UnFamiliar

Chapter 8

Three days after I summoned Val, we were no closer to breaking the rite. We'd spent most of our time in the library. I'd learned a lot about the rite, none of it particularly useful.

There was one witch bound to an entire colony of ants, rather than a single organism. Familiars and witches tend to live longer when bound, though witches tended to have lifespans nearly doubling normal mortals anyway. The rite became a requirement for every witch as recently as the 1900s.

I'd also found out some interesting and yet useless things about Val. He was completely helpless without his magic, sorry, "power." He would eat anything I gave him so long as I put something at least mildly spicy on it. He was obsessive about not showing vulnerability, so when I'd suggested we get a teacher involved, he flat out refused.

I stared down at the book laid on the table in front of me. It was bound to have more useless facts in it, but I supposed this was really the only way so go about it. The longer we went without so much as a hint, the more I thought the search was hopeless.

If the rite of summoning a familiar was as sacred as half these books claimed, anyone who broke it would be famous. They'd be mentioned in at least one of these books even if it was only a single line.

Going off that idea, I'd found a book on witches known for odd things, and I was flipping through it.

Val, sitting across the table from me books piled high around him, gasped so loud, I jumped, tearing the page I was flipping.

"What? Did you find something?" I asked.

Val looked up at me, his eyes wide. "Not about breaking the bond, you?"

I laughed. "No, but I found one witch who married her familiar."

"Are you thinking about doing that?" He asked in a tone that was a bit too serious for some reason.

"What? Why would I—you know what? Never mind. What exactly had you so excited?" My face was hot, and I hoped Val hadn't noticed. I'd only brought up the married witch and familiar because I thought it was funny. Now, somehow, it seemed less so.

"Oh. Right. I think I know why my power isn't working." Val looked excited.

"Why?"

"It says here that once the rite has been completed any magic the familiar has is now tied to the witch's will."

I got up and went around the table to read over his shoulder. After the line he'd read, the book said, 'Most familiars don't even know they have such power, however those that do won't be able to access their magic unless the purpose is the will of their witch.'

I read the lines a couple of times. "So...you think it was my will to end up without clothes in the dorm room?"

"No, no," Val said sort of distractedly, "but it was your will for the packing to take less time. It was your will for me to go home, though my power had to bring you along due to the bond. It was then your will to come back here, right?"

"I...guess?"

"Let's try this. I'm going to tell you what I'm doing with my power, and you think about how you want it to happen. If it works, then at least we know how to access my power."

"Inside the library? Are you crazy?" I asked.

Val looked around. "No one else is in here. In fact, I'm not even sure the librarian is in here."

I frowned. He wasn't wrong. Unlike normal schools in this country, we only got a week between school years, no one was wasting that precious free time in the library.

"Fine, but it better be something small."

Val grinned. "I'm going to tell my power to put our books away."

"Except the ones I haven't gotten to," I said, a bit exasperated. Sure, this could help Val use his powers more, but what good would that do us in the long run?

"Fine. I'm going to have my power put away all the books we're done with, okay?"

I nodded.

Val snapped his fingers. I gasped as the books I was done flipping through leapt from the table and zoomed off towards the spot in the library reserved for the rite of the familiar.

Val was smiling widely. "I'm back baby."

I held up a finger. "Shouldn't we make sure the opposite is also true?"

"What do you mean?" Val had his head tilted, a little bit like a confused dog.

"Well, what if that was a fluke? What if your powers just happened to work that time? We can only know my will affects it if you can't do something that's against my will, right?" I said.

"Very well," Val grumbled, "I'll...dump all the books off the shelves onto the ground."

"What? No don't," I reached for him, like that would stop him; it didn't.

Val snapped his fingers.

We both waited.

Nothing happened.

Val narrowed his eyes and snapped his fingers a few more times to be sure. The library sat still except for the snaps.

I let out a breath. "Thank goodness."

Val looked at me funny. "You know I would've cleaned it up with my next snap, right? I'm not a monster."

I stared at him, and then a giggle escaped me because he was a monster. He was everything kids feared would be in the dark and preachers said could lead you down the wrong path in life.

Funnier still was this literal demon, a prince of hell, telling me he wasn't a monster while he wore bright green crocs, blue pants, and an orange T-shirt with the words "Resting Witch Face" scrawled across it.

Tears were streaming down my face I was laughing so hard, and Val looked revolted. Something about that made me laugh even harder.

"You mock me, mortal?" Val asked, suddenly standing, suddenly closer to me than he probably should be.

I wiped the tears from my cheeks as I tried to compose myself. Still, the odd giggle escaped me.

Val pushed me back by my shoulders until I hit the bookshelf. "You think this is funny? A game perhaps? You've trapped a demon prince by your side little witch. I may be playing nice, and find your world entertaining, but don't forget I am dangerous."

I could feel his breath on my face. "Sorry," I mumbled casting my eyes at the ground because it was too hard to meet his.

"You think a mere sorry will suffice?" Val asked.

I looked up, my anger and frustration stoking the confidence to glare into his eyes. "I thought you weren't a monster."

He stared down at me, dumbfounded. Finally, he backed up and shrugged. "Well, I'm not to books in any case. Shall we read some more?"