“Oh, this should be good.”

  The koi swam through air, drawing lazy circles with long tail finds leaving inky trails of gold and shadow behind. She spoke by injecting fishy thoughts directly into the air. ‘We don’t have much time, Wol.’

  The cat –Wol, I reminded myself– leaned back on its haunches and stretched as cats too. Once finished, his attention was on me once more.

  “I am Wol.” He said grandly.

  “I’m–”

  “Jain Shin Hallow.” The feline familiar-would-be sighed, as much as feline mouths are structured to do. “Where is William?”

  I grimaced. “Europe.”

  ‘Are you in danger?’ The Koi drifted over to the airspace above me, ‘I sense others.’

  “Her name is Geumhwari.” Wol introduced. “Your mom called her Hwari.”

  Passages read in a time that seemed forever ago chose now to make themselves relevant. “That’s a combination of two different myths. Golden karp. Fiery Koi. That’s–”

  ‘I was. Once. Both. Different times. Not anymore.’ Hwari trailed more shadow in its wake, ‘Your mother brought me back. Brought us back.’

  “Let’s not get too sentimental here.” Wol pranced around the circle, and probed out with a claw. It clicked against an invisible barrier of the circle.

  Wait.

  How the hell was Hwari floating around outside of it then?

  “Interesting, huh?” Wol circled in place and sat. “I assume you want to know what we are.”

  “No.” Assad was an asshole and probably an enemy, but his advice from earlier was sound. “I want to know if you guys can be my Familiars.”

  ‘Can, yes. Should?’ Hwari stopped in front of the circle, facing Wol.

  “Anything is possible. Like I said, like Hwari said, like we said, should is a different case altogether.”

  “I don’t have time.”

  “We are bonding for life. You will be a practitioner for about ninety years, give or take. You have time for this.” Wol licked the back of his paw, “Deciding on a Familiar should be taken with gravitas.”

  “Neither of which I don’t have time for.”

  Any second now, the woman’s familiar would run up the stairs and I’d be faced with another nightmare to deal with. What would it be this time?

  “Most practitioners figure out where their talent is. What kind of Third Eye they have, which of the eight disciplines they are good at before making a familiar bond. Well, their family figures it out for them.”

  “Don’t make me repeat it.” I growled.

  ‘We could ask.’ Hwari floated upwards.

  “Miru can’t be contacted. She made sure of that.” One of Wol’s ears twitched. “Hwari?”

  ‘I will see.’ Then the koi dived headfirst into the floor causing a splash of shadows as if she did it to water.

  “There are two practitioners here after me. One of their familiars is coming up the stairs. They think I set up traps, so it’s being careful. But any second now–”

  Hwari jumped out of the water, splattering inky blotches on my clothes. ‘Fae. It has shapeshifted into a dog. Sniffing. Being careful.”

  “Ok, we have some time then.” Wol countered. “Tell me a little bit about yourself.”

  “Ice breakers? Really?”

  ‘All the ice is outside.’ Hwari floated over to a window.

  “About your practice. What kind of things have you seen with your Third Eye? Anything out of the usual? What about rituals? Circles? What have you done so far with your gift?”

  Wol fired off the questions, igniting the need for me to get this over with, to make some headway in yet another situation where beings refused my need for respecting time limits.

  “I don’t know what the Third Eye normally sees. I saw the past, I think. I saw the aura of a girl, I could tell she wasn’t human. And that she was enslaved to a leopard vampire.” I shook my head, “I opened my Third Eye yesterday.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “Yesterday?”

  ‘Yesterday?’

  “...Jain Shin Hallow. Who helped you summon us?” And as if seeing for the first time, Wol began to look around. The feline spirit paced inside the circle, ears rotating back and forth.

  “No one.” I nearly slammed my fist on the floor out of frustration. I needed help, and I’d finally summoned them. But all they wanted to do was talk and ask stupid questions.

  “And how many tries did it take you to summon us?”

  “One.”

  ‘One.’ Hari repeated after me.

  “That norigae in your hand.” Wol edged closer to the barrier, trying to get a better look. “Hwari?”

  Hwari shifted by, nearly touching but never quite touching. ‘Spoils of war.’

  “...You summoned and banished something?”

