Chapter Twenty Six
Won’t Dare Change

 

The week went by without a lot of time for further excursions. Emily had decided to focus on his school work for now. There was a lot he needed to figure out, but right now, what he wanted was to help Dennis and not tank his grades. The rest of his Stuff wasn’t going to go away any time soon anyway. If he focused on being… well, the way he’d always been, when he turned back, he looked more or less like he used to. Maybe slightly smoother skin, which he didn’t mind. In fact, all of the changes didn’t bother him, which he — for now — chalked up to being used to transforming in general, although even he knew there was probably more to it. 

Gradually, the amount of homework they were receiving started to increase. The Warlocks were being taught how to manipulate the energy as it moved through them and exited their Focus. Magic was a fickle thing, after all, and learning to use it properly was a must if they didn’t want to blow the roof off a house for turning a light on. 

For the most part, as Emily understood it, certain things required more or less energy, and this had to do with atoms and waves and particles in ways he was very glad he didn’t have to study. It was a lot. On the plus side, Jenna seemed to be grasping the theory very well. To apply that theory was a little more difficult, but simply understanding what she was supposed to do had given her a little bit of a head start on some of the others. 

Meanwhile, Emily, Simon and Dennis had to practice in seeing the flows of magic and using their telekinetic abilities, and even seeing those of other people. There was constant practice, because the ability was severely limited. He doubted he could actually lift something with his mind he couldn’t do more easily with his hands in human form. On the other hand, telekinesis allowed for much more precise manipulation, if he managed to focus. So homework for the Familiars consisted of not just mental powerlifting, but also putting together puzzles and small model kits. 

Much of the rest of his time was spent going to, well, normal classes like history, mathematics and literature, but there was also a great amount of what was referred to as Practical Knowledge. They were being taught the basics of economics and how to file taxes, how laws worked and how those applied to people like them. There were courses on geography that required them to learn how to read maps, and there were regular small tests on road signs for both pedestrians and drivers. 

Tests were taken regularly, but they existed only to do just that. Test. A bad test was just a sign that the student in question was having trouble with different teaching or learning methods, and it was stressed, over and over again, that a bad grade wasn’t reflective of their value as people, and that the tests were created in the hopes of making the future a more easily accessible place for the students.

“When you leave here,” Miss Falls had said, “you will likely have only yourselves and your Warlock or Familiar to fall back on. We will do what we can to make sure you are prepared for the world outside of these walls.”

It made a lot of sense to Emily. Sure, some of the classes brought back unpleasant memories of being tested at home, but those were outweighed by the fact that many of the teachers praised him for his diligence in class, although he got a few concerned looks when a wrong answer had given him a panic attack in class. Jenna had quickly and easily calmed him down, but he’d vowed to do better after that. The last thing he wanted to do was be a bother to his teachers or fellow students.

As the days passed, they started getting colder, and the limits of what was actually being done with magic started to show themselves. Not the least of which was the fact that many of the buildings were not magically heated in some way. Jenna had tried to explain to him the thermodynamic principles that would make a constant heat source hard to create without burning through all the magic in an area, but it wasn’t sinking in quite yet. 

As a result, some of the adults of the town, and some volunteer students, had to collect wood for the stoves throughout the town. They had electricity and gas, but it was a little unreliable at times. Not that they let all the students help, of course. There were limits to how much danger even Threewees was willing to put their students in, and giving a fifteen-year-old a bladed axe was not at the top of that list. But some of the older kids, close to eighteen, were responsible enough to help out at least. 

There wasn’t an explicit merit system, of course, because the school didn’t really run on any kind of official grading for the most part. But those who went to help out would maybe get some extra hot chocolate with dinner in the evening, or an extra slice of cake, if there was some left. Emily considered it, but he didn’t really want to go out and swing an axe or carry heavy things back and forth. As a Familiar, it would take too much effort for too little progress, and a part of him really didn’t like the idea of bulking up in his human form from exercising. A bit of extra muscle looked good on some people, like Jacob, who did his best to keep in shape, but Emily had always felt more comfortable in a more slender appearance.

It’s why he was almost always in his Cat form to begin with. Well, that, and he didn’t want to risk Jenna seeing him from a distance. He still hadn’t talked to her about it, and he kept putting it off. Every time he thought he’d conjured up the willpower to say something, he’d shut down, or someone else would interrupt them, and it would take him days to get even close to trying again. 

But he knew he had to say something. Sure, it’d be hard, but once it was out, that’d be better for her. She would be able to go up to the teachers and tell them she was uncomfortable having a boy as her familiar, and she’d get someone who matched better with her. And Emily would, presumably, spend the rest of his time at the School without a Warlock. He couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to have a weird Girl-Cat Human-Boy as their Familiar. Maybe they’d just send him away. That was a possibility too. Would he still be able to call himself Emily in Familiar form if he went away alone? And then there was the fact that he wasn’t very ‘boy’ anymore whenever he turned back without thinking about it, so maybe it wouldn’t even matter?

But he wanted to honour his promise to Dennis first. The boy had been properly accepted by the group, and seemed to be a happy puppy most of the time, happily trotting along with whoever had the time to look out for him, and Emily didn’t want to break his heart by breaking that promise. Dennis was going to see his parents again. 

