The Familiar Read Online Free

callousness. “No, sorry. You’re right. Of course, you wouldn’t know what that is. Hazel, a familiar is a shape-shifter that a witch or wizard forms a special relationship with. Usually, the witch chooses her familiar and they are bonded for life. The familiar is often a submissive, but that was never the case with your father,” she gulps as if she might shed a tear, but she doesn’t.
    I gawk at my hands, arms, legs, and feet. “So… What you’re saying is that you think I’m a shape-shifter? Like a werewolf or something?” I see her nod in slow motion, and at that moment my vision tunnels and everything goes black.

3

    I wake with a start, the crumpled white sheets tangled around my limbs, and my t-shirt bunched up around my armpits. It feels like I’ve slept for days, and I wonder when was the last time I ate something as my stomach grumbles. I swipe my phone, glancing at the date and time. Somehow, I’ve managed to sleep an entire day. The haze slowly clears and everything that happened the day before tumbles into my mind. Could it really be true? Or had I imagined it all in some fantastic dream? I slip on some jeans I find thrown on the floor, messily run my fingers through my hair, and apply some lip balm to my cracked lips.
    I take the stairs two at a time and find Mom putting the uneaten food from the night before on the kitchen table. She points at a plate with her spatula. “Sit down and eat Hazel, you must be hungry.”
    I serve myself a big heaping plate of pasta. “So, I’m just going to assume that everything I remember from yesterday is all true, unless you tell me otherwise.”
    Mom puts some salad on a small plate in front of me, then sits and serves herself. I can’t help but dig in without saying a word. Mom watches me while I eat, leaving her plate untouched. “Okay, you’re probably wondering why you slept for so long. Before you say anything, I want to apologize for adding a few extra ingredients to your tea… I know you’re going to be angry, but I did it for your own good. You needed to rest so your mind could process it all.”
    I spear a piece of broccoli on my plate. “It’s fine, I understand. I’m actually glad. I honestly don’t know if I could have taken any more.”
    She seems taken aback by my casual response. “I should mention that you’re not a werewolf by the way. That’s the last thing you asked me before passing out.”
    I finish my food and help myself to a generous slice of pie. “Go ahead and come out with it, you might as well,” I say with dread.
    Her eyes gleam like illuminated crystals. “Your father was a powerful familiar. He could shape-shift into any animal he wished, but his alpha was a cat. It was the animal he related to the most, the one he considered closest to his human form.”
    I shouldn’t have been surprised, but somehow I expected something a little more dramatic. “A cat? Like a regular old house cat? Not a tiger or a lion, or anything like that?”
    “Don’t sound so disappointed, Hazel.”
    I finish my pie and wipe the gooey apple juices from my mouth with a napkin. “I’m not really disappointed, Mom… You know I love cats. You’re the one that never let me get one.”
    “I know. Maybe I thought having one would remind me too much of your father, but to be honest, it’s not really normal practice for us to have any pets. I think we just find the concept way too confusing,” she admits.
    “Mom, why didn’t you tell me any of this until now? Wasn’t I was mature enough to handle it?”
    She sighs apologetically, the creases around her eyes deepening. “I’m sorry, Hazel. Retrospectively, I would have done things differently… I was selfish and it made me act foolishly. I promise from now on, I will try and make it up to you.”
    I look at her face and see that she really means what she says. “So, what else is going to happen to me? Because blacking out and waking up in a strange place is something that I don’t