“Well,” Arachne puffed out her chest in pride, “I am a demon.”
Eva let out a small, much-needed laugh. After a brief moment of companionable silence, Eva said, “I think I’ll lie down until Zoe gets here.”
She proceeded to the couch set out in the common room to do precisely that. Arachne followed–as Eva knew she would. Eva flopped down on the couch and lay there, staring at the ceiling.
Arachne wiggled herself into the couch. She pulled Eva’s head up onto her lap and started massaging Eva’s head.
She knew that something was wrong with Eva’s hands.
Everyone knew something was wrong, but that girl
Someone told her. Eva doubted it was either of her roommates. They’d lived together for a year, more in the case of Juliana, and neither seemed the type. Zoe Baxter was worried about losing her job if any part of Eva’s life came to light, not to mention she seemed to genuinely care.
Zagan, Martina Turner, and Catherine were all possibilities.
She should have just let Zagan kill Sister Cross. Shalise would have been upset, but at least the only group of people who were openly hostile towards Eva would be out of the way.
Eva just started dozing off when a hard knock came at the door.
“Eva,” a voice called, “are you in?”
Much to the disappointment of Arachne, Eva pulled herself into a sitting position. “Come in,” she called out.
Zoe Baxter stepped into the room. Her eyes drifted over the two seated on the couch. She shook her head with a frown and looked straight at Eva. “Are you alright?”
“I’m not injured, if that is what you are asking.” Eva made a gesture towards one of the chairs opposite from the couch. “Have a seat.”
Zoe nodded and crossed the room. She sat with her back straight and her hands clasped together in her lap.
Her heart rate was a good portion higher than normal.
“Dean Turner,” she started, “is going to address the school tomorrow. She appeared in the dueling hall just moments after you left and started taking control.”
Eva nodded. “Is this address going to be in my favor?”
“I am unsure, but I believe so. Judging by her ordering the students back to the dorms while telling them to mind their own business.”
“If the students start writing home about a girl with demon hands, there will be trouble.”
Zoe put on a kind smile that didn’t suit her. “You’re assuming students will recognize your hands for what they are. Those with knowledge of demons are few and far between. Look at Zagan. He parades his name around openly.” She glanced off to one side with a frown. “I didn’t notice.”
“Someone will realize. If not a student, then a parent. They’ll realize how I got these hands.”
“Then we lay the blame on Sawyer.” Zoe gave a short glance towards Arachne. “It is mostly the truth. No one will blame you. They’ve all gone to school with you for the last year.”
Leaning back into Arachne with a sigh, Eva said, “students maybe. Are you willing to risk several parents pulling their children out of the school over one person? I know Juliana’s mother has been freaking out about everything last year. She can’t be the only one.”
“You leave that to the adults. Just pretend it was all the necromancer’s fault. As I said, it was at least mostly their fault.”
There was a short pause in their conversation while Eva thought. “You want me to go back then?”
“Of course
“For what?”
“I was the one who brought Des to the academy. She was a last-minute addition while I picked up Hugo, the boy she was with. I didn’t know that she would do something like this.”
“It isn’t your fault,” Eva said. A nagging voice in the back of her mind told her exactly the opposite. Even with that voice, Eva didn’t think Zoe would intentionally plot against her. At least not with their current, amicable relationship. “Someone told her, I think. If it wasn’t her, it would have been someone else.”
“Who told her?”
Eva shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t think her intentions were overly malicious. She told her friend that I was a friend.”
“I don’t think she has many,” Zoe said in a quiet voice. “She only interacts with Hugo. I believe she’s frightened off most of her peers with her appearance and, quite frankly, disturbing mannerisms.”
“She looks like she’s been through a blender and glued back together.”
“I was told she had a condition. Her body has trouble healing itself, hence all the stitching holding her together. I’m not sure how she lives, but I’ve been researching obscure diseases and remedies to try to help.”
“Unsuccessful?” Eva guessed by the tone of the professor’s voice.
“So far.”
