Shalise smiled at the byplay. Their little group knew nothing of what troubled dorm room three-thirteen. Shalise had a good amount of envy for them. They could joke and laugh without worrying about monsters in the shadows.
If she hadn’t known about the necromancers, Shalise might be joking and laughing with them. Instead she was discovering her potential as an air mage. Aerotheurge, she was told, was the proper name. Her lightning bolts might be better called sparks and her whirlwinds more of a breath of air, but she had thrown herself full into it.
Without that she might not have learned how to enhance her senses. It was just a slight thing. Professor Baxter assured her it would get better in time until she never wanted to turn the spell off. Shalise felt she was far past that point. Dark lightened, distances lessened, sounds became far more distinguishable, smells changed similarly to sounds, touch and taste also enhanced though less so. None of it literally, it was all perception.
She wasn’t sure why air changed her eyes, taste, or touch. Professor Baxter said it was just a nuance of the spell. Each of the four elements had their own versions of the same spell. Earth mages would increase their strength and toughness while water mages increased their flexibility and agility. Fire mages actually increased the speed of their thought. It sounded amazing, though Professor Baxter said it was the hardest to learn of all. For a master of pyrokinesis, a single minute could be ten minutes of thought.
“And she’s gone again,” Jordan said.
“Straight to lala land,” Irene agreed.
Much faster than Shalise could think, apparently.
“We better save her from those terrible fae.”
Irene grew a terrible grin. “If one poke failed, think two might work?”
“Worth a shot,” Jordan said.
Shalise clamped her hands over her hips. “Not this time,” she said.
Irene put on a fake pout before breaking into light chuckles.
“Now that I have all your attentions,” Jordan said with a glance at each of the three-thirteen girls. “There is going to be a party on Halloween. We were wondering if you three wanted to join us.”
Shalise did not miss the glance Eva and Juliana shared across the table. She hadn’t forgotten Eva’s theory about some mass ritual happening on Halloween. Didn’t they discard that theory? The book wasn’t some ritual component.
Either way, Shalise wasn’t going to let fear–theirs or her own–ruin her school life or keep her from having fun with Irene, Jordan, and the rest. “I’ll go,” she said.
Slowly, Eva and Juliana nodded and agreed to go as well.
“Excellent,” Jordan said. “It is at The Vertex right in the entertainment plaza. Shouldn’t be hard to find.”
“I’ve never been to a real party before. Anything I should know?”
“Never one?” Irene asked.
Shalise shook her head. “Just some things with some of my family.”
“Well, costumes are allowed. Encouraged even. Apart from that,” Irene shrugged, “just have fun, I guess.”
“Right. I can do fun. Hopefully. What are you dressing as?”
“Ah-ah,” Jordan said, “that would ruin the surprise.”
Shalise nodded.
Skeletons and zombies were right out as costumes. What else was there? Vampires, perhaps. Were vampires real? Did they care that tons of people dressed up as them?
Probably not. Shalise didn’t think she’d care if she were a vampire. If even half the legends were true then they were old, powerful, and had mostly apathy for mortals. Maybe she’d go as one of them.
She’d check with Juliana and Eva first and make sure she wasn’t about to get killed for insulting powerful creatures.
— — —
Arachne fumed.
Halloween was supposed to be
The one day a year, before this year at least, that Arachne got to spend with
It was true they had been spending every day and every night together for the past few months, but Halloween was still
Pop.
The cow’s skull exploded in her hand. Blood, viscera, and brains splattered over her. The rest oozed to the ground.
She reveled in it.
The smell calmed her. The blood dripping off of her was cathartic in a way only blood could be.
Arachne wanted more.
And she got it.
A fat pig cowered in the back of its pen. As well it should. Arachne imagined its squeals were those of the fat pig that hung off
She held it still with extra legs that sprouted from her back. She stroked it. Patted it. She calmed it until the squeals ceased.
Two sharp fingers dug into its eye sockets. And it screamed.
Arachne listened to the pleasant shrieks even as she liberated its insides from the cruel prison they were trapped in. She waited until the last twitches of the fat creature died down and then turned to find another stress release.
She had told Eva that she was heading back to the prison to see if Devon had returned. And she would. Later.
