A Witch and her Familiars

Chapter Six - Daphne and Sabine Go Hunting for Monsters

Daphne watched in something close to awe as Sabine decapitated the small Reliquus in one quick, clean sword stroke. Its gooey, froglike head bounced a few times on the gritty pavement before it and the slimy body it had recently been attached to faded into nothingness. Daphne knew that once the Reliquus disappeared, she and Sabine would be visible to passerby again, so she pulled up her socks and tried to look as if she hadn't been chasing an angry magical frog spirit down the street.

Sabine straightened up and wiped the blade of her sword on her jean shorts. "Looks like practice paid off," she said with a confident smile.

"Yeah, it did!" Daphne agreed enthusiastically. "We took out how many today?"

"This one makes five," Sabine proudly announced. Her pride turned into an endearing shyness as she started to giggle, letting her blonde curls spill down over her forehead. "Daphne and Sabine, magical monster hunters. We should go into business! Take out an ad."

"Maybe we should," Daphne replied. "We'd do a lot of good in the world. Goodness knows it needs some right now," she said. Police sirens echoed off the wall of the alley where they stood. Sabine didn't say anything, only put a comforting hand on Daphne's arm, causing her to smile faintly. "Come on," she said at last. "Let's make the world a better place."

The two set out again, Sabine's sword tucked into her belt, Daphne's wand raised aloft and glowing as it sensed magical energy. "Like radar," Sabine had said, but Daphne didn't know what radar was. Sabine had tried her best to teach Daphne about mortal tech like cell phones, television, and video games, but she still wasn't quite used to it (and Sabine was still embarrassingly better than her at that little jumping ball game she had on her phone).

The wand glowed a steady dark blue at the tip, indicating there was little magical activity in the area. Sabine gasped as the light flickered. "There!" she cried. "We're close!"

"You're too excited," Daphne scolded gently. "It's too small to be a Reliquus. It's probably just a runaway charm or some other leftover magic."

"I know," Sabine replied earnestly, almost wiggling with enthusiasm. "I just want our first hunt to go well!"

"We already took out five of them. Don't get greedy," said Daphne with a gentle laugh. "It's almost time when people get out of work and school. Maybe we should head back to—"

But her next words were cut off by another sharp gasp from Sabine. "We found one!" she exclaimed, pointing at the wand; the tip now glowed a pale shade of turquoise. "Come on, Daphne!" laughed Sabine, taking hold of her non-wand hand and pulling her forward. Running ahead of her like that, Sabine looked to Daphne like some goddess: her curls bounced brightly around her shoulders, her sneaker-clad feet danced lightly over the gritty pavement, and her lean, athletic body seemed quick and pure as mercury.

"You have to stop doing that," Daphne said wheezily as the two stumbled to a halt.

"Sorry," replied Sabine. Her cheeks glowed pink with excitement. "I got carried away."

"You carried me away," Daphne replied, also smiling. Her smile quickly faded from her face, though, when she glanced back down at her wand. "Sabine, get behind me now."

Sabine immediately obeyed, pulling out her saber and holding it ready. "What's wrong?"

Daphne looked down at her wand again. It was no longer turquoise but a bright white. Daphne thought she could feel it vibrating in her hand—but maybe it was just the nervous heartbeat in her fingers. "I think we should leave," she said shakily.

"A Reliquus?"

"I think so. Maybe. But Sabine, it's big. I don't know if we can—"

Daphne was slammed by a huge, invisible force and flew backwards through the air, landing in a rough, grinding skid on the pavement. She cried out as the ground tore through her knee socks and into the skin on her knees, but she didn't let go of her wand this time. She stood up, knees and elbows burning with pain but ready to fight—until she saw what was looming over them.