Fiction: Familiars Parts 4 to 7
Part 4
Cal stood at the open door and looked out at the large, fenced in back yard. There was a couple large trees, one of which had a tire swing. Teddy had talked of putting in gardens and a shed. Cal still wasn't sure that moving into this house with Teddy was a smart idea but it was the best of his choices.
Cal wanted the kittens, no matter that they were so different from him. He knew that others had their doubts about his suitability for raising the kittens. He'd walked into a conversation between Ranel and his brothers at the wrong time and overheard their bitter argument. Cal felt bad that he was the cause of family strife even though Amur had told Cal that he'd been well aware of his brother's view of the non-magical. Amur had admitted to using Cal's situation for his own benefits. Thom, Amur's bonded, had grown up in an non-magical household and Amur was tired of Ranel's offhanded comments around Thom.
Cal had met Thom and his non-magical father Hugh. It had been an eye opening conversation but Cal was glad to have an honest look of what raising magical children would be like for him. Hugh would be a good friend and mentor in the future.
Part 5
Aramis sat and watched The Door. The Door led to Downstairs and Downstairs was Off Limits. Every morning, after a breakfast where he spent more time watching Papa than eating, Teddy unlocked The Door and disappeared Downstairs. Aramis knew that Teddy worked Downstairs but wasn't sure what Work actually was.
Aramis cocked his head as more pretty lights flashed from between the cracks around The Door. He knew from talking to his brothers that only he could see the lights. After seeing the pretty spider in the store, Aramis knew that he saw something called Magical Auras. Aramis had no idea what that meant but it had to be something important because Teddy had spent a long time talking to Ranel's papas about it.
Aramis glanced at his brothers as they came to sit on either side of him.
“More lights?” Porthos asked.
Aramis tilted his head in agreement.
“I wish I could see pretty lights.” Athos sighed.
Aramis ignored his brothers and went back to watching The Door.
Cal grinned at the site of the three kittens sitting and staring at a door. At first Cal had been worried that the kittens would figure out how to open it and get into trouble with the mess of stuff Teddy had down there. Teddy had been quick to reassure Cal that the door was locked by more than just a deadbolt. Cal also knew that whatever Teddy had down there, although dangerous, couldn't be too bad. Teddy had mentioned needing to work elsewhere for a bit next month on things that were too dangerous to bring home. Cal knew Teddy took every precaution possible but sometimes worried about the things Teddy worked on.
Cal's thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang echoing up the stairs. Cal couldn't help but snicker when all three kittens jumped and poofed into balls of fur, even though he had jumped himself. The bang had scared Cal but Cal had learned quickly to not worry over such noises. According to Teddy, if anything serious happened, there were spells in place to contain whatever was happening and bring immediate help. Since no one had turned up unexpectedly, Cal figured the bang was harmless.
Athos and Porthos started up an “I wasn't scared” grooming session but Aramis just sat back down and stared at the door again.
Cal had just relaxed enough to open his book again when Aramis suddenly shot to his feet, hissing at the door. Cal started to ask what was wrong when Aramis leapt at the door.
Cal rushed over, “Aramis, stop it. You can't go down there.”
Aramis ignored Cal and dodged away from the hands trying to grab him. He dove at one of the black tendrils trying to seep through the cracks around the door. This was bad. Whatever Teddy was doing was bad. Aramis had never seen such blackness before, and even worse Aramis had never seen the lights act the way this black stuff was doing. It was as if the black stuff was trying to open the door. One black tendril snuck through the crack at the side of the door and wrapped around the handle. Aramis attacked.
Part 6
Cal grabbed at Aramis again. Somehow Aramis twisted around and avoided Cal's hands. Cal had no idea what was going on and although he could hear the boys yelling in his mind, he couldn't parse a single word. Suddenly the noise in his head seemed to double then hands gripped his shoulders and he was pulled back.
Cal swung around to see who had grabbed him. Griffin stood in front of him, hands still on Cal's shoulder. Cal frowned as he realized that not only was Griffin there, but so was Kellharn, Amur, Thom, Ranel, Warne and all three of Ranel's fathers.
