Eva’s own heart jumped in pace. She did have an active beacon, having handed hers off to Zoe, so returning wouldn’t be that big of an issue. But it would still be an inconvenience as she still needed to go collect an obelisk.
Ylva shook her head as she stood from her throne. Her dress draped around the floor as she walked down the steps. “We have Our own business to attend before severing Our domain. We shall start with haste. Finish your business here and vacate at once.”
As she stepped down from her throne, she left the column of light. Her flesh returned just in time for her cold eyes to shift to Alicia. “Come,” she spoke.
Alicia snapped to her side fast enough that Eva wondered if she hadn’t teleported there.
Ylva’s eyes turned to Nel. The augur’s eyes ceased their glare at Alicia to meet with Ylva.
“Assist Eva in her task. Find Ourself upon finishing.”
“Yes, Lady Ylva,” Nel said, head ducking in a sitting bow.
As Ylva and Alicia headed off towards one of the back archways–not one Eva could remember entering before–Devon all but ran from the throne room. He paused for just a moment at the edge of the throne platform, hesitating. After tapping his foot against the thin air to reassure himself that he wouldn’t fall through, Devon walked across and out of the domain.
It seemed silly to Eva. She had walked across without even thinking about it, as she had on occasion in the past. Then again, she had also helped throw an enigma or two down the pit, and was fairly certain that she had dangled her legs over the edge one time. A brief bout of curiosity tickled the back of her mind as she considered just how it worked.
She dismissed the thought as quickly as it came. It probably wasn’t the most pressing of matters at the moment.
Turning back to those remaining at the table, Eva stopped her gaze on Nel. “Let’s check that the obelisk is where you think it is, then we’ll get you some salt. After that…” Eva gave an involuntary shudder as she realized that she would have to be teleported through that cold ‘between’.
But that was a momentary discomfort. Shalise being stuck in Hell would be worse.
Shaking her head to clear her mind, Eva looked at Wayne. “After, if you’d teleport us to wherever this chapel is, Dev–”
Eva whipped her head towards the door leading out of Ylva’s domain.
That coward just ran away.
“Actually,” Eva said after a short sigh, “I might need a few minutes to consult with Arachne.”
Chapter 025
Zoe stopped before a well-worn wooden door with a familiar brass handle. She pushed the door open, fully expecting to be welcomed into the bar and parlor by Tom’s smiling face.
A bright light had her wincing away the second she stepped inside.
It took her mind a moment to catch on to the fact that something was wrong. The bar was never brightly lit. Lights were kept perpetually dim. Tom was not a mage, but she had often wondered if he didn’t have some sixth sense for incoming customers. The lights were low even when she had walked in during the off hours on occasion, when he was in the middle of cleaning–a task that Zoe would never consider attempting without decent lighting.
Blinking away the spots in her eyes, Zoe peered beyond into the rest of the room. Or tried to. With a frown on her face, she realized that the rest of the bar was pitch black. Even her enhanced eyes were having trouble seeing past the few spotlights that had been moved directly in front of the door.
Her enhanced ears, on the other hand, picked up the sound of heavy metal being lifted from a wooden surface.
Zoe slipped off her backpack full of ritual supplies in the same swift motion she used to draw her dagger.
“Keep your hands where I can see them!”
“Tom?” It sounded like his voice. For the most part. It lacked the ever friendly tones that it normally carried.
Zoe kept her hand firmly on her dagger, ready to erect a shield at any moment. “Tom? It’s me, Zoe Baxter. I’m not here to hurt you.”
There was definite hesitation in the darkness. She could almost feel the uncertainty.
“What did you order when you last came here?”
Zoe blinked, trying first to think when the last time was here. It had been at least a month. Two? A long time to remember something as insignificant as a drink.
“I didn’t,” Zoe eventually said. “I asked for a drink, you decided what.”
That was what she most often did, anyway. His question made her second guess herself, but she was fairly certain that she hadn’t actually ordered anything.
Her suspicion was confirmed a moment later as Tom sighed. Whatever he had landed on a table with a clunk. A half empty glass bottle scraped against the wood as the lights in the rest of the establishment slowly brightened to their normal levels.
After once again closing her eyes to help adjust to the light, Zoe surveyed the war zone–for a lack of a better word.
Tables had been flipped on end. Several propped up against the rear exit while the rest served as barricades and obstacles between the front door and the bar’s counter. Most of the chairs had been set up in the same manner.
Sitting behind the counter was a fairly disheveled Tom, currently in the middle of sampling his own wares.
“You gave me a right fright,” he said between drinks.
“I’m sorry about that,” Zoe said as she slowly stepped into the parlor, picking up her backpack before she moved. She kept a wary eye on the pistol lying on the counter. While not knowing much about mundane weaponry, the pistol made her somewhat nervous. “It wasn’t my intention. Has something happened?”
Despite being set up for war, Zoe couldn’t spot a single bullet hole around the room. She was fairly certain that she would notice anything made by that gun. It looked large enough to take out an elephant and still have enough punch to kill a horse on the opposite side.
“‘Has something happened,’ she says as she walks into my bar at such a strange hour. The lights in the sky weren’t enough for you, Zoe? Or did you miss them completely?”
“Well, yes. I had noticed that. But I hadn’t realized they warranted all of this.” She waved her hand around the tables, ending at the pistol laying on the counter.
“Apparently you missed out on the zombies and other monsters wandering the streets over the last few years.”
Can’t argue with that.
“New shop policy,” he said with a smile, “anything strange happens and I’m closed.” After taking another swig of his drink, he held out the bottle towards Zoe.
“No thank you,” she said, waving a hand in front of her. Realizing that hand still held her dagger, she quickly sheathed it.
“Suit yourself. So, what is going on out there?”
“Not a clue. Wayne is talking with some people to try to find out the answer to that. However, I’ve been wandering around and haven’t noticed anything immediately dangerous. No creatures running the streets, at least.”
“Well, that’s a small relief.” He started to take another drink, but paused with the bottle halfway to his mouth. After a moment of deliberating with himself, Tom capped the bottle and placed it somewhere behind the counter. “So, what brings you to my humble bar at such a late hour? I take it you didn’t come for just a social call.”
Zoe shook her head. “Nothing dangerous, but it might cause your business some problems. I need salt. Non-iodized sea salt. Everything you have, probably. I already cleaned out the local food mart–they didn’t have quite enough on their shelves. The woes of living in a small town, I suppose. Without a clerk present, I didn’t want to search around their back room.”
“Must be desperate times,” Tom said, lifting an eyebrow, “if you’re stealing from the local shops.”
“I left my name and number, along with a list of everything that I fully intend to pay for once someone contacts me.” Zoe let out a small sigh. She had had to teleport straight into the building. There had been a momentary concern over alarms before deciding that Shalise came first. “And I intend to reimburse you as well. But yes, something of an emergency with a student. One unrelated to the changes in the sky.”