“That’s why we are asking you,” Shalise said. It had been her idea to ask the magizoologist about ‘Eva’s mysterious creature’ in the first place. “Surely you must have some idea.”
“You said winged bovine, I thought of lamassu.” After a sigh, he puffed up and tried to reassemble his professional attitude. “You kids get to Mr. Kines’ class or you’ll be late. I’ll check the pens of all our other winged creatures. If they are all where they’re supposed to be, well, I won’t worry too much.”
“You’re not going to search for the one Eva saw?” Shalise said, aghast.
“The Infinite Courtyard didn’t get that title for being small.”
“It isn’t actually infinite.”
“In the middle of winter? It might as well be. I’ll put out a notice to warn students. If you see it, just back away slowly, don’t threaten and don’t agitate it. Find an instructor.
“Now come on, back to class with you.”
Bradley Twillie all but dragged them by their ears out of the zoo–more or less literally in Jordan’s case–and slammed the door. The rest of their group had been waiting out in the lecture room.
“Well?” Shelby stood up from her desk along with Irene and Juliana. Max leaned back and grabbed his book bag off the floor before joining them.
“It wasn’t the lamassu,” Shalise said.
“They were fascinating creatures,” Jordan said with no small amount of enthusiasm. “And did you see the apep as we walked past? I think there was only one of them but half of its pen was a coiled up snake. And its pen was about the same size as the pen for five lamassu.”
He gave a content sigh with a wide smile on his face.
A brief moment of silence passed while everyone stared at him.
Jordan gave a brief clearing of his throat before Juliana spoke. “Anyway, about the creature?”
“Bradley Twillie didn’t seem to think it was much of an issue, so long as it wasn’t one of his pets missing. Just don’t agitate it and be sure to leave it alone.”
Max gave a long hum. “That seems irresponsible.”
“So?” Juliana asked. “What do we do?”
“It isn’t that big of a deal, is it?” Irene had her arms crossed as she leaned against one of the desks. “If our expert on magical animals isn’t worried about it, why should we?”
The bell chimed just as Irene finished speaking.
“Irene is right,” Eva said. She wasn’t sure that it was such a big deal in the first place. With a sigh, Eva added, “and Bradley Twillie was right as well, we’re late to class.”
Combat Class
“Come on, it’ll be fun.”
Eva shared a glance with Juliana. Both girls sighed.
Shalise quirked her head to one side as she shoved a spoonful of lasagna and bean pie into her mouth.
Eva couldn’t actually see the meal, but she could smell it. She was very glad she didn’t often get hungry for lunch.
“I’m going,” Jordan said.
“Me too,” Shelby piped up quickly.
Max shook his head. After finishing his food–someone had mentioned his bad habit over the last few months, Eva wasn’t sure who–he said, “I don’t think I’ve got a good enough grasp on magic to even start using it in fighting.”
“No, not for me,” Irene shook her head. “I plan to be an artificer. Not much fighting in my future, I hope.”
“You never know when knowing how to fight will save your life,” Shalise said sagely. “I’m going.”
With a long sigh, Eva said, “I’ll go. If it turns into Zoe Baxter fighting us for two hours, I’m quitting.”
“Same,” Juliana said.
“Good.” Shalise looked over to Irene and Max. “You two sure you don’t want to go?”
“I’ll be using the time to study and practice, I think.”
“If it turns out to be something amazing,” Irene said, “We can start going to it later.”
“If you’re sure.”
The bell rang and everyone stood up.
Everyone except Eva.
Juliana and Shalise both stopped and looked back.
“Go on without me. I don’t think I’m getting much out of alchemy lessons these days.”
“I didn’t mean to take your place,” Shalise said.
“Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t getting much out of them towards the end of last semester either.” Eva gave her a smile. “I’d just feel bad if I left Juliana alone. With you here, I don’t have to feel bad at all.”
“What are you going to do?” Juliana asked.
“Head to the dorms, or maybe my place. Check up on things there.”
“You’re not hunting bulls with wings, are you?”
Eva almost laughed at that. “Run around in the cold for who knows how long? I don’t think so. Like I said last week, I don’t think it is such a big deal.”
“Good.” Shalise smiled. Her smile turned stern. “Don’t make skipping a habit.”
Eva didn’t respond with anything but a smile and a wave.
They took that as the cue to run and catch up with the others.
Eva stayed in her seat for a few minutes, watching as the rest of the students walked by.
More than a few students gave her odd looks. Even a full two months after she’d come back to school, she was still the freshmen freak show. A blind girl who never took off her gloves yet still managed to get around fine–for the most part.
