At her subsequent lesson with Ramona on monday, Miyani finally got to learn how to cast an invisibility spell and not accidentally turn people into glass instead. However, she wasn’t able yet to make an invisibility bubble that was big enough and so, Miyani’s solo flights would have to wait until she had mastered the spell a little more. It was kind bit of a bummer alright since she still had her head in the clouds. Both her and Rose for that matter.

    At the end of that lesson, Ramona had asked Miyani to come alone for the next lesson on friday since it was going to be a lesson about familiars. Of course, any chance Rose got not to have to deal with Ferdinand the snake, she took eagerly. It was strange though since this was going to be the first time Miyani would go to a lesson with Ramona on her own.

    However, that didn’t stop Miyani from visiting her friend on the way there. She knocked on her friend’s door while Whiskers scratched it with her claws.

    When Rose opened, she hurriedly ran back again. “Come on in! Sorry, gotta tend to the kitchen! Cooking!” she called out.

    Miyani chuckled. “No worries,” she said. She and Whiskers walked in and were once again greeted by that familiar lavender scent. While Whiskers went to look for the highest spot she could find to perch herself on, Miyani went over to Rose to take a whiff of her cooking. It was some sort of spaghetti dish with tomatoes and cheese.

    “Smells good,” she said.

    Rose grinned. “My dad’s recipe. I hope you’ll like it,” she said proudly.

    “I’m sure I will,” Miyani replied. Ever since their broomflight together, both girls had felt another level of closeness toward each other that they hadn’t felt before. Miyani wasn’t really sure about it. All she really knew was that it felt good and nice to be with Rose.

    “Have you had much success with the invisibility spell?” Rose asked.

    Miyani sighed as she sat down at the dinner table. “A little… I can make an invisibility bubble big enough to fit two Whiskers now,” she muttered.

    “Hey, that’s more than one and a half at least,” Rose said.

    “I guess so. I just… wanna fly some more,” Miyani complained.

    Rose nodded. “I know… and I wanna fly with you,” she said.

    Miyani chuckled. “Sorry you had to befriend the one witch that’s just one big doofus,” she said.

    Rose turned around and swung her spatula at Miyani, causing some of the tomato to splash in her direction. “Come on, stop underselling yourself!” she said.

    Miyani shrank back a little. “Sorry you had to befriend the most amazing witch ever?” she proposed.

    Rose had to laugh out loud at that one. “That’s better,” she said and turned back to her cooking again.

    Miyani chuckled to herself as well and looked up to Whiskers, who was carefully eyeing everything that was going on below her like an empress overseeing her empire. “I wonder what this lesson’s going to be about,” Miyani mused.

    Rose shrugged. “Maybe you’re going to be taught to like… have your familiar grow or something?”

    Miyani placed her hand on her chin. “Heh, imagine a giant Ferdinand,” she mused.

    Rose shuddered in place. “Shut up or you’re not getting dinner!” she hissed.

    Miyani grinned and stuck out her tongue. “My guess is that it’s just a lesson on how to work together with Whiskers better.”

    “That would make sense,” Rose nodded. With that, she hoisted her pan off the furnace and placed it on the table. “But anyway, let’s have some food. You can tell me what your lesson was about afterwards.”

Miyani arrived at Ramona’s store with Whiskers following her on foot for a change. She was afraid that they would be late since they lingered at Rose’s place for a little bit longer than they should have but they were able to make it in time still. For some reason, Miyani still felt a level of anticipation and excitement in her stomach whenever she was about to enter here, even though she knew what to expect by now.

    Pushing through, Miyani opened the door. She was expecting to greet Ramona like normal but instead, she found that her teacher was in what sounded like a pretty tense conversation with a man that had to be at least twice Miyani’s age. He looked a little rat-like, to the point where when Whiskers entered the store after Miyani, her tail instantly got a lot thicker.

    Miyani’s entrance caused the bell to ring, which in turn made the man turn around. Instantly, an almost sickening grin appeared on his face that made the young witch very uncomfortable. “Ah, here she is at last. And with her cat as well! Though I don’t see that other girl with you this time,” he said.

