Even teen evil queens need love. Right? (Or at least a handsome sword-fighting minion to do their bidding!)
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Bad things happen when Rowen is around and the worst part is, she has no idea why until a massive family secret sends her on a fantastica...
A familiar is a creature who sees into the depths of its witch's soul. It knows her fears, joys, frustration, and rage. It tames its mistress even as it makes her more powerful.
But what if it's a rat?
A rat is smart and resourceful. It has the ability to exist even in the most difficult of circumstances. It also eats garbage and spreads the plague, so there's a tradeoff.
There always is.
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We made it back to the edge of the forest; the castle looming gloomily in the moonlight. We hadn't been eaten or poisoned or trampled, bitten, or attacked by rodents of unusual size, so overall, I call it a win.
On the other hand, the blister on my heel made every step torture, and the lump in my throat had grown so large I could barely swallow.
Leaving poor Vermin, Vinnie, Vermeil, or whatever his name was, shouldn't have made me so upset. I barely knew him, but there was this incessant feeling in my gut, almost like a cord tugging, urging me back into the forest. I didn't want to care. No way could I have a rodent as a familiar. Gross!
A rat familiar was like a billboard advertising me as a garbage-eating, plague-carrying denizen of the sewer. I'd spent a lifetime hiding the evils that lurked inside me and wasn't ready to unleash them now.
(Look, I know I'm supposed to be the evil queen and that the "evil" part is in the job title, but I had no intention of taking the job. I didn't want the job. And I really didn't want my dads to find out their daughter was a villain.)
The lump in my throat was also there because of Frekvic. What would happen to him when the queen discovered I didn't return with a familiar? He seemed confident it would be okay, but what if it wasn't?
Maybe I should've taken Vinnie back with me for Frekvic's sake.
But a rat?
No way.
Why did he have to be a rat?
Wait ...
Maybe I could turn him into something less ratty!
Like a cute unicorn, or a flying dragon with GPS and onboard snacks, or even a sexy vampire with sparkly skin and a face like a Greek god!
But I didn't know the first thing about transmogrification spells, and until I had a familiar to help focus my magic, I couldn't perform the spell even if I knew it.
I sighed. Being an evil sorceress was harder than I thought it would be.
A bell peeled, a long mournful tune that lingered in the chill air like an unwanted ghost.
"Lunch!" Frekvic called, trotting ahead. "Let's go through the garden. It's a shortcut."
We passed through an arched gate, thick poison ivy choking the posts. The air smelled of dark earth, and decay, and the homeopathic remedy aisle of the hippie store in downtown Coffin Ridge. Purple, blue, and white flowers poked out of their neat beds, which were painstakingly weeded. I bet if the queen caught a weed in her garden, there would be pain and stakes—pointy ones!
