Lightly tapping on the large ball of ice, Catherine frowned. “Now what do we do about–”
“That isn’t an imp,” someone blurted out.
“How very observant of you,” Catherine said as she rolled her eyes. “Yes, this is not an imp.”
Randal took a step forward. “I told her that the circle was inadequate,” he said with a self-righteous tone in his voice.
Catherine shot him a glare. He wilted, taking a step backwards.
“The circle,” Catherine said, “was flawless. Or at least no flaws that would have mattered.”
Irene tried to straighten up at the slight praise and at Randal being shot down, but the pain in her arm ruined that little action. Instead, she looked on as she kept her arm as still as possible.
“I could feel the shackles,” Catherine said. “They might not have kept me in, but they would have given me more pause than they gave our ugly friend here.” She patted the giant ice cube. “And the circle was keyed properly for imps. Nothing else should have been able to come through.”
“Then what is that?” said one of the older students with an exceptionally unnecessary gesture towards the ice.
“I haven’t the slightest idea.”
The entire classroom was struck dumb by that single proclamation. A few looked at one another with incredulity.
Irene frowned at the ice ball. Demons had such a variety in appearances and there were so many different ones that she had no clue where to start in identifying the creature.
Humans, for the most part, all had two arms, two legs, a head, and a body connecting it all together. Most humans had hair on their head, two eyes, a nose, a mouth. There were variances in coloring, hair style, muscle mass, and gender dimorphism, but overall, one could look at a photograph and pick out the humans with ease.
Demons weren’t so homogeneous. Arachne had eight eyes, eight legs, and the body of a spider. Catherine had horns, a tail, and wings like a bat. Lucy the security guard had shown up at the previous class and demonstrated her natural form which looked more like a plate of soggy spaghetti than a living thing.
And they all changed. They could turn into something more human-like. Though in Lucy’s case, Irene was having a hard time seeing her as anything but shaped spaghetti noodles since their last class; Lucy’s uncanny appearance just felt so much more pronounced.
There were a few shared traits according to the book. For instance, demons often had red eyes. Not in one hundred percent of cases. If she had a thousand demons in a hat and picked one at random, Irene would put all of her money on it having red eyes.
Irene blinked as she realized another shared trait. One that the book said had no known deviance.
“That thing isn’t a demon.”
“Very astute,” Catherine said as she turned to Irene. “Much more so than whoever said that it wasn’t an imp. What gave it away?”
“Its blood. The book said that demons all had black blood without exception. Purple is not black.”
“Yes, the first and most obvious thing. Well, while it is injured at least. For me, it was that it has no presence. Demons can sense each other to a degree, you see. This thing doesn’t ping my radar in the slightest. Though it does make me somewhat queasy.”
“So what is it?” someone asked.
For a moment, Irene wondered if she shouldn’t be trying to learn her classmates’ names. On one hand, this class felt like the sort of thing anonymity might be good for. On the other, it was kind of rude not to.
“Something that a few experts will have to come look at. For now, we need to ensure it doesn’t get loose. The shackles stopped it for a moment, something I find fairly interesting. I’ll find and drag Eva over here to have her set up some real shackles.”
“You can’t do it yourself?”
“I could.” She glanced up to the clock. “But class is over,” she said with a shrug. “Not really my responsibility now. Though I guess I should do something.” She hummed lightly for a moment before sighing. “Before I find Eva, I’ll pull our illustrious security guards over to keep an eye on it. In the meantime, if whatever water mages we have here could keep the ice from melting, that might be a good idea.”
Catherine stepped away from the ball of ice as one girl stepped up to it with her wand drawn.
The succubus started towards the door.
For a moment, Irene was sure that she had been forgotten. Catherine tossed on a bathrobe before she walked straight up to the door. As she placed her hand on the handle, she started turning back to her human form, ridding herself of her horns and tail as part of the process.
She stopped just short of turning the handle with a glance over her shoulder.
“I suppose you need to be taken to a nurse?”
Irene nodded eagerly. She tried to get to her feet on her own and wound up bumping her shoulder against the leg of a desk. Clamping down on the cry of pain that wanted to escape, Irene grit her teeth.
She didn’t want to give the rest of the class any more reason to think less of her.
A gentle hand gripped Irene’s shoulder–the one that wasn’t dislocated–and helped her to her feet.
Keeping her hand in place, Catherine looked out over the six remaining students in their class. “Anyone else need an escort to the nurse?”
She didn’t even wait for a response before directing Irene to the door.
“In that case, water mages stick around until someone from security shows up. Everyone else do whatever.”
Getting to the infirmary wasn’t much trouble. After stumbling once and bumping her arm against that desk, Irene was extremely grateful that Catherine had come back for her. Having some support helped a lot.
Along the way, they passed by one of the security guards–the elf.
For having been injured enough to require critical attention, he wasn’t looking too bad. Two full months had passed, plenty of time to recover.
Still, his lustrous hair hadn’t quite grown back all the way.
“Daenir,” Catherine snapped.
The elf started at her harsh voice. He blinked once before realizing who was addressing him. “Yes, ma’am?”
“I’ve told you before not to call me that.” Catherine didn’t even attempt to disguise her irritation.
“Of course. Sorry ma’am.”
“Call up one of the specialists and get them to room A-43. If they haven’t dropped everything and arrived in five minutes, Zagan will have words. And get out of my sight,” she added almost as an afterthought.
He complied with her first request immediately, pulling out a small cellphone and making the call.
Catherine started walking again before he could leave. She kept Irene in a firm grip as they moved away.
“Excellent,” Catherine said with a grin. “I was worried I would have to hunt one of them down. That’s one task complete. Now to finish up with you and then find Eva.” Mumbling under her breath, she said, “stupid girl needs a cellphone.”
Irene kept silent, though she agreed on that. Jordan and Catherine both had one, so it wasn’t like demons were allergic to the things.
The infirmary was only a quick walk from where they left the security guard. Some students, Irene knew, visited the place every month or so with various injuries. Irene was quite glad that she had avoided childish hallway fights. She didn’t find the idea of catching a lightning bolt in the back very pleasing, even one that tickled no more than a nine-volt battery.
She had only been to the infirmary twice. Once with an injured wrist, thanks to that idiot Drew, and again thanks to her own idiocy in running aimlessly while the Academy was swarming with fake demons.
The second time she had been brought in unconscious.
So when she walked in and the nurse on duty, Nurse Post, turned to her with a knowing smile, Irene was slightly surprised.
“Irene Coggins,” Nurse Post said, “what seems to be the trouble?”
“Her arm,” Catherine said before Irene could open her mouth. “She slipped down a set of stairs.”