“Helena, I’m here!” he said.
“I didn’t call you!”
“I know. But you never do, so what else is new? We’re here to help you fight.”
He was grinning at her, and it was strange, because Bernard never called me to help him fight either, but the vibe between Bevan and his witch was completely different. They were trusting and friendly—just independent. Although I wished I had a wizard to serve who seemed to care about me, I also didn’t like seeing Bevan so close with his witch.
“Do you have a crush on him?” Henrietta whispered behind me.
I jumped. “No! No! That’s—silly. Familiars don’t get crushes!”
“Admittedly I didn’t know we could have crushes on other familiars, but lots of familiars have crushes on their warlock,” Henrietta said. “And you keep staring at him with dreamy eyes.”
“I do not! I—I would not have a crush on another familiar.” My insides filled with very unfamiliar feelings that were both fluttery and nauseated, and I tried not to look at Bevan anymore, but it was hard. He was talking to his witch and now they walked into the house together. I thought that to be a familiar was to be a loyal servant to a warlock, but Bevan and Helena looked like equals to each other. He looked so relaxed, and he was taller than her, almost like he could have been her older brother.
“He brought a lot of backup!” Henrietta said.
We must have had a hundred familiars with us now, and if nothing else, that showed that having a crush on Bevan was stupid. He probably could hardly remember all of our names.
“Oh shit!” someone yelled. The air behind us was shimmering again, and now my fluttery stomach did a back flip as a second wave of council guards appeared.
Bernard…
He’s here.
I knew it instantly. I felt him.
I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to hide, but I also felt sure he would know, no matter where I hid. The council guard had barely materialized before they started taking shots at us. The new crop of familiars was getting blasted with fire and lightning before they had even gotten their bearings. Most of them went into an immediate panic and started retreating in their animal forms into the bushes and trees.
“Get the familiars if they stand in your way,” said the leader of the guard, a thin blonde man with a scarred face and cold blue eyes. “But don’t lose focus. We’re here for the artifacts.”
This is bad. This group seemed more elite than the first. I could feel that their power was stronger. And all the familiars weren’t putting up enough of a fight. Helena, Bevan and their friends were still in the house. They were counting on us and we were getting slaughtered.
I quickly slipped into toad form so Bernard wouldn’t see me and cast a spell toward the door of the house, trying to repel them from entrance. It took a lot out of me. That would probably only buy a minute or two.
“Henrietta! Shawnda! Bjorn! We need to do another defensive spell together, and fast!”
“Are you kidding me?” Henrietta cried. “We’re useless! They’re shooting us down like flies!”
“Only because we’re running!” I insisted. “We could at least try and not give in ahead of time! Come on!”
She was still in human form. She looked at my little toad body and just sagged into the grass, playing dead. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m not going to die because you have a crush on Bevan.”
“It’s not that!” I fumed. “They’re trying to help keep the gates open to Etherium so we’ll be free forever and we have to try! Or all of this was pointless!”
I could see she was hopeless. I looked to Bjorn and I didn’t even see him. I guess he’d run away in his prairie dog form.
“Charge them! Get the map!” the blonde councilman yelled, and I saw the council guard rushing toward the door of the house to attack Bevan and the others.
I transformed back into a girl and rushed toward them, hardly knowing what I would do.
I met Bernard’s eyes.
He must have felt me coming, because he turned away from his comrades. “Jenny! You’re here! What are you doing protecting someone else? Come to my side at once! You know you belong at home!” He sounded angry and worried, and I hoped beyond hope that he was worried about me and not just his mom. I couldn’t help it. When I met his golden-brown eyes I wanted to be his. I felt a pull to him that was hard to resist. I wanted to protect him.
But there was also something stirring inside me that I had never felt before. The will to fight, no matter how hard it was.
“No!” I managed. The first no was the hardest. “No! I won’t come to you.”
“You have to come to me. What the hell is happening? Come to me now, you useless toad! You know what will happen if you don’t come home!”
Useless toad?
A shiver went through me.
I knew Bernard had struggled through his life after losing half his family. I always told myself that he loved me, and I was Jenny because I loved him too, but he had never said anything so cruel to me. He must feel betrayed that I was here, of course, but…
I felt betrayal too. I couldn’t seem to help the clenching sensation of both pain and anger that left me reeling.
“Hey!” Bevan’s witch actually stepped in front of me and held an arm out to protect me from my own warlock. “She’s trying to escape you because apparently you’re an asshole!”
“She’s my familiar,” Bernard said. “She knows what her job is.”
I was shivering from head to toe, shocked into paralysis as Bernard lashed at Helena, trying to get to me. Helena barely blocked him. He was strong, and he’d grown strong without me.
I forced myself to snap out of it when I heard Helena make a grunt of effort.
“I have to go to him,” I said. “He’ll kill you if I don’t. I’m sorry.” I looked at Helena. “Thank you for being so kind.”
Now even Graham leapt forward, trying to stop me. “Don’t go back to him!” It only made me feel worse that all these strangers wanted to help me.
I changed into toad form and moved to Bernard. He looked so furious that it terrified me. I had never felt afraid of him as I did in this moment.
I needed to make it right. I had to apologize and promise to never leave again. When I looked up at his cold eyes, looming far above me, I saw a stranger. I needed to say something that would turn him back into my warlock. My Bernard.
“Bernard, I—“
He pointed his wand at me and a blast of bright light blinded me, and the pain came not even a second later. It was worse than the hit I took before. I felt like I was dying. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t move. As my consciousness faded, I heard him say the most terrible words any familiar could ever hear.
“I can never trust you again.”
Chapter Seven
Jenny
I didn’t want to wake up. I knew I would be back home, but it would never be the same again, because I had ruined it. I would be stuck with Bernard, and he would hate me.
Useless toad.
I wished I could just sleep forever. Maybe I would die. I felt like I was dying. But as I thought this, I also started to think the reason I felt like I was dying was because I was waking up. I was weak, my head pounding, but I was returning to the world.