Unfamiliar (Unfamiliar Series #1)

Chapter 1

The smooth, plastic disk sits quietly in the palm of my hand as I cradle and carefully observe it. The surface has already warmed to my touch from holding it for as long as I have. It's no bigger than a half dollar coin and it's just as heavy. I rub a thumb over the edge, dragging my nail over the divots. I turn it over like I have so many times before, the blue, reflective paint flickering like a fish scale.

A Familiar Lexicon.

Hold this Lexicon and ask what your familiar is going to be, is what a set of instructions say on the back of it in a delicate, black font.

It's instructions that I've read at least a hundred times.

"It'll be fun, I did it and it was right for me," my friend, Tessa, had told me when she had given it to me as a gift over the summer.

Such a thing has been banned in our house as a gift from my mother. So I've kept it hidden and haven't told even my siblings about it.

I had asked the disk my familiar as soon as I had gotten home of course.

But I didn't get an answer.

"It might just be defective," Tessa assured me when I had explained to her what had happened.

I had nearly forgotten about it until last night, figuring today would be the perfect day to ask it one more time.

I look at the disk more closely now. The front of it is decorated with sigils and tiny, silver outlines of animals. The disk is split up into triangular segments that number fifteen different, popular animal familiars. But the true number of types of familiars number far more.

In the center of the disk there is a small, circular patch of silver paint that is supposed to tell me what my familiar is. Much like how the window on a magic eight ball would give me an answer after it's shaken.

"What is my familiar?" I ask it softly, though I don't expect an answer now.

The disk abruptly grows hot in my hand and I jolt. The plastic trinket clatters to the ground as I blink in surprise, not realizing that I had dropped it for a moment as I stare down at it.

It didn't do this before.

I stoop to pick it up, my fingers gentle as I expect to feel heat but instead feel nothing but cool plastic. The paint in the center reveals nothing. Instead, the sigils and animals flicker a bright shade of blue that glows in my hand.

What the-?

"Kara, it's time to get up, we're going to be late!"

My mother's voice is muffled behind the closed door of my bedroom but it's still enough to startle me. I nearly drop the disk again and glance hurriedly up at the door. The door remains un-knocked and I loosen my jaw.

When I look back down at the disk, the glow is gone.

Huh, weird.

In reality, I've been sitting by my bedroom door for the past three hours waiting for the sun to rise. Though it hasn't been because I'm excited. But rather I've been afraid of what the day will bring.

I cast a mournful look at my windows, where I've already opened the shades to let in the morning sunlight. I debate if I should just hide under the covers for the rest of the day. My mother calls for me again and I sigh as I get up and walk across my room. I tuck the disk back into one of my dresser drawers, hiding it amongst my socks. I pause and study my reflection from the mirror for a moment, wincing at the dark circles under my eyes.

This is it, Greenwood Academy, here I come.

I fidget with my dark hair and pull it away from my face to quickly braid it before I loop a hairband around the end.