That was something that Eva actually had been considering. They would need to bring in more demons before the ritual actually started. Catherine was not only good at working on and developing rituals, but she was also a demon that Eva
But Catherine had her own interests and designs. She was currently picking out demons for her upcoming ritual. While Eva had offered again, Catherine still hadn’t decided on what she wanted to do. And if she wanted one of the other demons around Brakket, she had to pick them while they were still around. Especially those who might become bound familiars.
They might not be around by the time she performed her next ritual.
“I might,” Eva said, voicing her thoughts aloud. “But not today. We need to clear out brush and grass from here to about halfway across the clearing,” she said with a gesture of her hand. It wasn’t a very useful gesture. Pointing at this distance wasn’t very precise.
“Preferably with as little burning as possible. I’d rather not have a column of smoke pointing out our location for everybody to find.”
“So I’m doing most of the work,” Juliana said with a sigh. “Great.”
“Well, I do recall saving your life. Wasn’t going to force you or anything, but consider it a nice way to pay me back.”
Juliana craned her neck, looking up to the sky. “How would smoke even look from outside?” she said after a moment. “I mean, would someone sitting on the dormitory roof see a great black plume that appeared to come from the whole courtyard or would it be a thin streak, barely visible?”
Eva shrugged.
Space manipulating wards were some of the most complex bits of magic that were possible, according to Professor Lepus. Wards that Brakket Academy made liberal use of in both the main building and the dormitories. Apparently that same professor not only created the wards when the school was first built several decades ago but still maintained all of the wards to this day.
All without looking a day over twenty.
Eva had considered asking her about it, but eventually just shrugged her shoulders and assumed ‘magic’ to be the answer.
“But don’t worry. I’ll help out as well.”
— — —
Zoe let out a long sigh. “For the last time, I didn’t even come close to dying.”
In contrast to her own morose exasperation, Zoe got a fanged grin in return. Hands on her hips, Serena spun around, walking a few steps away.
“Zoe, Zoe, Zoe. Wayne told me you know? You would have been a crispy corpse without him.”
“He exaggerates. I was fully prepared to escape.”
“But you didn’t. Wayne had to save you and you know it.”
Again, Zoe sighed. Arguing with the vampire was just not something that could be done. “Serena, what are you doing here? And how did you get here?”
Pausing, Zoe glanced out the window. Night had fallen a mere ten minutes ago. It still wasn’t completely dark. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that the sun had dipped below the horizon ten minutes ago. About a minute later, Serena had waltzed into her office.
She should have been back in Michigan. A bit far to travel in the span of sixty seconds. At least, a bit far for Serena to travel.
“I can’t imagine Wayne would have brought you here,” Zoe finished, looking back to Serena.
“But he did!” She spun back around, boring her eyes into Zoe. “His sister can take care of herself. She doesn’t need me babysitting her at all hours of the day. And if you two are going to get nearly killed every few months, I should be here. Somebody has to protect you. And I don’t sleep—at nights—so I can hover creepily over your beds and ensure nothing disturbs you.”
Zoe rolled her eyes, shaking her head.
Ylva had essentially performed that task for the last several months.
Serena spun back around, walking through Zoe’s office. A stack of ungraded papers caught her attention. She skipped over and started thumbing through the top few, pausing every now and again to read some of the text.
“So he just brought you over?”
“Well, there was a bit more arguing. As I told him, I’m not some pet to be chained up. I do as he asks because of respect and friendship. Also because your company is far more enjoyable than that of my brethren kin.”
“I hope you didn’t threaten him.”
“Of course not. Friends don’t threaten each other. I merely suggested that I would be making my way here anyway. The long and laborious task of crossing several state lines would be dangerous to only myself. Well, myself and whatever I was traveling with. I might have mentioned that his car might not survive the journey.”
Deciding to ignore the fact that she
