That wasn’t to say that Shalise couldn’t empathize with her point. Every other session wound up with the five of them sweating out enough to fill a kiddie pool. Even after walking from the dueling room back to the main building of Brakket Academy, Shalise could still feel beads of sweat running down her arms and side.
“At least you guys have it easy,” Eva spoke up. “You should see the things Franklin Kines has me do while you go off running. My legs are killing me. I don’t know why I bother.”
“Even if you cannot run, there is still plenty of good to come from training your legs.” Jordan sounded almost like Professor Kines as he said that. He had the same, slightly haughty tone that the professor got during his lectures. For all Shalise knew, that was one of the professor’s own quotes.
“It isn’t that. It is just going to go to waste come summer. I’m having, uh, reconstructive surgery to fix my issue with running. It will likely invalidate all the work I’m putting into my legs.”
Jordan hummed as he tapped his chin. “There’s probably some exercises to prevent atrophy while you’re recovering.”
“It isn’t so much that my muscles will decay as it is replacing specific muscles. The ones I’m working on now won’t be in my legs anymore.”
Shalise went wide-eyed as she glanced at the black-haired girl. She couldn’t be planning on doing to her legs the same thing she did to her hands. Shalise’s questioning gaze turned towards Juliana.
The blond just shrugged with an almost thoughtful look on her face.
“That seems odd,” Shelby said. Her eyes dropped down to Eva’s legs–bare beneath her skirt–and lingered for almost a minute before she shook her head. “If they’re working fine right now, why are you getting rid of them?”
Eva gave a lazy shrug. Shalise doubted she cared about the other girl’s attentions. She walked around their dorm room naked enough that neither herself nor Juliana even blinked at the sight.
“The short answer,” Eva said, “would be that they aren’t working fine. I don’t know the long answer. I’m not a leg surgeon.”
“Are you sure you want to go through with that procedure?” Shalise looked at her roommate with a furrowed brow. “Wouldn’t a smaller one be better? One limited to just your feet.”
“That might work. I don’t know. The
Shalise did not miss the emphasis Eva put on the word. She wasn’t sure if the doctor was herself, Arachne, or her mysterious mentor. Shalise hadn’t even seen the latter since before Halloween, though she knew Eva went off to her ‘prison’ almost every weekend.
What ‘prison’ actually referred to, Shalise wasn’t certain. She’d never asked and neither Eva nor Juliana ever explained.
“As long as you know what you are doing and are happy with it,” Shalise said softly.
A gloved hand rested on her shoulder. It gave a squeeze that was a hair too tight, but not painful.
“Thank you for your concern, Shalise. Misplaced, but thank you anyway.”
As their group arrived at the main entrance to Brakket, the doors swung open.
Dressed in her solid black nunnery habit, Sister Cross strode into the lobby. She wore a downcast expression with her eyes glued to the floor. They didn’t stay stuck there for long. She came to a screeching halt as she looked up and noticed the group.
Her eyes settled on Eva. A flash of anger crossed her face before it turned to solid stone.
Shalise watched as Sister Cross’ eyes followed Eva’s arm up to Shalise’s shoulder.
The stony facade shattered into a grimace. Sister Cross shut her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, her face held a neutral, almost friendly expression. The tight smile did not help.
“Good evening, children.” Her voice lacked the usual melody. It strained, almost rasped out of her throat.
She might have been shouting and battling just before walking in, for all Shalise knew. Since the winged bull smashed up the cafeteria, there had been two more attacks on the nuns off campus. At least. There could have been more that went unnoticed by the rest of the town.
All Shalise knew for sure was that there were notices going up all around town. Every billboard in school and a number in town got curfew postings and reminders not to wander alone after each attack. The nuns had supposedly been banished from the school campus, though one could be spotted walking around occasionally.
They hadn’t met since Sister Cross attacked Eva just over two weeks before.
“Oh? Why Sister Cross, what a
Muscles in Sister Cross’s jaw tightened for a mere instant. “Not at all, Eva. You’re the only one who is deserving of such attentions from me.”
“Ah yes, I certainly am amazing to receive your personal murder attempts. It must be terrible to be another student and have to be murdered by one of the lackies of the great Lynn Cross.”
