— — —
“The only way that could have gone worse is if you straight up attacked her.” Arachne quivered beneath her shirt at her anger. Eva patted her back. “Did you have to antagonize her so much?”
“She asked personal questions, I asked personal questions back.”
“You didn’t have to ask her that.”
“This was a sorry excuse for a meeting. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you ruined that book yourself to get me on that date.”
“It wasn’t a date,” Eva protested. She frowned and after a minute asked, “you really didn’t think the book was anything special?”
“If it had anything on it, it is long gone now. If the ink was meant to disguise patterns, the ink itself would have damaged whatever runes or symbols they drew regardless of what the runes were made out of.”
Eva leaned back on the bench. The sky outside the dorms felt gloomier than late August sky should be. “Something is going on in this town.”
“Zombies and suspicious characters? I’d be concerned if it was business as usual.” He sighed and glanced over at Eva. “These guys were really necromancers?”
“They smelled like death and zombies were running around.” Eva sighed as she watched the clouds drift by overhead.
The silence stretched between them. Not an uncomfortable silence. Eva had never felt that around her master. Just companionable silence. Until her master broke it.
“Excited for school to start?” he asked.
“Can’t wait,” Eva said. “Not even being sarcastic. This town is terribly dull. Maybe if a few more zombies were running around.”
“Dull is nice sometimes. Relaxing.”
Eva snorted at that. “Yeah. Please find some jobs and bring me along.”
“In a quiet little town like this?”
“In a quiet little town with necromancers.”
Devon sat up on the bench, leaning forward slightly. “You haven’t seen them since, right?”
“I can’t say I was really looking for them.”
“Maybe the family owed them money. They turned them into zombies as an example.”
“And the kid?”
“Kidnapped. Sold or used for parts to sell and recoup whatever losses they had.”
“Bleak.”
“There’s only one problem with my theory.”
Eva leaned forward to match his posture, forcing Arachne to reshuffle herself.
“No one noticed. No example could be made when no one noticed.”
Eva frowned. “Why tell me your theory if you’re just going to turn around and say its wrong in the next breath?”
Her master ignored her. He stood up and began pacing. “Why did no one notice? Did the family not have friends or relatives? Did the kid not have school? Did the parents not have jobs? You said a window was cracked? Even without that, how could a smell as bad as you say it was not be smelt outside the house?”
“I didn’t smell it myself. It could have been exaggerated.” Her words fell on deaf ears. She knew they would. Devon got like this sometimes.
“And the zombie,” he said, turning to her, “tell me again what happened?”
Eva recounted the story Juliana had told him as best she could.
“Where did the zombie come from? Your friend said she searched every room in the house until the master bedroom. And it just shows up right behind her? That doesn’t sound like a house full of zombies. That sounds like a trap.”
“A trap for who?”
Her master sat down and leaned back. “Don’t know. Could have been a relative or family friend. Maybe even your friend if she is a well-known urban explorer.”
Eva let a sigh escape. She slumped against the bench. Her master got her all worked up. Acting like he knew who, or at least why they did it. And then it all deflated. Just another theory.
She hated when her master did this.
Eva pulled herself to her feet. “I’m going to go to bed then. Unless you have any more amazing epiphanies?”
“Bah,” he said. He waved his hands in dismissal. “Get outta here.”
“I trust you can get back on your own?”
“I think I’ll stick around for a bit. The way your teacher phrased it made me wonder if there was any investigation going on at all.”
Reluctantly, Eva nodded. “Let me know if you find anything.” Eva started to walk away but paused. She turned back to her master. “And don’t get yourself killed. I’d hate having to delve into necromancy myself to finish my treatment.”
Devon barked out a laugh. He stepped away without properly responding.
Eva turned back to the dorms. Her roommates would want to know what happened during the meeting. Shalise especially would be happy to know that neither her master nor Zoe Baxter thought the book was a ritual component. The poor girl seemed torn between curiosity about magic and wanting to pack up and leave, or just leave, Eva didn’t think she had actually unpacked yet.
Unfortunately, they would have to wait. Zoe Baxter sat in one of the front lobby chairs. She just sat. No book in her hands. No writing down notes. Not even any fiddling with her hair or a pencil. She turned her head as Eva walked in. “A word, Miss Eva.” She stood and walked off down a hallway, not even looking to see if Eva followed.
Eva did follow. The woman had all but stormed off after their meeting. Further garnering her ire was not something Eva wanted.
She led Eva to a small study room. A fountain poured down one entire wall leaving a soothing noise in the air. The water changed colors as it went from top to bottom. Eva had dipped a finger in it one time to see if it was the water or the wall. She had been surprised to find the water on her fingertip changed color with the rest of the waterfall. It seemed like it would be easier to just install some lights in the wall.
Zoe Baxter withdrew her dagger and flicked it about the room. The windows darkened, but Eva could still see out them. She doubted people would be able to see in. That was the only noticeable change, but Zoe kept flicking her focus around for a good minute.
Seemingly satisfied with her protections, Zoe took a seat at one of the desks. She motioned for Eva to sit across from her.
Eva sat. She fidgeted. The instructor across from her hadn’t said anything yet. Did Eva stare at her or look away? Should she just start out with an apology?
Eventually, Zoe sighed. “You’re not in trouble, Miss Eva. Mr. Carter is an interesting sort, isn’t he.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Eva said under her breath. Despite the instructor trying to reassure her, Eva didn’t relax. Her master had been quite crude to the stern woman.
“He barely glanced at the book before stating there was nothing special about it and trying to leave.”
“I’d trust his observations. And about his rush to leave, it is probably that my mentor doesn’t associate with people. Almost ever. It is nothing against you despite his crude comments.”
“He doesn’t look half that old.”
You’d be surprised, Eva thought. She didn’t say anything. His longevity would push the conversation towards more uncomfortable topics.
“I noticed something about him, brief though our meeting was. Something I’ve noticed in you as well.”
Eva tensed. Uncomfortable topics might be brought up without her help. If the instructor accused Eva or her master of demonic taint, she didn’t know what she would do.
Beneath her shirt, Arachne tightened her grip around Eva. She wanted to pat the spider’s back, but wasn’t going to risk it with Zoe Baxter sitting right across from her.
Despite her now biweekly room inspections, Eva always carried Arachne out of the room beforehand. The most the instructor had seen were Arachne’s legs peeking out of her carrying cage. Most of the time the cage was empty and Eva just had her under her shirt. Eva still remembered the suspicion Jordan had on the plane, even though that might have been imagined. She was none too keen on letting Zoe Baxter see the demon in full.
“There it is again,” Zoe said. “You tense up at certain topics, especially those about your past. You’ll deflect or outright lie about almost everything personal.”