Duke, Thom and Ranel each held a kitten, but Thom was struggling to hold onto a fighting Aramis.
It suddenly clicked in Cal's mind that something must be terribly wrong. If people were suddenly in his house, the back up protection must have gone off.
“What's wrong? What happened?” Cal asked trying not to panic.
“We don't know.” Warne answered. “We were visiting at Amur's place then found ourselves here.”
“We were Pulled.” Balthazar said quietly, “I think one of the kittens Pulled us.”
“You're not here because of the protection spells?”
“Help me,” Thom interrupted, “I can't hold Aramis much longer.”
Cal glanced over to see Thom reach and grab as Aramis tried to leap out of his arms. Cal grabbed Aramis out of Thom's arms. As quickly as he could, Cal grabbed Aramis' back paws in one hand and did his best to grab the front paws in his other hand.
“What is going on?” Cal asked again.
“'Mis says black.”
“'Mis says bad colour.”
“Bad colour. Must stop.”
“What are they talking about?” Duke asked.
“I have no idea, but Aramis suddenly tried to get at the door to downstairs. That's where Teddy's working. There was a bang earlier but that's not unusual. You're not here because of the backup spells in place in case something goes wrong?”
“No. If those spells had gone off, it would have been some of Teddy's co-workers who showed up. They're trained in what to do if that happens. What's going on Aramis? Porthos? Athos?”
Warne spoke up. “I think the most important thing right now is to see what is going on downstairs. Obviously something's happening that shouldn't.”
“Right” Balthazar agreed. “Okay, Warne take Kellharn and see what's going on. Griffin, go with them just in case.”
“Wait.” Amur said from beside Cal, stopping the three men who had moved towards the door. “Aramis sees magical energies. The others mentioned bad colour and black. That means he saw something he didn't like.”
Amur glanced down at the kitten unconscious in Cal's arms, “I had to put him to sleep, it was the only way to calm him down. That means we can't ask him so we need to take as many precautions as we can. Cast as many protection spells as you can before going down there. And go slow.”
“You're right Amur,” Kellharn said, “Let's see what a Seeing spell reveals.”
Now that Aramis wasn't trying to get out of his arms, Cal could think. His thoughts scared him silly.
“The thing that worries me,” Cal stated as calmly as he could, “Is that Teddy has spells set up downstairs to let him know what's going on up here. He'd never ignore Aramis freaking out or you all showing up. That means something happened to Teddy.”
Amur laid a hand on Cal's shoulder, “That's one more reason we need to go slowly and proceed with caution. We need to go down there and see but we need to make sure whatever happened is contained. Especially since the protection spells didn't go off. That means whatever happened is something not accounted for in the spells or is strong enough to knock out all the spells.”
Cal shivered at the implications of Amur's words. He looked around the room and saw the same serious look on everyone's faces. They knew they were in a situation that was potentially very dangerous but were going to do everything in their powers to fix it. Cal was very, very glad that Teddy had such wonderful friends.
Cal looked at the kitten in his arms. Aramis looked so tiny and fragile as he slept a spelled sleep. His brothers looked just as tiny and fragile as Aramis as they sat shivering in the arms of the men here to help them.
Cal walked over to the couch and laid Aramis on a pillow. He walked over to Ranel who had Porthos and Duke, who had Athos. He took his boys from them and sat on the couch beside Aramis. Cal pulled the pillow with Aramis onto his lap. Athos and Porthos curled up on Cal's lap wrapped around their brother.
The only thing Cal could do now was wait. And worry.
Part 7
Cal sat on the couch and petted his boys. Never had he felt so useless. Since the day Teddy had moved into the apartment next to him, Cal had been fascinated by him and by the magic Teddy had used so casually. Magic was a world that lived alongside, around and still a bit apart from the world that Cal had grown up knowing. Until Teddy, Cal had thought that magic was the works of imagination (no matter how much he had wished differently). Meeting Teddy and learning the truth had been like Dorothy opening the door to the land of Oz. Cal's world was suddenly in colour and, while confusing and sometimes scary, it finally felt as if everything made sense.
