The man paused a second. It went so quiet I wasn’t sure if I’d given him a heart attack or something. “Come now, Charlie,” the old man said. “There’s no reason to fear me. Put the knife away.”
“Put it away?” I balked. “I don’t know who the hell you are. How do you know my name?”
“I’ve known about you for a long time, Charlie,” he said.
I racked my brain, trying to place the voice. I knew a lot of people from being shuffled around between foster homes when I was a kid, but surely none of them cared enough to come find me. Not like anyone had a reason.
“You’re not a cop, are you?” I accused.
The man chuckled. “No, not a cop at all. Just a hungry old man looking for a sandwich. You hungry?”
He took a bite, then held the sandwich out so close to me I could feel him.
I curled my nose up. “No, thanks. Who are you—?”
Oberi cut me off by giving a happy bark and skirting around me into the kitchen. He went over to the man like he knew him, making gross licking noises with his tongue.
“Oh, this must be your Familiar!” the old man said, like we were two old friends catching up. I was caught off guard, to say the least.
“Familiar?” I questioned. What was he talking about?
The man spoke to Oberi like he hadn’t heard me. “You want a sandwich, buddy? Here you go. Just a bite.”
“Hey, don’t feed my dog that,” I objected, but he must’ve not heard me, because Oberi wolfed the thing down in seconds.
He scratched Oberi behind the ears. “You’re a long way from home, aren’t you? Yes, you are.”
The man seemed harmless, and Oberi appeared to trust him, so I lowered my weapon.
“Will you stop talking to my dog like he’s an infant?” I demanded. “What are you doing here?”
The man straightened. “Yes, of course. You must be so confused. Why don’t we sit down and talk?”
“I don’t want to sit down,” I growled. “Tell me what the hell’s going on.”
The man took a deep breath, then tapped his fingers on the counter. “Let me ask you this. Have you noticed anything strange lately?”
“Yeah. There’s a weird old dude in my kitchen,” I stated flatly.
“I mean since your Familiar arrived,” he said.
I furrowed my brow. “My Familiar?”
“Yes. Perhaps you’ve noticed… powers.”
“Powers?” I repeated. “Okay, grandpa. You gotta go.”
“But you need to hear this, Charlie!” he protested. “Your father had the power to control Air, which means you can, too!”
I was just about to grab the guy and shove him out the door, but what he said made me pause. I instantly thought of what happened the night I found Oberi, how I’d blasted the three men back with no explanation. Had I been controlling the air around them?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.
“Yes, you do,” he argued. “I saw it in your eyes just now. You’ve used your Air magic before, haven’t you?”
“I don’t believe in magic,” I told him, but it felt like coughing up rocks. Something about saying that out loud felt wrong.
“Please listen to me, Charlie,” he insisted. “My name is Professor Elliot Baine. I’m an Elementai, like you.”
I took a step back. “Elementai?”
The man was talking crazy. And yet… I swore I’d heard the word before.
“Please, if you’d just sit down, I’d like to explain. I want to help,” he assured me.
Like hell. The only people who ever said I want to help only wanted to help themselves. Another lesson I’d learned the hard way. Marty had been the only person I ever met who meant it. He was a true friend up until the day he died.
But this old man was a stranger. Surely he had ulterior motives.
And yet… he had me intrigued. Something had happened the night I met Oberi, and I hadn’t been able to explain it. Hell, there was a lot about my life I couldn’t explain.
“Let me prove it,” he insisted. He walked over to the sink and turned on the faucet while he spoke. “I’m Toaqua, which means I can control Water.”
I jumped when something cold touched my arm. I swiped at it, only to realize that it was water. The water droplets washed away, only to return a moment later. They crawled over my skin, then soaked into my shirt. It was freaking eerie, like the water had a mind of its own. A moment later, the water was being sucked out of my shirt, and the fabric went dry again. The water wrapped around my arm like a snake. As it slithered away, I reached out a hand and discovered that it was floating in mid-air.
I stood there, mouth agape, unable to believe what he’d just done. Magic? Could it be true?
“Fine,” I agreed. “Tell me everything.”
I couldn’t believe I was actually welcoming this stranger into my home. Had I gone insane?
The old man— Professor Baine— and I left the kitchen and sat in the living room. Oberi lay at my feet.
“Like I said, I’m an Elementai,” Professor Baine started. “We’re a group of supernaturals who are able to manipulate the elements— Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Spirit.”
I scoffed. “Spirit— like healing?”
“Exactly.”
“If you’re offering to heal me, you can go fuck yourself,” I snarled. I didn’t need to be able to see to have worth in this freaking world. I was blind, but that didn’t matter. I still meant something.
“No, no, you misunderstand,” he said calmly. “Even if we wanted to, our healing wouldn’t help with your… condition. It doesn’t work that way. I’m here because you were born in our society, Charlie, and we’ve been looking for you for a long time.”
“I… what?”
“You were taken away and put into foster care when you were only a toddler,” he continued. “That was back during the Hawkei Civil War, when your parents were arrested for treason—”
“Hawk-eye what? Back up, old man,” I insisted. “You’ll have to start from the beginning— if I’m even going to entertain what you’re saying at all.”
Professor Baine took a deep breath. His words came out sounding thoughtful. “The beginning… okay. The Hawkei are a Native American tribe living in Northern California. Long ago, when the colonizers waged war on us, our ancestors granted us magical powers to protect ourselves. We were split into five Houses, named for each of the five elements. Children are born into the House of their parents, as they will inherit the same type of magic. With this blessing also came magical creatures, which we were tasked with protecting and caring for. Some of these magical creatures bond with us. They are our other halves, our soul and the source of our powers. We call them Familiars.”
My brow furrowed the more he spoke. It was a fun story, but it couldn’t be true. “And Oberi is my… Familiar?” I questioned hesitantly.
“Yes,” Professor Baine confirmed. “He is bonded to you now. If one of you dies, you both die.”
My heart jumped at the thought. I could be gone tomorrow, and Oberi would perish with me? That didn’t seem fair.