Eva let her fork drop into her dish with a loud clatter. Irene, surprisingly, was the one to jump at the noise. Eva didn’t pay the brunette any mind.
“I’m going to head to next class, I don’t think I’m very hungry.”
“Twillie won’t let you in until class starts,” Jordan said. “You’ll be stuck outside in the cold and snow.”
Eva gave the boy a shrug as she picked up her plate. “I’m loaded up with enough heat runes that I could confuse Antarctica with the Sahara.”
Eva gave the group a light smile before she walked through the courtyard doors, earning a glare from the Sister. She might have been the same one that originally tried to attack Eva. It was hard to tell for sure.
Most of the nuns looked so similar with their nun habits on that Eva had a difficult time telling them apart from each other. The few who wore the black robes were much easier to tell apart, but only because there were less to keep track of.
Trudging through the snow to Bradley Twillie’s zoo wasn’t a fun affair. No one bothered to shovel the snow on the paths in the courtyard. There were a few footprints from the classes earlier in the day, but that was as close as the road got to being clear.
Eva decided she didn’t like snow. It rarely snowed in the middle of Florida and when it did, it was less snow and more of cold rain. Snow had a nasty habit of getting all over the ground. It was deep enough that stepping in it would get it inside her shoes. Even with heat runes melting and warming the snow, Eva’s socks stayed soaking wet.
More than once she thought about increasing the temperature.
That was one of the reasons she went back to wearing her skirt with her gray top. It was high enough up that it didn’t get caught in the snow, unlike her pant legs. With heat runes, she could barely tell the difference between the temperature.
The boots the nuns wore were appealing. Hopefully the shops in town sold something similar. Simple shoes were just not good enough for Montana’s winter. Though, if it snowed more–something she figured it would–even the knee-high boots might not be high enough to keep the snow out.
Sadly, no boots would stop that horrid crunching sound.
Bradley Twillie’s zoo had a small area that had been cleared of snow in front of the main door. The door itself was locked, as Jordan predicted, so Eva took a seat on a bench near a snow-covered flowerbed. She leaned back and rested her eyes.
It wasn’t long before sounds of crunching snow approached her. Eva snapped her eyes open, making sure that the person wasn’t a threat.
The skinny form of Professor Twillie stumbled up to his own lecture room. He either wasn’t paying attention or simply ignored Eva; he walked straight to the door and stepped inside. The soft click of the door locking behind him may as well have been thunder in the silent outdoors.
Eva didn’t mind. She enjoyed the peace and quiet. Her feet were slowly yet surely drying.
Since arriving at Brakket, Eva had scarcely two minutes without someone else around. Usually that someone was Arachne, though Arachne wouldn’t have bothered her at the moment. She’d have been silent in spider form, clinging to Eva’s chest as another heat source.
The white forest was a serene place in any case, even if Eva would have preferred almost anyplace in Florida.
The serenity broke again with more crunching snow. That the sounds were coming from the wrong direction immediately put Eva on guard. She jumped to her feet with her hand already on the dagger attached to her back.
She relaxed as the approaching figure held up a hand in a peace gesture.
“You miss all the fun times, don’t you?”
“So I hear. Although, sneaking past all the Elysium Sisters is a bit of sporting fun.”
“I’m surprised you managed.”
“I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”
Eva snorted and a smile spread across her face. “I should hope so. You’ve got nothing else up it.”
“A problem I am still working on resolving,” her master said.
“So,” Eva said, crossing her arms, “you were just watching me and waiting until I was alone? What a creeper.”
“I said I have my tricks, girl. Don’t push your luck.” He took a step forward, waggling his finger in Eva’s direction.
Eva just laughed the gesture off. “I take it this isn’t a social call?”
“It has been three months and I would rather not be dragged here by a haunter again. Assuming you are still willing to go through with it?”
“Of course I do,” Eva answered without a moment’s hesitation. “Not that you’ve given me a choice before.”
“The only choice you’re being given now is between being knocked out or coming willingly.”
Eva glared at her master. He’d never acted like this in the past. “Why would you think I wouldn’t want to continue the experiment?”
“You have friends now,
Eva scoffed. “The only poisoning done to my mind is your doing.”
Devon’s neutral expression turned to a glower at that.
