Back to Human

Chapter Seventeen

We dropped a very tired Lee off at his place before going back to Charlie's unit. As soon as we poured through the door Lauren started fuming.

"I can't believe I forgot to turn my phone on silent. Thank the moon Johannes didn't call ten seconds earlier or we would have had a very angry and very powerful witch on our hands." Lauren scolded herself as she flopped on the couch.

"Hey, don't worry about it, we weren't caught and that's the main thing." Charlie reassured before setting the stuffed dog on the coffee table. It was facing me so I walked to a different part of the couch. Being up close to it was creeping me out.

"Who is Johannes?" I asked.

"He's my boyfriend." Lauren beamed. "We've been together for over a year." She said.

"That's sweet," I tell her. "Hey, what did you and Eleanor talk about?" I turned to Charlie.

Charlie's face went grim. "We talked about pets. She mentioned she had two cats and two dogs." She said looking at me.

If I was still in my human body, I would have paled at the implication. "Oh god."

"It could be nothing. You said that you met two of the other familiars?" She asked.

I nodded. "A cat and a crow, but I never met the other one. It is possible she might have made more familiars if she has 'two cats and two dogs'." I say grimly.

Everyone went silent at that. Lauren's phone buzzed, breaking the somber silence. Lauren got out her phone and checked it.

"Do you mind if Johannes comes here to pick me up? We're going on a lunch date." Lauren looked to Charlie.

"Sure." Charlie said. Lauren types out a reply before getting up.

"I'm just going to fix my makeup." Lauren said.

We all ended up in the bathroom, chatting away about different things as we tried not to dwell on the possibility of more familiars. It was mesmerising watching Lauren fix her eyeshadow.

Lauren chatted away happily about Johannes, and how she hadn't had the chance lately to spend quality time with him. Charlie sat there in silence, evidently having heard this all before as I asked questions. Lauren happily answered as she applied her makeup.

In twenty minutes she had fixed her pre-existing makeup and had applied a beautiful maroon shade to her lids. We heard a knock and rushed to the door.

Johannes was the epitome of the surfer boy. He had blonde stringy hair like he had just been surfing. His hair was bleached by the sun and went down just past his chin. His face was square and he towered over me. He was wearing a short sleeve button up shirt despite the chill to the air. His skin had a light gold tan and he was wearing the stereo-typical shark tooth necklace. He pecked Lauren on the lips before inviting himself inside.

"Hey Lozzie, Hey Charles, how's it going?" He asked. Lauren beamed at the nickname.

"Great, how's work?" Lauren asked.

"I'm going to go work on my thing in my office." Charlie said. "Don't make out on my couch!" Charlie yelled as she disappeared down the hall. I turned to follow her.

"Who's a little cute little fleabag? Come 'ere" Johannes asked in a baby voice before picking me up and sitting me on his lap. "Work's great, are you ready to go?" Johannes asked while scratching my back. Gross, I don't want some stranger touching me, no matter if they were spoken for. I couldn't speak in front of Johannes and I would feel guilty if I scratched him so I simply tried to deal with it. He'd be gone in a minute anyways.