  “Let me just check.” Magus Deepford probed at Imara’s mind, and after a surprised jerk, she nodded. “Right. Excellent. Ms. Harkness, you are up.”

  Ninya Harkness, whose dreams included becoming a captain in a Mage Guild outpost, stepped forward with her hawk, Hector.

  Hector eyed Mr. E, but as she gathered her kitten, Imara heard a low growl coming from the tiny body. He wasn’t going to back down, and Hector finally looked away.

  Impressive.

  He always was a lesser mage. Every time I have run into him during my incarceration, he has retreated.

  That bore thinking about, but Imara sat back in her seat as Ninya mumbled and chanted, trying to weave the connection.

  Imara didn’t have to do all the chanting; her skills with the dead were honed enough that she could reach out to another soul who was reaching back.

  She cuddled with her buddy as the rest of the class bonded with their creatures.

  When the bonding was done, the mage and the beast looked at each other with new eyes.

  It was quite jarring when the door to the hall was banged open and a woman strode in toward the front of the class. “Where is Imara...” She checked something written on her wrist, “Mirrin?”

  The entire class was staring at the interloper.

  Imara got to her feet, and Mr. E hopped to her shoulder. “That would be me.”

  “You have stolen my familiar.”

  Imara could feel Mr. E stand up and bristle. “He disagrees.”

  “I am the Deepford-Smythe heir, and he is mine.”

  Imara stepped toward her, aware of their audience. “Could we discuss this in private?”

  “No. Claims must be acknowledged by witnesses. He is mine, and I will have him.”

  Magus Deepford stepped forward. “Laia, this is unseemly. What are you talking about?”

  “I went to the familiar center to get my familiar, but the one that was to be delivered to the seventh of seven was already taken. It took a week of bribing and asking the right questions, but I finally found out who got it. She did.”

  Imara held up her hand before the instructor could speak. “Your birthdate?”

  Laia frowned. “What does that have to do with it?”

  “Whisper it in my ear. I will tell you mine. I have a right to him if what I suspect is true.”

  The woman leaned forward and whispered her birthdate. Imara returned the favour with, “Imara Deepford-Smythe out of Mirrin Deepford-Smythe by Desmond Demiel, Seventh of seven by both parties.”

  Laia blinked and leaned back. “They didn’t tell me that.”

  “I am fairly sure that no one thought of it. Now, do you still have a legitimate claim?”

  Laia blushed hot and looked down. “Um, no. I will go and get the next familiar on my family’s roster. I apologize for the interruption, cousin.”

  Imara stared at the pretty blonde with the red face. “It is fine. I can authorize the dean of students to show you the family documentation. If you would leave now, the rest of the students would like to bond with their familiars.”

  Magus Deepford smiled. “If no one objects, she will need to know how to do this herself. Laia needs to witness the bonding.”

  Renee and Able nodded that they didn’t object, and soon, the class was back in order as the ritual was repeated over and over.

  When Magus Deepford addressed them again, she was grinning. “Excellent. Now, next class we will start the beginning focus and rituals of being able to give custody of your soul to your familiar. Dismissed.”

  Imara exhaled and got to her feet, grabbing her bag. Laia gripped her by the arm. “I am sorry. They just told me that someone else had claimed him. I didn’t know about you.”

  “You still don’t. Like I said, I will contact the dean of students and you can look me up.”

  “Couldn’t I just ask you? I mean, we share family.”

  Imara chuckled. “No, we aren’t. I am unknown. I am on record but have never met a relative, until now.”

  Mr. E let out a small, “Mew.” It was a burst of sound that hung in the air between them.

  “Mr. E says that it is time for dinner. Would you like to come with us?”

  Laia blinked. “Really? I mean, that would be great, but I am meeting some cousins for dinner.”

  Imara sighed. “Ah. Of course. Another time.”

  Laia nodded. “Another time. It was weirdly nice meeting you, Imara.”

  “You too. Good evening.” She slung her bag over her shoulder and left the lecture hall. Huh. She had just met her first blood relative face to face. Laia had not spit in her face, so that was something.

  The paths between the hall and her classes were burned into her memory. She walked home with a long stride and an urge to talk over what had just happened with Reegar and Bara.

  Her mental exercises were stopping the leak of power that she engaged in wherever she walked. The ghosts on the quad stopped rushing at her for power boosts, and she was finally feeling positive about her chances of making it through her first term.

  Her Herbology exam was already under way. She had to select six plants that would produce a power and health-enhancing potion when properly enchanted by a master potion maker. That was the exam. She had to pick her herbs that would create the proper potion and drink it herself to test its veracity. There was nothing like putting the pressure on to make sure that the students payed attention.

  Ten more weeks and she would know if she had chosen the right herbs and plants or if she was going to turn green and puke.

  Reegar was waiting when she came in. “Congratulations on your bonding! Bara will be late. She left a cake in the cold box.”

