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She sneered. “Charlie? Traveling around the realms? What a thought.” Her laughter was cruel, and my stomach dropped. Talking with her was like playing Russian roulette. One moment, everything is fine, if not a little tense, and the next she says something so … wrong. It made me wonder which was the real Karin.
“That’s the second disparaging thing you’ve said about him. Why is your opinion so low?” My hands clenched around my cup tightly, and anger bubbled under the surface of my skin.
She shrugged. “He’s just very immature. You should have seen him in the library yesterday. He was so bored he was flirting with me to get out of reading.”
I huffed and slammed my cup on the side table. “You’re wrong about him, and whether you think he was flirting or not, nothing else would have ever happened. He’s with me.”
She raised her brow at the mug. “Finish your tea.”
The fact she completely ignored my statement told me she didn’t believe it, which only made me angrier.
Gritting my teeth, I stood up and said, “I think I should go.”
“Because you don’t like my opinion of Charlie?” She blocked my path as I headed to the door. “You could do so much better than him. Have a witch that knows what they are doing. That can support you on your adventures. I’ve read so much about the other realms. Did you know there is an island in Álfheimr that is completely underwater? It’s—“
I blinked in confusion and interrupted, “Karin. None of that matters. It’s not what I want—“
“You don’t?” Her eyes lightened, and I felt even more confused as she continued brightly, “Oh, well, that’s even better, then. You could be a cat again—“
I held up a hand as I interrupted again. “What are you talking about? I can be a cat whenever I want.”At least, I could before. Who knows how my cycle has affected me.
“If you don’t want to travel the realms, then we could just have everything could go back to normal …” She was speaking fast, and my brain couldn’t process the words. Nothing was making sense.
Why does it feel as though we are speaking different languages?
Words poured out of me, stopping her in the middle of whatever she’d been saying. “Karin, nothing can go back to normal. My normal was licking my fur and watching Call the Midwives on the television because it reminded me of my past. I’m human again now. I have men that love me and want to be with me. I get to talk to other people again and feel like I’m more than the magic I have. All of that isn’t something I want to give up. Too much has happened to go back.” I took a deep breath but pressed on before she could interrupt again. “And I was trying to say that I don’t want a witch to support me on our adventures. I have a witch. I have Charlie, and whether he can offer magical support to us is irrelevant. I need him for more than magic. Just as he needs me for more. We love each other.”
“You love each other.” She repeated the words like I was her love interest in a film and I was trying to let her down.
She stumbled back, her face blank but her fists clenched.
“Yes. I thought you knew that. I told you about them, him.” I don’t know why I felt sorry for her. We barely knew each other, but it felt cruel to leave her when she was clearly upset. I approached her like I might approach a cornered animal. “Where has all this come from?” I asked carefully.
Her lips tightened before she announced, “I want you to be my familiar.”
My silence was stunned. “Well, I’m flattered, but I can’t be anyone else’s familiar. I’m Charlie’s. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still be friends.”
“Friends?” She scoffed. “Friends can’t share magic.”
“So you only want me for the magic I could give you.” I had to sit down, as my legs suddenly went weak. Disappointment and anger had that effect on a person. Or so I thought.
“We could do such amazing things together.” She paced in front of me, seeming to blur with how fast she moved.
“Like what? Cure cancer? Take over the world? What do you need magic for? You’ve never left this island.” I tried to wave my hand, but all my energy seemed to have been zapped from me. The previous day had been long and draining, so I wasn’t surprised, but my lethargy couldn’t have come at a worse time. I needed to leave.
“Charlie, come and get me. You were right. Karin is being really strange. She seems to think you and she can be my witches.”
But Charlie didn’t reply, and as I reflected on my words, I realized I was wrong. Karin didn’t think she and Charlie could be my witches. She was smart. She no doubt knew how familiars were created. She also knew Winnie had died for Charlie to take over as my witch.
A sharp inhale drew her gaze to me. She asked, “Has it worked? The tea?”
The painkiller tea. My eyes shifted to the cup, and hurt reverberated through me. It was almost exactly the same situation I had with Winnie, and for the second time in this life, I’d trusted a witch, only for them to drug me and attempt to hurt someone I cared for.
No more taking food or drink from witches.
“Is that why I can’t move?” I asked weakly.
She didn’t respond but began gathering things, and I knew she was about to start the second part of her plan. Kill Charlie.Distract her. Stop her.
