Chapter 14

"Honey, are you ok?" Gwendolyn called out groggily, no doubt awakened by the noise.

Tobias backed up slowly towards the door, his eyes watering, and whispered loudly.

"Yeah, Mom, I stubbed my toe. Go back to sleep,"

A faint glowing, sputtering red fire engulfed his right hand as he held it out toward Riley.

"What the hell are you, an infernal? What are your intentions with me and my family?" Tobias growled, finding his steel.

"My name is Riley, and no, I'm not," The hare replied, keeping her distance, even if he didn't seem like much of a threat.

"Why can you talk then? What's going on? Second tier familiars are just dumb beasts with a bit of power, so how can you be something more?" He challenged, all the while his left hand shook.

"Second tier, but as smart as a human, maybe a little smarter than your average human, really," she remarked wryly.

"Are you a celestial then? Start making sense, or by the Gods, I will fry you!" His quaking hand tensed into a fist.

"Half-ish, I think that's a long story," Riley replied. For all his threats, he didn't seem able to back them up.

Tobias began counting to himself, taking deep breaths as his eyes narrowed, "Do you swear, by spirit and by magic, to tell the truth for our conversation? The entire truth. You’ll hold nothing back?"

"Well, yeah, all I want to do is talk," she answered.

"You infiltrate my home acting like a dumb beast; I want to hear you say it!" There was something in his eyes that looked like cunning, but this situation was quickly spinning out of control.

"Fine, if it helps, I swear by spirit and by my magic to tell the truth for this conversation. I swear to speak the entire truth and hold nothing back," she said sarcastically, mimicking his words, growing annoyed herself.

A prompt blazed to life within her vision.

You have entered into a magical compact and sworn an oath. You will now be compelled by its term for the duration of the period required. It can only be broken by an act of will, and you do so at your own peril…

Riley felt something like a door open within her spirit as her eyes went wide.

"Oh shit," She said, projecting all the while so that Tobias could hear her.

Tobias grinned wickedly. "Tell me your true name."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"I already did, Riley," she replied without hesitation as the sorcerer's jaw went slack.

"And your story?" He pressed.

Riley felt a massive rush of words pile up in her mind; fearing the consequences, she let it crash into her like a wave.

"I was reborn a few days ago, remade from two beings that sacrificed themselves to kill this shadow baddy that I don't quite remember the name of. My guardian angel laid it all out for me until some asshat with a magical fishing rod snared me and drug me out of the astral. Half of me was human, and the other half of me a celestial Jackrabbit. Trust me, I have no idea how any of this works… anyhoo… I ended up in a magical pet store in a world I've never been to, and people started talking about enslaving me. Then your Grandpa bought me, he seemed nice, and so I decided to roll with it instead of escaping, and here we are with you threatening me with your lame ass magic. To be fair, I fear exposure more. This place is terrifying. I'm practically ready to shit myself, but I was waiting for everyone to sleep to try the bath…"

"You can stop," Tobias said as she relaxed.

Even though her words were a function of magic, she still panted, out of breath.

It was like she had lost all filter.

"So you're scared? I suppose that tracks," he echoed.

"Half of me came from a world without magic. Just to be fair, so the magical hammer doesn't zonk me, I'm really scared about that. I'm not totally sure about how much is on either side… The jackrabbit seems more subconscious, and the human I was seems more in the higher functions, but I suppose that tracks, too. Are you going to hurt me?" She rambled like a record player on methamphetamine.

Tobias sagged and stumbled over towards the chair. "I'm not a monster. Sapient companions are supposed to be a first tier thing, and they often come with contracts and agreements. It seems pretty clear to me this whole thing just kind of happened to you." He began, only for Riley to interrupt.

No matter how hard she tried, when she tried to hold back, there was an ominous weight that pressed against her soul as if in warning.

"It did, I woke up, and I was like this. When I got angry one time, this power rose up in me easy as anything, and I had to tamp it down, and there are these prompts. They're kinda pretty, purple. Purple is my favorite color…" Riley rambled.

"Easy, stop," Tobias urged, pinching the skin between his eyes.

Riley took a deep breath, centering herself, but something within was riveted, like a fox ready to pounce on a mouse, eager for the next question.

"I'm going to need to be more careful in the future about that oath thing. I wonder if this is what it's like to be bound? Dammit! I want to share, but I don't want to share, but I want to share," inside, she was dying…

"Make it stop!" She begged.

"You don't mean us any harm?" Tobias asked.

"No, I had no family when I died, and this has been nice. I need an ally, someone who understands the world, but I haven't had a chance to find out yet what I can offer. You're a kid that doesn't understand that the world is going to run you over like a freight train, but you seem decent, even if you're one hell of a liar," Riley winced.

"What's a freight train?" This time, it was his turn to look puzzled.

"It's this great big thing that moves on tracks that span up to thousands of miles, it pulls cars full of stuff or people on it, and it goes fast. They wipe out cars sometimes, and it always makes the news," she felt herself spinning up like a top again.

"Cars? News? No, forget I asked," he sighed, looking down.

"So you need a family," he asked, seemingly to himself.

The magic prompting Riley didn't care about anything but squeezing truth from her, "I don't know if I'm lucky enough to have one of those, but a friend would be nice."

Tobias reached out, causing her to wince back in fear.

"Easy, easy, maybe we can work something out?" The sorcerer offered.

"I'd really like that, and I swear I mean no harm. I just want to live and not be hurt or bound, and those tenganuts are nice, but if I eat anymore, I'm gonna hurl," Her ears flushed red in embarrassment as Tobias stifled a laugh.

"Ok, I release you, truce?" He said as Riley pushed up into his still out stretched hand.

"Truce!" She replied as the door inside her slammed shut.