    Miyani stared at him dumbfounded for a moment while Whiskers started hissing at him. What was this man talking about? How did he know that Miyani would be coming here today? There were many questions on her mind and she ended up asking the first one that popped up. “Who… Who are you?” she managed to ask.

    “Oh, forgive my manners. I am Gregory Burton. And what is your name?” the man asked.

    Miyani opened her mouth to answer the question but before she could say something, Ramona had come between them from behind the counter. “That is none of your business, Mister Burton! You are sticking your nose into private matters that do not concern you and you are harassing my customers and my friends,” she snapped.

    “Oh come now, Miss Woolsworth. I am merely indulging in friendly conversation here,” the man said.

    “Leave my store now or I will be forced to call the police,” Ramona hissed.

    Mister Burton held up his hands and feigned ignorance. “Alright, alright, I understand. In that case, I shall be heading off again,” he said as he started walking towards the door.

    Ramona folded her arms and saw to it that he left with the utmost haste. Whiskers was still hissing and her fur stood on end constantly. All the while, Miyani was just confused about the whole situation. What she did know was that she got some very bad vibes from this man.

    The man halted in the doorway and turned around one more time. “Before I go, I really would like to know what would make someone bring their cat to an alternate healing store. A dog I could understand but a cat?”

    “Get. Out!” Ramona spat.

    Mister Burton merely grinned and finally turned to leave the store fully. Instantly, Ramona locked the door behind him, turned over the ‘closed’ sign, and then proceeded to lean against the door with a deep sigh she had likely been holding in for a while now.

    Miyani looked through the glass door to see if the man was truly leaving before she finally dared speaking again. “What was that all about?” she asked.

    Ramona frowned and smiled apologetically. “I’m very sorry you had to see that, Miyani,” she said.

    “He seemed to know a lot about me,” Miyani said.

    Ramona looked behind her to check the streets in front of the store. “Not here. Go downstairs. I will close up here further,” she said. With that, she ushered Miyani to go to the back as per usual. Whiskers followed after her, her tail still quite thick. Whatever had happened just now, it definitely wasn’t good.

    When they were all down in the basement room, Ramona closed the door behind them and even locked the door. Something she hadn’t yet done at all so far. It really made Miyani curious about what was going on.

    “That was Gregory Burton,” Ramona spoke up while turning back to Miyani at last. There was a seriousness in her eyes that the young witch had never seen before.

    “And… who is that?” Miyani asked.

    Ramona sighed and looked to the ground. “He’s a witch hunter,” she said.

    “WHAT?!” Miyani shrieked, just as Whiskers let out yet another hiss. “Those exist?!”

    Ramona nodded. “That they do,” she said.

    “Wha… and he was here?! Does he know?!” Miyani demanded.

    “He only has his suspicions so far. Apparently he’s caught wind of you and Rose coming here with Whiskers and came in to check things out for himself,” Ramona said.

    “He… Oh no… does that mean that he’s onto me?” Miyani asked.

    Ramona closed her eyes. “I am afraid he has his eye on you now… I will notify the council of this,” she said.

    Miyani gasped. “I’m being hunted?!” she cried out.

    Ramona looked at her sternly. “So long as he doesn’t see you using magic, he will not do anything to you.”

    Miyani looked pale. She already had to hide who she really was from everyone and now she was actively being hunted?! “How… Why are there witch hunters?” she asked.

    “Sit down. I will explain,” Ramona told her.

    Miyani nodded and sat down. Whiskers jumped up on her lap but she was still very much on edge.

    “As I have told you already, witches were persecuted and hunted down at the end of the age of fairytales. Thus we went into hiding and vanished from the world. However, a handful of people never stopped hunting us. While we have developed our world, they have improved as well. They are dangerous folk and they must be avoided at all costs,” Ramona explained.

    Miyani gulped again. How could this be? Why were there people out there that could be so hateful of people like her simply for existing? It’s not like she was going around wreaking havoc or anything… She looked down at Whiskers who was finally calming down a little now that Miyani was stroking her back.

    “We have known about Gregory for a while now but we can’t really do much about him other than hide away and erase our trails,” Ramona continued.

    “R-really? We have magic. Can’t we do anything?” Miyani asked.

