Familiar's Calling - The Bond
Chapter 2 - Council Summons

Jinx sighed as he wandered into his assigned accommodations half an hour later. He looked around at the modest little flat, identical to the other unassigned familiar’s flats. A small, simple, single bed lay in a corner so the assigned familiar, in this case Jinx, could fall asleep in either animal or human form. He hopped up on the bed with little effort and settled down, his paws tucked underneath him, and surveyed the room. Everything was where he had left it when he went to live with Jessie all those months ago. Those had been fun months, guiding and teaching Jessie, fooling around with him in off hours. But here he was again, in the same simple, albeit comfortable, bed, surrounded by modest furnishings that were as rigid and simple as the council themselves. Sighing to himself, and thinking about Jessie lying in a hospital somewhere, Jinx slowly began to succumb to exhaustion. His eyes fought to stay open, opening and closing several times before finally staying closed. His head drooped forwards until his nose hit the blanket on the still-made bed, and he was out like a light.

The next morning, he rolled onto his side, stretching his four limbs out, his claws extending briefly before retracting, and yawning. He laid still in a stretched position and looked at the opposite wall where a cold, steel-rimmed clock ticked away the moments he had left before his hearing. After taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling, the intrepid feline rolled back onto his front and stood up on the bed before jumping down to the floor. He wandered to where his morning meal had been delivered, as per usual, and attempted to choke down a few bites. As he ate, thoughts whirled through his mind.

Would he be stripped of his status as a familiar? Reassigned to a new charge? Put on probation?

There had been two others assigned to Jinx before Jessie. While neither of them had been as severely injured as Jessie had been, he hadn’t exactly toed the line as to the rules regarding non true-match pairings. A true match was something sacred, a special bond. He had walked that fine line so closely so many times that he had, on occasion, flitted across it. With Jessie, he’d allowed a mismatched witch to glimpse his human form. While none of his previous charges had ever seen more than a glimpse, or hazy look, at his human form, it was not something the council took lightly.

Such as it was, he had known that this hearing was going to happen from the moment he heard Jessie scream in that ball of light. The fact that he had lost control and shapeshifted in front of him at any distance only made matters worse. He finished eating and sat back on his haunches, staring at the food that remained in his dish.

Well, he thought, no use delaying the inevitable.

With that he stood, stretched one last time, and headed out the door, through the liminal space this series of flats existed in and out into the real world. Out in the world Jinx had to act distinctly cat-like - there was no stopping to read a newspaper or to have a conversation with a passing dog-familiar. Not with witches themselves being subjected to persecutions and witch hunts again. The last thing the familiar’s council needed or wanted was to be discovered and hunted down like the witches. No this was one rule that Jinx had no intention of breaking, by accident or otherwise.

So he trotted down the street, tail in the air and curled in a question mark, acting like a friendly stray cat rubbing the scent glands in his cheeks against random legs, receiving a good natured pat on the head. He soon reached the small alleyway between a restaurant and hardware store on Church Street and slipped down it. The concealed entrance to the council chambers, and the liminal space it resided in, was located behind a large dumpster. The problem today was there were a group of men who were almost certainly witch hunters at the end of the alleyway not so far from the dumpster in question.

He froze in his tracks upon seeing them. He would have liked nothing more than to scratch their eyes out for what they had done to countless witches; however, he knew better. He had to act like a normal stray cat. So as disgusting as he found it, he hopped up on the dumpster and made it look like he was searching for food; prowling along the edge of the dumpster sniffing it occasionally. As he did so, the muttering from the group of hunters stopped and out of the corner of his eye he saw one point at him. Pulling out all the stops, he stood proudly, tail in the air and curled, and he meowed in an “I’m hungry, feed me, human!” sort of way. He tilted his head at the group curiously, as if wondering what they were doing in his favourite dinner location. They seemed to feel that the location was no longer safe to talk in if random, well-groomed animals were happening upon them, and moved to exit the alleyway. One of them reached up to scratch him under the chin as he passed, and Jinx happily obliged him with a warning smack on the hand with his paw.

Once he was certain they were gone, he remained on the edge of the dumpster occasionally batting at the bags within as if trying to replace food. Finally, he hopped down in disgust and proceeded around the corner of the dumpster towards the entrance to the liminal space.

This particular entrance was hidden by a curiously round pressure stone on the wall. Jinx lifted his right front paw to it and pressed in. There was a barely discernible hum as the wall became the entrance, allowing Jinx to step forward and walk right through the wall, disappearing through it. As soon as he crossed the threshold, the hum ceased, and the wall re-solidified. After a backwards glance at the reformed wall, Jinx sighed mentally and continued down the hallway leading to the far too familiar council chambers.

He had just rounded the corner into the corridor that would end in the council chambers when a large shadow crossed his path, and following that, a large dog. Jinx sighed, he didn’t even need to look up to know who was now panting noisily in front of him.

*

Good morning, Bruno, he sighed as he looked up reluctantly at the massive rottweiler in front of him, sitting back on his haunches.

Bruno snorted, Well, good morning to you as well, Jinx, he stressed his name with a tone of amusement Heard you lived up to your name again. Got another witch hurt.

He bit back the retort he wanted to say and simply replied, There was an accident, yes.

