Page 128 of Catalyst

I continued to bat witches away and smash jars, but I noted that many of them were attacking Daithi’s magic-made dragon illusion.

“That’s not a real dragon, you fools! You’re being tricked by the faei! Attack the human smashing the jars!” Deb ordered.

Too bad for Debs that I only had a few more jars left. “Fuck you, Debs,” I shouted and swung my bat around. As the last jar smashed to the ground, I was already running, leaving the devastated witches in my dust.

“Daithi, get home!” I shouted. I wanted him to be there when Savida awoke, and I needed to get Clawdia and Zaide so we could meet him back at the apartment. He turned and nodded before darting into the treeline, leaving the illusion to distract the witches.

After two minutes of pegging it, I realized my findy powers had kicked in and I was actually heading in the right direction to the car.

I stopped dead when I heard a scream. “Charlie!”

Zaide.

I raced out of the tree line and onto the road until I saw the silver glint of the rental car.

As I approached, I knew it was bad. Blood had trickled a foot away and dried on the asphalt in thin red lines. Peeking around the car, I let out a pained moan at the sight. Winnie was lying with her throat cut wide open, Clawdia curled up next to her, and Zaide was holding Clawdia’s hand like it was the only thing he had left. Their clothes and skin dripped with blood.

I dropped next to them as adrenaline kept me powering through this latest life-fuck. “What happened?”

Zaide was unnaturally calm. “She is holding on to our bond, but her witch has already passed. She is a familiar, and despite my bond with her, she needs a new witch.”

My mind raced. “Fuck. Okay. I can run—”

He turned to look at me. His purple eyes pulsed, and I was trapped in his gaze. “Charlie, you are a witch.”

“Not a pissing practicing one,” I hissed.

“No. But you can do this. You can save her.”

I shook my head. I wanted to help her more than life itself. I looked down at her and saw death coloring her already pale skin gray. Her lips, usually red raw from her biting them, were blue. Blood drenched her hair, her clothes.

Tears welled in my eyes. I whispered, “How the hell do I make her my familiar? I don’t know the first thing about being a witch.”

“Charlie, just touch her,” he growled, losing his patience.

I touched her.

“She’s cold. Should she be cold?” I was panicking.

“Charlie, concentrate.”

“I’m trying. Nothing is happening.” But I wasn’t trying anything. I wasn’t concentrating on anything except that Clawdia was dying. I was failing. My heart raced, and thoughts bounced around my head too quickly for me to catch a look.

“Close your eyes,” Zaide growled, and I did as he said. I heard him take a calming breath before continuing, “Imagine you can see a thread coming from her heart. It is gold, like the color of her hair, and is moving toward you.”

Like being hypnotized, I followed his every word, every instruction. I pictured the scene as it was in my head; Clawdia covered in blood, cold, dead. I imagined that from her chest, a gold strand emerged. It shimmered and waved and danced and glinted in the sunlight. I could feel its power; its innocent display didn’t fool me.

I glared at it. It unsettled me. I wanted to open my eyes so I couldn’t see it again.

Zaide said, “I don’t want you to be afraid of it. It is the bond. I want you to reach for it and allow it to reach for you.”

I understood why it scared me. Permanency. It was something I had never had before. I didn’t believe in it. I didn’t look for it. I lived with as few deep connections to the world as I could get away with.

But I wanted to be a permanent part of Clawdia’s life.

I reached for it, and it shimmed away. Frowning, I went still and willed it closer instead. After three breaths—each one becoming filled with more urgency and more panic as the strand didn’t edge closer to me—finally, it shivered and lay itself flat on my open hand. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and closed my hand around the bond, already feeling stronger.

“I have it,” I told Zaide in a trance-like voice I didn’t recognize.

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