Aspect Of Winter Read online

  “So, the journal says it might take a while for the familiar to arrive,” Sam said. “Guess we should make ourselves comfortable.” She grinned wickedly. “But not too comfortable, you two. Voyeurism isn’t my thing.”

  “Fine by me,” Tyler replied. “Though I think my pastor would probably be throwing things at me if he saw me watching a summoning ritual,” he added jokingly. I hid a laugh, and Sam just raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s a good thing you’re pretty,” Sam said dryly. I scowled at her as Tyler looked embarrassed.

  Then Sam stepped into the smaller circle and began the incantation. The words flowed elegantly, and she continued to speak for over a minute. The circle’s lines began to pulse a soft purple, and then glowed steadily once Sam stopped. The lines around Sam, meanwhile, flared up and began to trace intricate patterns in the air around her. She sat down for the wait. It was about four in the afternoon at this point, not yet starting to get dark.

  Sam pulled out her sketchbook, and we played the game of mix the traits, where each one of us would come up with a different trait for the drawing, and Sam had to make them all work. The moment she couldn’t, the game would start anew and we’d all laugh at the resulting image.

  At around six, the sun began to go down, and the circle began to glow brighter.

  “Hey, do you think that means it’s getting closer?” Sam asked.

  “Hopefully,” I replied. “It’s getting dark.”

  Over the next half-hour, the circle continuously brightened, until a flash of light blinded the three of us. A familiar, terrifying voice rang out inside our heads.

  “Ah, so the manlings have finally realized. I am to be the familiar of the female, yes?”

  The ercinee beat its wings lazily inside the circle, an aura of light surrounding it, with the occasional firefly seeming to spiral around its avian form.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Sam said flatly. “This is my familiar?”

  “You must be joking,” the ercinee mimicked cruelly, “This is my Arcane?”

  The ercinee’s dark eyes flicked over Tyler and me quickly. “Still, better than being bonded to easy prey or a child of Winter. You, boy,” it intoned, facing me, “would have killed me in that ‘park,’ as you so call it, if I had not prepared for such an eventuality. I remember such offenses for a very long time.” It turned back towards Sam slowly, its tails leaving light trails as it shifted position. “Let us continue, female manling.”

  “It’s Sam, you radioactive turkey. And there is no way in hell I’m having you as my familiar.”

  “Regrettably,” The ercinee’s voice murmured in our heads, “we don’t have much choice in the matter. This circle you have summoned me in binds me until the task is complete. You only have one chance at a familiar. I’m it.”

  “What’s the catch?” Sam asked warily. “Even if I did trust you, and I don’t, there’s no way you’d do this for free.”

  “You’re absolutely correct,” the ercinee’s voice echoed smugly. “I have a price, as all beings of my power do. You should consider yourself blessed! After all, the only reason you chose to summon me was due to the familiar bond. If only you were intelligent enough to comprehend just how lucky you are. Regardless, this is my price, manling called Sam. I need to eat, as all beings must. While the life-lights are the most nourishing, especially those of sentient beings, I can survive on the life-lights from lesser creatures as well. Barring even that meager fare, I can even exist on electricity, which your world seems to have in spades. Provide me with ample food, and I shall come to your aid willingly.”

  “No humans,” Sam said after a minute of consideration. “Not now, not ever, unless you have my explicit consent. I’ll let you hunt, but only for wild animals, nothing domesticated. You can siphon power from objects, but only if you stop before you break them or drain them in full. I’m assuming you have enough control to manage that.”

  “You assume correctly,” the ercinee stated. “Shall we make the contract official with a touch? I shall come to your aid in all things concerning magic, when I am called. You may make use of my essence in your spells as long as you do not consume my own light-life. I will protect your form, and take the light from your adversary’s eyes. In return, you will provide me with the opportunity to hunt for lesser life-lights, and to take power when necessary from human items, provided they remain functioning.”

