True, Sister Cross’ current state was a complete accident thanks to Eva’s teleportation and wards. She hadn’t ever teleported anyone but Arachne before. It wasn’t a thing she had known would happen. Martina Turner used the same method of teleportation, based on the pungent sulfur left in her wake, but there was almost no chance she was anything but human.
She had to have some sort of protection. The familiar bond with Catherine, perhaps. That was something that Sister Cross lacked.
It looked like she wanted to say something. Vague, word-like noises came out of the back of her throat. Anger was all that came out with her mouth still sealed shut.
“Come quietly,” Eva said, inwardly smiling at her own little joke, “and maybe I’ll keep you alive long enough to see your daughter again.”
When Sister Cross ceased her thrashing, Eva gave a light nod towards Arachne.
It wasn’t a long walk to Ylva’s domain. The entire time, Eva kept one hand on Sister Cross’ chest while they walked. Arachne carried Cross entirely, leaving Eva free to concentrate on the blood.
While not overtly thrashing about, Sister Cross radiated rebellion, anger, and pain all at once. Two of those all but vanished once Eva swung open the doors to Ylva’s domain.
Faced with the ever-present storm clouds, massive throne, pit, and archways lining the room, Sister Cross actually managed to take her glare off of Eva to drink in the sight despite her injured form.
Eva couldn’t help but think that it would be more impressive for her had Ylva actually been in her throne.
Sister Cross’ glare returned full-force as a certain augur wandered over from the throne platform.
It took a moment for Eva to remember how Nel arrived at the prison in the first place. She had been convinced that Sister Cross was trying to kill her for some reason. It probably would have been better had the two not met, but it was too late for that. Judging by her glare, Sister Cross already recognized Nel, though the same was not true in reverse.
Eva tapped her sharp fingers against Sister Cross’ chest as a reminder before glancing to Nel. “Where’s Ylva.”
“She took Alicia and–” Nel cut herself off, squinting at Sister Cross. That squint turned wide-eyed as she stepped a few feet backwards. “S-S-Sister Cross? What did you do to her?”
“Nothing. But we’re going to be using a cell. When Ylva gets back, let her know that she has a new guest in her prison. If she gets back soon, I might still be there.”
Chapter 006
Zoe came out of between.
Taking a step forward, Zoe heard the light slap of her shoes in a shallow puddle. Her eyes widened in horror and shock as she noticed the pool of red coating the surface of the floor.
The Gate Room, as Eva called it, was the designated entryway for all arriving teleports. There weren’t all that many people cleared to just show up inside the women’s ward. At least none that would find the experience pleasant–Eva’s wards weren’t the kind one wanted to stumble across. It basically amounted to just herself, Eva, and Wayne.
Because of the limited amount of people who used the room, Zoe immediately thought of Eva. Something had happened to the girl, again, and she just barely scraped out of it alive, again.
A more rational section of Zoe’s mind reminded her that Eva’s blood was black, or close enough that this pool of blood couldn’t be hers.
Wayne then? His meeting should have finished during the previous hour. But had he been injured, he wouldn’t have come here. He would have gone to one of the school nurses or a real hospital. Judging by the amount of blood, he had better have gone to a real hospital. That was not a trivial amount.
A small shudder ran through Zoe’s back. Wayne might have come here first if it was something related to demons.
Zoe slammed open the door and strode out of the room, not even bothering to wipe her feet on the mat–it was already soaked to the core with blood. As she moved, she fished her cellphone out of her pocket and took a moment to shoot off a quick message to Wayne.
Blood in the women’s ward teleport gate. Yours? Know anything?
Two sets of bloody footprints led through the common room and out the exit. Both were of the distinctive, almost skeletal imprints left by Arachne’s feet. One set was slightly smaller than the other, matching Eva’s size.
Zoe followed them in a run. They tapered off a few feet outside of the women’s ward, but that didn’t matter. There were only two real destinations outside of the women’s ward and Zoe couldn’t see a reason to head towards Devon’s building.
Unless all the blood was from him.
A faint buzz in her hand pulled her out of her thoughts and back towards her cellphone.
Not mine. Emergency?
Zoe’s thumb hesitated on the touch pad. Was it an emergency? Possibly. That amount of blood would certainly mean that there was an emergency for someone.
Maybe. Looking for source. Will be inside Ylva’s domain/no cell shortly.
Shaking her head, Zoe decided to press on towards Ylva’s domain. If nothing else, Nel could point her in the right direction.
She didn’t get another reply before her signal dropped to zero. Inside Ylva’s domain, Zoe was surprised to find the main room entirely empty. The throne lay bare and neither Alicia nor Nel hung off its sides.
Zoe almost started off towards the augur room, the location where Nel would most likely have been. She stopped as some movement caught her eye.
The augur in question paced back and forth outside one of the archways. Her pallor was sickly and her hands rubbed one another constantly as she mumbled something to herself.
“What happened?” Zoe called out as she ran over to the archway.
Nel froze in her pacing, back towards Zoe. She turned slowly. Opening her mouth, Nel started to speak.
“It’s already been an hour?”
Nel’s mouth snapped shut as both women turned to the new voice.
Eva stood in the doorway, slightly hunched over with all of her weight on one foot. Arachne stood at her side, offering support with one arm around Eva’s shoulders.
Both were coated in a decent amount of red blood.
Ignoring the demon for the moment, Zoe focused on her student.
A portion of Eva’s shirt had burned away. Zoe immediately recognized the marks on her skin. The tree branch-like pattern marring her thigh and waist was all too familiar to anyone who used lightning. The gaping hole filled with what appeared to be black rods at the center of the lightning mark was slightly less familiar.
Eva moved her hand up, slightly covering the hole. That only served to draw Zoe’s attention to the girl’s arm. A bracelet of lightning marks wrapped around her chitin plates. The marks went up towards her elbow, turning bright red as they crossed over from carapace to skin.
“What happened?” Zoe repeated, this time to Eva.
“Met an old friend. You remember Sister Cross.”
Zoe blinked. Of course she remembered. But… “She did this to you?” Zoe gestured towards where Eva had covered her hip.
“Tried to do more. I’m mostly certain that she was going to kill me until I threatened her with Shalise.”
“Threatened–”
“She did attack me first,” Eva said, indignant. “Viciously and maniacally, I should add. She’s lucky I didn’t kill her. Twice. Though the second time would have been accidentally.”
“Accidentally? The blood?”
“All hers. I kind of forgot about my wards when teleporting her here. And the teleport wasn’t pleasant on its own,” Eva said, glancing down at herself with a sigh. “Yet another shirt I’ve ruined.”
Zoe winced. She hadn’t forgotten Genoa’s screams when she had first arrived at the prison. “Is she alright?”