Keeping up trying might just give her the actual explosion that she really didn’t want. Even if it didn’t harm her, it might be noticeable enough to draw attention from the school.
Or other interested parties.
For the moment, Eva decided to sit down. Ward work was exhausting in a way that casual casting of magic never could be. Never before, no matter how many fireballs she created or how long her hands were on fire or even how much she blinked, had Eva actually needed to rest. She might physically grow tired from lack of sleep or overexerting her body. Blood magic tended to make her anemic after prolonged use of her own blood.
But never had she suffered magical exhaustion. She hadn’t known it was even a thing. Zoe hadn’t mentioned it during any of her theory classes.
Which made her think that she was doing something extremely wrong.
Really, it probably wasn’t the warding itself that took her energy, it was tearing them down after failures. She had to infuse more magic than it took to create the ward to tear it away. Multiple times.
Which might be the reason for her increasingly spectacular failures.
“Are you alright?”
“Mostly fine,” Eva said with a tired sigh. She did give Arachne a small smile. One to help reassure the spider-demon.
Arachne did not look reassured. The chitin plates around her mouth twisted into a frown.
“Okay, you’re right. I feel like I don’t want to move for the next hour.” Eva leaned back against a tree. She was probably getting her back coated in sticky sap, but mustering up the effort to care was beyond her at the moment. It would have been a bigger issue had she still had waist length hair, but that didn’t grow back in a week, not even for a partial demon.
The short fuzz atop her head was slowly trying to reach its old length, but this time, she might keep it in a short bob above her shoulders. Waist length hair was a nightmare to care for. Her shower times had dropped in half since losing her hair. Which, honestly, was more of a positive point than anything.
Arachne kept up her glare for a moment before shaking her head, sending the tendrils that made up her hair snapping through the air. “You wanted this complete before the other students arrived. It doesn’t look like you’re going to succeed.”
“Rub it in some more, why don’t you.”
“Just pointing out the obvious. Perhaps start with smaller wards? If you fail, it wouldn’t take so much out of you to destroy them.”
The idea had occurred to Eva, but she ignored it. She had been hoping to get it right the first time. Failing that, the second or third time. By the fifth failure, she had been too frustrated to consider attempting it on the smaller scale.
Arachne should have pointed that out much sooner.
It was a bit too late now. Eva had been out trying to conjure up a ward since school ended. The sun had still been up then, so it must have been a few hours at the very least. If her cellphone hadn’t been destroyed, she could have checked the actual time.
She really needed to get a new one.
With the sun gone, the little heat it brought to the November air vanished. Eva’s breath left mist in the air and, now that she was no longer actively concentrating on magic, she could feel the cold digging into her bones. Eva shook in a fairly violent shiver as she realized just how light her clothing was.
Despite her desire to sit in one spot and never move again, Eva dragged herself to her feet. “Let’s get back to the dorms, shall we?”
Arachne gave an eager nod, placing her fingers around Eva’s arm to help keep her steady.
Normally, they would have teleported back. They weren’t too far into the Infinite Courtyard, but teleporting was always faster than walking. However, Eva wanted to put as little stress on Arachne’s still injured body as possible. Even though her method of teleporation didn’t seem to affect demons in the same way that it had torn apart Lynn Cross or drained Serena, she still didn’t want to take the chance.
It was one of the main reasons they were actually using the dormitory instead of sleeping in the women’s ward every night.
So walking it was.
Eva leaned against Arachne and Arachne leaned back as they walked with each other. The spider-demon’s carapace wasn’t exactly warm. In fact, it felt even colder than the already freezing air.
Magic had a solution to most problems. Fire magic in particular was especially useful in this situation. Warming spells acted just like a tablet of runes set up to generate heat except they didn’t need all the fussy inscribing. A casual wave of her hand had her magic keeping the night air at bay.
She could have lit her hands on fire. Fire was even warmer than warming spells and she doubted Arachne’s carapace would have minded. But fire was bright. It would ruin their night vision at the same time as it signaled their position to anything that might be in the Infinite Courtyard.
Without Srey along with them this time, Eva didn’t want to take the chance of missing any movement in the moonlit night.
Despite being somewhat tense and wary about the possibility of something jumping out from the dark at them—the doll was still around somewhere, probably, and Eva couldn’t even detect it with her sense of blood—Eva walked with Arachne in a companionable silence. Neither felt an immediate need to talk.
Taking a languid stroll with Arachne was nice on its own. No need to weigh it down with unnecessary conversation. With her warming spells, she didn’t even feel a need to rush.
Though she wasn’t speaking, Eva was relatively certain that Arachne was enjoying herself as well. She could speak up if she was feeling uncomfortable.
So they walked through the Infinite Courtyard.
It didn’t take long to reach the edge of the forest section. They passed by the magizoology classroom and its conjoined zoo. As they did so, they moved from the rough terrain to the paved pathway that led to the school.
The closer one got to the school building, the fewer and farther between the trees were. That combined with the relatively straight path led to something of a rare situation.
Eva actually saw someone before the person entered her range of blood sense.
Arachne tensed the arm that was wrapped around Eva’s shoulder, apparently having noticed as well.
But Eva ignored the spider-demon. The figure leaning against the wall of Brakket Academy looked vaguely familiar. And not in the way that warranted immediate alarm.
Crossing a quarter of the distance to the main building confirmed Eva’s suspicions.
The person leaning against the wall was dead. Very dead. No living blood circulating through her veins. Yet she still shoved off the wall when she spotted Eva and Arachne despite her living-impaired body.
“Serena!” Eva said as she got closer to the vampire. “I haven’t seen you in forever.”
“Eva,” the vampire greeted with a fanged smile. “Good to see you again. Smelling stronger than usual.”
“If I didn’t know you were talking about my blood, I’d be a little offended,” Eva said, placing a hand on her hip and faking a little glare.
Which only had the vampire widening her grin.
Deciding to be a little ornery, Eva split her lips, matching Serena’s wide smile.
Serena blinked, actually taking a step back as her eyes dropped to Eva’s smile. Somehow, using some supernatural ability, Serena managed to turn her step back into a step forward. She got right up in Eva’s personal space.
Something Arachne actually let out a little growl about.
“Eva,” she said, not taking her eyes off Eva’s mouth. “You’re making me a little envious. Am I crazy or did you have normal teeth last time I was around?”
“You’re not crazy. And it’s good that you mentioned my teeth. My mouth,” she started, momentarily hanging her tongue down to her chin before continuing, “is a bit different nowadays and nobody has said a word. I was beginning to wonder if they just couldn’t see it.”
“Well I can see it and I’m feeling inadequate now,” Serena said, leaning back with a pout.