“Arachne,” Eva panicked. She tried to pull away. The restraints held her down tight, too tight. “I don’t think–”
“Don’t think,” Arachne said softly. “If you have to think about something, think about pulling those necromancer’s hearts out with your new claws.”
Eva stepped. She turned and looked at Arachne.
The spider-demon stood there frozen. Her legs still wrapped around the empty air Eva vacated. A moment after, she slumped. A dejected slump, like Eva just turned down her best attempts at helping.
In a way, she might have.
It didn’t matter.
“Not like that. That was too close to being in that chair again.” Eva took a deep breath. “I don’t want to hate you like that.”
Arachne didn’t respond. Her back still faced Eva, not having moved since she slumped down.
“It is a good deal, I’m sure,” Eva said slowly. “If I thought about it long enough, I’m sure I would agree.”
“Let’s wait.”
A long sigh escaped Eva’s lips. She stepped back to Arachne and laid a hand on her shoulder. “I’m glad. I was scared.”
“I wouldn’t have done anything to hurt you. I mean,” Arachne hesitated, looking off away from Eva, “it might have hurt having the rest of your hands removed. But it would have gotten better in the end.”
“It is the emotional hurt that I am worried about. I don’t want to see you like I saw Sawyer.”
“We have all the time here. When you feel up to it, let me know.”
Eva sat down on the beach, her back pressed against Arachne’s back. “We can’t get back?”
“I can. It will take some preparations. Your necklace is a beacon I can use to break the rules and escape from here without being summoned.”
Eva expected the necklace to be a beacon. “But not me.”
“There are rules in place to prevent other demons escaping with one’s beacon.”
“I can’t make my own beacon for you to take with you?”
Semi-tough hair tendrils smacked the side of Eva’s face as Arachne shook her head. She dodged their return trip. “Again, there are rules. I can’t take another demon’s gift with me without being summoned regularly. Even if I could, gifts must be accepted in the hands of a mortal–a mortal who knows they are gifts from a demon–before they become active.”
“So,” Eva said with a trepidatious smile, “we just need loopholes in these rules. I’m not a demon right? Try taking me back with you.”
Chapter 026
Juliana ran out of the small building titled Womens Ward.
Even without asking her, Zoe could see the blond hadn’t found her roommate.
Truly a troublesome student. If Eva just ran off somewhere with Mr. Carter without telling anyone, Zoe would be sticking a tracking tag on the girl.
If she hadn’t run off… well, she would probably still be getting a tracking tag, so long as she came back in one piece.
“I couldn’t go into her room,” Juliana said, “but I made a lot of noise at the door. I don’t think she’s home.”
Zoe frowned at that. She wished Eva had just added her to the wards set up around the place. She’d been warned not to wander aimlessly, but if this was an emergency then her professorial duty must be done.
“Let’s check the other buildings.”
“That building,” Juliana pointed towards a nearby cell house, “I think is her mentor’s building. I’m not even sure Eva is allowed inside; we should probably avoid it.”
“Good to know. Any others?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Let’s hurry then.”
Zoe and Juliana explored the rest of the complex. They avoided the two burned out buildings as well as the large machine shop. No one would stay in the burned out areas and the machine shop didn’t look like it had been opened in decades.
That left the remaining cell houses. The newer ones all seemed devoid of life. One, the furthest from Eva’s appropriated home, seemed less than devoid of life.
The smell leaking from it affected Juliana, Zoe could tell. She fidgeted. Her hand gripped tighter around her wand. Traces of flowing metal creeped up her neck to her chin.
Juliana’s nervousness only increased Zoe’s agitation. It was like some kind of paranoia plague leaking off the girl.
In truth, it wasn’t just Juliana. Necromancers were one thing. They dealt with the dead. What you would face fighting them was a known factor for the most part.
Diabolists were unpredictable. There were so many demons Zoe could think of and it wasn’t even a fraction of what a true diabolist would know of. Even that number wouldn’t be half the total number of demon types, let alone demons.
Zoe didn’t consider herself that great of a combatant. She could demolish students by the dozen, but they were just students. In her mock battles with Genoa, she did alright. If the mage-knight went all out, she doubted she’d be able to keep up.
That wasn’t even getting to nonthaumaturgical battles. The sisters favored lightning–an odd sort of lightning–there was no way that was all they were capable of. Their eyes glowed and they would suddenly know things a regular person shouldn’t know. Not to mention their lack of foci when casting. Whatever secrets they held, they never shared.
“You don’t have to come in, Juliana.”
The blond gave her a glare. “I can fight on my own.”
“Don’t. Demons are not to be trifled with. If a demon attacks us, I will immediately teleport us to the academy.” She rested one hand on Juliana’s shoulder and kept her dagger ready in her other hand. “Don’t move away from me.”
With no small sense of foreboding in her heart, Zoe opened the door to cell house two.
Luke warm air drifted out. The air smelled far fresher than the putrid stench outside the building. It was almost pleasant.
The interior consisted of a white marble ring surrounding a deep pit. Large arches held what looked like open doorways leading outwards. A black marble platform was suspended in the center of the pit. The only support it seemed to have were from chains bigger than Zoe herself stretching high into the sky.
A sky.
There was no way any of this fit in the relatively small cell house.
From the gray clouds in the sky, a single pillar of light shone down on a black throne raised up on steps in the center platform. A skeleton clothed in a pure white gown sat the throne. Its legs were spread as far apart as the armrests would allow. It seemed to have sunk down into the chair, barely keeping on the seat. One elbow rested on the armrest; its knuckles curled at the cheek of the skull, propping it up. The other arm draped over the other armrest.
It hadn’t moved a muscle–figuratively–since the door had opened, but Zoe couldn’t shake the feeling that it was watching her.
Zoe exchanged a quick glance with Juliana. Nothing on the girl’s face looked like she wanted to enter. A sentiment Zoe mirrored.
Still, she was in charge of Eva. If Eva went in here then it would be neglect to not enter.
At least, that’s what Zoe told herself as she stepped into the room.
Echoes spread through the chamber as her heels clacked on the marble floor.
Now that they were inside, the room only seemed larger. The marble ring could hold a whole classroom without any students feeling like they might fall. Railings would make Zoe feel much better, but whoever designed this place obviously didn’t feel the same way.
The door slammed shut, sending more ominous echoes through the room.
Zoe immediately flicked her dagger to send them between.
The walls did not drop away. The room stayed exactly as it was.
That’s a first, she thought. She’d have to check with Wayne, but Zoe never had between cut off before.
Zoe kept a firm grip on Juliana’s shoulder.
The blond scanned the whole room as if expecting an attack from anywhere. Her eyes kept darting back to the still skeleton.