I jolt awake on my back and stare up at a dark sky that is stretched out above me. There are more stars in the sky than I've ever seen before as I lie there for a long moment and gaze up in awe, the faint, cloudy traceries of the Milky Way laid out like a tapestry. There's a chorus of crickets chirping, along with frogs croaking and I can guess that I may be in a marshy area judging by the soft ground under me. The sound is almost deafening, a low roar that drowns out everything, until it doesn't.

A sudden shout catches me off guard and I roll over so I'm on my stomach.

Tall grass and cattails surround me, making it impossible for me to see much of what's past the curtain of foliage. I can scarcely see a flicker of fire as I pick out the shapes of individual torches being carried by several people in the darkness.

"She's out here, I saw her run in this direction," one person, a woman says in a low voice as a dog follows her, the dog having the flickering skin of a familiar as it trots beside her.

"Did you find her daughters?" a man asks, his familiar being that of an owl, which is perched on his shoulder.

"No, I think she may have sent them out in a carriage heading west, we'll find 'em," the woman assures the man.

"Hush now, she'll hear us," says the man leading the trio as the torches flicker out and they disappear from view.

I freeze and breathe lightly as I hear their footsteps treading closer, but I can't see them at all.

Can they hear me? Are they going to find me?

I shudder at the thought and there's a sudden rustling sound beside me among the pond weeds that startles me. Bright green eyes peer out of them from several feet away to reveal a face that is illuminated in the light of the half-moon above us. The eyes look right through me, unseeing as they search the darkness.

There's a baying howl as a dog begins to bark, its paws slapping the muddy ground as it springs from the weeds suddenly, its teeth flashing in the dark as it lunges for the person crouched next to me.

The person screams as they're bowled over and the dog latches onto their arm as they try to fight the dog off, but to no avail.

I flinch as the person is suddenly bathed in blue light, like several lights have been turned on at once as I crouch in the shadows. The three people from before step forward with balls of blue light glowing in their hands as the dog lets go of the struggling person.

Hunched in the center of a patch of grass is a woman of breathtaking beauty who looks strangely familiar to me. Her long, light-colored hair falls down her back in a tangled braid as mud and sticks clot her hair, making her look desperate. She's wearing a simple, red and brown dress, the bodice stained with mud as I notice that the fabric is torn in some places. The woman glares up at the others, a challenge flickering in her eyes that makes her look unbeatable.

"Surprised that you can't control my familiar, yeah?" the woman with the dog familiar sneers as she looks down at the woman sitting on the ground.

"I am not untrustworthy, I did not side with the British-," the woman on the ground begins to say.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Silence!" the woman among the trio snaps.

A heavy silence falls over us, even the crickets and the frogs fall silent as the woman's angry voice hangs over us. The woman steps forward then, a knife in her hand. She places the tip of it against the soft spot of the familiar woman's throat and I draw in a soft breath as I fear for the worst.

"You're going to come with us, Cecilia, you must be brought to justice," the woman with the dog familiar says.

"I have no reason to, I am innocent," the woman on the ground, Cecilia, murmurs, her eyes suddenly looking past me. "I will not come with you."

A smile graces Cecilia's lips then, one that chills me to the bone as she makes direct eye contact with me. The woman with the familiar nods to the men and they haul her to her feet right as Cecilia lifts a finger to her lips and makes a shushing motion that is directed to me.

"Have it your way," one of the men mutters to Cecilia.

There's the telltale click of a hammer on a pistol being pulled back as one of the men holds an ornate, silver pistol to Cecilia's temple.

Her lips form one word as her eyes focus on me.

Run.

****

My eyes open before the gun fires but I can still hear an echo of the gunshot.

I don't see her get shot as I am suddenly sitting in the basement in my house again.

My head is spinning and the world around me is slightly blurry, like I have something stuck in my eye. I blink several times and shake my head to clear it as I breathe carefully through my nose.

Hands are holding me around each wrist, grounding me in reality as I take a few calming breaths to settle my still racing heart. My mother and Indigo are holding my wrists while my father gazes at me, concern creasing his brow as he watches me from the other side of the crystal ball.

"We've always been the scapegoats," my mother says in a low voice, breaking the silence, "if something ever went wrong involving familiars, we were the ones to blame," she swallows and her gaze hardens. "That was your great grandmother Cecilia, a hawk familiar was seen circling over a Patriot campsite during the Revolutionary War, they were attacked by the British at sundown," my mother pauses, unable to go on for a moment.

There is anger in her gaze and I'd hate to ever be the person responsible for her frustration as she takes a deep breath.

"Cecilia was well known for borrowing hawk familiars and they accused her of being a Loyalist that was spying on them," her voice drops, "they executed her out of rage, the man who shot her being the one who actually did commit the crime."

"Her story is one of many," my father warns, "Unfamiliars are powerful and many people think that they're too powerful, there's a cult of witches who have strove to wipe them out."

"Why wipe them...us out?" I ask as my voice wavers and I suddenly feel queasy.

I had always thought that witches were supposed to be supportive of one another, yet there are people who wanted to kill me. But they don't even know who I am personally, they just want to kill me for having certain powers.

Weren't the witch trials enough?

My father gives me a wane smile, "Why does murder exist in the first place? Jealousy, fear, it all piles up into hatred and hatred leads to people wanting to get rid of what is making them uncomfortable, even if it's another human being and even if it isn't fair or just."

I nod sadly at this, "Why didn't you tell me that I'm an Unfamiliar before?"

My mother winces, "I had hoped that you would keep the necklace I had given you on, by keeping it on, you would summon the familiar inside of it instead and you would be safely unaware of what you are."

The others stand up from the table, my mother darting over to a shelf for a moment as she retrieves something before she walks over to me.

"We can't do anything but train you to protect yourself," my mother says in a low voice as she passes me a new, crystal necklace, this one having a blue stone, "this one is warded so it can't be touched by anyone else but you and me, wear it a few times when you go to conjure a familiar and the familiar within will become yours, only Unfamiliars are capable of storing and conjuring familiars."

"Okay," I say as I take it from her, "what kind of familiar is it?"

She smiles softly at my question, "You'll see, it should protect you well enough."

I don't know what else to say and apparently neither does she because she stands for a long moment, her eyes unfocused before she wraps her arms around me in a brief hug.

"Be careful, Kara," she whispers as she reaches up and smoothes my hair.

"I'll try," I promise her.