Unfamiliar (Unfamiliar Series #1)

Chapter 2

A thick fog has rolled in from the harbor as we drive towards Salem on Highland Avenue. Even though the air is cold with the beginnings of fall, the sun is filtering through the trees along the road and is casting irregular shadows that flicker and morph. I take note then that I'm lucky that we live nearby in Boston. The fact that it's a short drive is the only thing that brings me comfort as I think of the other students who would have to travel here from nearby states.

I shift uncomfortably in my seat and smooth my skirt as I feel a rush of envy for my brother, who is fourteen and only here to say goodbye to me. He has yet to look up from his DS for the entirety of the trip as he plays some game and stares at the screen with a set of earbuds stuck in his ears. I eye his jeans, wishing that the places were switched and that I was the one in comfortable clothes and only had to say goodbye to my older sibling today.

But I've only gotten to do it a few times and that was for Indigo.

I roll my eyes and press my forehead against the cool glass of the window, wishing I could disappear as we pass by an intersection where there's a gas station on the corner. The roads here are narrow and covered in tar patches that make it look like someone has scribbled on the pavement with an enormous, black sharpie.

I shiver when I look up and see that a green street sign with 'Salem' printed on it is mounted on a telephone pole.

We're getting close and I can feel it this time, even though I've only recently turned sixteen, I can feel the presence of magic hovering beneath the fog and pollution that is clouding the early morning air. Connor would feel it in another two years, but until then, he's the odd one out.

The glass under my forehead suddenly shocks me and I yelp as I sit back and rub at the pain. My father glances up in the rearview mirror, his eyebrows drawing down with concern.

"Are you okay?" he asks as we stop at a traffic light.

"I'm fine," I mutter as I drop my hand away from my face.

"The cloaking magic can hurt sometimes when it comes to new witches, you'll get used to it," my father assures me.

I nod and sit back in my seat as my mother suddenly looks back at me and fixes me with an intense stare. She's 'Seeing', though what she's looking for, I'm not sure. Maybe she's hoping that she can predict my familiar. I've gotten used to her staring at me at a very young age so it usually doesn't affect me, but today is different, today she is looking for my future as a witch.

She must not see anything because she quickly turns back around in her seat. There's something that she probably can't see past and the realization makes me all the more anxious as I think back to the familiar prediction disk Tessa had given me and how it hadn't given me an answer this morning. I wonder again what could make it glow like it had but I quickly banish the thought from my mind.

Just a fluke.

"See anything?" I ask her anyways as we turn at an intersection where there's an IHop on the corner.

She shakes her head, "Nothing," she murmurs, "the academy likely has a block on powers around here to keep students under control."

"They didn't have one back in my day," my father says.

"Things change," she reminds my father as we drive past a PetSmart.

I can't help but smile as we pass by the PetSmart and later a Home Depot, who knew that the entrance to Greenwood Academy would eventually be behind a shopping center?