A Witch Among Warlocks: The Complete Series Box Set Read online

  Stupid me.

  His golden eyes froze me in place. They felt like eyes I knew, even as they had some unfathomable wild quality, but I had no idea why. I would’ve remembered him.

  “Well, well,” he said. “You finally get to lay eyes on me. What a day. Something must have happened.”

  “Yes,” Dad said. “Come in. It was a letter from a magic school. I think it’s all a big mistake, though.”

  This unfamiliar guy, whom my dad seemed to know suspiciously well, walked in and gave me a brief smile like he knew me. I was trying very hard not to stare.

  He was tall, slender, and somewhat ethereal looking, tawny hair tinged with a rusty red. His skin was pale, but not in a sickly way, or even a “too much time playing video games” way. It had an inner glow, like he had an intense and expensive skincare regimen imported from South Korea.

  Pretty sure he didn’t, though. He was just naturally gorgeous.

  He also had really good posture. So…like, no way was this the guy that spent hours playing MMORPGs with me.

  His eyes and smile had sort of a sly twinkle. He exuded confidence, even wearing a rumpled t-shirt and sweatpants. It’s like when you see mega celebrities caught by the paparazzi like, being normal, but even then you’re like, nuh-uh, no one is that hot in real life.

  “I’m Firia,” he said, offering a hand. “Or, properly, Firian. I am your familiar.”

  “Muh wut?” I asked. I mean, that was how it came out. His beauty was distracting. “I thought you’d be more of a…”

  “Female elf in armor?” he asked. “Well, then I wonder why you don’t have long white hair and an eyepatch.”

  Actually, I thought you’d be more of a slobby geek. I didn’t say that. Especially since that meant that I was now the slobby geek. My dark hair was pulled back in a ratty ponytail and I was wearing faded, pilling leggings and a shirt that said “Reach for the Stars! Read-A-Thon 2008 Central Library”. And then, a huge cardigan because Dad blasted the air conditioning. I didn’t have a skincare regimen from South Korea either, that was for sure.

  “Let me see the letter,” Firian said.

  “Here.” I gave it to him. Anything to get him to stop looking at me.

  “Hmm,” he said. “Merlin? That’s very strange. Merlin College is the crème de la crème of warlock schools. It doesn’t even accept applications. You have to be recommended and tested by an alumni of the school. Who do they think you are?”

  “I don’t know…”

  “Well, anyone can mess up paperwork, huh?” Dad said. “I’ll just—is this the stationery you wanted me to use? With this bear on it?”

  “It’s a dog. Yes. It’s better than what you were using! But I can write it, Dad. It’s girly stationery. The letter is to me so I’ll answer.”

  “I’d feel better writing it myself,” he said. “I don’t really want you having any contact with them.”

  “He’s paranoid,” Firian said.

  “Well, while he’s writing I guess you can explain yourself. My familiar? What does that mean? Did you find me in the game and get close to me on purpose?”

  “Of course I did,” he said. “It was the perfect way to keep some connection to your life without exposing you to magic. I am your bridge to the magical world. I can take the form of a human or an animal, and I can travel to the magical world freely. I am here to protect you. And so I have.”

  “You’re my age?”

  “Yes. Exactly your age. As all familiars are. I was born because you were born.”

  “You’re my brother?”

  “No, no, no. Just your familiar.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  “Well, I don’t have parents,” he said. “And I don’t need them. You can do magic, and I am magic. You’re from this plane, and I’m from Etherium. The other plane. One of them, anyway.”

  “Are we…supposed to…what are we supposed to do with each other?”

  “Magic,” he said. “But your magic was bound.” He shrugged. “I understand. The witch world is somewhat troubled in this past century.”

  “So you guys are just going to throw all this at me now, but I still can’t become a witch. What do I do with this information? I’m supposed to be going to frickin’ normal college in a few weeks. Now that just sounds…”

  “Great,” Dad said. “It sounds great. I’m so proud of you. I never went to college.”

