UnFamiliar

Chapter 9

"I don't understand why I have to go to your school classes," Val said for the ninth time.

I rolled my eyes. We were lying in bed with the lights out and the next day was the first day of the new semester. I'd informed Val at dinner that we had class during the day tomorrow but could go to the library after. He hadn't let it go since.

"I mean," Val continued into the darkness when it became clear I wasn't replying, "it's stupid for me to go to classes for witches. It's not like I can learn any spells."

I tried to ignore him. I was on my side facing away from him so I could pretend we weren't sharing a bed. It never worked. I'd gotten far less sleep than I'd have liked this past week because I seemed to be hyper aware that he was right next to me. Perhaps that's just how it was sharing a bed with someone. I wouldn't know. I'd never done it before.

"Ambrose," he elbowed me in the back, "are you listening to me?"

I flipped over. I was annoyed and my words came out before I thought them through. "Don't you get it? All of these classes are for witches with familiars. We've spent the past week trying to break our bond, if we succeed—when we succeed, I'll probably be kicked out of the academy. This is my only chance to take these classes, so Suck. It. Up."

Val's glowing red eyes were the only thing I could see in the darkness. They were looking right at me. After a moment, he laid back, so he was looking the ceiling.

Time stretched. He said nothing. I sat there, staring at him. After that, he was going to just...what? Go to sleep?

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He let out a little laugh that sounded sad somehow. "Sucking it up."

"Fine." I laid back on my side, trying to get comfortable.

I was nearly asleep when I thought I heard him say, "so this has ruined your life too."

I woke to the sound of my alarm. The second I moved to turn it off, I realized Val was smashed up against me. My movement made his body fall forward. If the sound hadn't woken him, he was certainly awake now.

I swiped my phone, turning the alarm of and then looked back at Val. He was completely on my side of the bed.

He yawned. "Do we at least get breakfast before class?" His head was on my pillow and he had the audacity to act like this was just another day.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Val squinted at me. "Waking up?"

"No," I gestured at his head on my pillow and then to where he still seemed to be spooning me. At that thought, I jerked away from him, which resulted in me falling off the bed. I cursed.

Val laughed. "I must've cuddled up to you in my sleep, how odd."

I frowned up at the bed. "Whatever. I'm gonna shower."

Perhaps it's because I woke up being cuddled by a demon, but the morning took on an odd, dreamlike quality. It was lunch before I seemed to come out of my daze. To be precise, it was the moment that Ethan sat down at our table that snapped me out of it.

He grinned at Val before turning to me. "How does it feel to be the talk of the school?"

I glanced at Nina who was sitting across from me and next to Ethan. I wanted to know if she knew what he was talking about, because knowing Ethan it wasn't going to be good. Nina gave me the subtlest shake of her had before feeding Sheryl one of her chicken nuggets. I frowned, wondering if it was bad for familiars to eat people food or if it didn't matter given they were magic by nature.

"Oh, didn't you know?" Ethan interrupted my thoughts; I turned my attention back to him.

"Are you going to tell me what this is about or are you here to have lunch with us?" I asked sarcastically.

Ethan smirked at me. "It seems the administration is going to have to get involved soon."

Nina glanced at Ethan and then picked her fork up, dragging it through her mashed potatoes. Ethan didn't even bother looking at her.

Val ended up taking the bait. "What is this 'administration' going to have to get involved with?"

"Well, you see, it isn't fair to the other students who actually had to do the rite of the familiar correctly, but it's also blasphemy."

Val cocked his head. "Blasphemy?"

"Yeah, well. The rite of the familiar is one of our most sacred rituals and to pretend to do it is quite ill advised. If Ambrose here was just a bit smarter his deal with you would have been for an animal to show up, not you," Ethan said all this like it was a secret he was sharing with Val, "but what can you expect from such a weak witch. I mean, he had to make a deal with a demon to even fake the rite."

Val laughed. Then he smirked. "I see. You believe I'm following this little witch around willingly because he offered me his soul? You must be pretty ill-witted."

Nina mumbled something beneath her breath, the rune in her mashed potatoes glowed blue, but Ethan was too busy with Val to notice.

"Did you just call me stupid? The adminis—" Ethan cut himself off. Then he screamed, jumping from his seat and swatting at his lags, then his arms and then he just sort of writhed as he squealed in disgust.

Nina, I noticed, had taken a big bite of mashed potatoes. They happened to have rosemary and garlic in them today, which were the only herbs needed for a very basic illusion. Still, Nina had been nothing short of brilliant for even thinking about using her food that way.

Ethan's squeals died down, and he was glaring at me. He stalked over and grabbed me by my collar, pulling me from my seat. "You dare to practice magic on me? You dare—"

"Please," Nina sneered, "you said yourself that Ambrose doesn't have much power, do you really think he could've done whatever that was?"

Ethan's grip slackened as he thought about this.

"I'm sure someone as powerful as yourself has any number of enemies who were trying to frame Ambrose," Nina said, "Now, can we get back to eating our lunch in peace?"

Ethan released me, and turned in a circle, scanning the cafeteria for a perpetrator that was sitting not two feet away from him. His squeals had caused everyone to watch him, though, so this action only confirmed Nina's words. Any one of the people in the room could've cast the illusion. No one would've been out of range, and it was a fairly basic spell.

"Fine. I just thought I'd warn you Ambrose, the administration has caught onto you." With that Ethan strode away.

Val watched him go before saying, "I could send him to hell if you'd like."