The Sinistral guard swirled their cloaks all at once and vanished. Jasper was checking on the fallen familiars, doing some battlefield medicine. “No fatal wounds!” he announced.
“Oh, thank goodness,” I said.
But now we had the neighbors to deal with again.
“Where did those familiars come from?” Zuzana asked. “Did that man speak the truth? Are these familiars separated from their wizards?”
“Yes, it’s true,” I said. “These familiars are runaways because their wizards were cruel to them.”
“That’s impossible!” a little old lady wailed. “Familiars can’t leave us!”
“They won’t leave you unless you’re hurting them!” I said.
“How do I know that’s true? I’m getting far up in years and Walter does nearly everything for me these days. He cooks and cleans and gives me my medicine and when I take him out he gets in his dog form with that little vest so I can take him on buses with me and—”
“Maybe that’s the damn problem,” Jake said. “He’s as old as you are, isn’t he? Did he sign up to be your servant in his old age and get on the bus in a vest when he’s a fucking self-aware being?”
“Ohh…but he’s just my dear old Walter! I would never hurt him!”
“Jake, jeez, way to escalate the situation!” I snapped.
“No, I’m sorry, but this is why shifters hate wizards,” he growled. “How am I any different from ‘Walter’? We’ve been treated like animals by wizards for so goddamn long. We were living just fine on our own and wizards are the ones who always want to either kill us or make us more like them. Maybe wolves couldn’t read and write or keep money in banks, but we’re still conscious beings, with art and music and religions and all that. Ethereal witches might be worse because they walled off their realm and left us on the other side, but then Sinistral wizards might be just as bad because they hate sharing a realm with us. And if you don’t know how bad all this is, Hel, then…” He huffed. “I’m sorry.” He turned away.
“What is happening?” Zuzana wailed dramatically to the heavens. “This is our way of life. And now I feel disturbances in the very fabric of our existence. Our magic…you have done something terrible…”
“No,” Jasper said. “It’s really not terrible. It’s actually pretty incredible. I was able to tap into healing magic. Any kind of healing magic, from any realm, even though I’m a werewolf. That’s good for all of you, I’d think.”
“Just tell us what you did!” another old man said. “In Sam’s house, right under our nose—you tore up the bonds between wizards and familiars! What are you all doing here? Wake up! Come to your senses and go home to your wizards!” he shouted at the familiars.
The familiars drew back at first, struggling to defy any wizard.
“You said something about the ‘Way of Paths’. What is this thing?,” Zuzana said.
“It’s the map that connects the realms,” Byron said. “I am its protector.”
“Show it to us,” Hepzibah said. “Show us this map or we will fight you. We might look old and decrepit but we’ve fought off threats in this community before.” She twirled her wand. One should never underestimate the power of old people, certainly in the magical world. They had a lifetime of wisdom and they weren’t afraid to die using it.
My teeth gritted. So this is where we’re at, I thought. The old wizards would fight us while the Sinistral council probably ran off to make an alliance with the Ethereal council. Backup would be coming soon. Byron could die twice.
But I wouldn’t let it happen.
No matter what I have to do…
“I was first born a millennia ago, in a world quite unlike this one,” Byron said. “I do not underestimate the power of old people. I am older than you. I don’t want to hurt you. I hope you will understand our mission, but if you don’t, I suggest you get out of the way.”
“Get out of the way? I’ve never gotten out of the way in my life,” Al said. “We’ll defend Avalon Woods Heights to the death if it comes down to it.”
Byron nodded at me. I’ll handle this. Go into the house. Summon help.
I hoped I wouldn’t let them down.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Bevan
WORD HAD GOTTEN OUT. They’d been coming all day. Dozens and dozens. My little house deep in the forest of Etherium was full to bursting with Sinistral familiars, and before long I had Ethereal familiars coming as well. Flying, crawling, hopping…every sort of small beast that existed.
I never signed up for this. And I thought Helena was such a nice, safe witch…
“Hey!” I snapped at the animal forms crowding my yard. “Don’t eat all the lettuce!”
They had already cleared out the pantry.
I had always been a proud believer in the old ways of familiars and wizards. As a child, I protected Helena. By the time she was twelve, she only called me in private to help her with homework. And as she graduated, we were mostly living our own lives. I had a humble homestead in the magical realm while she worked on houses. If she got into trouble, I appeared and helped her get out of it, but even then, I wasn’t too quick to appear. Helena could take care of herself. It was an insult for me to save her every time she ran into a low demon or a saucy faery.
Every familiar in Helena’s family was the same. That was the way of things, or so I thought.
So it was with horror that I saw the faces of these wretched souls, many of them confused as if their desperation had simply propelled them from one realm to another—any place they might escape a harsh master.
Is this a hundred of them now? How could there be so many wizards willing to mistreat their own familiar?
I had never seen expressions on their faces like this group, a mixture of deep relief, anguish and guilt that said without words how much they had suffered under the complete control of a wizard who took out all their anger or pain on a helpless familiar. I certainly could not have run away from Helena. My soul was entwined with hers no matter how much time passed between her summons. Most familiars I knew took great pride in this.
