Void Domain, Book 06 полностью

And Irene, quite literally, could not tell her. Not without violating her contract. All of Shelby’s inquiries had been responded to with simple ‘nothings’ and ‘Catherine asked me to.’

Jordan could have. Irene didn’t pretend for a moment that he was unaware as to what she was drawing. But he had run off to find his father before the sky had changed. He had probably forgotten too, in light of the veins in the sky.

Irene sighed as she bit her lip. I suppose I should be grateful, she thought. Taking into consideration what had happened with the hot springs, watching an empty room was a vacation. Perhaps she had the easiest job of the people who must be awake this night.

So long as morning comes without anything coming through the room.

Irene jumped a good foot in the air as a wet slopping noise echoed down the hall. Heart beating a million beats a second, she gripped her wand and got off of her chair. Just what the wand was meant to do against anything, she wasn’t entirely certain. But it was a small comfort as she ran to the edge of the shackles and peered into the room.

Nothing. Not a single thing. The sand still held her own footprints, and those of both Professor Lurcher and Catherine, but was otherwise smooth and undisturbed. She couldn’t see into the corners of the room without stepping onto or over the shackles, but Irene felt fairly confident that the room was empty.

Unless it isn’t.

A shiver ran up Irene’s spine as she recalled the first sentence in their diablery textbooks: ‘Never make assumptions when demons are involved.’

Scenarios ran through her mind. What if there was something in there.

She couldn’t see it, so it had to be using a spell of some sort. Either it was invisible or capable of altering her perception.

Irene took a step back from the shackles. It could even be right in front of her, hoping she would step over the line.

But it couldn’t be invisible. It would still leave footprints.

Unless it could float over the sand.

The only other possibility was that it had burrowed beneath the sand. Mundane logic said that the sands would be disturbed at least somewhat. But mundane logic generally went out the window when dealing with magic. Any half-baked earth mage would be able to smooth over sands enough to avoid notice from the distance she was standing.

Well, that’s not the only other possibility, Irene thought as she pressed a finger to her temple. My imagination could be playing tricks on—

“What are you doing?”

Irene screamed. She would never admit to it, but a high-pitched shriek sprung from her mouth as she felt a hand come down on her shoulder.

Her mind took an extra minute to process Jordan’s voice.

Clutching her chest, Irene tried to calm down. Her efforts weren’t helped any by Jordan’s snickering.

“It isn’t funny,” Irene said, giving him a punch in the shoulder.

Jordan rubbed his shoulder, but didn’t stop his snickering. If anything, it only made him laugh harder. “You were concentrating so hard,” he said between chuckles.

“I heard something like a barrel of spaghetti being dumped on the ground. It scared me, alright? You don’t have to make fun of me for it.”

His laughter died down with a single, “ah.”

“What? Did you find something out?”

He shook his head. “Dad is meeting with Dean Turner and Professor Zagan. They wouldn’t let me in. I ran into someone who I thought might help watch Eva’s room, but…” Jordan trailed off with a glance over his shoulder. “See for yourself.”

Following his gaze, Irene spotted… something. Something had spilled? With a rag on top of it. Maybe. It was at the far end of the hallway, just at the top of the staircase.

“What is it?”

“Well, it used to be a security guard. Now however, well, your barrel of spaghetti example might not be so inaccurate.”

“Oh, it’s Lucy.”

Irene started towards the demon, moving around Jordan. Seeing Lucy was actually something of a relief. The day she had come into class, they got a brief introduction to contracts. Lucy’s contract was essentially to act as security for Brakket Academy and to protect the students at all costs.

If there was something inside of Eva’s room, having Lucy around would be a great reassurance.

Or not, Irene thought as she got closer.

Lucy was well and thoroughly disassociated with herself. She had flattened herself out on the floor, her spindly tentacles making no effort to maintain her human form. Or do much of anything at all. Only her security uniform kept her in any kind of recognizable shape.

In other words, she was something that would be incredibly difficult to explain if anyone emerged from their rooms.

Irene glanced up and down the hallway, but apart from Jordan, there was no one around. And that was in spite of her earlier scream. The rooms had some protection against noise, but the scream should have gone through.