Eva cast her sight around as she turned despite already having recognized the voice. She never remembered being startled this easily when she had eyes even though she couldn’t see behind her at any time. Keeping constant awareness with her new method of seeing needed work and practice.
“Miss Eva.”
“Zoe Baxter.”
“You’re the last person I would have thought they would recruit.” Eva could tell that her eyes narrowed the slightest amount. “You’re not thinking of joining them, are you?”
“I don’t know,” Eva said with a ponderous expression. She might as well have a little fun. “They offered to heal my eyes.”
“Eva,” Zoe’s teeth grit before she let out a sigh. “I know things have been hard. I don’t think you would be happy–”
“You don’t want me to remain blind when avenues of recovery are at hand, do you?”
Zoe’s eyes narrowed again. “You don’t intend to join.”
Eva let out a short laugh. She overdid that last line. “Of course not. Not even if she didn’t say I would assuredly die being ‘cleansed,’ whatever that means. I plan to acquire new eyes without a high chance of death.”
“Eva,” Zoe Baxter started in a warning tone. “You’re going to wind up kicked out of school.” Her voice dropped to a hushed whisper. “I’ll be kicked out as well if anyone finds the stack of books I’ve got.”
“Don’t look at me,” Eva said as she held her hands up, “I didn’t force you to take them.”
“I’m reading them because
“Don’t pretend you’re not enjoying reading them. I know at least three of the ones I lent you had nothing to do with anything about me.”
“Academically as a theorist only,” she said standing up to her full height. “It isn’t often a pile of books of
“Although, you probably shouldn’t talk about things like that with me.” When Zoe Baxter raised her eyebrows, Eva continued, “Sister Cross stopped by on Christmas. She mentioned that I was still under surveillance.”
“I thought you improved your anti-scrying runes?”
“I thought so too. As far as I can tell, they’re not doing anything unless Sister Cross is lying.”
“I doubt it,” Zoe said as she crossed her arms. “Not with Shalise being so close to you.”
Eva stretched back. She still hadn’t told either Juliana or Shalise about Sister Cross’ daughter. Zoe Baxter was her sole confidant in that matter. She apparently knew Shalise was more than a regular orphan, she just didn’t know who the parent was.
“What are you doing anyway, sluffing classes?”
“What about you? Don’t you have a class right now.”
“I have an open period, you don’t. I know you have class with Way–Mr. Lurcher.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t call that a class so much as a waste of three hours.”
“Miss Eva, alchemy is a fundamental–”
“I would love to do alchemy, but I think I’ll learn more back at my place working on my own brewing than sitting to the side and not touching anything.”
“Mr. Lurcher is still not letting you participate?”
“Nope. I don’t mind though. On weekends I have Arachne read me the alchemy lab book and I go over the things in class. I was considering skipping class and heading straight to my place.”
Zoe Baxter’s mouth tipped into a frown at the mention of Arachne. “You still associate with that creature?”
“Please. She lived in the dorms for six months and never hurt anyone. Saved students, in fact.” Saved Shalise, at least. At Eva’s command.
That counted.
“You’ve mentioned as much before. She killed a nun and damaged school property.”
“We keep having the same argument, over and over again,” Eva sighed. “There were circumstances that night. If she hadn’t acted the way she had, I’d be dead.”
Zoe leaned over slightly, pointing a finger. “She’s a dangerous creature, Eva. The books agree with me on that.”
Eva raised her hands, wiggling the fingers lightly. “I’m a dangerous creature.”
“That isn’t the same and you know it,” she hissed.
“At least tell me you’ve gotten rid of the other one.”
“Same answer as last time.”
Zoe’s teeth ground together. She took a seat next to Eva at the table. “Eva, your pet tarantula is one thing. If it got out of hand, it could do a lot of damage, but it is ultimately containable. For the most part.
“Your other ‘pet’ isn’t the same. If she got out of hand–”
“She won’t,” Eva said firmly. She double checked the area. No one was around to overhear. “Ylva doesn’t want to go around killing everything. She won’t even leave the cell house without asking me.”
“Why not?”
“She views the prison as part of my ‘domain’ and will not encroach on it without my permission. It’s a d–creature thing.”
