Eva bent down to pick up the sunglasses that must have flung off her face during her seizure. “In order: Genoa, meet Arachne. That was the prison defenses, the real ones that were turned off to allow you entry. You shouldn’t have. And long story.” Eva gave her a polite smile. “Would you like to come in?”
— — —
“Alright,” Genoa said. “I think I understand most of the situation.”
Juliana leaned into her mother’s side. Normally, she’d never show such affection in front of her teacher and friends. Hearing those screams changed her mind. She just needed some reaffirmation that her mother was alright.
It was completely unnecessary. Juliana knew that. Genoa had popped up once Arachne got off of her. Not a single stumble could be seen in her walk. With a flick of her wand, she casually cleaned off all the dirt she had gathered from rolling on the ground.
Convincing her to give blood to Eva took longer than Juliana’s father, but that had passed by without too much issue.
Genoa pointed at herself then towards Eva. “Powerful wards. Necromancer shenanigans. West African tarantula.” Her voice dropped a few notches in kindliness as her finger settled on Arachne. “I don’t believe that for a second,” she said with a glare towards Carlos.
That earned a sigh from Eva.
“We’ll come back to that,” Genoa said as she looked down at Juliana over the rims of her glasses.
Uh oh. Juliana tried to squirm away from her mother, but her grip on Juliana’s shoulder tightened like an iron vice.
“What I do not understand is what you were thinking.”
“I just–”
“Your dwelling was under attack by a potentially lethal force. And you didn’t help mount a defense? Not a single stone flew towards me. If it weren’t for the wards, I would have won. I would have killed you.”
“You wouldn’t have,” Juliana said softly.
“No. But you’ll wish I had by the time I’m done with you.”
Juliana tried to shrink in on herself. The grip on her shoulder only tightened further. The metal coating her creaked under the strain.
“Honestly, I love you dear, but I thought I taught you better than this. What if I were an impostor? You and your friends could be dead because of your failure.”
“Genoa–”
“No, Carlos. I’m not finished.”
Her mother’s glare changing targets to Eva was one of the best feelings. Juliana didn’t even care that it effectively threw her friend to the wolves.
“You keyed me into your wards without even asking for verification of my identity. Not even a simple ‘what did you get me for Christmas.’ You yourself told me that one of your enemies already employed illusions against you.”
Eva bristled under the glare, but otherwise returned it ten fold. Her eyes made that easy. “If you make any overtly hostile actions, I can remove you from the wards with a mere snap of my–” Eva paused and looked down at her claws. “A clap of my hands. And the wards in here are not set to cause pain. You will not survive.”
“That’s something at least.”
Juliana did not miss the relief in her voice.
“But there are more problems. Am I correct in assuming your wards do not extend beyond the outer walls of the prison?”
Eva gave a curt nod.
“I could have been bombarding your building from outside the walls. Your shield came up far too slow. It was strong and I am curious as to how you powered it–I don’t think three students could maintain such a large shield–but it was still too slow. Had one of my early attacks been in a different location, you could be paste.”
“This building is the most habitable and most presentable building in the prison. We chose it to receive you for that reason. We will be staying in a more central building most of our time here.” Eva vaguely gestured off towards the center of the prison. “As for the shield, I agree. In fact, your attack revealed that vulnerability and gave me a few ideas. I’ll need to experiment a bit, but I think I can work out something much faster.”
“You need to experiment?” Genoa asked with a glance towards Zoe. “I assumed it was something you set up.”
“Most everything here is Eva’s own design. She found the prison and remodeled it herself. I think most things run on runes, but I’ve not found the time to thoroughly examine the place.”
“Huh.”
And that was it.
Carlos had to break the silence. “It will be just you three living here?”
“And me,” Arachne said. She’d been in a strangely good mood since the fight ended. Her smile, while still quite terrifying, seemed more relaxed.
“Ah yes,” Genoa said with a voice as cold as ice. “The demon.”
“West African–” A loud sigh escaped from Eva as she ran her fingers through her scalp. She slowly turned her eyes over the rest of the room. “Nevermind. Don’t ever tell me a secret you don’t want absolutely everyone to know.”
“You weren’t very subtle. I’ve seen effects like that,” she pointed towards Eva’s hands. “And your eyes are fairly unique as well. If necromancers had actually done that, they’d be bits of dead people. Or dead things.
“Then there was the black blood, the extra limbs, the shape shifting, the strength. The overwhelming sense of superiority. A West African tarantula? Honestly, Carlos? You’re lucky we got a new couch recently, because that is where you are going to be sleeping for the foreseeable future.”
“Yes, dear.” Juliana’s father bowed his head.
“Now. You,” Genoa said with a glance back at Arachne. “When are you planning on backstabbing my daughter?”
Without even the slightest waver in her smile, Arachne answered. “When Eva tells me to.”
“Don’t say it like that,” Eva said with a smack to Arachne’s chest. “You’ll create misunderstandings.” Turning to face Genoa head on, Eva said, “Arachne is mine. She won’t hurt Juliana.”
“Oh? And when do you intend to betray my daughter.”
“What? Never. Juliana is like my first friend.”
For a brief instant, guilt gripped Juliana. She needed to come clean on her own demon summoning efforts. It wasn’t like she could keep it a secret forever. Not unless she fell under whatever secret keeping curse that afflicted Eva. Besides, Eva might help out.
Then Juliana registered the full sentence.
“Like?” “Like?” Juliana echoed her mother.
“Well, unless you count Arachne.”
“And do you count Arachne?”
“I’ve known Arachne since I was seven years old. While she wasn’t a constant companion until recently, I think I can consider her my first and best friend.”
“Since you were seven? How could you have gotten into diablery at that age? Are your parents–”
“Perfectly ordinary, nonmagical mortals. No. It is a long and very personal story. I’m more interested in your story. Juliana said you had an issue with demons. Don’t you know how racist that is? That’s like saying that you don’t like goblins just because one stole your money one time.”
“All goblins steal–”
“Look, you’re doing it again!” Eva shot Juliana a quick glance. A glance asking for help.
Juliana sighed. Anything she said was just going to make whatever punishment her mother had in mind worse. “Mom, Arachne’s been living with us for a year and nothing bad has happened.” That line worked on her father.
Genoa was not her father.
The glare returned to Juliana.
All its intensity bore into her. Searching for something.
And Juliana could feel herself being found wanting.
“I think,” Genoa said, “I will be remaining here.”
“What?” “What!” This time, Eva was her echo. Juliana shared a worried glance with the black-haired girl.
“I have judged your defenses woefully inadequate. This place needs to be beefed up. My daughter is being targeted by demons and if I got as far as I did, they won’t have any trouble.”