Chapter Text
Mal blinked in confusion. "Uh."
"Yeah, I don't know what that means either," I said.
Ms. Bellman frowned and leaned back in her seat. "Dai stihó is a traditional wizard's greeting. I'm surprised you didn't learn it from your Manual."
"I'm…mostly self-taught. And still pretty new at it." Mal suddenly seemed embarrassed. "There's probably a lot I don't know." She waved a hand again and dismissed the Dancing Lights.
"What sort of workings have you done so far?"
"I'm sorry, wait, back up," I said. "What's this Manual that explains things? What does it mean to be on errantry? What's the right way to listen to a cat? Does that mean you can talk to cats? What flavor of spellcaster are you exactly, Ms. Bellman?"
"You can call me Sophia, if you like, little one," she said, looking at me with understanding in her eyes. But something about the way she said it sounded different, like I was hearing it with my heart—not my ears. Or…something like that? "The universe is made of language. When you know the Speech, you can communicate with just about anything." She paused. "But then again, you're unusually proficient in the English language for a cat, aren't you?"
"Meowth, that's right!" I replied, drawing a giggle from Mal. "I'll tell you my backstory if you tell me yours, Sophia."
Sophia Bellman sighed. "I swear, I'm not trying to be cryptic or anything. We must be missing some common points of reference." She reached over her shoulder with one hand, and a plain-looking book appeared in it as if pulled from an invisible pocket in the air. The words So You Want To Be a Wizard were embossed on the front cover. "This is my Manual. Nine years ago, when I was just a little younger than you, I found it in an old bookstore—or, I suppose, it found me. It showed me the Oath, and I took it. In Life's name and for Life's sake, I swore that I would use the Art in service of that Life, and put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is right to do so."
"Wow," said Mal, awestruck.
"After that, of course, came my Ordeal," Sophia continued. "It was intense. But I survived. And I've been practicing ever since, helping to tilt the balance of life and death towards life—where I'm able." She smiled. "When I'm not teaching history to high school students, that is."
"What's an Ordeal?" I asked. I looked at Mal. "Did you have anything like that?"
She shook her head. "I don't think so. I didn't take an Oath either. I became a wizard by inheriting magical talent and studying my grandmother's spellbook. I've never heard of an Oath, or an Ordeal, in this context."
Sophia opened her book. "I need a comparative analysis of the most common alternative magical traditions of this district and a list of their known practitioners." As she spoke, the book's pages began turning of their own accord. "Ah, I thought so. We're operating on different magic systems entirely. This is making more sense now," she said, once the pages settled down.
I nodded slowly. "Like we're using GAAP and you're using IFRS." (Those are two different competing standards for reporting financial statements. I promise it's a very good analogy.)
"I'm sorry, does your spellbook have a search function?" Mal leaned in to take a closer look at the page. "I've never seen that language before. It doesn't look anything like my arcane script."
"That's the written form of the Speech. And yes, the Manual does have a search function, although sometimes it has a tendency to show me what I need rather than what I want." She ran her finger down the page. "Luckily, it seems like they're aligned in this case. Look, here's you!" She spun the book around and pointed to an image of Mal and me together.
"A little creepy that it has our picture," I said.
"It can only identify you because you revealed yourselves to me. Otherwise, it redacts personal information for privacy," she clarified. "Apparently there are four other unidentified individuals at this school besides you who operate, covertly, under the same methodology as you."
I could sense the gears turning in Mal's head. I was doing the count myself, too. Hannah, Marco, and Grace only added up to three. "Four besides us?" said Mal.
"So it seems. I take it that you know one or more of them already? You did mention you're only mostly self-taught."
Mal hesitated. "Yes," she said.
"Well, under my magic system, I'm one of the local advisories for the Sonoma region, so if you or any of your cohorts need help with magic, you can let them know to come to me, and I'll do my best to advise them!" She spun the book back, bit her lip, and flipped the page. "It looks like there's a lot of differences in our respective methodologies, though," she added. "I don't have much experience in interdisciplinary work. I'll have to do some research first. But you asked about the Oath, and the Ordeal?"