    “Hunters have their tools. Their traps and their protections. The moment a witch uses magic around them, it could very well be over,” Ramona said.

    Miyani frowned angrily. “I can’t believe this…”

    Ramona nodded. “I know how you feel. But I really don’t want you to worry. Gregory only rarely shows himself. As much as he tries to pressure us, he too has to keep our world under wraps and abide by the law. After all, barely anyone believes that witches exist. He would be the target of ridicule and scorn if he were to tell the world about us.”

    Miyani nodded. “This is wrong… All of this is so unfair,” she muttered.

    Ramona nodded. “The councils around the world are vigilant. We try our best to be one step ahead of the hunters at all times but that is all we can do. Well… except for…” she said.

    “Except for… what?” Miyani asked.

    “Ah, no. Forget I said anything. It was a fool’s errand that happened some time ago. I’d rather not dwell on it,” Ramona said.

    Miyani tilted her head. It only made her more curious but it appeared that her teacher was not in the mood to explain that situation any further. “So… what do we do now?” she asked.

    Ramona put up a smile as Ferdinand uncurled himself from around her arm. “Now, we begin your lesson for today.”

    “I-is that really okay?” Miyani asked.

    “Yes. Despite all of his tools, this is still a safe room. And what better way to keep our minds off of these troubles than to practice some magic,” Ramona said.

    “I guess…” Miyani said, a bit uneasy.

    “Besides, I’m certain you are going to like this. Today, I will teach you a method to temporarily increase your magical prowess,” Ramona explained.

    Miyani eyed her. “How?”

    Ramona just grinned while Ferdinand slithered from around her arm up to her shoulder until he came face to face with his witch. They stared at each-other for a moment and then… there was a bright light that enveloped them both completely.

    “Whoah!” Miyani gasped. She had to shield her eyes momentarily for it was quite difficult to see. When the light finally did clear up though, she was amazed at what she saw before her. She was still Ramona alright but she was no longer human. Instead, her legs had fused together into a snake’s tail. She had two fangs that poked out of her mouth a little bit and a forked tongue stuck out every few moments.

    “Familiar fusion,” Ramona said. There was an audible hiss when she pronounced the ‘s’.

    “F-fusion?” Miyani stammered. Indeed, Ferdinand was nowhere to be seen anymore. Had Ramona actually fused with him?!

    The Ramonaga nodded. “Witches use their familiars to channel their magic. What better way to do so is there than to be your familiar?” she said.

    Miyani had her mouth agape, as did Whiskers for that matter. No wonder Ramona told Rose to stay home tonight.

    “When a witch fuses with her familiar, she will take on some of the familiar’s traits,” Ramona said.

    “Some?” Miyani asked.

    Ramona laughed. A laugh that involved a lot of hissing while her long snake’s tail curled forwards. She actually wrapped it around herself a few times so that in the end, the pile of tail was big enough for her to lean on it herself. “It is not a form you should rely on. You should still try to rely on your own capabilities. This is simply something to give you an extra push in emergencies.”

    Miyani looked down at Whiskers, who was still staring at the snakewoman now sitting in front of them with fascination. If they were to fuse, then that would mean that Miyani would end up with a lot of feline features. What would she end up looking like? She had never actually transformed herself fully. Sure, she had given herself unwanted features here and there but this?

    “Is Ferdinand still in there?” Miyani asked.

    “Why yes, he is. You could technically say that the one you are talking to now is both Ferdinand as well as Ramona. It is a fusion after all and it takes two to tango,” Ramona explained.

    Miyani gulped. That was a lot to take in. “Is it really safe?” she asked.

    “It is definitely safe. You don’t have to worry that you will lose yourself in there or anything. In fact, you can only achieve such a fusion if you have truly formed a close, strong bond with your familiar,” Ramona replied.

    Miyani looked over Ramona’s snakelike body. She was definitely curious about what it would feel like. What it would be like. Well, there was only one way to find out, of course… “How do I do this?”

    Ramona grinned and showed off her fangs. She then enveloped herself in light and when it cleared up a moment later, Ramona was fully human again, with Ferdinand sitting in front of her on the table all curled up.

