Delaying telling would only be worse. Sister Cross would find out anyway. In a quick decision, Nel began telling everything she saw in the instant the endless abyss opened in a small cave north of the academy.
Dismantling Operations
The pleasant heat vanished. A cool musk rushed in to replace it.
Slowly, carefully, Arachne set Eva down on the slightly uneven ground. She used all of her legs to help steady Eva until she got her balance under control.
Eva shrugged her off and kept her own balance.
She stumbled forwards almost immediately. One of Arachne’s limbs reached out and steadied her.
Without toes, Eva had to pick up her feet straight up in order to walk. It wasn’t quick and it wasn’t elegant. More of a waddle.
Eva reached out with her sight. Arachne stood just to her left. All her limbs were hovering just inches away from Eva. Her hands were mere stumps, both still bleeding. Either Arachne didn’t notice or she didn’t care.
Eva certainly didn’t at the moment.
The blood dripped down, splashing on the rough floor. It formed a rough topography as it ran down a slight incline. They were almost certainly in a cave.
Some distance away, Eva could feel a lot of bodies. Their biology was weird. Weirder than Arachne’s even. Large sacks with small tubes connecting them.
“Arachne,” Eva snapped, “where are we?”
“A cave. Maybe a storage room of some sort? There’s a lot of junk lying around.” Eva watched her limbs as they moved off to one side, seemingly picking up something. “Your necklace.”
Eva almost pulled away. Instead she put on her best glower as Arachne’s legs reached around her. Had she been less angry, she might have appreciated the way Arachne manipulated the necklace to attach it behind Eva’s neck with only her legs.
“Arachne,” Eva said. “I am mad at you. More than mad, I am disappointed.”
The muscles making up Arachne’s face contorted. Eva wasn’t sure what to make of the expression. She couldn’t see Arachne’s chitinous face, just the meat beneath. “Eva, I–”
“You’re lucky. For two reasons,” Eva held up one of Arachne–one of her fingers. She’d been trying not to think about it. Her fingers were long. They had too many joints. Moving them was clumsy and unnatural. “The first reason is that I cannot see. I can’t move around this place and it is full of enemies. I can see flesh golems, maybe zombies too. Skeletons? Ghosts? I doubt I’ll see anything.”
Eva extended a lengthy second finger. “The second reason you are lucky is that I am
No response came except a slight bowing of her head.
Eva shrugged it off. She could yell at Arachne later.
“Is my dagger around here?”
Arachne rummaged through boxes and drawers, by the sound of things. Eva wasn’t expecting results.
The bloodstone she made in the abattoir glowed in her vision as it rested against her chest. It was crumbling and cracked. The escape from the Abattoir cost it a lot of integrity. Controlling so much blood just wasn’t healthy for the poor thing.
Without her dagger, it was all she had.
She knelt down, careful to keep her balance, and dipped it in the small puddle of Arachne’s blood. The blood swirled up to form a small handful of marbles. Not even enough to make toes out of. She needed more.
The flesh golems stood, unmoving, a distance away. They were folded up on each other like chairs might be in a storage room. They would do.
“Enough, Arachne. It isn’t here.”
Arachne stopped searching. The blood in her eyes focused on Eva.
“Anything useful?”
“Books, lots of books. No weapons that I could see.” One of her legs lifted up near Eva. “Your clothes, though it looks like they cut you out of them rather than simply undressed you.”
“Leave them,” Eva sighed. She did not miss the edge in Arachne’s voice when she spoke of undressing. “As much as I would like to take the books, they aren’t much use to me at the moment.” She resisted an urge to tap at her eyes. “Maybe later.
“The door?”
Arachne led Eva with her legs. Eva herself used the marbles of Arachne’s blood to get a rough view of the floor. She tried not to trip over anything as she waddled out into the hallway.
Eva pointed in the direction of the flesh golems and said, “that way.”
An odd concentration of blood appeared in Arachne’s face. Pursing her mouth together?
Eva couldn’t tell. Maybe with practice.
Together, they walked through a very uneven corridor, almost perpendicular to where the flesh golems sat. It was slow going and more than once, Arachne offered to carry Eva. Eva refused.
It would have been the smart thing to do. Under other circumstances, Eva would have in an instant.
If she didn’t show Arachne she was mad at her, the demon would just try the same trick again next time.
