Solem Ch3.

Solem's eyes shine as he looks up at Emily. Emily flicks her golden hair out of her face, and turns to see the bus careening around the bend down the street.

"Oh good," says Emily with relief. "It's here."

"Who are you and what have you done with Emily?" jokes Jake, and as the bus screeches to a halt next to them he gets aboard. Somewhat to Emily's surprise, Solem doesn't try to follow her on board. She watches him sitting at the corner of the stop sign from the bus's window until they round the curve, and then relaxes. No more Solem, no more crazy cat.

"I've never been on a bus before."

Emily jumps, then turns to see Solem sitting next to her on the bus. He jumps up on her lap and looks out the window, his head flicking back and forth as watches trees go by. His tiny feet press the fact onto Emily that this really is a cat, and he really is on the bus.

"We are going really fast" he says, amazed "Almost as fast as flying, but without the wind."

"How did you, where did, what?"

"Oh, that was a magic trick. I could show you it again if you like."

Solem then splits into two cats, one that's still looking out the window, and one that walks off her lap to sit down next to her again. The one on her lap is an illusion, and when Emily tries to touch it her hand passes through it, and the duplicate disappears.

"It's easy enough to do, wanna learn how?"

Emily is still staring at the empty space on her lap, and her finger points from Solem to her empty lap, to Solem, back to her empty lap, a look of utter astonishment on her face.

"Oh boy," says Solem, whiskers drooping. "I think we've got a lot of work to do."

"Hey!" says a curly haired kid in the next seat.  "What's a cat doing on the bus?"

Suddenly the attention of everyone is on Solem, and their voices overlap in an indistinguishable garble of sound.

"Hey!" shouts the bus driver. "What's all this about a cat?"
Everyone quiets down, and sshh's echo.

"There better not be a cat on this bus!" then says no more. Everyone resumes talking, and those nearest Emily and Solem lean in to get a better look.

"I didn't know you had a cat," says a girl one seat in front of Emily. She's in one of her classes, has red, bushy hair, pale skin, and red freckles.  She's wearing a red Christmas sweater.

"I don't," answers Emily. "He won't stop following me."

"Maybe he smells your lunch?" says another student.

"I don't have any lunch, I eat the school food."

"He's so cute and small. How old is he?" again, another student.

"I have no idea."

"Why'd you bring him on the bus?"

"I dunno, he just won't stop following me."

"Better get him to stop," says yet another nameless face, making it clear he thinks she's lying about Solem following her. "They won't allow him inside the school."

Solem makes a clear "hmph" noise, which raises a few eyebrows. It sounded almost like a scoff.

But then they're at the school, and hardly no one pays attention to him anymore as the big bus gets in line behind the others trying to get in. Very quickly they're at their spot at the curb, and the doors open. As Emily stands up to get off the bus, she finds she can't find Solem. Then she gets swept forward in the tide of students as they move to get off the bus. Only when she steps of the bus and onto the pavement does she see him in the window of the bus. She's relieved for a split second, then looks down beside her feet. Solem is sitting patiently on the pavement looking pleased, if cats can look pleased.

"You learn quickly. That's good."

"And you can't come inside with me, they won't let you."

"I'd like to see them keep me out."

"Just don't get me into trouble."

Emily walks along the sidewalk toward the front entrance, where everyone is funneling. She glances back behind her, and Solem has disappeared. When she looks back in front of her, however, she sees Solem dart through a closing door. Emily runs inside after him.

The two teachers on door duty see him run past them, and chase him into a bathroom. Then, through some sixth sense, Emily looks down beside her, and to her right, calmly keeping pace with her, is Solem. He chuckles to himself.

"You know, that trick is getting old."

"It never gets old."

Emily finds herself smiling despite herself. The crowd is so thick right now that no one sees Solem underfoot, and he easily weaves in and out of legs like a shadow, keeping close to Emily.

"So I'm a witch?"

"Yup."

"Can you prove it?" she asks, lifting an unconvinced eyebrow.

"Well, yes. Actually I can. The question is, though, would you believe me even if I did?"

"We'll see, just show me first."