Cal knew there was no turning back. Even if he didn't have the kittens, or if Teddy was no longer around, Cal would always know that there was more to the world than most other humans. The thought of trying to navigate the world of magic without Teddy as his guide and companion was startlingly devastating. The magical world held little appeal without Teddy by his side.
Cal had known from the start that Teddy liked him. It was pretty obvious. After all, Teddy hadn't shown the other neighbours in the apartment building his magic. Teddy hadn't spent hours discussing how magic worked and fit into a world mostly defined by science with everyone. Teddy hadn't looked at anyone else the way he did Cal.
Cal had been enthralled with all the new knowledge that Teddy shared. He had come to consider Teddy more family than friend. Cal loved Teddy for his kindness, his intelligence, his humour, his generosity. Now, with having to face that something bad had happened and that he might lose Teddy, Cal had to ask himself when loving Teddy had turned into being in love with him.
--
Teddy grimaced as he looked around him. Everything was in shambles. Teddy had been performing basic experiments on a leafy green plant that had been in some swamp somewhere. The wizard who had first found the plant had thought it looked a lot like one of the plants often used in transmutation spells so he had collected some and brought them to the local university. The university had in turn given the plants to the research company that Teddy worked for since none of the university researchers had time for it.
Teddy was responsible for performing the most basic of experiments. He was to mill, grind, heat, and cool the plant to see the changes. He was to make extracts, tisanes and teas from it and mix it with items that would help Teddy identify any magical uses. Since Teddy had received the plant after it had been checked for poisons and the such, Teddy had no problems with working at his home laboratories. He much preferred his private labs since he had complete control as to how it was set up and he didn't have to worry about others leaving a mess behind.
Teddy had already seen what happened when he had frozen the plant and what happened when he had boiled it. He hadn't been prepared for an explosion when he had taken the frozen plant and placed it into boiling water. Nothing in his previous observations would have led him to believe the plant would explode.
Teddy grimaced at the broken lab equipment. That was going to put a dent into his spending allocations. The ruined papers and books were going to be even harder than the equipment to replace.
Teddy leaned down and picked up his chair that was now missing a leg. Good thing Teddy had been able to throw up a barrier spell around himself in time or else he would've been just as broken.
Teddy would have to take his time cleaning his lab. He needed to go through everything and save as much as he could. His cleaning was hampered by the fact that the containment spell had gone off and he was unable to reach the closet where he kept most of the cleaning supplies until the containment field dropped. Since the blast had broken all of his communication mirrors and orbs, Teddy couldn't call to anyone to have them come and break the containment field. Teddy knew that it was a smart idea to have the containment field set to be impossible to break from inside it but it was a pain to have to wait for it to naturally disperse when his communications were knocked out. Hopefully someone at the main office labs quickly realized that they couldn't get in touch with Teddy and came to investigate.
The worst part for Teddy was that he was unable to let Cal know what had happened. He had spent so much time making sure that Cal and the kittens were aware of the dangers of the things he worked with that Teddy knew that Cal would assume everything was alright right up until the Safety Team showed up. Unfortunately while this blast was enough to set off a containment field, it had only set off the small field that surrounded his lab tables and not the larger one that surrounded the entire basement and would call in the Safety Team. Teddy also knew that Cal wouldn't worry about the fact that Teddy hadn't made it upstairs until the morning since it definitely wouldn't be the first time Teddy spent the night working.
Teddy started to pick up the broken test tubes when something grabbed his attention from the corner of his eye. When Teddy turned his head he didn't see anything out of the ordinary but when he looked in that direction out of the corner of his eye, it looked like a black film was creeping over the floor.
Teddy quickly muttered a Seeing spell but he couldn't see any differences. He spoke out a much stronger Seeing spell. Teddy's heart stuttered at what he could now see. It was as if a pool of black, oily energy was spilled in the middle of the floor. Tendrils of it were creeping across the floor and covering everything in it's path. The most worrisome thing was that the pool of energy was on the other side of the containment field. Either the field came up too late or whatever that energy was, the field was unable to stop it.
There was an unknown, black energy snaking it's way up the stairs and Teddy, the only one with the training and knowledge to do something, was stuck behind a containment field unable to send out a warning or a plea for help.