I have been blind, I thought. We all have. I’m sure they would never have said anything until now, when they were able to escape…
As I was looking at my garden, now emptied of anything that looked like food, wondering how I could care for this crowd when their numbers kept growing, a sugar glider swept down from the trees to my feet and peered up at me with an expression of shame.
“Hey,” I said. “I know you.”
“Yes…yes, I’m afraid so. Well—I’m here spying for Piers Nicolescu.”
“Oh. Right. You’re his familiar. Thanks for letting me know.” I crossed my arms. “Do you not know how spying works?”
“Of course I do. I’ve been watching you for hours already, and I am due to make a report. But I’ve been watching you feed all these familiars and really, you’ve been very patient, much more patient than I would be…but I thought I would just talk to you man to man. I don’t suppose you have any plans? What are all these familiars going to do? They’ll be lost without their witches and warlocks. They’ve never done anything else.”
“They’re familiars,” I said. “What else do they need to do? What do I need to do without Helena? I work on my magic, tend the garden, go fishing, fly around a bit and sleep.” I shrugged. “I don’t think our lives are supposed to be complicated. This isn’t the Fixed Plane where everyone has to make a living.” The Fixed Plane was an exhausting place. Helena seemed to enjoy it, but she was always worried about money and where she should live and how to get from place to place. Such was the trouble of a fixed realm. You always had to bother with doing certain things, at certain times.
I yawned, just considering it all.
“What is your name again?” I asked.
“Chester.”
“Chester. All right. Well, it sounds like you are going to report back to Piers, and I assume Piers is going to attack my witch, so you and I have some trouble.�
�� I laced my fingers, attempting a binding spell.
Chester didn’t even fight me. He was just this cute, sad little fur ball. My spell whipped magical twine around him, holding his limbs against his body.
“You keep giving me that face,” I said. “I don’t know what you’re thinking.”
“Piers hates me,” Chester said. “He’s always hated me. And I’ve ruined his entire life. I’m the whole reason he’s turned into such a terrible person. I’ve shamed him…failed him…” He started to cry.
“How could you fail him, Chester? Do you ever refuse his call?”
“Of course not! But look at me. Piers is one of the strongest, fiercest warlock warriors on the council.”
“Piers?” I snorted. “A warlock warrior? No, go on, go on,” I continued as Chester’s fur perked up with defense.
“But I’ve always embarrassed him, ever since he was a little boy. He never called me to help him if other people were around. And when I had to appear to save him from harm, he would get so angry at me! It’s one thing if I had been a cute girl familiar, but can you imagine how much it humiliates a man like Piers to have to rely on me? Look at me…”
“Familiars are born to suit their warlock,” I said. “You know this. You couldn’t help any of it. It seems to me that the test of Piers’ strength is that he isn’t humiliated by something so petty.”
“I tried to tell him that when he was little. But he would have none of it. Maybe he’s right after all. I’d be better off dead.”
“Maybe you have failed him,” I said. “To think such a thing as that. He is not better off with you dead. Our job as a familiar is to help our witch or warlock become better and stronger. Support them no matter what. If we’ve done our jobs, eventually they won’t need us much anymore. I’ve seen enough of your warlock to think, he is not much of a warrior at all. He’s a bully, which means his self-confidence is shot.”
“Piers could kill your Helena! Easily!” Chester said.
“Maybe. Is that worth bragging about? Are you proud of it?”
“No,” Chester said miserably. “It’s all true. Everything you say is true. I tried to help him and I failed, and he’s so cruel that I don’t want to go back home and tell him anything.”
“Then don’t,” I said. “As you can see right here, these familiars were all able to get away from their wizards. But you’ll have to go into one of the other realms, I believe. You can’t stay in Etherium or the tie between you can’t be broken.”
“It’s no use,” Chester said. “Piers and the council are already working furiously to hold these bonds in a different way.”
“What do you mean?”
“They think there is old magic in the council archival library that will seal the bonds across worlds so that they can’t use this loophole to escape anymore. Of course, they really want to break up the worlds again, but now they’re afraid all the familiars will be lost for good if they break up the worlds while their familiars are separated from them.”
“Old magic? What old magic?”
“Something about covenants. I don’t know.”
“Chester,” I said. “You’re on my side now, and you’re going to help me, aren’t you?”
“Who said that!?” Chester twisted in his bonds, panicking.
“You just told me the whole plan. And you know that’s why you’re really here.”
As we spoke, I started feeling Helena’s panic reaching out to me in little tendrils. She wasn’t calling me yet—and knowing her, she never would. But something was wrong.
I waved my hands and let Chester go. “Go tap into Sinistral first,” I said. “Break that tie with Piers. And then follow me.”
“But—”
“Do you think I have time to argue with you? Helena’s in trouble.”
Chester, clearly used to being bossed around, meekly disappeared. I would have to trust him, although it seemed like that could go either way.
I rolled up my sleeves as I turned to the whole crowd of familiars nibbling on the foliage or catching bugs and voles in my yard while others were curled up in the sun taking long naps.
