“I first saw it last September,” Juliana said. “It was a lot messier back then.”
“And your mentor lives here as well?”
“Not here in this building. He remodeled the top floor of one of the cell houses into a sort of penthouse suite.”
“I see,” he said with a nod.
An awkward silence descended on the group for a few minutes. Carlos’ eyes were glued on Arachne the entire time. His daughter sat a bit stiffly but otherwise relaxed.
Shalise’s head bounced around the room as she looked over everything again and again. She had a bright smile on her face despite the room not being all that interesting.
Eva fought of a grin as she wondered how she would react to Ylva’s domain.
“So,” Carlos broke Eva out of her thoughts, “you’re Arachne.”
Arachne tilted her sharp chin up in the air. “You asked that before we arrived.”
It came out a bit terse. Eva rested her hand on Arachne’s arm as casually as she could.
“I mean: the Arachne. From Greek mythos.”
“I am.”
“And you were turned into a demon by the gods due to your hubris?”
Arachne scoffed. “It isn’t hubris if you can back it up. It is skill. Besides,” her mouth curled up into a sharp-toothed smile, “I outlived all those so-called ‘gods’ didn’t I? Hardly a punishment in the long run.”
“So you were human once?”
“No part of my humanity remains. The sorcerers who called themselves gods were quite thorough with their spell. I remember very little apart from the contest that I won.”
“Ah,” Carlos said softly. “I’m not a history researcher, but it seems a little sad we can’t hear firsthand experiences about our past. You don’t remember anything?”
“No.” Eva could see the muscles grind her teeth together as she spoke.
“Okay,” Carlos said. If he noticed Arachne’s rising irritation, he didn’t show it. “You’ve been living with my daughter for the last year, according to her.”
“I’ve been living with Eva.”
Carlos quirked an eyebrow with an aside glance to Eva.
Eva couldn’t do much besides shrug. “We have been living in the same dorm room, yes.”
“Me too,” Shalise said with a smile.
“I see.” Carlos turned to face the brown-haired girl. “And what is your opinion on your… living arrangements?”
“Well,” Shalise said after a moment of humming in thought, “it is okay I guess. I don’t know that I like having the center bed, but I can’t complain too much.”
In a slightly more serious tone, Shalise said, “if you are talking about Arachne… she was scary at first, but not so much anymore.” Arachne’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly at the girl. “She mostly keeps to Eva’s side of the room and barely talks to me. Of course, it is probably safer with her around what with how often our room gets broken into.”
Carlos slowly nodded. “Genoa almost had a heart attack when she heard a bunch of necromancers let loose zombies and again when Juliana was attacked.” He let out a soft sigh. “I digress. The real question is whether or not you have any problems with being so close to a demon.”
“Not at all.”
His eyebrows jumped up his forehead an inch or so. Probably in surprise at her sudden response.
Surprise welled up in Eva as well. Shalise didn’t even take a moment to think. That was even despite the nervous glances that Eva knew Shalise gave Arachne on occasion.
“She and Eva saved my life. I would be a zombie if it weren’t for the two of them.”
“I see. And Juli?”
Juliana shifted a bit beside her father before answering. “No problem here. I can’t say she saved my life, but she’s lived with us for over a year. It’d be somewhat hypocritical to object now.”
“Very well,” he said with a soft sigh. “And Eva? You don’t have any objections to living with her I take it?”
“Of course not. I’d have banished her if I did.”
“And Arachne?” Eva raised an eyebrow, she hadn’t expected him to question her. The thought made Eva a little scared at what Arachne might say in response. “Any objections to living with my daughter and Shalise?”
Her eight eyes glared at Carlos for a moment. Slowly, her head shifted towards Juliana and Shalise before returning to Carlos. “I don’t care. So long as they don’t hurt Eva.”
Eva let out a small sigh. There were probably worse answers to that question.
Carlos stared back at the demon. His eyes crawled over Arachne. Looking for deception, probably.
After a five-minute long staring contest, Carlos finally nodded. “You all know each other better than I do. I doubt a single night of conversation will change much.” He glanced down at his daughter. “Your mother is going to have a fit when she finds out.”
Juliana gave a small shiver. “But you’ll help calm her down. Right?”
Carlos chuckled. “I don’t think I have that much influence over an enraged Genoa, but I’ll try. For now…” He reached into his pockets and pulled out a small notebook and a pen. “Let’s get to the fun part.”
His gave Arachne a hungry look. “How do you reproduce? Can you reproduce? Are there more like you? What temperatures do you find most comfortable? What is Hell like? How much do you sleep at one time? How often? Do you even sleep? What about food and eating ha–”
Eva held up a gloved hand. She could see Arachne’s ire grow with every question. If he continued, she’d very likely tear out his tongue.
Not to mention the holes her claws were putting in the brand new couch.
“Before we do anything else, there’s one more thing.” Without waiting for any questions, Eva pulled off her gloves. She flexed out and fully extended her needle-like fingers.
Carlos sat and stared, his mouth fully agape. As soon as he recovered, he reached forward and gripped Eva’s hand in his own. He quickly set to work prodding, pinching, squeezing, flexing, folding, feeling, and generally making a nuisance of himself.
“May I?” He said with a glance towards Arachne.
He actually asked her, Eva thought with a mental huff. He didn’t ask me.
Arachne shrugged–only after receiving a nod from Eva–and offered him a hand.
A hand he started inspecting just as closely as Eva’s own.
“You gave her your hands?” Carlos said, mostly to himself.
“The necromancers disagreed with several parts of my anatomy.”
“And they attached without issue? And grew back on Arachne without even a seam where the cut should be?”
“Demon,” was Arachne’s sole response.
He started mumbling to himself as he made a few notes in his notebook. One particular statement caught Eva’s ears. “They’re smaller on Eva.”
“What?” Eva quickly moved one of her arms over Arachne’s. Sure enough, her hands were far slimmer than Arachne’s hands. It wasn’t just a minor thing either. Looking side by side was very noticeable. “Have you been putting on weight?”
“Of course not,” said a quite affronted Arachne.
Shalise leaned forwards, looking over Carlos’ shoulder along with Juliana. “Perhaps shrinking to fit the rest of your body better?”
Eva’s stomach sank as she realized that was probably true. “Does this mean I’m going to shrink back to my old size?”
“I hope so,” Juliana said with a disturbingly wide smile. “You’re too tall right now.”
“Shrink?”
Eva cut open her pants with a few quick swipes of her fingers. They were an old pair that she’d worn specifically to cut away. Before long, the carapace on her legs was showing.
“I see,” Carlos said. He moved in and started looking over her legs, though in a far less invasive manner. He confirmed her fears after a moment. “These are smaller, though not nearly to the degree of your hands.”
“Well,” Eva said with a sigh, “the hands had an extra six or seven months compared to the legs. If they’re shrinking slow enough I failed to notice, then it will probably be another few months for the legs.”