Catching up

I woke up to my ringtone. I look at the caller ID and see it's Peter.

"Peter, it's been a while. What's up?"

"I missed you, I tried visiting you yesterday but I guess I came by too early. When are you free?" I haven't seen Peter in two years, he was my best friend.

"Seriously?! I'm free most of the time but there's a weird energy source in my town, so I'll have to make portals for you to my house. When are you coming?" I put the phone on speaker phone and headed to the bathroom.

"I'm free right now, but I'm assuming by your dead voice that you just woke up. You can portal me anytime. How is Beatrix?" I started brushing my teeth.

"I can set up the portals in a few minutes, and she's been fine. How's your dad?" I spit out the toothpaste and started working on my skincare routine.

"He's been fine. Honestly, he misses you a lot. You were like a daughter to him. I'll see you in a bit, Ollie." He hung up the call.

The next few minutes, I freshen up and change into a pair of comfortable sweatpants and a purple tee. I gave Beatrix new food and water before starting to form the portal. Knowing Peter, he's probably in his room right now.

I formed the portal in my living room, and connected it to Peter's room.

"You came earlier than expected." Peter jumped into the portal. I immediately gave him a hug before pinching his nose.

"Ow! What was that for?" He rubbed his nose.

"I don't know. Are you hungry? I have leftover bacon." I pointed to the kitchen. He ran off and started eating the extra bacon.

"What's up with these energy sources anyways?" He leaned on my counter.

"I don't know, but I don't like the gut feeling that I have. I checked in with Onyx but he didn't report anything involving my parents." I leaned next to him, placing my head on his shoulder. He had a few inches on me but it wasn't a huge height difference.

"I missed us. If only you didn't have to move away." He sniffled.

"I know. Everyone here knows about my parents so they assume I'm just like them. It's the complete opposite. But I got closer to two guys, Grey and Niven. Grey is annoying and Niven's super sweet and chill." I decide to sit on the counter top, playing with Peter's hair from the side.

"As long as you aren't suffering here. Is Mr. James keeping an eye out for you still?" I nod at his question.

There was a short silence where we just enjoyed each other's company.

"How are you and your girlfriend?" I wave him over to the living room.

"We broke up a few weeks ago, I lost feelings for her and she was becoming toxic. I had to." He sat a few inches away. His black messy hair covered most of his face, hiding his brown eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. You should put your hair up, it's hard to see your eyes." I move over to him and force him to turn around. I grabbed an extra scrunchie I had and put his hair in a manbun.

"Better." I turned him around and gave him a little smile.

Our faces were a little bit too close for comfort but I didn't want to pull away. He slowly leaned in, being disrupted by Beatrix who dropped a vase.

"Beatrix, what did you do?" I get up and reach for her. Searching for cuts, I luckily found none.

"Here can you hold her until I'm done sweeping?" I hand Beatrix over to Peter.

I grab a broom and start sweeping.

"She's so clueless." I look over to Peter and laugh at how he's holding her.

"What?"

"You guys look so funny." I let out a little cough from laughing too much and finishing cleaning up.

"You can put her down now." I look over to see Beatrix in Peter's arms, held like a baby.

I quickly pull out my phone and take a picture of the two.

"Was that vase expensive?" Peter let go of Beatrix, who took a seat next to me.

"Not really, I found it at some old thrift store. What do you want to watch?" I opened Luku.

"Nothing scary, maybe Pirates of the Caribbean?" Peter suggested.

"I mean, if it's on Luku then sure." I searched for it and found the first movie.

"I'll go grab snacks." I quickly rushed to the kitchen, causing me to trip. Trying to catch myself caused me to fall towards the couch and on Peter.

"Well.. this is awkward." I whispered. He had his hands on my hips while I had mine near his shoulder and head, and my face was a few inches away from his.

"Are you calling me a snack?" Peter joked around.

"Hm.. that's the last thing I would call you." I whispered into his ear before getting up. I look over to him and see a look of defeat on his face.

I hear him choke a bit, causing me to die of laughter. I grab a bowl of popcorn and some M&Ms before going back to the living room.

"You can play the-" Before I could finish my phone started ringing.

"Hello, Beth?"

"You need to come over, now." Aunt Beth sounded tense.

"I'll be there in a second." I hung up the phone.

"I'm sorry, you have to go. I'll call you later." I formed a portal in front of Peter, giving him a small push in.

I create a portal that connects to Aunt Beth's house. I walk in and get greeted by her and James.

"What's going on?" They had their weapons out.

"A few creatures are here. I can understand them, and they're talking about you and I." My heart dropped.

"What does this mean?" I look out the window to see around 10 creatures.

"They were sent here to cause chaos and to bring you guys back with them. I'm certain that your parents have sent them here." James stepped into the conversation.

