Void Domain, Book 04 полностью

Something must have happened, Shalise thought. I only ever saw Devon about three times and talked to him less than that, but I don’t think Professor Baxter was ever as angry with him as she is now.

Prax gave a subtle shrug and nothing else.

“Ylva,” Devon said after scratching at his goatee again. “It should have a way of separating their souls. Let’s carry through with our original plan of taking it to Eva’s domain, then see about contacting the damn hel.”

Prax’s emotions jumped into turmoil again. There was a sliver of hope alongside a bout of trepidation. The later was primarily focused on the idea of entering another person’s domain. “And we cannot simply bring Ylva here?”

“I’m not about to suggest that to it,” Devon said with a glance at the professors. “It will probably kill me. Or worse.”

“Eva is a neutral party,” Professor Baxter said. It almost sounded rehearsed, or perhaps something she was repeating from someone else. “She cares about Shalise, but with both you and Ylva in her domain, neither of you has to fear anything from the other.”

“And what makes this Eva so trustworthy?”

We can trust Eva.

Prax considered for just a moment before nodding his head. None of the others even had a chance to respond. “Very well,” he said. “If this is a trick, trap, or simply fails to work, I will do everything in my power to make all of your lives living hells.”

“No trick,” Professor Baxter said. “Eva is currently fetching Juliana, so she might not be there right away. However, we all just want everything to go back to normal. As long as you don’t hurt Shalise, we don’t have a problem with you.”

“Besides,” Devon said, “I don’t intend to return to Hell. Ever. This could be my only opportunity to see my subject’s domain.”

Juliana sat in her seat, gripping the armrests.

This… she wasn’t sure what to call it. Farce was a word that came to mind. Whatever it was, it had gone on long enough.

By the looks of it, Eva didn’t even know how close she had come to having her skull caved in while pulling off her cowboy impression on the back of that beetle. She had missed a broken plank by mere inches.

Glancing away from the giant theater screen, Juliana frowned at Willie. He had leaned over, barely touching his seat. In fact, most of him seemed to be held up by the wires coming off of his body. The smile on his face was an almost exact inverse of Juliana’s own expression.

“Precarious situation for the young miss,” he said, not removing his eyes from the screen. “What will she do next?”

He sounds like a game show host, Juliana thought, straining to keep her eyes from rolling. “You never answered my question.”

“You never answered mine.”

“I asked first.”

“Humor me.”

Scowling, Juliana turned back to the theater screen. Eva simply stood there, atop the rubble of the building she recently fought within. After a moment, she blinked up to a nearby roof and started looking around.

A sudden gust of wind picked up her hair. She brushed a handful back, over her ear and out of her face. Black strands waved in the wind over her shoulder. With the way the permanent evening sun glistened off of her skin, she ended up looking very dramatic.

So dramatic that Juliana almost missed the movement at the bottom of the screen. The tattered remains of her friend’s skirt flipped around in the breeze. Eva gave no indication of noticing or caring.

Juliana felt her face heat up as she turned away. With her shirt having been torn off, Eva was practically naked.

Coughing lightly, Juliana said, “I imagine she’ll be fairly happy. I don’t think Eva is enough of a team player to want too many people around her. Especially not people as worthless as those hybrids you gave her.”

Willie hummed lightly in acknowledgment.

“As for what she will do, probably find Arachne.”

“And fight her?”

“I doubt it.”

“Oh,” he said, “that’s gloomy.” After a moment’s pause, he opened his mouth again. “As for your question, whenever I get bored. You, of course, are free to leave at any time. And I will stick to my promise, if one of them kills another, I’ll let the other two go.”

Juliana grit her teeth. “You didn’t keep your other promise.”

“Milady, you wound me.” He clutched at his chest and flopped over to one side, limp save for his strings. “Our promise was so rudely interrupted when they cut your strings. Naturally, I could not allow them to simply leave after such a grievous insult.”

Glancing up at him with a frown, Juliana had to wonder what would happen if she cut his strings. Maybe it would incapacitate or distract him long enough for her to get everyone out. Or at least give them a chance to take him out for good.