It took Eva a moment to realize what was happening. She almost punched the blond’s face in before she realized she wasn’t being attacked.
“What are you all staring at?” Juliana shouted. “Got nothing better to do than look at my friend?”
Eva shook her head. “Stay, Arachne,” Eva hissed. She waited a moment for the spider’s movements to die down. “It’s too late,” she said, setting her still gloved hand on Juliana’s shoulder. With a flexing of her hand, the brittle earth broke away. Eva reached over and pulled her other glove off.
That got several more gasps. Even a scream as she set it back down on Juliana’s shoulder.
Zoe Baxter was pushing her way through the crowd of students, but Eva wasn’t about to wait around for her. It was too late, her magic built up enough to safely teleport.
“Let Zoe know I’ve gone back to the prison,” Eva whispered in Juliana’s ear. “Try to keep her from incriminating herself, if possible.”
Before the room disappeared, Eva heard the blended girl say something.
“Just wait until my daddy hears about this,” she said. “He’ll be so excited.”
—
Eva groaned as she stumbled out of the gate. She could still feel the sizzling heat on her skin. It was all in her mind. But it sure didn’t feel all in her mind.
Infernal walking became far more tolerable after swapping out her legs for Arachne’s legs. For whatever reason, neither her legs nor her hands suffered the burn. Her chest and face still flayed off during the teleport.
She had no idea how Martina Turner did it. The dean was fully human as far as Eva could tell. There had to be a trick to teleporting without the discomfort.
Arachne slipped out from underneath her shirt and vest. The moment she had a few feet of clearance, she grew back to her regular human size. Without warning, she stepped up and wrapped her arms around Eva.
“Don’t worry,” she said, “we can live here until we find a new place.” There was a slight pause while Arachne ran her fingers down Eva’s back before she said, “what exactly happened?”
Eva sighed. “Come on,” she said, “might as well explain it to my master while we’re at it.”
“Isn’t he back in Florida?”
Her blood wards and her sight already fed Eva the information that he was, in fact, not in Florida. Eva silently led Arachne into the women’s ward kitchen.
A one-armed man stood hunched over the kitchen stove. He had a pot of water in his one hand and appeared to be just now turning on the burner’s runes.
Devon glanced up at their arrival. He gave a short snort before turning back to the stove.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in Florida?”
“Nope, and I don’t think you should be back there either.” He shook his head with a frown. “Hunters are wandering around lately.”
“Looking for you?”
“Donno.”
That was slightly unnerving. She had visited just a few months ago to collect the last of her things from the abandoned hospital. Had she stuck around, she might have run into them.
They might have shown up because she went back.
Eva suppressed a shudder and looked back at Devon. “What are you doing in my kitchen?”
“Boiling water,” Devon grunted. “You’ve got a working kitchen. I don’t.”
Eva frowned, but didn’t have much to say against that. So long as he kept to the kitchen, that is.
“You’re here at an abnormal time. Something happen?”
“Gloves got pulled off in front of most of the school. Lots of staring. One or two screams.”
Her master let out a short sigh before sliding the pot off the burner. “I warned you,” he said. “I warned you and you didn’t damn well listen did you?”
Eva didn’t say anything. She thought about protesting. Her hands being Arachne’s wasn’t exactly her choice. Devon wouldn’t care.
“Do we need to leave?”
“Don’t know,” Eva said with a shrug. “I expect Zoe Baxter will stop by. We’ll take what she says under advisement.”
Devon grumbled under his breath for a moment before stalking out of the room. “I’ll start packing.”
“I hope we stay,” Arachne said once the front doors slammed shut. The amusement in her voice was borderline hysterical. “Just so he has to unpack again.”
“Quite evil of you.”
“Well,” Arachne puffed out her chest in pride, “I am a demon.”
Eva let out a small, much-needed laugh. After a brief moment of companionable silence, Eva said, “I think I’ll lie down until Zoe gets here.”
She proceeded to the couch set out in the common room to do precisely that. Arachne followed–as Eva knew she would. Eva flopped down on the couch and lay there, staring at the ceiling.
Arachne wiggled herself into the couch. She pulled Eva’s head up onto her lap and started massaging Eva’s head.
What a mess, Eva thought as she shut her eyes. Part of her still wanted to tear that girl’s throat out.
She knew that something was wrong with Eva’s hands.
Everyone knew something was wrong, but that girl knew. She expected what she saw.
Someone told her. Eva doubted it was either of her roommates. They’d lived together for a year, more in the case of Juliana, and neither seemed the type. Zoe Baxter was worried about losing her job if any part of Eva’s life came to light, not to mention she seemed to genuinely care.
Zagan, Martina Turner, and Catherine were all possibilities.
Or… Eva felt her stomach sink. Sister Cross and a good handful of her nuns knew.
She should have just let Zagan kill Sister Cross. Shalise would have been upset, but at least the only group of people who were openly hostile towards Eva would be out of the way.
That ship sailed, Eva thought with a sigh.
Eva just started dozing off when a hard knock came at the door.
“Eva,” a voice called, “are you in?”
Much to the disappointment of Arachne, Eva pulled herself into a sitting position. “Come in,” she called out.
Zoe Baxter stepped into the room. Her eyes drifted over the two seated on the couch. She shook her head with a frown and looked straight at Eva. “Are you alright?”
“I’m not injured, if that is what you are asking.” Eva made a gesture towards one of the chairs opposite from the couch. “Have a seat.”
Zoe nodded and crossed the room. She sat with her back straight and her hands clasped together in her lap.
Her heart rate was a good portion higher than normal.
“Dean Turner,” she started, “is going to address the school tomorrow. She appeared in the dueling hall just moments after you left and started taking control.”
Eva nodded. “Is this address going to be in my favor?”
“I am unsure, but I believe so. Judging by her ordering the students back to the dorms while telling them to mind their own business.”
“If the students start writing home about a girl with demon hands, there will be trouble.”
Zoe put on a kind smile that didn’t suit her. “You’re assuming students will recognize your hands for what they are. Those with knowledge of demons are few and far between. Look at Zagan. He parades his name around openly.” She glanced off to one side with a frown. “I didn’t notice.”
“Someone will realize. If not a student, then a parent. They’ll realize how I got these hands.”
“Then we lay the blame on Sawyer.” Zoe gave a short glance towards Arachne. “It is mostly the truth. No one will blame you. They’ve all gone to school with you for the last year.”
Leaning back into Arachne with a sigh, Eva said, “students maybe. Are you willing to risk several parents pulling their children out of the school over one person? I know Juliana’s mother has been freaking out about everything last year. She can’t be the only one.”
“You leave that to the adults. Just pretend it was all the necromancer’s fault. As I said, it was at least mostly their fault.”