"I'll be back." I created a portal to the roof of the building. I started to form rain clouds in the area, and warned the creatures with the sound of thunder. They didn't nudge, causing me to send lightning down onto them.

They all fell down. I look around the neighborhood and see a handful of different creatures, goblins running around. I created portals below them and connected them to one, being the front of the house. They all look up to me, snarling and showing their sharp teeth.

I form a few spears and aim down on them, sending them with full force. I hear a portal form behind me and see it's Aunt Beth.

"I'm so proud of you, kid." She pulled me into a hug. I see people from the neighborhood leaving their houses, in disbelief on what just happened.

"You just saved us. Thank you." They shouted from the ground. I sheepishly smiled at them.

"You don't need to thank me. When something happens, let her know so I can come and help you guys." I pointed to Aunt Beth and they cheered for us.

In my old town, most of us were sorcerers but in this one, the only sorcerers are the kids in the academy.

"I'm going to go around town, and look for more. See you later Auntie." I gave her a quick hug before jumping off the building, making stairs with my powers.

The town wasn't big, so I didn't have much walking to do. A few minutes pass and I find a few more goblins and some basilisks..

I shout to get their attention. They turn around and start running towards me. I quickly formed two purple katanas before slicing two of their heads off. I immediately attack the rest of them, being careful of being scratched by them. One hit one of my katanas out of my hand, so I formed and threw a dagger at it's eye.

There were 4 more to deal with, these were bigger from the other ones I just fought. I see a red sword pierce through one of them from the back, it slowly being pulled out.

"Hey there." Once the creature's body fell, it revealed Grey.

"What are you doing here?" I sliced one of the creature's arms off, attacking its heart next.

"This is my neighborhood, what are you doing here?" Grey fought off two of the other creatures.

"Oh, I'm going around killing these hideous creatures." I speared my katana through the last basilisks heart, kicking its body off of my katana.

"Do you know how many there are? I'll help you. I have nothing better to do and they get pretty annoying." He finished off the last goblin.

I put my katanas away, looking down on the creatures.

"I don't know. There's 5 more neighborhoods. I've done this one and my Aunts. You can take two neighborhoods, I'll do the rest." I formed a portal to the neighborhood on the barrier.

"Let's meet here once we both finish." He formed his red portal next to mine and jumped in. I walked into mine and got greeted by 16 goblins.

I formed a strong breeze to bring them all together. When they were stuck in the circle, I formed a spear and threw it into the circle. When it's in mid-air I made the wind move it around, causing it to pierce through every creature. All of the creatures fell, and I grabbed my spear from one of the bodies.

"Miss, thank you. You just saved my son." I looked over to the kid who had been cornered by two of the goblins before I came.

"Here, kid." I formed a small dagger with my magic.

"Only use this when you're in danger, okay?" I pat his head before forming another portal. The next neighborhood on my list was across town.

I walked in and saw a group of people trying to fight off two creatures. There were around 8 more creatures in the neighborhood, starting to circle the group of people. I formed my katanas and ran over to them.

I snuck behind three goblins and sliced their green heads off. Catching the attention of the 5 others, they run over to me. I kick the close ones away, stabbing whatever I can.

I look over to the group of people and see that they somehow killed the two creatures. They were rushing over to me now.

"We got you." One of the females in the front reassured me. They had pretty old swords that did the job.

"Are any of you hurt?" I attacked the last creature standing. The group gazed at me.

"No, but you are. Do you need help?" The man pointed at my arm, and the large cut.

"Oh, no I'll be fine. Be safe." I waved over to them before trying to form a portal. It wouldn't work.

I tried again, and it wouldn't go.

"I have a bike, I don't use it anymore that you can have?" A girl a bit younger than me comes up.

"That would be amazing. Thank you." She quickly rushed to a nearby house and brought out a bike.

"I'll bring it back whenever I can." I smiled at her before riding away. I looked down on my cut and saw it excessively bleeding.

I rode the bike for 15 minutes, struggling due to the loss of blood and pain. I took a break in a nearby neighborhood, hoping it was cleared out.

I see lifeless creatures on the floor, lying on top of each other.

"Are you okay?" I looked to the right and saw Grey running over.

"I just got cut, I'll be fine.. Did you just finish both of your neighborhoods?" I took a seat at a nearby bench.

"Yeah, did you finish yours?" Grey sat down next to me.

"I have one more.. My magic isn't working though." I tried forming my katanas and a spark of magic just showed.

"It might be the cut, do we know what these creatures are?" Grey looked at the cut and back to one of the dead creatures.

