Chapter 6 - Power Unlocked

The next morning Jinx woke up gradually, for once in the past week - the rest of the mornings had begun with rather drastic starts. He stretched right out where he lay in front of Krista, who was still fast asleep, and as he lay there on his side he watched the sun rise across her bedroom wall, letting out a contented sigh. Finally, he was in a permanent home, not one he would have to leave as soon as a specific task was finished. He felt good and - dare he admit it - happy.

Rolling half over he noted that Krista was still fast asleep. So smiling to himself, he rolled himself onto his front and stretched again before jumping quietly off the bed and padding out of the room. Once his tail had flicked around the doorway he shapeshifted back into human form and made his way to the kitchen where he could hear the faint clang of a pot being moved around. As he passed a mirror he hadn’t seen the day before, he caught sight of his hair. It was standing up all over, and generally looking like he didn’t care for it. He stopped to gaze at his pale reflection, green eyes a stark contrast against his pale skin, and attempted to use both hands to flatten the mess out. Finally giving up after 5 minutes of failed head patting and proceeding into the kitchen.

Julius looked up from his paper as Jinx entered, “Good morning, Jinx. Krista having a lie in?” He nodded, and sat himself down at the table rubbing the sleep from his eyes; something he was thankful he currently had fingers for.

“Yeah, I reckon she was quite exhausted after that first little training session,” he replied.

Julius nodded and shook his paper, folding it back together. “I would imagine so. I - we’d like to apologize again for making your job so much more difficult, not letting her practice much before now,” he added guiltily, glancing at his wife. He dismissed this with a wave of his hand. “You were worried for her, I don’t blame you. It’s gotten bad out there,” he jerked his thumb in the general direction of the door at this remark. “Besides,” he added, “I love a challenge. I’d hate for things to be too easy.” He smirked at these words. Tapping his fingers on his knee for a moment, thinking, he added, “However, there is something I need to discuss with you that concerns Krista’s - and mine too, really - training.”“Oh?” Julius said, looking curiously at him as his wife came to sit at the table. “What’s that?”

He swallowed nervously. “Well, to start with. You are sure you trust me completely with your daughter’s safety and want to do whatever is necessary to see her succeed?” he asked, a serious expression on his narrow, pale face. Both nodded, somewhat fearful, something he took note of and smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad, but it is something we must do - destiny and all.”

Julius cleared his throat. “What is that, if I may ask?”He scratched the back of his neck apprehensively. “Well, to start with, do you remember the… stories about the witch Chase and his familiar, Sylas?”

The two nodded slowly.

“I vaguely recall them, yes,” Julius replied for the both of them.

He cleared his throat. “Well, Chase contacted Krista and I when we were recuperating after the ceremony.”“What do you mean ‘contacted’? You were sleeping so soundly - weren’t you?” Ilise asked sharply, her voice softening the longer she spoke.

He shook his head. “Yes and no. When a familiar and witch sleep they either disconnect their minds and actually sleep to recuperate, or they enter this sort of… dream-state, I suppose you could call it. That is what we were in. It is a way for new true matches to get to know one another in private.” He licked his lips, which were drying out as he spoke. “Anyway, while we were in this state, we had a voice speak to us. He told us who he was and hinted at our destiny. He requested we meet him in three - now two - days time, at two in the afternoon.” When Krista’s parents said nothing, he added, ”This is something I do not need permission to do, nor does Krista; however it is something we must do, and I felt you had a right to know,” he finished, finally and firmly.Julius cleared his throat. “You are sure it was this Chase? It wasn’t a trick?” he asked, his eyebrows knitted together in concern.

Jinx nodded. “Don’t ask me how, but I - we both felt that it was them. It is a strange connection but it does exist.”Julius nodded. “Yes, I’ve heard of such strange feelings between a familiar and a witch. Krista’s grandmother was one, after all.”He nodded. “Yes, Krista told me about her. It is not uncommon for magick to skip a generation. It most often happens when the magickal lineage is preparing for the birth of a...” he broke off.

he thought to himself.Julius looked curiously at Jinx. “Preparing for the birth of what?” he asked, looking confused.

