by Martha Carr
“Oh, he wants something, all right. It’s kinda pointless to even ask why—oh, hey! Rory! Did Thomas show you the trick with his dog?” Henry patted Raven on the back and moved toward Rory Davidian and the boy’s owl familiar that perched on his shoulder.
She laughed and Murphy leaned toward her to ask, “Is it that simple with all guys?”
“I’m sure it is. Or, at least, they’re all pretending. You know what? I have no idea.” She shook her head as she and Murphy followed the other first-year students before they separated into their various classes. I wonder who else is gonna come out of the woodwork now that the whole school knows about Leander.
A few heads away from where Henry broke into raucous laughter with Rory and Thomas and a few other guys, Bella Chase stood with her firedrake familiar on her shoulder. The dark-haired girl met her gaze, raised an eyebrow, and turned to say something to her friends.
At least I already know what to expect from her.
Chapter Four
The first-year students had assembled for their last class of the day. Familiar training with Professor Worley took place in the open arena of the barn and the huge, burly man with a deep, booming voice stepped into the center of the dirt that comprised the floor.
“Today, you’ll work on something I honestly don’t enjoy, but it’s necessary.”
A few mutters issued from the students. Raven glanced at Henry, who stood beside Rory Davidian and Thomas Anders, his hands clamped gently around a still and silent Maxwell. He met her gaze and swallowed.
“Now, you’ve all chosen your familiar,” the professor continued. “You’ve bonded with them and you’ve each discovered at least a little of what makes them uniquely suited as your familiars and what makes them uniquely powerful when bonded with you. You’re learning about their strengths. Today, however, we’ll focus on their weaknesses.”
Tessa Hambridge raised her hand and didn’t wait for acknowledgment before she launched into her question. “Professor, I don’t see how paying attention to our familiar’s weaknesses will make them stronger. My Aunt Mable says we are what we think. I don’t want Ellie to lose progress.”
“Right.” Bennett Cotton snickered. “’Cause your butterfly has so much to lose.”
Professor Worley turned toward the boy and his chuckling friends and merely raised an eyebrow. It took two seconds for the boys to shut up and pay attention again.
“Miss Hambridge, your Aunt Mable is a smart woman. Yes, I would say we manifest our thought patterns, perhaps especially when we work with our familiars and learn to stretch them to their limits. But we also learn how to stretch ourselves.”
“By focusing on weaknesses instead of strengths?” At the other end of the line of students, Bella Chase folded her arms and frowned. “What if our familiar doesn’t have any weaknesses?”
Professor Worley chuckled and scratched his bearded chin. “Then you don’t know your familiar as well as you think you do, Miss Chase.”
Another round of chuckles came from a few other groups of students. Bella turned to look at her firedrake Wesley perched on her shoulder. The small reptile snorted a thin plume of smoke.
“We all have weaknesses and strengths. That’s how we grow and that’s why you’re here. But let’s all keep Aunt Mable’s advice in mind, hmm?” Professor Worley stepped toward the other side of the barn’s arena and lifted a small latch set a foot above the floor. A thin, narrow slat in the barn raised another foot when he pulled it, then he hooked the latch over a nail and gave the open door a satisfied glance.
“It looks like the cat door I built for Fritz,” Murphy muttered. The barn cat sat at her feet and his tail flicked idly in the dust.
“Now, when I say focus on your familiar’s weaknesses, I’m not talking about calling them out, noticing them, and brushing them aside. They are, after all, animals. Some of them are wild and others are domesticated, but they have instincts and natural inclinations that we as witches and wizards have evolved to overcome. A strong bond with your familiar is essential for any mage and yes, our familiars help to strengthen our magic. We work together. But true control and the true power of that bond comes from training our familiars to overcome their instincts.”
A soft whisper rose from the other side of the arena.
Henry gulped. “Oh, man.”
A few mutters of confusion and trepidation rose from the students and one girl in the back screamed. “A snake! Professor, there’s a snake in the barn!”
