“They’re the eyes of a fire sprite. One was found at Zoe Baxter’s home the other night ago.”
“Fire sprite?”
Zoe didn’t catch which student asked. She caught on quickly enough. “A fae of the seelie kingdom. We’re unsure if it just happened across my home or if someone set it against me. My home burned down and I got trapped beneath a wooden beam that fell, breaking my arm and leg. Way–Professor Lurcher was severely burned in the incident.”
“So how did your fire thing’s eyes end up in her?”
“Miss Eva was meeting with Professor Lurcher and myself over her Alchemy lessons. Before he was incapacitated, Professor Lurcher managed to kill the sprite. And then…”
Zoe trailed off with a pointed look at Eva. She had no idea how to explain anything. It wouldn’t be hard to project some false confidence and come up with a believable method of transferring the eyes–she was the premier theorist after all–but Eva likely had an idea if she brought up the fire sprite in the first place.
The students not looking up a picture of a fire sprite would already be too much to hope for. There were similarities to be sure, but the slit pupil was a defining feature of Eva’s eyes that fire sprites lacked.
“And then–” Zoe tried not to sigh in relief as Eva picked up without hesitation “–I decided that since I didn’t have any eyes, I might as well take the sprite’s eyes.”
“You just popped them in?” Mr. Wilcox shook his head. “Just like that? I don’t believe it.”
“There are many strange and cruel magics not taught at this academy. Or any academy,” Zoe said.
“Strange and cruel magics?” His question came out harsh. After a moment, his expression turned more to curiosity as he glanced towards Eva. “And you know these magics?”
Someone Zoe would have to watch carefully in the future. Looking around, several of the students had the same expression.
Eva let out a short laugh. “Of course not. I can barely manage a proper fireball.”
“Oh,” he said with barely hidden disappointment.
“Last year I was abducted by those necromancers. They did something to my body. I can attach the limbs and organs of magical creatures and adapt them to my body.” Eva shook her head.
Compared to the little girl the previous year who couldn’t lie to save her skin, Eva of today was doing far better at deceit.
Eva had explained it once upon Zoe questioning her. It helped a lot to see her own facial expressions as she made them, her own heart rate, and other such tells.
“Don’t ask me how or why. I don’t know. Ask the necromancer that escaped.”
Her barely-there smile widened into a maniacal grin that sent shivers down Zoe’s spine. It didn’t help that her eyes burned with a demonic glow.
“If you find him, let me know. I have
Some people stared at her.
Some turned away.
Silence reigned supreme.
Until Zoe cleared her throat. “Yes, in any case, we’ll be turning to page one-fifty-one and getting started with the Manton Effect. We have a lot to catch up on and less time to do it in.”
That set most of the class into motion. A handful of students stared even as they groped around for books.
Eva’s smile turned far more polite. She gave Zoe a light shrug as she picked her own book out of her book bag.
The first time she had used her book in Zoe’s class since early last November.
— — —
“A right mess is what I found.”
Eva frowned as her master glared around the room. Being in Ylva’s private meeting room didn’t help his temperament in the slightest. He’d been getting grumpier and far more agitated every time something happened.
She couldn’t quite blame him for that. ‘Somethings’ happened an awful lot at Brakket.
Before Brakket, Devon would occasionally bring Eva along on jobs, sometimes with Arachne and sometimes without. Those jobs were always planned or, at the very least, Devon would know roughly what to expect. That could be anything from fairies to people with guns. Whatever the case, they could prepare.
At Brakket,
It didn’t sit right with her.
“The fire was demonic in origin. That much was plain to see. Beyond that,” Devon gave a one-armed shrug.
“Obviously from the jezebeth,” Arachne said.
“I don’t like that a jezebeth was involved, we can’t be sure of anything.” He swung his arm around to point across the table, though he gave an aside glance towards Eva and Arachne. “Especially first hand accounts. They tend to be skewed.”
Zoe bristled under his accusation. She opened her mouth, looking like she was about to protest. No words came out. She stared until her mouth clamped shut. Her gaze dropped down to the rich mahogany table.
It was… odd. Zoe looked older than Eva remembered.