He shook his head. “Nothing, I spoke out of turn. It’s something I have not confirmed yet and would rather not reveal my theories before I am sure.”Julius nodded in understanding. “All right. Well, we both trust Krista to be safe with you, Jinx. You seem capable.”

He nodded in thanks as a loud yawn permeated the kitchen heralding the appearance of Krista still dressed in her pajamas.

Julius smiled at his daughter as she sat down. “Good morning, sleepyhead.” He smiled at her bed-tousled hair. She grumbled back in response which made her father laugh.

Jinx tilted his head curiously.

He asked, privately concerned.

She yawned widely again and replied, She looked at him as she said it before turning back to face her parents. “What’s for breakfast? I am star-ving!” She inquired of her mother, drawing out the last word.

Ilise chuckled. “Chocolate chip pancakes and whipped cream, dear. I was just going to start them.” She gave a meaningful look at Jinx for a moment before deciding not to mention their earlier conversation.

“Excellent, my favourite!” Krista exclaimed, suddenly more alert and awake, hair still sticking up in odd places.

Jinx suddenly felt something cool hit his head and trickle down the side of his face. “Wha-?” he started, before realizing it was just Ilise attempting to flatten his hair by attacking it with a wet comb. ”Umm…?” He inquired confused.“I’m sorry, Jinx, but it is driving me crazy!” she replied still attempting to flatten it.Julius and Krista chuckled at his predicament as he smirked. “You realize of course, the moment I transform back into a cat it is just going to undo all your hard work; right?”

She stopped for a moment. “Are you sure?” she asked hesitantly.

He nodded, “I’ve been trying to flatten it all my life.”

Ilise sighed and gave up and went to start the breakfast, setting the comb down on the counter as she walked by it.

He smiled after her and turned his attention back to the table folding his arms upon it and leaning on them. “So today I thought we would get some more practice in outside in the woods.”

Krista swallowed nervously. “In the woods? Why outside?” she queried him.

He smiled. “You’ll like it. It should make things easier to be surrounded by nature and natural surroundings.” He paused thinking for a moment. “It will make it as easy as breathing, plus then I can practice as well.”Krista arched an eyebrow. “What do you need to practice?”He chuckled, saying. “Familiars have powers too, you know,” with a wink in Krista’s direction. “In my natural form, of course, they are stronger but powers nonetheless.”

“What kind of powers?” Krista asked, as Ilise set a plate of pancakes down in front of her and she picked up her fork, reaching for the syrup.

Jinx glanced at her parents as they were listening closely before smirking at her. “You will see all in due time.”

Krista pouted for a minute then shrugged and poured a lake of syrup over her pancakes. She dug into them hungrily, and Ilise set a plate down in front of Jinx.

Jinx looked up at her. “Thank you, Ilise, and thank you for the gesture with my hair. Really.” He smiled at her before picking his own fork up.

She nodded and went to fetch her own plate as well as her husband’s. Meanwhile, Jinx cut a piece of pancake off the whole with the side of his fork and stabbed into it before popping it into his mouth and chewing slowly. Suddenly his eyes widened in amazement earning him curious looks from everyone seated at the table. After swallowing his mouthful, he snickered and explained, “I’ve never had chocolate chip pancakes. Well pancakes in general really.”It was Krista’s turn to widen her eyes in surprise. “You’ve never had pancakes?” she asked in something akin to horror.

He shook his head. “Well being an unmatched familiar you aren’t exactly supposed to shapeshift for risk of someone seeing your non-animal form. Technically, only your true match and their close family are supposed to see it.” Julius cleared his throat. “What do you mean, ‘technically’, Jinx?”He swallowed, embarrassed, and the edges of his cheekbones reddened slightly. “My last temporary charge, Jessie, glimpsed my human form when I shifted accidentally. I mean, it was barely a look, and he wasn’t seeing straight at the time, but nonetheless.” He lowered his head in shame, and picked at his pancake.

