Phoenix followed after Paul, having finished securing the necessary materials for her Familiar ritual. Her excitement for the new companion had helped banish the memories that had been pguing her sleep, and she found it easier to put it behind her as she looked forward to what was ahead instead.

  Paul had taken her to the Market District in the northeast quadrant of the inner city to get the Shards she was missing but also surprised her by simply spending time together looking at various shops. While she wasn’t a huge fan of shopping, mainly because of the crowds and forced socialness, she did enjoy learning. Getting to ask Paul what everything was gave her tons of new information to think about, and it did wonders to help get her mind off her nightmares.

  Being back in a skirt with her hair freed from its braid also helped her mood. She wasn’t pnning to fight anything today with her mentor at her side, so she felt comfortable donning the long emerald winter dress and silvery fur-lined boots and gloves that Paul had encouraged her to buy at a cute little boutique. He offered to buy them for her, but she refused, not liking the idea of anyone spending money on her when she was finally capable of doing that herself.

  The only enchantments on them were for maintenance, and she was enjoying the idea they reaffirmed: that today was for not fighting things.

  It was because there was no training pnned that she was surprised to find Dazien and Uriel waiting outside of the building her mentor was leading her to, “What are you two doing here?” she asked the pair.

  Dazien grinned brightly at her, “Lord Waynd informed us that you unlocked a Familiar ability and told us you’d be performing the ritual here. We wanted to be by your side for support, of course.”

  “We can leave if you’d rather do this alone,” Uriel spoke up, his ember eyes watching her with concern, “No hard feelings or anything. This is for you, after all.”

  Phoenix blinked at them for far too long before saying with awkward nervousness, “Um, thank you.” She wasn’t quite sure how to react to the dispy of camaraderie, so instead, she turned to Paul and asked, “Where are we?”

  He pulled out a tiny metal rod that was identical to the one he had given her before he had left a week ago and pced it into a small hole in the door frame. “My home,” the older warrior said simply and led the trio inside.

  It was very minimalistic inside, with lots of white and silver embellishments, except for the green pnts that seemed to be growing on every surface and in each corner. Paul stood out in contrast with his golden coloring, and she instantly thought he looked like the sun feeding the outstretched leaves.

  Instead of leading them to an upper floor of the tall building, he surprised Phoenix by taking an elevator down, below the ground, and suddenly she was wondering how much of the city she had never known y underneath the tightly packed metropolis.

  “So, what exactly are we summoning today?” Dazien asked as they rode the gss lift downwards.

  She summoned her book for them to show the ability that had bonded to her Star Aspect. Uriel let out a snort of ughter while Dazien gnced up at her with an impish grin and sparkles in his gem-like eyes as he crified, “Seriously?”

  “What? It’s going to be amazing!” she argued, thinking of the mythical birds of legend. Perhaps she had been mistaken, and they were basically magic chickens in this world?

  Her temporary leader’s retort was cut off by the lift doors opening, and the lord of the House led them to a permanent ritual chamber. Phoenix contempted visiting more often just to take advantage of these kinds of accommodations as the rge room spread out before them, lit by glowstones embedded in the ceiling. Then she wondered why Paul had never brought her here before. Did he not want her here?

  She shook her head at her thoughts. No, if Paul had tried to bring her here right away, she would have probably freaked out thinking he was trying to kidnap her like that Magi. Despite having just revealed her most kidnap-worthy secret, her Mentor had given her a key to this home over a week ago. However, she hadn’t seen a reason to come by without him here, and he had mentioned using it for emergencies.

  Now, though, perhaps it was him trying to show that he finally trusted her? That he wanted her in his life more? She pushed those thoughts aside and focused on her work, using a finger of light to draw out the most eborate ritual diagram she had ever done before.

  Paul, Dazien, and Uriel stood along the back wall watching her work, and the Defender couldn’t stop grinning as he asked, “Seriously, does no one else find it amusing that Phoenix is about to summon a phoenix?!”

  The other two men just rolled their eyes at him, and Phoenix snorted a ugh like Uriel had when the connection was made for her. “I would find it more hirious if you managed to summon an actual king,” she quipped.

