Spirit: The Familiar

Chapter Sixteen

The day passed on uneventful once more, with no sighting of the cat with the beautiful eyes. Carina could feel herself growing more and more anxious, but there was nothing she could do about it. Was there? Was there some sort of way that she could call upon the cat, force it to come out of hiding, so that she could create the Familiar bond?

Something like that was far out of her reach. Carina could only hope...

She shouldn't panic too much. She had after all seen the cat earlier in the day.

The next day had come, and Carina sat in the Magic Practices class with Alex, Angie, and Chris.

They sat in pairs; Alex with Carina, and Angie with Chris. Each pair had a tome set out in front of them, flipped open to a page about concentration and magic.

There was a great deal of information laid out there, covering the span of five pages. Bits about different levels of focus and/or concentration, and bits about how emotion would play a huge role in the turnout of a spell. There were some illustrations in between paragraphs.

The professor was at the front of the room, going on about different states of emotion and how to use them to amplify the effects of a spell. Carina doodled, though took notes as well, her chin rested in her palm.

"The lecture boring you?" Alex whispered next to her. Carina glanced up at him briefly, and then again as she registered that he had indeed spoken to her.

"No," she whispered back. "Just- focused on something else, I guess. This is good to learn though. I should probably pay closer attention."

The professor cleared their throat, eyes on the two students. When their eyes snapped back to them the professor resumed the lecture once more. Carina's face was warm. She could see out of the corner of her eye that Alex had turned slightly pink as well.

She felt a nudge at her elbow. When she glanced down, she saw that Alex had passed her a piece of paper. On it he had asked, 'What's on your mind?'

She scrawled back, 'The cat with the strange eyes. I haven't seen her in a while. I'm getting anxious. Is she really to be my familiar?'

Alex didn't write back, simply frowning in his response. He shrugged, and Carina shrugged as well. Angie and Chris shot them both questioning looks. Carina passed them the piece of paper with an explanation written on it, when the professor wasn't looking. Angie and Chris nodded in understanding after.

Carina went back to doodling over the notes she was taking. Her shoulders raised and then fell slowly with her sigh. After a while she just tapped her pencil lightly on her notebook, staring off into space with her chin in her palm once more.

Eventually the professor had the students gather into groups of four, to practice their concentration. Obviously Alex, Angie, Carina, and Chris formed a group together. They were to practice a simple magic- summon light in their hands and shift the intensity of it based on their level of concentration. They wandered about and observed the students as they performed their task, nodding their head in approval or providing tips where they were needed.

Carina had it in the bag. After the previous day's first attempt with the communication orb, she knew exactly what to do. She cleared her mind and summoned the light in her hands. As she concentrated more deeply she shifted the light to a brighter intensity. The professor nodded at her group in approval as they passed.

Carina's group exchanged smiles of triumph. Not a one of them had any issues with the task. The class ended, and soon the four of them were on their way to the cafe for coffee and food.

Still Carina could not catch a glimpse of the beautiful, mysterious cat. An ache started in her chest. Carina placed her hand over her heart as they took seats at a booth.

"Are you okay?" Alex and Angie asked in unison.

"Yeah, just a bit breathless or something," Carina gave them a sheepish smile. "I don't know. I think I'm fairly upset over the lack of getting to see that cat..."

"You're so lucky," Chris sighed. "I wish I could start seeing my destined familiar soon. Plus yours has those special eyes. Wouldn't it be cool if mine did, too?"

"Don't they all have unique qualities like that? That set them apart from normal animals?" Angie asked.

A waitress came around with menus then. They all placed orders for coffee prepared the way they liked, and gratefully accepted the menus. The waitress nodded and left.

"I'm pretty sure I remember hearing that too," Alex said. He turned to Carina then. "Are you excited to be moving to the advanced class? That's today, isn't it?"

Carina felt a surge of excitement flow through her, yet there was still the anxiety over having not seen the cat. She chewed on her lip and drew invisible circles over the table with her fingertip.

"Yes, and no," Carina sighed.

"Come on, you'll see her again eventually," Angie encouraged her.

"I guess you're right," Carina said. She nodded for good measure.

The waitress came back around with their drinks, and the group then placed their orders for food. Alex and Chris gave Carina encouraging smiles as well. Carina smiled back at all three of them.

She would see the cat again.
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I should get back to writing this.