The Wishbornes And The Fallen Star

Chapter 18

"Right children are you ready?", Father asked as he came down the stairs. We were all standing in the foyer, Raynard Irene and I had to be dressed in clothes that looked like we were spy's or people working for a security company. All in black, and tight fitting, yet they were extremely comfortable
"Remind me again why we have to wear these clothes?", Raynard asked as he fiddles with his pants.
"Because when searching for your companions in the bounding forest, you might have to climb or jump over uncomfortable places. So you need to dress accordingly", Father said as he reached for the door.
"Can we go now please!", Clodovea said irritated, "Clarabell already waisted so much time getting dressed".
    I just glared at her. And here I thought that her opening up about everything would make her less of a cold hard bitch.
    I was wrong.
We all started to walk through the door when Irene pulled me aside.
"Bell, I know this might not be the right time but-", I grabbed her into a hug before she could finish her sentence.
"It's ok Rena, I understand now what you did was the best thing for us". She hugged me tighter and I felt her warm tears on my shirt. "You know I would never keep anything for you right? Not if it wasn't for your own safety", she said and sniffed.
"I know Rena", I said and kissed her on the forehead. A honk came from the car outside and Clodovea yelled," For goodness sake Clarabell, can you stop taking your time with everything".
I sighed and looked at Irene. "She's such a pain in my ass", I said trough my teeth and rolled my eyes. Irene just laughed as we walked outside.
"Why do we have to take the car?", Raynard asked as we got in, "can't wizard like just teleport to where ever they want?".
Mother and Father just laughed and Clodovea rolled her eyes. "Magic is a bit more complicated than that. Teleporting takes an enormous amount of energy and magic.  And if you're not careful you might burn out all your magic if teleported to far. Think of your magic as a sort of fuel. The more you use, the quicker your tank runs out. It gets refilled of course, but depending on the amount you used it might take 2 hours or maybe even two days. Although you hardly hear of wizards and witches running out, but that's because we take care of the amount we use. So to teleport, one would only use if necessary", Father explained.
"But what about us? Seeing that as royalty you also get elementis magic. Wouldn't that also take more than your normal wizard or witch?", I asked.
"Good question Bell, but no. Again one of the perks of being royalty is that your elementis magic is completely different to your normal magic and never runs out. It's always full. But of course, it still takes some of your normal body energy. So you might get tired, but you can still bend your element. That's why as royalty you have to train. So that you can stay fit. In which your training will start soon with Angus and myself", Father said.
Yay. As if PT at school wasn't enough. 
***
Humphreys Dew Drop and Companions Shop, read the sign when we drove through these massive gates. The road was lined with pine trees and beyond them a forest continued. After a minute we arrived at a very larger parking lot, that was completely empty, and at the other end of it was this huge double story dark brown house, with a sign at the top of the front door that read, "Dew drops and binding contracts here". 
"Why is it so empty?", Irene asked.
"Well as we said this morning the magical world doesn't know your alive yet. So we had to ask Mr Humphrey to close for the day", Mother said.
A old and scrawny man step outside of the building as the car stopped in front of it.
Walter got out and opened the car door.
"Welcome your Majesties", the man said in an almost Santaish voice and made a bow.
"Humphrey! Good to see you my friend", Father said as he shook Humphreys hand and clapped him on the shoulder, "I see you've aged a bit".
"Not as much as you I can see. Royal business starting to get to you?", Humphrey replied and they both laughed out loud.
Humphrey then turned towards Mother, "Ahh Helena, still as beautiful as always", he said and took her hand and kissed it.
"Ag Humphrey, you old flirt", she said as she nudged him on the shoulder. He then turned towards us.
"My oh my", he said and put his hands towards his mouth. "Would you just look at them", he said with a crack in his voice. "I would never have guessed that I would see those faces again".
"Children I don't think you'll remember Humphrey, the twins were about two and Irene was just born, I think the last time he saw you".
"It's a great honor to see you again your majesties", Humphrey said and made a little bow again.
"By the sound of it, we should be the honored ones", I said and bowed my head a little. And I could see Clodovea giving me a sharp look out of the corner of her eye.
"Mothers beauty and Fathers charm I see", he said and smiled at me.
"Well shall we go inside then and set everything up?", he asked as he gestured towards the door.
Inside everything was made out of dark wood. There was a counter to our right made of a rich dark red wood, in front of us where several black wood doors with numbers on them and to our left there shelves filled with jars with light blue liquid in it.