Some of the students backed against the far wall. Others glanced with wide eyes from Professor Worley to the huge albino boa constrictor that slithered through the open slat on the other side of the arena.
“Great,” Mike Jeder muttered and tucked his squirrel closer to his chest. “That monster just found the ultimate buffet.”
Professor Worley didn’t even turn to look. “There is much to be learned from this exercise. I urge you all to focus on the benefits of what this type of control and bond of trust with your familiars will achieve. The intention here is to identify the instincts that may be the most detrimental to you and your familiar—should they act on these instincts instead of following your guidance—and to work together to overcome such…distractions.”
The snake slithered across the dirt, stopped beside the giant of a professor, and curled the end of its tail around the heel of his boot. Worley glanced at it and nodded. “Like I said, I don’t particularly enjoy or approve of this exercise on principle, but I also know the absolute necessity. This is Vastra.” The reptile raised her head slightly and her long, forked tongue flicked in and out. “One of my familiars.”
Raven and Murphy shared a wide-eyed glance of surprise. “Didn’t someone say Professor Worley had three familiars?” Murphy whispered.
“Well, at least we know he has more than one.” I didn’t think it was even possible. Raven grinned and turned to study Vastra’s long, lithe body settled in the dirt. “She’s beautiful.”
“She’s big enough to eat any of us and our familiars.” At the other girl’s feet, Fitz uttered a warning hiss.
“But she won’t,” her friend pointed out. “That’s the point.”
“Now, before I pull names out of a hat, would anyone like to volunteer for a demonstration with Vastra and me?” Professor Worley gazed at the line of students—some clearly terrified, some gazing in awe at the huge boa constrictor, and others who smirked with confidence.
No one said a word. The giant professor released a booming laugh. “I assure you, Vastra and I have been together for a very long time. There’s nothing to be afraid of. The first part of this lesson, I suppose, is to learn to trust what we know and brush the rest of it aside.”
A loud croak broke the uneasy silence before Henry lurched forward between two students in front of him and thrust them aside. “Maxwell, get back here,” he whispered harshly. He swiped to catch the toad, who leapt away from his outstretched hands and hopped about the barn to flurry sprays of dust from wherever he landed.
“It looks like your familiar has volunteered you both, Mr. Derks.”
The boy froze in mid-swipe and turned slowly to look at the massive snake that lay motionless beside the man. “Maxwell doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
“That’s precisely the point.” With his lips together, Worley waved him forward. “Collect your familiar, Mr. Derks, and stand here beside me.”
Maxwell had finally settled and now faced the other side of the barn while Henry crept up behind him. The young wizard scooped him up with both hands and turned him to gaze into his familiar’s eyes. “I don’t think we have a choice.”
He stepped rigidly toward the professor in the center of the arena, and Worley gave him a reassuring nod. “This is the exercise. Controlling your familiar against his natural instinct. In this case, I believe that would be in the inclination to flee.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of my inclination right now too,” he muttered. A few subdued, nervous chuckles rose from the othe
r students.
Raven grinned. “You got this Derks. He’s your familiar for a reason, remember.”
“Yeah, but a toad can’t help anyone heal if it’s already been eaten.”
She turned to glare at Bennett, whose smile faded when he saw her before he shrugged.
“You can joke about it all you want, but each of you will work with your familiars in uncomfortable situations today. There are a few weaknesses to overcome. Instinct is one. It comes in many forms with these animals. Your job is to bond enough with your familiar that their only true instinct is to anticipate your thoughts and your intentions and to brush everything else aside like I’ve said. All right, Mr. Derks. Set your familiar on the ground, please.”
“Are you serious?” Henry drew Maxwell toward his chest.
“I hardly think I would have been given this job as a Fowler Academy professor if I didn’t say exactly what I meant.” Professor Worley clapped a thick hand on his shoulder and made the young wizard stumble sideways under the weight. “On the ground. And use your connection with your familiar to keep him there and to ignore his natural instinct to run from predators.”
