Void Domain, Book 06 полностью

Instead of actually reading, she sat and watched the two of them through her blood sight.

She hoped that Juliana wouldn’t take offense at her theatrics towards her brother. As soon as that thought crossed her mind, Eva quickly resolved to never refer to anything she did as ‘theatrics’ in front of Juliana. She didn’t want any possible link or connotation between herself and Willie, the theater demon.

It didn’t take long for something to happen.

Juliana gasped. She sucked in air like she had been held underwater for far too long.

Erich had much the same reaction with the added effect of him jumping to his feet.

After taking a few breaths of air, Juliana whipped her head towards Eva. “What was that?”

“What was–”

“Juliana,” Erich snapped, “we are leaving.”

“Wait!” She turned to Eva. “What did you do?”

Blinking in confusion, Eva glanced between the two. “What are you talking about?”

“I-I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t move.” Juliana shivered. “The walls all darkened for a moment.”

Eva glanced up at the ceiling with a frown. Throughout the women’s ward, and the rest of the civilized portions of the prison, lighting was done purely through runes–the everburn candles she used to have for lighting the place had long since proven the falsehood of their name. It was a pain to go around recharging them every few months, but that wasn’t too different from mundane lighting.

The lighting was holding steady. It had been a few months, but usually they would start flickering before outright failing.

Not to mention the fact that Eva hadn’t noticed anything herself.

Juliana gripped her arm, rubbing it up and down. The metal armor coating her body had shifted from its solid suit of armor form to a more liquid form. She was ready to shape it into whatever she needed at a moment’s notice.

“And then they started leaking blood.”

Eva sat and stared. She wasn’t entirely certain how to react to that.

There was nothing on the walls or floors. She didn’t even need to look. All she could see through her blood sight was well-contained blood. Either within bodies or vials.

And Eva was fairly certain that she hadn’t learned any magic that could create illusions. That left just two possibilities.

Juliana could be lying. Not an extremely likely possibility. Eva couldn’t see a reason why she would lie. And then there was her and Erich’s reactions. Both had taken in a large breath at almost the same time and both had squirmed while Eva was speaking.

Standing once again, Eva ignored Erich as he flinched back in his chair and went straight to the window.

She breathed a small sigh of relief as she watched the red and yellow hues of sunset color the clouds and sky.

“What is it?” Juliana asked from a few steps away. She was staring out the window, but kept a good couple of strides away.

Erich had a firm hand on her shoulder, but she made no effort to shrug it off and come closer.

Great, Eva thought with another sigh. Now she’s keeping her distance from me.

And after how well their reunion had been going too.

“Nothing,” Eva said with a shake of her head. “I don’t know what happened. Nothing I intended. However, Erich may be correct. When strange things are afoot, sticking around is not a good idea.”

“You’re going to stay.”

“Naturally. I’ve got to figure out what happened.”

“But you didn’t even notice. You need someone–”

“Juliana,” Erich cut in, “take your friend’s advice. Your father will be expecting you back before nightfall anyway. And when he hears about this–”

“Don’t you say a word.” She whirled around, sticking her finger in his chest. “You threatened her first.”

Erich merely shrugged.

“Don’t worry about me,” Eva said. She would have to leave it to Juliana to handle her family. “I’m sure Devon will have an idea of what happened.”

Eva doubted that, but he would probably be interested nonetheless. Hopefully, interested enough to help her.

“Go. Keep your dad from worrying. And keep me posted on anything he figures out about the enigmas.”

Eva turned away, ignoring the mounting argument between Erich and Juliana, and started prodding the wall. Just double checking. As expected, it didn’t feel the slightest bit different from normal.

“Juliana,” Eva said, interrupting whatever Erich was saying, “I’ll walk you out.”

“But–”

“No buts.” Gripping her arm, Eva pulled Juliana close. “If you notice anything strange, call Zoe or Ylva as soon as you can.”

Eva didn’t resist as Erich wrenched Juliana out of her claws.

Keeping a firm grip on his sister’s wrist, Erich dragged Juliana out of the women’s ward. He made a beeline towards the car they had driven in, not stopping for any last words.

Eva followed behind, leaving a good distance between them.

The space kept them from conversing. That was fine with Eva. She was too busy lost in her own thoughts to entertain either of them. It had the added benefit of not antagonizing Erich further.

What just happened?