  He grinned back at her, “It would be kind of pointless to summon myself.”

  Once everything looked good, she stood on the edge of the diagram, took a deep, calming breath, and looked to her companions, “Ready?” The three men all nodded, and she lifted her arms in front of her with her palms facing the center of the circle. Then, she began the long incantation.

  “From the ashes of the first star, I call you. Until the final nova, I command you. You are the beginning and the end. You are the first and st breath of the universe. Our bond heralds the genesis of a new dawn. Come forward, that we may burn brightly across the cosmos.”

  As Phoenix spoke, she felt her mana get drawn out of her and into the circle as the diagram grew brighter and brighter. When she finished speaking, the multi-colored light of the ritual pulsed and swirled to the center of the circle. It formed a small silvery star that slowly grew rger and floated down to the floor before seeming to solidify and shift into a sphere of swirling dark blues and purples that reminded her of the sheet of night her portal would dispy.

  Phoenix dropped to a knee as the remaining mana and stamina were siphoned from her, and the colors stopped shifting. The sphere suddenly began to crack, and she realized it was an egg.

  A few moments ter, the shell split in two and dissolved into silvery stardust around a ball of blue and purple feathers with silver speckles.

  She couldn’t help but crawl slowly towards the creature, look down, and gently stretch out her finger to poke the feathery bundle that was about the size of a small volleyball.

  As it let out a small “cheep,” and rge silver eyes met her emerald ones, she gave a bright smile at the [Cosmic Phoenix]. She didn’t care if it did turn out to be a fluffy chicken, this was her Familiar, and she could already feel the bond sending feelings of love and acceptance between them as she cooed, “Hello, lil birb, I’m Phoenix.”

  She held out both of her hands together, palms up, in front of the round bird. After a couple of heavy blinks at her, it gave another cheep and hopped forward with a tiny flutter of its short wings to nd in her grasp.

  Phoenix sat back, crossing her legs under the folds of her dress, and lifted the bird up to her eyes to get a better look. It was lighter than she expected for how round it was, and she suspected the floofy feathers were to bme. Aside from the rge silver irises of its eyes, its little beak was also a shimmery silver.

  The little creature cocked its head to the side as it looked up at her and gave another curious cheep. Dazien and Uriel sat down on either side of her to get a closer look at their newest party addition, and she grinned at both of them.

  “Does it have a name?” Dazien asked, “Some of them already have one,” he expined, then added, “Or a gender, for that matter?”

  “Umm…” she stared at the speckled phoenix for a moment before telling it, “One chirp for ‘girl,’ two for ‘boy,’ three for ‘both,’ or four for ‘none’ or other.”

  The bird tilted its head in the other direction and gave another single cheep. Dazien cut in, “How do you even know it understands what you’re saying?”

  “Uhh… two chirps for understanding what I’m saying?” she asked the creature hesitantly.

  The phoenix gave two cheeps in quick succession before shaking its small body, causing the feathers to seem even more poofy than before. Phoenix grinned and said, “See? She’s a smart girl.”

  “So, does the little dy have a name?” Dazien asked the bird, leaning forward to get a closer look.

  The newborn chick gave a single cheep, and the gemite looked at Phoenix. “Was one chirp a yes or no?”

  “Let’s go with two for yes,” she said and asked the same question, getting a single chirp once again. “Do you want a name?”

  “Cheep, cheep.”

  All three of the young adults got a contemptive look on their faces as they thought about potential names, and Phoenix noticed that Paul was still leaning against the far wall, just watching the group carefully.

  “What do you think, Paul?” she asked over to him, holding the poofy bird up for him to see better.

  He shook his head and gave a wry grin, “I think that is for you and her to decide.”

  “I don’t think either of us mind hearing suggestions,” she pointed out.

  “Cheep, cheep,” the little phoenix said.

  “See? She agrees,” the rger Phoenix reaffirmed with a grin.

  “What about Fluffball?” Dazien said, and somehow, both girls managed to roll their eyes at him. He ughed and tried again, “Okay then, how about Speckles? She has them all over her feathers.”

