"I'm home!" I had barely announced my arrival, when my stepmother flew into foyer and grabbed me.

"Welcome home, Jenny!" she cried. "Oh, look at you!" I had deliberately worn things I bought on the voyage, right down to the purse I carried. "How was it?"

"It was amazing!" I threw my arms around her and hugged her tightly. "Thank you, Rachel. Thank you!"

"Jenny! Jenny!" Emily crashed into me and wrapped her arms around me. "Jenny!"

I hugged her back. "Hey, Emily."

"We're having pizza for dinner!"

"Great," I laughed.

"If your voyage was anything like mine, you're ready for some familiar food," Rachel said.

"Yeah."

She smiled. "I've got the pizza stone in the oven and all of the toppings ready to go."

"Wait, wait! Are we doing make-your-own-pizza?"

My stepmother's smile widened. "Just for you."

I hugged her again and ran into the kitchen. There was someone there, rolling out dough. I stopped short, and my jaw dropped.

"Shannon!" I gasped.

She grinned. "Hey, you."

I mock glared at her. "You're supposed to be down at school, already!"

"I have a couple of days. I haven't seen my favorite cousin all summer!"

We both laughed and hugged. "You brat! You said you wouldn't be here," I said.

Emily was eager to eat, so we started stacking toppings onto our personal pizzas.

"When do we open the boxes?" Emily asked.

"Boxes?"

Rachel pointed into the other room. "Those. They got here a little while ago."

I went to check the boxes out after the pizzas went into the oven. I opened one and gaped. It was my suitcase. I laughed in disbelief. I just shipped it a few hours ago, and not only had it already arrived, it had gotten here before me. I had just enough time to unpack it and give Rachel, Emily, and Shannon their gifts. Then, the pizza was ready to go.

We spent the entire meal talking about our summers. Shannon told us all about her amazing-sounding kayak trip, and then I talked all about my voyage. It was really hard to tell them about the others and what we had done without telling them everything. I wanted to tell them the truth, but knew I couldn't.

The moment she was done eating, Emily jumped up. "Can I show her?" she asked eagerly. Rachel nodded, and Emily raced from the room. I could hear her shouting. A few minutes later, she was back, looking upset.

"I can't find him!"

"Who?" I asked.

"Lord Whiskers!" Emily said.

"Who?"

"My kitty!"

"I'm sure he's around somewhere," Rachel said.

"Lord Whiskers!" Emily yelled, running back out of the room. "Lord Whiskers Fluffington the Fourth! Where are you?"

"That's... quite the name."

Shannon laughed. "He's a big, sweet cat; he doesn't deserve a name like that."

Rachel smiled a tolerant, motherly smile. "Your father never wanted pets," she said. "And after... Well, I was so busy with you and the baby I just never got any. Emily was so happy to finally get a cat that I just had to let her name him."

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Emily whirled back into the room. "He's gone!" she cried. "He isn't anywhere! What if he ran away? I'm going to go outside and look for him."

"Wait, Emily, I'll come with you after I do the dishes," Rachel said. She turned to me. "Whiskers was a stray Emily started feeding. She's terrified that he has a real owner he's going to go back to."

"I've got the dishes, Aunt Rachel," Shannon said. She cleared her plate and grabbed Emily's. "You can go out with Emily."

I stood with mine, but Rachel grabbed it from me. "You just got home, Jenny," she said. "You don't have to do the dishes!"

"It's fine," I said.

"Your wicked stepmother isn't going to put you to work, yet," she laughed. "Why don't you go get your pjs on or something? After we find Whiskers, I'm going to get out the sundae fixings, and you can choose any movie you want to watch." She grinned. "Unless you've gotten too mature for a sundae bar?"

"Be right back down!" I cried eagerly.

We all laughed. I grabbed my purse and suitcase of dirty clothes, and raced upstairs. Emily and Rachel went outside to make sure the cat hadn't slipped out, and I could hear Shannon banging around in the kitchen. I tossed my bag in the direction of my bed with one hand and reached for the light switch with the other hand. There was an awful yowl! I screamed and turned on the light. On my bed, a big cat, who looked even bigger because every hair was standing on end, was hissing at my suitcase.