Mal and I both nodded.
"The Oath is a promise that you make to the Powers that govern the universe. Swearing that vow lets you become a conduit for the type of magic that I use—but first, you're tested, pitted against the forces of evil somehow. That's the Ordeal. The exact details are personal, but I can tell you it was harrowing as heck, that's for sure."
Then she turned to me again, looked me in the eyes, and raised one eyebrow. "Your turn. How is it that you understand English so well? "
"Oh, that's simple," I said cheerily. "I was a human before I was a cat! This whole four-legs-and-a-tail thing is actually a pretty recent development."
This time it was Sophia who was awestruck. "Whaaat? How did that happen?"
"Eh, just some isekai bullshit. A runaway truck was about to hit me at the same time Mal cast her spell to conjure a familiar. Wires got crossed, and poof, instead of being a pancake, I'm a cat!" I shrugged.
"Also, for the record, even if you had been an ordinary cat, the modifications I made to the spell that conjured you would still have let you understand English," Mal pointed out. "We didn't end up needing that particular feature, though, obviously."
"How long ago did this happen?" Sophia asked.
Mal counted on her fingers. "Um…four and a half days ago. Actually, I'm still a little bit baffled at how unbothered she is about it."
"Hey, cats are majestic creatures who don't have to pay for rent or groceries! And you're hooking me up with magic familiar powers. Including the ability to shapeshift. Could be a heck of a lot worse." I paused for a second. "Actually, Sophia, you wouldn't happen to know any tricks for extending a shapeshifting effect, would you? Cuz right now I only get half an hour a day."
"Um," said Sophia, "I suppose I might. Have you tried using a wearable charm? That could be a good starting place."
"You mean like a magic item?" Mal asked. "I've never really been able to craft any magic items more complicated than a single-use scroll. But I guess if you have magic shoes and jewelry, you must know how…could you teach me, do you think?" Hopeful excitement flickered across her emotions.
"Well, like I said, I'll have to do some research first. But…yes, of course, I'd be glad to."
Mal's eyes lit up with delight.
"And if you can show me your shapeshifting spell, I might be able to work up something right now for you to extend it," Sophia added.
"Heck yeah!" I hopped down to the floor and spoke the words to cycle through all of my different forms in turn. "Does that help?" I asked, once I was back in the shape of a housecat.
"Yes, I think so." Sophia flipped through her book. "You're not using the Speech to trigger it, but it looks like it still operates under the principles of magic I'm familiar with once it's running. Which means…well, this is worth a try, at least." With a fluid gesture, she swept her hand across the page, and the text was swept along behind, leaving an arc of strange, foreign characters floating in the air. "This spell is designed to reinforce other spells by absorbing light and kinetic energy over time and releasing it as magical energy. I can't promise unlimited uptime, but if this works, it should essentially let you build up a charge which you can spend to stay transformed longer."
"Cool!" I said, leaping back up onto the desk.
"Super cool," said Mal.
Sophia swirled the words around so that they formed a ring. She looked me in the eyes. "With your permission, I will link this spell to you, and while it lasts, it will capture and store surplus energy for you to withdraw as you like to power your own workings. Do you consent?"
I hadn't forgotten my conversation with Izzy over Messenger. If Sophia Bellman was secretly evil, the spell she was talking about gifting me could contain some kind of Trojan horse to spy on me or siphon my power or something. But I was getting good vibes, and at some point I think you just have to decide to trust people.
"I consent," I said.
With another gesture from Sophia, the ring of letters floated toward me and began to tighten, spinning faster until it was an inky blur. The blur became a streak, and then the streak was a band of dark black fabric, now no longer spinning as it settled around my left foreleg—a bracelet.
I shook my leg experimentally. There was a gentle weight to the bracelet, but it felt comfortable and secure.
"Kickass," I said.