Julius laughed and placed a hand on Jinx’s shoulder. “Things happen, my boy - er, my cat.” He shook his head at his own confusion. “Whatever. My point is we all have slips and accidents, and I would think allowing a non-true match to glimpse your human form would be very low on the list of bad accidents.” He smiled reassuringly at Jinx as he said as much.

He nodded. “You would think so. The council tends to make a big deal about it, though.”

“Strange indeed,” Julius agreed. “Well, have no fear about something like that happening here. We are not worried about it at all. Quite honestly, if you keep Krista safe and train her, well, we’ll be happy.” He smiled at Jinx, who smiled back, reassured.

The group finished their breakfast in peace, broken only by the sound of forks scraping on the plates. Jinx stared out a window as he chewed thinking of what he and Krista would practice later, while Krista glanced at Jinx, trying to figure out what was going on in his head.

Jinx smiled slightly at her attempts to probe his mind.

he thought back.. She would huff slightly inside his mind before retreating, only to try again moments later in an attempt to catch him off guard. The whole battle made him chuckle before he finally said, Krista finally gave up and resumed eating her pancakes. As soon as the table was cleared of the breakfast dishes, Krista hurried off to get dressed so as to begin their day of training early. Jinx, meanwhile, shape-shifted back into a cat, and with a little help from Julius with the door, trotted out into the backyard. As he sat waiting on the back porch enjoying the sun beating down on his back, he reminisced about all that had happened to the two of them in just the short time since their ceremony as he surveyed the clean-cut yard - a large trampoline standing just off to the side. Chase was right. There something special about their bond, he could feel it. He could not wait until they could meet Chase and Sylas in a couple of days. No one had seen them in years, even with their prestige and fame. How they managed it, he had no clue, but he would be sure to ask them.

Soon the back door banged open and Krista marched out in her usual skirt and shoes. Today she had chosen to wear a plain, faded blue t-shirt in place of her tanktop; to be fair, it was a tad chilly out this morning.

he asked, looking up at her.

She nodded and scooped him up into her arms, crossing the yard to the back gate which Jinx could see was latched up high. He was just wondering how she was going to reach when the latch flicked up on its own. He had mixed feelings about this. On one hand he was proud that she was practicing her magick. On the other he was worried about her being seen.

he cautioned.

She shrugged and pulled open the gate before slipping outside it and pushing it back. “I Used to sneak out this way all the time,” she replied in a low voice.

“Ok, where to?” she asked, standing on the path. She set him down on it and he sniffed, noting that it lead in a multitude of directions.

he reasoned.

She nodded and set off down the path that lead to the left, humming and occasionally skipping as Jinx trotted along beside her. Soon Krista stopped skipping and began trying to telekinetically throw small stones that lay ahead of her. She managed to make a small pebble start bouncing off the ground. Each time she got level with it, she bounced it ahead again, making it skip. Jinx was both impressed with her quick mastery of this skill, and simultaneously anxious that they were not yet deep enough in the woods to avoid being seen. His recent failure with Jessie had made Jinx ever-vigilant, cautious about every move he made.

He asked tentatively, looking this way and that for potential onlookers.

“Hmm?” she asked without turning her head.

She stopped walking and looked down at him curiously, so he stared back at her with pleading, worried eyes. She nodded upon seeing his expression. “All right. If you’re that worried, I’ll stop for now.”

He nodded, relieved.

Krista smiled.

she replied reassuringly.

With that she started skipping on every alternate step again.

*

Soon they had entered a darker part of the woods. The trees here grew close, and the sunlight streaming in was scant and pale.

“We’re almost there,” Krista announced right before they walked around a bend in the trail.