"I'm sorry, Mister Whiskers!" I said. "I hope I didn't hit you!"

I went over to my desk and set my purse down.

"Lord," said a voice. A male voice.

I whirled around. Nobody was there but the cat. "What?"

The cat stretched and sat down on my bed. He blinked his bright yellow eyes at me and curled his long, black tail around his legs until it disappeared against the rest of his inky fur.

"Lord," he repeated. "If you're going to insist on referring to me by that ridiculous name, at least say Lord Whiskers instead of Mister Whiskers. I find that Lord makes it seem a little less demeaning. However, I would prefer if you just called me Rak. Which is my name."

"Oh," I managed to say.

He jumped off of my bed, vanished in mid-leap, and reappeared right over my desk. He landed softly and sat down. Thin wisps of black smoke hung in the air between my bed and desk and where he sat.

"I'm your familiar." I could swear he was smiling. "That is, if you'll have me."

Before I could say anything, Shannon appeared in the doorway.

"Did you scream?" she said. "Oh! You found Lord Whiskers. Good."

"I almost hit him with my suitcase, and he startled me," I said.

Shannon walked in and started scratching him under the chin. "Poor kitty," she said. "You have a terrible name and now people are throwing things at you."

Rak closed his eyes and purred. "Is your cousin trying to mollify or insult me?"

I bit back a partly incredulous giggle. Shannon gave him one last scratch and headed back out the door.

"I'll tell Aunt Rachel you found him," she called. "Hurry up! It's almost ice cream time!"

"So," I said softly after Shannon was gone. "Do we have to do something to bond, or are we already?"

Rak shook his head. "We aren't exactly bonded, yet, but we don't have to actively do anything. We just have to spend time together, and the bond will start to form on its own. In a few weeks, unless we decide we don't work together, we'll be fully bonded. And, unless you share your sister's penchant for putting dresses on cats, I don't foresee any problems with you."

"I promise I won't put any dresses on you."

"Jenny!" Rachel called. "Ice cream!"

"That's it, then?" I asked.

"That's it," Rak said.

I turned and went downstairs with Rak trotting along beside me. Emily cried out happily, grabbed him, and spun him around in circles.

"You found Lord Whiskers Fluffington the Fourth!" she cheered, whirling around.

"Your sister is the reason cats get declawed," Rak told me, as he swung from her arms.

I knew that normal humans couldn't hear familiars, but it was very strange to see it firsthand. Nobody reacted to his comment or knew that I was laughing at anything but Emily. After she released him, I dug out a Star Wars DVD. Part of it was filmed where I had been in Guatemala, and I was eager to show Shannon and Rachel. Halfway through, Emily fell asleep, and Rachel went to put her to bed. Shannon talked me into waiting, while she put away the ice cream dishes. After she was out of the room, Rak jumped into my lap and curled up.

"You can scratch my ears, you know," he said when I didn't pet him.

"Oh, you won't mind?"

"Just because I'm a talking cat doesn't mean I'm going to say no to petting," Rak said. "Besides, being close physically will give our bond a little jump-start."

"I see you found a buddy," Shannon said, coming in.

"Yeah," I laughed.

"And under the chin," Rak demanded. I moved from his ears to his chin.

Shannon flopped down onto the couch and grinned at me. "Glad to be home?"

I shrugged. "I guess. Miss it already, though."

She nodded. "Aunt Rachel was saying today that even twenty years later she still misses the boat."

"Ship," I corrected. I hadn't cared back in June, but now I found it actually mattered to me.

"Whatever," Shannon laughed. "She went on and on about how life-changing it was and what a great experience she had. What do you think, Jenny? Was your voyage life-changing?"

I glanced over her shoulder at the boxes that had been sent across the country at the same time I boarded my plane, yet still arrived here before me. I thought of the wand tucked away in my purse upstairs and of my friends. What were they up to right now? Dani and Mariana were probably somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Charlie was home with his family, maybe blacksmithing with his bare hands. I pictured TS and his brothers on their road trip, driving too fast with their windows down and tongues hanging out happily as they went. Thomas was hopefully feeding and already on his way to getting better. And here I was with a talking cat, my familiar, on my lap.

I gave Rak another scratch behind an ear and said, "You have no idea."