“Listen up! If you want to stay free, I need your help. My witch is the one who helped to free you, along with her friends, and now the council is after them and they also are working on some plan to bind you to them no matter what world you’re in, so…we’re all going to have to fight, and we need to leave now. Any questions? No time for questions. Come on. This is your one and only chance to answer to no one except yourself!”
Considering I’m always alone, I am enjoying this a little too much, I thought, as the familiars clustered around me, ready to follow me where they would normally follow their wizard.
I think my Helena did something really amazing.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Helena
I WAS ALMOST inside the house when Bevan suddenly appeared with an entire army of familiars.
“Helena!” he shouted at me. “I’m here!”
“I didn’t call you!”
“I know.” He looked very pleased with himself. “But you never do, so what else is new? We’re here to help you fight…” He looked around. “Who are they?”
“The neighbors?” I winced. “But they’re not happy about potentially losing their familiars. Let’s try not to hurt anyone. I don’t really think they’re enemies. They’re just scared of change.”
“I think most enemies do come from being scared of change,” Graham said. “It’s more powerful a motive than you would think.”
“Very profound, Senator Capello, but I still don’t want to kill all the neighbors.”
“Then we could flip all the houses!” Billie said, as Gaston was gently putting an old man in a sleeper hold or…well, I hoped that was what he was doing. “Naw, I’m kidding,” she said. “I don’t really want to spend too much time in California anyway.”
As I was trying to defend the old people, Isaac lifted his arms and the tropical vine I was standing in front of reached out and started to strangle me.
“I will take your life force…!” Isaac declared, and as the vine tightened around my body I could feel all my energy slipping away.
One of my legs was still free. I tried to kick at it while it wrapped around my throat, strangling my voice.
Jake sprung to wolf form and attacked the vine with his teeth, tearing it into pieces. This was definitely suited to his skills. I broke free of the vine but not without damage.
“Thanks, Jake…”
The landscape was changing fast. Gaston had apparently gotten zapped by the wife of the old man he sent into unconsciousness, and now both men were out while Billie and the old witch duked it out. But the familiars had flooded the battlefield and the neighbors were on the retreat already. Thank goodness, because I was feeling dizzy while Isaac looked like he’d just taken a hit of something. I guess he had. A hit of my life force.
“Attention!” Isaac yelled. “Attention Avalon Woods Heights neighborhood association! We’re not winning this one, okay? They got too many numbers.”
“The council guard will return soon and fight with us,” Hepzibah said. “We just need to hold the line and they will remove these people.”
“But there are a hundred familiars on their side,” Zuzana said. “How did this happen?”
“Exactly. We’re going to have to stand down and figure this out.” Isaac gestured around. “You want to take all of our familiars away and make some kind of debacle out of Sam’s house? I guess we can’t stop you. But we better have a detailed explanation of what’s going on and then we’re going to put a curse on this house so you’ll never have any good fortune the whole damn rest of your lives. Now that, we can do.”
“The council will be back sooner rather than later,” Billie said. “But they might not be your friends. We’ve already had a fight with the Ethereal council.”
“That’s right,” I said. “Both councils want to stop us. We’re actually trying to help Sinistrals.
Like Jake and Jasper, here. They’re werewolves so they’re barred from the Ethereal world. But they’re great guys. How is that fair? Or Graham. Just because he’s an incubus, he’s really as orderly a person as they come. Almost too orderly. This whole thing with the familiars was not even the goal. We didn’t know it would happen. Maybe it should happen, though.”
“Let’s invite them in,” Byron said. “I’ll show them the map. Bevan, do you mind keeping sentry with your brave force of guards?”
Bevan’s very small flash of smile showed that he was feeling pretty cool right now. I kept staring at him because it was so weird to see him in human form taking an interest in something. He was so familiar to me—to pardon the pun—but also seemed like a new person I’d never met before. “Of course,” he said.
As we showed the neighbors down to the grotto, of course we got an earful about our design choices.
“What happened to the kitchen?”
“Are you getting rid of the stove? You’re going to regret that. They don’t even make ovens like that anymore.”
“They tore down the wallpaper! Oh, what a shame. I remember when this place was party central.”
“I didn’t know the fountain wasn’t working. Are you going to repair it, or—let me guess, you’re just going to rip it out.”
Jake was walking beside us in his wolf form, growling under his breath. He was stuck now until he got a chance to change back into his clothes in private, unless he wanted the whole neighborhood to see him naked.
“I know,” Jasper said. “But it’s probably better if you don’t say anything.”
“This is it,” Byron said, his voice echoing in the cavernous room across the gently fluttering waters of the pool. “This is the map of the three realms. Pandora’s Box. The Way of Paths.”
Maya rose out of the water, holding the Way of Paths out to him. She kept it in her magical realm when Byron wasn’t using it. Since she promised Sam she would protect the map, we could trust her with the map, at least. She glanced around at the old people and I swear she was checking out the old men.
Phantom of the Library (Paranormal House Flippers Book 3) Page 10