Suddenly she turned off the main path and pushed through some partially overgrown brush that just barely masked a smaller trail. Trotting along underneath this brush, Jinx attempted to keep up with her. They soon emerged in a wide, open clearing surrounded by trees where he trotted to her side and sat down on his haunches, surveying the area. At one end was a makeshift treehouse set into a large cavity of an old tree; a couple of old plastic chairs stationed outside like a porch.

Krista hurried over to her childhood fort and peered inside for a moment before turning to face Jinx. “Welcome to Krista the Amazing’s secret clubhouse!” She giggled before flopping down into the overgrown grass.

He trotted across the clearing to her.

Krista mused for a moment. “Show me what you can do first.”

He chuckled.

He moved a few feet away even as Krista backed up as well.

Looking around, eyes narrowed in thought, He searched for a target. That was when he saw it - or rather, sensed it. A small patch of dew collecting on the seat of one of the old chairs. Standing up, tail in the air and curled at the tip, he closed his eyes. Concentrating, he slowly lifted the puddle of water into the air. Breathing deeply, he moved it forward until it was hanging in midair between them. Opening his eyes, he slowly began to shape the formless water into a perfect sphere, rolling it over and over. Next he began to manipulate it into the shape of a cat, making it hover there. Krista reached out her hand and let the watery cat rest on her palm. Then she combined her powers with his, surprisingly easily, and levitated the water high into the air before the both of them lost focus and the water came raining down on them. Jinx jumped backwards so fast as the water fell that his fur stood on end, causing Krista to roll over laughing.

he scolded, when he had recovered from the shock.

Krista giggled. “Oh, it was a little bit,” she replied, holding her thumb and forefinger so they were almost touching. He made a face which only made her laugh harder.

he sniffed at her in a tone that suggested hurt feelings.

Krista giggled. “You’re being so Jinx. It’s funny!” she remarked to him, attempting to stop her giggles.

Making a face he burst out, He got up and walked over to a small pool of water a few feet away, sitting and flicking the tip of his tail in mild annoyance. Krista soon joined him, choosing to sit beside him. “Aw, Jinx, I’m sorry. I was just having a bit of fun, I swear,” she started honestly.He blinked up at her for a moment, before standing up and placing his paws in her lap.

he trailed off, looking down. Krista cupped his furry face in her hand and gently lifted up. “I know, Jinx.” She pulled him into a close hug. “Nothing will happen to me. I swear I will be careful.” With that, she leaned back on her hands giving him some space.

He padded towards the pool to have a drink of cool water, but as he approached it, his paw landed in a patch of thistles and he leapt back with a hiss of pain.

As he turned around limping slightly with his paw lifted in the air, the spines of thistles sticking out of it, he noticed Krista. She also had her hand cradled against her, her face twisted up as if in pain.He looked first at his own paw, then back at her.

He gestured at his sore paw, and winced as a thorn shifted. She winced at his wince and nodded. “I... I think so.” She looked puzzled and confused. “I don’t understand. I can feel what you feel?” she asked.

He considered her for a moment, still holding his paw as still as possible.

He paused, looking thoughtful for a moment.

Krista shuffled closer and proceeded to work on pulling thistles out of his paw, she showed a remarkable amount of skill as she set about her task. “We’re both learning all sorts of new things. Nothing wrong with that.”

He winced as she pulled the last thistle out then gingerly set his paw back down.

He frowned, clearly disappointed in himself.Krista suddenly scooped him up and cradled him in her arms like a baby.

He exclaimed, eyes widening in alarm - nearly bulging out of his head.

Krista giggled. “Showing you that I am more than an assignment, or a job.” She paused to rub his stomach, which made him purr involuntarily, before continuing. “I guide and help you, you guide and help me. Deal?” she asked, looking him squarely in the face, eyes locking onto his.He stared back at her for a moment before nodding.

He mused over this for a moment before he spoke again.

He queried her, a tilt to his furry head.

Krista nodded. “Alright. But I want to try moving something heavy this time.” She cast her eyes around for a moment before they landed on a rather large boulder sticking up out of the grass. A devilish smile played on her face as she pointed at it. “I want to try and push that boulder over.”