So they made plans to make another trip into town, this time with the whole gang. Everyone had been told about their plans to get Dennis home, excepting the little Malamute himself, but they wanted to make sure they had everything right. The last thing they wanted was to go off on something like this half-cocked. 

Emily had managed to get a hold of Dennis’ address, and with some help from Sarah, who did have a phone, they managed to plot a route by bus that would take them to his neighbourhood in only three hours. If they left in the morning, there would be more than enough time to get a bus back. The only issue, of course, was to try and figure out how long they would be gone, and if it would be possible to avoid the teachers while they did so. 

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The last few weeks of Autumn rolled around, and it was raining slightly when they went into town again. The idea was to let the teachers know and see where they went and if maybe the Warlocks could figure out a way to track the teacher who had been assigned to them and maybe, if possible, keep them from doing the same. 

This particular weekend, it seemed like Mister Vigours had decided to come along. He didn’t really have anything to do but, as the town didn’t have a pub for obvious reasons, he went along to have a quiet drink on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Havelock came with, although it wasn’t exactly clear what the Great Dane was there to do, or what he even did most of his time. 

And, also for this weekend, they had to get dressed up. That was the downside of bringing the Wizards, Witches and Warlocks along. Obviously, they couldn’t have cats and ferrets come along to a town, and have a puppy and a fox just off the leash. 

“This feels ridiculous,” Simon said as he nipped at the harness. It wasn’t nearly as stifling as the one for his backpack tube, but he hadn’t had to wear that one in a while. The harness he was currently wearing had ‘RESCUE’ written on the side in big white letters. It also had a little plastic hood, for the rain. 

“It’s necessary,” Benjamin said, his staff leaning against the window, “now stop complaining or I’m putting you in the cat carrier instead.” Simon scrunched up his nose but relented. They were all on the bus, and getting close to the center of town. “Besides, you’ll be asking me to put you in there once you’ve been walking in the rain for a few minutes. 

“This isn’t my first time walking in the rain, Ben,” Simon said, but he was clearly eyeing the just-in-case carrier. “And at least I don’t look as adorable as some.” Several heads turned to look at Emily, who tried to hide inside his little yellow rain boots. “And that’s saying something. 

“All of you are monsters,” he mewled. The hood on his own harness had little slots for his ears to fit through, and he knew, objectively, that a cat wearing a little rain coat and boots was the cutest possible thing for him to look like right now. Objectively, he knew that. Subjectively, however, it was absolute torture and a part of him considered the carrier, too, but he really didn’t want to fall back on that unless he absolutely had to. The cramped space on its own wasn’t too bad, but something about it being moved with him inside it was just slightly nauseating. 

“I think you look very dapper,” Sarah said with a wolfish grin. “A real adventurer.” She was also wearing a little harness-and-coat, sitting next to Leah on the ground, but she looked more like a dog with a particularly white coat than a fox, and when asked, they’d claim she was a Samoyed. Leah was following raindrops running down the bus window with extreme focus

“Don’t bully her,” Jenna said, “she looks cool.” Emily wanted to thank her, but got the feeling Jenna was unintentionally doing more harm than good.

“Yeah!” Dennis said, wearing little blue boots and not really helping Jenna’s case. Jacob gently gave him some pats on the head.

“Hey, look!” Emily said. “We’re here!” He hopped off of Jenna’s lap and let her attach the leash to the back of the harness. All the other Familiars were similarly constrained. It was the concession they had to make when they wanted to visit the school with their Warlocks. The Waxing Weather School, officially, had a wildlife rescue program. The idea was that animals who had been bred in captivity were being prepared for release into the wild or, if that failed, trained to function alongside people, and so every student was assigned a ward. It didn’t always work, of course, and some of the larger Familiars simply couldn’t go out without learning how to switch to their Human forms around their Warlocks. 

But for the most part, people in town saw the kids with their various strange pets to be more of a curiosity than anything, as long as they were properly harnessed and leashed. Uncomfortable as it was. Dennis especially had a tendency to pull on his leash, even though they’d practiced a bit at school to keep him from hurting himself. Emily found it easiest if he just walked alongside Jenna, giving the line a little bit of slack, rather than pulling ahead. 

They’d all just gotten off the bus, and they were discussing where they wanted to go first, when the rain had picked up and it was coming down quite badly. 

“Let’s find somewhere dry!” Benjamin said as he picked Simon up and held him under his arm. “Maybe a restaurant or something!” They began to run down the road to avoid getting soaked, when Emily heard a strange sound. It was like straining metal, groaning as it was pushed to its limit. He turned to look behind him. 

“Get down!” he shouted, just in time for everyone to spin around and throw themselves flat as the bus sailed through the air overhead and crashed into the street behind them. Where it had come from, a giant creature, with a great many bulging eyes and several rows of sharp, glittering teeth, coiled towards them. Its vaguely translucent shape brought back memories of the attack in front of the Familiar House. 

“Spirit!” Sarah yelled. “It’s a Spirit!” She said something more, but it was drowned out by the monster’s horrible, deafening bellow.