The Witch's Familiar

Chapter 46

The headmistress stared in horror at the mark on your skin. She didn't seem able to comprehend it. You wanted to cringe back and hide from her disgust and anger at what had been done to you. It hadn't been your choice, of course. You hadn't chosen to be branded by witch hunters.

Especially not with compulsion spells in the ink. That wasn't a comforting thought. You had no way of knowing if Sera had killed all of the witch hungers. You couldn't imagine that they were actually all gone. There had to be more than just that one location of them. You didn't want to meet other witch hunters and find out the hard was that they weren't all dead, or worse that the compulsion spells were still active. You could fight them if you knew they were there and being activated, but only if you knew and were prepared.

You really didn't want to tempt fate by leaving compulsions spells etched into your skin.

You saw the headmistress steel herself to look more closely at the mark on your hand. She had to force herself to look. The mark didn't want to be looked at. Not by someone who wasn't a witch hunter. Not by someone who couldn't control the compulsion spells in it.

She finally shook her head. "This is outside of my abilities to remove. Curse breaking isn't my specialty." You couldn't help the heavy sigh as you put your gloves back on to hide the mark. "Speak with Professor Nakayama. She studied curses and might be able to help," she suggested. You nodded and stood.

"Thank you for your help and for taking care of Sera," you told her as Loki stood at well and took your hand.

"Of course," she replied.

You and Loki left her office and went to track down Professor Nakayama. She was the infamous professor with cat-ears too. She adored Loki since he wore them just as she did. Loki had been stuck with them for awhile. Now it was preference since he knew you liked them and had gotten used to them. You didn't mind one way or the other, but he wore them on Midgard because he knew you liked them. It was adorable that he did it for you.

She looked over the mark too and was equally horrified by it. She was also equally unable to fix it.

You went to ask Doctor Strange and he was just as stumped. He stopped you before you could leave the sanctum, though. "Pick a new familiar. Soon," he told you urgently. "Bad things happen to witches who go without, especially since you had one as strong as a dragon. You won't be able to survive without one,"

"I'll be alright, Doctor. Thank you for your concern," you told him with a lie. You wouldn't be alright. You knew it. You had too much power to be without a familiar. It was worse now that you'd had a dragon for a companion. You needed a familiar to keep your sanity, to keep your emotional and physical health.

You couldn't have another familiar.

You couldn't fail another one like you'd failed Sera.

Like you'd failed Maria all those years ago.

You couldn't fail a third time at raising a familiar.

"Darling, we should return to Asgard," Loki told you gently when you left the sanctum.

You stood on your toes and kissed his cheek. "We should, Lokitty," you agreed warmly, trying not to let him see that Strange's words and warning had affected you.

It didn't matter that Strange was right.

You wouldn't take another familiar.

You wouldn't.

"Perhaps Mother can find a solution to that mark," Loki didn't like you being marked anymore than you did.

You nodded and returned to the tower to prepare for your trip to Asgard, Strange's words still echoing in your mind.