Eva glanced to the blond girl with a shrug. “Finding out what Catherine wants. Maybe paying a visit to Devon if he is around at the moment. After?” She shrugged again. “Honestly, sad as it is, there isn’t much here at the moment. Probably just head back to the dormitory. We shouldn’t worry Shalise and Shelby by being out too late.”
“I’ll send out some texts, just in case.”
“Sounds good,” Eva said, starting to turn to Catherine. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Saija wandering off through the prison. With a sigh, she turned back to Juliana, leaned in close, and whispered something that Catherine couldn’t quite catch.
Though Catherine could guess at what she was saying. The succubus obviously required a chaperon.
“Anyway, show them around I guess. I’ll catch up with you guys later.”
As Eva left the humans behind and walked up to her, Catherine sighed. She would have to speak with Irene later. Perhaps while Eva was speaking with Devon.
If he was even around. Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen Devon in a few days. He kept whining about needing a new test subject. Maybe he had finally gone off to find one.
Oh well. There would surely be time.
“So,” Eva said, “you’re looking well.”
Catherine had to suppress a little preening at the praise.
She was a succubus. It was in her blood to be vain.
“You as well. Sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“I liked your hair better when it was longer.”
Eva sighed as she ran her claw through the short hairs on her head.
“It’s a work in progress. So, I got your text,” Eva said as she leaned around Catherine to see the inscriptions on the cement platform. “What did you need?”
“Welcome to Transformation Circle version twelve point oh-seven.”
Eva looked it over for a few minutes before shaking her head. “I don’t know enough about the previous version… versions? To tell what is different about this one.”
“Well, it needs only one donor demon this time around. In fact, it
“That sounds nice.”
“However, this circle is specifically keyed to me. If someone else sits in the middle, I don’t know what might happen. I can’t recommend it. Aside from that, a lot of the code is the same.”
“Code?”
Catherine’s grin widened. “I’m so glad you asked. Ritual circles work a lot like programming an application on a computer. They have their own language, essentially. You write them out with a goal in mind. It is purely theoretical at the moment, but I’ve been looking into the possibility of developing a computer programming language that I can use to write spells. Even rituals. All, after some programming, at the touch of a button.”
With both hands on her hips, Catherine stood with her chest puffed out and her wings spread wide.
“Huh,” Eva said, face blank.
Catherine felt an eyebrow twitching. She waited for just a moment, just in case Eva was about to say something slightly more profound.
She didn’t.
“
“Sorry. I can type essays on a computer. Beyond that, I don’t know anything. And I know even less about computer code.”
Catherine let her shoulders droop. Her wings sagged behind her.
“Don’t worry,” Eva said, patting her arm. “I’m sure it’s amazing. It’s my fault I don’t see it.” Despite her words, she was sounding fairly patronizing. As if it were Catherine’s theory that was bad. “Maybe if you talked with Zoe, she could properly appreciate your genius. She might be able to help you too.”
“I suppose,” Catherine said as she scratched at the base of her horn, brushing a lock of hair out of her face. It wasn’t a bad idea. The theory professor was fairly intelligent. For a human. “I’ll send her a text sometime.”
“Good. Now, was that everything?”
“Actually, I wanted to run a test on you. It should only take a few seconds.” Catherine thumbed over her shoulder towards the transformation circle. “If you just sit down in the donor circle, I’ll get it started up.”
“Alright. I can do that,” she said, stepping over to the proper spot without even questioning Catherine’s intentions.
It was weird. Demons didn’t normally trust one another like that.
Shaking her head, Catherine pulled out a long rod of void metal from its holder near the edge of the circle. A slight flap of her wings carried her straight to the center of the circle where she would normally sit. She pressed the rod into a small hole in the ground, leaving it standing up to roughly her waist.
Rod in place, Catherine flew back to the edge of the circle.
“What’s that for?”
“A stand in for me. Don’t worry about it. Are you ready?”
“I guess so.”
