Unfamiliar (Unfamiliar Series #1)

Chapter 12

I'm awoken by a light, almost imperceptible tapping that repeats itself several times sometime in the middle of the night. I stir at last, annoyed by it as I roll to the side and rub at my eyes. Squinting at Tessa's Hello Kitty alarm clock reveals that it's one in the morning.

Odd. 

Could it be a pipe or something? 

I strain my ears, I haven't exactly had a lot of time to adapt to the various noises this building could be making at night. If it was a pipe, I wonder if Astrid would have a silencing spell to fix it. For a moment, I lie there staring at the clock, believing that I've probably imagined the noise. 

You're just anxious. 

I can almost convince myself I was hearing things until I see a hand lift up and tap its pointer fingernail on the glass.

I sit up quickly and approach the window. I'm almost tempted to wake up Tessa or Astrid, but the fact that the person is quietly tapping on the window alerts me to the fact that whoever is on the other side maybe doesn't want to wake up the whole room. 

I glance down and sure enough, Indigo is looking up at me from her place on the other side of the window. I can't help but gape at the fact that she's carefully balanced on the lattices running up the side of the hall. She almost looks like some movie spy in a blockbuster film. 

Since when did she figure out she could do such things? 

 But the expression on her face tells me that I need to get downstairs to meet up with her without question.

I freeze when I hear Tessa groan and roll over in her bunk behind me as I breathe lightly through my mouth. Even Peace shifts on her perch in her cage as the familiar fluffs up her feathers. I can see the doves eyes lightly flutter open, her black eyes unseeing and blank. I can't move as I stand frozen with fear before she nestles her head under her wing.

Thank goodness. 

I step over to my dresser as quietly as I can and change out of my pajamas into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, not wanting to deal with the buttons and zippers of my uniform. I shrug on a hoodie and tuck my phone into my pocket.

On quiet feet, I tiptoe to the door before I pull on a pair of boots and slip out of the room into the hall as I shut the door behind me. I pause in the hallway, letting my eyes adjust to the dim lighting before I start down the silent hall. 

What could she possibly want this late in the night? 

This could have been a snapchat. 

I don't take the elevator, opting to instead take the stairs so as not to attract attention. I descend the stairs in silence before I open the front door of the dormitory and step out into the unbearably early morning air.

It's cold and the air is biting as I gasp in a surprised, quiet breath. I instantly wish that I had brought a thick jacket. A thin layer of frost is glimmering on the grass as I wrap my arms around myself to feebly protect against the chill. The moon is almost full above me, bathing everything in a silvery glow, which makes the grass look like it's coated in glitter.

Indigo better have a good reason for this, I think as I mourn the warm sheets of my bed. 

I jog around the building, sticking to the shadows as I head for the place that Indigo should be. I try to keep my breathing light and quiet, fear worming under my skin as I wonder if I'll get caught. My nose begins to burn from the cold that bitterly gnaws at it. I slow down once I'm around the corner, my eyes searching the darkness as I look within the long shadows cast by the coniferous bushes.

"Pssst," a sudden hiss, rises from a cluster of shrubbery that rims the building.

I jolt and glance over at it to see that Indigo is hiding among them, crouched in the shadows. She smiles from within the depths between two bushes, her teeth white in the darkness as her eyes flash. She stands and steps over to me, emerging from the black like she belongs there.

"I heard that you were inducted into the Coven of Midnight," she says as she smiles at me, "what was your familiar?"

"I...well," I stutter, suddenly nervous to tell her the truth as my tongue manages to tie itself up while I try to find the right words to say.

At last, I look down at the ground, unable to find any words to describe the miracle that has happened to me. I realize then that word hasn't gotten around to her yet, that I truly was an Unfamiliar and that it wasn't a hoax pulled off by the senior class like Tessa had thought. 

"Kara, did you wear the necklace that mom gave you?" Indigo asks as her face suddenly goes pale, the blood quickly draining from her cheekbones as her eyes widen.

"Yes!" I quickly assure her, "I did just as you asked me to." 

Her green eyes remind me of the flames of a fire as she fixes me with an intense stare that makes my heart pause.

"Kara."

I shiver at her tone. 

Now is not the time to lie to her. 

"I'm sorry, it was stolen," I murmur and swallow as I stare down at the grass beneath my boots. "On the bright side, I...I uh, I'm an Unfamiliar, you were wrong, it wasn't a prank." 

Indigo's reaction is instant as she flinches like I've burned her. She sucks in a breath as she recoils and walks a few paces away from me and grips at her temples. I can feel my heart drop at her reaction. 

Isn't this...isn't this a good thing? 

I was powerful, I wasn't a weak witch. 

"Oh this is bad...this is very bad," she whispers.

There is a tension in her shoulders that I haven't seen before and I shrink backwards, afraid for a moment that she might explode. She remains motionless for a long moment, merely standing in place as she seems to retreat elsewhere in her thoughts, hidden behind a thick veil. 

"Indi, how is it bad?" I begin to say in a timid voice, "I'm an Unfamiliar, they were thought to be legends, how can you be mad?"

She whirls around more quickly than I've ever seen her move before as her eyebrows draw down and her lips press into a thin line.

"Because you weren't supposed to reveal your power!" she snaps at me.