The house is quiet but I know that won't last. My kid sister is home from college and she's brought her roommate with her. It's okay since I'm not home much longer. In fact, I'll be gone quite a while but they don't know that yet.
They - the anonymous "they" - always said that college would open doors for me but they never said what
kind
of doors. Or to what dimension those doors would lead.
When I was a kid, I cracked my head good at the playground. An exposed bolt beneath the slide that should've been covered. My parents sued, got tons of money and did what they could for me and the kids that played on the playground. Honestly, I love them dearly and they've both been amazing from start to finish.
I turned out alright. I just saw things different afterwards.
Very different.
Half hidden things lurking in the shadows beneath the corners of the world. My father used to sit with me every night. Every. Night. That's how good of a person he is. Every night he would hold my hand to keep me safe from what lurked in my room. He couldn't see them, of course. And he never believed me but that's okay. He believed that
I
believed and that's all that mattered.
I shooed them away from my baby sister even though they never bothered anyone. I learned to ignore them. To pretend they didn't exist. I went to high school. Then college.
They found me my sophomore year. The specific "they" this time. An order. Ancient and small. Conjurers and witches and warlocks and shamen and other holy men. Specifically a witch found me.
In a coffee shop. She stopped in and did that slow turn thing you see in the movie. Came right up to me and said "You see them, don't you?"
It took me a moment to understand what the crazy woman meant but then I did. I told her I had no idea what she was saying.
Then she did something to me and I followed her to her room and told her everything I knew from childhood to that moment. She apologized afterwards and said it was extremely bad manners to bewitch someone as she'd done but she had to be certain. Plus, I learned my first lesson there: morals are very relative and extremely flexible in what we actually know of the universe.
I left college and began learning other things. That was four years ago and I'm still incredibly new at everything. Oh, I've picked up some tricks but I have a long, long way to go.
Literally and metaphorically. I'm leaving tonight for several years. A trip all of us must make. Alone. Well. It doesn't have to be completely alone.
I spent the night before growing some gold in my parent's property and setting up events for them to find it. It'll leave them quite well off.
"-right back!" I hear my sister say. She's a freakin' delightful kid. Even growing up. Smart and kind and the best of people.
I wait for a second and then head to the bathroom but I stop for a moment by her room.
"-tonight," a girl says from my sister's room. The roommate, of course. "No, why would I want her to come with us? She's
boring
. No. I sent her out for some food. I'm just here because I bummed a ride from her. Haha, are you serious? She doesn't even drink. You'll have more than just molly, right? Fucking good. Yeah, I'll leave around 9. Just text me the address."
So. One weird thing I learned is that, while there isn't a capital-G God that we know about, the universe seems awfully funny. Ordered in a weird way that seems purposeful sometimes. We make a big deal out of pretending it's not (unless you're religious then, sure) but, really, it's almost got a weird life of its own. Like it takes enjoyment out of making some things happen.
Earlier, I said I was taking a trip alone. I have to - it's the laws. A spirit journey of a kind. We all do it. Those of us that see things.
You are, however, allowed to bring a familiar.
Oh-hoh, you think, what are familiars?
Let me show you.
I walk into my sister's room and this girl looks up at me. She's - hold on. A bit of concentration, a bit of willpower and a bit of magic.
She's third generation Japanese. Both parents are Japanese. Grandparents on one side from Osaka and the other from, ah, also Osaka. I stop the magic there otherwise it'd just keep going and filling me in. It can get annoyingly verbose in its enthusiasm.
She's pretty. Shoulder length straight black hair and
very
Americanized. Slim, petite and catty.
See, that's what I mean about a funny universe. Here I am, about to go on a spirit trip without a familiar and the universe provides.
"Your sister went to the store," the girl tells me with a bored glance. She's already back on her phone, browsing whatever.
"I know," I answer, walking close. Starting the magic.
She's comfortable in her safety until I'm at the edge of the bed.
Then
primal monkey instincts kick in and she looks up. Worried.
It's too late.
I lay my hand on her forehead and she jerks back.
Again. Too late.
"What the fuck, freak?" she yells, rubbing her head.
My parents left their old rocking chair in my sister's room. They used to rock her to sleep with it. Me, they had to sit on the washing machine to get me to pass out but she was good after being rocked. I take it for now, sitting while facing the girl.
"Your name is Emi," I tell her. The spell earlier informed me. "We're going to leave in the morning. Me and you."
She laughs. It's actually a pretty laugh but her ugly personality twists it. My spell earlier confirmed a lot of what I suspected from her short phone call. She's a bitch. To just about everyone.
"What the fuck makes you think-" she starts to say but cuts off when I raise my hand. Her eyes widen as her mouth works.
"You're my familiar now," I tell her. "And you'll listen to me. We'll both learn from the trip and we'll be gone for a long time. I'll put together a convenient spell to hide your disappearance so it doesn't match with mine. It won't be too hard."