With a heartfelt sigh, Eva slumped into one of the extra chairs set up around the table.
Even if nothing was going on except for Shalise and the doll, Eva couldn’t put Sawyer in front of her friend.
Well, she could. Lynn would probably kill her if she did. Though Eva couldn’t discount the possibility that Lynn wasn’t going to try to kill her the moment they made it out of Hell anyway.
Eva rested her forehead against the cool surface of the table, idly scratching a claw mark to the side of her head just a little deeper.
“Spencer,” Wayne grumbled with a slight tension in his voice, “what did you do with Zoe?”
She didn’t even have the motivation to protest his usage of her last name.
“Don’t worry so much. She’s just doing a little shopping for me.” Eva pulled out one of the copies of the list and slid it over to Nel. “Can you do anything about the bottom two?”
Nel didn’t even glance at the list. “What about Sawyer?”
“What about him?” When Nel didn’t move, Eva let out another sigh. “I’d love to go gallivanting across the country, but for some reason, I don’t think this is the time. It might have to do with the sky, and Shalise, and,” Eva glanced up at Wayne, “something about my dorm room?”
He opened his mouth to respond, but Nel slammed her fist down on the table.
“So he just gets to walk away. Is that it?”
Eva lifted her head. “Of course not. There’s just…” Narrowing her eyes at the augur, Eva said, “have you even looked outside?”
Nel glanced down. Not at the paper, more at her feet through the table. After a moment of silence, she mumbled something.
“What was that?”
“I said that something bad happens every time I leave. I get inquisitions sent after me. I get kidnapped. Or the sky turns purple! Next time I leave, it just might be the end of the world.”
“So you did go outside.”
Nel shifted. “Not really. I opened the door, saw the sky, and slammed it shut.”
Eva smiled. She wanted to laugh, but the thought of missing out on hunting down Sawyer did put a damper on her mood.
“As much as he is a personal priority of ours,” Eva said, emphasizing the word, “I think you’ll agree that other matters require our attention first. Like that list in front of you.” Eva tapped a sharp finger down on the piece of paper, all but forcing Nel’s eyes to it.
Those eyes widened a moment later.
“The salt is easy,” she said after a moment of rereading the list. “The obelisk, not so much.”
“Let’s start with the salt–”
Wayne, leaning over to read the list, cleared his throat. “What is this for?”
“A cleansing ritual,” Nel answered before Eva could. “The deep, soul level type of cleansing.”
“For Shalise,” Eva added. “Former Sister Cross thinks that she can get Prax out of Shalise and, therefore, Shalise out of Hell. Considering that things down there are possibly scarier than things up here, she’s willing to accept a small amount of danger on Shalise’s part to perform the ritual.”
“Scarier?” Devon said, genuine curiosity in his voice. “What is happening in Hell?”
“Same things, for the most part. The sky had purple streaks through it, much like here. They’ve since faded, I think. The difference between here and there is that Hell has Void actively fighting back. At least, as far as I can tell from a cursory glance.” Eva glanced up at Ylva, but the hel failed to move. Without skin on her face, she couldn’t even see any facial expressions.
“Sounds like her situation wouldn’t improve much,” Wayne said with a slight grunt as he centered himself back in his seat.
“Oh yeah, Shalise might also have some prison warden hunting her down.”
That actually did get a response out of Ylva. Just a slight stirring in her posture that, had she been anyone else, might have been mistaken as movement to get more comfortable. Eva would have missed it entirely had she not already been watching the demon.
Eva raised an eyebrow in her direction, wondering if she had anything to add.
Ylva just gave a slight, almost imperceptible shake of her head.
“Anyway,” Eva said, letting it drop for the moment. She turned back to face Nel. “Where do we get the salt?”
“Anywhere, I think. It needs to be natural sea salt–no iodine. Larger grain size. About fifteen pounds should work for this ritual.” Nel shook her head. “Wait, better make it thirty. I’m… well, out of practice. I’d rather have some to spare if I mess something up.”
“That’s it?” she asked just to be sure. Thirty pounds of salt sounded like a lot, but it wasn’t anything outrageous. It certainly didn’t sound like something that would cause much trouble. Quite the opposite, really.
“Well, I’ll have to prepare it. Shouldn’t take more than two or three hours.”
Still not too bad. Maybe Lynn Cross was simply worried about the time it would take to acquire and prepare it. “So the other thing? Where can I find an obelisk? I assume it is a specific kind of obelisk.”
“Of the pure moon,” Nel said, shaking her head. “It isn’t something you can go to a shopping center and purchase.”
“Then where do I find one,” Eva asked, speaking slightly slower as if she were speaking to a child.
“It’s an idol. Similar to the idol used to crack the sky.” She sent a mild glare at Devon. “The priceless artifact that he destroyed.” There wasn’t much accusation in her voice. Probably because she knew that she would have been far less angry about its destruction had one of those beams of light hit her.
Eva could guess that she would have preferred capturing it over destroying it, but that was in the past.
Devon, for his part, did not appear to be paying attention. He had his thumb on his goatee and his brow furrowed in thought.
“That’s all well and good,” Eva said, slowing down her speech further. “Where, Nel, do I get one?”
Nel bit her lip. She glanced over to Alicia–whose face had remained entirely impassive throughout the entire discussion–before turning to face Eva. “You’ll have to steal one. There are only six that I know about.” Again, she glanced over at Alicia. “The closest would probably be in the Salem Cathedral and Training Center.”
Eva snorted. “A bunch of vampire hunters made a home base out of the home of the witch hunts? Wonder if they worked together with the puritans back in the day. It would make sense, both have far too much zealotry for their own good.”
For the first time since Eva had shown up, Alicia laughed.
Actually, for the first time ever, as far as Eva knew.
It wasn’t a happy laugh. Rather, it set Eva’s nerves on end. Both Wayne and Devon–who had come out of his thoughts at the noise–looked a bit unsettled as well.
Nel shot a glare in the ex-nun’s direction, but turned a pained look on Eva.
“Um… Salem Oregon,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. “Not Massachusetts.”
Her voice wasn’t quiet enough to avoid Devon’s ears, evidenced by him turning a smirk in Eva’s direction.
“Point still stands,” Eva said, ignoring everyone at the table. She cleared her throat when Devon opened his mouth. Whatever snide comment he had could be kept to himself. “Anyway, can you spy on where you expect it to be? I’d rather not waste my time running all the way to Oregon if it isn’t there.”
“I can try,” Nel said with a nod. “But how are you getting there?”
“Well,” Eva shifted her glance towards Wayne, “there are two people I know of that can teleport without needing something at the destination. Although, Zagan could probably do it.”
Nel flinched while Devon glowered.
Eva shook her head before either could say a word. “I’m not going to ask him though. Even if he agreed, it would probably be at some exorbitant price that I am not interested in paying.”