Chapter 15

15

T he next day passes in a haze of information, of Gurlien bringing up runes and Maison contradicting him, of Chloe suggesting things and Gurlien shooting them down, all in languages that sound more like Latin than English to Delina's ears, before a knock raps against the fake plastic door.

Everyone stiffens, and Maison stands from the table, his eyes immediately reflecting back the light.

"Delina, go downstairs," he orders, and Gurlien nods, pulling the gun out from the living room table drawer. "Don't…"

Even though it's locked, the door swings open, bouncing off the hinges. "Don't try to hide her."

An older woman, meek and short, strides in. Gray laces through her hair, wiry and uncontrollable, and she's a good foot and a half shorter than anyone else in the room.

"Who's there?" Gurlien asks, his voice declarative, blinking wildly around the room.

Maison steps around the table in one smooth motion, pulling Delina behind him, like he can protect her with that.

The old woman just leans to glance around him, locking eyes with Delina. "You're the new one."

"Who are you?" Maison demands, and Gurlien stiffens, looking around, and Chloe's the same way.

They can't see whoever this person is.

The old woman smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes. "You're the one looking at the dead?" At Maison's tension, she sighs. "I'm not going to threaten her, I'm just evaluating our risks."

"Frederick," Gurlien says slowly, deliberately. "What are you seeing?"

The woman sighs once more, put upon, and then the very air around her shivers, and Chloe recoils back.

Gurlien, however, just narrows his eyes at her.

"Are you a local wight?" Gurlien asks, voice strident. "Can you communicate with Zoel and Alette?"

The woman shoots him a glare, but Gurlien doesn't react to it. "I only communicate with whom I want."

The air shimmers around her again, and both Gurlien and Chloe startle again.

Back to them not seeing her, apparently.

"And you are…" the woman says, fixated on Delina. "You haven't been around here before."

"She's new," Maison says, still keeping Delina behind his broad shoulders. "She doesn't know about any regional politics."

The woman lifts her unreal eyes to Maison. "And you do, demon child?"

Though her voice is mild, the hair on the back of Delina's neck raises.

"No," Maison admits freely. "I'm here to make sure nobody else comes for her."

"Good," the woman says, sharp. "We don't want any more of you. Half of one is already enough."

For a few seconds, she thinks Maison is going to bristle, before he obviously relaxes his shoulders. "I'll notify you if anyone comes for her," he says, and the woman nods, like this is expected. "If you can tell me if any new Demons or unknown magicians enter your territory."

The woman shrugs one shoulder, casts another critical eye to Delina, then disappears.

This time, Maison flinches, then shakes out his hands, turning back towards the others. "The local flavor knows we're here," he says, grim.

"No shit," Chloe mumbles.

Delina weighs saying something about so clearly being talked over, and someone clearly coming in to be a show of force, before she sighs, sitting down at the table instead. "Another magical creature?"

"Wights are more guardians of the lands, they're generally benign as long as you don't disrupt their flow of magic," Gurlien says, reciting again. "Sounded like she was just letting us know she knows about her." He jerks his thumb at Delina. "Don't disrupt the magic here and she'll leave you alone."

"I don't know how to disrupt magic, remember?" Delina says wearily. "I don't know anything."

"Why can Necromancers see them naturally but we cannot?" Chloe asks Gurlien, curiosity in her voice.

"Same reason why Necromancers can see demons but we can't," Gurlien answers, almost offhand.

"Great," Delina says. "Another perk."

"Good idea about other magicians," Chloe says, "Give us a heads up if the College comes after her."

"If anyone from the College comes after you —" Maison starts.

"How would I know they came after me?" Delina interrupts, which she feels like is a perfectly good point. "The amount of people I know in the College are you three."

"If anyone suspicious comes after you," Maison corrects, "stand behind me. They won't try to kill me."

Delina stares at him. "Why would they try to kill me?" Her voice tilts up into hysterics, and even she knows it. "I have literally done nothing!"

Maison glances to Gurlien and Chloe for help, and they give him absolutely nothing.

"You're the one still pulling a paycheck from them," Gurlien points out.

"Because they're scared of anything they don't know, and you'd be one giant question mark," Maison finally pulls together. "Combined with the absolute batshit of your mother, it's probably smart to be cautious until I can let them know you're not a threat. Somehow."

"You're telling them nothing," Delina challenges, having heard enough, and he holds his hands up in surrender. "I don't care, it's my life, I want to be in control over something at least."

Maison crosses his arms, still staring hard at the door. "I want to ward this place better. She shouldn't have been able to just waltz right in."

"You mean like you did?" Delina asks, rubbing her forehead.

"You mean after your bio-trap took down all the protections? Yes." Maison snips back, then sighs. "Gurlien, do you want to help pick out the runes?"

Gurlien visibly brightens, before he narrows his eyes in suspicion. "Why?"

"Because if I don't include one of you, you'll think I sabotaged it," Maison replies, still standing like the door will attack him. "And you're better at defensive runes, no offense, Chloe."

"None taken!" she replies, giving him a thumbs up. "I can try to break them after if you want."

Maison blinks at her, and it's his very-close-to-being overwhelmed expression, the one Delina rarely sees, before he strides out the door.

The moment he's out of sight, Chloe's cheerfulness drops. "That's not good," she says, sitting at the table next to Delina, running her finger over the carved wood.

"So my entire life I could've been seeing non-human people and just never known?" Delina says, and the cat paces up to her and butts its head against her leg, so she idly dangles a hand down to scratch its head. "This just gets better and better."

"No, him asking Gurlien for help," Chloe replies, then she stares back down the hallway. "If I were him, I'd be trying with you instead. You don't know enough and then it'd be time with you."

Having heard more of the trust issues Chloe has, Delina has no patience for it, so she pushes herself up as well.

"I'm going to see if my mom has anything actually interesting to read, or if it's just textbooks," she says, desperately hoping Chloe doesn't just follow her back down.