Eva held up her hands. “Nothing like that. I’ve read most of them and was looking for more along my interests.”
Stephen Toomey crossed his arms. “Read most of them? I don’t believe you. I haven’t even read half of them.”
“You clearly have better things to do,” Eva countered. “I am a student stuck in the most boring town I’ve ever been in. It would be strange if I hadn’t read all the books around town.”
It was a lie, of course. She had barely read the required school books. It sounded believable to her though.
Apparently it sounded believable to Toomey as well. “Even if that’s the case,” he said, “I don’t think I have anything to show little brats who shirk responsibility and damage products.”
“Damage products? I never–”
“Don’t be coy with me, little girl. It was you and that brat with the blond hair.” He pointed at an approaching Juliana. “The book you ruined was pointed out by two gentlemen, still dripping with ink.”
“Are you sure they didn’t do it?”
“Don’t shirk responsibility onto others. I was with them the whole time, showing a book on a completely different shelf when one of them tapped me on the shoulder and pointed it out.”
Eva frowned. “Do you still have the book?”
“‘Course I still have it. Can’t sell rotten books now can I?”
“I thought you might have thrown it away or something.”
“Thrown it away? Even damaged as it is, it still is an original copy of the Resplendent Mysteriis.”
“Bring it out and I’ll buy it at full price. Plus extra for compensation.”
Toomey stared at Eva. “You better be able to afford this, little girl,” he said as he stalked into the back room.
Juliana walked up to Eva with raised eyebrows.
Eva shook her head. “After we leave,” she whispered.
Toomey returned to find a large amount of cash sitting on the counter. Double the most expensive book Eva could remember seeing in the bookstore. The cash was the results of her rather successful business. Eva didn’t want to risk her spending money on her scholarship card being low.
He counted the money then slid the book across the counter. “Take it and get out of here.”
“My friend,” Eva said as she stepped out of the way, “still needs to purchase her books. I’d ask that you don’t treat her the way you treated me. She only arrived at Brakket earlier today.”
“Yeah, whatever.” He rung up Shalise’s total without another word and glared the group out of the shop.
Outside, Juliana immediately turned on Eva. “What was that all about? I know you didn’t spill ink on that book.”
“You didn’t either.”
“Those men then?”
Eva nodded. “I think so.”
They filled in a very confused Shalise.
“You never told me why you were afraid of them.”
“I wouldn’t say afraid,” Eva said with a light shuffling of her feet. “I had my nose right in one’s chest. People who smell like they do are generally not the sort of people you want to be around.”
“You can’t discriminate against people based on how they smell,” Shalise said. “Maybe the poor guy’s house was undergoing renovations and he couldn’t shower.”
Shaking her head, Eva said, “not the same kind of smell. This was pungent and vile, the kind of smell I expect from a corpse whose stomach has been torn open.”
“C-corpse?” Shalise half shouted.
Eva hushed her. Glancing around, she was glad for the mostly empty plaza. “There are plenty of very good reasons to smell like death.” Eva tried calming the girl. “Undertakers, morticians, even doctors, nurses, and veterinarians. Trust me, I volunteer at a vet’s office sometimes.”
That seemed to assuage Shalise, at least a little. Juliana, on the other hand, had gone very pale.
“Let’s get back to the dorms,” she said.
“Juliana?”
She shook her head. “I’ll tell you back at the dorms.”
She marched off leaving Shalise and Eva behind. The two shared a glance and followed after her.
—
“Z-zombies?”
“Just one, as far as I know. Mrs. Baxter didn’t tell me what happened afterwards.”
Eva paused her flipping through the book. The pages were almost entirely ruined. Almost as if the book had been dipped in ink rather than having ink spilled over it. The papers crackled and flakes of ink fell off at the lightest touch. Many pages were stuck together. Eva couldn’t detect any blood, which she originally thought the ink was trying to disguise, but there could still be runes or other magical elements etched into the pages.
“Eva?”
It still felt dangerous. Eva had been cautious, checked it for traps and contaminants. The flakes of ink that had fallen off were kept in a small pile on Eva’s desk. She would obliterate them later with blood magic, after her roommates had gone to sleep.
Eva wanted to hand the book off to her master, keep it under magical suppressants and shackles much like the black skull. He’d dealt with necromancers at least once in the past. He might be able to find something she couldn’t.
“Eva?”
“Sorry,” Eva said, glancing at Juliana, “just had some thoughts.”
“I didn’t mean to disturb you. I just thought we should all know.”
“Thanks.” Eva gave what she hoped was a comforting smile. Juliana spoke very solemnly about her experience. Eva didn’t want to make light of the zombies, but something else bothered her. “I’m actually less concerned with zombies and more concerned with the book.”
“Not concerned with zombies?” Shalise asked, aghast.
“Less concerned than I am about the book,” Eva repeated.
Juliana leaned back on her bed, resting her head on the wall. She shut her eyes and asked, “what’s wrong with the book?”
“My mentor has dealt with necromancers in the past. I’m not an expert, but I’ve heard things from him. Now, I’m not saying it is for sure, but I don’t want this to be a component in a ritual.” Eva tapped the book. “Town sized sacrifices to draw Death’s gaze are not unheard of.”
Neither girl said anything.
Eva wondered if she made a mistake. That she should have downplayed the danger. It was all just a guess, after all. A guess that made a lot of sense to Eva. What else would necromancers be doing in a tiny town like Brakket.
Juliana kept her eyes shut, breathing deeply and slowly. Some kind of calming technique, perhaps.
Shalise went rigid. She looked about ready to fall off the back of her bed.
What a fun introduction to your first day in magical society.
“You’re not acting concerned,” Juliana said without opening her eyes.
“If I were to perform a ritual involving mass death to a power like Death, it would be on either Halloween or winter solstice. Maybe other local cultural days that involve observance of the dead. I’d say we have a bit of time, though again, I am not an expert.”
“W-well, lets call the police.”
Juliana shook her head. “If this is a massive ritual, I’d rather not spook them and have them do something drastic at the first sign of opposition.”
Eva nodded. She didn’t want people running around searching for dark magic in a town where she and Arachne lived. People snooping around would be problematic at best. “I said I’d aim for Halloween. It is very likely that the ritual could be done sooner if needed.”
“I’ll contact my mother and see if she can’t round-up a few of her old mage-knight contacts to poke around quietly. Preferably ones that have children attending Brakket. They can disguise their visits as social ones.”
Eva didn’t like the sound of a handful of mage-knights running around any more than a full police investigation. “We might just be overreacting,” she said, “it might all be coincidence.”
Juliana shot Eva a look that said, ‘you don’t believe that any more than I do.’