    “I like that form. Sure, my legs fuse into a tail and all but a snake’s body is surprisingly strong. The only real complaint I have is the lisping and hissing I have to deal with,” Ramona said as she stretched her legs again.

    “I… guess I’ll find out what Whiskers and I will end up looking like together, huh…” Miyani said, still in awe at what she had just witnessed.

    Ramona nodded with a smile. “If you two are ready, then I will tell you what you have to do,” she said.

    Miyani nodded and looked to her cat, still on her lap. Whiskers looked back and tilted her head. “Are you ready to do this then, Whisk? Do you want to fuse with me?” she asked.

    Whiskers looked over to Ferdinand, as if to ask for confirmation. Then she turned back to her owner and placed her paw on Miyani’s chest. A clear-cut sign of confirmation alright.

    “Looks like that’s a yes,” Miyani said.

    “Alright. In order to fuse, you must look one another deep into the eyes,” Ramona said.

    Miyani did as she was told, as did Whiskers. This wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary. Miyani had often had staring contests with her cat. Most of the time she’d lose those.

    “Now then. You have to feel each-other. You will become one after all. Accept each-other into yourself so that you may fuse,” Ramona said.

    Miyani nodded and stared deep into Whiskers’ green eyes. She frowned a little as she concentrated but then she thought back to the previous sunday. How she managed to fly not by getting super tensed up about it but simply by letting go and calming down.

    Whiskers licked her lips and ducked down a little. For a moment, it seemed that the cat was backing down because she was maybe having second thoughts about it but then, she pounced forwards, directly at the witch’s face.

    “Wha-!” Miyani cried out but much to her surprise, there was no impact. Miyani didn’t feel any sort of furball on her face. She did not feel Whiskers’ claws hitting her anywhere. What she did feel, however, was Whiskers herself. She could feel the cat’s presence and it was unlike anything she’d ever felt before.

    The room around her quickly vanished from view. Instead, she found herself, together with Whiskers, into a white void. There weren’t any distinguishing features anywhere. She couldn’t even really detect what she was standing on. Where the ground ended and where the sky began. It was just her and Whiskers.

    “Is… have we done it?” Miyani asked.

    Whiskers tilted her head and looked around herself curiously. It seemed that she didn’t really have any sort of clue about what was going on either.

    Miyani folded her arms and sat down. “I don’t feel any different… and where even are we?” she asked out loud.

    Whiskers sat in front of her and let out a soft meow.

    Miyani pursed her lips. “Ramona didn’t say anything about this… what are we supposed to do here?” she asked.

    Whiskers then placed her paw on Miyani’s hand and started purring as she started lying down.

    “Hmm… She did say that we have to become one. To be one, I guess we have to act as one,” Miyani said. Thus, she let herself lie down just as Whiskers did.

    Miyani raised her other hand. Whiskers did the same.

    Whiskers meowed loudly. Miyani felt herself getting flustered but she repeated it. This process went on for some time, both of them imitating each-other. Well, it started out as an imitation game but slowly, Miyani felt as if she could somehow predict what Whiskers would do and judging by the cat’s response time, she was experiencing the same.

    Both of them started getting quite excited at this. This must have meant that their fusion was going well! They both jumped to their feet and nodded to each-other. They were doing it. They were really doing it!

    Miyani’s senses felt a little strange, as did those of Whiskers. The same thing happened to their thoughts. Their memories. Their feelings. It all became jumbled. Entangled with one another. Soon, Miyani could no longer really tell where she ended and where Whiskers began. Heck, she wasn’t even really sure anymore at that moment which of the two she really was. Well, that could only mean one thing. She had to be both of them at the same time. Did that mean that they had fused?

    And just like that, their surroundings shifted once more. Slowly but steadily, the white void gained colour again as Miyani and Whiskers soon found themselves back in Ramona’s safe room underneath her store. Well, it didn’t really feel like Miyani and Whiskers anymore. They were one. They had fused together into one being.

    “Welcome back,” came Ramona’s voice, causing the fused Miyani to perk up her ears into her mentor’s direction. Wait… perk up her ears?

    Miyani blinked a few times. Her sight was so much sharper than it had been, as was her hearing. “We… I’m back,” Miyani said. Her voice sounded slightly different. It was still Miyani’s voice but it sounded a little raspier than usual. Raspy like the voice of Whiskers.

