Chapter 006
Hot air permeated the entire building. The pleasant kind of hot air. It wrapped around and enveloped Eva. She didn’t need all the heating runes covering her clothes here. She didn’t even need clothes, but she couldn’t muster the energy to pull them off.
Eva reclined with a soft sigh, sinking deeper into the cushions of the couch. All of her aches and pains leaked out into the leather. The couch accepted all of it without complaint.
If it did complain, she might have been a little worried.
Her vision of the surrounding room slowly flickered out of her mind as Eva let down her guard and stopped concentrating.
A low sound droned on in the background. It sent quiet reverberations into her very core. Any superfluous noise got caught in the sound and never made it to Eva.
Eva felt at peace for the first time in a week.
A crack shattered the atmosphere.
Eva jumped. She glanced around for a moment before settling her vision on Arachne.
Eight eyes stared back. The spider-woman held a book shut in her claws.
“You were falling asleep.”
“I wasn’t,” Eva said. She dragged herself to a sitting position on the soft leather couch.
“What was the last thing I said?”
Eva pinched the bridge of her nose as she scrunched up her forehead. “Something about simulacrum theory?”
Arachne glanced at the pile of books beside her chair. “That was at least two books ago.”
“Oh.” Eva flopped back down on her stomach. “Better restart from there then.”
“Eva, it is the middle of the day. You shouldn’t be tired at all with your constitution. Is something wrong?”
The part of the couch she landed on lacked the warmth from her body heat. The cold of the leather somehow managed to be pleasant anyway. With a content sigh, Eva said, “Franklin Kines’ class is hard.”
“The combat class or botany?”
Eva gave her a glare. “Which do you think?”
“I would say botany, but then again, I am naturally talented in the art of tearing people to bits.”
“Tearing people apart would be easier than what I have to do.”
“And what’s that?”
“A back rub,” Eva groaned.
Arachne’s mouth split into a snarl. “You have to give your teacher a back rub?”
“Give me one and I’ll tell you.”
Her snarl ceased immediately. Eva did not miss the small twitches of Arachne’s claws. She slowly stood from her chair and moved past the center table. Her fingers twitched again as she towered over Eva.
Eva didn’t need to use flecks of blood to see the demon. Everything inside her women’s ward was so steeped in blood magic that it was almost like having eyes again. She still couldn’t tell colors apart and books didn’t have enough embossing on the words to stand out.
It was still the most comfortable place to be.
“I don’t know how.”
“It’s a back rub. You rub my back. With your hands.” Eva didn’t know more than that herself. “If you cut me, I’ll punch you in your teeth.”
“Okay.” Arachne reached down. She stopped just inches away. “Your shirt might get damaged.”
Eva almost put forth the effort to think about sitting up and pulling off her shirt. The muscles in her back tensed for one instant before they went slack. “I don’t care. I have more.”
Without further ado, Arachne’s fingers plunged into Eva’s back. They sat there putting a light pressure on her. Arachne seemed to forget the ‘rub’ part of the back rub for a few minutes. Eventually, she started pushing around.
She settled into a rhythm of pushing and pulling up and down Eva’s spine. It didn’t do near enough soothing of her sore muscles.
“Don’t forget my legs.”
“I thought it was a back rub.”
“Well now it is a back and leg rub.”
Arachne moved her hands all the way down to Eva’s ankles. She started kneading them all the way up.
Much better than the back, Eva thought with no small amount of relief.
“So what is all this for?”
Eva sighed; her eyelids just started to feel heavy again. “Professor Kines decided that standing around flinging spells at one another wasn’t good enough. Especially the first and second years who are far worse at magic. We get a full physical training workout for most of the class.” Eva sighed. “I can’t run, but he makes me make up for it with other work.”
Arachne continued working her way up Eva’s backside and then back down. At the third repetition, she paused her fingers right at the cusp of Eva’s butt.
“Do you want my legs?”
“Yes,” Eva sighed without hesitation, “and the rest of your arms.” The smile that split across Arachne’s face almost made her want to leave it at that. She didn’t. “Over summer break, I think.”
“Not tonight?”
“If your legs take as long to get used to as the hands, I think I’d like to be out of school.”
“I see,” she said. “I’ll be ready in three months.”
Arachne squeezed a pinch too tight, then resumed her massage as normal.
Eva snuggled her head into the leather cushions and started to doze off again.
A circulatory system entering her vision startled her to full alertness. She slumped back down into the couch as he walked towards the women’s ward. There was a familiar pattern she was hoping to see one of these days. Or rather, she’d never seen the circulatory system before, but it had other distinguishing characteristics.
“Arachne,” barked the one-armed man. “Get the treatment chairs set up. I need to go–” He cut himself off as his eyes fell on Eva. “Oh good. You’ve saved me the trip to your school, girl.”
Arachne hesitated with her hands still on Eva’s back. It wasn’t long before she reached her decision. Tucking a chair under one arm and the table under the other, Arachne started carrying furniture to the back of the room.
“Hello master,” Eva said. “Some things have changed while you’ve been gone.”
The heart in his chest immediately picked up a few beats per minute. “What changed,” he ordered.
Eva gathered together her willpower and raised her hand in a lazy wave. She clacked her fingers together as she did so.
Devon stood there, staring.
Arachne brought back the worn down barber chairs and swapped them out for one of the couches and the last chair.
Eva’s couch was the only one left. She sighed and crawled off of the couch. As she stood up, her shirt and skirt all but fell off of her. She tossed the tattered remains off onto the couch.
Taking a seat in her barber’s chair, she immediately flopped down into it and went slack.
Devon half ran up to her. He tore at one of her hands, pulling at it and prodding it. He pinched and bent the fingers.
“Odd,” he said. “This is a far more drastic change than I speculated might happen. They’re exactly like Arachne’s as well.”
“They are Arachne’s. Or were. Mine now.”
“They’re what?” he shouted.
“Well, my master was going off in search of a shiny new arm. I felt left out.” She smiled as she watched her master’s blood boil. “I see you haven’t had much success with that. Speaking of,” Eva took her free hand and pointed at her eyes.
Devon’s hand clasped against her forehead. He used his thumb to lift up her eyelid. He repeated the action for the other eye.
“I think you had better explain,” he said.
Eva sighed as Arachne picked up the last couch. She recounted her tale with only minor embellishments to her master.
His blood pressure went up and up as her tale went on. The part where she screwed up an infernal walk seemed to both infuriate him and calm him.
“That’s amazing,” he said when she mentioned Arachne’s theory on the island being her personal domain. “That means it is working.” His boiling blood tuned down to a low simmer after that. There might have even been a ghost of a smile on his face.