  “Starlight?” Uriel suggested.

  “That’s better,” Phoenix said to the Mage, “But she’s not just some pet. She’s the newest member of our party, and I want her to have a name like any other person.”

  “You could pick any name then, like Bethel or Vanessera or Diana,” Dazien listed off, not particurly enthused with those options.

  “Actually, that st one reminds me of the mythos of my world,” she said, perking up a bit, “We didn’t have gods like you do here,” she expined, “If they do exist there, they do a very good job of hiding.

  “Anyways, I went through a period where I got super obsessed with all the different pantheons of deities, and I think I know the perfect name,” she grinned and asked the little bird, “What do you think about ‘Ta’? She’s the goddess of stars in one of the pantheons.”

  “Cheep, cheep!” the little bird replied excitedly, bouncing up and down in Phoenix’s palms.

  They all ughed at the tiny Familiar’s antics. Then Ta surprised them all by nuzzling down as though to roost, and she seemed to melt right into Phoenix’s hands. She became even more confused as she stared at her now empty hands and realized they were softly glowing.

  “What just happened?” she asked in a slight panic, “Did I just melt my Familiar?!”

  Uriel chuckled and expined, “Every summoned Familiar can merge with their summoner like that. There’s always some kind of visual component when they do. Changed color of the hair or eyes are most common, followed by markings on the skin, such as a tattoo or,” he gestured at her hands, “An overall shift in complexion.”

  As she stared at her now shining hands, she pulled back the sleeve that wasn’t covering the bracelet over her Oathbond to confirm that her arm was also glowing with a soft light. She stared up at her companions. They were still staring at her, taking in her new appearance, and she asked in shock, “So this is permanent?”

  “No, just when she’s merged,” Uriel crified in that smooth bass that was fighting back the amused tint in it, “When she comes out to fight or support, or whatever it is she can do to help you, the glow should dissipate.”

  “Should?” she repeated, her voice going an octave higher.

  Paul’s chuckle came from across the room as he said, “Now you even shine like a star.”

  Her eyes went slightly wide, and she pulled out a hand mirror from her collection that she had snagged earlier when clothes shopping. She looked at her face, which was indeed also glowing softly, and it somehow managed to make her red hair and green eyes stand out even more than before.

  “Oh, what in the abyss is this nonsense,” she murmured, then cpped her hands together a few times, “Nope. Come out right now, Ta. I’m not walking around town like a freaking night light.”

  “Hang on now,” Dazien interjected, pcing a hand on her arm, “Can you tell what benefits you get from her like this?”

  “Aside from not needing a glowstone,” Uriel added with a smirk.

  Phoenix gred at the Mage and replied sarcastically, “Ha. Ha.” Then she closed her eyes to concentrate on the power of her Familiar nestled inside of her. It was an odd sensation to be two separate entities, yet not. Ta was now a part of her very being.

  Once her mind was no longer consumed by the panic of going around town like a mobile Christmas tree, she realized that she already knew exactly what her new companion was capable of. Her eyes shot open as she muttered, “I think she just made me sor-powered.”

  At the confused looks of her teammates, she eborated, “I slowly charge up [Starlight Q and can release all of it to regenerate nearby allies’ mana and stamina based on the amount of starlight my skin had absorbed up to that point while she’s merged.”

  “Keep her inside,” Paul said firmly, “You have a bad habit of close calls.”

  She gave him a ft look, “I am not glowing around the city,” she argued and cpped her hands one more time. The little puffy bird slowly arose from her palm to look up at her with rge pleading eyes.

  Phoenix rolled her own eyes, having seen it a million times before from the younger kids in the hospital, “Don’t give me that look, Ta,” she said, then plopped the blue and purple phoenix on top of her head, “You can stay up there. Still touching but no glowing.”

  Her companions chuckled at her as the small phoenix cheeped twice before settling into the red curls. She grinned at her teammates and mentor, and with her newest companion, she started to feel like everything would be okay.

  End of Book 1 of Wayward: RunningPhoenix and friends will return in Book 2 of Wayward: Fighting