"I think these are Basilisks, messed up ones though. Look, their wings are cut and their eyes are damaged. That's why nobody died from looking at their eyes. They set a few things on fire but the firefighters can clean it up. The smaller ones are goblins. And I can't use my magic because.. basilisks cuts are venomous. Do you know if Niven is nearby?" Keeping my eyes open took so much energy alone, I tried getting up but failed.

"Stay here, I'll get him." Grey ran into a newly formed portal and shortly came back with Niven. I looked up to both of them. I pulled out my arm and Niven immediately grabbed it.

"I have a potion, drink this it should get rid of the venom in your body. Drink it while I heal the cut." I tried getting a grip on the bottle, but it nearly slipped. Grey caught it and brought it to my lips.

He tilted my head back and poured the potion into my mouth, I immediately swallowed it.

I felt a strong pain in my arm, where Niven was healing.

"It's going to hurt, but I'm almost done." Niven reassured me. A few minutes pass and the wound is nonexistent.

I slowly got up, checking my balance.

"Were these sent as threats? The last sighting of both of these creatures was years ago." Grey asked.

"I genuinely have no clue. But thank you, both of you. I have to go to the last neighborhood now. I'll see you both at school on Monday." I started to form a portal before Grey grabbed my arm.

"You think you're going alone? You just now healed." Niven agreed with him, standing side by side.

"Fine. Let's make it quick. I have someone to see." I formed a slightly bigger portal, going in first the others slowly followed.

"There's a ton of them. I'll go to those." I pointed at the separated creatures.

"Okay, meet in this exact spot when you're done." Niven and Grey ran the opposite direction.

I called for my familiar. Onyx was an 8 foot fenrir, who was given to me by my Aunt.

"Hey bud, want to have some fun?" I pointed over to the creatures. Onyx immediately ran over to the creatures, attacking them. They looked like ants compared to him.

I look over to Niven and Grey, who were nearly done fighting the creatures. I saw a few people staring out of their windows at Onyx.

"He's a good boy, don't worry." I shouted out to them.

Niven and Grey ran over to me.

"There's a massive wolf..." Niven stared at Onyx in disbelief.

"Yeah, he's with me." I reassured the others, yet it still caused them to look at me in shock.

I called over Onyx who pounced over. I pulled out my hand, him responding by placing his snout on it and sitting.

"His name is Onyx. He's a fenrir. Not very popular around here." I pet Onyx on his head, him rubbing into my hand.

The others looked back to each other, making sure they both saw the same thing.

"You see this too, right?" Grey slowly nodded his head.

Niven slowly walked up to Onyx, petting his side. Onyx turned his head to look over at Niven. Niven sat there in terror.

Onyx showed his teeth before sneezing on Niven. I started laughing at him.

"Good job, bud. You can go back if you want." Onyx shook his head at my offer.

"Okay, do you guys want a ride?" Onyx lowered his body down, allowing me to jump onto him with a little help of magic. I offer my hands to the others, they hesitate but agree.

I pull them up, Grey behind me and Niven behind him.

"So.. how long have you had him?" Grey tried striking up a conversation.

"Onyx, go to Auntie Beth. Oh, I have had him since I was 10 I believe. We've been friends for a few months but there's no way I can bring this up randomly to you guys." Onyx slowly got up and walked towards Aunt Beth's house.

"It's a 20 minute walk for Onyx, unless you guys want him to run there. It'll be a 4 minute ride." Onyx loved running but with new riders, he knew not to.

"Let's see him run." Niven shouted. I pet Onyx on his side, letting him know he can run.

"Hold on." I smirked before holding onto his fur. Onyx immediately started to run, causing the others to yelp.

We soon arrived at the house, and Aunt Beth ran out happy to see Onyx.

"Onyx." She immediately went up to his face, putting her hand out for him to smell. He didn't even need a second before he wagged his tail and gave her the smallest lick he can.

"Okay bud. You can put us down now." I giggle before rubbing his side. He slowly laid down, letting us jump off.

"Since when can you touch a familiar?" Mr. James came out of the house confused.

"This isn't news, you just never studied them." I rolled my eyes before giving James a hug.

"Aunt Beth, this is Grey and Niven. They helped with the creatures." I pushed both of them in front of me.

"Thank you for helping the town and my niece. I've heard a lot about you guys. You guys are quite handsome too." She looked over at me, winking.

"Thank you, and it's no issue. We've heard about you too. It's nice to properly meet you. You're pretty yourself, Miss Viotto. So is your niece." Grey looked back at me, winking.

"I think I just threw up in my mouth." I faked throwing up, getting a response from Auntie Beth.

"I just wanted to show off Onyx to them. I'll take you guys back home if you want." I turned around to face the boys.

"Sure." They both replied.

I spent the next twenty minutes riding Onyx with the boys, taking them home.