It was somewhat awkward, being seated on the couch while Genoa wandered about, but Eva ignored it for the most part. It was nice that she was on her feet in the first place. Her recovery was going well, it seemed. No brain damage as far as Eva could tell.
Though she hadn’t asked Genoa or Juliana if there actually was any. But having her heart punctured like that… even a few minutes of oxygen deprivation to the brain could cause permanent damage. It had been one of the main things Eva had tried to prevent by circulating her blood through the air.
Muscle atrophy was a whole other matter, unfortunately. After waking from her coma, she had been unable to move. Too much healing, too much risk of reopening a wound. By the time she had been able to get up for exercise, she needed a good deal of therapy.
Moreover, she was acting. A good act as she really was up on her feet.
But as Eva glanced down to her phone’s screen, Genoa let her facade slip ever so slightly.
Her smile lost its gusto. Still there, ready to reassure people that she was fine. But so long as she thought that nobody was looking, she didn’t put the effort into it. Her breathing changed to be just a bit more ragged, as if she weren’t getting quite enough oxygen though her lungs.
It wasn’t the first time she had let her act falter. Pretty much anytime she thought that her guests weren’t paying attention, she would sigh or pinch her eyes shut. Something to indicate an exhaustion that she kept hidden otherwise.
Eva hadn’t commented so far and she wasn’t about to start now.
Instead, she focused on her still ringing phone.
Irene’s name was lit up on the screen.
Which was somewhat odd. Eva couldn’t recall ever getting a call from Irene. Usually it was the other way around. Eva couldn’t think of a single reason why Irene would call. It wasn’t to hang out. Irene never initiated any kind of hang-out session.
If there was trouble at Brakket, Eva would have expected a call from Zoe first.
Unless Zoe was in trouble.
“Hello?”
“Eva? Oh good. You’re alright.”
That instantly set her on full alert. “Should I not be alright?” she asked with a glance towards Srey.
The other demon hadn’t participated even once in the conversation with Genoa. Not that Eva had really expected him to. She felt a bit bad that Srey was being used purely for his utility and not for something like his charming personality… but he didn’t have much charm under his glower.
Still, he got the message the glance conveyed and shook his head. He mouthed, ‘no one watching.’
That calmed Eva a little bit. If nobody was watching, they probably weren’t about to be ambushed. Probably. Maybe somebody was outside watching the house. They couldn’t see Srey, but they were waiting for somebody to emerge or to walk past the windows. Or maybe they had blocked Srey out of their watching somehow and could keep an eye on the rest without triggering his sense of observation.
Thinking those thoughts erased the little calm that Eva had.
And made her eye the windows with suspicion.
Her blood sense wasn’t detecting anything abnormal, but it didn’t have the range that Srey apparently had.
While Eva had been analyzing her surroundings, Irene had continued on, babbling somewhat incoherently about Saija.
“Stop,” Eva said, latching onto a word. “Someone with a sword? Were they armored up like a medieval knight?”
“No. Saija said that they were an old lady.”
“Old? How old? Maybe an eye patch and red hair?”
Eva could almost hear Irene shaking her head.
“White hair. And Saija says no eye patch, just a leather coat.”
Frowning, Eva tried to think up anyone she knew that fit that description.
“I didn’t actually see any of it,” Irene said, ignoring Eva’s momentary lapse in thought. “I was turned away. When I did look, I still couldn’t see anything. Saija said that she was running pretty fast.”
“Right. A white-haired, leather coat wearing sword wielder who moves quickly,” Eva repeated for the sake of everyone present. “We’ll be on the lookout. You stay safe, alright. We’ll be back to the dorms…”
Eva trailed off as something clicked.
She
Just once. And not for very long.
Someone who had gone unnoticed by her blood vision. Someone who had apparently broken a domain and caused the domain owner to flee into Prax’s domain.
“The doll,” Eva whispered to herself.
But it wouldn’t be coming after Eva. She hadn’t done anything. Maybe it was looking for Prax and was merely unaware that he had died.