With another heavy swallow, Henry bent to set Maxwell in the dirt again and muttered, “I should’ve picked a familiar with wings. Or claws.”
The toad crouched in the dirt and remained there, his huge eyes wide while his flat, broad chest heaved quickly in and out.
“Good.” Professor Worley took a step back and tugged on Henry’s shoulder. “Move away with me, now. Keep the connection, Mr. Derks, but don’t interfere.”
With a grimace, Henry stepped back slowly. Vastra’s tongue flicked in and out again and tasted the air. Maxwell’s sides swelled and compressed even faster.
The albino boa constrictor began to move and slithered away from Maxwell before she veered toward the toad again. The young man glanced at the professor. “She looks hungry. What’s she doing?”
“Focus.”
Vastra turned to inch slowly toward the terrified creature.
Raven clenched her fists at her sides. You got this, Henry. Jeeze, they both look terrified.
When Professor Worley’s familiar reached Henry’s, her forked tongue darted out again and barely brushed the top of Maxwell’s head. Both familiar and young wizard flinched but the toad remained where he was.
“Very good,” Professor Worley rumbled. He stared at the familiars playing food-chain roulette and nodded. Vastra opened her mouth slowly, wider and wider, and Maxwell twitched again.
“Holy crap!” Rory shouted. “Look at the size of that mouth!”
Vastra’s wide, strong jaws snapped shut.
Henry lurched forward as Maxwell leapt away from Vastra in a panicked display of amphibian acrobatics. The creature’s limbs were fully outstretched as he smacked against the boy’s face, and he stumbled forward across the dirt to catch his flopping familiar with both hands.
A few laughs echoed, and he clutched Maxwell to his chest while he gasped short, heavy breaths and puffed his cheeks. “Yeah, keep laughing. Let’s see who else is gonna volunteer.”
“You didn’t volunteer, Derks.”
“But I didn’t say no, Percy,” Henry shouted in response. “What about you?” Completely pale now, he lifted Maxwell to his face and whispered, “Don’t worry, buddy. If there’s a round two, we’re callin’ it quits.”
Chapter Five
“All right, settle down.” Worley raised his hands and sent irritated looks at the boys who pushed each other forward in an attempt to volunteer someone else next. “Mr. Derks, that was a fine job. You showed more control than I expected, actually.”
Henry turned toward him with raised eyebrows. “Yeah, me too.”
The professor placed a much gentler hand on his student’s shoulder and leaned in to add in a softer voice, “You were clearly more concerned for your familiar’s wellbeing than your own. I think the trick now is to overcome your fear to help Maxwell do the same. Remember, the goal is to make your intention his number-one instinct. When you trust each other enough, he won’t feel you worrying about him.”
“It’s easy for you to say. Your familiar’s at the top of the food chain.”
Worley chuckled and nodded toward the other students. “Go on.”
He moved quickly toward the edge of the arena but instead of joining Rory and Thomas, he slipped into the line on the other side of Raven and stared at her, his eyes huge.
“You did great.” She nodded with a reassuring smile. “Both of you. You weren’t even a little jumpy except right there at the end.”
“I thought I was gonna have to wrestle a boa constrictor into coughing its lunch up.” He glanced at Maxwell. “That was awful.”
“It makes sense why Professor Worley doesn’t like this exercise,” Murphy added. She scooped Fritz into her arms and rubbed behind the barn cat’s ears, then looked at Henry. “You guys did well.”
His panicked expression faded into an unsure half-smile. “Thanks. I think.”
“As Mr. Derks demonstrated very well for us,” Worley continued and his voice boomed throughout the barn again, “there’s considerable ground to cover with both your own emotions and intentions and your own familiar’s instincts. We want to always respond, never react. Having seen that, it might help some of you to know that, on my instruction, Vastra has not gone out this morning to hunt for her next meal despite the last being four days ago. This is another instinct to be wary of with predatory familiars. Hunger is a powerful distraction but Vastra trusts me and our bond enough to listen to what I asked of her and knows she does and will have everything she needs.”
