Unfamiliar (Unfamiliar Series #1)

Chapter 32

At first, I don't want to tell them at all, but in order for Officer Marshall to trust me, I have to tell her the truth.

"I'm...Unfamiliar," I say in a hushed voice, like saying it too loud will alert the nearest person who wants to kill me.

Officer Marshall sits back heavily in her seat, her eyebrows arching high across her brow line as she exchanges a quick glance with Garret, "Kara-."

"I know that it sounds crazy, but please hear me out before you judge me," I tell her.

She frowns and looks to Garret again as she shrugs, "Okay, I'm listening."

"Just give me a second, I've only conjured another person's familiar a few times before," I explain.

When she nods at this, I try to conjure her familiar then, seeking out the thread that I know connects her to her familiar. I feel the same twinge that I had felt when I controlled the other familiars on the field and in the gymnasium as I pull the thread in my mind, unraveling it as I begin to bring her familiar into existence. There's a flicker of its outline beside her before it solidifies, the creature, a cheetah, looking just as shocked as its master as its rounded ears flick and tilt uneasily, its amber eyes scanning the room.

Officer Marshall sits up slowly, her movements tinged with unease as her eyes remain on her familiar before she looks to Garret, her mouth opening and closing several times as she's suddenly at a loss for words. She finally reaches out and touches her familiar, her hand shaking slightly as she strokes the cheetah on its head.

"Flora," she whispers dazedly before she looks to me, her eyes alight with wonder.

"I believe her," Garret says as he looks from Officer Marshall to me, "I mean, there is no other explanation."

Officer Marshall nods once, then twice and blinks at me, "So tell me what it means to be Unfamiliar."

"It's dangerous," I sum up for her, "Unfamiliars are blamed for a lot, there are cults out there who want to wipe us out."

"Kara, I promise you that I will keep you safe, I want you to be able to trust me," she assures me.

"Thanks," I mutter.

"How many people know that you're an Unfamiliar?" she inquires as she sits back in her chair.

"Probably the whole academy by now," I say as I laugh weakly.

"That's going to make it difficult, did everyone know before Finn was murdered?" she asks and I can see the pieces falling into place.

"Yes...you don't think-?"

She nods, confirming my thoughts, "I think that Finn's murder may have been an attempt to have you framed, to make you into a scapegoat and make you seem dangerous, either that or someone may have been tracking you and killed him by mistake."

My stomach turns at the prospect of being hunted, I could have possibly been murdered tonight and I haven't even told Indigo or my parents about the suspected first attempt on my life.

I don't even know how to bring up the subject to them.

"How will I tell my parents?" I ask aloud.

"I honestly don't know," she tells me as a frown graces her lips, "but I want you to have my card, if you need anything, and I do mean anything, help or someone to talk to, I'm here for you," she says and smiles as she passes me a small business card.

"Thanks," I say as I take the card.

"I can also keep this a secret, as a precaution, I'm going to prescribe a very low dosage for the healing patches," Garret says.

I'm relieved then to have someone else on my side to help me.

Especially since it seems like I've lost one of the few people that I could rely on most as I think back to what Luke had said.

You're no better than Ava.

I mull over his words, am I really no better than her in his eyes?