Taking her eyes off them, Eva surveyed the dark ritual site. The area hadn’t been damaged too much by Arachne’s unexpected flight. At least, not that she could tell at the moment. The darkness made it difficult to tell the real extent of the damage. However, most of it had happened in a section that wasn’t yet started, let alone finished as Arachne had plowed through some of the completed areas when she had been kicked away.
She could have tossed a few light spells around, but Juliana wasn’t in a proper state to fix anything. Eva had been using a shovel to help out and could do it herself. However, she wasn’t in a good mood at the moment either. And Juliana would still need to harden the earth to keep it from deforming.
It would be better to work on it during the daylight hours.
Shaking her head, she took a moment to examine Arachne. She was standing—glowering really—and hadn’t been hobbling while returning from her brief trip across the field. However, she was still injured from the hunter. Even lacking the strength of bestial strain vampires or the magics of the Blacksky, the August was still a vampire and not someone to be taken lightly.
But Eva’s worries were misplaced. Arachne’s carapace wasn’t even cracked. Her insides were still functioning properly as far as Eva could tell. Aside from her preexisting wound, Arachne was in perfect health.
“So,” Juliana said, making Eva turn around to face her properly, “you’re going to have to win this event now? Are you actually going to agree to his demands?”
“Not necessarily. He didn’t specify anything about me having to win, only if his school wins do I have to do anything. There are still the other schools. His arrogance in assuming he wouldn’t lose gave me the better odds.”
“You’re not worried about him ‘altering the deal’ after he loses?”
“I imagine he will. The trick is killing him before it matters.”
Juliana hesitated for a moment before shuddering. “Well good riddance. I don’t think I like vampires very much.”
“Serena isn’t so bad,” Eva said with a grin. She quickly snapped her lips shut as she realized how wide her smile went. “You just haven’t given her a chance.”
“I think I’ll pass.”
“Your loss. But speaking of…” Eva trailed off, turning to Srey with a small frown on her face. Something really bothered her about the way he was hiding behind Juliana. “I’m going to need your help with a little task.”
Srey flinched upon being addressed. He did move slightly to one side, coming out from Juliana’s shadow.
“Following him right?” Srey said. “Finding out where he hid this message?”
“Not quite. Or rather, I have someone else I can assign to that task.” Nel should be able to watch the vampire well enough. Unlike hunters and Sawyer, it was doubtful that he would have a way to avoid Nel’s sight. “No. I need you to spend as much time as possible here. If you feel the slightest hostility, find and tell me immediately.”
Srey started off with a frown, but the frown slowly grew to a smile. “You mean you
“Exactly.”
—
Eva had one last thing to accomplish before the event began in full. A minor thing. Possibly even an optional thing. For that thing, she was currently sitting in her golemancy classroom, waiting for Professor Brier Price to finish her lesson. Which, assuming the clock was right, should be happening in less than ten seconds.
Sure enough, the bell rang right on schedule.
Brier Price jumped slightly, glancing up at the clock as if she hadn’t been expecting it. She was the only one. Nearly the entire rest of the class was already out the door when she started calling after them.
“Oh! Ah, students, no homework today. Enjoy watching the event.”
A few scattered farewells followed from those students who hadn’t yet left the classroom. The professor just watched them go with a smile on her face.
Meanwhile, Eva sat and waited, watching her lined face and grayed, slightly curled hair as she waved goodbye to every student. Eventually they were the last two in the classroom. Something that had Professor Price jumping again when she noticed.
“Eva? You’re still here.”
“Sorry if I’m disturbing you. I had a few questions I was hoping you might be able to help me with.”
The professor shook her head. “Oh no. Don’t worry about it. I’m something of a faithless woman,” she said with a slightly strained chuckle. “Your appearance doesn’t bother me one bit.”
Eva blinked in confusion before allowing herself a close-lipped smile. She had meant that she was sorry about taking up her time. However, Eva didn’t bother correcting the professor. No sense embarrassing her. Eva instead held out her wrist, using her other hand to slide the coiled form of Basila onto the top of the desk.
The stone snake wouldn’t move on its own accord.
“This is Basila,” Eva said. “It used to be a perfectly functional golem with a basilisk personality. Built by Genoa and Carlos Rivas, if you know of them.”