Cal and the kittens would be defenseless.
Cal stood at the open door and looked out at the large, fenced in back yard. There was a couple large trees, one of which had a tire swing. Teddy had talked of putting in gardens and a shed. Cal still wasn't sure that moving into this house with Teddy was a smart idea but it was the best of his choices.
Cal wanted the kittens, no matter that they were so different from him. He knew that others had their doubts about his suitability for raising the kittens. He'd walked into a conversation between Ranel and his brothers at the wrong time and overheard their bitter argument. Cal felt bad that he was the cause of family strife even though Amur had told Cal that he'd been well aware of his brother's view of the non-magical. Amur had admitted to using Cal's situation for his own benefits. Thom, Amur's bonded, had grown up in an non-magical household and Amur was tired of Ranel's offhanded comments around Thom.
Cal had met Thom and his non-magical father Hugh. It had been an eye opening conversation but Cal was glad to have an honest look of what raising magical children would be like for him. Hugh would be a good friend and mentor in the future.
Part 5
Aramis sat and watched The Door. The Door led to Downstairs and Downstairs was Off Limits. Every morning, after a breakfast where he spent more time watching Papa than eating, Teddy unlocked The Door and disappeared Downstairs. Aramis knew that Teddy worked Downstairs but wasn't sure what Work actually was.
Aramis cocked his head as more pretty lights flashed from between the cracks around The Door. He knew from talking to his brothers that only he could see the lights. After seeing the pretty spider in the store, Aramis knew that he saw something called Magical Auras. Aramis had no idea what that meant but it had to be something important because Teddy had spent a long time talking to Ranel's papas about it.
Aramis glanced at his brothers as they came to sit on either side of him.
“More lights?” Porthos asked.
Aramis tilted his head in agreement.
“I wish I could see pretty lights.” Athos sighed.
Aramis ignored his brothers and went back to watching The Door.
Cal grinned at the site of the three kittens sitting and staring at a door. At first Cal had been worried that the kittens would figure out how to open it and get into trouble with the mess of stuff Teddy had down there. Teddy had been quick to reassure Cal that the door was locked by more than just a deadbolt. Cal also knew that whatever Teddy had down there, although dangerous, couldn't be too bad. Teddy had mentioned needing to work elsewhere for a bit next month on things that were too dangerous to bring home. Cal knew Teddy took every precaution possible but sometimes worried about the things Teddy worked on.
Cal's thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang echoing up the stairs. Cal couldn't help but snicker when all three kittens jumped and poofed into balls of fur, even though he had jumped himself. The bang had scared Cal but Cal had learned quickly to not worry over such noises. According to Teddy, if anything serious happened, there were spells in place to contain whatever was happening and bring immediate help. Since no one had turned up unexpectedly, Cal figured the bang was harmless.
Athos and Porthos started up an “I wasn't scared” grooming session but Aramis just sat back down and stared at the door again.
Cal had just relaxed enough to open his book again when Aramis suddenly shot to his feet, hissing at the door. Cal started to ask what was wrong when Aramis leapt at the door.
Cal rushed over, “Aramis, stop it. You can't go down there.”
Aramis ignored Cal and dodged away from the hands trying to grab him. He dove at one of the black tendrils trying to seep through the cracks around the door. This was bad. Whatever Teddy was doing was bad. Aramis had never seen such blackness before, and even worse Aramis had never seen the lights act the way this black stuff was doing. It was as if the black stuff was trying to open the door. One black tendril snuck through the crack at the side of the door and wrapped around the handle. Aramis attacked.
Part 6
Cal grabbed at Aramis again. Somehow Aramis twisted around and avoided Cal's hands. Cal had no idea what was going on and although he could hear the boys yelling in his mind, he couldn't parse a single word. Suddenly the noise in his head seemed to double then hands gripped his shoulders and he was pulled back.
Cal swung around to see who had grabbed him. Griffin stood in front of him, hands still on Cal's shoulder. Cal frowned as he realized that not only was Griffin there, but so was Kellharn, Amur, Thom, Ranel, Warne and all three of Ranel's fathers.
Duke, Thom and Ranel each held a kitten, but Thom was struggling to hold onto a fighting Aramis.
