Wolfe set the girls down at the entrance to the Student locker room and moved to the staff room, where he left his clothes.
“Wolfe, save us a seat, would you? We will take longer than you to get changed.” Ella called from next door as Wolfe stuffed his swim trunks in one of the provided mesh laundry bags everyone used to carry their gym gear.
“Not a problem. I will meet you up there.” He called, then jogged out into the hallway.
Only one corridor over, he met up with Mary, who had stopped so that Pup could meet another canine Familiar. But when he caught up to some of the other girls, it turned into a foot race to the cafeteria.
“Dang, you’re fast. Chasing down a Familiar is no joke.” The second-place finisher panted, passing Wolfe as he went to look for a table. A burning sensation started on his arm, and with it, the sensation of immense demand on his mana.
[Bonded Partners Request the use of Witch Magic Fast Travel]
[Do you Accept?] Y/N
Wolfe hadn’t seen any sort of message like this from his Inheritance before. Maybe it was part of the Familiar link? He didn’t recall the familiars getting a choice, though. But if it was going to be a regular thing, he would have to stop wearing long sleeves or at least keep his cuffs unbuttoned, or he would never know what the messages were supposed to be.
He also didn’t know any sort of travelling spell, much less a Witch Magic one, but if the Inheritance was willing to help, or it was part of the Familiar Bond, he was more than happy to go along with it.
[I accept, bring them here.] Wolfe thought.
Wolfe rushed to fill his storage capacity as a huge amount of mana was pulled through him to the spot where a magical circle lit up around his feet, filling with smoke, and then suddenly, both Cassie and Ella were there in front of him.
“Tada. Seats found.” Wolfe greeted them while the room went silent.
“What in the world was that? We were trying to Summon you back to the locker room to see if the Familiar bond was working.” Ella asked.
“See, I thought you didn’t want to walk all the way here, so I brought you here instead of me there. It’s a good thing you were dressed.” Wolfe admitted.
“Oh, do you recall that girl in our year that had a Pixie as a Familiar? It was always doing things like that. Misinterpreting requests, playing pranks using poorly worded orders, making her underwear invisible.” The cook asked her partner.
“You forget, I have a Demonic Imp as a Familiar. It is almost as annoying. So, boy, what one are you? Demon, Fae or Undead?” The other, heavier-set cook asked Wolfe.
“Why would you think I was one of those three?” Wolfe asked.
“Well, that’s about it for things that both look human and can be Familiars, so you’ve pretty much got to be one of the three.” She replied.
“I suppose I could tell you as a personal favour.” Wolfe agreed, teasing the woman, who held her hands up in defeat.
“Never mind. If the answer is Fae or Demon, I don’t want to owe you a favour, and if the answer is neither of those, I really don’t want to owe you a favour.” She laughed.
A Witch’s word was said to be her bond, and they could easily capture a promise or favour in a spell to force compliance later. It was one of the first things Uncle Ivan warned Wolfe about when he was a little kid, watching what he promised them. Even a casual conversation with the authorities could be used to magically force compliance and make you turn on your people.
ƥαṇdαηθνε|
“Um, you tried to Summon me. I thought it was better to bring you here, and then there was a summoning circle?” Wolfe phrased it as a question.
“I heard that Demons can use travelling magic fairly freely. Even some of the lesser Imps can do it. Are you sure this isn’t a duplicate of the real Wolfe?” Someone asked.
“There is an easy way to test. Just ask him something from before the Summoning, something only the real one would know.” Another student suggested.
Wolfe leaned in close to Cassie’s ear and whispered. “The first time we created an amulet, you passed out in my bed. The second time we made the one you’re wearing around your neck.”
That made her blush bright red, and she began to nod rapidly. “Yes, this is the real Wolfe, or at least he has all the memories.”
Ella was smirking at Cassie’s blush, but Wolfe wasn’t about to out anyone’s secrets, so he just led the two to an open table and went to get the food.
The Cafeteria worker handed him a tray with four orders of the special on it, as well as a small dish of raw meat, and made a gesture toward where Reiko had just made it to the Cafeteria.
“What happened? You were summoning Wolfe, and then you vanished?” She panted.
“He thought we wanted to come here. Apparently, there is a choice when you get a humanoid Familiar.” Ella informed her with an upset look.
“Don’t be mad. Let me know what you want in advance, and I am sure things will work out better next time,” Wolfe told her, setting out the plates, and passing the raw meat to Flame, Reiko’s reptilian Familiar.
The small, red, Armored lizard gave him a distinct thumbs up before digging in, which made Wolfe laugh. The creature was more intelligent than he had given it credit for.
“I wonder what went wrong? It’s supposed to go by your will, not his random guess. He couldn’t be strong enough to overpower the bond, could he?” Reiko asked, tapping her fingers on Flame’s head as she was deep in thought.
“I thought you couldn’t break the bond?” Wolfe asked.
“A Familiar can’t. Once they have accepted, it’s for life. But if they are particularly strong, they can resist parts of it, or in an extreme case where they are immensely more powerful than the Witch who summoned them, they can even attempt to reverse the dynamic at the moment that they’re summoned. That’s what Demons are famous for.” Risa explained from across the aisle.
“Hmm, tempting. Do you think I could ask them to keep wearing the schoolgirl outfit even if I did that?” Wolfe asked, making Risa choke and splutter on her mouthful of soup and earning him a smack on the back of the head from Ella, who was closest.
“Probably. Witches who lose to their Demonic Familiar usually suffer very bad ends, though. They’re usually either killed or dragged to the demon realm. It might be a waste to reverse the Contract only to have them do things they were already doing for you.” A Senior Class student pointed out.