Chapter 1:
Hecate had been waiting for this day for as long as she could remember, the day she would be paired with her familiar, a kindred spirit for life. She had fond memories from her infancy of hiding under the kitchen table waiting for her mother to finish cooking something she could almost remember the comforting smell of, and while she was waiting she would unwittingly terrorise her mother's cat with too-tight cuddles, leaving her tiny toddler fists full of black fur as the cat skulked away. Alas, her mother had been gone a long time and with her Seren, her loyal companion, and Hecate's fond memories.
As Hecate stood at the back of the gaggle of young witches waiting to greet their familiars. The idea of an unconditional friend, although in the form of a cat, seemed very attractive to her as she had found it really rather difficult in her first few weeks at school to interact with anyone of a more human disposition. Being one of the tallest in her year, she could see over the tops of some of their heads as girl after girl left the room, each time with a new kitten in her arms.
'She just jumped into my arms!', exclaimed one to her friends.
This was particularly interesting to Hecate, as it confirmed what she had read about familiars choosing the witch rather than the other way around.
As the day went on, the queue dwindled down until finally it was Hecate's turn. She pushed open the heavy wooden door quietly so as not to startle the little things. It was as much as she could do not to let out a very uncharacteristic squeal as she saw the tiny kittens curled up in their baskets, nothing made her as excited as animals, she found she understood them better than people, way less complicated. What she did not understand, however was the complete lack of interest these particular animals were showing her. She hadn't expected her familiar to reveal itself straight away but none of them had even turned a head in her direction.
She crept over to kneel next to some of the more active among the litters, they had been playing with some string. Hecate smiled and reached out a hand to join in the game yet was warded off with a tiny hiss. No matter how tiny and actually quite adorable the hiss had been Hecate understood the sign and left them to play. She must have been in there for a good half an hour when a disgruntled teacher poked her head around the door.
'What's going on in there?!' she barked 'Hurry up Hecate Hardbroom you should have been chosen before now!', she swung the door fully open and filled the door frame with her enormous figure, looming over Hecate.
'Yes, Mistress Broomhead, of course', garbled Hecate as she panicked, what if she didn't get chosen? What if none of the familiars wanted her? What if she wasn't worthy of a cat. She quickly tried to shake off the feelings of self-doubt which rang in her ears and in her panic, pressured by Mistress Broomhead, she scooped up the kitten nearest to her, hoping for the best. It was not to be however, as the kitten in question objected strongly to being handled by Hecate and gave her her second hiss of the day accompanied by a swipe to the face. Hecate gasped and released her hold on the little kitten as claw connected to skin. She clapped her hand to her stinging cheek, when she pulled it away she saw that blood had been drawn and was now mixing with the saltiness of her tears.
'It's just a scratch girl! No need to turn on the waterworks!', said Mistress Broomhead sternly, 'out with you now, back to your room, it seems you shan't be meeting your familiar today'.
She wasn't crying because of the pain, or even the shock. But because of the resurgence of the feeling of rejection that she would usually associate with humans and the embarrassment and shame as she nodded in defeat to Mistress Boomhead and made the solitary journey past her remaining peers back to her room. Empty handed, empty hearted.