And the nun before her was missing far more than a skinned knee brought to the table. She had no gloves and no shoes. While the rest of Ylva’s domain was constructed out of smooth marble, the prison floor was rough. The material resembled something along the lines of cement or asphalt. In a word: unpleasant.
Despite the glacial pace at which she moved, Sister Cross allowed no emotion to cross her face. Not the slightest flicker of pain.
By the time she had finally taken her first few steps out of the room, Eva had managed to school any hint of emotion from her face. She knew Arachne wouldn’t have any emotion showing either.
At least, the old Arachne wouldn’t have any. Maybe a grin, if anything.
Eva shot a quick glance to her side just to confirm that yes, Arachne was as impassive as ever.
“Where is Shalise?”
“Follow me,” Eva said as she turned and started moving towards the exit of the prison.
She realized her mistake almost immediately. By the time she reached the threshold, Sister Cross had only taken five steps.
This was going to take time. It would have been so much simpler had Sister Cross just let Arachne carry her.
As it was, Arachne stuck to Sister Cross’ side. Apart from the occasional maniacal twitch of her fingers, the spider-demon never once appeared hostile.
When they
But it was the only room that Ylva had allowed her to use.
Sister Cross’ eyes started to glow with white power. That glow subsided and died off as Arachne snapped her hand over the eyeball inset into Sister Cross’ chest.
“You’re not in danger,” Eva said. She would have explained what room they had been heading towards had she thought it might have helped. Sadly, she doubted that cheerily stating their destination to be the torture chamber would have endeared her to Sister Cross.
Sister Cross, predictably, sneered and scoffed.
With a sigh and a slight rolling of her eyes, Eva said, “I’m not going to hurt you. Just the opposite. You’re not in any shape to protect Shalise. It took half an hour for you to move one room. A walker-wielding great-grandmother would be able to get the best of you.”
Eva pointed towards a circle drawn out on the floor. “Sit,” she said. “Seiza style.” Harsh? Maybe. Required? Not in the slightest. Vindictive? Eva’s middle name.
With Arachne just barely not having to force her, Sister Cross knelt down in the center of the circle. She leaned in, staring at the floor. “Is this blood?”
“It is,” Eva said with a smile. “So much easier to draw out ritual circles when you can just magic the lines around. Much less back pain.”
Eva reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out a flawless bloodstone. One of three from her void metal dagger. “Frankly, I’m unhappy about using this on you. Unfortunately, my other bloodstones are too badly degraded and I, almost surprisingly, have no one to kill for a new one at the moment.
“Well,” Eva said, “that isn’t entirely true. Sawyer is unfortunately outside my ability to reach. For the moment.”
Aside from a glare, Sister Cross didn’t respond. Part of that might have been Arachne and her claws being uncomfortably close to her.
Circling around the circle, Eva double checked everything. Especially the part where Sister Cross had stepped over to the center. All the lines and sigils had to be cleanly drawn. This was her first time ever using a bloodstone-powered ritual and she wanted to see it succeed. Academically, if not for Sister Cross’ sake.
Thankfully, Sister Cross had not attempted to ruin the circle by purposefully smudging any part of it. Probably a good choice, damaged circles had unintended effects. Assuming they didn’t just do nothing or explode.
“What is this?” Sister Cross asked just as Eva was setting the bloodstone down within a triangle at the tip of the circle.
“A bloodstone,” Eva said, purposefully ignoring Sister Cross’ real question, “as a matter of fact. Used in blood magic. They’re created from people I don’t like. Well, not this one. I have no idea where this one came from.”
Or how it could have lasted two years plus however many hundreds of years it existed before Eva found it in that museum.
“I’m surprised you don’t know this.”
“What is the ritual’s intention?” Sister Cross ground out. “I recognize some of it, but then it twists into the unknown.”
“As I said, you’re worthless as you are now. This ritual
Sister Cross’ eyes widened in surprise. The expression twisted back into her regular glower a short moment later. “I don’t want any part of this,” she said as she tried to stand.
Arachne kept her down.
“That,” she glared at the bloodstone, “is someone else’s life.”
