A harpy?
It was moving around too despite also having no blood.
“Oh,” Juliana said as she glanced over, “a basilisk. I think they’ve only made five or six of those.”
Eva sent more blood beneath the little snake. Sure enough, there was a head and very sharp feeling fangs. She carefully stuck her hand down in the box and picked it up. Eva didn’t believe Genoa would hand out things that could actually hurt her.
Hopefully.
It squirmed over her gloves, wrapping itself between her fingers before settling down. Its tail threaded between the rest of her fingers and coiled its head onto her palm.
It stared straight at her.
“I suppose I’m glad I’m blind.”
“Don’t be silly, it can’t hurt you. They make these and sell them for a lot of money. I wish I knew how. They said they’d teach me when I got older.”
The little harpy in her hands flapped its wings and fluttered to her shoulder.
“The harpy is a humanoid though. If they’ve made five basilisks and they’re extremely rare, the humanoid ones are essentially nonexistent.”
Eva looked back at the snake in her hand. She wiggled her fingers. It didn’t like that. After scurrying between her fingers again to reset its position, it hunkered down on her palm with a glare.
“They’re not alive, are they?”
“No, they’re enchanted carvings, basically. Each receives an imprint from whatever species it is. The smarter the imprintee, the more work has to go into making them.”
The basilisk in her hand continued to stare at her. Eva slowly brought her hand one way then another. The snake head followed her the entire way.
“I think it is trying to kill me,” Eva said with a grin. “I like it.”
“Figures,” Juliana said. Eva could see the blood vessels in her eyes going for a roll. “My mother has you pegged well.”
“Hopefully not too well.”
“Well,” Juliana shrugged, “she didn’t try to attack you. I’d say she doesn’t know everything.”
“Always a good thing in my book.”
Another teapot wandered over to their table. Eva watched as the blood in Juliana’s face scrunched up.
“Let’s get back to the dorms,” she said. “Shelby and company will be wanting to meet up soon.”
The two left quickly, arriving at the dorms just in time for curfew to settle in.
Eva did not miss the glare Sister Mable gave her at the door. Is she still sore about being berated by Sister Cross? Or could it be that she knows.
Sister Cross said she’d keep everything a secret. Eva wasn’t about to trust her word further than she could throw it. Eva caught more than a few of the nuns glancing in her direction more often than not. It was entirely possible that they found out on their own. Sensing her hands or even the cloud of blood following her around.
Eva returned the glare, or tried to; glares didn’t work so well without eyes.
They went to their room, the newly refurbished room three-thirteen, and gathered their gifts. Eva got the same thing for everyone. Everyone except for Juliana at least. She got a pen for her, but had an extra gift as well. That gift made her nervous. She wasn’t sure she wanted to give it.
Everyone else got a fountain pen and a vial of the ink she used on runes. Expensive, but they were nice and even useful if any of them wanted to learn some simple runes.
“Harpy off.”
Eva focused on the harpy sitting on Juliana’s desk while getting her gift bag.
The little harpy folded its wings and curled up into a little ball, looking like it fell asleep.
“Basilisk off,” Eva tried.
The little snake that had been wrapped around her fingers the entire way home slithered out to the palm of her hand. There it coiled up and went to sleep.
“Handy,” Eva said as she set the snake down on her own desk.
“They are just enchanted.”
“I was wondering if they’d try to eat each other if we left them alone. I guess that solves that problem.”
Juliana chuckled. “I think my harpy could stay out of reach of your snake.”
“I don’t know, basilisks are supposed to be clever, right? Basila would lay a trap.”
“Basila?”
“It needs a name, right?”
“But Basila?”
“Basiliska sounded too weird.”
“I don’t think you’re allowed to name things anymore.” Juliana sighed and glanced at the clock. “About time to go, isn’t it?”
“Give me one minute.”
Eva quickly hopped into the bathroom. Juliana didn’t like to be around when Eva pulled out her dagger.
The golden dagger had been performing admirably. Her crystal dagger still hadn’t gotten a bloodstone set in it; the bloodstone from Weilks turned out to be too large for the holder. It was depressing, but she’d promised the golden dagger blood.
The only real downside was its weight. It was a lot heavier than her crystal dagger. A lot heavier. She hadn’t noticed so much when she first got it, but then, she only carried it around for half a night with a bag of other gold.
Ylva might be able to turn it into the same black metal that she used with the skull. It felt heavier than gold but Eva could pick it up without even the slightest strain. The only problem was that Eva didn’t want to offer any additional favors to the hel. The demon got a good enough deal on destroying the book as it was.
Eva tapped the sharp edge of the dagger to her upper arm. Trying to cut through the black chitin lining her forearm was an exercise in futility. A single, tiny marble leaked from her arm before she healed it back up.
The marble split in two. Those two split in two more. Eva continued splitting the blood until there were barely above microscopic flakes floating around her. So long as she didn’t bunch them up or land too many at a single spot, no one seemed to notice.
With a clap of her hands, she vanished all the old blood. In a pinch, it would last about three hours before her control started to slip. She tried to refresh every hour, if possible.
Shelby and Irene knocked at their door while Eva was in the bathroom. Eva took special care to memorize the layout of all her friends’ circulatory systems. Despite being twins, Shelby and Irene’s were as different as night and day.
Or maybe I just don’t understand how twins work, Eva thought as she headed back to the main room.
“Hello Eva,” Shelby said with a bright smile. At least, it was probably bright. It was definitely a smile though.
Eva returned the smile, hoping once again that Shelby’s wasn’t out of pity. “Hello Shelby. Ready to head down?”
She affirmed and the four girls headed to one of the study rooms.
Eva fell in step beside Irene. She did not miss the slight increase in her heart rate as she did so. Irene had been getting better about it lately, but she still seemed on edge whenever Eva came around.
At least she was sitting next to her during alchemy again. On the rare occasions that Eva actually attended.
To her sight, the study room was a simple box. The night sky shone down on everyone else. Eva didn’t mind. Most of the study rooms had visual wards set up that she could no longer enjoy. The stars were at least subtle and out of the way, not something everyone would spend half the evening pointing out.
“Excited?” Shelby asked as she slid a table next to the one Eva set out. Irene and Juliana headed to the kitchens to pick up some food.
Eva looked up to Shelby. Even if she could see without looking at someone, it seemed polite to do so. “For Christmas? Maybe a little. Most of the Christmases back home were… lackluster.”
“You don’t talk about your home much.”
“Not much to talk about. I don’t have fancy parents like Jordan or Juliana, and no siblings to complain about like Max.” Eva sat down in a chair, satisfied they had enough tables pushed together. “How about you? We don’t hear much about the Coggins’ household.”
“Well,” Shelby started as she took a seat, “not much to say either, I suppose. Half the ‘household’ is here at school. As for the other half, one lost his job as a foreign affairs advisor and the other is a struggling musician. She plays a lyre, not exactly the most popular instrument these days.”