[Lorelei]

  Over the next couple of days, Calypso studied his ilun with great interest. His aura, how he interacted with his familiar. He did all this research with me present and explained everything in detail, so that later, when we performed a similar ritual for releasing dark energy for me, I would immediately understand how to interact with my own ilun and how it could help.

  Calypso described his sensations in detail, but wasn’t rushing to perform the same ritual on me right away, since he was adjusting the power formula specifically for my aura and also waiting to see if any “side effects” manifested in himself. Being cautious, basically, and approaching this matter extremely seriously.

  “What kind of ilun do you think I’ll have?”

  “I don’t know what your totem animal is,” Calypso shrugged.

  “So we’ll find out right after the ritual.”

  The devious raven was no better than Calypso in temperament and caused trouble constantly, with or without reason. I even felt avenged for all of Calypso’s torments during our training sessions, because Alohar ran Calypso so ragged with that “ritual phrase” of his that at some point I actually started feeling sorry for him.

  ‘Actually, he doesn’t need to summon me,’ the raven confessed to me at one point.

  ‘I come on my own when I see fit. And I appearrr on my own when I sense that my masterrr needs my prrr-resence in the human worrr-rld. I actually can’t even rrr-resist his mental summons — it’s against my naturrrre as an ilun. At most I can stall forrr a couple of minutes beforrrre appearrring.’

  ‘But you don’t want to tell Calypso that, do you?’ I thought.

  ‘Because it’s more fun this way?’

  ‘You’re a smartrr girl, I knew it rrr-right away!..’

  ***

  “Seriously, tell me, why can’t I summon him mentally?” Calypso asked me plaintively, watching with a mournful gaze as a thoroughly terrified adept bolted away, having accidentally witnessed him saying the ritual phrase ‘Beloved, come forth!’ out loud.

  There had already been quite a few such accidental witnesses, and all of Armarillis was rolling with laughter at the news that Calypso Brandt had acquired a familiar named Beloved.

  The news had caused quite a stir and, it seemed, had arrived at the academy at just the right time, cheering everyone up immensely and distracting us all at least a little from dark thoughts about the primordial spirit of chaos who had broken free and was lurking somewhere.

  Even Zael couldn’t resist making a snide remark on the subject.

  “How’s your Beloved doing?” he asked casually, running into Calypso in the academy corridors.

  “Have you two bonded? Or are there some… difficulties?”

  Well, technically it was Calypso and I who had accidentally run into Zael, but he had probably been looking for us just to deliver that little jab and watch the reaction.

  I expected Calypso to get angry and fire back with some caustic retort… But instead he unexpectedly broke into a cunning smile and asked in a deceptively sweet voice:

  “And you? Have you bonded with your handcuffs? I seem to recall you were having some difficulties with them… Are the new ones working well?”

  “Quite,” Zael ground out through his teeth and hurried away.

  I watched him go, lost in thought.

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  “What handcuffs?” I asked, completely confused, staring at Zael’s retreating figure.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Oh, nothing,” Calypso answered evasively.

  “Your father and I ran into each other the other day… Hmm…”

  “Where?” I asked tensely.

  “At a certain shop… for adults,” Calypso smirked.

  “And I happened to catch His Firstness giving a salesgirl an earful about defective merchandise in the form of some nice leather handcuffs.”

  “God, of all the places to run into each other,” I slapped my palm against my forehead, vividly imagining the scene.

  Then I shot a suspicious look at the very pleased Calypso.

  “Wait… What were you doing in that shop yourself?”

  “What do you mean? Restocking my supplies, which you and I use quite actively,” he replied smugly.

  “And Zael saw that?” I gasped in horror, eyes wide.

  “Of course.”

  “And how did he… react to you?”

  “Well, he looked a bit pained when I was chatting with a different salesgirl at the next counter and presented her with a long list of items I needed, but other than that…”

  I groaned and looked up at the ceiling, feeling the blood rush to my cheeks from embarrassment.

  I don’t even want to think about how those two were probably shooting daggers at each other, standing side by side at the counter of that sinful little shop. My psyche couldn’t have handled witnessing that.

  I glanced at Calypso again.

  “So what did you… end up buying there?”

  Calypso smiled wickedly, leaned in, and whispered hotly in my ear:

  “I’ll show you tonight. You’ll like it.”

  Well, what can I say? I really did like it…

  ***

  “Why does he have such a stupid name, anyway?” Calypso lamented for the umpteenth time that day, looking at his familiar, who had finally deigned to appear, and only after Calypso had practically screamed the “ritual phrase.”

  “Beloved… What kind of name is that for a familiar?..”

  “It’s Alohar, actually,” I said through my laughter, unable to bear the raven’s torment of his master any longer.

  Calypso started and looked at me in confusion.

  “What do you mean?..”

  “Exactly what I said,” I replied, still choking with laughter, nodding at the raven, who had spread his wings and cawed indignantly, clearly hinting that I should shut up.

  “His name is Alohar. Alohar Knayder Sherirmar of Berador, that’s how he introduced himself to me. ‘Alohar’ apparently means ‘dear, close, beloved’ in the language of the Ancients. And you don’t actually need to summon him as your ilun, he senses your mental call himself and can’t resist it for more than a couple of minutes, so…”

  “Trrrr-raitor!!” the raven cawed indignantly above my head and hurried to escape before Calypso could smack him on the beak.

  “Alohar, is it,” Calypso said slowly, his eyes narrowing furiously as he visibly began to boil.

  “Well then, you’re done for, Beloved,” he said, clenching his fists and turning toward the raven.

  “Say goodbye to your feathers!”

  “Caw-w-w!!” Alohar cawed in fear from the other end of the corridor.

  He couldn’t disappear to the flip side right now because his master’s emotional outburst and strong mental pull were keeping him in the human world, so the raven had to dodge Calypso’s attempts to catch the troublemaker. Not that Calypso could actually harm his familiar, but he very much wanted to try plucking some feathers.

  “Be-lo-o-oved, goddammit, get over here!” Calypso growled, chasing the extremely agile raven through the corridors and unsuccessfully trying to catch him with conjured nets.

  “Come fo-o-orth!!”

  He chased the raven around the academy all evening, greatly amusing the adepts and especially the senior Fortemins. They raced around noisily and emotionally, knocking over dishes, vases, and paintings off the walls — Calypso clearly needed to let off some steam.

  “Why me, though?” he sighed that evening, flopping tiredly into an armchair in our living room and twirling a long black feather in his hands, one he had actually managed to yank from the raven’s tail.

  “Like master, like familiar!” I said with a laugh.

  Calypso sighed heavily and leaned back against the high back of the armchair, tiredly closing his eyes.

  “And I can’t even argue with that…”

  Indeed.