Familiar's Calling - The Bond
Chapter 14 - Familial Revelations

As Chase, Sylas, Krista and Jinx began to make their way through the backyard, Ilise and Julius were just coming home from a late afternoon movie.

Just as they were walking into the kitchen the back door opened, as Jinx led the way into the house.

“Why, hello!” Ilise greeted the fivesome as she set her purse down on the kitchen counter and shrugged her arms out of her jacket.

“Hey, mum.” Krista smiled as she stepped past Jinx, and he let the outside door close.

“Hey, kiddo. How are you?” Julius asked as he hung his jacket on the back of his chair and pulled Krista into a hug.

Krista shrugged as Jinx stuffed his hands in his pockets and as Chase and Sylas stood awkwardly beside him, waiting to be introduced; Geoffrey stood stiffly beside the door.

“Oh! And who are your friends?” Ilise queried as she caught sight of the older pair.

Chase smiled stepping forwards with his hand outstretched. “Hello, ma’am, sir. My name is Chase Langsworth, and that,” he jerked his thumb back at Sylas and Geoffrey, “Is Sylas my familiar, and Geoffrey our guardian.” As he said each of their names Sylas and Geoffrey raised a hand in acknowledgement. “May we come in for a moment?” he asked politely.

Ilise’s eyes had widened in surprise for a moment when Chase introduced himself, but she shook his hand and gestured towards the kitchen table. “Yes, of course. Take a seat! Take a seat!”

“Thank you, ma’am. We can’t stay long however” Chase replied, and led the way into the kitchen filing in front of the hallway entrance instead. “We have accompanied your daughter and Jinx here tonight to request that she and Jinx be permitted to stay the night at our humble abode, over at Ropes Manor. We plan to make a pilgrimage of sorts to the Hall of Records to ask some questions we have, and other such matters first thing in the morning.”

Ilise was slightly taken aback at such a request, and also how similar Chase looked to Krista, and gaped slightly at his words, so Julius answered for them from his seat at the head of the table. “I think that would be perfectly acceptable, Mr. Langsworth. Krista, you should go pack an overnight bag.”

Krista nodded sleepily, and rushed off with Jinx hot on her heels.

Chase blushed slightly at being referred to as ‘Mister’ and bit his lower lip before remarking. “Thank you, and might I add, you can call me Chase, sir.”

Julius chuckled. “And you can call me Julius, Chase.”

Chase’s mouth twitched into a half smile. “Noted, Julius,” he replied.

After several minutes of Sylas, Chase standing awkwardly in the kitchen and Geoffrey standing stiffly beside the door, Chase started looking around in interest at the quaint surroundings. Just as he was admiring the beautiful handbuilt oak cabinetry, Krista and Jinx came back through the doorway leading to the hallway. Krista had an army green knapsack slung over one shoulder. She arched her eyebrow at the awkward group which included her parents.

“You could talk you know,” she remarked with a sly grin, walking over to stand next to her father.

Julius chuckled. “We talked, dear.” He paused. “A bit,” he finished, with a smile.

“I know, Pa. I heard.” She smirked at her father.

Ilise’s eyes, meanwhile, were darting between her daughter and Chase. Krista noted this, and looking at her mother, one eyebrow raised and a puzzled expression on her face, questioned her about it.

“What’s up, mum?”

Ilise’s eyes flickered to her daughter’s green eyes, and then back at Chase’s blue ones for a moment. “Nothing, sweetie!” She blushed, a deep crimson rising into her cheeks.

Krista tilted her head at her mother. “What’s up, Mum? Something is bothering you. You can tell me,” she replied in earnest.

Ilise bit the corner of her lower lip nervously. “It’s just…” Her eyes flicked between the two witches again. “Chase and yourself… you look so similar… almost like you’re related,“ she replied finally.

Krista and Chase looked at each other across the kitchen table as if sizing each other up, which made Julius chuckle. “You two act like siblings,” he commented. Which made Chase and Krista eye him curiously as well.

That’s when Sylas cleared his throat. “Ilise,” he addressed Krista’s mother. Which made everyone look around at the formerly silent, silver-haired familiar expectantly.

“Yes, Mr… Sylas?” she asked politely, folding her hands in her lap.

Sylas smiled a small reassuring smile at her, even as the guilty look cemented itself on his face again. “It is interesting that you mention that is seems as though Chase and Krista could be related,” he observed, eyes flicking briefly over the two young witches. “It is interesting because you are actually completely, one hundred percent correct,” he finished, to Chase, Krista and Jinx’s surprise.

Chase sputtered torn between anger, confusion and surprise. “I thought you said you didn’t know!”

Sylas smirked and replied, “Actually, what I said is the reason you look so similar would be revealed to you when you were meant to know, Chase.”

Chase stared at his familiar open-mouthed; Krista was eyeing Chase scrutinizingly. “So, what? Chase is like my great-great-great-great-great-something grandfather?” she asked, eyes flicking back to Sylas.

Sylas pursed his lips together, both index fingers pressed against them as he thought of how to answer the question. “Mmm… I should clarify. You are related through time, closer than your ages would suggest,” he explained somewhat lamely.

