Professor Waldman pales, and she takes a step back. Her eyes flicker over to the empty phylactery meant for the Wendigo she never caught.
“No, no,” she says, shaking her head. “I don’t deal with monsters anymore. Not directly. Not after … well … some things change you, Avery. And not for the better.”
One of her hands briefly closes over the top of the box, and for a second, she looks like a haunted version of herself. I snatch the vial from her and slip both it and the box into the pocket of my jeans.
“All right. Thank you for the … iratxoak.” I stumble over the word.
She smiles warmly at me, all traces of darkness gone like a shadow. “No, thank you for your help, Avery. I loved your parents. They were great monster hunters.”
I should ask her more. I want to know how she came across this box, and if she has anything else that once belonged to them. But I can’t. I have to go.
I think it must just be the light, but there was something almost … skeletal … about her in that moment, and I just want to get out of this closet as fast as I can.
Even if it means somehow stealing a vial of Piers Dagher’s blood.
Chapter Nine
The party winds down soon after I emerge from the library-closet, and I don’t stick around long enough to get stuck alone with Eve Waldman a second time. While the other girls linger for another free drink, Erin and I take the first chance we get to slip out without causing a scene.
We’ve barely slipped out the door, freedom in sight at the end of the hall, when the door swings open behind us.
It isn’t Professor Waldman, however, but the girl Luiza.
“Well. So you’re the new girls, huh? And you’re the one everyone’s been talking about.” She points at me.
I glance at Erin. “Uh, everyone’s talking about me?”
“You tried to fight an ogre.”
I straighten my shoulders. “Tried and won.”
Luiza starts walking towards the residence wing and we follow since we’re going in the same direction, anyway. “Look, not a lot of girls get accepted into Saint M. Those were all the female students at that … what did she call it? Soiree.”
She grins at us over her shoulder. Her high heels are making steady clomp, clomp noises against the tile floor. “And as for you, little Singer—I’m not quite sure what to make of you. You don’t seem cut out for the monster hunter life.”
Erin looks at the floor, and I feel anger flare up in my stomach even though I’ve wondered the same thing at times. “Erin is incredibly smart,” I snap at Luiza. “It takes more than brute strength to be a monster hunter.”
“True. But it does take courage. And at least some physical ability.”
“How do you know all this shit, anyway? Why are you so goddamn nosy?” I ask.
“Avery,” Erin mumbles, but I ignore her.
Luiza laughs; it’s a throaty sound. “I make it my business to know my competition. Other women are a threat to me, plain and simple. I want to be the best female monster hunter that ever lived.”
Erin stops walking, so Luiza and I stop as well. It takes me a few seconds to realize that it’s because we’re at our dorm. Luiza turns to face us fully. She takes a step forward until she’s directly in front of me, towering over me in her heels, looking down into my face with a smirk.
“I want to be better than Riley Black,” she says in a conspiratorial whisper. “And I won’t need to rely on my husband to help me.”
My fists clench. I open my mouth to say something, feel myself moving into a fighting stance, but Erin’s small hand closes around my wrist.
“We’re going to bed now,” Erin says, her voice shaking just a little. “It was nice to meet you, Miss de la Cruz.”
“I’ll figure out your deal soon enough, Singer,” Luiza says as Erin opens the door and pushes me through it. “I think you’ve got a secret, and I want to know what it is.”
I hear her throaty laugh as Erin slams the door shut behind us and Luiza’s heels on the floor as Erin locks us in. She turns to me with a grim expression.
“I don’t know if I like her very much,” she tells me.