July 10 Part 2

Getting A Familiar

Instructions For Your New Familiar

Congrats on finding a familiar at Pearl’s Secret Shed!

There are a few things you need to know about your new ( CHICKEN ) familiar:

I have trained your ( CHICKEN ) to live inside with you. To help your ( CHICKEN ) settle in, get these things from the local pet shop on your way home.

• Puppy pads (the ones for small dogs)

• A shallow food dish (think pie plate)

• A small cup for water

• A perch (should be no more than 2 feet high)

• Hemp bedding

• Toys

I gave you a full bag of feed when you left. Make sure to buy that specific feed for your ( CHICKEN ). After you get to know your new magical partner, feel free to make diet changes, but not immediately!

You need to perform the familiar bonding ritual in the first few days to ensure you develop a healthy bond.

The most important task - make sure to have your ( CHICKEN ) registered with the vet you listed on your application. If I do not hear from your vet in 5 days, I will repossess your ( CHICKEN ).

Happy Bonding!

Pearl

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Journal 9 PM

I have lost my mind. That is the only explanation for the reason a chicken is sitting on the back of the desk chair in my hotel room right now. When Betty told me her friend at the Rent-A-Witch house had a few potential familiars I thought she was talking about dogs or cats. Maybe a parrot.

Then the scraggly cat from my dream appeared at my feet while I journaled about meeting the guy at the bookstore. Seriously, it was the same cat, I know because it stared at me with one eye, and it was just as unsettling as it was in my dream. My heart crawled up my throat at the possibility I’d be stuck with it for the next couple of decades.

I was relieved when Pearl appeared and the cat shifted it’s attention to her. She didn’t tell us everything, but she did confirm Carl just ‘knows’ when someone is coming to the shed to meet a familiar, will dream walk in their dream to see if they are worthy, and can talk to people telepathically - thankfully he didn’t talk to me.

He also expects offerings of fish for his efforts. Not the regular stuff you can get at the grocery. Nope. Carl prefers dried Alaskan Salmon. Betty pulled a box out of her tote bag when Pearl announced that I’d passed Carl’s scrutiny and would be allowed into the shed.

Full of relief that Carl wasn’t in my destiny, I foolishly followed my evil twin and her friend into a shed. Of course, it was a magic shed, so while the outside was 10x10 the inside was big enough to shelter a herd of elephants. There were at least a dozen different kinds of animals in different enclosures - not all of them were conventional pets - and a few creatures that were obviously not native to Earth.

Carl smirked as he swaggered past me to a red corduroy armchair that was clearly there just for him. Pearl told me to stand still as she drew a chalk circle and symbols I haven’t seen before around me on the cement floor. No pomp, no ritual, just a chalk circle.

Silly me I thought it would be like adopting a pet from a shelter. I’d go look at all the animals and pick the one that made me smile. It was nothing like that. I stood in my circle, trying not to fidget as she walked to each type of animal enclosure and opened the door. She went through hounds, goats, gerbils, bunnies, parrots, a pair of llamas, until finally she got to an enclosure full of farm birds. The baby cow in the corner was looking really good compared to the different chickens, geese, and swans that were floating on the surface of an indoor pond.

Right before she was going to close the door a chicken head popped out. It stared at me for a moment before walking straight for me. I watched in fascination as it pecked at the chalk before breaking the circle with it’s little clawed foot and settling next to my foot.

Betty burst out laughing. Pearl smiled and nodded like a chicken made perfect sense for me. I stared at the ball of brown and white feathers at my feet with a new kind of fear. I have zero knowledge of farm animals past how to cook them.

Twenty minutes later we were in the van with a bag of feed, a goodie bag of toys, a pamphlet on chicken familiars, a receipt, and a letter for the vet at Danu’s Keep. It would have been ten minutes, but I had no idea what to do with a chicken in the car. Did it need a carrier like a cat? Or a nest or something? Do chickens wear leashes?

Luckily Pearl handed me a quilted tote bag. She explained that the chicken - Eggatha Christie - is pretty much a small dog trapped in a chicken’s body. If I could do it with a Yorkie, then Eggatha would do it. Told me to call if I had any big issues to turn on an episode of Miss Marple and call her.

My new familiar has settled in the corner of the room and is quite happily watching an episode of Miss Marple on my iPad. We had to smuggle her into the hotel because she isn’t a registered familiar. Something is going to happen I just know it.

For now I’m going to bed. Betty was called back to Black House to deal with something. Eggatha is happy and I’m exhausted. I haven’t used my magic since being back because, without the second moon of Draig I have to save it up like a stupid battery. And after taking a bigger dose of the pain potion tonight I’m going to need quite a bit of it to make another batch. I thought I would have more time before the fibro pain reached full flare but I was wrong. So wrong.

To Do

• Finish shopping for the apartment

• Buy chicken supplies

• Get items for familiar bonding ritual

• Get items for the pain potion

• Create an Instagram account