Unfamiliar (Unfamiliar Series #1)

Chapter 11

My first two classes go by in a blur. 

Before I know it, I'm in the middle of my conjuring class. I'm standing in the gymnasium complex that is situated on the far side of the campus, metal beams latticing above us like the ribcage of some great giant creature. I feel anxiety twisting deep in my gut as several of the students are eyeing me warily. 

They recognize me, don't they? 

I stand along the far wall with my back against the cold cinderblock as I can see a few others watch me in anticipation. In front of us, the person before me finishes with conjuring their familiar. But not before they turn to stare at me before the stalk off away from me. 

Weird. 

"Kara Zen?" Mrs. Litt calls and I push away from the wall.

I take a deep breath, the musty odor of the gymnasium washing over me as my heart beats double-time. I step forward across the basketball court and stop at the three point line, my heels tapping hollowly on the lacquered, wooden floor. 

It's silent enough I could swear I could hear a pin drop. 

Is it truly something I can do? What about Indigo's warning?

I still didn't have the necklace. 

Could this really be dangerous? 

Surely not, we were safer inside the gym. There were less students and none of them would be experienced enough to pull off such a large illusion spell as what was 'cast' on the field. 

I don't have to chant this time, all I have to do is think it. 

I imagine the power I held when I was on the field as I feel the power in my chest grow. I close my eyes to take a breath before I open them. I can see glowing lines twining through the air, delicate as fishing line wavering on an invisible wind. I follow them, watching them connecting the people to their familiars as I reach for them with my mind. 

I can feel it, like a thick mist coating my skin as I revel in the power, feeling other hearts syncing with mine. I hadn't known that familiars even had 'hearts'. 

Such a strange feeling. 

Mrs. Litt turns her attention back to me suddenly, she herself being an older woman with sable colored skin and bright, blue eyes. An unusual and beautiful combination that makes her look all the more like a witch. She frowns when nothing is in the center of the gymnasium. The seal for the Greenwood academy is motionless, the print for the stag mascot giving nothing away.  

"Kara, go ahead and try to hit the target," she says as she eyes the empty basketball court warily.

I feel a rush of nerves as I hesitate. 

But am I really an Unfamiliar? Can I really control this much power?

I think up a command for my familiar to step forward. Around me, I can feel the attention focus on me as students pause in the middle of speaking quietly to each other in order to watch me. There is a pause and then the sound of paws and hooves stepping across the floor. Every familiar in the gymnasium has moved and their eyes are focused on me. I can't help but smile shakily, relief blooming under my skin.

So it's true. So it's really real. 

I hadn't been imagining my power. 

Next to me, Mrs. Litt's eyes have widened as her lips quiver with disbelief and shock.

I command my familiar to attack the target. 

The gymnasium erupts into roars and howls that remind me of a summer thunderstorm that has finally broken loose. The ethereal creatures move forward as a wave, a vicious riptide to tear the target apart with a feverish frenzy as they move like a single unit. Deadly and wholly terrifying, even Mrs. Litt's familiar, a silver wolf leaps for the target to join the fray.