Chase eyed Krista then glowered at Sylas. “Sy, that is neither helpful nor explanatory in the least.”

Sylas smirked. “It is… complicated to say the least. However to make a long story short, Chase is your brother, Krista, and Krista is your sister, Chase.” He looked to Julius and Ilise who wore identical expressions of confusion. “Now, where the complication comes in is that you - they are related by blood, but your - their parents are not the same.” He paused to wait for questions. When there were none, only further perplexed looks, he continued. “This whole idea is part of why everyone says that the connection between Chase and Krista, in particular, transcends both space and time.”

Krista and Chase were now eyeing each other with interest through their equally puzzled expressions. Krista cleared her throat. “So… we have different parents, but we are siblings?” she asked.

Sylas squinted one eye, thinking of how to respond “I am unsure of the exactly how the logistics factor into the process, but I do know magick was involved.” He thought for a moment before continuing, “However I do believe the general gist is that while you were biologically born from separate parents, at separate times, you come from the same parents.”

This explanation helped not at all as Krista, and even Chase, still looked thoroughly confused, but realization dawned on the faces of Julius and Ilise, and they looked at one another as if deciding whether or not to reveal information. Krista caught this look and turned on them. “What? What are you two hiding?” she all but demanded.

Julius’ brow furrowed as he looked at his wife. “Well… Krista, sweetie, there is something you should know.” He looked to his wife who nodded as if to say, ‘she needs to know’. “Your mother and I… we cannot conceive a child naturally,” he began.

Krista raised her eyebrow. “What?”Julius cleared his throat. “In order for your mother to become pregnant with you, we had to seek assistance from doctors, and thus an embryo was implanted from another couple.”

Krista’s eyes widened in shock and confusion. “But.. I .. I look just like you, Pa. Everyone says so. I look like both of you.” Julius cupped his daughter’s cheek as she drew closer. “Indeed you do. Well you have some traits passed to you by your mother - at least as she carried you. And you have always, and will always, be our daughter no matter what biology says,” he told her sincerely. Krista bit her upper lip and swallowed as he finished speaking. “But this is how what Sylas says is true. How Chase and you are brother and sister.”

Krista looked back up at Chase as Chase continued to stare down at Krista, each was sizing the other up.

A smirk spread across Jinx’s face as he, finally, spoke up. “Don’t siblings like hug or something when they first meet?” he teased them. Both siblings shot him a glare, and the tips of their ears reddened in embarrassment. Jinx chuckled at this. “Yep. They’re definitely siblings. You sure they aren’t twins, though?” Jinx added with a chortle as he looked over at Julius and Ilise.

Julius chuckled. “Yes, we are sure. I am fairly certain that would not be possible anyways. Brother and sister is one thing, but twins? I don’t think so.”

Jinx chuckled and gave Chase a nudge in the small of the back. “Come on now, hug it out so we can get going. I’m -” he yawned widely, “- exhausted.”

Chase stumbled slightly from the nudge, but briefly wrapped his arms around his newly discovered younger sister. Krista, in turn, briefly reciprocated the hug before the two broke apart, Krista twirling the end of her ponytail around her finger and Chase scratching the back of his head.

“Okay, can we go home now?” Chase asked awkwardly.

Julius piped up. “Oh yes! You really should. It is getting late, and the witch hunters have been on patrol again.”

Sylas nodded. “Good to know. Chase? We will take the back roads to get home,” Sylas remarked.

Chase nodded. “All right.” He turned to Krista. “You ready to go?”

Krista nodded, adjusting the strap of her knapsack on her shoulder. “Ready when you are, big brother.” She said it without a second thought, and her eyes widened once she realized what she had said. This caused a few chuckles from those present, including from herself and Chase.

“Anyways, we shall see you again soon, Julius. Ilise,” Chase said, nodding to each. “Jinx, Krista, Sy, let’s get going.”

Krista wrapped her arms around her father’s shoulders and gave him a hug which he reciprocated, followed by a hug from her mother before the small group trooped out the back door again, down through the yard and back out the gate. Instead of proceeding into the forest, however, they turned left and walked along the backside of the row of houses.

*

When they had been walking for some time, they crossed over Washington Street and began to proceed south along it. Krista spoke up quietly, “So did you grow up with our real parents? What were they like?” she questioned Chase curiously.

Chase was chewing the inside of his lip nervously for a moment before answering in an undertone as Jinx glanced back over his shoulder. “I was actually adopted when I was a baby. I never knew our biological parents either.”

Krista sniffed. “Oh! I’m sorry I didn’t realize -” she began, before he waved his hand dismissively at her.

“It’s fine. You didn’t know. Besides, if the roles were reversed I’d have asked you as well. Everyone wants to know where they came from. It’s only natural.” He paused for a moment staring at the back of Sylas’ head thinking before adding, “Perhaps the Dozhan will know who they are. We can ask him tomorrow. Hey, Jinx!” Chase called up to the shaggy, black-haired boy in front of him.

