Unfamiliar Territory [Book One]

Chapter Twenty-One | Disappointing Enemy

Sitting in Dr. Quincy's bed gave me some time to think.

I thought about what, exactly, it meant to be someone's familiar. A weird name and a duty to protect witches? Even with Kat's and everyone else's' supernatural abilities, I wondered how much it would help against a person who wielded 'the Knowledge'.

There was Mutt, who easily stomped the flowers that had me at their mercy. I remembered how hard he fought against the lost children, how he got that terrible looking bite. Mr. Mallard had looked very scared when he thought I was bitten.

Oh, god.

Where was Mutt? And Stallion? Was I here because I had gotten the worst of it, or was I here because I got lucky? Stallion had at least a few of them on him; if they were trying to bite us, they had plenty of opportunity with him.

With thoughts like these, it did not take me long to get the urge to leave the room. I did not like the quiet that Dr. Quincy and his children left in their wake, and I had to find the guys.

My original goal was to find where they had all run off to, maybe find another guest room where Mutt and/or Stallion could be, but, as soon as I stepped out of the room, I was lost.

It was much more than just a house. It was more like some deluxe cabin that even people with money would just visit for a week or two on vacation. As I slowly made my way through it, I passed by a lot of large windows that gave me plenty of the view outside which sunk in even deeper the feeling that this had to be some sort of vacation retreat.

We were somewhere in the mountains, of that much I was sure. The cabin itself was nestled in a forest of sorts along the mountainside with miles and miles of more trees stretching over into the peaks in the horizon. I caught glimpses of the breathtaking landscape as I wandered through several different rooms and hallways.

The furniture, walls, and floors all seemed to be made of varying shades of dark wood. All the paintings I found--and I found quite a lot--were of nature; pretty, but somewhat generic. As I wandered through the house, I found no pictures of Dr. Quincy or his children.

There were more of the strange symbols carved all throughout the house, though not in any sort of obvious pattern. In every wall, ceiling, and floor in every room or hallway I found at least one carving. Each one was carved in such detail that I could not make out if any were the same. There was still no sign of Mutt or Stallion.

When I reached a large and fancy kitchen, I heard the sounds of screaming. I nearly fell over myself as I hobbled over to a large window which took up a good portion of a nearby wall. However, when I stared out, I saw that the kids weren't screaming in terror.

I saw them, all six, surrounding Kat. She sat very still, drawing in a sketchpad, as two of the little girls and a small boy who sat in her lap watched. Two of the other boys were running around in circles, doing most of the screaming as they fought each other with sticks.

Maple stood behind Kat and was in the process of braiding her hair--which I just then realized had gotten longer--when she looked up and saw me. Maple called out something to me, but it was muffled from the window. However, when she ran over and pulled the window open, it turned out that the window was just a sliding glass door.

"What are you doing there?" she asked me, grabbing one of my hands with both of hers.

"Just...stuff," I mumbled, embarrassed, as she led me outside. I almost stumbled again, but managed to keep my balance as Maple pulled me towards Kat.

The kids had stopped what they had been doing, even the smallest boy, and were all staring at me with wide, dark eyes. I was at a loss of what to say and, when Maple pulled me over close enough, she walked to Kat--almost in a careful manner, like approaching a sleeping tiger.