“You stole that demon’s eyes?”
“Demon?” Rather than fear or running away, Lisa had a smug grin on her face. “I knew it.” That grin vanished as she grabbed a few towels from a cupboard.
“Thanks,” Eva said with a roll of her eyes. She could do that now. “At this rate, I might as well just issue a public statement to the whole school tomorrow. Or flee into hiding. Devon wants to do that anyway. This place is ‘too damn hot’ for him.”
Zoe put one of her hands on Eva’s claw. “Don’t. I’ll vouch for you in front of everyone.”
“You’ll lose your job.”
“Perhaps. But sticking by their students is a teacher’s duty. Besides, you kept me from bleeding out.” Zoe couldn’t help but add, “as long as everything is real.”
Eva just blinked. It would take a while to get used to those eyes. “If you’re still worried about the jezebeth, don’t be. I mean, if you think this is imaginary then nothing I say will help, but I guarantee that it is dead.”
Zoe wasn’t sure that helped. It should have. It was meant to. Maybe it would if the weeks wore on.
“That isn’t to say their illusions are anything to be scoffed at. I stabbed myself in the heart because–”
“You what!”
Her outburst was echoed by Lisa.
Eva had the gall to just wave her hand. “Don’t worry. I’m fine.”
“You are most certainly not fine, young lady.” Lisa pointed at one of the other beds in the room. “Bed. Now.”
“What? No. I’m fine!”
“Last year, I warned you what would happen if you disobeyed me in my own infirmary. Do you remember?”
Any further protests died in Eva’s throat as she gave a timid nod.
“Bed. Now. If you aren’t in it by the time I get back,” Lisa let the threat hang in the air for a moment. She all but ran out of the room with the towels.
Eva didn’t hesitate. She scrambled into an adjacent bed.
“Before she comes back,” Zoe said, “there is a ring. You know which one I’m talking about. It was somewhere in my house.”
“Devon and Arachne have been snooping around all day. I highly doubt he would have missed a ring of
“So long as it doesn’t fall into regular people’s hands.”
“Ylva was quite displeased. Not at you,” Eva quickly said.
And a good thing too, Zoe didn’t want another demon angry at her.
“She wanted both those demons to mount their heads on pikes. Apparently they broke rules by attacking you.”
“I didn’t have the ring on.”
“I gathered that and told her as much. I don’t think she cared, but you’d have to ask her.”
Lisa returned to the room. She dropped three potion vials into Zoe’s lap.
“Drink,” was her only command before she turned to Eva.
The final vial sent a wave of fog over her mind. Zoe passed out to the tune of a nurse shouting at her patient.
Elysium: Augurs and Demons
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not even impenetrable darkness indicative of a pitch black room.
As expected. Searching for Nel Stirling had not produced any results over the past six months, today would be no different.
If only she had the decency to leave behind a body. Annie could think of a thousand more useful things to do with her time. Ten thousand that she would rather be doing.
She had started keeping a mental list. It wasn’t like there was anything else to do. Even bringing a notebook to idly work on her artwork was forbidden.
“Sister Reinhardt, it is time to switch.”
“Finally.” Annie slid her chair away from the altar, rubbing her eyes as she moved. “Sorry to break it to you, Sister Vlaus, but nothing has changed.”
“That’s fine.” Sister Vlaus moved out of the doorway and leaned in close to Annie. “I found an older gentleman who watches decent television with closed captioning on. Our rogue augur will just have to wait for the commercials.”
Annie smiled. “Don’t let Brother Maynard hear you say that. You’ll be in the inquisitors’ hands before you could think about regretting it.”
“I know,” she said with a sigh. “I’d much rather be training with the others. I don’t know what I was thinking when I volunteered.”
“None of us do, sister. None of us do.”
“Yeah, well, I better get to it before Brother Maynard comes in and starts yelling again. You going back to the training yard to discourage potential augurs?”
Annie caught a quick glimpse outside of the temple. “For a time, but it is a nice day out. I may retire to the old oak tree.”
“They don’t see you being unhappy, you know. They see an augur, poised and posed, prim and proper. Something to look up to. Especially when you go draw.”
Annie pressed her lips together. “It is my one remaining joy.”
“The best you can do is to talk to any that may come up to you. Discourage them. Subtly, of course.”
Nodding, Annie said, “I hope you take care when speaking such things, Sister Vlaus. We are not always as alone as we may believe.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Sister Vlaus waved her hand from one side to the other. “Get out of here Sister Reinhardt. I’ve got our sister to watch.”