It suddenly clicked in Cal's mind that something must be terribly wrong. If people were suddenly in his house, the back up protection must have gone off.
“What's wrong? What happened?” Cal asked trying not to panic.
“We don't know.” Warne answered. “We were visiting at Amur's place then found ourselves here.”
“We were Pulled.” Balthazar said quietly, “I think one of the kittens Pulled us.”
“You're not here because of the protection spells?”
“Help me,” Thom interrupted, “I can't hold Aramis much longer.”
Cal glanced over to see Thom reach and grab as Aramis tried to leap out of his arms. Cal grabbed Aramis out of Thom's arms. As quickly as he could, Cal grabbed Aramis' back paws in one hand and did his best to grab the front paws in his other hand.
“What is going on?” Cal asked again.
“'Mis says black.”
“'Mis says bad colour.”
“Bad colour. Must stop.”
“What are they talking about?” Duke asked.
“I have no idea, but Aramis suddenly tried to get at the door to downstairs. That's where Teddy's working. There was a bang earlier but that's not unusual. You're not here because of the backup spells in place in case something goes wrong?”
“No. If those spells had gone off, it would have been some of Teddy's co-workers who showed up. They're trained in what to do if that happens. What's going on Aramis? Porthos? Athos?”
Warne spoke up. “I think the most important thing right now is to see what is going on downstairs. Obviously something's happening that shouldn't.”
“Right” Balthazar agreed. “Okay, Warne take Kellharn and see what's going on. Griffin, go with them just in case.”
“Wait.” Amur said from beside Cal, stopping the three men who had moved towards the door. “Aramis sees magical energies. The others mentioned bad colour and black. That means he saw something he didn't like.”
Amur glanced down at the kitten unconscious in Cal's arms, “I had to put him to sleep, it was the only way to calm him down. That means we can't ask him so we need to take as many precautions as we can. Cast as many protection spells as you can before going down there. And go slow.”
“You're right Amur,” Kellharn said, “Let's see what a Seeing spell reveals.”
Now that Aramis wasn't trying to get out of his arms, Cal could think. His thoughts scared him silly.
“The thing that worries me,” Cal stated as calmly as he could, “Is that Teddy has spells set up downstairs to let him know what's going on up here. He'd never ignore Aramis freaking out or you all showing up. That means something happened to Teddy.”
Amur laid a hand on Cal's shoulder, “That's one more reason we need to go slowly and proceed with caution. We need to go down there and see but we need to make sure whatever happened is contained. Especially since the protection spells didn't go off. That means whatever happened is something not accounted for in the spells or is strong enough to knock out all the spells.”
Cal shivered at the implications of Amur's words. He looked around the room and saw the same serious look on everyone's faces. They knew they were in a situation that was potentially very dangerous but were going to do everything in their powers to fix it. Cal was very, very glad that Teddy had such wonderful friends.
Cal looked at the kitten in his arms. Aramis looked so tiny and fragile as he slept a spelled sleep. His brothers looked just as tiny and fragile as Aramis as they sat shivering in the arms of the men here to help them.
Cal walked over to the couch and laid Aramis on a pillow. He walked over to Ranel who had Porthos and Duke, who had Athos. He took his boys from them and sat on the couch beside Aramis. Cal pulled the pillow with Aramis onto his lap. Athos and Porthos curled up on Cal's lap wrapped around their brother.
The only thing Cal could do now was wait. And worry.
Part 7
Cal sat on the couch and petted his boys. Never had he felt so useless. Since the day Teddy had moved into the apartment next to him, Cal had been fascinated by him and by the magic Teddy had used so casually. Magic was a world that lived alongside, around and still a bit apart from the world that Cal had grown up knowing. Until Teddy, Cal had thought that magic was the works of imagination (no matter how much he had wished differently). Meeting Teddy and learning the truth had been like Dorothy opening the door to the land of Oz. Cal's world was suddenly in colour and, while confusing and sometimes scary, it finally felt as if everything made sense.
