“Aww, it isn’t even my birthday for another two months,” Eva said. She risked a small peek through one eye and winced back as light poured in. Still, she struggled through long enough to open the lid on the box. Two hazel eyeballs stared back at her.
“Eyes?”
“Contacts. You might be fine not wearing them for now,” he said, “that will change sooner rather than later.”
She took another peek. “Do they need to be so big?” The two lenses in front of her were almost a full half of an eyeball. She’d never worn contacts before, but she was sure normal ones were less than half the size.
“Your sclera has darkened, your pupils are elongating, and your irises are turning red.”
“I knew about my irises and my pupils. I didn’t think they were that bad yet. What is a sclera?”
“The white part of your eyes. You’re less likely to notice changes in yourself because they are gradual changes. Others often around you, friends and teachers, won’t notice quickly either. One day though, they’ll look at you and think ‘huh, has she always had red eyes?'”
Her master’s voice hammered into her head with every syllable. She didn’t want to think about what he said. Too many words this soon after a session.
“Seems excessive,” she said after a few minutes.
“Not if you want to keep attending school. Especially with nuns running around the place.”
That seemed a valid point. She had no arguments for that.
“Now,” Devon’s tone turned harsh, “mind telling me what happened to that other cell house?”
Eva winced back again. This was definitely not a conversation she wanted right after her treatment.
“Well,” Eva started, “good news is that the black book has been destroyed.”
Devon frowned harder.
“I asked Ylva, the hel I summoned to destroy the phylactery. She asked for compensation for the book’s destruction.”
“Compensation,” he repeated.
“She asked for a week of time to stay on the surface along with a place to stay.”
“Exact words, please.” His ‘please’ didn’t sound very sincere.
Eva thought for a minute, trying to organize her memories against her pounding headache. “I think,” she said, “it was something like, ‘Allow me to stay for one week. While I am here, allow me to choose a place where I may reside.'”
“It returned after the week?”
Eva nodded.
“That’s something at least,” he grumbled. “I can’t do anything about the domain that it set up. Not now at least. I was unable to even step inside.”
“That’s,” Eva sighed, “bad, right?”
“You’ve given a demon a foothold in our world. Right next to your school no less. At least, being a hel, it shouldn’t act rashly. It is a servant of Death and, as such, shouldn’t go on mad sprees to kill everyone.”
Eva sighed again, glad she couldn’t see Devon’s face through her shut eyes. “So, what do we do?”
“Your mess, you clean it up. I still have an arm to replace.”
Sensing the opportunity to change the topic, Eva latched on to his words. “How are you going to get a new arm anyway?”
She could almost feel her master’s shrug. “I tried bargaining with a few demons able to grant such a thing. I didn’t like their offers.” He paused. Eva felt his gaze bore into her. “I’m not so foolish as to agree to anything a demon asks without thinking.”
It took all her effort to avoid complaining. For not being around when she needed, he was sure in a stickle about Ylva. By the sound of it, he was about to disappear again. Disappear without even giving her advice.
Besides, it wasn’t like Ylva did anything bad. She’d destroyed the book and taken one of the buildings as a home for herself. That was more good than Devon had done since the whole necromancer thing started.
The real question was about Ylva’s motivations. Why did the demon want a foothold, as Devon put it.
She’d never been interested in the intricacies of demonology. Even with regular interactions and summoning a few on her own, she’d never bothered to ask any of them why they did what they did.
Eva risked a peek at Arachne. She was pleasantly surprised to find the light caused only a mild throb rather than the hammering pain.
Arachne stood just to the side of Eva’s chair. Her hands still ran through Eva’s hair. The sharp teeth in her mouth poked through a slight open-mouthed frown. Devon held most of her ire if her glare was any indication.
Her master leaned against the wall of the building with a bowl in his hand. He shoveled macaroni and cheese into his mouth, ignoring or unaware of Arachne’s stare.
Maybe she’d ask Arachne about ‘footholds’ later. After her master left. Eva didn’t think Arachne had one. It was hard to say; even over the past few months, Eva hardly asked Arachne any personal questions. It just felt like an awkward thing.
What the spider-demon wanted was a mystery as well. The only thing Eva knew for sure was that Arachne wanted the experiment to continue and wanted to keep Eva safe. After the experiment was complete, what would Arachne do.
Another thing to ask. Someday. That one could wait a year or two.
Eva wasn’t sure what she would do if she didn’t like the answer.
— — —
