Void Domain, Book 02 полностью

Juliana lightly chuckled, though there didn’t seem to be much mirth in it.

“Good,” Eva said. “You might remember Arachne then?”

“That was,” Shalise paused a moment in thought. Truthfully, she didn’t remember much. Most of it was told to her by Juliana over the next few days. Some things stuck out in her mind; the phantom dancer for one. “That was the person you danced with who killed the zombies? She helped heal me, or cure me, right?”

Juliana’s nod to one side confirmed Shalise’s half-guesses.

“I lost my hands a few weeks after Halloween and Arachne offered her own as replacements.”

“That was… nice of her. I guess.” Was it? It seemed an odd thing to do. Not something Shalise would be interested in offering. Then again, she didn’t know much about magic. “Is she okay just like, chopping her hands off?”

“She’s fine. She’s a demon.”

There was a brief moment of silence while Shalise’s brain caught up to everything. Her eyes grew wide. “D-D-Demon?” Shalise drew back, horrified.

Then she paused. And thought. Eventually she said, “is that bad? I-I mean church says they are bad, but I don’t know… Goblins are always bad in stories, but Professor Baxter talks about them like regular people.”

Shalise gave a glance to a shrugging Juliana. It seemed that she’d get no answers from that corner.

“Depends on who you ask,” Eva said. “A demonologist I know would say, ‘of course they are ya damn dimwit, why do you think we call the damn things demons.’ Everyone else would just say yes.”

Eva held up her hands–or rather, claws–before Shalise could say anything. “I would say it depends on the demon. Arachne has always been very nice to me, even if I am mad at her right now for,” she waved a hand to one side, “reasons.”

“And she gave you her hands? Just like that?”

“Don’t feel sorry for her, she’s already regrown them.”

Shalise shut her eyes and took a deep breath. “So,” she said, “are there tentacles or something under those gloves?”

“Worse.”

“W-worse?” Shalise tried to keep her voice from peaking as she glanced at Juliana. The girl was grinning off to the side.

Maybe she should have switched rooms like Sister Cross said.

No. Eva saved her life. She owed her at least the benefit of the doubt.

Eva already had her gloves off before Shalise could say anything. Long fingers uncurled and spread out, flexing lightly. They were thin and had lots of joints. Her hands were at least twice the size of regular hands.

Shalise looked down at her own hands. Maybe not twice the size. Close though.

For the most part.

“I think,” Shalise said as she stared at them, “have I seen these hands somewhere?”

“Arachne is Rach, the pet spider Eva had.” Juliana sported a wide grin. “Remember that?”

Shalise looked down at the claws again. There was some similarity. Eva was nodding a confirmation when she looked up.

“Oh.”

“Anyway,” Eva said, “now that we have that out of the way, we should go about catching you up in school work. I actually expected you to show up sooner than the day before second semester started, but I guess this is what they call cramming.”

“Me too. I think Sister Cross really wanted me to not stay in your room. For a while, I thought she was going to stop me from coming altogether.”

“That wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.”

“The good news is that Sister Cross has been forwarding me most of the classwork. The only things I wasn’t able to practice on my own were our ecology classes and alchemy.”

Eva’s face turned to a frown as she spoke.

“Eva’s been all but banned from alchemy,” Juliana said. “Professor Lurcher thinks her hands and eyes are a safety issue–” Eva shrugged, but did not object. “I’ll be happy to help with that.”

“We should still go over all the magic we’ve learned, just to make sure.”

“That would be good,” Shalise agreed, “I was having trouble with water manipulation. It takes so much effort to pull a single drop out of a glass.”

“Well,” Eva said as she placed her claws on her hips, “I can’t do any water magic, but I can watch you and give pointers with Juliana.”

Shalise gave Eva a wide grin. “That sounds great. Let me get unpacked first and we can go over some things.”

There hadn’t been much to bring; Shalise didn’t have loads of belongings at home and most of it fit into a single suitcase. Books and clothes made up the bulk. She spent the next ten minutes putting away her clothes, arranging her books and stationary at her desk, and trying not to stare at Eva’s claws.

It was a lot to take in. Shalise put on a smile for Eva. As much as she wished it wasn’t, her smile was forced.

Juliana didn’t seem to mind the claws; if she did mind, she was hiding it well. They had several weeks together since November so she probably got used to it.

Sister Cross apparently knew about it. Maybe talking with her would be a good idea.

As Shalise sorted her belongings, she noticed something. Her bottom drawer had something in it.

Shalise reached in and pulled out a small box. It had to weigh at least a few pounds.