Cal knew there was no turning back. Even if he didn't have the kittens, or if Teddy was no longer around, Cal would always know that there was more to the world than most other humans. The thought of trying to navigate the world of magic without Teddy as his guide and companion was startlingly devastating. The magical world held little appeal without Teddy by his side.
Cal had known from the start that Teddy liked him. It was pretty obvious. After all, Teddy hadn't shown the other neighbours in the apartment building his magic. Teddy hadn't spent hours discussing how magic worked and fit into a world mostly defined by science with everyone. Teddy hadn't looked at anyone else the way he did Cal.
Cal had been enthralled with all the new knowledge that Teddy shared. He had come to consider Teddy more family than friend. Cal loved Teddy for his kindness, his intelligence, his humour, his generosity. Now, with having to face that something bad had happened and that he might lose Teddy, Cal had to ask himself when loving Teddy had turned into being in love with him.
--
Teddy grimaced as he looked around him. Everything was in shambles. Teddy had been performing basic experiments on a leafy green plant that had been in some swamp somewhere. The wizard who had first found the plant had thought it looked a lot like one of the plants often used in transmutation spells so he had collected some and brought them to the local university. The university had in turn given the plants to the research company that Teddy worked for since none of the university researchers had time for it.
Teddy was responsible for performing the most basic of experiments. He was to mill, grind, heat, and cool the plant to see the changes. He was to make extracts, tisanes and teas from it and mix it with items that would help Teddy identify any magical uses. Since Teddy had received the plant after it had been checked for poisons and the such, Teddy had no problems with working at his home laboratories. He much preferred his private labs since he had complete control as to how it was set up and he didn't have to worry about others leaving a mess behind.
Teddy had already seen what happened when he had frozen the plant and what happened when he had boiled it. He hadn't been prepared for an explosion when he had taken the frozen plant and placed it into boiling water. Nothing in his previous observations would have led him to believe the plant would explode.
Teddy grimaced at the broken lab equipment. That was going to put a dent into his spending allocations. The ruined papers and books were going to be even harder than the equipment to replace.
Teddy leaned down and picked up his chair that was now missing a leg. Good thing Teddy had been able to throw up a barrier spell around himself in time or else he would've been just as broken.
Teddy would have to take his time cleaning his lab. He needed to go through everything and save as much as he could. His cleaning was hampered by the fact that the containment spell had gone off and he was unable to reach the closet where he kept most of the cleaning supplies until the containment field dropped. Since the blast had broken all of his communication mirrors and orbs, Teddy couldn't call to anyone to have them come and break the containment field. Teddy knew that it was a smart idea to have the containment field set to be impossible to break from inside it but it was a pain to have to wait for it to naturally disperse when his communications were knocked out. Hopefully someone at the main office labs quickly realized that they couldn't get in touch with Teddy and came to investigate.
The worst part for Teddy was that he was unable to let Cal know what had happened. He had spent so much time making sure that Cal and the kittens were aware of the dangers of the things he worked with that Teddy knew that Cal would assume everything was alright right up until the Safety Team showed up. Unfortunately while this blast was enough to set off a containment field, it had only set off the small field that surrounded his lab tables and not the larger one that surrounded the entire basement and would call in the Safety Team. Teddy also knew that Cal wouldn't worry about the fact that Teddy hadn't made it upstairs until the morning since it definitely wouldn't be the first time Teddy spent the night working.
Teddy started to pick up the broken test tubes when something grabbed his attention from the corner of his eye. When Teddy turned his head he didn't see anything out of the ordinary but when he looked in that direction out of the corner of his eye, it looked like a black film was creeping over the floor.
Teddy quickly muttered a Seeing spell but he couldn't see any differences. He spoke out a much stronger Seeing spell. Teddy's heart stuttered at what he could now see. It was as if a pool of black, oily energy was spilled in the middle of the floor. Tendrils of it were creeping across the floor and covering everything in it's path. The most worrisome thing was that the pool of energy was on the other side of the containment field. Either the field came up too late or whatever that energy was, the field was unable to stop it.
There was an unknown, black energy snaking it's way up the stairs and Teddy, the only one with the training and knowledge to do something, was stuck behind a containment field unable to send out a warning or a plea for help.
Cal and the kittens would be defenseless.