  “And now everyone goes to college. And gets stuck with student loans and dumb degrees.”

  He looked crushed. “What is this? You were so excited when you got in.”

  “Well, times have changed.”

  He started writing. ‘Dear Mr. Blair’. “Do I address him as Dean Blair?” he said. “Never mind. He should never have sent you this letter anyway so I’m not going to get fancy.”

  “You’re deflecting.”

  “He’s protecting you,” Firian said. “As we just explained.”

  “You just blew in out of nowhere,” I said. “And you’ve been spying on me. So I don’t want to hear it.”

  “I wasn’t spying. I was just playing the game with you. I made myself sick playing that game, just so you know. Magical beings aren’t supposed to use electricity, and I got completely obsessed with that quest for the black coins—well, actually, I guess I was spying in the yard.”

  “In the yard?”

  “I’m the fox,” he said. “In your yard.”

  “The fox?”

  “You kept trying to feed me dog food when you were younger.”

  “I know about the fox. You’re the fox. In the yard.”

  He nodded.

  Maybe that was why some part of me recognized him.

  “And you knew this, Dad?”

  “Yes. I did. You’re handling this really well, by the way.” He stopped writing. “I’m actually really relieved it’s all out in the open. I think you’ll feel a lot better when we’ve all had time to really talk about it. This letter was a good thing, actually. I’d been wondering how to tell you and it just—shoved me off the fence. You and Firian can finally get to know each other.”

  Firian peered in the kitchen. “At this point, it hardly matters,” he said. “Usually, familiars retreat by the time a witch is grown. I would only appear to help Charlotte cast a spell. I’ve just been hanging around to make sure the sealing of her magic ‘took’. So…” He opened the fridge and took out one of my dad’s beers. “Once you’re in college, out in the world for good, I’ll take a step back.”

  “How often has he been over here?” I asked. “Drinking your beer while underage?”

  “I’m not the police,” Dad said. “And—he lives in the backyard. He came over sometimes while you were at school. He watched the movies you won’t watch with me.”

  “You—you—you lied to me? About all of this?”

  “I know,” Dad said. “I just didn’t know how to tell you.”

  “I used to play outside naked while the fox in our yard was actually a boy!”

  Firian took a drink and sauntered over to me, an enticing smile on his perfect lips. I was starting to feel like I probably shouldn’t think he was attractive. “Rage all you like. But your dad was trying to protect you. From things so horrifying that if you saw them once, you would wake up screaming from nightmares for the rest of your life. Your mother flirted with the darkness.” He paused. “More than flirted…”

  “Oh…?”

  “She joined the dark side,” Dad said. “Basically.”

  I was shaken. Dad always told me that Mom left. He was vague about the details, so I had assumed some country song scenario. Another man, a restless heart, that deal. “And we can’t save her?”

  “I can’t,” he said. “I’m human. And you’re a kid. Well, you’re not a kid, I know, but you’re my kid, and I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you too.” His voice was low and intense, and it made my stomach plunge. We were really close. I couldn’t deny that my dad would do absolutely anything to protect me
. It must be torturous, I realized, to lose my mom to some evil force or something, and be helpless to stop it because he was human.

  “I just want you to go to college, and make friends, and enjoy yourself, and be happy. I want to help you set up a house one day. I want to come over and fix your toilet leak. I want you to come over for Thanksgiving for my fried turkey. I want normal shit for you because I love you and that’s the only reason I would ever lie to you.”

  “Okay, Dad. I understand.” I gave him a hug.

  He nodded, and got back to his letter to Merlin College.

  I looked at Firian. “What about you?”

  “I’m coming over for fried turkey this year,” he said.

  Chapter Three

  Charlotte

  I tried to get back to normal after that, just like my dad wanted. I was still heading off to college soon. I had my usual hobbies. But the next time I tried to play my game, I was antsy. I’d been spending years pretending to be this badass dark mage in the game, and my little relationship between Lord Larius and Firia was like a fan fic I was writing.