Without any prompting from the professor, his boa constrictor familiar slid across the dirt in a wide path and moved along the front line of students without pausing, even when she passed the smaller familiars huddled against their mage’s legs. A few students picked theirs up to get them out of the way before the snake turned and slithered toward the open slat in the wall. In only a few seconds, she was gone.
Professor Worley went to close the tiny door and latch it again, then clapped briskly. “Now, everyone spread out. You’ll work one-on-one with your familiars but I will make rounds and stop with each one of you to help you pinpoint specifically which instincts to work on subduing within your familiars. That will then teach them to trust you and not the call of nature.”
The students fanned out across the arena and talked in low voices. A few of them cast wary glances at the closed trap door in the wall.
Murphy stroked Fitz in her arms and shrugged at Raven. “Unless Professor Worley pulls a handful of mice from his pocket, I’m not sure what we’re supposed to work on.”
“I bet he’ll find something.” She gave her friend a reassuring nod. “You guys will be fine.” A short, high-pitched shriek of laughter came from behind her and she turned to Bella and the firedrake on her shoulder.
“I know Wesley and I already trust each other. From what I heard about that competition, Raven, it sounds like you think you have the same kind of bond with your dragon.”
“Of course I do. That’s how we won.” She smiled and studied the other girl’s face. That sounded like a compliment.
“Too bad your familiar’s so far away, though.” Bella shrugged and Wesley stretched his wings with a little growl. “There isn’t much for you to learn when you stand here all on your own.”
“Well, Leander and I have enough time together and we’ve already learned a lot.”
“Right. But not approved by the Fowler Academy curriculum. If I were you, Raven, I’d be worried that it would affect my final grades at the end. You don’t want to be held back a year because you couldn’t advance with your familiar.”
Henry tilted his head a little cheekily. “If you were Raven, you would’ve had your head bitten off by a dragon months ago.”
Raven pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.
“No. I’m smart enough to stay away from dragons in the first place. I don�
�t simply trust luck. I make sure I know what I’m doing first.” Bella stared at Henry, then glanced at Raven again with a pert, inauthentic smile. “I’d hate to see good competition drop out at the end of the year. It makes it harder for me to leave an impression.”
“Thanks for your concern, Bella.” Raven folded her arms. “Trust me, I’m not going anywhere.”
“If you say so.” Without a backward glance, Bella Chase stalked away to take her place among the students scattered in the arena. Her firedrake turned on her shoulder to look at Raven and her friends, then launched himself with a screech.
Henry snorted. “Bella Chase is wearing passive-aggressive now, huh?”
“Raven, it almost sounded like she was trying to compliment you,” Murphy added. “Until she didn’t.”
“I noticed that too.” With a shrug, she smiled at her friends. “It’s not like it matters. Leander and I have enough under our belt. I’m not worried.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t be either.” Henry glanced at Maxwell and sighed regretfully. “Dragons don’t have serious confidence issues with boa constrictors.”
“True.”
“Miss Alby,” Professor Worley called from across the arena and gestured for her to step forward. “Over here with me, please.”
Henry nudged her in the arm. “Do you think you’d be able to keep Leander from breaking out again for a rescue if Worley set that giant snake on you?”
She laughed. “Why would I want to? And no professor will attack anyone with their familiar, Derks, but thanks for the concern.”
“But just in case,” he called after her. “He’d show up for it, right?”
Shaking her head, she moved through the students toward Professor Worley at the other end of the arena.
The man grinned at her through his thick beard and mustache, then rubbed his hands together. “Miss Alby. The mage in training who chose a dragon as her familiar. Although, as I understand it, you haven’t yet managed to get that familiar onto school grounds like the rest of your peers.”
