UnFamiliar

Chapter 20

Principal Morley had these beady black eyes that could see through any bullcrap students handed him, and at the moment the power of those eyes was squarely placed on me. "Ambrose, I understand you saved us last night."

"I...uh...maybe?" I couldn't exactly lie, but I also wasn't entirely sure what to tell him, or I guess, how much.

He swiveled his gaze to Val. "I assume it was you who called down lightning to break the artifact. I'd like to extend my thanks."

Val smirked. "Actually, sir, all I did was round the witch hunters up after the artifact was broken. How did it go with the the police, by the way?"

Principal Morley sighed. "I need to know what happened on that roof. Exactly what happened."

I opened my mouth, but Val spoke first. "Why does it matter so much?"

"It matters because--" 

I cut Principal Morley off, "I just did a run of the mill lightning spell."

"That doesn't match up with the evidence found on top of the gym," he replied, seeming to not care I interrupted him.

I shrugged. "I did the spell like normal, for whatever reason it reacted differently. Instead of a bolt coming from my hand it came from the sky."

"Impossible. Witches don't have that kind of power, and even if they did, you certainly don't." 

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, but couldn't seem to get any words out.

"Sir," Val said as he looked at the floor, "have there been an instances where the combined power of a witch and their familiar is...bigger than if they weren't bonded?"

The principal cocked his head. "What do you mean?" 

"May I borrow that?" Val pointed to a notebook on the principal's desk.

Principal Morley passed it to him along with a pen.

"We've been studying familiar bonds," Val said as he began drawing on the paper, "there's a theory that your magic is somewhat finite. Like say this circle is the amount of magic you possess." 

He points to a circle he drew that's about the size of a quarter. "It's not that you can like run out of it permanently, but you can drain it and need to recover it. So if this is the witch's magic, then this one," he draws another circle close by that is the same size, "is the familiar's."

He labels them both and then says, "Well, anyway, that's part of the theory. That familiars have their own innate magic. In my case, though we use a different word for it and the mechanics are different, it's more or less true. So, according to this theory, once the familiar bond is formed these reservoirs of magic are linked," he drew two parallel lines connecting the circles, "and when the witch calls upon magic they can use the magic their familiar has stored as well as their own."

Then he looks up at Principal Morley. "But that isn't what it felt like. It felt like...our abilities expanded?"

The principal seemed to chew on this a minute. "Ambrose, what do you think?"

"I...well, I wouldn't say he's wrong. I mean, I certainly couldn't call down lightning on my own and...I don't know how it'd be by our standards, but when we were in hell, Val's family made it abundantly clear that Val is...on the weaker side."

Principal Morley stared down at me, his beady eyes as wide as they could go. "When you were where?"

"Oh, uh, hell?"

Val sighed. "It seems that with the familiar bond, anywhere I am summoned, Ambrose comes along."

Principal Morley rubbed at his temples. "That's...unpresidented."

"It's not that big of--" I began.

"Ambrose, you've been living here since you were five. You should know more than most that I can't have students off campus and in risky situations that I don't know about."

"But it's not like my parents will sue you if I die or anything," I said, which was sort of a bad joke. I haven't had parents since I was five, that's why I grew up here.

"Ambrose." Principal Morley stared into my eyes, conveying his displeasure. 

Val coughed. "I think we've gotten off topic. Somehow, when we were touching we were able to use our power despite the artifact and when we did use that power, it was far more than either of us could've achieved on our own."

Principal Morley turned to stare at Val instead. "Yes. You're right. That is very curious. I'll look into it. Now, Ambrose," he turned back to me, "you will inform me of any other misadventures to hell or otherwise until we can figure out how to stop you from being summoned along with Val."

"Er...sir?" I asked.

"You've something else to say?" Principal Morley had clearly had enough of us.

"Well, it's just that...the reason we've been studying familiar bonds is to break ours and well, if we did that, you wouldn't have to worry about me being summoned somewhere with Val, and since we've gotten nowhere on our own, I was wondering if you know how to break a bond with a familiar?" I was out of breath by the time I finished.

The room got quiet and when I looked up, both Val and Principal Morley were staring. Finally the Principal broke the silence. "You mean to tell me your bond is allowing you to use magic far out of the scope of your ability and you want to break it?"

"He's only kidding, sir. Forget he--"

"No," I cut Val off, "I meant it. We need to break our bond, and if all else fails, we'll drain me of my magic. Please help us find a different way."

"We will do no such thing," Val snarled. 

"Fine. I will." I said. I wasn't looking at Val, instead I was staring into Principal Morley's beady eyes hoping he'd understand my conviction and my plea.

Val began protesting again, but the Principal held up his hand cutting Val off. "I don't recommend that method and since my primary concern is the safety of my students, I will see what I can find about breaking familiar bonds. That being said, I've only heard of it being done once and I have no idea how it was accomplished."

I gasped. So, it had been done before. I'd had my doubts. Most people didn't have the need to break their bond with their familiar, and if they did it was an animal. The quickest way would be to put the animal down.

"Who did it?" Val asked.

"I believe her name is Elka Cane. Her familiar was fae so it was a doomed bond from the start. However, the whole thing made her a bit...odd. She ended up marrying him after the bond broke."