He walked over to inspect it, tail in the air. He sniffed all sides of it before sitting down beside it.

Krista nodded and took an obviously deep, cleansing breath, exhaling slowly before staring at the rock with focused determination. As she focused on tipping the rock over, he focused on her, sensing the emotions she was pushing into the effort to move the rock. He sensed a steely-eyed determination, mixed with the slight fear of failure, as well as a hint of a stubborn will to succeed. Smiling to himself, he focused on pushing her fear away, casting it to the side. As he did so, her determination gained strength. While focusing on calming and alleviating her fear, he encouraged the stubborn will. He watched as her determination and stubbornness rose like a thermometer on a hot day. The higher those levels, those emotions rose, the more the large boulder began to quiver. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of Krista’s face as it slowly lifted from the ground pulling chunks of earth along with it. It teetered on its edge, threatening to roll back over. Here he added his own elemental manipulation to the mix and coerced the rock, a piece of earth, into moving forward with a nudge of his mind. The two released it at the same time, and the round top of the boulder caused it to roll over and halfway back around before it rolled sideways on the hill.Krista sat back on her heels and wiped her brow. “Wow! That was easier than I expected, but I could still feel the strain.”He nodded.

He explained the process to her.

“Levels?” Krista asked bewildered.

She nodded. “Yeah, I think so. I could feel your reassurance. I think... I think I was just afraid to disappoint you - to disappoint myself,” she explained.He nodded back.

He gave her a reassuring look as he met her equally green eyes.

She swallowed nervously and whispered. “Thanks. That means a lot.”Walking over to her and purring, he rubbed affectionately against her side.

Krista leaned down and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. “I know what you mean, Jinx,” she said, her face buried in his short fur. “I felt, and feel, the exact same way. Before the ceremony, before I met you - felt you really - I always felt so lost, and as if I were in a daze. When we walked into that room, before I even saw you sitting there, I instantly felt warmer, clearer, closer to being complete.” He nodded back as the sun started its descent through the sky.

Krista nodded enthusiastically. “I concur completely!” She shifted restlessly on her heels. “Shall we continue to practice then?”

He nodded.

“What other sorts of elements can you manipulate?” Krista asked, her head tilted to the side in that endearing fashion of hers.

He smirked, Here he transformed himself back into a boy and sat down cross legged across from her holding out his hand, palm up. “Watch this.”

Staring at his hand he focused, for a moment nothing happened and then suddenly sparks started to flicker and spit in mid air, hovering over his hand. The next moment, just like flicking a lighter, a ball of flames erupted sitting in his hand.

Krista’s eyes widened in astonishment, “You can conjure fire? I thought you just manipulated elements?”

Extinguishing the fire by closing his hand into a fist he smiled, “Elemental manipulation is far more complex than that. Remind me to find the book about it sometime. But in short, yes. I can create each of the elements by focusing on what makes them. In this case I focused on the small amount of heat of my palm and manipulated it to increase in the air surrounding my palm until the fire sparked into life.”

“That… is so… cool!” Krista exploded with excitement.

Turning back into a cat he stood and yawned, Krista laughed as she to scrambled to her feet and hurried to the small door made of what appeared to be an old window shutter and pried it open.

“Pee Yew. Man is it ever musty in here.”

He trotted over to the old fort and wormed his way between his legs to peer inside.

What he saw was a simple, one room fort that appeared to use the edges of the tree hollow as the majority of the walls. There stood what appeared to be a pile of rags in one corner and a pile of very old looking books in another - their spines peeling.

Krista had crawled in, she was too tall to walk in now, and was sitting on her knees investigating the books, “Man, I forgot I left these out here. Grandma would be furious with me.”

he called from over by the rag pile he had been investigating - the rags turned out to be a very old pile of blankets; still soft oddly.

“Because they are books about magick, magickal history and telekinesis.” She replied sheepishly.

He trotted back to her side, not that it took much given how small the fort was, to peer over her arm at the faded titles.

