“Alright enough. She’s been stuffed full of potions. Apparently she has a method of healing herself as well, though I don’t know if it will work in Ylva’s prison. I couldn’t get more than two words out of her mouth before she started shouting at me.”
Enhancing her hearing, Zoe shut her eyes to listen to the room beyond. Apart from slightly laborious breathing, there wasn’t a peep. “Seems quiet now.”
“She’s gagged.”
“Ah.”
Zoe stood there as she considered how to react. She couldn’t be sure without meeting the nun in person, but the woman known as Sister Cross had always struck Zoe as being a level-headed person during her brief tenure as self-proclaimed protector of Brakket City. Even during the fight with Zagan, she had radiated a certain calm aura up until the last few minutes when her powers failed her.
‘Viciously and maniacally’ attacking Eva didn’t sound like her style.
Eva reacted first. “Postponing our meeting might be for the best,” she said with a wince on her face. “I’m going to miss my other appointments for the day as well. Need to get some medical attention for myself, though I’m not sure what.”
Zoe shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Right, of course. I–”
“You’re just going to leave her here? Alone?” Nel said in a high-pitched shriek.
“She’s in Ylva’s prison,” Eva said, already limping by with the aid of Arachne. “It’s probably the safest place for her to be for you. And if you’re that scared, I’m sure one of these rooms has a good hiding place you can cower in until Ylva gets back. Besides, I’ll be back after I see to myself. Have to make sure she doesn’t bleed out or anything stupid.”
Nel’s sputtering response went ignored by Zoe. Torn between making sure herself that Sister Cross was okay and ensuring that her student was okay, Zoe decided on keeping near her student.
“Are you going to see a nurse?”
“Not really considering it. As much as half of everyone knows already, I’d still like to keep my exact physiology a secret from the rest.”
“Laura Post knows what you are, so you wouldn’t have to worry about that.”
“I don’t know what she would do for me,” Eva said.
“She could examine you, tell you exactly what is wrong, administer potions.”
“Potions are having less and less effect on me as time goes by. Maybe Wayne can invent some demon-compliant potions that do work–maybe there would even be a market for such a thing in the near future.”
“Don’t joke about that.”
Sighing at Eva’s callous shrug, Zoe pursed her lips together. Her pressed lips twisted into a frown as Eva’s words reminded her of the despicable experiments carried out by Devon Foster.
“We’ve never talked about your… condition,” Zoe hedged. While the topic might be interesting, from a purely theoretical point of view, Zoe couldn’t be sure she wanted to discuss the subject of what amounted to child exploitation.
Eva paused. The arm Arachne had around her shoulder squeezed tighter for a bare moment.
“I don’t know what there is to talk about. I agreed to it and I have no intention of stopping now. In fact, it might be more dangerous to stop.”
“That’s…” Zoe bit her lip. “I just want to make sure you weren’t being coerced into something. That you’re alright.”
“I,” Arachne said, voice hard, “will ensure Eva’s well-being. Nothing will bring her harm. This topic is outside your expertise, professor.” The last word came out with venom.
Not literal venom–Zoe wasn’t entirely sure whether or not Arachne was venomous–but metaphorical, verbal venom.
She contained far more ire in that single word than any Zoe had heard her speak in the past. Granted, Arachne didn’t often address Zoe. Especially in the recent months. In fact, this could be the first she had heard Arachne speak at all since the incident involving Genoa.
“Do you get this involved in the personal lives of all of your students?”
Zoe blinked at Arachne’s question, slightly taken aback. “Excuse me?”
“Or is it just that she makes for a fascinating research subject? You and Devon might have a lot in common if you looked past your foolish sense of self-righteousness.”
“Arachne,” Eva said, silencing the demon.
“Excuse me,” Zoe said. “No student I have ever had has found themselves in as much trouble as Eva so frequently attracts. Nor am I likely to instruct such a troublemaker–trouble finder,” Zoe corrected at a glare from Eva, “again. Very few children find themselves at the unpleasant end of necromancers and the Elysium Order.”
Eva snorted and mumbled under her breath. “You’re going to have a whole lot more troublemakers if Martina is still the dean in a year’s time.”
Zoe narrowed her eyes in Eva’s direction. The only reason she caught that little tidbit was because of mildly enhanced hearing. “What do you mean by that?”
“You know of her little specialty class, right?”
Shaking her head, Zoe answered, “I do not.”
“Ah, maybe I’ll invite you one of these days.”
Before Zoe could question what she was talking about, Eva continued speaking.
“To answer your original question, no. I’m not going to go find a nurse or a hospital. I’ll fix myself up myself, even if I have to remake my entire side out of molded blood. Though it would be nice if I could regenerate on Arachne’s level… The whole demon transforming thing could at least have that as a payoff.”
Zoe frowned but said nothing. Despite it being her suggestion, she didn’t know what a medical professional could do for Eva. Especially with how uncooperative she would likely be. Slathering on bone regenerating potions might actually do more harm than good, given her hip injury was right where skin met carapace.
“Actually,” Eva said, looking up at Zoe, “could you go back to where we fought? Sister Cross hit me pretty hard,” Eva said, once again gesturing towards her hip. “Between Nel, Sawyer, and my own blood ritual experiments, I’ve been somewhat conscious of leaving pieces of myself around. If you could grab Wayne and have him burn down a section–”
Eva froze, voice catching in her throat. Her eyes grew wide.
For a moment, Zoe was worried that something happened. Heart failure or some other sudden illness. She reached forwards, placing a hand on the young girl’s shoulder.
“Um, if there is even a forest left. Sister Cross might have set a good chunk of it on fire and I might have forgotten until just now.”
Zoe blinked. “She attacked right after the spar?”
“Put up anti-banishment wards, probably while we fought, which have the unfortunate side-effect of breaking my teleportation.”
There hadn’t been a hint of that anywhere. Even with all her enhanced senses on, Zoe hadn’t so much as suspected that someone else had been in the area. And she knew that Eva had a method of sensing any living person within quite a range around her.
“How did we miss her?” Zoe asked, dumbfounded.
Eva shrugged. “I was focused on fighting you. You were as well. Don’t forget that Sister Cross can teleport; it wouldn’t be difficult to stay on the edge of our senses with that. But maybe worry about the fire first?”
“Right,” Zoe said. She swung open the heavy entrance to Ylva’s domain and let Eva head off towards the women’s ward.
As soon as her phone found a signal, it started vibrating like crazy. Six missed messages from Wayne. All despite having told him she was entering Ylva’s domain. After skimming through them, she sent out her responses.
No immediate emergency.
Sister Cross attacked Eva, wound up injured instead.
May need help w/fire. Investigating. Will send location if assistance needed.