Bruno sniggered, which sounded like a growl coming from him. You always have been a jinx, stressed his name like a joke again. I don’t know why the council keeps putting up with you, he sneered down at Jinx, whose right ear, the one with the crescent moon birthmark, twitched unconsciously.

Bruno noticed the twitch and smirked again, Ah, that’s right, he mocked, You’re a chosen one - one of those special marked for a greater destiny. Too bad they can’t replace your true match.

Bruno smirked as he taunted Jinx, stressing the words ‘one of those’ when talking about the type of destiny Jinx’s special birthmark foretold. No one but the Dozhan, the keeper of the records, knew who Jinx was meant to be matched to. A true match was something that was meant to be found at a specific time, for a specific reason, and Bruno knew this perfectly well. Jinx knew he was just trying to goad him into a fight, and so he ignored these remarks about his history and his unknown destiny as best he could.

My true match will reveal him or herself to me when he or she is meant to. You know this perfectly well, Bruno, Jinx replied stiffly. Now if you do not mind, he began before he skirted quickly around Bruno, I have a hearing I need to be on time for. With that, he trotted up the corridor, leaving Bruno dumbfounded and sitting in the middle of the corridor.

Jinx smirked back at him briefly, just before he entered the council chambers.

Jinx! Elias, Chazrin of the council, called as he entered the chambers, You are very nearly late! Jinx hurried up to where he was supposed to sit before Elias and the Chelaran.

*

I apologize Chazrin, I was held up by a fellow familiar, a he explained. However, I am here now, your eminence. He bowed to Elias with a dip of his head. Honoured Chelaran. He dipped his head to the council.

Elias seemed to consider him for a moment and then simply bowed his silvery-grey head back to him.

Yes, well you know why you are here, Jinx. We need to discuss the events that landed your temporary match, Jessie Lehman, in such grave peril, Elias began with a stern look on his face.

He shifted nervously. He hoped Jessie was all right, however, to the council he simply nodded.

Elias continued, The facts gathered from the trial of cooperation are thus: That while you successfully guided your charge through the first tasks with minimal errors, upon reaching the final task of patience and sacrifice, you did leave your charge’s side - leaving him unprotected. That you did willingly show your human form to a witch who you knew was not your true match. How do you plead?

He swallowed nervously, he knew this was all true but he also knew there were extenuating circumstances to the second charge.

I plead guilty to the first charge. I admit I acted rashly and with a degree of impatience. He swallowed nervously again. However, to the second charge I plead not guilty. I did not willingly transform - my… emotional state caused me to lose control he finished, a hint of defiant anger that he was clever enough to hide flashing in his eyes.

Elias considered him with a tilt of his head, scrutinizing this young familiar before him that he knew had a great, unknown destiny. Then he spoke: That may be true Jinx, but young as you are, you should be able to better control such emotions.

He shifted uncomfortably, embarrassed at this.

For someone, such as yourself, to be marked for such greatness, he indicated his ear which twitched subconsciously again, you must learn to control yourself better. Elias stretched his neck out, shifting his position. We really should suspend you from services as a familiar for these constant foul-ups.

He hung his head shamefully, his tail curled protectively around him.

However, Elias began, which made Jinx look up. The Dozhan has seen fit to remind me that you carry a destiny greater than any familiar before you. That you and the witch you are meant to be paired with will do important things that no other pair will be able to achieve. Here, he sneered slightly at the thought of the Dozhan’s cryptic nature. Therefore, this council has decided that until such time as your true match reveals him or herself, you will not be assigned a charge.

He stared at the council, slightly confused. You mean… I don’t have to work under mismatched conditions? he queried.

Elias nodded. Yes, the council feels that this destiny the Dozhan keeps stressing to us is of greater importance than pairing you with just any witch for the sake of a trial. He stared at him sternly. However, I do not want you to slack off during whatever period of time elapses as you wait for your true match. You are to practice and exercise your powers so that when that time comes you will be ready; is that understood?

He nodded quickly. Yes, Chazrin! Yes my liege, he replied.

Elias nodded back. Then you are dismissed, Jinx, and may your true match reveal him or herself soon.

He quickly rose to his feet as the council rose and filed out of the room. Once the door shut behind them he turned and hurried from the room, tail high in the air.

*

Twenty minutes later, after a rather uneventful and leisurely jaunt through downtown Salem, Jinx was hurrying into his small flat.

What a strange outcome. I never expected this! he thought as he jumped onto the bed and stretched out. What could I possibly be destined to do, and who could I possibly be connected so strongly to that the Dozhan himself would pressure the council to keep me on?

He pondered the thoughts whirling around inside his brain for the next few days, wondering when his true match would show him or herself, where they were, what their meeting would be like, and - above all else - what this great destiny that everyone was so keen to respect might entail. He often found himself looking in the mirror, inspecting the small crescent moon shape that had been there since he was a kitten, since before he entered into the life of a familiar. What did it mean? Did anyone else have such markings? *

As these questions whirled around in Jinx’s brain, in his future home, right there in Salem, Massachusetts, mere city blocks away, twelve-year-old Krista Braddock was wondering these same things and more.

It had been three years since her telekinetic powers had revealed themselves and the witches’ and familiars’ councils alike could not replace her true match, her familiar. The girl with the crescent moon birthmark on her shoulder was waiting, just like the black cat known as Jinx, to replace her one true match, to finally set out on her fabled destiny. Little did either of them know that the time of their meeting was closer than they ever could have imagined.