am its protector.”
“Show it to us,” Hepzibah said. “Show us this map or we will fight you. We might look old and decrepit but we’ve fought off threats in this community before.” She twirled her wand. One should never underestimate the power of old people, certainly in the magical world. They had a lifetime of wisdom and they weren’t afraid to die using it.
My teeth gritted. So this is where we’re at, I thought. The old wizards would fight us while the Sinistral council probably ran off to make an alliance with the Ethereal council. Backup would be coming soon. Byron could die twice.
But I wouldn’t let it happen.
No matter what I have to do…
“I was first born a millennia ago, in a world quite unlike this one,” Byron said. “I do not underestimate the power of old people. I am older than you. I don’t want to hurt you. I hope you will understand our mission, but if you don’t, I suggest you get out of the way.”
“Get out of the way? I’ve never gotten out of the way in my life,” Al said. “We’ll defend Avalon Woods Heights to the death if it comes down to it.”
Byron nodded at me. I’ll handle this. Go into the house. Summon help.
I hoped I wouldn’t let them down.
Chapter Fourteen
Bevan
Word had gotten out. They’d been coming all day. Dozens and dozens. My little house deep in the forest of Etherium was full to bursting with Sinistral familiars, and before long I had Ethereal familiars coming as well. Flying, crawling, hopping…every sort of small beast that existed.
I never signed up for this. And I thought Helena was such a nice, safe witch…
“Hey!” I snapped at the animal forms crowding my yard. “Don’t eat all the lettuce!”
They had already cleared out the pantry.
I had always been a proud believer in the old ways of familiars and wizards. As a child, I protected Helena. By the time she was twelve, she only called me in private to help her with homework. And as she graduated, we were mostly living our own lives. I had a humble homestead in the magical realm while she worked on houses. If she got into trouble, I appeared and helped her get out of it, but even then, I wasn’t too quick to appear. Helena could take care of herself. It was an insult for me to save her every time she ran into a low demon or a saucy faery.
Every familiar in Helena’s family was the same. That was the way of things, or so I thought.
So it was with horror that I saw the faces of these wretched souls, many of them confused as if their desperation had simply propelled them from one realm to another—any place they might escape a harsh master.
Is this a hundred of them now? How could there be so many wizards willing to mistreat their own familiar?
I had never seen expressions on their faces like this group, a mixture of deep relief, anguish and guilt that said without words how much they had suffered under the complete control of a wizard who took out all their anger or pain on a helpless familiar. I certainly could not have run away from Helena. My soul was entwined with hers no matter how much time passed between her summons. Most familiars I knew took great pride in this.
I have been blind, I thought. We all have. I’m sure they would never have said anything until now, when they were able to escape…
As I was looking at my garden, now emptied of anything that looked like food, wondering how I could care for this crowd when their numbers kept growing, a sugar glider swept down from the trees to my feet and peered up at me with an expression of shame.
“Hey,” I said. “I know you.”
“Yes…yes, I’m afraid so. Well—I’m here spying for Piers Nicolescu.”
“Oh. Right. You’re his familiar. Thanks for letting me know.” I crossed my arms. “Do you not know how spying works?”
“Of course I do. I’ve been watching you for hours already, and I am due to make a report. But I’ve been watching you feed all these familiars and really, you’ve been very patient, much more patient than I would be…but I thought I would just talk to you man to man. I don’t suppose you have any plans? What are all these familiars going to do? They’ll be lost without their witches and warlocks. They’ve never done anything else.”
“They’re familiars,” I