“I suppose the first thing to understand is that all familiars spring from an original spell cast by evil magic long before recorded history.”

In the library, Uncle George began the legend of familiars after they’d eaten an interesting lunch of fish and chips and washed it down with English tea. It wasn’t quite like the catfish and hush puppies Nathan had grown up with but still very tasty. “Over time, that spell was transformed and mutated through generations of witches and wizards as the modern age approached slightly after the beginning of the Dark Ages and with the implication of feudalism, courtly life, and the spread of Christianity, having animals and pets as familiars became more and more dangerous. So the spell was mutated even more to accommodate humans willing and unwilling alike.”