Unfamiliar (Unfamiliar Series #1)

Chapter 6

Icy fear grips me, pausing the breath in my lungs. 

I reach up to touch my neckline as I remember my mother's warning to wear the necklace she had given me. I feel shame for having left it behind, but I can't imagine asking to go and retrieve it now.

Tessa gives me a sideways glance as I hesitate to get up. 

There's not enough time.

The bleachers beneath me are trembling from people pounding their feet. On unsteady feet, I stand and head for the stairs, only to flinch in surprise as a barn swallow zips past my head and startles me as it twitters with annoyance. I nearly fall and just manage to catch myself as I look around and glance back to see that Ava is sitting not too far away with her friends.

A smile curves across her lips as she narrows her eyes at me and waves. Anger bursts in my chest as I prepare a biting retort, but decide against it as a few people walk past me and head toward the field.

You have better things to worry about. 

I follow them down and walk across the field as students begin to form a line that numbers maybe thirty in total as we face the bleachers. I shiver at the chilly air that is blowing across the field as some of my hair comes loose from my braid. I wish that I was wearing a thicker jacket.

"Candace Alistair, please summon your familiar," Headmaster Hallewell announces and I realize then that it's going to go in alphabetical order.

I'm going to be last.  

I'll be remembered. 

If I was in the middle of the group, I could maybe be forgotten. Plenty of people get less than stellar familiars. But a Zen? People would be watching eagerly. I was to become a spectacle. Even now I can sense Ava watching me across the field. 

I am a doe in the presence of a wolf.  

I swallow. 

I can only stare in shock and dismay as I watch Candace summon a phoenix of all things.

Cheers and shouts break through the hushed silence as the bird flaps its powerful, golden wings and flames ripple off of it as a target appears on the field. I feel a rush of envy as I eye her beautiful familiar, the powerful bird swooping up towards the sky as it does a small loop before it lands on the field.

"Please have your familiar hit the target," Headmaster Hallewell says as Candace nods.

The phoenix dives forward and immediately spouts fire to destroy the paper target as it chars to black. The students in the bleachers go wild with excitement. The remains of the target fall to the grass, a few stray embers fluttering in the wind before they flicker and go out. Candace smiles and waves at the watching students as the phoenix lands on her shoulder and makes a shrill noise that closely resembles a hawk.

How lucky. 

I gnaw on my lip as more familiars are summoned and names are called in order. Cheers rise when the familiars hit their targets, an array of creatures being summoned that I feel envious of. I can only watch, my heart beating double-time.

I feel sick and my legs are beginning to shake. I can only wait as all sorts of familiars are conjured while I stand further back on the field. I haven't tried to distance myself from the others, but they seem to have clustered away from me anyways.

Your name precedes you. 

A glance around the field reveals that everyone else already has wolves, lions and a few small dragons the size of Rottweilers hovering next to them. One girl has even gotten a unicorn, one of the rarest ones there are. 

After a long moment, I realize that everyone is suddenly watching me with anticipation. 

I am the last one. 

My cheeks warm with a furious blush under all of their stares. I can sense that the people up in the bleachers are watching me as a hush has settled over the field.

"Kara Zen?" Headmaster Hallewell calls again, jolting me, his voice grating on my nerves as my hands begin to tremble.

I take a deep breath, the fresh, morning air washing over me as I try to silence the whispering of the nearby students. I step forward across the grass and stop on one of the white lines painted on the field. I shut my eyes so I don't see the other students leaning over to each other with their hands cupped in front of their mouths so I can't read their lips.

But their efforts aren't enough, I can still hear some of the words.

Useless, weak. 

These words wash over me as I open my eyes and begin the sacred chant, the one that will summon my familiar for the first time. The words are ugly and clumsy on my tongue, as they are twisted by fear. I feel like my heart might explode before I even get to finish the chant, my throat growing uncomfortably tight.

Breathe, focus.

I remember how my mother had shown me how to do the ritual a few weeks ago as a sigil appears on the grass and glows blue. I close my eyes again, not wanting to see what I will get as I draw close to finishing the chant.

At last, I speak the final words and open my eyes as the glow fades from the sigil.

This can't be right, I think to myself as I can only stare at the sigil in horror.

It's empty.

There's a long moment of silence, so quiet I can hear the distant clanging of a flag flapping on a flagpole. I am afraid to move, as I may burst apart. But not before one of the other students on the field speaks.

"Is it a bug?" they call out, their voice echoing across the field.

This earns a few giggles from some of the others on the field. A rush of shame washes over me as my face grows uncomfortably hot. 

"Please have your familiar hit the target," Headmaster Hallewell's voice rings out as I wince.

I eye the target board across the field uneasily. 

How am I supposed to hit the target when it doesn't look like I have a familiar?

I struggle to remember a command as the red bulls-eye on the board watches me like a mocking bystander. I feel the eyes of the other students as they leer at me. I spit a simple command, one for the familiar to step forward as I focus on the sigil.

What are you? I wonder as I stare at the sigil in hopes of glimpsing movement, even if my familiar really is just a bug.

There's a chorus of people gasping that distracts me. Everyone on the field suddenly goes still and my gaze snaps up to my surroundings. 

Every last familiar on the field has moved. Their eyes are now turned to look at me. Each of their eyes are glowing blue as they watch me, lions and leopards and deer alike as they seem to be watching me. I can feel my heart stutter in my chest. Surely this was a trick of some sort. 

It's not possible, I assure myself as I focus on the target.

I command my familiar to attack the target. 

The field is catapulted into pandemonium as every last familiar surges forward across the grass. Claws and teeth are bared as the ethereal creatures lunge to rip the target apart. Even a nearby jaguar surges forward with a caterwaul that sends shivers down my spine as it joins the fray.

How? 

No...it can't be. 

I have heard of a certain type of witch once before. One who can conjure and control others. 

I had thought that they were only legends, the ones who have no familiars of their own.

But I am one of them.

I am Unfamiliar.

****A/N: Like this chapter? Don't forget to show some love by dropping some votes on it! Have a wonderful day!- Cat.****