  “Deal.” Sam cautiously extended out a hand to the ercinee. The bird slowly touched its long, curving beak to her palm, and light pulsed between them. Sam swayed, her eyes wide open, and the ercinee’s eyes did the same, flaring with white light suddenly.

  “The contract is made, manling Sam. Simply call for me, and I shall come, as I have for you and yours before.”

  With that, the ercinee’s form dissolved into the swarm of fireflies, and disappeared in a flash of purple light as the circle stopped pulsing.

  “So…” Tyler said cautiously. “That was the thing that almost killed me, right?”

  “Don’t worry,” I said grimly. “We’ll make sure it won’t have the chance to do anything like that again.”

  Sam mostly looked angry.

  “I’m stuck with that… thing, as my familiar? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “If it’s any consolation,” I said lightly, “I’m pretty sure it doesn’t like you very much either. And do you know what it meant by ‘you and yours?’”

  Sam glared at me and I just shrugged. In an odd way, the two did sort of suit each other. Both of them did whatever they felt like doing, and damned the consequences. Sam just tended to be slightly less… murder-inclined. Slightly.

  “Ugh, I don’t know,” she finally said, sighing. “I wouldn’t trust anything that thing says, anyway. Your turn.”

  I stepped into the summoner’s circle, accepting the journal as Sam passed it to me. The words flowed easily from my mouth, and I felt a strong sense of rightness as I continued the incantation, like I was fulfilling a task that I was assigned a long time ago. When I finished, the circle had barely glowed at all before it flared up so brilliantly that I had to cover my eyes.

  When I opened them, Tyler was standing in the center of the circle, looking extremely confused.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Um, Sam...” I asked, “Are humans on the list of possible familiars?”

  Sam flipped through the journal quickly. “It’s not listed as one of the options, according to what we’ve got for information at the moment. Who knows?”

  Tyler spoke up next. “I was under the impression that familiar were supposed to help with magic and fighting, right? I’m not really able to help with either of those.”

  He looked mildly relieved as he said that. I didn’t think Tyler was fond of fighting.

  Sam nodded her head. “Yeah, on a scale of one to useful, you score a zero.”

  “Sam!” I said exasperatedly.

  “Do you think you made a mistake with the spell or something?” Sam asked, ignoring my irritation.

  “I don’t think so, at least.”

  Tyler made a sudden noise of surprise. “Fay, do you think that, um, our kiss…?”

  I stopped and thought about it. That would definitely have explained the weird sense of connection. I guessed that wasn’t just how a normal first kiss felt.

  “Yeah, I’m guessing that was the bond feeling we got. That makes sense in a weird way. It still shouldn’t be possible, though.”

  Sam sighed theatrically and placed a hand on my shoulder. “If there’s one thing we’ve learned about you and magic so far, it’s that you tend ignore the rules every time.”

  “Maybe,” I frowned, shrugging her hand off, “but I want to make sure just in case. I’m going to ask Aiden about it.”

  Sam scowled. “I hate having to rely on him for anything.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Tyler said as he looked at me. “As much as I find this magic stuff cool, I don’t really want to be your familiar. I’d much rather be y
our boyfriend.”

  I blushed and nodded. Sam just rolled her eyes.

  “Fay, want to go send an email to Aiden? I’d like to figure this out before the sun rises again tomorrow.”

  “I’d love to, but my laptop’s back at my house.”

  “Oh, right. Hey, why don’t you try using Synchrony, then? Just write in the journal and he’ll get the message that way, probably even faster.”

  “Ah yes, magic. Forgot.” Sam tossed me a pencil from her pocket -- she always had one on her -- and I started to write on the blank first page of the journal. He’d see it quickly enough that way.

  Hey, Aiden. I have a question about the whole familiar thing. Specifically, it’s about what beings are able to become familiars. Can humans become familiars? Because that seems to have happened with me.

  I showed it to Sam. “What do you think?”

  “Well, you asked the question. As far as I’m concerned, that’s all it needs to do.”

  Tyler half-raised his hand on instinct. “So, now we just wait?”

