A Witch Thing

17

Elizabet sighed as she looked at her computer, her head resting on her fist propped against the table. Jasper's hands came to rest on her shoulders and she looked over at him briefly, taking a breath in and straightening her back, "Hey."

He told her calmly, massaging her shoulders, "Hey, what are you doing?"

She shook her head wiping her face, "Bella, she keeps sending messages to Alice and me." They had been gone for about a month now and the emails and messages and attempted phone calls to Bella piled up.

Elizabet, I really miss you guys. I know Edward thinks I'm better off without him here, without any of you here, but I'm not. It feels likes forever since you left and everything has gone bad. Though the days at Forks were already grey, it seems worse without him here. I really miss you, you have to come back. Can you get back to me?

Jasper sighed this time and said, "I don't think she's better off." He removed his hands from her, moving to sit on the couch.

Whenever the topic of Bella came up, he seemed to reserve himself. He still felt horribly about attacking her at the party. Elizabet was doing everything in her power to make sure he knew it wasn't his fault. She clicked off of the email, leaving no response, and went to Jasper's side.

"I'm going to the Residence today, Romina says she has some sort of surprise for me. You wanna come?" She asked, grabbing his hand in her, kissing the back of it. He smiled, kissing her sweetly, "Why not?" She smiled and stood, headed to the Residence to see what big surprise Romina had for her.

When they arrived, Romina smiled and said, "Hello, Elizabet. Time for your next lesson?"

She nodded, "Yep, ready as always. What is the lesson, anyway?" She tilted her head and smiled, turning around as she didn't answer the question. She started walking, leaving Elizabet standing where she was.

Elizabet turned to Jasper and sighed, "You think she'll ever give me a straight answer?"

Romina answered as she walked away, "No."

Jasper chuckled, walking with Elizabet as they followed Romina. They stood at the edge of the wood and Romina turned to Elizabet, "Here's where we start the lesson."

"Okay, what do you want me to do?" Elizabet asked.

She smiled at her, a sort of scheme in her eyes, and simple spoke, "Monde Familier."

Elizabet's smile dropped and her eyes closed instantly, shrouding her in darkness. She opened them again, her eyes fluttering open. She gasped and looked around, no longer in the wood of the bayou. Jasper and Romina had disappeared and it looked like she was in some sort of forest.

"Jasper?" She called out, "Romina?" She sighed and shook her head, continuing to look around, "I'm getting really sick of this, Romina!"

She looked around for something, anything. There was a whoosh behind her and she tried to tap into her magic, familiar with the sound of a sneaking vampire. Elizabet tried to use her magic to reveal the threat, but it wasn't working.

There was another sound and she faintly saw the sight of an animal. She sighed and went toward the animal. The animal peaked out from behind the tree, its nose wiggling. It was a hare, a pretty one two.

She smiled and held her hand out to pet it. It darted away before she could come close. She sighed and stood. Just as she did, a ton of animals came from the trees and bushes. She smiled as the animals started going about with their business, not caring that she was there. There were all sort of animals; wolves, deer, birds, snakes.

She slowly approached a few of them, the animals who clearly didn't care that she was there. But as soon as she got close, the animals darted away from her. She pouted, sitting down against a tree.

"What is this place?" She muttered, it was amazing, full of animals, and... magical.

Oh. Elizabet then realized where she was. She recalled the words Romina muttered before she ended up here. 'Monde Familier'. It was French for 'Familiar World'. The spell to get here was extremely simple, more simple than it should have been. But the magic behind it could only be used by a witch with their familiar.

Romina had sent her to the realm of the familiars to receive her familiar. Or possibly receive it.

When a witch turns 16, their familiar comes to being and they are eligible to receive it. But the familiar refuses to search for their witch. The witch must be sent to the world to of the familiars to seek them out instead, as Elizabet had been.

However, if the witch finds the familiar, it is up to the creature to accept or refuse the witch. Normally, the witch is refused if the familiar feels they cannot provide the protection and companionship for the creature. If the familiar refuses, it needs a show of their magic to decide from there.

But if the familiar accepts the witch, the two are sent back to the normal realm with bonded souls. The familiars are not pets or servants, but friends and allies to witches. Once bonded, the witch and familiar are bonded for the rest of their lives, or until death.

Elizabet hoped her familiar would accept her. But there she was, sitting against that same tree about an hour later, waiting for the familiar to show. She felt a strange feeling on her hand that was resting on her knee.

She looked down and saw a tail swishing against her hand. She looked over and saw a fox, a beautiful fox with golden eyes, sitting in front of her. She smiled and tilted her head. She reached a hand out to carefully pet the fox's head, but as her hand got closer to it's head, it simply moved it's head to the side and bent it's ear back so she couldn't touch it.

Well, it didn't run away, so there's that.

Elizabet's sighed and asked, "What's up?"

The fox tilted it's head and stood, walking over elegantly. It sniffed her face and then sat back, as if contemplating something. Then, it leaned forward and licked Elizabet's cheek. She smiled and pet the fox, finally being allowed to.

The fox held up its paw in front of it, motioning it for her to grab. Elizabet brought her hand up and touched her hand to its paw. Her eyes closed at the contact and she saw through the fox's eyes.

Elizabet's body slumped as if she had fallen asleep, and the fox lied down. Light began to glow from them as their bond started connecting. The fox saw all of her memories as Elizabet saw hers. Their past, present, and future became one life as they connected to one another. Elizabet felt everything she felt and knew everything she thought, becoming no stranger to one another.

When the glowing stopped, she opened her eyes and the fox stood, shaking out her coat. The fox opened her eyes and they flashed, no longer the golden she'd first acquainted Elizabet with, but now a deep purple that marked her as a chosen familiar.

Elizabet smiled and spoke, "Hello, Freya." The fox let Elizabet pet her, happy that she was actually using her name. "I like that name," Elizabet said, watching as Freya basked in the subtle praise.

In another moment, Elizabet was once again standing with Jasper and Romina in the bayou. Jasper spoke, "Are you okay? Where did you go? What's that on your wrist?"

Elizabet caught her breath, surprised at how effectively tiring the trip to the Familiar World was. She looked down at her wrist, furrowing her brows as she saw a fox tattoo on her wrist. She smiled, "My familiar mark."

She told Jasper quickly, "I was in the world of the familiars, I'll explain later. Where is she?"

Elizabet looked around for her new familiar and saw a purple glow behind her, finally seeing the magic swirling in front of her as her familiar slowly came to being. She smiled as Freya stood in the place the magic had formed and walked over to her.

Jasper watched in awe and Romina smiled, "A fox? She's beautiful. What's her name?"

Elizabet smiled and said, "This is Freya." The fox made a little laughing sound in response and looked at Jasper.

"Freya, this is Jasper. But you already knew that," she introduced. She'd seen it in her memories. Elizabet turned to Jasper, "Jazz, this is Freya. My new familiar."