  “That was literally the first thing I did.” I looked down at the cat, then at the koi.

  They weren’t paying attention to me anymore. “Conjuration?”

  ‘Conjuration wing Abjuration.’

  “Miru was an Enchanter and William’s an Illusionist. And their kid is a Conjurer.” Wol’s eyes shone. “This era will be interesting. Hwari, I’m ready.”

  The koi pivoted faster than I thought possible, slinking underneath the shadows and appearing inside the circle.

  ‘We,’ She said, ‘are ready.’

  “You know the contract?”

  I nodded. “I do.”

  ‘The dog will be here soon.’

  “Be quick about it.” Wol ordered.

  There was a million things I could’ve said but Hwari’s warning was enough to erase all that.

  Ever since my dad’s letter, ever since reading the Prerequisites, I’d been preparing for this.

  “My name is Jain Shin Hallow, and I swear upon my name, spirit, and magic, that there’s truth in these words.”

  “A truth bound by name.” Wol followed. “Wol.”

  ‘Geumhwari. Two names, but one promise.’

  That was not how the original contract went.

  But just like the circles I’d been hodge-podging, all the improvisations in my chanting, the world didn’t interfere. My Third Eye didn’t sense any wrongness in their words, only strangeness. I ignored the wariness that threatened to unmake the whole basis of our ritual, forging ahead.

  “I invite Wol and Hwari –Geumhwari,” I corrected and saw Wol nodding in approval, “to reside in my world, my home, in my soul. Not as guests, not as servants, but as equal in standing.”

  “I, Wol, accept.”

  ‘Geumhwari accepts all the rights of a Practitioner’s equal.’

  I grabbed the fallen chalk and began to draw the third circle. Around me this time. This would end the ritual, and the familiar contract would be done. There was no fanfare, no build-up of power. Yet, I felt the quiet strength in the words that occupied the room we were in.

  Then Wol started talking.

  “Do you, Jain Shin Hallow, accept to do the undertaking, not of good nor evil, but of what is right?”

  ‘To uphold balance? Slaughtering the innocents and saving the vile, when the need arises?’

  …This was not part of the contract I read in the book.

  I stared at the two, frozen mid-motion.

  They didn’t say anything.

  Not knowing what else to say, “I, I accept.”

  “Swear it.”

  “I swear it.” I repeated.

  ‘In name and soul.’ Hwari chimed.

  “I swear it in my name. Jain Shin Hallow. And on my soul.”

  Then they began to chant by themselves.

  ‘Then Wol will be your moon in the moonless nights to come.’

  “And Geumhwari will be your sun on the sunless days to come.” Wol mewled, pleased. “This we swear,”

  –by our name–

  “–by our soul–”

  Every chant was a knock on my soul. Not my head, not my mind, but the very foundation of my being rang on an existential level so deep that there was no doubt that magic was changing who I was. A pair of ethereal scarlet strings rose out of my right hand’s ring finger, and extended towards the two, intertwining with the strings that were coming from both of them.

  “It is done.”

  ‘It is done.”

  I closed the circle and echoed, “It is done.”

  The circle around me, and the circle around the two winked out of existence. At the same time, I felt fuller, more complete. The familiar buzz of power that other practitioners and magical objects radiated nestled in a place between my soul and Third Eye. But that too, faded as I grew used to the sensation.

  The two familiars changed too.

  Wol stepped out of the circle, the green bojagi around his back growing patterns, ritual circles and runes. Hwari flew out, her movements less fish and more ghostly. The traces of gold around her fins fell away completely, replaced by silver scales. The golden flecks fell to her shadow and stayed there.

  “Well then, Jain Hallow. Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Wol. The cat who fished the moon.”

  ‘I am the golden karp, and the ten-thousand year koi of flames. Was. Is. Will be.’ Hwari chimed.

  “I’m Jain Shin Hallow,” I pointed at the door, “And what the hell is that?”

  The door had slipped open and a six-foot tall brown canine stepped through. It bared its fangs and a low growl thrummed from the beast.

  “Our first task.” Wol said.

  ‘Definitely not the last.’ Hwari exclaimed happily.

  Mauled to death by a fairy wolf while the cat and fish played with limericks.

  Fuck.