"Fine. First grab that broom that's floating behind you, then we'll-"

Emily spins on a dime, her neck prickling, and swipes a broom out of what previously was nothing but a lot of empty air.


"Has this been following me the whole time?!" Emily demands, brandishing the shiny new broomstick. The end of the broom doesn't look like it'd be of much use for sweeping, as it is made out of a large bundle of two foot long twigs wrapped together by some kind of twine.

Many students stop to stare at Emily, several of whom have dropped their jaws. Solem blinks his eyes at everyone who has stopped walking, and they immediately seem to lose interest in Emily and her broom.

"Nope. You just conjured it. It's your broom!"

"That's impossible. You must have put it there."

"I did nothing, I swear."

"That's impossible."

"What?" asks Solem, taking a playful bat at her leg with his paw. "Are you saying that it's less impossible if I do the magic?"

Emily opens her mouth as if to argue, then shuts it tight. She grabs a book, a folder, and a pencil out of her locker. She then tries to put the broom in her locker, but it doesn't fit.

"What do I do with this?" asks Emily. Solem shrugs his shoulders in very unhelpful way, and Emily furiously slams her locker, leans the broom up against the nearest water fountain, then storms off down the hallway and up some stairs. A few straggling students remark on Solem, but Emily repeats to each of them that he wasn't her cat. When she reaches her classroom, she slams the door behind her, shutting Solem out, and sits down at her seat as the bell rings. She is only slightly surprised to find Solem looking up at her when she bends over to put her book under her desk in the storage rack.

"How many times are you going to do that?"

"As many times as I have to."

"Who are you talking to?" asks a girl across from Emily, but Solem is gone.

"No one," says Emily quickly, earning herself an odd look from the girl before she turns back to talk to her other neighbor.

Emily, however, feels Solem brush up against her leg underneath her chair. For a second she feels compelled to tell everyone where he is so that the janitor would come and take him away, but decides against it. In all likelihood it wouldn't make him leave anyway.

Very quickly the class's attention turns to the front of the room, and the teacher begins her lesson on math. Nobody seems to notice when Solem jumps up on Emily's lap, curls up, and falls asleep. Due to her black jeans and the shadow of her desk he is almost invisible, and Emily is struck suddenly by just how small Solem is. He seems to only be a large kitten, not quite an adult cat, and fits easily on her lap. Smiling, Emily decides to tolerate him for the moment and turns her attention to algebra. Solem purrs happily.



The rest of the day passes much like that, Solem following her silently, and either sleeping on her lap during class or lurking around the room like a shadow. During English Emily had completely lost track of him, only to realize he was sitting perfectly still on the teacher's desk. When Emily had found him, he blinked once at her, then resumed his imitation of a statue. It was all she could do not to giggle like a crazy person in the middle of the teachers lecture.

So it was at the end of the day, on her way home, that Emily found that she liked Solem. She liked him to the point of keeping him. It's only after they get off the bus that she finally talks to him though. Ever since the incident with the broom he had been quiet, content to stick next to her, and that was okay with her.

"I've been thinking about that broom all day….Did I really make that appear?"

"Of course."

"I don't believe it."

"That's okay," says Solem as he trots beside her. "You can lead a horse to water and all that jibber jabber. You'll come around."

Emily looks up at the bare trees, the cold grey sky, and takes a deep breath of the autumn air. They're almost to her doorstep.

"I don't believe in witches, but I think I like you anyway. You can be my pet, but only if my mom agrees."

Solem's fur bristles a little at the word pet, but settles down quickly.

"I guess that will do for now, but can you just say the words, 'I accept you as my familiar' please? Just to make it official."

"Fine, I accept you as my familiar," says Emily with a bunch of sarcastic arm waving.

"Great!" says Solem, and at that moment two twin bolts of lightning streak down through the cloudless sky and hit them both in a fiery explosion of sound and electricity. The lightning is a bright blue, and the arch of snapping current remains for several seconds before, with a final crack, it breaks off leaving them both standing on smoldering grass. Parts of Emily's coat are on fire, and she quickly puts out the flames and cinders.