Eva paused her flipping through the book. The pages were almost entirely ruined. Almost as if the book had been dipped in ink rather than having ink spilled over it. The papers crackled and flakes of ink fell off at the lightest touch. Many pages were stuck together. Eva couldn’t detect any blood, which she originally thought the ink was trying to disguise, but there could still be runes or other magical elements etched into the pages.
“Eva?”
It still felt dangerous. Eva had been cautious, checked it for traps and contaminants. The flakes of ink that had fallen off were kept in a small pile on Eva’s desk. She would obliterate them later with blood magic, after her roommates had gone to sleep.
Eva wanted to hand the book off to her master, keep it under magical suppressants and shackles much like the black skull. He’d dealt with necromancers at least once in the past. He might be able to find something she couldn’t.
“Eva?”
“Sorry,” Eva said, glancing at Juliana, “just had some thoughts.”
“I didn’t mean to disturb you. I just thought we should all know.”
“Thanks.” Eva gave what she hoped was a comforting smile. Juliana spoke very solemnly about her experience. Eva didn’t want to make light of the zombies, but something else bothered her. “I’m actually less concerned with zombies and more concerned with the book.”
“Not concerned with zombies?” Shalise asked, aghast.
“Less concerned than I am about the book,” Eva repeated.
Juliana leaned back on her bed, resting her head on the wall. She shut her eyes and asked, “what’s wrong with the book?”
“My mentor has dealt with necromancers in the past. I’m not an expert, but I’ve heard things from him. Now, I’m not saying it is for sure, but I don’t want this to be a component in a ritual.” Eva tapped the book. “Town sized sacrifices to draw Death’s gaze are not unheard of.”
Neither girl said anything.
Eva wondered if she made a mistake. That she should have downplayed the danger. It was all just a guess, after all. A guess that made a lot of sense to Eva. What else would necromancers be doing in a tiny town like Brakket.
Juliana kept her eyes shut, breathing deeply and slowly. Some kind of calming technique, perhaps.
Shalise went rigid. She looked about ready to fall off the back of her bed.
“You’re not acting concerned,” Juliana said without opening her eyes.
“If I were to perform a ritual involving mass death to a power like Death, it would be on either Halloween or winter solstice. Maybe other local cultural days that involve observance of the dead. I’d say we have a bit of time, though again, I am not an expert.”
“W-well, lets call the police.”
Juliana shook her head. “If this is a massive ritual, I’d rather not spook them and have them do something drastic at the first sign of opposition.”
Eva nodded. She didn’t want people running around searching for dark magic in a town where she and Arachne lived. People snooping around would be problematic at best. “I said I’d aim for Halloween. It is very likely that the ritual could be done sooner if needed.”
“I’ll contact my mother and see if she can’t round-up a few of her old mage-knight contacts to poke around quietly. Preferably ones that have children attending Brakket. They can disguise their visits as social ones.”
Eva didn’t like the sound of a handful of mage-knights running around any more than a full police investigation. “We might just be overreacting,” she said, “it might all be coincidence.”
Juliana shot Eva a look that said, ‘you don’t believe that any more than I do.’
Eva ignored it. “I’ll speak with my mentor, he’s dealt with unsavory sorts before.”
“We have to at least tell Professor Baxter. If this is d-dangerous to students, the school needs to know.”
“I agree,” Juliana said before Eva could object.
Eva repressed a sigh as Juliana withdrew one of the instructor’s business cards. Eva avoided carrying them around. Being tracked to the prison would be a terrible thing.
She’d have to do something about that. It wouldn’t do to have snooping bounty hunters stumble over the prison in their search for necromancers. Eva almost felt bad for Arachne; the moment she got back from setting up Devon’s room at the prison, she’d just be returning.
Her master had lived in the women’s ward until he decided it was too demeaning. He moved out to cell house one, the oldest prison block, and requested Arachne’s help in remodeling. The set up shouldn’t have taken all day. Eva glanced out the window. For all she knew, Arachne was hanging on outside the windows, not wanting to barge in and be seen by the unknown Shalise.
