Chapter Ten #2
“When a familiar is chosen, it is a great honor, despite the grievances it can cause. We spend the first thirty years of our lives dedicated to our witch-to-be in our animal form before they arrive at the pathway, the fork in the road. It is here that all witches choose. This is the point where you decide whether to keep me in your life, as your raven, forever connected, or whether you grant me my freedom to roam in whichever form I choose.”
That’s…a lot.
“So, if I keep you, then you’re trapped as a raven forever?
Why does anyone ever choose that option?
” I have to admit to myself, I’m a little horrified at how brutal this new world can be.
Not that I expected roses and sunshine but damn, forcing someone to live out their life as an animal, never knowing what it’s like to be free? It’s barbaric to me.
“The power is one draw, the other being a longer lifespan because the witch feeds from their familiar, extending their years by sometimes hundreds. Which is what happened to us…”
“What us? What happened to who?”
Sighing, she looks to the sky.
“Baba Yaga found a way to connect to your spirit, and therefore mine, and she has been feeding from your youth for the last two-thousand years. It’s why she hexed you to die before you ever reached the age of thirty, so that she could keep you from coming into your powers and destroying the hex.
Because you are more powerful than she will ever be, partially thanks to her, actually.
You were not destined to be a witch, but when she infused you with the hex and her blood, the call came for your familiar. And here I am.”
Wow. This is a whole lot to take in and I’m filing away the Baba Yaga shitshow information for another time.
“So my choices are to keep you as a prisoner for the rest of my life and delay a few wrinkles, or set you free? I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that it’s a pretty easy decision, Reina.” Shaking my head, I chuckle because this all seems bizarre.
“I will not judge you for choosing to have me stay. I would be honored, my family more so. It seems like an easy decision, but you have to consider all the factors. Without a witch family, you haven’t been prepared for this.
You will have to walk the path and get all the way to the end for your choice to take root.
With or without my help…is entirely up to you.
I am your protection, your extra eyes and ears, and if you wish for me to be by your side, I will be there always. ”
Okay, so I can see why there are those who decide to keep their familiars. If they’re anything like mine…they’re not necessarily that easy to detach yourself from. She’s so encouraging, positive, and I kinda want her to stay. Not for the power, but for the friendship I know we could have.
“Reina, don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope to never see you again if choosing the light path, with no familiar, means that you get to be free. Changing into your raven form whenever you choose is not something I want to take away from you. Now, how does this work, exactly?”
She smiles, wider than before, and I know I have made the right decision.
“For the light, take the path to your left. For the darkness, take the path to your right. I will be waiting for your call should you need me.” Bowing her head is the last I see of her as that dark mist returns, enveloping her right in front of me, before it disappears and leaves the beautiful black raven in her place.
Well, this is a little fucked up, but whatever. No more so than anything else that has happened to me lately.
I don’t hesitate in heading down the left pathway, frowning as the trees continue to close in the farther I go, almost like they’re trying to trap me and stop me from turning back. I look behind me and, sure enough, the way I just came is blocked.
Ooookay…
As I walk, one of the spells that Hekate enlightened me with springs to mind. Something for clothes, which is going to be so handy if it is real and works.
Bending down, I scoop up a small amount of soil and hold it in my palm as I look up to the moon peeking through the trees.
Closing my eyes, I imagine myself wearing something badass, like the women from the fantasy novels who rock the ass off of leather pants with a matching leather halterneck top.
I picture the thigh holsters housing several daggers, my hair scraped back into two french braids, and a giant sword in a sheath against my spine.
My bare feet are covered in a pair of beautiful, black ankle-boots with a small heel, much like my favorite ones from home.
At the same time, I rub the soil between my fingers and allow it to spray into the air around me.
After a few seconds, I know it worked and I open my eyes to find myself now fully clothed. Well, maybe not fully clothed. My top half is a little skimpy, to say the least, but I can’t deny how great my boobs look in this top.
Fist-pumping the air, I allow the rest of the soil to fall to the ground and continue walking. It’s much easier with the boots on, because my feet were beginning to protest at the continuous small stones I was stepping on.
It’s only now that I’m realizing that midnight must have rolled around because if I have power…I’m thirty!
A hiss from the bush a little farther ahead gives me an awful flashback to the snake-women—lamia—from my apartment, and Gregor, and sure enough, the head of a giant snake peers over the gray leaves.
Great.
Just as I find something to celebrate, a fucking snake wants to join the party.
The gray path beneath me is clear, and it goes straight through that particular bush. I’m guessing that I shouldn’t deviate from the path to avoid it, so I rack my brain trying to find knowledge of a spell that can help.
It could be friendly, but my past experience with supernatural snakes hasn’t been fun. I don’t want to take the chance that it isn’t.
“I can help you…”
Reina’s voice is still clear in my mind, even though I have no idea where she is.
“No!” I shout, because in the last twenty minutes, I still haven’t figured out the whole mind talking thing.
Shocker.
You know what…fuck this shit. I need to do this quickly and get back to Hack, freeing Reina at the same time, and maybe I can actually help instead of being hoarded beside a tree by a pissy valkyrie.
“Move.” I surprise myself with how strong the single word sounds, but it’s an order, one I hope the snake listens to.
Well fuck me all the ways because it works!
The snake hisses a final time, its skinny tongue poking out of its mouth before I watch it slither from the bush and farther into the mass of gray trees.
That was easy.
“The path is as you make it. Always.”
I don’t know exactly what she means, but with my determination to do this quickly, a clearing appears at the end of the path.
There’s a swirling ball of purple electricity, like forks of lightning, between two cherry blossoms in full bloom, the whiteness of the flowers standing out among all the gray shades.
Running toward it as fast as I can gets me there within seconds and I just seem to know that I have to touch it.
My ability to read people seems to have strengthened and now I can sense the peace the purple forks hold.
The rest of the forest around me is sinister, full of secrets and hidden horrors, and I’m just glad to be out of here.
I reach out to the purple forks, desperately hoping that I’m right and my usual abilities didn’t fuck off when the new ones arrived.
One singular touch is all it takes and the pain from before rushes back, my whole body alight with invisible flames and my head thrown to the moonlight. I feel like it’s powering me, and that’s when everything happening around me becomes clear, too.
The guys are fighting the fenrir, and they’re so close, but something about it makes me want to keep it alive.
However, watching the huge white paw raise and swat Hack to the side fills me with an anger I have never felt before. Heat pours through me and I scream out, “STOP!”
I expect nothing to happen, but instead, everyone, including the fenrir, does exactly that. They all turn to look at me, standing beside the valkyrie with my arms out to the sides, still wearing the clothes I dreamed up a few moments ago.
Next, the fenrir closes its eyes and bows its huge head, resting its long snout against its paws in front of him.
My own eyes widen in shock, because I think I just made myself the fenrir’s new master…