That was a good thing. Hopefully. Shalise didn’t want her two friends to fight. If she wasn’t that intensely angry with Eva, maybe she wouldn’t try to kill her again–though Shalise was still sure kill was too big of a word; injure and interrogate seemed far more likely. Hopefully.
Shalise didn’t want to be forced into picking sides between the two.
“Well,” Juliana said in the same whisper Shelby used, “we will be out of your way then. Wouldn’t want to keep the dean waiting.”
Shalise quirked her eyebrows. The blond was all but cowering behind Eva. Did she actually think Sister Cross would just start attacking them?
“Quite.” Sister Cross took another deep breath and held it for just a moment. “Be careful on your way back to the dorms. This late-night club of yours keeps you out too close to curfew, especially with that thing running loose.”
Her eyes hardened as they met with Eva’s eyes. The moment lasted for an instant before Sister Cross ruffled Shalise’s hair with a small smile. She walked around the group without another word.
“Scary,” Juliana mumbled once the group exited the building.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to be on her bad side.” Shelby gave a small shudder. “I could almost feel the power dripping off of her every time the word murder came up.”
Shalise cocked her head to one side. She hadn’t felt anything.
“Speaking of which,” Jordan said, “I feel like that word came up far too much for one night. We only got a vague description of what happened. Care to share?”
“Sister Cross didn’t try to kill Eva,” Shalise said. She spoke too loud if the sudden stopping and stares from her friends was anything to go by. “She was just worried about her friend.”
Eva mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, “you could have fooled me.”
Shalise ignored her. “Sister Cross always visited my home where I grew up. She’d bring toys and presents and care for all the kids like they were her own. A nice woman like that doesn’t deserve all this stuff with the attacks and fear and hate.”
A silence came over the group. All four of them just stared.
Eva broke the silence first. Her gloved hand clasped on Shalise’s shoulder once again. “Don’t worry. It’s all water under the bridge as far as I’m concerned. Tonight was just,” she paused in thought, “good-natured ribbing,” she said with a nod. “As long as she doesn’t attack me again.”
Shalise almost commented on how their interaction tonight didn’t seem like ‘good-natured ribbing,’ but Jordan opened his mouth first.
“The real question is why she thought you might know what happened to her friend,” he said with at glance at Shalise at the last word.
“Because of all the things that went on,” Eva said with a gesture towards the band across her eyes, “Sister Cross thought it might be a good idea to keep watch on me. I can’t exactly say why. Perhaps she thought I was possessed or she thought I might turn into some kind of necromancer.
“Either way, the person who went missing was the person who kept watch on me. Someone I had expressed a distaste for in the past. I believe when I first heard about the scrying, I told Sister Cross to leave me alone. In far harsher words, of course.”
“Of course,” Jordan repeated.
The group slowly started walking towards the dorms. Eva allowed her hand to slide off Shalise’s shoulder.
Shalise shivered as they made the short journey back to the dorms. The cool air on the ides of March felt far colder with all the sweat. Shelby seemed to feel the same way. She wrapped her arms around herself and leaned ever so slightly closer to Jordan.
“I thought your little black envelopes prevented scrying,” Shelby said just outside the Rickenbacker.
Eva let out a loud laugh. “Don’t worry. They work on everything I’ve tried which is probably more than students have access to. If you do find something that can see though my runes, let me know and I’ll see about fixing it.”
“You couldn’t fix it for the nun watching you?”
“I don’t know how augurs see. I tried beefing up the one in our room. I don’t think it worked. Any time I talked to Sister Cross, she never mentioned being unable to spy on me.”
“What she’s saying,” Juliana said quickly, “is keep giving us money. They work on anyone who matters.”
“The scrying protection project has taken on a sort of backburner state for now. I’m working on a huge research and experiment project with runes that is completely unrelated.”
Shalise nodded at that. When around, Eva spent almost all her free time pouring over her rune papers. Every once in a while, she’d crumple up papers and toss them into the trash before starting anew.
She refused to say what she was working on, unfortunately.
“I still say that we should be getting some kind of discount,” Shelby said with a friendly huff.
“You are,” Juliana whispered, “but don’t tell anyone or they’ll all come up with excuses to want a discount too. We can’t afford that. I’ve seen the price tag on those vials of ink and they aren’t cheap.”
Shalise blinked. She blinked again. Eva gave her a pen and ink. So far they just sat in the back of her desk drawer. Unused.
That could be it. Runes did all kinds of crazy things. Eva set up the shower to pour water without using the proper plumbing. Very very hot water, but she was a fire mage.
A smile spread across her face.
There had to be a way to get fireballs or lightning from runes. Some etching into a glove might work. Maybe there were runes that could make a shield too.
Shalise tried to keep the bounce out of her step as the group climbed the stairs to their dorm. She had no intentions to skip regular magic training. Zoe Baxter managed proper lightning by half way through her second year. Shalise intended to beat that.
Until then, Eva’s runes might provide an adequate method of defense.
— — —
Martina Turner kicked one foot up on top of her desk. She leaned back in her chair. With one elbow on the armrest, she slowly rocked a glass back and forth by the rim. With a flourish seen only by herself, Martina tipped her little reward back and downed the glass.
Moments after the liquid touched her tongue, a burn ran through her veins. It coursed from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. A hot and heavy feeling spread through her body. She sank deeper into the chair as the weight pressed down.
Fire lit behind her eyes. The dim light of her office brightened to her perceptions. The single lamp on her desk nearly blinded her while even the darkest corners of the room turned bright as day.
After refilling the glass, she capped the bottle of Hellfire and dropped it back in her desk drawer. The glass slid across the desk with a flick of her fingers. It came to a rest just an inch away from crashing over the edge.
One glass was more than enough for her tastes.
Psychos who drank glass after glass were beyond insane in her mind.
Rex Zagan strode forward from one of those corners. He plopped himself down in one of the comfortable chairs across the desk. His own shiny, black shoes landed on the edge of her desk as he reclined back in the chair.
Not a strand of his short, black hair appeared out of place. Even with the rough landing in the chair, it stayed perfect. Disgustingly perfect.
A grin full of white teeth curled his lips. For a moment, he just stared. His eyes pierced Martina’s very being. She felt herself being undressed and searched over for anything and everything.
Martina had long since become used to the man’s antics. She made her face as impassive as the nun’s had been and stared back.
No matter what she tried, her stare never matched his.
“That went well,” he said. His hand reached out and gripped the glass with gloved hands, though he did not drink.
Martina scoffed at that. “‘Well’ would have been getting the hell out of my town.” She shook her head in disgust. “That woman is endangering my students with her very presence.”