  But now it was ruined. I knew Firia was really Firian, and…

  Is my mom a real life badass dark mage, then?

  “Where do you actually live?” I asked Firian. He was now invited to dinner with us. “You don’t really live in the backyard, right?”

  “I live in that cabin up on the ridge,” he said, pointing out the window.

  We lived sort of in the middle of nowhere, in the northern part of Georgia, where the Appalachian mountains begin. Dad had grown up in Atlanta, and he always seemed like a city guy, but he also had an antisocial quality that had driven him out here, to a cheap plot of land and a house he fixed up himself. We were surrounded by low, forested mountains and the cabin Firian mentioned was the only house we could see from our own windows. But it was on the next mountain over, and very small.

  “I thought that was a vacation rental,” I said.

  “Sometimes it is,” he said. “I rent out the cabin during the tourist season, and go live in the woods or in the magical realm. I don’t need a lot of money, but that’s just enough.”

  “Can I come over some time?”

  “If you insist. It’s not much.”

  “Well…I don’t insist.” Firian wasn’t that welcoming when I tried to get to know him. I wasn’t sure if I liked having him around or not. I was irritated that he and Dad knew each other already, and although he was willing to answer questions, he didn’t really let me in on his actual life.

  “I don’t know if Firian has much of a life,” Dad said, after Firian had left and he was washing the dishes while I dried. “His life is centered around you, kid. That was how your mom’s familiar was. They’re not really human, they just look human.”

  “Centered around me? Well, then, why wouldn’t he invite me over?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t really understand them.”

  “What was mom’s familiar like?”

  “I hardly ever saw her. She spent most of her time in the ethereal realm. She took the form of a falcon. Real quiet. Your mom didn’t practice magic until right at the end, so she had no reason to ever show up. Usually, when you grow up, your familiar doesn’t hang around unless you need them. So, when you’re in college you probably won’t see Firian again.”

  “Oh.” I bristled. “Why are we even bothering to have him over for dinner, then?”

  “You should get to know him a little bit,” Dad said. “Just in case any trouble ever pops up, he’ll be there for you. He can appear near you, wherever you go. Anyway, you already know him, don’t you? From your game?”

  “That’s…not the same.”

  I thought Firia was my geeky internet boyfriend, which was at least better than nothing. We had spent hours playing the game together and chatting. I didn’t know what to think.

  That weekend, Dad was off working some job—he was a handyman, and sometimes he ended up fixing stuff for people on weekends or at weird hours—and I was home alone. I was antsy, so I made some scones. I was a firm believer in baking as a meditation, but then you had to deal with the aftermath: a big pile of flour, sugar, and butter. So I decided to take a walk to Firian’s cabin.

  That was probably why I made the scones to begin with, I realized. I needed an excuse.

  Outside, the weather was gorgeous. A light breeze stirred the forest around me, and just the right amount of sun filtered through to warm me. I walked down our mountain and then realized that the cabin was farther away than I thought, and also more uphill.

  A fox face peeked out of the brush. “Charlotte?”

  “Gyaah!” I almost dropped the basket of scones. “How did you talk with a fox mouth?”

  “Well, I’m not really a fox. I’m magical.”

  “Riiight…well, I just made a huge batch of scones, so I thought…”

  He transformed, right before my eyes, into a guy again. Thankfully, he was fully dressed, because I could not handle a schlong right now.

  “All of these?” He lifted the cloth covering the scones, and grabbed one to eat now.

  “I thought I could…bring them up to you.”

  He frowned. “There is a reason why I never told you about me,” he said. “You don’t need a familiar. You have a human life ahead of you, and I would just be in the way. It’s best if you don’t have to explain me to anyone. The truth’s out. Good. But we can’t get close.”

  “Why do you and dad get to decide all of this? What if I want to get to know you?”

  “This doesn’t have anything to do with my breathtakingly good looks, does it?” he asked.