  “Pretty much.” I replied. “I’m not sure how we’d go about practicing familiar magic anyway. The ercinee doesn’t seem like the sort of creature that’d be up for that, and I personally would rather not try seeing what my magic does to you until we’re sure that it’s safe.”

  Tyler paled. “When you put it like that…”

  “Yeah. Let’s wait. Sam, what does it say about familiar magic?”

  “There’s not too much,” she said, flipping to the page again. “We’re supposed to be able to fight with them, and use the familiar’s power to help our own.”

  “Huh. That just makes the idea of a human familiar seem all that much more ridiculous, though. Like, what if the other Arcane got buddied up with a dragon or something?” Tyler asked. “I’d get burned to a crisp! It’s not like I can just punch things to death!”

  Sam side-eyed him. “Not yet… but I might be able to help you on that front.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Sam, are you actually offering to train Tyler? I thought you swore never to teach again.”

  “That’s because I was teaching a klutzy polar bear incapable of touching his own toes. Tyler’s an athlete. I bet he’d be more capable of appreciating my awesome teaching abilities.”

  “Plus I’d really prefer not to die unless I have to,” Tyler interjected. “If I’m going to be fighting alongside you, Fay, I want to be able to make a difference.”

  I waved my hand to get their attention. “Before this whole thing gets out of hand, can we please wait to see if Tyler being my familiar is actually what we’re dealing with here? If there’s any chance for Tyler to avoid being dragged into this, I’d like to give it to him.”

  “Yes, well, Tyler is already involved,” Tyler said dryly. “And he’d appreciate it if you spoke to him directly.”

  I turned to him, pleading. “I’m already going to probably have to fight in these Trials, and if they’re anything like what we’ve had to go through already, then it’s going to be dangerous. I’m all for dating you, I’m all for having you around when we’re doing magic stuff-”

  “Magic stuff?” Sam asked incredulously. I could probably could have phrased that better.

  “-but I don’t want to ever be putting you in danger. And if you’re my familiar, then that’s going to happen. A lot.”

  Tyler looked at me stubbornly. “If you’re in danger, and I can help you get out of it, then there’s nothing I’d rather be doing.”

  “But you don’t even like fighting!” I said, almost hysterically. Tyler just set his jaw and kept looking determined.

  Sam laughed, grinning at me. “You’ve got yourself a keeper here, Fay.”

  She turned to Tyler. “I want to see you for literally every waking hour you’ve got available for the next couple weeks.”

  “What? But I’ve got sports, and Fay,” Tyler whined.

  “Sorry, but I need you to have energy if I’m going to teach you. And Fay, buddy, you’re going to have a lonely time, I’m afraid, but think about the perks. You can come watch Tyler get all sweaty. I might even have him take his shirt off.”

  “Hey!” Tyler protested. “Don’t just plan on objectifying me like that!”

  “You do make a compelling case,” I said, tapping my chin with my finger mock thoughtfully. Tyler looked at me, scowling. I stopped tapping my chin.

  We sat down in the leaves to wait, Sam talking quietly to Tyler about what sort of martial art he should pursue. About a half-hour later, the journal suddenly grew hot, and a few small rays of light escaped from between the pages. I yelped, the journal slipping from my fingers.

  “What the hell was that?”

  “I’m guessing that was Aiden’s reply,” Sam remarked. “That’s a handy way of making sure the change gets noticed.”

  I opened up the journal, and below my short note was Aiden’s response.

  Feayr, having a human as a familiar is something that I have never encountered. Outside of myth and legend, human familiars are unheard of. Actual documented examples of human familiars don’t seem to exist, or there would be record of them at the Archives. I’ll look into the matter more when I am able. For now, I would advise that you make sure that your human is capable of looking after himself in a fight. The Trials are in less than a month’s time, and they will involve combat. Perhaps by then you’ll be able to turn this oddity into an advantage.

  I showed his response to Sam and Tyler. Sam nodded her head.

