“Eyes?”
“Contacts. You might be fine not wearing them for now,” he said, “that will change sooner rather than later.”
She took another peek. “Do they need to be so big?” The two lenses in front of her were almost a full half of an eyeball. She’d never worn contacts before, but she was sure normal ones were less than half the size.
“Your sclera has darkened, your pupils are elongating, and your irises are turning red.”
“I knew about my irises and my pupils. I didn’t think they were that bad yet. What is a sclera?”
“The white part of your eyes. You’re less likely to notice changes in yourself because they are gradual changes. Others often around you, friends and teachers, won’t notice quickly either. One day though, they’ll look at you and think ‘huh, has she always had red eyes?'”
Her master’s voice hammered into her head with every syllable. She didn’t want to think about what he said. Too many words this soon after a session.
“Seems excessive,” she said after a few minutes.
“Not if you want to keep attending school. Especially with nuns running around the place.”
That seemed a valid point. She had no arguments for that.
“Now,” Devon’s tone turned harsh, “mind telling me what happened to that other cell house?”
Eva winced back again. This was definitely not a conversation she wanted right after her treatment.
“Well,” Eva started, “good news is that the black book has been destroyed.”
Devon frowned harder.
“I asked Ylva, the hel I summoned to destroy the phylactery. She asked for compensation for the book’s destruction.”
“Compensation,” he repeated.
“She asked for a week of time to stay on the surface along with a place to stay.”
“Exact words, please.” His ‘please’ didn’t sound very sincere.
Eva thought for a minute, trying to organize her memories against her pounding headache. “I think,” she said, “it was something like, ‘Allow me to stay for one week. While I am here, allow me to choose a place where I may reside.'”
“It returned after the week?”
Eva nodded.
“That’s something at least,” he grumbled. “I can’t do anything about the domain that it set up. Not now at least. I was unable to even step inside.”
“That’s,” Eva sighed, “bad, right?”
“You’ve given a demon a foothold in our world. Right next to your school no less. At least, being a hel, it shouldn’t act rashly. It is a servant of Death and, as such, shouldn’t go on mad sprees to kill everyone.”
Eva sighed again, glad she couldn’t see Devon’s face through her shut eyes. “So, what do we do?”
“Your mess, you clean it up. I still have an arm to replace.”
Sensing the opportunity to change the topic, Eva latched on to his words. “How are you going to get a new arm anyway?”
She could almost feel her master’s shrug. “I tried bargaining with a few demons able to grant such a thing. I didn’t like their offers.” He paused. Eva felt his gaze bore into her. “I’m not so foolish as to agree to anything a demon asks without thinking.”
It took all her effort to avoid complaining. For not being around when she needed, he was sure in a stickle about Ylva. By the sound of it, he was about to disappear again. Disappear without even giving her advice.
Besides, it wasn’t like Ylva did anything bad. She’d destroyed the book and taken one of the buildings as a home for herself. That was more good than Devon had done since the whole necromancer thing started.
The real question was about Ylva’s motivations. Why did the demon want a foothold, as Devon put it.
She’d never been interested in the intricacies of demonology. Even with regular interactions and summoning a few on her own, she’d never bothered to ask any of them why they did what they did.
Eva risked a peek at Arachne. She was pleasantly surprised to find the light caused only a mild throb rather than the hammering pain.
Arachne stood just to the side of Eva’s chair. Her hands still ran through Eva’s hair. The sharp teeth in her mouth poked through a slight open-mouthed frown. Devon held most of her ire if her glare was any indication.
Her master leaned against the wall of the building with a bowl in his hand. He shoveled macaroni and cheese into his mouth, ignoring or unaware of Arachne’s stare.
Maybe she’d ask Arachne about ‘footholds’ later. After her master left. Eva didn’t think Arachne had one. It was hard to say; even over the past few months, Eva hardly asked Arachne any personal questions. It just felt like an awkward thing.
What the spider-demon wanted was a mystery as well. The only thing Eva knew for sure was that Arachne wanted the experiment to continue and wanted to keep Eva safe. After the experiment was complete, what would Arachne do.
Another thing to ask. Someday. That one could wait a year or two.
Eva wasn’t sure what she would do if she didn’t like the answer.
— — —
Rickenbacker three-thirteen was devoid of life.
“Eva?” Juliana called out.
There was no response.
Juliana didn’t expect one. She checked the bathroom and even the small closet, just in case. Empty.
Good.
After a student brought Professor Twillie a note stating that Eva was ill, Juliana quickly confirmed that she hadn’t looked good during lunch. For all she knew, it was true. The black-haired girl barely touched her food. Juliana didn’t expect it to be true, but it was a possibility.
That Eva was gone now meant it was a lie.
Juliana couldn’t be more pleased.
She moved over to the windows and shut the blinds. That would at least keep Eva from blinking into the room. It wouldn’t stop her from walking through the front door, but hopefully Juliana wouldn’t have to worry about that.
Papers covered the top of Eva’s desk; most were covered in uncharged runes. Juliana ignored them and pulled open the top drawer. Pens, fountain pens, vials of the expensive ink Eva used on her high quality runes, sticky notes, other regular desk things.
The high quality runes had been Juliana’s idea. Eva used them in three-thirteen, but she hadn’t used them anywhere else. When she got completely swamped between school and replacing the last set of envelopes for other dorms, Juliana suggested she offer the longer lasting runes at a price just under what it would cost to renew the regular runes over the same amount of time.
They accepted both a one time fee and a monthly recurring payment. Most people decided to switch over.
Of course, they had to spend money on expensive ink now. Eva felt the lowered workload was worth it.
That didn’t bother Juliana at all, it was no money off her back. Eva procured the ink on her own.
Rummaging through Eva’s things felt a tad bad and a lot dangerous. Not just because she had no idea what Eva would do if the girl found out, but also because of her trip to Eva’s prison. If she put any protections on her things similar to the wards at her other home, Juliana might just wind up with a missing limb in the morning.
She was counting on the hope that Eva wouldn’t want to accidentally cause harm to her roommates or to Zoe during room inspections if she happened to look in a drawer.
That thought made Juliana pause. She carefully replaced the papers and books in the drawer. Once back exactly how she found them, she slid the drawer shut.
Eva wouldn’t just leave things lying around that she didn’t want other people to see.
Juliana glanced around the room. There were really no good hiding spots for anything. Her drawers under the bed contained the skirts Eva liked so much and some tee-shirts. Maybe a pair of pants or two. The roof was smooth, no ceiling tiles to hide things in.
Everywhere else was a public place. The fridge, cupboards, drawers and closets in the bathroom. Not where Juliana would want to hide things that could get her tossed into prison, or worse.
Juliana slumped down on her own bed. None of the dangerous books would be in the dorm. If Eva had any at all, they would be in the book bag she carried almost everywhere. Everything else would be at the prison.