Lynn took a deep breath through her nostrils, flaring them as she inhaled. “Leave that to me. I will inform her myself. Should she decide not to undertake the risks, I will stay here as long as it takes for you to find another solution.”
“I imagine that she will agree.”
“As do I. She is my daughter, after all. I would not stand for such an infestation within me longer than necessary. Go clear out the other room, I’ll have your list ready momentarily.”
Eva rolled her eyes before leaving Lynn to her task of writing down the reagents. She threw open the door to her room and walked back out.
A nervous looking Shalise jumped to her feet at the noise. Wide eyes glanced over, calming slightly once she spotted Eva. Her hands fiddled with each other as she held them in front of her chest.
“Well?”
“Congratulations,” Eva said, clapping her hands together. “You might just be rid of Prax sooner than you thought.”
Shalise’s expression broke into a hesitant smile. “R-really?”
“Yep. Some nun ritual. Remember when you had half your arm eaten by zombies?”
“I-I try not to.”
“Well, it will be like that.”
Eva watched, keeping her face impassive, as Shalise’s arms bulged out with an extra bulk of muscles before she took her own end of the couch in hand. She barely exerted any effort in lifting the couch.
She could probably have moved the entire thing on her own.
“Oh, and Prax,” Eva said as they dropped the couch in the back of the room, “you’ll be free to do whatever. You can even stay here, so long as you don’t cause trouble. Sending you right back to your domain would be cruel while that doll might still be there.”
Tilting her head to one side, Shalise winced. “He says thanks.”
“I’m sure he does.”
Moving back to the center of the room, Eva picked up one of the remaining chairs.
Shalise, on the other hand, decided that moving furniture one at a time was too slow. She picked up the table with one arm and leaned the last chair against her other shoulder, moving both at once.
Eva doubted that she would be able to do the same. The chairs weren’t the heaviest things in the world, but they were fairly bulky and awkward to carry. Lifting one one-handedly might be a bit much, especially with a table in the other hand. Her legs were strong, as was her grip strength, both thanks to Arachne. The rest of her upper body could use some work.
“You know,” Eva said once they finished clearing out the room, “you’re not going to have those muscles, assuming all goes well.”
Shalise started. She glanced down at her body as if she hadn’t quite realized what she had done.
Eventually, she spoke. “I know. He tricked me into it–sort of–but they have come in handy.”
“Well,” Eva held up her own hand, examining her shiny carapace in the light, “if you’re going to miss it that much–”
Hands on her hips, Shalise glared. “I’m not amputating my arms.”
Rather than respond, Eva stiffened. Lynn Cross stood just behind her, her pose radiating irritation.
Slowly, Eva turned. She wasn’t surprised in the slightest to see lighting crackling between the ex-nun’s fingers.
“I’ll thank you not to put foolish ideas into others’ heads,” Lynn said, shoving a leaf of paper into Eva’s chest. “The last two items are those that may prove troublesome. The augur should be able to assist.”
Eva nodded. Without so much as a glance at the list, she folded it up. Slinking away as fast as she could, Eva made her way to the gate room.
Empty though it was, it
It was almost identical to the summoning circles used in the mortal realm. Soon enough, the symbols upon the floor began a clock-like rotation. Ripples formed on the surface.
A gaping, void filled maw opened up at her feet. Eva dropped straight down, not concerned in the slightest.
She had long since become used to the sudden weightlessness.
Eva wasn’t certain how long she spent drifting aimlessly through the emptiness. She had tried timing it once. She brought along a mechanical pocket watch. That had actually exploded on her wrist, though not until she had tried a small light spell to see it in the darkness.
If she didn’t try to look, time appeared to pass by at a regular pace. She could leave for her domain at four in the afternoon, spend an hour in her domain, and return at five. That all led Eva to believe that this limbo between Hell and the mortal realm didn’t actually exist on a proper time line.
It felt like it took forever, but no time had actually passed once she got out.
Her musing came to a sudden stop as she found herself spat out of the nothingness into her gate room. The one in the regular women’s ward.
