She Left

Vincent would drop by later, so Alec headed back to the apartment that he shared with his mother, finding the inside the same as he remembered it.

The bonds from the various things in the apartment started calling out to him the moment he neared, the bonds between him and his Awakened sung joyfully in his veins.

Alec smiled, letting out a flood of magic that they gleefully soaked up.

Now in the privacy of his own home, Alec relaxed, sitting down on the sofa that he hadn't sat on in a few years.

Compared to the growth that his familiars showed, the Awakened here were of lower sentience. They did indeed exist, but just barely so, surviving off of Alec's magic instead of being able to produce magic on their own.

He unfolded his mother's letter once again, reading through it properly this time instead of just skimming the first few pages.