“Yes, Sister Cross.”
As the newly named Sister Mable made a hasty retreat, Sister Cross turned her narrowed gaze over Eva. “Do you have a death wish, my girl?”
Eva crossed her arms. Only now did she realize how hard her heart was beating. She could feel it beneath her coat. With a deep breath, Eva glared back at the nun. “How was I supposed to know your nutty order thinks attacking children is a good idea.”
If the nun took any offense to the insult against her sisters, she didn’t show it. A soft smile touched her face instead. “While that is a valid point and Sister Mable will be receiving a lecture, she would likely have merely incapacitated you until another authority could be contacted.” Her smile remained on her face, but it hardened somewhat. “You were going to attack her back. Escalating matters would only end in tragedy.”
“I have to object to ‘incapacitation’ in any capacity. You’re not police. You don’t have authority.” Eva struggled to keep herself from growling out her anger. “If this is the way your order acts, I’d rather take my chances with zombies. At least they aren’t difficult to put down when they decide to attack.”
“Quite.”
Eva waited, but Sister Cross didn’t have a proper response. “If there is nothing else, I’ll thank you to get out of my way. I’d rather not spend more time than necessary in the cold.”
The woman moved to the side, her heavy boots clacking against the cement.
Eva glanced down to see shiny black, almost military boots laced up to her knees. She mirthlessly wondered if that was part of a standard habit. Probably for these nuns, it is.
“If I might ask, what do you call yourself?”
“Eva.” She said nothing else and immediately moved past the nun into the warm Rickenbacker lobby.
Not exactly how she wanted to interact with the Elysium Sisters. They’d probably watch her more closely rather than ignore her. Hopefully they would be gone along with the necromancers once the latter learned of the book’s destruction.
As she walked up the steps to the third floor, Eva tried to justify the interaction with herself. She might have been able to pass by saying her father’s name, but it was the principles of the matter. Zoe Baxter’s nagging words about foolish pride surfaced in the back of her mind.
She shook it out of her head and focused instead on her master’s advice. Don’t concern yourself over things that can no longer be changed.
The door to her room opened just before Eva could reach for the handle.
“You’re back.” Juliana looked Eva up and down as though confirming to herself the truth of her own statement.
“I am. You don’t look surprised to see me.”
“Zoe mentioned you were fine, though I had my suspicions when you took over a week to return. She mentioned you were ‘taking care of things’ outside the academy.”
“That would be destroying the book. Unfortunately, the method I used to destroy the book decided to stick around for a few days as part of her payment. I was loath to leave her alone.”
“Her?”
Eva shook her head. “Probably one of those things you don’t want to know about. Trust me, you’ll be happier about it.”
Juliana didn’t look happier. The opposite, really. She turned and grabbed a large coat off of the hook next to the door.
“Going somewhere?” Eva asked.
“I promised my mother I would have lunch with her every day until school starts. The Elysium Sisters running around seem to have calmed her, at least a little.”
“Well, at least something good is coming from their presence. How long until school starts anyway?”
“Monday. The school is undergoing ‘restructuring’ until then.” Juliana shifted, looking down at her wringing hands. “Eva. We need to talk. I haven’t said anything and I don’t think Shalise will, but I’d like some answers.”
“You know more than anyone else. Like I just said, you’ll probably be happier not knowing more than you do.” Eva said with a shrug. She knew she was deflecting again. It was almost second nature at this point. “Where is Shalise anyway? The hospital?”
“She went home.”
“Home? For good?”
Juliana leaned back against the table, slumping her shoulders slightly. “Don’t know. She wasn’t talking much before she left.”
“She was okay though, right?”
“Shalise isn’t a zombie, if that is what you mean. I don’t think she’s okay at all.”
That brightened Eva’s mood a little. If the girl wasn’t dead, she could recover. Since she went home, there wasn’t much to do about it. Maybe Zoe had a phone number Eva could use one of these days.
“What did you do to her?” Juliana blurted out. She quickly looked off to one side. “I mean, you saved her, obviously. Just how?”
“A ritual I read about one time.”
“A blood magic ritual.”
Eva gave a noncommittal shrug.
Her long blond hair flared out as Juliana shook her head. A short laugh escaped her lips. “Blood magic and demons. Any other surprises I should know about.”
“Probably,” Eva said with another shrug. “Though I should mention, Arachne might not be around for a while. The Elysium Sisters didn’t react in a very friendly manner the last time we ran across them.” It is probably dangerous for me to be around them, Eva thought to herself.
When Juliana did not respond, Eva said, “no other movements from the necromancers?”
“Nothing since Halloween.”
“Odd.” Eva didn’t know what to make of that. Was their only goal the book? What would they do now that it was destroyed? Well, what would they do after they found out it was destroyed?
Not for the first time since the crypt, she wished her master was around for advice.
“I should go.” Juliana stood from the table and slipped past Eva. “I’ve kept mother waiting long enough. Unless you wanted to come?”
“That’s…” Eva was about to decline. She wanted to decline. The prospect of meeting Juliana’s mother, a mage-knight, outside of combat gave her pause. She rather hoped she’d never have to fight Juliana or her mother, making friends now might help. “Alright. I’ll go.”
A look of surprise touched Juliana’s face. She quickly recovered and nodded. “I must warn you. My mother can be a tad… overbearing at times.” She turned and led Eva out of the dorms.
Eva didn’t know what to say to that. She shrugged to herself and followed after Juliana. “How’s the town anyway? What is the damage?” she asked after a moment of silence.
“Five students died. I’m not sure how many people in town died, heard it was a lot. Not to mention the people who became the original zombies.”
“It couldn’t have been too many. Brakket’s population is what, a thousand? Two? Not including the students.” Eva glanced around the streets as they walked. People milled about. Shops were open. If anything, it seemed busier than before.
Juliana stopped suddenly. Eva had to jump to the side to avoid crashing into her. “How many is too many to you, Eva?”
“Enough for the school to shut down, I think,” Eva said with a frown. She stepped off the sidewalk and into a bit of deep snow in her efforts to evade Juliana. She could feel the snow seeping into her socks and shoes.
It wasn’t very pleasant.
“This is a sleepy little town apart from the school. The kind of place where everyone knows each other. Even a handful of untimely deaths affect the people more than you could guess.”
“You shouldn’t let such things bother you. There are simply things you can’t change.” Eva thought about pulling out a pen and drawing some heat runes in her shoes. She didn’t know why she hadn’t already thought of doing that. Unfortunately, Juliana started walking again.
“I should have been able to change things,” Juliana said after a pause. “Instead I cowered in the dorm while you went out doing whatever you were doing.”