  “She didn’t have to do anything. It is my day to cook.”

  “She wanted to. It was your first spell work. It deserves to be celebrated.” Reegar offered her his arm and escorted her into the lounge.

  “We didn’t do anything. I touched his mind, he touched mine. There is now a tether between us. That’s it.”

  “That tether is going to power everything you do in the next few years. It is an important moment.”

  “I will trust your judgement on that. You seem perky today.”

  He chuckled. “I contacted a friend via email. He responded. It has been nearly a century since we last spoke, but he is there and I can talk to him.”

  “What does he think of your contact?”

  “He responded and is on his way here to meet me.” Reegar laughed. “For the first time in a century, I will have a guest that I have actually invited.”

  “I am excited for you. Did you want me to work on a focus stone?”

  “I would rather that you went into the library and charged one of my books. Something personal to me that won’t sync itself to other specters.”

  “Sure. I have a few hours tonight. I am caught up on my homework.”

  “Good, but first... cake.”

  Imara giggled and patted his nearly solid arm. “I like the way you think.”

  Bara came in while Imara was bleeding off her extra energy into a book of masculine erotic etchings from the Vict
orian era.

  “Imara, what are you doing?”

  “Giving Magus Reegar a touchstone—of sorts. I mean, I am not going to touch it, but he wanted something to use for emergency power if I wasn’t around. He has been so helpful, I said sure.”

  Bara grinned. “I see you enjoyed the cake.”

  Imara snorted. “Mr. E decided it had been a while since he had seen cake. He attacked it and is now sulking, after his bath.”

  Imara looked to her familiar seated on the table and swathed in a wide wrap of towels. He looked like an angry rat, and bathtime had shown her what the communication between mage and familiar could be. There was a lot more cursing on his part than she had imagined. Her mind had been painted scarlet with irritation. He hadn’t even let her brush out his fur afterward.

  Bara covered her mouth as she giggled. “He looks unimpressed.”

  “I am unimpressed. That looked like a great cake.”

  “Aww... you didn’t get to have any?”

  “Nope. He dropped right onto it without any hesitation.”

  “Too bad. It was from your family.”

  Imara paused. “What?”

  “Yes. It arrived this afternoon. I didn’t have a chance to tell Reegar anything other than that there was a cake in the fridge. He must have assumed I bought it. Congratulations by the way.”

  “Thanks.” The book she was working on glowed softly, and she closed her hand. “I think I am going to do some more studying in my room.”

  “Don’t you want dinner?”

  “No. I am fine.” She looked at Mr. E and beckoned. “Coming?”

  He narrowed his eyes and stalked out of his towel cocoon. She didn’t laugh but cuddled him against her chest, picked up his brush and headed for their room.

  Family had sent the cake. It reminded her of the box and the letter she had yet to write.

  I am sorry I ruined your cake. I just had the urge to jump so I did.

  It is fine. Cake can be distracting. You did remind me of something, though.

  What was that?

  I need to write to my mother. Sulking about my situation won’t make it better. Only by taking action can I change my circumstance.

  You got all that from my leap into icing?

  It was a very profound leap.

  He pressed his head against her shoulder, and she brushed him out until his black fur was silky and smooth once again. When he was asleep in her lap and she was seated at her desk, she pulled out sheets of paper and began to compose a letter to her mother.

  She scrapped several drafts before beginning the letter with, Dear Mother. I performed my first conscious magic today.

  Imara took a deep breath and kept writing.

  Chapter Eight

  Two days after the bonding, Imara got another parcel. She got back from her herbology class and found a box on the step outside Reegar Hall.

  “Weird. Huh, it’s for me.” She flipped the box in her hands and noted the popular website logo on the packing tape.

  Mr. E thudded on top of it a moment after she turned it around. Notgood, notgoodnotgood. Don’t touch.

  “What?”

  Get Reegar. Mr. E was perched on the box, fully fluffed with his back arched.

  Imara frowned, but she entered the hall and called out, “Magus Reegar, I need some assistance here.”

  Reegar walked toward her, smiling brightly. “Imara. How lovely. My guest was wanting to speak with you.”

  “That sounds delightful, but first, I need your help. There is a parcel on the doorstep, and Mr. E won’t let me near it.”

  Reegar scowled and walked to the door. He opened it and looked down at the angry, miniscule cat and the box he was standing on.

  “Well, I can’t do anything myself, but the timing is very lucky. Let me get my guest.”

  Imara stood with her pack on her shoulder, looking at the box with the new accessory made of fur. “Right. Thank you.”

  A moment later, Reegar walked down the hall with a creature made of shades of grey and silver.

  The elf was dressed in rich charcoal tunic and trousers with a wide sash at the waist. The boots were matte, and if he stood in the shadows, he would nearly disappear. Well, most of him. The silver of his hair blazed like a beacon.

  “It is an honour to meet you, Imara Mirrin.”

