UnFamiliar

Chapter 1

The rite wasn't going to work. I knew that, both of the teachers grading me knew that, but I still had to go through the steps. Mrs. Branch and Ms. Kettler watched me with their beady eyes as I crawled around the little room using chalk to write the appropriate runes on the wooden floor. 

Mrs. Branch was older and was pretty much what any normal person would expect a witch to look like. Gray hair to her butt, long flowy skirt, gnarled hands. Ms. Kettler on the other hand  tended to wear jean shorts and tank tops. Her pixie cut hair and nose ring were in style, according to Nina. Neither looked particularly pleased to be evaluating me.

The thing was, if I could manifest any sort of familiar, even if it was as pathetic as an earthworm, I could advance to the next level of study. If I couldn't, which we all knew was more than likely, I would be held back a year. Again.

My magic was just enough to convince someone who knew nothing of magic that I'm a witch, but infinitesimal enough that most of my peers were convinced I was only pretending to be a witch. It was annoying. I'd studied hard enough that I was top of the class for any subject without a practical side. Those with a practical side, well, let's just say the heavier the practical side was weighted, the worse I did in the class.

I finished drawing the runes on the floor from the text book I was holding and stood back. Along with the instructions for the rite, illustrations of potential familiars scattered across the pages. Any of them looked better than the big fat nothing that would show up in my circle, even the caterpillar. I wondered vaguely if a familiar that was a caterpillar would eventually turn into a butterfly or if it would stay a caterpillar indefinitely. Most familiars didn't seem to age, or at least I'd never heard of any dying of old age.

I looked down at the pages, and read the incantation through, then again. I wanted to do it perfectly. I wanted to show that my lack of results weren't from a lack of effort.

"Whenever you're ready Mr. Ethington," Mrs. Branch said. It was her polite way of telling me to get my lack of a show on the road.

I swallowed. Then let myself read the incantation aloud. There was no need for me to look at the words—I had them memorized. Still, I made myself focus on the page not the circle. My voice filled the little room and the words spilled from me like water over-flowing from a cup. Smooth and beautiful and messy.

I finished the incantation, and couldn't tear my eyes away from the page, because the second I looked in that circle, it was all over.

A gasp filled the silence and I looked up.

I noticed the glowing eyes first, and screamed. I leapt back, away from the thing, looking at me, and ended up on my butt. I scrambled to get away, but hit the wall less than three feet from my chalked runes, and the thing inside them.

With my back to the wall, I forced myself to look at the thing in the circle and I immediately concluded that whatever it was, it wasn't here because of me.

It was more or less human shaped, but had horns like a large goat's sticking from its head, skin the color of coal, and the aforementioned glowing red eyes. It blinked at me, looked around at Mrs. Branch and Ms. Kettler, then said slowly while looking back at me, "Is this the human realm?"

I nodded. What else was I supposed to do?

"Hmmm," said the thing, "I don't like it." Then it snapped long fingers with extra knuckles and pointed nails. It frowned, and stared at its hand for a second before looking back at me. "I believe your circle has bound me here. Do you mind breaking it?"