Juliana reached forward, gripping Arachne’s wrist. She made sure to move the metal out of the way before touching her. Burning her with the hunter’s metal right now wouldn’t advance any of Juliana’s goals.
When Arachne didn’t swat her hand away, instead stopping and turning, Juliana grew a little more confident. She stared into Arachne’s red eyes—her main two anyway, Juliana kept her gaze steady rather than flick to each set of eyes.
“You apologized for that. I’ve accepted your apology. More, I’ve decided that you didn’t apologize just because Eva made you.”
That last bit she had been convinced was false up until about thirty seconds ago. Arachne deciding not to fight and her current attempt to escape the situation just made it all the more convincing.
After another moment of keeping their eyes locked together, Arachne turned with a slight snort. Her hand slipped out of Juliana’s grip and she resumed her march.
“Besides,” Arachne said, not looking towards Juliana as they walked alongside each other, “I’ve still hurt her during our spars. Unless we have different definitions of the word. I seem to recall tearing out her throat once.”
“That…” Was true. Partially. It had been more of a scratch, really. A particularly bloody scratch that went just a bit too deep and took out a bit too much flesh. “Well, just don’t do that.”
“I don’t think you quite understand the difficulty of holding back while in real combat.” Arachne did glance down towards Juliana this time. Just long enough to make sure that Juliana saw the sneer. “I suppose that wouldn’t be much of a problem in fighting you. I doubt it would be much of a fight.”
“You won’t know until you try.”
Again, Arachne stopped. “Do you honestly believe that you can fight me? Even with me tying all of my limbs behind my back, do you think you have a chance?”
Gritting her teeth, Juliana broke her gaze with Arachne.
“I didn’t think so. You aren’t your mother.”
“She was the one who suggested I come to you in the first place.
“I need training,” Juliana said when Arachne didn’t respond. “With all the monsters running around, I need to be a better fighter. Zagan’s combat course got canceled with him gone and the after-school dueling club is just fighting other students. My mother is in no position to train me so you’re the next best choice.”
Arachne stared for a moment, eventually shaking her head. The hard carapace covering the tendrils that had taken place of her hair snapped and crackled as they hit each other. “
“What else is new?”
“But I’m the wrong choice. I know nothing of thaumaturgy. I don’t know how mages should fight with it. I don’t know how to teach. Find somebody else. Your professor knows how to fight, get her to do it.”
“Not an option.”
She had suggested Zoe to her mother. Her mother had shut that option down. Zoe was not a fighter. She
But Genoa wanted an opponent like Arachne. Someone similar to what Juliana might have to fight in real life. Preferably someone who wasn’t going to hold back much either.
That didn’t look like it was going to be an option, but Juliana would take what she could get.
“Help me. If you really need, we can ask Eva for permission.”
“That would be more acceptable. I don’t like going behind her back. Though I will warn you: we might not have much time for you.”
Juliana frowned, crossing her arms as she stared at the demon. Was Arachne really that busy? Apart from hanging off Eva like a lost puppy, Juliana couldn’t think of a single thing that Arachne had done that might take up any amount of time.
“We have a certain project we’re starting soon. We’re expecting it to consume a fair bit of time. Lots of work to do.”
“She hasn’t told me about anything like that.” Not unless Eva had decided to sign up for the school’s activities.
“You’ve never asked.”
— — —
“You told her?”
“I didn’t tell her what we were doing.”
Eva rubbed her forehead. “No, but now she’s going to be asking all the time until I tell her something. I guess we can save that for later. Everything ready?”
“Are we really sure about leaving right now? The demon hunters–”
“Are still watching the town,” Eva said. She gave a quick glance towards Srey for confirmation.
His arms were crossed and his eyes narrowed, but as soon as Eva looked at him, he sat up and spoke somewhat respectfully. “Nobody has been watching us with any kind of hostility since we got to this place. For the record, everything about this plan is bad and you all should feel bad for dragging me into it.”
“Noted. Don’t care.”
