“She’s fine, not contagious nor infected.” Eva held up her hands. “Though you may not believe that when you see her injuries. We thought about taking her to the hospital, but Juliana believed that would be a bad place to go on a night like tonight. She’s hopped up on potions and being watched over by Juliana.”
“More of your zombie immunity potion?” He made his disbelief clear in his tone.
Eva nodded.
Wayne grunted and vanished.
“Now, Eva, we are going to talk about everything that happened tonight.”
“I’d rather get to destroying dangerous books and then bed. I am feeling a very bad headache coming on.”
“Eva.” Zoe gave the girl a hard glare. “We are going to talk about everything. People died tonight. I had to rekill two students. This is not okay.”
The girl tried to shake her hand off, but Zoe kept a firm grip on her shoulder.
“None of that is my fault. I am not a necromancer. I didn’t bring them here. I warned you that Halloween was a dangerous day.”
“I know. I’m not blaming you. You are more involved in this than anyone else save for the missing Mr. Carter, that is why we will talk.” Zoe gave her a smile and a squeeze on her shoulder before releasing her. “Are you going to invite me in?”
Eva shuffled her feet and shifted her eyes away from Zoe. “There are no good areas to host guests outside of very heavily protected wards. Well, there are, but you probably won’t like solitary.”
“And you can’t key me into the wards?”
“I… could. We talked about incriminating things already once. A similar idea applies here.”
Zoe didn’t respond to that. She already had an idea of what the elusive Mr. Carter was into. The ‘associate’ of his that had been with Eva earlier was another piece to the puzzle. There were few humanoid creatures that could move and jump the way it did.
“My office then,” Zoe said.
“That’s…” Eva put her hand to her forehead. “I’d much rather stay here. I’m quite confident in my wards and their ability to repel even very powerful creatures. Not to mention A–my mentor’s associate will get antsy if she finds me missing. She may become… unpredictable.”
“Eva. I am willing to look over Mr. Carter’s demonic associations.” Eva snapped her head up, eyes wide.
There were another hundred stipulations Zoe should add to the list. She’d have to report this to… to someone. Whatever Mr. Carter was, he was against the necromancers.
“For now,” Zoe added. She’d think of how to break Eva away from the man after their current crisis was over. Eva mentioned the man saved her from death. That surely created a strong connection.
“As amusing as your
Zoe looked the girl over again. She hadn’t moved from leaning against the metal. The sweat she had thought to be from worry over Juliana hadn’t stopped. The girl was telling the truth about this, at least.
“First thing in the morning. I will be at this gate as the sun rises. If you are not here, I’ll hunt you down. Confidence in your wards or not, all wards can be broken.”
“That is grim, but agreeable.”
“I wouldn’t hunt you down to kill you, Eva, if that is what you are thinking.”
“Not that, that my wards might be brought down. Still, even if someone hammered against them all night, I should be fine. I’ll have someone watching over me as I sleep.”
Zoe frowned at that, but didn’t say anything.
“Don’t aimlessly wander the prison, you might not survive.”
“I appreciate the warning.”
Aftermath
Wayne Lurcher had never been one for passive action. The very phrase was an oxymoron he couldn’t stand.
And yet here he sat, in a meeting room, listening to Rebbecca Halsey panic. The dean had called an emergency meeting to try to figure out what went on last night and what the damage was. If the senile woman had any clue, she would realize that no answers would be found in a meeting with the faculty.
Especially because the only one who might have any answers at all was absent.
He cast a sullen glance at the empty seat next to him. Zoe had gone off to a meeting of her own. He only hoped she knew what she was getting into.