    “How are you feeling?” Ramona asked with a huge grin on her face.

    “I feel… fine. I feel good,” Miyani nodded when she felt the urge to scratch her chin. However, instead of simply using her hands to do so, instead she reached up with her leg and used her foot to do the scratching to do so. It took her a few seconds to realize what she was doing and when she did, she gasped out loud. Only now did she look down at her body.

    No longer was she human alright, nor was she a full on cat. Her body was covered in black fur and her hands and feet were a little bit more like claws now. The shock of seeing that all caused her fur to stand on end a little. Quickly, she jumped to her feet. She could still stand up straight at least.

    She looked behind her and sure enough, there was a long tail swaying back and forth a little. Miyani’s tattoos now appeared as white markings in her fur instead.

    When Miyani looked back up at Ramona, her mentor had gotten out a mirror from somewhere and held it up. The fused witch was in awe at what she saw. Her face was definitely still that of Miyani, only covered in fur and a lot more feline now. Her eyes were green and her ears poked through her hair as triangles. They had truly fused.

    “Well?” Ramona asked again.

    “I… can’t believe it. I actually did it!” Ramona cheered. Well, she referred to herself as ‘I’ but would ‘we’ be more appropriate? Well, not really for they weren’t two anymore. They were one now.

    “You did indeed,” Ramona said.

    Miyani sat back down on the chair, careful not to accidentally squish her own tail. She was quite happy about this. She had managed to succeed in something on her first try!

    And that joy translated itself into a sound that she wasn’t expecting: she was purring. She was purring?!

    Ramona laughed and stood up. “You are adorable, you know that?” she said as she gave Miyani an ear scritch.

    As if on instinct, Miyani leaned into it. It felt really quite good after all and it only caused her purring to get louder. However, when she realized what she was doing, she batted Ramona’s hand away. “Stop it!” she cried out.

    Ramona giggled. “Now that you have fused, it is time to put your powers to the test, shall we?” she said.

    Right. That had been the goal of this whole experiment from the beginning.

    Ramona took out a pebble, much like the one Miyani had practiced on earlier. She had been able to turn it into various shapes with ease by now. Was this really going to be her test?

    “Try and make a perfect replica of Rose from this,” Rose said.

    Miyani’s eyes went wide. She had never made something so complex! However, she was fused with Whiskers now. Supposedly, that meant an increase in her power. Tentatively, she grabbed the pebble and looked at it. She knew what Rose looked like and it was quite easy to visualize her. But could she also translate that into the pebble? Well, there was only one way to find out.

    She focused her attention on the pebble and on the image of Rose in her head. The stone began molding, morphing itself and sure enough, before long she held a miniature, perfect replica of Rose in her hand, standing with her hands on her hips and looking up.

    “I… did it. I did it!” Miyani cheered proudly.

    Ramona smiled broadly. “That is the power of fusion.”

It was decently late at night now. Ramona had brought Miyani and Whiskers home on her broom just in case mister Burton was still around. They were actually still fused at Miyani’s own request since she had another plan for tonight first.

    When Ramona flew off towards where the council was, Miyani grabbed her own broomstick, used her increased magical powers to cast a big enough invisibility bubble and finally, she flew down to Rose’s balcony where she saw that her friend was just sitting on her bed, reading a book.

    Miyani giggled. “She’s gonna flip,” she mused to herself. Softly, she landed on the balcony and tapped on the window.

    Inside, Rose shot up and looked around, looking pretty confused. It occurred to Miyani then that she was still invisible and thus Rose couldn’t really see who had tapped on her window.

    Miyani simply kept tapping on the window. She couldn’t make too much noise, lest other people besides Rose started looking her way.

    Rose approached the balcony doors and tentatively opened them slightly. “Hello?” she asked, confused.

    Miyani couldn’t contain her giggles. “It’s me, Rose,” she said.

    “M-Miyani? You’re fully invisible!” Rose gasped. “Congratulations! How did you manage it?” she asked.

    Miyani looked around. “May I come in? Then I’ll tell you,” she said.