Krista nodded before turning around with difficulty and crawling out of the fort with the books under her arm. Jinx followed her out and watched as she set them safely in the grass near the small pool.

*

They whiled away the next few hours between practicing various elements to their abilities, chatting about their lives and just lazing about in the grass. It seemed like no time at all that the sun was beginning to set and a pale image of the coming crescent moon was beginning to become visible in the early evening light.

Yawning so wide she could undoubtedly see his molars he sat up from his previous, stretched out, position.

“Oh, not yet! Please? There’s one more thing I want to try.

He looked quizzically at her, She just grinned, “It’s a surprise, silly. Now can I or not?”

He looked warily at her for a minute before nodding, “Excellent!” She squealed with such glee that it made him wince at the sound, “Now, sit still.”He arched an eyebrow at her He asked, a look of slight concern for what she had planned evident both in his voice and on his feline face.She giggled at him. “Don’t worry! I would never hurt you, Jinx!”Sitting upright rather stiffly he nodded his assent.

Krista nodded, suddenly serious. “Always, Jinx.”

With that, she held her hands out in front of her, palms up, as if holding something invisible on her hands. She stared at him with determination. He flitted inside her mind to sense her emotional state and felt no fear, only confidence and willpower. Not wanting to disturb her concentration, he pulled back from her mind and sat perfectly still. She started at him like that for a good half an hour, until the moon had almost fully risen. Slowly, he felt the pressure he exerted on the ground beneath him lessen. Sitting as stiffly as he could he looked down to see the grass brushing his toes as he was lifted in the air. First the high grass brushed against him as he rose, then the tips of the grass tickled his paws. Before too long, he was level with Krista’s head, her eyes narrowed in intense concentration, as if she was glaring at him. He bobbed in front of her for a moment as if riding on an air current, before rising a couple more feet.

he hissed, as he suddenly hurtled towards the ground, a burning sensation in his right ear. He landed solidly, but gracefully, on all four paws and immediately looked to Krista to see what had happened.

he began, before seeing her curled over, clutching her shoulder in obvious agony. Ignoring the burning in his own ear through gritted teeth, he trotted over to her and nudged her hand with his paw.

That was when he noticed it: underneath her hand a brilliant, white light was glowing right where her matching birthmark was.He stepped back from her and transformed back into a boy before approaching her once more, a set of chimes ringing in his head that he had to shake his head to ignore. He peeled her hand away from her shoulder and pushed her t-shirt to the side. What he saw was incredible: the crescent moon, mirroring the one that hung in the night sky, was glowing a brilliant, silvery-white. He sank back onto his heels in awe, and she slowly looked up at him, a couple of tears falling down her face from the pain, her eyes fixed over his shoulder at his ear.

“Your... your ear,” she stuttered, lifting her hand to point.“Your shoulder,” he gestured, using the back of his hand to wipe the tears from her face.

As the time passed with them just staring at each other, the glow seemed to fade, the pain subsided. Their marks simply shone as if they were made of moonlight. Both sat back on their heels staring at one another for a moment.

“What was that?” Krista asked, breaking the silence with a sniffle, wiping her face dry with her hand.“I... I don’t know,” he stuttered, his face expressionless. “I’ve never heard of anything like it,” he concluded.She wrapped her arms around herself in a self-hug as she looked around. Suddenly she must have begun to notice the lateness of the hour because by the reflection in her eyes, they caught the moon, and she stared up at it; after a moment she spoke. “I didn’t strain or anything with my power that time. In fact it was almost like I received a surge of energy, and it didn’t come from you. I know that now.” He gazed up at the moon for a moment himself before speaking. “Let’s get home. You can carry me so we can go quicker this time.”

With that he transformed back into a cat and stood at her side. After staring up at the moon for a few more moments, she tore her gaze from it finally and scooped him up before pushing herself to her feet. Krista took off at a brisk jog, clutching him tight to her chest, not stopping until they reached the back gate and let themselves in.