"Right who wants to go first? Since I'm the only employee here today, I can only help one at a time".
Raynard Irene and I looked at each other nervously. "What exactly is going to happen?" I asked.
"Well behind each of those doors", he said as he pointed towards the black wood doors", is a cosy little living room which opens to the bounding forest behind us. I will be waiting in the living room while you go into the forest to search for you companion. You will be approached by may different companions in all sorts of forms, but you will know when it's your companion when the bond snaps into place. It almost feels like a piece of string that's tied to your soul being pulled tight. You two will then return here where a contract will be sighed and a name given to your companion".
"And what's in this contract?", Raynard asked.
"It basically just declares that the bond has taken place and that this companion now belongs to you and it's soul purpose is to protect you at all costs and can only be killed if you are killed. You can also decided if the animal form it took pleases you or not. If not it will change to what you desire, and use that form as its primary form. It will then only change into its secondary form, which can be any animal, when it's primary form doesn't serve enough protection to you. There is also its tertiary form, which is it's true magical form, which it will only take in extreme circumstances as it's a very dangerous form. It will not stop for anything to protect you, even if that person hurting you is family", he then glanced at Claudia for a few seconds than back at us.
"So again, who's first?", he asked with a big Santa smile.
"I'll go", said Raynard. They then vanished behind door number 2.
I glanced at the tattoo of the Eurasian lynx on Mothers writs. Your companion turns into a tattoo on your body to make it more convenient to travel with, otherwise it gets really cramped. Also normans - which is the name Wizards and Witches give to non magical folks. It basically means "Normal Humans" - get freaked out when they see for example a wolf, like Alaska, walking next to someone.
"Does it hurt?" I asked.
"What my Liefje?" Mother asked.
"The tattoo", I said as I pointed towards her writs.
"Yes, it burns like hell", Clodovea said, but didn't even look at me. She just kept on staring at the jar of dew drops she picked up.
"V! Don't scare your sister", Mother said, "No not at all, you basically don't feel anything, just this coldness pressing against you skin for a few seconds then it's gone".
"If you say so", Clodovea said as she put the jar away. Mother sighed.
"Don't pay attention to your sister. You are going to be fine". I just smiled at her.
Irene was now also inspecting the jars, when I walked over to her. "What type of animal are you hoping for Rena?", I asked.
"Some type of bird", she said and put the jar down, "what about you?".
"I have a feeling I know what I'm going to get".
"What?"
"You'll have to wait and see". She clicked her tongue then said, "Hey that's not fair. I told you". I just smiled at her and shrugged my shoulders.
Door number two then opened and Raynard came strolling out, all big chested and what not, with a tiger cub, almost mimicking him, strolling behind him. Looks like a perfect match! Big ego and everything.
"I would like you to meet River", said Raynard as the cub proudly sat next to him. "He's going to be a real chick magnet!"
I just rolled my eyes.
"Right who's next?"
"I'll go", I said as I walked towards Mr. Humphrey. "Right door number seven", he said as he moved to open the door for me.
The room had two large couches opposite each other with a coffee table in the middle and papers and a pen stocked on top of it. The opposite wall was completely open and lead into the forest.
"Right Princess", I almost whipped around as he said Princess but then I remembered he had to call me that, so I just bit down on my lip, "As I explained before, you will go into the forest looking for your companion, where it will feel like string tightening when you do find him or her. Remember other companions may approach you as well, but don't be scared, they aren't real animals remember, so if you see a lion, don't run." I smiled at him and nodded.
"Great. Happy searching!", he said and gestured towards the forest.
***
I've been walking for almost ten minutes now. Some other companions have approached me. An iguana, parrot, snake and even a polar bear cub! Guess the climate doesn't matter to companions. And all though I stood there for a few second to see if a bond would form, I knew deep down who my companion was. I could almost feel it the first time I saw him.
The bushes behind me rustled. I turned around and it rustled again. 
I crouched down on top my heels. "It's alright, you can come out", I said.
I first saw the black ears as it poked out to listen. I then heard it sniff. And like a lighting blot it ran out and almost knocked me over and I instantly felt that string tighten as I was greeted by a red fox.
***
"Ah a red fox!", Humphrey said as we walked into the room. "Are you happy with its primary form?"
"Yes very much", I said as we sat down on the couch. "And what shall we name this creature?", Humphrey asked as he picked up the pen and started to fill in the papers in front of him. I looked towards the fox and it looked towards me. As if it could not wait to hear what its name might be.
"Nutmeg", I said and the fox nodded.