    “Oh, right, of course!” Rose said while stepping out of the way. She wasn’t really sure where to stand, since she couldn’t possibly see Miyani, but there was enough room for the witch to slip past her now.

    “So… wait until you see this,” Miyani said.

    “See what? I can’t see anything,” Rose asked.

    Thus, Miyani finally dismissed her invisibility bubble, showing her humanoid feline body to her in all its glory.

    Rose gasped and almost jumped back at the sight. “What?!” she shrieked.

    “Whiskers and I fused,” Miyani explained.

    “F-fused?! You can do that?!” Rose asked.

    “Crazy, right?” Miyani said proudly while swaying her tail proudly back and forth.

    “So… you’re both Miyani and Whiskers now…?” Rose asked tentatively as she walked a little closer. It appeared that she couldn’t help herself and she softly stroked a bit of the fused witch’s fur.

    “We are… err, I am. It’s kind of strange. I am both but I feel like one person,” Miyani explained.

    “Whoah… unbelievable,” Rose mused.

    “And that’s why Ramona advised you not to come. After all, she showed off her own fusion with Ferdinand,” Miyani continued.

    “Ack! Right, I would have died from fear,” Rose laughed.

    “But now… I think it’s time for us to unfuse,” Miyani said. She and Whiskers had been fused together long enough now. Unfusing was actually a lot smoother and easier than anticipated. It only took a few moments before both Miyani and Whiskers were two separate beings again, standing in Rose’s room.

    And almost instantly, both of them collapsed from exhaustion.

    “Whoah!” Rose yelped as she dashed forwards to catch Miyani before she could hurt herself in her fall.

    “T-thanks,” Miyani stammered. She felt quite strange alright. The presence of Whiskers was no longer there in her head. Her skin was once again smooth and hairless and her ears were where they should be on the sides of her head. Her tail, her fangs, and her claws were all gone again as well.

    Rose chuckled. “You need some hot chocolate,” she said while helping her friend to the couch.

For the rest of the evening, Miyani eagerly talked about the lesson while Whiskers passed out on Rose’s bed. It was only at the end that she remembered what had happened prior to the lesson. Rose looked incredibly fearful when she heard that.

    “So… you have a witch hunter on your tail?” Rose asked.

    Miyani nodded. “It would seem so… Ramona’s off to the council now to talk about it,” she said.

    “I see. And what if he captures you?” Rose asked.

    “I don’t even wanna think of that,” Miyani muttered. “Ramona said that, so long as he doesn’t catch me using magic, I should be safe from him.”

    Rose nodded. “So… you have to be even more careful now than you already were,” she said.

    Miyani sighed and nodded. “Yeah…” she mused softly.

    Rose frowned and tilted her head. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

    Miyani downed the rest of her second mug of hot chocolate. “As time goes on and I learn more about witches, I’ve really started wondering more and more about why I should hide away all the time…” she said.

    Rose folded her arms and looked out the window. “You heard what Ramona said. If people learn that witches are real, it could be bad for all of you,” she said.

    “I know… but why is that? Why are us witches hunted? Why are we hated? I’ve hidden away all my life and… I don’t want to do that anymore,” Miyani said.

    Rose thought about what she’d say next for a moment longer. “Perhaps, rather than come out as a witch, you come out as a person to the outside world. Be a little more confident and make more friends,” she said.

    “Make more friends?” Miyani asked.

    “Yeah! I’m sure that it’d do you some good!” Rose said.

    Miyani let out a soft groan. “I don’t know… I like having you as my friend,” she said.

    “Getting more friends doesn’t mean we stop being friends, you dolt!” Rose laughed.

    “Alright, alright… I’ll think about it,” Miyani said.

    Rose nodded with a satisfied smile. “I guess you’ll be staying over here for the night then, judging by Whiskers over there,” she said.

    Miyani looked a little apologetically. “Sorry about that,” she said.

    “That’s what friends are for, right?” Rose said.

    “Yeah… you’re right,” Miyani nodded. 

    Today had been quite the unexpected day. She had fused with her familiar, she had learned of the existence of witch hunters, and she had even come to realize a rebellious side of herself that she didn’t know existed at all. Her training as a witch was bringing with it a lot more lessons than she had initially thought and truth be told, she was kind of liking it.