“It isn’t as if I couldn’t get out of a cage on my own if something happened.”
Eva nodded. “Let’s make a stop back home. I need to pick up some things before we head to my master’s place.”
Devon had been in a sorry mood the last time she saw him. Eva wasn’t looking forward to meeting with him so soon. Hopefully she could just pop in, drop the pamphlet for the school on his desk, and leave.
A clawed hand gripping her shoulder broke Eva out of her thoughts. Before she could even blink she found herself scooped up in Arachne’s arms. A short leap brought them to the roof and another leap had them flying through the air.
Eva pinched her eyes shut. “I can step myself, you know,” she half shouted in midair.
“I know.” Arachne leapt again in the direction of the abandoned retirement home. “This way we can go together.”
Eva had no protests for that. She kept her eyes closed and put her trust in the demon’s strong grip.
—
The door creaked open and Eva peeked inside. The lights were on, but no master sat in the main room. She walked inside with a human-form Arachne following close behind.
Empty potion bottles lay about the floor. Broken splinters of wood from one of the chairs lay next to one wall. The table was overturned with papers and books strewn about in front of it.
Eva exchanged a glance with Arachne. “Maybe we should just leave a note,” the demon said.
“No,” Eva shook her head. “Let’s find him.”
Arachne shrugged. “I’ll leave the door open just in case we need a quick exit.”
Eva sighed but didn’t disagree.
They walked through the empty train station. Eva peeked into the summoning chamber and the library, both empty, on their way to the room Devon Foster adopted as his bedroom. The sheer silence of the place made the hair on the back of Eva’s neck stand on end.
Eva knocked twice on her master’s door. The door creaked open with the second knock. A strong scent billowed through the crack. Eva almost choked. Arachne took several steps back.
Pulling the sleeve of her jacket over he mouth, Eva pushed open the door.
Seated naked in the middle of the floor was her master. A ritual circle had been drawn around him and several scented candles and incense sticks were burning at various points around the circle. Wet spaghetti noodles lay within a ring opposite of Devon. A ball of twine and no less than thirty blue jellybeans in neat lines sat in their own rings to either side of the noodles.
The naked master was the only thing that made sense to Eva. A disproportionate amount of rituals required full nudity.
“Master,” Eva all but whispered. She was starting to think leaving a note was the right idea after all.
Devon’s eyes snapped open. “Ah. Eva. I needed a counter-balance. Strip and sit behind the hemlock.”
Eva looked over the ritual circle again. After a shared shrug with Arachne, she said, “Are you feeling alright?”
“I was until you broke my concentration. Now I have to start the ritual over again.” He stood up and turned to a cupboard full of potions. He took two steps before stumbling and very nearly falling flat on his face.
Eva winced as his leg came into view. The swelling had gone down, as had a bit of redness. It might still be a month or more before it was even remotely back to normal, if ever.
She stepped into the room and took Devon’s hand. “Come on master,” she said. “Let’s get you to bed. I think you’ve had enough potions for now.”
Eva helped her master limp over to his bed. She got him under the covers and tucked in. With a stick of chalk lying on the floor, Eva drew a small sloth rune on his bedside table. “Sleep for now, we’ll find you some help.”
Turning back to the snickering spider-demon, Eva motioned her over. She dropped her bag on a desk beside the bed. “Arachne, we’re going with the note plan. Write down everything you know about our trip. There are pamphlets in my bag you can use for more information.”
Arachne frowned. “And what will you be doing?”
“Getting help,” Eva said with a smile. She turned and walked out to the main room.
Vials, potions, and books lay around the filing cabinet. Several were still full of various liquids. They had been pulled out of the drawer and tossed about without being properly put away. Getting close to it without stepping on anything was a challenge. Luckily, the top drawer was almost untouched.
The small jar of eel eyes was almost empty. Two was all she needed, but she made a note on the sheet for low ingredients for when her master was feeling better. Eva headed to the kitchen and retrieved a small bowl and a carton of milk. Enticement in hand, Eva moved straight to the summoning chamber.
Not taking the chance of getting trapped, Eva left the door wide open. She wasn’t about to summon anything extremely dangerous anyway.
Eva plucked a stick of chalk off the wall and made several changes to the universal summoning circle. She added a name, species, and specified the enticement she was about to lay out. Two eel eyes tipped out of the jar onto the center of the circle. Eva poured the bowl of milk and placed it outside the summoning ring, but still within the shackles.
After a quick double-check, Eva stepped back and began channeling magic.
With the changes she made to the circle, no requests needed to be made.
Two green eyes popped into the summoning circle. Each had a dark slit running vertically. Sharp teeth followed with a tongue and mouth soon after. A feline head covered in black fur formed around the face.
The disembodied cat head bent down and ate both eel eyes in one quick snap of its jaw.
A body covered in black fur materialized out of the air and attached itself to the head. Eva smiled as she recognized the white tuft of fur on its chest shaped like an apple.
“Hello Arthfael.”
The dog-sized cat glanced up at her, but noticed the bowl of milk on the way. He crawled over and started lapping up the milk.
Eva stepped into the circle and knelt down, stroking the cat’s soft fur. She listened to his purring with a silly grin on her face.
She couldn’t help it. Cats were cute.
Of course, the large creature wasn’t actually a cat.
Cait si were technically not demons, her master once told her. They were a subset of fae. They, along with simorghs, boggarts, most snake-related beings, and a handful of other creatures, were part of a small group of outliers that could be summoned with an infernal summoning circle.
Why it was possible had never been adequately explained to Eva. She didn’t care too much; demonology was her master’s domain, not hers.
As the milk dwindled in the bowl, Eva took the chalk and drew a straight line through the shackles to break them. “Come on,” she said, “I need a favor.”
The cait si gave her a glance then returned to the bowl. It tried to lick up every last vestige of milk.
Eva sighed. “We will get you some more milk later if you’re good. I might even go out and get you some fresh fish.”
Arthfael perked up at that. When he crossed over the shackles, Eva erased the line that broke them. She left her modifications to the summoning circle and the jar of eel eyes, but picked up the bowl and carton of milk. Devon could clean up the rest after he was feeling better.
“Come on,” Eva said as she stepped out of the room. “Master is feeling a bit under the weather. And he is injured.”
Arachne perked up as they entered the room. When she saw the cait si, she frowned. “I thought you were getting help. What is that ball of fluff supposed to do?”
Arthfael just stuck his nose in the air and strutted past Arachne without a second glance.
“Hey,” Eva said, “cait si have healing abilities.”
Arachne said with a scoff, “and I can weave works that leave gods stunned in awe.” She turned back and continued writing in a notebook. “Oh wait,” she held up a six jointed finger, “I can weave gods into a stupor. Sometimes I forget how amazing I am.”