“You don’t have to preach to me,” Juliana said with her arms up. “I’m just saying what they’re saying.”
“Yeah, well, they’re wrong.” Eva clenched her fists. The one she crushed the rock with grated at the joints. “I need to wash my hands before class.”
“Do you want us to go with you?” Shalise asked.
“I’ll be fine on my own.”
Juliana put on an almost evil grin. It was somewhat odd and didn’t fit on her. Then again, it had been almost a year since Eva last saw her face. She’d had to approximate everyone’s expressions using their blood vessels. Getting used to sight would be a chore.
“It isn’t you that we’re worried about,” Juliana said. “It is everyone else.”
“No guarantees there. Maybe if I knock some sense into people, I can go back to being avoided before Arachne gets word and does something everyone would regret.”
“I-is that–should we be worried?”
“Oh no. You guys have nothing to worry about.”
“Should we be worried for other people, I think Shalise means.”
“Probably not.” Eva shook her head as she changed direction towards the nearest restroom. “I’ll catch up to you guys in class.”
Eva kept her sense of blood fully in the front of her mind as she walked off. She’d never felt the need to be aware of every single person around her while in school. As such, she’d nearly fallen flat on her face when a gust of wind tripped her up.
Watching everyone’s hands was an exercise in tedium, but she wasn’t willing to risk a fireball to the face.
Luckily, most students moved out of her way as she walked past. Openly wearing nothing over her hands and even a skirt to show off her legs had people staring for sure. A giddy feeling welled up inside Eva when two older girls standing outside the restroom noticed her approaching. She didn’t think she’d ever get tired of the way they ran when their eyes met her own.
Sadistic? Maybe a little.
It was almost a shame that Arachne couldn’t see their faces. She would surely get a laugh out of it. Even if she could see through Eva’s shirt, she wasn’t around today.
She had elected, offered even, to help Devon track down the source of those demons. No one was interested in a repeat of that night.
Especially not Juliana.
The official announcement was that a fire had injured both Zoe and Wayne Lurcher. No word of demons or even an attacker was mentioned, though there was a statement that an investigation into possible arson would be underway.
Carlos, on the other hand, knew the truth. While he didn’t seem to have any issue with Eva or Arachne, he definitely objected to demons attacking and causing mayhem. He would be talking to Genoa. Keeping everything secret from her wouldn’t end well when she inevitably found out.
And Eva didn’t doubt that she would find out. She had a miserable track record for keeping secrets since starting at Brakket.
Most of that stemmed from her choosing to not be the loner that she had been in middle school.
That and Arachne forcing her contract. It would be so much easier to keep secrets without a demon clinging to her body. Not that she wanted to change that too much. Arachne was a good companion.
Eva shook the water off her hands. She flexed them several times, just to ensure nothing was grinding in between her carapace. Nothing felt odd in her joints.
She turned towards the door and was almost tackled in…
A hug?
It took effort not to give into her instincts and crush the girl in her hands. Eva managed to shove her away without too much force.
“You didn’t have eyes last time.”
Eva glanced down at the girl. Even without needing to sense her blood vessels, she was unmistakable.
The blended girl.
“Are you just lacking common sense or are you trying to get yourself killed.”
Blended burst out laughing.
A pure, childlike laugh.
Eva had to take a step back. “What is wrong with you?”
Her laugh stopped in its tracks. A shadow crossed her face as she looked towards the floor. “My body doesn’t heal properly.” She fiddled with one of the stitches that ran across her face. “Any cut I get has to be held shut.”
Most of her looked a lot worse than cuts. Maybe full dismemberments. Eva shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. First you remove my gloves in front of half the school. Now you get far too close to me.”
“Oh.” She tilted her head to one side as a wide smile spread across her face. “You’re fascinating. Look at you.” Blended reached forwards and gripped Eva’s hand. She ran her fingers up along the point where the carapace stopped and the skin started. “You’ve obviously had amputations. But no stitches holding it together. And they’re not even human limbs.”
Eva tore her claw out of the girl’s hands.
She didn’t even notice. Blended’s hands immediately darted towards Eva’s skirt and lifted it up. “Fascinating. Your limbs merge with your skin and work. There isn’t any endoskeleton if I guess right. How do they work?”
What a menace, Eva thought with a sigh. She gave the girl a fairly hard shove–
Or tried to.
The hand she tried to shove Blended with stopped just inches from the girl. Caught. Another set of fingers gripped her wrist. The blood within them barely moved beneath the skin.
Almost like Ylva.
No.
Not quite. More like someone sleeping.
“Hugo,” Blended admonished the owner of the hand. “Be nice.”
A small chill ran up her spine. Both of them managed to sneak up on her. And they managed the same feat the other night. Who are these people?
As useless as she had been so far, Eva made a note to have Nel watch the two.
“Yes, Des,” Hugo said as he released Eva’s hand. He moved to stand next to Blended and went perfectly still. His eyes unfocused as they gazed off at some point behind Eva.
“But your eyes,” Blended said as she released Eva’s skirt. Her fingers darted towards her own eyes. They pressed and squeezed until a sickening pop echoed through the otherwise vacant restroom. Several stitches held it in her head by the optic nerve alone.
The boy standing at her side did not react in the slightest.
“How do you even see?”
“With my eyes. But your eyes, they’re definitely not human. You didn’t even have them the other day. Yet no sign of surgery?” She popped her own brown eye back into her skull. It swiveled independently from her blue one before settling into place. “Eyes don’t work like that.”
I don’t think eyes work like yours. Mine make a lot more sense.
“The dean said you were partially nonhuman. I don’t believe that. I think you are a human who has replaced your limbs somehow.”
“I don’t care what you think. In fact, I would be very pleased if we never met again.”
The smile on her face vanished in an instant. Water gathered in her eyes, but she managed to hold it in. “W-we’re alike though. We have unique physiology and everyone hates us.”
As her smile vanished, Eva smile grew. She let out a scoff. “Even if that were true–which it isn’t in my case–I am perfectly accustomed to being alone. As for ‘unique physiology,’ well, that’s hardly a thing to bond over. Because of your actions, you’ve potentially damaged my standing here. Damaged to the point where people might die if they realize the truth behind what the dean implied.”
Eva shoved past Blended and her little henchman–who, now that Eva thought about it, should probably not be in the women’s restroom.
“You mean, about those being demon lim–”
Hugo jumped in the way of her claws. One hand embedded itself into his chest. Eva barely took the time to note that he wasn’t even bleeding before her other hand gripped Blended by her throat.