Bound

Part One

Scott isn't surprised to see Kirstin at his door today, but he's not sure why she's here so early in the morning. Her dark eyes are sparkling with a combination of nervous excitement and outright fear, so he puts on his warmest smile and beckons her to come inside. His place is neither large nor nicely appointed. In fact, it's mostly filled with boxes as a symbol of his refusal to plant any more roots here than he already has. If she has any comment about this, she keeps it to herself, just plopping down on his sad couch and bouncing with an excess of energy.

"Did you sleep at all?" he asks her, pouring her a cup of juice since coffee is clearly unnecessary.

"I got a few hours," she replies. "I just can't shake the feeling that something crazy will happen today."

"I'm sure it will be dull like it always is," Scott says, wondering if his old friend can possibly hear him say this and let it go. She cannot.

"Last year certainly wasn't dull," she says.

Scott sighs and take a seat opposite her, sipping his own glass of juice. He needs caffeine but is afraid to even brew a pot of coffee for fear that the smell alone  will amplify Kirstin's natural buzz. The juice is tart, however, and keeps him from falling back asleep, as if he could with this subject hanging in the air.

"Are you going to make me ask?" she says, pulling on one of her blonde curls and letting it bounce back like a spring.

"No," Scott replies, and he lets her off the hook. "You don't have to ask me how I'm feeling today. I feel fine. And yes, I know I felt fine last year up until the last minute. No, I still don't know what went wrong. Yes, I think everything will go smoothly this time around. Did I miss any questions?"

Kirstin smiles and ducks her head. She toys with her empty glass for a few moments while Scott waits for more questions. There are always more.

"So we're still on for Los Angeles then?" she finally asks.

"Of course," Scott assures her. "That's always been the plan!"

For as long as he could remember, Scott, Kirstin, and their other best friend Mitch had planned to move to California after their Binding Ceremony in hopes of attending a university of magic there. Scott tried not to dwell on the fact that it wasn't quite going according to plan. He should have had a year's head start, like he always did, being a year older than the other two. But for the first time in centuries probably, a Binding went wrong, and of course it was his.

To understand the Binding, you have to understand that there are actually hundreds of thousands of people in the world that have been gifted with magic. You have to just accept that if you've heard a myth about it, there's probably some truth right below the surface.

Vampires, lycanthropes, faeries, wizards, trolls, and thousands of other species--they are all real and live right alongside humans. Nature has forced them to camouflage themselves for protection, and to cross-breed to protect themselves from extinction. One branch of this evolution is the Magi.

Scott, Kirstin, Mitch and several hundred of their friends and family members are part of a coven of Magi--or Star Mages--from Arlington, Texas. Their rituals and routines mimic those of their human neighbors, and aside from perhaps an extra dose of physical beauty, they are impossible to tell apart from humans.

For as much as a Mage might look and act like a human, they are still fundamentally different. A fully grown and Bound Mage can use incantations and spells to manipulate elements, weather, even emotions depending on their power. Most children of this bloodline can do some simple magic, but to fully unlock that power, a Mage must be united with a magical animal, referred to as a familiar. The animal becomes more than a pet or even a friend. The creature fuses a bit of its soul with the Mage's and as such, forges a powerful bond that is not easily broken.