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Hugo braces himself and raises his hands. A blue spark appears on the tip of his ring finger, and he flicks it to his opposite hand, bouncing the magic back and forth until a glowing net forms.
While not complicated, he weaves in enough lines to hold it together. At Savannah’s go-ahead, he pushes it at me, his face tense with concentration.
The net spreads as it flies through the air, making it harder to dodge, but also expanding the gaps between the threads.
Ducking my head, I hop through the center.
Hugo’s shoulders slump, and he glances at his classmates. Behind me, the spell shifts, a blue glow catching in the corner of my eye, streaking toward the other students.
Heart in my throat, I throw a shield up in front of the bleachers, and the net collides with it, breaking apart.
Hugo’s eyes widen in horror. “Oh my gods, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that!”
“That’s okay!” Savannah slaps him on the back. “That’s why Mr. Boru is here! Next time, remember to release the spell before you shift your focus.”
He hangs his head. “Yes, ma’am.”
She gazes out over the frightened faces of her students and smiles. “In future lessons, we’ll also learn how to throw spells without looking at our target.”
A purple ball of magic whizzes toward my head, and I jump out of the way. It slams into the wall behind me.
Hugo’s head lifts, and he giggles, the sound chasing away the moment of gloom in the room.
“See?” Eyes fixed on the class, Savannah throws another. “This way, your target doesn’t see it coming.”
The kids laugh as I hop around the arena, dodging small exploding balls, while Savannah makes a show of examining every part of the room except where I dance.
Finally, the bell chimes to signal the end of my torment, and I catch my breath as the students hurry from the room.
I press a hand over my racing heart as I join her. “Thank goodness this class only meets once a week.”
Her smile drops, and she turns to frown at me. “You’re still holding back.”
I raise my palms in self-defense. “This is still unknown territory. Familiars haven’t bonded with witches since the ley lines moved during the Great War.”
Her hands move to her hips. “What are you going to do if Orianna is out of reach when you need magic fast? You’re too reliant on having to touch her to access the ley lines.”
Defensiveness builds tension in my body. “I did it earlier, didn’t I?”
“That means you can do it all the time, and you’re too much in your head about this.” Her eyes narrow. “You’re worse than a second-year student.”
My mouth opens and then closes.
She’s not wrong. I’m the most powerful—and only—soul witch in existence, but when working with a familiar, I’m starting from ground zero.
I need to figure this out soon, because Orianna won’t be the first and last. She may be the ex-spirit servant of a minor god, but back in the day, familiars were more common.
We can’t have our students bonding with woodland creatures before we know how to train them to work together.
I let out a heavy sigh. “I’ll go meditate for a while.”
“Yeah, you go do that.” Savannah’s tone implies that was obvious. “I’ll get the plaster out and fix these holes I made because someone decided to play hide and seek instead of defend and conquer.”
Properly chastised, I walk over to Orianna and rub her pointy ears. “We can figure this out, right, girl?”
She licks my fingers in agreement.
I wipe the slobber off on my pant leg. “Sure would have been nice if you came with a manual, though.”
