Looking around the classroom, Professor Lepus gave a firm nod of her head. “That will be class for the day. There will be no extracurricular work, though try to think up ways to simplify ritual circles with the power of thought.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the chime rang, signaling the end of class. Perfectly timed as always. No matter the disruptions, her lessons so far all had ended just as the bell was ringing.
Almost as if she planned for the disruptions.
Standing up, Eva arched her back, listening to the light pops going up her spine. Sitting in one spot for too long really put a crick in her back.
But at least she felt like she was learning something. Without all the excitement and danger going on, she actually had time to pay attention to the lessons. They were finally going more in-depth on the order and chaos side of thaumaturgy.
“I can’t believe you guys visited some demons without me.”
“I thought you would be showing up,” Irene said with a sigh. “Juliana said you might be coming.”
“Yeah, she didn’t tell me about it until after. Though not wanting them to be focused on me was a decent reason, it would have been nice to at least have been told.”
“Well, it was a strange experience. I had to keep reminding myself that we were meeting with demons and not some random student. Catherine is much more… obvious once you know what to look for.”
“They would definitely blend in a whole lot better if nobody knew that they were demons beforehand,” Eva said, glancing over her shoulder towards the demon in their class.
Srey was staring right at her. All the students around him were packing their bags or otherwise getting ready to go on to their next class. He just sat and stared.
Until Eva met his eyes.
With a slight jerk of his head towards the doorway, he stood up, slipped between the students crowding him, and made his way to the hallway.
Eva sighed. “I think he wants to talk with me now too.”
Irene, having watched the whole thing, just shook her head. “What gave you that idea?”
“Just the words of a little birdie passing by. Come on, let’s go see what he wants.”
“Me too?” Irene asked, taking a step back. After a moment, her shoulders slumped. “Fine. Save your breath. I would have just gotten talked into it in the end anyway. Or dragged along somewhat unwillingly.”
“That was one time. Every other time has been entirely your choice.”
“And that one time just so happened to be the time monsters almost killed us. At least nothing too bad happens when I go willingly.”
“You’re acting far too melodramatic,” Eva said as they got out into the hallway.
Looking around, she couldn’t find Srey anywhere. She could still feel him around, but his body was gone.
Which meant he had to be invisible.
Walking towards the insubstantial sense Srey emitted, Eva reached out with a single finger. “Poke.”
She had been anticipating her finger touching something invisible, but it passed freely through the air. As her lips curled into a frown, the air drew together, solidifying into the shape of Srey.
It didn’t really matter right now. Maybe not ever, even. It was still nice to know.
And it gave just a little more reason for the insubstantial feeling she got from him.
“Sorry to disturb you,” he said, averting his eyes to one side while giving a slight bow.
Eva waited for him to explain what he was sorry about or what he was disturbing her for, whichever one he thought to call her out for. But Srey stayed frozen in his half-bow, head angled towards the ground.
Glancing towards Irene, Eva rolled her eyes. These demons were getting annoying. She was
“Alright. What do you want?”
“I thought you might be interested to know that you are being watched.”
“That doesn’t sound particularly new.”
“They hate you. A lot. And me as well.”
Eva shook her head. “Nope. Still doesn’t sound too new.”
Though if Des was the one watching her, things could get troublesome. She was already known to not be too careful in involving innocents in her plots. Unless Eva was grossly underestimating her, she shouldn’t be that difficult of an opponent unless she had brought the haugbui with her.
Which she probably had, if it was her. However, Nel had been keeping track of the dark spot in her vision that followed Des around. Last Eva checked in, she hadn’t been moving anywhere close to Brakket. If she had been, Eva imagined that Nel would be running straight to Eva to let her know. Or borrow Zoe’s cellphone and just send off a simple text. Either would work.