  She inclined her head. “I will return the greeting as soon as we get the parcel sorted so my familiar can engage in his normal evening food orgy.”

  Reegar pushed her back against the wall with a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Don’t touch it. Liirick will take care of it. Won’t you, Lee?”

  “This is a nasty piece of spell work. Did you handle it?”

  She looked at her hands. It had been a cold day, so she was wearing gloves. “By the corners.”

  The elf knelt and used the edges of his sleeves to lift the box and the familiar up, bring it within the building. “Ree, where is your lab?”

  “Follow me.”

  Magus Reegar led the way down a hall that he had pronounced strictly off limits to her until she was a second year.

  “So, you are Liirick of the Dark Shadows?” Imara trailed behind them.

  “I am. You may call me Lee.”

  “I just finished a report on you for my history class. I had no idea you knew Reegar.”

  “He and I were friends for all of his years. I was a guest lecturer here, and he and I met socially after. The Guild was not pleased, but he remained my steadfast companion whenever I was in town.”

  The relationship and Reegar’s delight in being physical gave her sudden understanding. “I am glad you were able to reconnect.”

  Lee glanced at her, and she noted that his eyes were a dark pewter and they twinkled with amusement that belied his age. He was over six hundred and had come in to help many human settlements when the waves of magic broke and spread across the world like ripples in a pond. He had helped them adjust and trained the mages that had gone from simple lives to being able to manipulate the world around them. Fey and mages like him had saved lives and helped get the one-percent mages to safety.

  “So, you wrote a report on me?”

  “Yes, well, you were one of the mages I focused on. Having folk like you finding the single mages in larger communities and getting them to safety is what made the Guild possible.” She held her breath.

  “Yes?”

  “What is a wave like? There hasn’t been one in decades.”

  Lee grinned. “I think that can wait until after I disable this curse.”

  “Oh. Right. Is that what that is?”

  “Yes. It is keyed to your blood, so as long as you don’t make contact with it, it is fine for me to handle. You were lucky I was here.”

  She wrinkled her nose as they entered the lab. “Yeah, I have that kind of luck.”

  Lee set the parcel down on a worktable, and he got forceps and blades.

  Mr. E scampered over to the edge of the table, so Imara let him resume his post on her shoulder.

  Reegar went to a cabinet on the wall, and he opened it, removing a few bottles of coloured liquids before walking over to the table and setting them down.

  “Thank you, Reegar.” Lee smiled briefly and began the careful work of slicing into the box.

  Imara pulled up a chair and watched the procedure from several feet away.

  The box was opened; the folded paper that had kept it in place was carefully removed and set into a large copper bowl.

  “Hmm, I would guess that this is a fourth-level charm and not the first curse that this person has sent. The blood that has marked it is strange.”

  Imara perked up as Lee gave a running description. “Strange?”

  “It is your blood, but it is male. It has to have come from a close relative, but the strange thing is that the blood itself is the curse. I have nev—wait, I have seen this once before. Do you have siblings?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Several. At least seven.”

  “How m
any cousins?”

  “I have no idea. I met one a few days ago. She seemed nice.”

  “This is definitely male blood. An unlucky child.”

  Imara went cold and then hot. “You don’t say.”

  “Yes. This kind of charm only works with the blood of an unlucky one. So, your brother’s blood mixed with that of the cursed blood from the same family and you have an excellent curse.”

  He used the forceps to lift out a small bundle of fabric marked with glyphs. He set it into the bowl, on top of the paper. With the contents of the box disposed of, he shredded the box and set it in the bowl around the edges.

  “You must be hell on Christmas presents.” Imara observed.

  Lee grinned and Reegar chuckled. “He brings the surgical kit to the tree.”

  Lee sighed. “I have not celebrated the holidays since you passed, Reegar.”

  Reegar’s form fluctuated as he was overtaken with emotion.

  Lee carefully unstoppered the bottle with blue solution, and he drizzled it over the contents of the bowl. “This is a negating solution. It takes apart the blood on a cellular level and is not something you want to touch to your skin.”

  A dark bottle with an arcane label was opened next. “This will attract the curse and hold it so we can destroy it.”

  “Right. Makes sense.”

  A single drop fell from the bottle, and Lee stepped back as a stream of flame shot upward.

  “Got it. Imara, can you light a match?”

  He was standing with his hands to either side of the bowl, so she struck the match.

  “Now, insert the match so the flame is above the blue stream of fire.”

  She followed his direction and eased the eighteen-inch wooden match past his hands and into the small flame in the center of the bowl. The explosion was sudden, and Lee grabbed her and put his body between her and the violent explosion.

  Imara hadn’t seen a magical shield before, but she was wrapped in one as the echoes faded. She looked down to the generator of the shield, and her kitten looked at her soberly.

  I told you it was dangerous.

  Thank you.

  I do not wish to see your promising career end quickly. I have faith in your ability to be a great and troublesome mage.