  “Well, that clears that much up, at least. Fay’s a weirdo even by magic standards, and now we need to get you,” she grinned, pointing at Tyler, “in shape for some serious fighting. I’m not having you as my best friend’s deadweight. What kind of boyfriend are you if you can’t protect Fay?”

  She fluttered her eyelashes at that last bit.

  “My boyfriend,” Tyler pointed out, “is more than capable of freezing solid anything that attacks him.”

  Sam rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but maybe not if it’s two on one, and the other side is magical as well. That’s what it is right now, Tyler. Two on one. Care to put in the effort to make it a fair fight?”

  Tyler straightened, glanced at me for a second, and then turned back to Sam and squared his shoulders.

  “I will, though if we can try to solve things peacefully, we should.”

  “Wonderful,” Sam said dryly. “a pacifist. Anyway, if you do a good job I’ll let you have a Fay day about halfway through. For the rest of the time,” she purred, “I’m putting all that repressed sexual tension to better use.”

  I felt my face heat up, and Tyler’s face reddened visibly. Sam was more talented at emotional warfare than anyone I knew. It figured that the person most capable of destroying you physically was even more talented at doing so mentally.

  “Um,” Tyler mumbled, “Ignoring that last comment, can we talk about how to train me? If I have to fight, do you think maybe using weapons would help?”

  Sam gave him an evaluating look. “Yes, actually, that’s a pretty good idea. But no guns. I don’t think you’d be able to shoot someone. You don’t have the look. And if you are, then I want you nowhere near Fay. Have you ever used a weapon?”

  “Besides my lacrosse stick, no. I went through the little boy phase of running around with swords, though, and that was cool. Plus, I think I saw a few swords for sale in the antiques shop from before.”

  Sam scrunched up her face thoughtfully. I mean she really scrunched it. Wrinkle central. I wasn’t sure why her serious thinking face looked like she was chewing a lemon, but it did.

  “…That could work,” she said eventually. “I don’t know much about sword fighting, but one of my old sensei knew a decent amount. I’ll check in with him, and see if he’s willing to help bring you up to speed. You’re going to need a decent sword, though. I’m fairly certain that anything you buy at that shop is going to be rusty and useless.”

  “Fair point,” Tyler grumbled. “Any better ideas?”
>
  “Actually, yes. For the time being, use a training sword, a wooden replica. Then, when it comes time for the actual fight, rely on Fay.”

  I brightened. “Hey, she’s right! I can make you a sword, like the way I made those ice diamonds! I’m guessing if I compress it enough, I can make the ice at least as hard as regular metal, and probably sharper.”

  Tyler grinned. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”

  Sam smiled at that, too. “See? We’ll make a good outcome of this yet. Now, I’m going to bed, and you two are going to leave, because it’s now officially eleven at night. Tyler, I’ll see you tomorrow after school. It’s November, you can skip practice.”

  Tyler started to make more protesting noises, and she pinned him in place with a raised eyebrow. “Or… you can choose sports over being able to save Fay’s life. Whichever.”

  I winced at Sam’s utter lack of mercy. Tyler caved, unsurprisingly.

  “Fine,” he mumbled. “I’ll tell coach I have something going on for a while. He’s pretty lenient in the off-season.”

  “Good. Now shoo.” And with that, Sam made little flicking motions with her hands until Tyler and I started walking away. We went back to his car, and I sat down nervously as he started the engine.

  “Tyler, are you really okay with all of this?” I asked. “You have your own life ahead of you, and what if it turns out that you can’t leave or something when you’re my familiar? I heard about your full-ride scholarship to Penn State for lacrosse. It was the talk of the school last month.”

  Tyler sat quietly for a long time, and then held my hand lightly.

  “I’m… not sure what I’ll do,” he said softly. “You’re right, I do have my own future ahead of me, and it doesn’t involve me going to some magic school with you and Sam next year. But if I can help you in the meantime, I’m going to. If there’s some figuring out I need to do next fall, then I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”