The Familiar || ONC 2022

Chapter 1

Morlana eyed the mountain of dishes piled on the kitchen counter. Despite her mother taking the day off from the Sylvane coven's matriarchal duties to cook enough to feed an army, there was no way it would be enough food to satisfy everyone that was attending Morlana's coming of age ceremony.

The girl's fingers itched with unused power. She promised her mother a week ago she wouldn't try casting anything until after her sixteenth birthday, but the buildup of magic was becoming too much to ignore. It needed an outlet, no matter how small.

The fifteen-year-old eyed her mother's terracotta flower pot resting innocently on the windowsill next to three different sized mortar and pestles. She listened intently for any sound of her mother's return before inching towards the window.

Duplication powder would do the trick. The recipe was so simple it hardly counted as making a potion, and would be one less task her mother had to worry about as the evening's hostess. Morlana could whip it up before the matriarch finished her shower and have time to clean the counters like she had been asked.

Morlana took a deep breath before standing on her tiptoes to snatch the pot from the sill. She stopped rifling through the coven's dedicated potion ingredient cabinet when a loud caw announced the arrival of her mother's familiar, a raven so large it nearly filled the window frame.

"Hush, Corvus." Morlana chided as the familiar trilled his displeasure at her actions. "It doesn't even require an incantation and I've made it without any mishaps in the past."

She concentrated on her task, adding the ingredients to the flowerpot in the correct order and ratio before silently calling on the magic coursing under her skin. It sprung to life almost greedily, and she fought to reign it back to the small trickle required to bind the duplicating powder together.

"Morlana Sylvane, I hope that's not your magic I sensed in the kitchen." Her mother's voice drifted from the upstairs landing, "we do not have the time to chase cleaning supplies around the house before the family and our other guests arrive."

Morlana winced at the memory, her concentration broken. "I'm not using magic to finish my chores, I promise." she called back. Corvus cawed nervously as the flower pot shook before settling. The young witch breathed a sigh of relief as she heard her mother's footsteps rushing down the stairs.

The girl relaxed too soon. The terracotta vessel shuddered once more. Acrid black smoke billowed from the pot, making Morlana cough and reach for the window with blurry eyes before she was knocked over by an explosion. Corvus squawked in panic as he tried to beat back the smoke escaping through the window.

"What in Nature's name is going on?" Her mother coughed from the doorway before muttering a spell under her breath and snapping her fingers. The billowing smoke was vacuumed out the window by an invisible force.

The coven matriarch sighed as she took in the scene her daughter's magic left behind. Soot covered nearly every white or stainless steel surface. Splintered wooden barstools lay on the floor haphazardly along with the remnants of the cabinets. The countless trays of appetizers and main dishes plastered the walls and floor.

The flower pot rested innocently on the white marble of the kitchen island, undisturbed. Burned stems of herbal ingredients and jars whose contents had now been boiled away littered the rest of the counter's expansive surface.

Morlana's mother's shoulders slumped briefly before straightening. "Lana dear, are you alright?" She called in worry.

The teenager groaned as she sat up, her grey and white sundress streaked with black ash. Morlana took a deep breath to hold back the tears of disappointment on the verge of escaping. "I was just trying to help." She hung her head in shame as she stood up.