They weren’t walking as fast as they had been. By the time they reached the end of the barrier-type cells, Juliana was certain there were large blisters on her feet.
“Took you long enough.”
Juliana frowned as the demon rattled his chains. Her frown deepened as Shalise jumped half a step backwards.
“If you have finished dithering, free me.”
Juliana sighed again. She took Shalise by the hand and walked through the red barrier.
“I-I don’t know about this. Can’t we find an empty one?”
“It’ll be fine. If anything happens, I can push you outside the barrier. Besides, an empty one might just have an invisible demon in it.”
Juliana sat down right at the edge of the barrier. She pat her hands on her lap. There was some metal there, but it was better than resting on the hard floor.
Shalise hesitated. For a moment, Juliana thought she was going to run off. All at once, she dropped to the floor. With a little maneuvering, she got her head to sit on Juliana’s lap.
“What do you think you are doing, mortals?” The demon growled.
“She is going to take a nap,” Juliana said. “And then I am going to take a nap. And then, maybe, we will think about letting you go.”
He growled again, but did not speak.
Juliana leaned back, resting her head against the wall. In spite of the situation, Shalise’s breathing slowed to a far more restful pace. It was… hypnotic in a way. She barely moved save for the slow rise and fall of her chest.
“Mortal.”
Frowning, Juliana opened her eyes and glanced towards the red demon.
“If you’re supposed to be on lookout, you’re doing a terrible job.”
Juliana’s eyes widened. Her hair whipped around behind her head as she looked around the small cell.
Apart from herself, Shalise, and a chained up demon, there was nothing.
“Your jokes will not help your case when we decide whether or not to free you.”
“No joke, mortal. Being a lookout requires you to be awake. You’ve been asleep for a good fifteen minutes.”
“That’s…” Juliana shifted against the wall. Her movement caused a small stirring in Shalise. Juliana went still until Shalise went back to deeper sleep. “Thanks,” she said in a whisper. Juliana quickly tacked on, “I guess,” and looked out the barrier.
The flaming dog across the hall glared at them. Apart from that, nothing had changed. The corridor was as empty as it had been their first time through.
“Oh, don’t thank me. In the unlikely event that something does happen, I can’t have my tickets out of here getting themselves taken away or killed.”
“You’re so altruistic for a demon.”
That got a dark chuckle out of him.
“What’s your name?”
“So talkative now that your companion is asleep.”
“I need to talk or I’ll fall asleep.”
“Fair enough. Though unnecessary. Free me and I would watch over your slumber.”
“First, that sounds creepy. Second, no. We’ll decide together after our rest.”
The demon harrumphed, rattling his chains as he did so.
“You’re awfully confident that we’re going to free you.”
“Few mortals can resist my charms.”
Juliana snorted in spite of herself. He had very nice abs. Juliana was willing to admit that. Despite her earlier reservations, the rest of him wasn’t so bad either, though his hoofed feet and red skin disturbed her a little. Just something unsettling in an inhuman manner.
Nothing about him was irresistible though.
Maybe if she were older.
She stopped rolling her eyes mid-roll. Unless he wasn’t talking about his body. Continuing to talk to him suddenly felt like a bad decision.
“In any case,” he said without a prompt, “you may call me Prax.”
Juliana didn’t respond, opting instead to stare out the barrier.
This was going to be a long night.
Chapter 004
Something jabbed Shalise’s side between her ribs and her hips.
Shalise jumped to her feet. That didn’t last long. She teetered and wobbled at the sudden lack of blood in her head.
She let out a light groan as she moved a hand to her forehead.
“Sorry,” said Juliana. “You weren’t waking up.”
Shalise looked around as soon as the spots cleared from her eyes.
The big winged demon still sat in his chains against the wall. Juliana sat against one wall. She looked like she was holding on to wakefulness by a thread. Her eyes were somewhat droopy. The red barrier still separated them from the rest of the prison.
The prison.
“Oh,” sighed Shalise, “we’re still here.”
She had wanted nothing more than for the entire previous day to be a nightmare and nothing else. Waking up back in her warm dorm bed…
Shalise turned one cheek away from Juliana and gave it a subtle pinch. Just to be certain.
Nothing happened.
At least the demon was still chained up. Juliana hadn’t let it go while she slept. That was one worry unfounded.
“How long was I asleep.”
“No clue. Not exactly any clocks around. Any longer and I might have fallen asleep as well, so I had to wake you up.”
Shalise nodded and slapped her cheeks. She didn’t feel well rested, but it would have to do for now. “My turn to take watch, right? Do you want my lap?”
“Nope. I think I would have gone insane if I didn’t have the metal armor on my legs. As it was, my feet were falling asleep.” Juliana stretched out, arching her back. After a brief yawn, she removed her shirt and wrapped it in a ball.
Without the cloth, the metal armor she wore was plainly visible. It wasn’t shiny. It wasn’t even silver-colored. Sort of a bronze-ish color instead.
The knight in dull armor lay down, placing the balled shirt behind her head.
“How is it comfortable to wear that?”
“I have a little bit of padding, and I picked up a few books on actual armor design. Of course, I’d prefer to sleep outside of it, but it isn’t designed to be removed without ferrokinesis. A problem that I will definitely be correcting as soon as possible.
“Now time to sleep. Wake me if anything happens. Oh,” Juliana’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, “careful talking to Prax. He might be able to influence us through words.”
“Wh–” Shalise narrowed her eyes as she glanced off to the side.
The winged demon gave a four-fingered wave–he didn’t have any more fingers–rattling the chains as he did so.
“Oh.”
“That said, I had to talk a little or I would have fallen asleep a lot sooner.”
Shalise frowned. Not talking to him would have been too much to ask for. What was Juliana thinking?
Now and back then.
Shalise’s memories were fuzzy, but she definitely remembered Juliana drawing out a summoning circle.
It was betrayal, of a sort. Not necessarily towards Shalise, but to Eva. Stealing a book had been mentioned, but that was second to all the sneaking around behind Eva’s back.
Of course she had to go and drag Shalise into it after she had promised Sister Cross that she would keep her distance from the demon things. Not that Juliana knew that little detail. Still, it was the principle of the matter.
“Are we actually letting him out?”
“Talk after I wake up. I have a headache and can’t think properly.”
With that said, Juliana flopped over and nuzzled into her shirt.
She was snoring less than a minute later.
Shalise stayed on her feet, too worried she might fall asleep again if she sat down.
Alright, on watch. I can do this.
The winged demon was chained to the wall. Grinning at her.
Shalise shuddered.
She poked her head out of the barrier and glanced left, right, up, and down–not that there was anything down other than the floor. Aside from the demons in their own cells, the hallway was otherwise empty.