The Familiar ceased people watching when Izzy tapped the toe of her shoe on the floor twice.

The dining room was grand. The massive mahogany table, draped in newspapers instead of a tablecloth, took up most of the vast space. Yet, it wasn't enough. Extra chairs were brought in and squeezed together for the dozens of children to fit. Most had become accustomed to rubbing elbows with the person sitting next to them whenever they lifted the piping hot oatmeal to their hungry mouths. The uniforms were drab grays and beige, trousers for the boys and dresses for the girls—cardigans for all in chilly weather. The orphans were more or less Izzy's age and did everything together. 
 
They ate, played, and bullied together. 

"Trouble?" The Familiar asked, keeping his voice soft to avoid auditory overload. "Someone being too loud?" He expected no reply from his pig-tailed witch, but she had cleaned her plate that morning, a small victory. 

The blonde girl to Izzy's left stuck her tongue out and started to call Izzy the R-word when a glass of icy water came flying at her from nowhere. The girl gasped at the Familiar's subtle attack. She hushed the moment Miss Hilda, a stout woman in a business suit, entered the room. She sniffed the air and arched an eyebrow in apparent disapproval. The Familiar couldn't guess whether the dissatisfaction stemmed from the bolted windows or the chandeliers' dim lighting. The woman had no tolerance for mischief unaware she boarded mischief incarnate... 

Izzy began to rock. Double trouble. 

The Familiar recounted the brief events of the day. He'd tagged Izzy's clothes and laid her stuffed rabbit on the left side of the bed. Throughout breakfast, he made certain none of the children, who couldn't see him anyway, empty the saltshaker in her food. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a snake slither beneath the faded rug in the hallway. 

"Back in a minute," he whispered to his witch. 

The snake, free from the confines of the rug, measured three inches wide with various degrees of brown scales. It led the Familiar to the girl's common sleeping room. Calling it a sleeping room was quite misleading as identical single beds filled the square room. The rest of the furnishings consisted of starch bed sheets and cardboard boxes for personal belongings if the girls had any.  That was it. 

The snake halted before Izzy's bed and the familiar held his breath. Physical beings, people or reptilian could cause him no harm. However, should the snake decide to leap onto Izzy's bed, she would notice. The knowledge would send prickles of pain through her little, sensitive body.

"Reveal yourself," the Familiar ordered in a tone that brooked no dispute. 

The snake bared its sinister fangs and hissed. His eyes were cold and lifeless, "You have no idea who I am, do you?"

The Familiar released the breath he held, it came out in shudders. ''Hello, Michael."

In a flash, the reptile transmuted into the form of a young man in his late teens with skin the color of ash and a billowing black cloak. He flexed his long limbs, cracking disused joints and misplaced knuckles in place. The scent of smoke filled the room. 

"You look like a nightmare," the Familiar said.

Michael chuckled, displaying sharp teeth. "Not everyone could be as pretty as you are, boy."

Don't call me pretty. Or boy. "Something you want?"

The minute he asked, an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of his gut. Was this what Izzy had been warning him about?

"I have a proposition for you," Michael said. "How would you like to regain your independence?"

"At what cost?"

Michael let out a bark of laughter. "Intelligence and beauty. A transfer, if you please."

The Familiar felt Izzy sneak in behind him. "Transfer?"

"Hmm," Michael murmured. "A touch of magic from your...ah, mistress to me. And I can promise, you'll no longer be at the beck and call of any witch. What say you?"

The Familiar's heart hammer against his chest. He struggled to temper the panic and schooled his face into a mask of outward calm. "Izzy. Get out."

The young witch didn't move her legs but flapped her arms. 

"Come now," Michael said. "She wouldn't miss her powers."

"It could end her life."

"No one will miss her."

"No," the Familiar blurted. "Thank you for the offer. I decline."

Michael sighed, and his cloak ruffled in the windless room. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in this?" Between grime coated fingers, Michael held a silver chain with a locket dangling from its end. The Familiar didn't have to peer closer to know its details. It was a nineteenth-century piece adorned with old mine cut diamonds in the shape of the rose with a dainty button at its side. Michael pressed that button and inside was a brown and yellow portrait of the Familiar.

"She gave it to me," Michael announced. "Broke it in half and asked me to fix it. Now, does she seem like a person you'd throw away your freedom for?"

Izzy's flapping had reached a frantic degree, and it wouldn't be long for a staff member to hear the distressed sign. The Familiar shifted, keeping both her and Michael in his field of vision, and snapped his fingers. Once. Twice. Thrice. 

She stopped.

The Familiar felt shivers running down his spine and imagined his fist tightening over the cold sensation. It ebbed and flowed in his veins while Michael continued to prattle. The Familiar concentrated on his own palms and a ball of clear water hovered over them.

"Don't be ridiculous," Michael spat. "You can't defeat me."

"No," the Familiar agreed. "I can't."

He launched the water ball like a cannon and aimed for the locket. It swallowed the locket whole and formed a frozen cube around it. The Familiar continued to lower the temperature, freezing it again and again. His veins ached from the effort and the cube and locket burst into smithereens. The Familiar rushed to envelop Izzy in an embrace as shards of deadly silver and ice raced over their heads.

"What have you done?" Michael snarled. 

Too late. The Familiar's body began disintegrating by the second. His sight started to depart while a ringing sound tore at his ears. 

"Elizabeth listen to me." He spoke loud and clear. "You have to be strong. I'm not needed anymore." Between squints, he saw tears spilling over the girl's chubby cheeks. 

I'm terrified too. 

"Do you understand?" the Familiar pressed.

Izzy parted her trembling lips, and out came the first and last word the Familiar would hear her say. "Julian."

It broke Julian's heart.