Void Domain, Book 06 полностью

“It is,” Zoe agreed. Especially for lugging around more than thirty pounds of salt and other reagents. She would have been making several trips without that little trick. “But I try to use it as little as possible. Items that I put away for long term storage have a tendency to become unrecoverable. Shouldn’t be a problem here as I intend to withdraw it in a minute or two. Speaking of, I should be leaving.”

“Don’t let me hold you up. I can handle myself.”

Zoe let a small smile touch her lips. “I’m sure that our illustrious dean will be releasing a statement sometime soon, but I’ll keep you appraised of the situation as I can. I don’t think you’ll need your barricade tonight, though.”

Tom gave a short shrug. “Can’t hurt.”

“Might scare off any customers that wander in.”

“Anyone who walks in this late, I don’t care if they return. Present company excluded. I run a classy bar, not a hostel.”

“Have you tried locking your doors?”

Giving the scoffing Tom a slight wave, Zoe used her wand to drop herself into the blinding white of between. The walls of his bar tumbled off into the light, only to be replaced by the women’s ward gate room.

She made her way from the ward to Ylva’s domain, stopping just outside to pull everything out of between that she had stored there. Most of it went into her backpack. Everything else, she simply levitated.

Wayne and Nel sat at the table that had been set up on Ylva’s throne platform. Both seemed deep in a fairly heated discussion. Most of the heat was coming from Wayne if the scowl on his face was anything to judge by.

After crossing the gap with only the slightest modicum of hesitation, Zoe dropped her supplies on the table. “This should be everything on the list,” she said. “Where’s Eva?”

“Off talking with her spider,” Wayne snapped. He let out a strained sigh through grit teeth as he ran a hand down his face.

Frowning at his entirely unwarranted hostility, Zoe narrowed her eyes. “Did something happen?”

“Not much… Oh, except for the Elysium chapel I need to figure out how to break into and out of without getting myself killed.”

Zoe blinked, going over what he said a second and third time in her mind. Just to make sure she had heard him correctly.

“The obelisk that you need is inside the Salem Cathedral,” Nel said, answering the question that Zoe had been about to ask.

“Alright,” Zoe said slowly. That explained Wayne’s mood.

“Spencer only wants a teleport nearby. She thinks she can do it alone.”

Again, Zoe had to go over what he said a second time. “She what?”

“That is roughly what my response was. Even with her pet’s help, maybe other demons, I doubt she has what it takes.”

“Alright. I’ll talk some sense into her. But,” Zoe bit her lip, wondering if she should say anything at all. With a side glance at Nel, she decided that it couldn’t possibly hurt. Nel had no love for the Elysium Order. “But can’t you do it the same way that you did it last time?”

Ignoring the expected stiffening and gasp from Nel, Zoe focused on Wayne.

He just looked confused more than anything. “Last time? Last time I…” His confusion vanished into a mounting look of horror. “You’re not seriously suggesting–”

“If it helps, why not?”

“I could think up a thousand reasons,” he grumbled. Pressing his hands into the table, Wayne stood. “I have a phone call to make.” Without a backwards glance, he walked out of Ylva’s domain, phone in hand.

“Last time?”

With a smile on her face, Zoe turned to Nel. “Well, he wasn’t stealing an obelisk, but he got in and out. Otherwise, long story.”

— — —

Irene sat in the hallway with her back to the wall, staring at the door to Eva’s room and wondering just when Professor Lurcher was going to return.

Or if he would return.

Irene would like to think that the condition of Eva’s room was worth at least an urgent rating. Unfortunately, she had a sinking suspicion in the back of her mind that it barely made it on the ’emergency’ scale at all.

Especially not after Shelby had dragged her off to their room’s window. After seeing the real sky, Irene doubted that Eva’s room was even worth remembering. Compared with purple veins stuck in the sky, a little sand was nothing.

Nothing for the people who weren’t sitting outside, constantly reminded of it, anyway.

Irene had had the sick sensation of butterflies in her stomach ever since Catherine left, something that should have provided some peace of mind. If Catherine didn’t think that it was that big of a deal, it probably wasn’t. But she had said to draw out the highest tier of shackles that Irene knew. That did not provide any comforting feelings.

Shelby had gone to bed. Right next door to Eva’s room no less! She hadn’t been worried about it. She just assumed that both things would be solved by the professors and security staff by morning. Shelby hadn’t been aware of the implications behind the markings that Irene had drawn.