UnFamiliar

Chapter 2

Val yanked his wrist from grip the second the door clicked shut. "Mind telling me what's going on?"

I opened my mouth to reply, to at the very least explain what the rite was supposed to do. He deserved that much.

A voice from behind me said, "Ambrose! Did you pass?"

I cringed as I turned. "Hey Nina...I, uh, guess."

She cocked her head. Her gaze wasn't on me, it was on Val.  "Is that...a demon?"

"...maybe." I answered.

Val pushed me aside, and for some reason it was then as his bare torso brushed against me, I realized he wasn't wearing much clothing. I'd been so focused on my task and the way it mortifyingly went wrong, it hadn't occurred to me that besides his pants, he was naked. Even his feet were bare.

"I'm Val," he said to Nina, "do you know the best way back to hell?"

She blinked up at him, her head cocked before turning  to me. "What's going on?"

I sighed. "We should grab some lunch." The nerves were finally wearing off and the fact that I'd hardly eaten in two days was getting to me. If I was going to explain something I barely understood, I might as well eat while doing it.

Val turned to me, arms folded. "No, I'd like to know what's going on too."

I threw my hands in the air. "I performed the rite of summoning a familiar and Val appeared. I'm fairly certain it isn't connected because as Nina knows, I absolutely suck at magic, not to mention that rite shouldn't have been able to summon a demon. Ms. Kettler and Mrs. Branch seem to be under the impression that Val is my familiar. Val seems to be stuck here as his magic isn't working right, is everyone caught up now?"

"My power," Val said a little haughtily, "we don't call it magic in hell."

"Oookay," said Nina.

"Can we get food now?" I was starving. The magic used to summon Val had drained what little energy I had.  

Nina looked at Val. "You should probably get him a shirt if you're going to the cafeteria."

I looked at Val, and like, she was right of course. Not only was he shirtless, but the view was...well one worth looking at. Val had abs, like the kind they airbrush onto celebrities. He also had long black hair that went to his mid-back. The problem was, he was about a head taller than me and his shoulders were pretty broad.

"Where do you expect me to get a shirt that'll fit him?" I asked.

Nina pulled herself out of admiring Val's physic with a bit more effort required than I was comfortable with. "Right, I forgot you like to wear skin tight clothing."

I glared. Admittedly, I was wearing skinny jeans with a tight fitting black knit turtle neck, and that was a typical outfit for me, but she didn't have to make it sound like a bad thing.

"You could buy him something from the school store?" She suggested.

"And what would I do with him in the mean time? I can't exactly take him into the school store."

Nina shrugs. "Why not? Familiars are allowed everywhere we are on campus."

Val coughed. "I'd really just like to go back to hell if that's okay with everyone."