Conversely, Irene was much happier. She smiled a whole lot more–though never in Eva’s direction. The girl hadn’t missed a beat in claiming Max’s seat next to her sister. She barely acknowledged Eva’s presence, but at least she hadn’t run off.
As Eva’s thoughts drifted to the girl, so did her eyes. For the second time in an hour, Irene met her gaze. If that alone wasn’t enough cause her eyebrows to creep up her forehead, Irene cleared her throat.
“Um, can I talk to you for a second?”
“Sure,” Eva said with what was hopefully a kind smile.
Irene held her gaze for another second or two before she glanced off to some point over Eva’s shoulder. As if looking at her directly would be painful. After a moment of standing there, she gripped Eva by the upper arm and pulled her off to a corner of the room.
Eva gave Juliana a shrug as she allowed herself to be dragged off.
“What did you need?”
“Nothing, really. I just wanted to make sure you knew. The girl over there, the one with all the stitches. She’s been staring at you.”
Rather than turn her head, Eva looked through her sense of blood. The blended girl had her eyes directly on the side of Eva’s head. Her companion seemed wholly engrossed with his meal, apparently unconcerned with the bell having rung.
“That isn’t entirely unexpected,” Eva said with a nod. “I was fairly cruel to her after she… well,” Eva lifted her hand in the air.
Irene flinched back.
Eva immediately dropped her arm behind her back. “Sorry.”
“No. No. I’m fine. I just,” she slowly tuned her gaze to Eva’s other side. “It isn’t just today. She’s been staring–glaring even–for weeks. Every time I look around, her, her mismatched eyes are just there.”
She ran a hand through her hair, leaving short, brown strands out of place on the side of her head.
“Irene,” Eva said, forcibly restraining herself from reaching forwards. “Are you alright?”
“I just… You, and her, and Jordan, and regular school, and Professor Lurcher being gone, and Professor Baxter’s injuries, and–”
“Irene. Let’s go sh–swimming.” Eva almost said shopping. She managed to stop herself just in time. It was her first instinct to say, but shopping was not on the list of things she was very interested in. “Or the hot springs.”
“What?” She actually looked up straight into Eva’s eyes. Her eyes darted from left to right, looking into each of Eva’s eyes. By the fifth pass, she seemed to realize what she was looking at. Irene took a step backwards and averted her eyes again.
“You’re stressed out.” A whole lot more than Eva originally thought. “When was the last time you did anything that wasn’t schoolwork or worry about the people around you?”
“I don’t–”
“Come on.” Eva put on her kindest smile. “Just you and me. I’m
“Right now?”
“If we go now, you can’t think about it. You don’t have time to worry and get stressed out about it.”
“We have class.”
“Professor Carr won’t mind if you explain that stress was getting to you. Neither will Zoe. And it isn’t even lying.”
“I don’t know…”
“I do.” Eva held out her hand.
This time, Eva did not withdraw when Irene took a step backwards. Eva did ensure the sharp tips of her fingers were all folded inwards. All the while, Irene’s eyes stayed glued to the claw.
They stayed frozen as the lunchroom cleared around them. Irene’s heart rate picked up as time wore on. Just as she started to reach her hand out, the bell rang.
They were late to class.
Rather than give Irene the opportunity to second guess herself, Eva reached out and grabbed the partially extended hand.
Irene let out a small ‘eep’ as Eva started dragging her away from their classroom.
“I-I don’t even have a swimsuit.”
Eva grinned. “Neither do I.”
— — —
Nel took a deep breath of the frankincense filled air. She much preferred the steamy air of Lady Ylva’s baths–even with the revelation that she had been spied upon since she got there–but she had a job to do.
It wasn’t even a difficult job. Quite the opposite, really. A mix between monotonous and relaxing. Nel had overworked herself to the point of passing out after the demons attacked.
Lady Ylva had been very clear afterwards that she was never to do something so foolish again. Her property was to be kept in good, working order. An unconscious augur was an unproductive augur.
Warm feelings fluttered around Nel’s stomach every time she realized that Lady Ylva actually cared. If in her own, slightly twisted way. Nel had a feeling that she would be worked as hard as or harder than Sister Cross had Eva been in charge of her.
So, Nel slowly and very relaxedly cycled through her fetters. She wasn’t even doing it every hour. Especially not while the children were at school. They were all together and Lady Ylva was right there with them.
A strand of platinum hair drifted over in front of Nel as her master crossed her mind.
