“So forget it,” he said. “Stay here.” He picked me up and put me on the counter so he could get near eye-level with me by leaning over. Now his eyes seemed huge and I could see all the little flecks of color in them peering closely at a tumbled rock, framed by dark eyelashes that were just the right length for a man. “I don’t know if anyone has ever laid it out for you, Jenny, but your job is to teach your warlock magic and protect him from magic. That’s it. You don’t owe him anything else, and if you’re being kept from learning and using magic and forced to be a maid, then you should walk out. This is not cool. I had no idea there were wizards who forced their familiars into servitude, and now that I know—I’m going to help you. So just stay here. I’m going to go tell my witch what havoc she’s been wreaking, and you try to relax.”
“O—okay,” I said, almost breathless as he vanished.
Bevan was just an ordinary familiar like me, I guessed. But he seemed more like a hero from a story. I just stumbled into his yard and in five minutes he made me feel like I could do anything. Like I could leave that house, and study magic, and have a life of my own, and that he would protect me from the Franches. I never realized how much I wanted to be protected from the Franches until that moment.
Besides that, he left me practically swooning. A girl as isolated as me can’t handle this much beautiful man all at once, I thought.
I hopped around the counter, which in my toad form was like its own world, looking at all the work he had left behind. All the kitchen and garden tools and half-chopped herbs and vegetables made me think about his hands capably doing all this work.
A chipmunk familiar peered in the door, which he had left open. “Did Mr. Bevan leave?”
“Yes, he said he’d be back.”
“What a wonderful little house!” the chipmunk said. “Did you have a house in Sinistral?”
“No. I didn’t know that I could. I never spent much time in the magical realms…”
“Me neither! My warlock would get so angry if I did.”
I nodded. Wow. She understands, too. I thought she sounded a lot older than me, like she might be in her forties or fifties, and that seemed especially strange. I never imagined myself still being a caretaker to Mrs. Franch in thirty years, but she probably would still be alive. So what did I think was going to happen?
“I just hope I don’t have to go back,” the chipmunk said, clutching her tiny paws together. “That would be very bad. I’ve been gone a whole day.”
“Yeah…”
The skink poked his head in behind the chipmunk. “You don’t think—we would have to go back…do you? Master Bevan seemed to think we could stay here as long as we needed to.”
“I don’t really know what’s going on,” I said. “But…” I tried not to sound too dreamy, not to succumb entirely to this feeling that I could be free, that someone would take care of me and stand up for me for once, and show me the way. “I trust him.”
Chapter Four
Jenny
When Bevan came back, he gathered us all together in the yard.
“Here’s the deal,” he said. “My witch is named Helena. She’s a very nice, fair witch, but she’s not tremendously powerful. And it looks like she stepped in it. You’re all here because of her. She stumbled across the Way of Paths. It’s a magical artifact that controls the barriers between the three magical realms, and it seems like you might be the first magical beings to notice that the barriers came down. Once your wizards realize that you’ve escaped, and that the entire magical world has open borders, the powers that be are probably going to try and attack my witch. So I’m asking you now, will you help me to protect her?”
“We’re not very powerful,” said Henrietta the chipmunk.
“I’ve hardly learned any magic at all,” the weasel said.
“In fact, I’m the most useless familiar who ever lived,” the skink said dejectedly.
I found myself nodding. Bernard never summoned me to help him with magic on his illustrious magical council job. I didn’t think it would help to bake a cake if we were attacked.
“What is she trying to do?” I asked.
“All you need to do is buy a few seconds for Helena to call for help,” Bevan said. “Now that she knows what happened, she can call allies to help her protect the Way of Paths. Plenty of wizards will have a reason for wanting those gates open—but of course, many others will feel the opposite, so that’s a mess. Just whip out some guard spells. Don’t try to fight. I’m trying my best to keep you safe here, but I don’t have a lot of options. We can’t let the magical councils get wind of this yet. Once they do, they’ll come after my witch.”
I wonder if Bernard will try to attack Bevan’s witch, I thought.
I couldn’t believe my ordinary day had been transformed into all of this. I could just go home and forget it ever happened, instead of potentially facing my own warlock in a fight. But when I thought of leaving this lovely world forever, going home, and trying to explain all this to Mrs. Franch, only to hear her cry about how much I’d hurt her, and having to appease her with an elaborate cake…
My other option was volunteering for this first and impressing Bevan.
Suddenly it was an easy choice.
I lifted my head and piped up, “I’ll do it.”
I could see relief in Bevan’s eyes. This meant something to him too. “Thank you, Jenny,” he said. “I realize this takes some bravery. I’ll put myself on the line too. As soon as anything goes down, I’ll be there to help you. And I do know magic.”
“I’ll go too,” said the prairie dog. “Death would be better than going home.”
“Me too. I’ll fight for my life,” said the robin.
After that, everyone else agreed to go with increasingly impassioned vows to die for the cause of freedom. My heart was beating very fast. Is that what I’m signing up for now? To die for freedom? My life in St. Augustine wasn’t that bad…
But I still couldn’t bring myself to go home, where every day was the same, and I didn’t have anyone to talk to, or even anywhere to really stretch my legs in human form. It was like a prison.
“I’m bringing you into the Fixed Plane,” Bevan said. “Helena and her team are working on renovating a house. It has a large garden and I’d suggest you try to find a spot there to stay so you’re not in her way. Just keep watch over the premises. Otherwise you can hang out, make friends, whatever you want. Sound good?” He clapped his hands. “Oh—and I’ll grab some food too.”
I wished Bevan would notice me a little more, but I knew there was no reason he should pay any attention to me above the others, especially in toad form. I didn’t know what his animal form was, but I supposed a strong man like him must change into something magnificent.
He filled a couple of sacks with food and then, in a flash, we were brought into the Fixed Plane in the living room of a large house with huge glassy modern windows. It was the largest room I’d seen in my life outside of a magazine, not that this was saying much. A lovely blond witch in a dusty t-shirt and black jeans walked up to him. “Bev! Whoa. So all these familiars showed up at your house?”