Void Domain, Book 08 полностью

All of her clothes had been modified with holes in the backs for her wings and tail. Two things that she had never put away.

Maybe she couldn’t.

Eva shook her head, glancing back to Shalise. “If it was supposed to be a secret, it won’t be for very long. Besides, weren’t half the demons going to be becoming bound familiars? I hope you didn’t sign up for that unless you want another demon in your head.”

Shalise backed up slightly, aghast and face drained of blood. “I don’t think– That’s not– Regular humans can participate too, right?”

“They can indeed, Miss Ward.”

Eva rolled her eyes before shifting to see over Shalise’s shoulder. “Mister Anderson,” she said in her least sarcastic tone of voice. “Welcome back. We… missed you.”

“Back?” he said as confusion twisted his face. “I haven’t gone anywhere.”

“We haven’t missed you either.”

Eva couldn’t say why she felt antagonistic towards Alexander Anderson. Something about him rubbed her the wrong way. He acted too professional. The way he spoke implied that he cared about the students around Brakket. And yet Eva doubted that was the case.

At least Martina hadn’t lied about it. At least not to Eva.

“Well, I’m glad to see you’ve still got a sense of humor. I hear rumors that you’ve been somewhat on edge lately.”

Maybe it is him who is spying on us. Eva quickly dismissed the thought. He was spying, or he had his demons spying, but he couldn’t be the only one. There were definitely demon hunters out there.

“I was just stopping by while looking for someone,” he said, glancing around the table.

“Jordan’s already gone ahead to class, if that’s who you’re looking for. He wanted to get a question or two in before his enchanting test starts.”

“Good for him. But I was actually looking for Juliana Rivas.”

Eva sat up straighter, narrowing her eyes slightly. A thousand possibilities for his reasons ran through her mind. Most involved her parents. Were they injured or in trouble? Or had they found out that Zagan wasn’t even on the mortal plane and were going to pull her out of school.

“Whatever you’re fearing, don’t,” Anderson said. He shook his head. “It isn’t anything bad. I assure you. I merely wished to discuss a few matters with her. Matters involving demons and the possibility of her becoming one of our dear friends’ host.”

“Oh,” Eva said with half a chuckle. Her sudden tension died almost immediately. “That. I doubt she’ll agree.”

“She had an interest in diablery before, did she not?”

“Yeah. It almost got her mother killed.”

“Ah, yes. The mess with Zagan. I was hoping we might look past that now.” He paused to look around again. “I thought I might ask, at the very least. Yet she isn’t here. Did she head to class early as well?”

“Actually, she is skipping school today. Sort of. I mean, she’s here. But she isn’t going to class. You’ll have to try tomorrow.”

“Skipping school? You’re admitting that to the dean?”

Eva shrugged. It wasn’t like the attendance records would have shown her here.

“She wanted to borrow Arachne. They should be out in the Infinite Courtyard.”

Eva would be out there as well, except she had a test today. She wasn’t sure why she bothered. School was there to prepare oneself for the future and she had no idea what she wanted to do after school ended.

Maybe she would be in Hell. Maybe she could join the Royal Guild of Mage-Knights. At the very least, that would keep her appraised of any bounties that might get put on her head.

For the moment, she figured she might as well learn. Especially golemancy. Poor Basila was still not quite her usual self.

Author’s Note: The first chapter of a new story tentatively titled Analyst is over on my preview site. Meant to have it up a few weeks ago, but delayed because I’m not sure that I write military tactical type things very well. Much less happy with it than I am with Demi-God, but I also wanted to post something. Bigger notes at the bottom of the chapter over there.

“I don’t see why you need me for this.”

Juliana’s concentration collapsed. Along with it went the few particles of iron that she had managed to conjure up.

She took a deep breath and let it out as a long sigh. “All that progress. Gone. Just like that.”

“Progress? You’ve been standing in one spot for the last hour doing nothing.”

“Didn’t you see all the iron? I conjured that.”

“I saw nothing.”

“Then you weren’t looking.”

Arachne glanced off to the side, looking back towards the direction of the school building.

It might have been her imagination, but it almost seemed as if she let out a small sigh of her own.

“Why am I here again? I know nothing about thaumaturgy. And this doesn’t seem to be a secret thing that you would need to come out into the woods with a bodyguard for.”

“Bodyguard?” Juliana raised an eyebrow. “Is that what you think you’re here for?”