  “No!” I might have protested too vigorously. Truth be told, he was even better looking out here in the woods. The light seemed to give his skin and hair a particular glow. His eyes were off the charts gorgeous. He had appeared in a flannel shirt and jeans, which made him seem like an ethereal lumberjack. The shirt was touchably soft. His fingernails were a little pointed like claws. It was a strange combination. He wasn’t classically rugged, but I had no doubt he could chop the hell out of some wood.

  “Because…I could change up my appearance,” he was saying while I had weird fantasies about him swinging an axe into a log.

  “That’s not necessary.”

  “Do you think you could make it up this slope on foot if you tried?”

  “Sure I could. I live on a mountain. I’m in shape.” Admittedly, his mountain was more steep than my mountain.

  He grabbed the basket. “Thanks for the scones. I’ll see you later.” He leapt up the rocks, out of reach.

  “Hey! I didn’t say you could have all of those!” I threw a pinecone at him, and of course, I missed. “Fine. Jerk.”

  I was kicking things on the path as I trekked back up to my own house.

  I’d never asked to have a familiar following me around. Well, he was leaving anyway. Fine.

  I checked the mailbox on my way up. There was another letter from the school.

  Dear Mr. Byrne,

  I’m afraid that one cannot simply opt out of attendance to Merlin College. I do not quite understand what you mean by Char being a ‘girl’, but if your son is ‘transgender’, well, our current policy at Merlin College remains to consider gender assignment based on birth for the purposes of learning magic. The test has already been administered and he has been accepted to the school. We will be sending a vehicle for him, and if he refuses admittance to the school, the council will be paying him a visit, if you understand my meaning. Merlin College is one of the top three schools for warlocks in the entire world, and once an applicant has pledged to attend, there are consequences for refusal. I understand that you are a human so you may not fully appreciate what this means for your son.

  Char WILL attend Merlin College and it will be our pleasure to be his instructors.

  Sincerely,

  Ignatius Blair

  “What the hell?” I said to the empty room.

  This keeps getting weirder. I
didn’t apply to go to this school! They think I was born a boy!?

  Also, I was getting the feeling this was not a campus with like, safe spaces.

  I was starting to feel paranoid. Was I born a boy?

  You are not going to go check. You know you’re a girl. This school is confusing you with someone else.

  An hour later I was knocking on Firian’s door.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah—I—“

  “Can you breathe?”

  “Yeah…”

  “Well, I have to admit, I am mildly impressed you got here at all.” He held open the door. “Come in. Sit down. Deep breaths.” He handed me a cup of water.

  The cabin was nice inside. Very small. Very cabin-y. Like, if you like logs, you’d like the cabin. It had one room on the ground floor and a sleeping loft accessed by a ladder, a wood stove, a tiny kitchen, a couple of large chairs carved from wood with cushions, and a desk with a computer.

  “I got another letter from the Merlin College… It’s really weird.” I handed it to him.

  “Let me see…” He perused. That was definitely the right verb. “Hmm. You’re right. This is very strange.”

  “Are they going to drag me there kicking and screaming?”

  “Only if you plan to kick and scream.” He arched a brow at me.

  “Well—I can’t go.”

  “I guess we’ll see what happens. Someone wants you at this school. Someone forged your acceptance test…somehow.”

  “You think?”

  “I can’t imagine they’re just mixing up names.”

  “Who would do that?”

  “I don’t know.” He paused, folding the letter. “We could take up the matter with the council and fight it. You really had your heart set on going to the University of Georgia, didn’t you?”

  “You’re being sarcastic,” I said.

  Obviously, since I’d known him online for a while, he’d been a witness to the entire college application rigamarole. Dad nagging me about grades and extracurriculars, so I’d be competitive, trying to get scholarships, applying, getting rejected by my top two choices, threatening to go work in retail for the rest of my life, blah blah. It was a pretty familiar story. Dad wanted me to be a more exceptional child than I was. He hadn’t gone to college, he had made some screwed up choices when he was younger, so it took him a while to get this far, ‘this far’ being a small town handyman. He wanted a better life for me.