Juliana blinked. It took a moment to jog her memory enough to realize what he was talking about. “That was the first week! Zoe got attacked. I had a lot on my mind.” She took a breath and added, “you should have said something the week after, not now.”
“I let it slide because I thought you were normally a good student. Now I find you here and you don’t even try to deny bolstering the enemy?”
“I’m no–”
“And what about this mess?” He gestured towards Juliana’s feet.
With a flash, he was standing right in front of her, just outside the shackles. He flashed again and he moved around the circle, towards Juliana’s one o’clock. He moved to two with another flash. It was like watching someone dancing in a strobe light.
Shalise huddled in right next to Juliana. Her shivers could be felt through the thick layer of metal covering her arm.
“Shoddy work,” Zagan said with a tut. “I’d have expected Eva to be far better a teacher than this.”
“I learned it from a book.”
“I’m surprised you managed to get anything out of this. Without killing yourself,” he added.
Juliana felt her face heat up. She was mostly sure this circle was no different from the other ones she’d used. “I’ll have you know that I’ve summoned plenty of things. Without killing myself.”
He laughed. Laughed. “So I see. Still, far too dangerous for an uneducated student. I think Martina plans to do something about that, but it will come too late for you, I’m afraid.” He flashed in front of Juliana with his lips curled into a grin.
If he hadn’t already got the hairs on the back of Juliana’s neck to stand on end, that grin would have done it. Shalise actually let out a small whimper.
“And you,” Zagan said as his golden eyes flicked to Shalise. “What’s your role in this treachery.”
“N-nothing. We weren’t doing anything.”
“The circle you’re standing on begs to differ.”
Juliana took half a step forwards. Not enough to move off the circle, but enough to get slightly in Zagan’s face. “Is this really the time? The school is under attack! If you’re half as powerful as Eva thinks you are, you could stop everyone with less effort than a snap of your fingers.”
He took a step back, looking far more affronted than he had any right to be. “I’m but a humble teacher. We hired the security guards to protect the school. As a teacher, my job stops at instructing students and correcting mistakes.
“Ah, and it seems you’ve made a mistake.”
A chill ran through Juliana’s spine as she broke eye contact with the demon. Following his pointed finger, she glanced down at the light glow beneath her feet. The summoning circle started rotating.
It wasn’t the circle she drew. The lines were all wrong. Arrows turned the wrong way. Crosses became circles. A curve to the left became a curve to the right. She couldn’t have messed it up that badly.
A cold sweat dripped down Juliana’s back as she turned her eyes towards Zagan. His golden eyes spread a faint glow through the suddenly dark room.
“That isn’t a summoning circle,” he said. “That’s a transference circle.”
“Wha–”
“Don’t worry, there will be plenty of time for you to make up your detention.”
Juliana’s stomach dropped. The ground no longer supported her weight. The classroom shrank to a tiny dot in the all-encompassing darkness.
Gripping Shalise’s arm, both fell screaming into the void.
Chapter 022
A burning sensation ached within Arachne’s legs.
It was an odd feeling. A foreign feeling. She couldn’t remember the last time she had any ache at all. It was a testament to how hard she was pushing herself.
Allowing herself out of Eva’s sight while there were troublesome events afoot was a horrible idea in hindsight. But she couldn’t help it.
Genoa was just so fun.
She never got to go all out against anything these days. At least not without also worrying over potential collateral damage. Even the zombies from last year had been target practice for Eva.
And Genoa could take it. Getting within range was a somewhat distressingly rare occurrence, but they were the best part. Arachne had nearly torn out Genoa’s throat on one occasion.
The woman just kept on fighting. She wrapped some earth around her throat and downed a potion without breaking her stride. Half the potion spilled out and she didn’t even blink.
Arachne had lost five legs and a good chunk of her abdomen before Genoa finally passed out.
Eva’s professor had teleported the two friends after Arachne failed to pick up Eva that day. Eva teleported herself. Upon finding out what had happened, Eva sat a lethargic Genoa and Arachne down for a long rant about acceptable damage during spars.
Being slightly more careful did not lower the intensity of their fights at all. It proved somewhat enlightening for Arachne. A problem of forcing a ranged opponent to submit without causing excessive physical harm. An interesting thought experiment, though not something Arachne intended to use outside their little spars.
Genoa had altered tactics in an attempt at finding a way to contain Arachne without allowing escape. A deep enough pit with slick walls and a hardened lid might have worked, but Arachne had been getting very good at avoiding sudden pitfalls. Thus far, Genoa had failed.
As successful as Arachne had been as of late, their current battle was not going in her favor thus far.
Her legs pounded into the ground, leaving minor craters with every step. The leg picked up before the dust reached its peak and continued to move like a mechanical piston. Again and again. Brush and weeds disintegrated upon contacting her body.
Arachne ran at top speed yet Genoa was still ahead of her.
Genoa had something of a head start–she blinked out of the prison the moment Nel mentioned an army at Brakket–but she was slowly increasing the distance between the two. It didn’t help that she could blink to the top of a hill whereas Arachne had to use her legs.
It was infuriating. Arachne had no idea how to increase her own speed. Every leg was pumping at maximum capacity.
Times like these made Arachne wish she knew magic.
Nothing to do about it now. They’d be entering the city soon enough. Due to her little one-sided race, she’d almost halved the time it usually took to travel.
She could already see the smoke.
Genoa blinked up to the rooftop of the nearest building.
With a spring of her legs, Arachne joined her. It didn’t take more than a few leaps and blinks before the two stood overlooking the plaza between the Rickenbacker and the Gillet.
Her grin widened all on its own as she stared at the assembled group.
“Huh.”
“I guess she wasn’t joking about an army. What are they?”
“You’re asking me?” Genoa glanced to her side. “I figured you would be more informed.”
“They’re not any demons I’ve ever seen and they don’t quite smell like it. Parts of them are? Not sure.”
“We don’t need them alive, do we?”
“I wasn’t planning on it. In fact, I believe that would be detrimental to everyone.”
“Excellent,” Genoa said. She was trying to suppress herself, but Arachne could see the beginnings of a grin mirroring her own. “I’ll take the left fifty, you take the right fifty?”
It was tempting. Arachne wanted nothing more than to jump right in the center of the horde. She would rend all without remorse. It took some effort, but she managed to shake her head. “Nel said that Eva was inside the Rickenbacker dormitory. I can see a good number of the things filing into the front doors.”
The burgeoning grin on Genoa’s face slipped into a frown. “Where’s Juliana?”