“My room,” Eva said with a point towards one of the wooden doors. It sported a little metal plaque with her name engraved in. “Don’t go in. The wards within are separate from the ones out here and will react violently to people who are not Arachne or myself.”
Carlos nodded to himself. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but closed it without a sound.
“How violently?” Shalise asked.
“Well, if you stick an arm in my room, you probably won’t be getting it back.”
“Oh.”
“Seems excessive,” Carlos said with a small frown.
“My room has things in it that shouldn’t ever find their way into untrustworthy people’s hands,” Eva said with a shrug. “Like with the main building, there is a brief period of pain as a warning, though the length of the pain field is drastically smaller.”
“What have you got in there that requires such protection?”
“Books, mostly. Several of the ‘big’ books on demons. A handful of other miscellaneous items. All the books I stole from the necromancers are in there; I haven’t had a chance to sort through all the ones that are not extremely dangerous on account of my eyes being missing.” With an aside glance to Arachne, Eva stage whispered, “it is hard enough getting Arachne to read my schoolbooks to me.”
“Well,” Carlos said with a slight adjustment to his glasses, “that sounds responsible I suppose.”
Eva had a feeling he wanted to comment on whether or not Eva herself should be in possession of those books. Distracting from the topic, Eva moved on.
“Arachne’s room,” Eva pointed to another door with a plaque on it. “She doesn’t use it much, but similar idea, don’t go in.”
Continuing to point around the room, Eva listed off the library, potion storage, kitchens, bathroom, shower, gateway room, and a guest bedroom.
Carlos sat down in one of the chairs, directly across from Eva and next to Juliana. “This seems very nicely done, I can’t imagine it came with the place.”
“Devon has a truck, as I mentioned earlier. We’re sort of wealthy. It wasn’t difficult to get everything furnished.” An unrelated sentence, a lie, and a truthful statement.
Eva hadn’t the slightest idea where Arachne found all the furniture. Presumably, some furniture store who knew how far away was currently missing several display items off their store floor.
How she managed to transport the furniture was another mystery Eva doubted she’d ever bother solving.
“It helps that we’re not paying for the land or buildings. No utilities either, though magic fixes most of that problem. Technically we’re squatting,” Eva said with a shrug. “Nobody else has used it in a long time.”
A small smile grew on Carlos’ face. “I can’t fault that. Genoa and I have stayed in similar places, though never for as long. Juliana tells me you’ve had this place set up since you started school?”
“I first saw it last September,” Juliana said. “It was a lot messier back then.”
“And your mentor lives here as well?”
“Not here in this building. He remodeled the top floor of one of the cell houses into a sort of penthouse suite.”
“I see,” he said with a nod.
An awkward silence descended on the group for a few minutes. Carlos’ eyes were glued on Arachne the entire time. His daughter sat a bit stiffly but otherwise relaxed.
Shalise’s head bounced around the room as she looked over everything again and again. She had a bright smile on her face despite the room not being all that interesting.
Eva fought of a grin as she wondered how she would react to Ylva’s domain.
“So,” Carlos broke Eva out of her thoughts, “you’re Arachne.”
Arachne tilted her sharp chin up in the air. “You asked that before we arrived.”
It came out a bit terse. Eva rested her hand on Arachne’s arm as casually as she could.
“I mean:
“I am.”
“And you were turned into a demon by the gods due to your hubris?”
Arachne scoffed. “It isn’t hubris if you can back it up. It is skill. Besides,” her mouth curled up into a sharp-toothed smile, “I outlived all those so-called ‘gods’ didn’t I? Hardly a punishment in the long run.”
“So you were human once?”
“No part of my humanity remains. The sorcerers who called themselves gods were quite thorough with their spell. I remember very little apart from the contest that I won.”
“Ah,” Carlos said softly. “I’m not a history researcher, but it seems a little sad we can’t hear firsthand experiences about our past. You don’t remember anything?”
“No.” Eva could see the muscles grind her teeth together as she spoke.
“Okay,” Carlos said. If he noticed Arachne’s rising irritation, he didn’t show it. “You’ve been living with my daughter for the last year, according to her.”
“I’ve been living with
Carlos quirked an eyebrow with an aside glance to Eva.
Eva couldn’t do much besides shrug. “We have been living in the same dorm room, yes.”
“Me too,” Shalise said with a smile.
“I see.” Carlos turned to face the brown-haired girl. “And what is your opinion on your… living arrangements?”