*

Jinx looked back over his shoulder at Chase, his bright green eyes catching the light of a passing car and for a moment looking distinctly feline. “What?”, he blinked at him.

Chase chuckled at his look. “Why don’t you tell us about your family,” He glanced around for a moment as they approached Essex Street. “Both of them,” he added in an undertone, with a knowing nod.

Jinx nodded and slowed his pace to walk beside the two witches. “I actually don’t know very much myself - about either one.” His sharp eyes watched a truck pass before he continued, “I know that the -” he lowered his voice, “- human one was a family that had been tending and caring for familiars for generations, but my other one, well I was pulled from the litter not long after I was born to be trained as a familiar, so I didn’t get to bond with them much”

Sylas had also slowed down to walk on Chase’s side after realizing Jinx had dropped back. “I believe if Krista and Chase are any indication, this partnership is the closest and most tied together of any before for you,” he remarked.

Chase nodded. “Clearly,” he swung an arm around Krista’s shoulders to her surprise, causing her to jump slightly as they crossed over North Street. He chuckled at her, and after giving her a one-armed hug, withdrew his arm to spread both wide as they walked up to the Ropes Manor gate. “Welcome to our humble abode!” He grinned down at Krista as Sylas rolled his eyes.

Jinx’s eyes bulged out of his skull, and Krista’s likewise when he looked around at her.

“You live here?” they gasped in unison after turning to look at Chase.

Chase chuckled. “Yup, sure do.”Jinx looked at both of them curiously. “How did you manage to get it? I thought this place was a museum.”

Chase looked at Sylas who looked back and nodded. ”Sy took care of it. Not sure how, but he did.”

Both Krista and Jinx arched eyebrows at Chase, to which Chase simply shrugged and strode off up the path to the house leaving Krista, Jinx, Sylas and Geoffrey to follow after him. As they reached the elaborately carved door, Jinx took in its unique features; it seemed to Jinx to have animals of all sorts carved into the frame, which - along with the door - was highly polished. When they reached it, instead of reaching into his pocket for a key, Chase instead placed his palm flat on the door near the doorknob. If he hadn’t known any better, Jinx could have sworn he had grabbed the doorknob instead. There was a momentary dim but red glow underneath his flat palm before Chase reached for the actual doorknob, twisted and swung the door inward.

“Welcome,” he began as he gestured inside, “to Ropes Manor.” He stood back to allow Krista and Jinx to enter and then hurried over the threshold himself. Krista and Jinx stared around in awe; Jinx’s mouth was hanging slightly open. Krista must have glanced over at his gaping mouth because she giggled before using her own hand to close it. Jinx looked over at her blushing slightly before gazing back up at the long elaborately polished staircase.

Finally replaceing his voice, he spoke, “It’s just the two - three of you living here?” he asked, still gazing up the staircase in awe.

Chase nodded. “Yup, just us,” he replied, tucking his thumbs into the waistband of his jeans and as he watched his sister and Jinx look around. As Krista yawned bringing the back of her hand up to cover her mouth, Chase chuckled which made Jinx look around. “Shall I show you to your room... sis?” He offered his arm for her to take, hesitating on the last word.

Krista nodded sleepily and accepted his arm, leaning her head on her older brother’s arm, eyes half-closed. Jinx shook his head, a smile on his face, and walked behind them as they slowly ascended the stairway. As they reached the top of the stairs, Chase guided Krista to the left and down a wide hallway. Jinx peered around the hallway as they walked along looking at the various portraits lining the halls (he did not recognize any of them) and into the dark corners. The entire house felt like a tomb, it was so quiet and empty. Soon the group had reached a door on the right-hand side of the hallway, and Chase steered Krista towards it, opening the door with a wave of his hand as they walked up to and then through it.

As he helped Krista to sit on the bed Jinx approached, turning into a cat as he walked, before jumping on the bed, tail in the air.

As Chase backed out of the room closing the door with a soft click, Krista crawled up to the head of the large four poster bed and under the covers to curl up into a ball. In comparison to the large bed, she was a small ball in the middle of the vast space. Jinx walked across the bed towards her, tail still high in the air, and curled up beside her on the other pillow. As she yawned for what seemed like the millionth time. Jinx also opened his maw wide yawning.

You feeling ok? He asked her, head up, ears alert, eyes drooping and forelegs stretched out in front of him.

Krista, her eyes half closed, nodded sleepily. Very, she replied, the exhaustion evident even in her thought-speak voice.

He nuzzled her head with his nose before giving it a small lick, akin to a kiss. Krista reached up to scratch the top of his head, causing him to purr as she did so. I hope… She yawned again. I hope that the Dozhan can give us some answers tomorrow, Jinx, she mumbled to him.

Nuzzling her fallen hand on the pillow, he replied with another yawn. I’m sure he will be able to. I just hope that he actually does. He likes to hide things.

She didn’t respond and when Jinx tilted his head to peer at her face he smiled to himself. She was out like a light, her breath moving the few strands of hair that had fallen across her face. Stretching out a paw, Jinx softly flicked the hair off of her face and settled back down, closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep himself.