Eva nodded at her master. He got up and vanished at the doorway, already blinking away.
“Arachne,” Eva said. “Help me up.”
The demon stayed still for just a minute. Her arms gave a light squeeze around Eva’s chest before she let go. She gently hefted Eva up to her feet before lifting her into her arms.
Eva patted her chest. “I can walk. I’d rather not be carried in front of Zoe Baxter. I’d rather not be seen as some kind of invalid.”
“Oh? It is far more intimidating to be carried in my arms than simply walking on your own.”
Eva sighed. “Suit yourself. But set me down outside.”
That gave the demon a grin. She slowly carried Eva out to the exterior gate.
And they waited.
Eva just sat in Arachne’s arms. The spider-woman had yet to set her down. Eva wasn’t complaining. She hadn’t slipped into her shoes and the cement walkway would have been rough on her feet.
“She didn’t mean all the way out of the prison, did she?”
“I’ve long since given up trying to understand the thought processes of mortals.” Arachne glanced down at Eva. “Except you of course.”
“If I even qualify anymore.”
“That doesn’t change my attempts to understand you in the past.”
“Attempts?”
“You do strange things all the time.”
Eva frowned at that, but couldn’t retort. Two circulatory systems appeared a short distance away.
One of them was Zoe Baxter. Eva instantly recognized one of the first circulatory systems that she ever memorized.
The other, Eva didn’t know what to make of her. It was a her, she had all the necessary hardware at least. She had plenty extra as well. Eva couldn’t stop staring.
“You said five days.”
“I said at the most. And you wasted an hour questioning me and then an hour gone. That’s two hours that Sister Cross could have shown up and killed me.”
The woman’s entire body was covered, absolutely covered in orbs. They had the same base pattern as an eyeball.
“There were things to talk about. Important things.”
“More important than my life?”
And they moved. The only two that stayed in one spot were the two on her face. The rest slid around her body. Some were even inside her body. One hovered around the back of her throat. Another rested just inside–Why would anyone need eyes there.
“And you are wasting more time. We’re here.”
All of the eyes swiveled to stare. If it weren’t for the ambient blood wards giving her a very tight topographical view of the woman, Eva might have thought the woman was naked. Not a single eye wasn’t locked on to Eva.
“What the hell are you?” Eva half shouted.
Arachne gently set her down before dropping into a combat stance. “She smells like a mixture of a nun and incense. Can I eat her?”
The woman’s eyes, all of them, grew wide. She took several steps backwards. “No, no, I’m not. I need help.”
“Eva,” Zoe Baxter said, “tell her to stand down.”
“Why don’t we get some explaining first.”
Zoe looked like she was about to say something, but the woman cut her off.
“I’m the Elysium Sisters’ Charon Chapter’s augur. I was the one spying on you. Sorry. But Sister Cross is trying to kill me. I need to hide. I’d normally hide on my own but hiding from augurs is difficult, especially because there is a vial of my blood stored in the Pope’s Vault. You can help. There’s a building here I can hide in. Please let me stay.”
With her rapid speech over, the augur dropped to her knees and clasped her hands together. The eyeballs scurrying over her legs moved away from her knees to avoid being crushed.
Eva just stared. She didn’t know what to say.
The augur stayed on her knees, her eyes closed. At least, the eyes on her face. The rest continued to stare at Eva.
“Why should I trust you?”
It was difficult to tell her facial expression, but Eva was sure she was about to cry.
The nun opened her mouth. It closed without a single word springing forth.
“I see,” Eva said.
Who did this thing think she was that Eva would just allow her to stay at her prison. Far too many people were already keyed into the wards already. Adding some creature that claimed to be affiliated with the nuns wouldn’t let Eva rest easy.
She really needed to set up one of the other buildings as a meeting hall and temporary resting quarters for guests. Then she could remove everyone save herself and Arachne from the women’s ward wards. That didn’t keep people from knowing about her secret lair, but at least she was confident in her protections.
A light clicking pulled her out of her thoughts. The sound of carpenter’s nails tapping against something hard. It didn’t take long to realize that Arachne had taken up drumming her fingers against the palms of her hands.
The nun noticed as well. She cowered backwards, gripping her arms around Zoe Baxter’s leg. Her face turned upwards to the instructor with a pleading look, if Eva had to guess.
Zoe Baxter herself wore a large frown. She glanced back and forth between the nun and Eva.
Eva couldn’t tell who the frown was directed at. Possibly both of them.
“Eva,” she said, “she showed up at my office looking like she got run over by a dump truck. A dump truck that dumped shards of broken glass on her after running her over.” Zoe took a deep breath and locked her eyes with Eva’s face. “If I have my time line correct, this would have been just before Sister Cross showed up in your dorm.”
“Oh? Right, the missing augur Sister Cross was talking about,” Eva drawled. She hadn’t forgotten. “The one whose kidnapping nearly wound up with me dead. Except she wasn’t kidnapped,” as her master predicted, “she ran away to save herself and nearly killed me in the process.”
The nun cowered back further, all but hiding on her knees behind Zoe. She was mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. I didn’t know,” and other such drivel. All the while her eyes swarmed over her body, darting between Eva, Arachne, and Zoe.
“Miss Eva,” Zoe said in a tone of voice she used often with students in trouble, “she has no place to go. She is convinced that Sister Cross will be able to locate her, and soon. Are you going to leave her to fend for herself?”
“She hasn’t even said her name. She expects me to let her into my compound, my home, without offering the common courtesy of a proper introduction?”
“That sounds familiar,” Zoe said, almost with a grunt. Eva had never heard her grunt before.
“Nel Stirling,” the nun said. Her voice quivered. “Augur number six-six-four-six. Sorry.”
“And,” Eva said, ignoring the apology, “I thought my runes didn’t protect against whatever augurs use to see.”
There was a snort, almost a laugh from Nel Stirling. It caught in her throat halfway up and she looked at Eva with absolute dread. “They don’t. Whoever set up the wards in that building,” she said with a vague flail of her arm, “knows how to keep an augur out.”
Eva had a sinking suspicion she knew which building the nun referred to despite the unclear gesture. It took more effort than Eva could muster to keep from breaking down in laughter. Arachne widened her already ear to ear grin.
Nel rapidly looked between Zoe and Eva, apparently unsure what to make of the sudden outburst. Her worries seemed to grow along with her heart rate as the anger on the professor’s face paled and melted away to concern. Concern for Nel.
“Eva, I’m not sure–”
Cutting off her professor, Eva said, “I’m convinced. You’ve convinced me Zoe Baxter. Nel Stirling, welcome to the compound. I believe I know which building you refer to and you’re free to stay so long as you convince its owner.”
A cautious smile spread across the nun’s face.
“Miss Stirling,” Zoe said as she changed her targets, “are you sure you have nowhere else to stay?”