The only other person on the beach was Devon. Zoe went and stood by him for whatever reason. He–
Eva frowned. Her master had been back at the women’s ward, sleeping.
It took a double take to realize that the man standing to Zoe’s side was a slightly scragglier looking Wayne Lurcher.
Looking at him again, it was obvious. His hair was far shorter and his beard was less of a beard and more stubble. The dead giveaway was that he was wearing a suit rather than Devon’s ragged trench coat.
Eva moved up next to him. “You’re looking good,” she said.
He turned his head and gave her a look.
Eva gave him a look right back. Surely he wasn’t blaming her for being injured. She was about to open her mouth and say as much when he opened his first.
“You’re awake.”
“I am.”
“Try not to cause so much trouble next time.”
Eva humphed and walked away. “I’ll show you trouble,” she muttered under her breath, prompting a short laugh from Arachne. “Try to be nice to a guy and–”
“I’ve found them,” Nel half shouted. “Or Juliana at least. Shalise isn’t anywhere around her. Something else is though.”
Genoa stepped forwards, sinking her boots into the water. “What is it?”
“I don’t–a demon, I guess,” Nel said while waving an arm.
It was then that Eva noticed her other arm. Or, more accurately, the shriveled husk that was in place of her other arm. Looking through her blood sight, Eva saw the problem immediately.
She had no eyes in that arm.
Nel’s extra eyes did something strange to her body. A full-sized eyeball wouldn’t fit in the palm of her hand even if all the bones were removed. Yet she clearly had one on her good hand. It pushed her meat around like there was more space than actually existed.
Without the eyeballs in her arm, whatever magic there was had broken and left the pushed aside meat… well, pushed aside and useless.
Eva couldn’t begin to guess how her arm wasn’t a rotted husk. The blood was barely making it to her fingers as it was.
Shaking her head, Eva tried to catch up with the conversation.
Genoa jumped into the water, waist deep in it alongside Nel, and gripped one of her shoulders. “They’re doing what?”
— — —
Juliana left the tea in her mouth for a moment, tasting it.
It wasn’t that bad. Sweet, but not overpowering. Unfortunately, it was a familiar sweetness. The black honey that had made it into her mouth tasted the same.
She would have spit it back into the cup, but the demon was watching her closely.
Too close.
Juliana swallowed the tiny mouthful and reset the cup on its tray. Leaning away from the overbearing demon, she said, “I appreciate the hospitality–”
“Oh my dear, you have yet to see the breadth of my hospitality.”
His hand stretched with the strings dragging it along. As soon as his hand touched Juliana’s shoulder, she found herself sitting on a stone bench.
A rather comfortable stone bench.
It was one of many, all seated in a half-circle around a lower central platform. An amphitheater. Almost the same as the one at Brakket.
In fact, Juliana thought as she glanced around, it is the same. He even dropped her off at her usual spot during Zoe’s seminars. The trees of the forest were in the background.
The only real change was the pitch black sky with the eye-like moon.
That and the fact that all the spare seats were occupied by the same statues of golden bees as the ones occupying the theater seats. Every one of them sat in a unique pose. She had a feeling that if she examined them a little closer, each bee would be different from the next.
Juliana jumped to her feet as two people walked out on the stage. “Mom! Arachne? Why–how–”
Juliana’s voice caught in her throat as her mother waved and said, “hello.”
Two lines ran up from her chin to the corners of her lips as her jaw dropped straight down. Her face was like stiff plastic. Five thin strings attached to her fingers glinted off the moonlight. Arachne was similarly strung up, though she looked more normal. Or it was harder to tell the difference between puppet-Arachne and the real thing. The ball joints on her limbs blended in a lot better than the ones on her mother.
‘Genoa’ and ‘Arachne’ turned to face one another. After a brief stare-down, the Arachne-puppet gripped the chin of Genoa and tore off her face. No blood or bone came out, just splinters.
Juliana sunk back into her seat as her mother started sparring with Arachne despite her lack of face.
“Not quite the spectacle of the real thing, is it?”
Giving a small start, Juliana turned to Willie. She had almost forgotten he was there. “You’ve been spying on my mother?”
“I do so enjoy a good show and you were so diligent in carrying around that doll eye. It would have been a crime not to watch. Sandwich?” he asked as a silver plate appeared in his hand. A pile of bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches materialized on top. The bread was a light golden brown, grilled to perfection.
And the smell.
Juliana had to wipe off a small bit of drool before responding. “I don’t think–”
A loud rumbling of her stomach interrupted her. Traitor.
“Nonsense. You must be famished. How long has it been since you last ate?”
Since before I can remember, Juliana did not say. Instead, she meekly took one of the sandwiches with a mumbled, “thanks.”
Her first nibble turned into a bite. A second sandwich found its way into her other hand before the first finished disappearing. A third and fourth followed without delay.
The entire plate was gone before she finally felt full.
“See,” he said, “famished.”
A tremor shook the entire amphitheater. Juliana gripped the edges of her seat to keep from tumbling off as the ground shook beneath her feet.
The two fighting imitations weren’t quite so lucky. ‘Arachne’ collapsed forwards, one arm striking through the wooden doll of her mother’s chest.
As the tremors died off, Juliana glanced to her side. Willie hadn’t budged the entire time. He did have a somewhat concerned look on his face.
“Dreadful things,” he said with undisguised disdain. “Are you alright, milady?”
Juliana narrowed her eyes as she frowned at the demon seated to her side. “Weren’t you trying to kill me the last time we met? Now you are concerned about me and, what, fattening me up?” She gestured towards the empty sandwich platter.
Willie gave an elegant snort. “I am not about to eat you. As I said then, it is a token effort mostly for the sake of tradition. No demon wishes to be beholden to a weak master even if that means a brief respite from this place.”
“And you still tried despite my ring?”
“Truthfully, I failed to notice. King Zagan’s presence overpowers your little token by far. He was a tad distracting.”
Juliana shuffled in her seat, trying her best to ignore the fight between the puppet versions of her mother and Arachne. “I don’t suppose I can leave to find my friend, can I?”
He turned to her with a smile–an Arachne smile. “And miss out on all of my hospitality? My dear, we are just getting started.”
— — —
Genoa shared a quick glance with Arachne at Nel’s recounting of the situation.
The spider-demon gave her half of a shrug in return.
“She knows it isn’t us, right?” Genoa asked as she turned back to Nel.
“You look significantly different from your puppet version. And she didn’t run up and hug you or anything.”
Carlos stumbled forwards, splashing into the water as he moved towards Nel. The augur winced back as one of his bony hands gripped her rotten arm, but he didn’t appear to notice. He put his face a few inches from hers and stared into her eyes.
“That is my daughter,” Carlos said, “not some puppet? The real and true Juliana?”