055 – The World Disagreed

Day 7

I landed on deck and spent one more ATP to be human. Up here the Oath was active again. Lying in a deck chair, I waited for Jamie while taking a moment to process the Task Completion.

[Arcane Awakening – Passive

Your mental Attributes now contribute to maximum Mana and Mana regeneration.

Intellect increases Mana capacity.

Intuition improves Mana recovery.

Charisma provides a smaller bonus to both.]

My maximum mana went up to 24.

I leaned back and took a moment to appreciate the sight. The entire boat was dark. While I could hear the quiet whirr of electricity from inside, every window and every light on the outside had been covered.

I had never seen so many stars in the night sky before. Eventually I’d need to ask Gabriel about aliens. Was Hell also attacking other planets? Or did none of those lights in the sky matter to this conflict?

“Day 7: I’m pretty sure that if I had shifted you into the demon shape just when Jason had that panicked look on his face, his flight instinct would have turned into a fight instinct.”

“Damn, Lucy. That’s a rough one.”

“You wouldn’t have killed him. But it would have pushed him to our side for certain.”

A brief flash of light intruded into the darkness when Jamie opened the hatch to join me on deck. He sat down on a deck chair next to me.

“Beer?” he asked.

“Hell, no.”

There was a hiss when he cracked open his own can. Beer smelled even worse to my new senses.

“Is it beer or booze you dislike?”

“Both. Beer tastes horrible. And drunken Eve is my least favorite Eve. Which I say knowing that Claire has a Devil-Eve in her head.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to talk now?”

“No. But I should.”

“Why?”

“It’s not just a me-thing. It’s also opsec.”

Jamie sipped his beer. “Whenever you are ready.”

I turned away from the night sky and sat up so I could meet Jamie’s eyes.

“It’s Jason. I have good reason to think that he had planned to kill me.”

He drank another gulp. “Fuck.”

“I haven’t told anyone but you and Claire. But tomorrow I’ll go and tell Roslyn. I have no idea what to do about this, but he’s her kid. Maybe she can talk sense into him.”

“I could try?”

“No. We are too close. If he assumed I sent you, he’d both dismiss your words and think even less of me.”

“Shit. Yeah. How certain are you about this?”

“Pretty certain.”

We sat in shared silence for a while. Eventually Jamie stood up and held out a hand.

“Nothing you can do about it tonight. Let’s join the others. The dogs will cheer you up.”

I took his hand. “They might. But I will not join your Dungeons and Dragons game.”

“You knew we were playing?”

I tapped my ear. “Can’t help but overhear.”

“There is a fully set up druid character sheet, though. Just need to fill in the details.”

“A druid? That’s like a reverse power fantasy at this point. I might be tempted if there was a spot for a fighter, though.”

Jamie grinned as he lifted the hatch leading under deck. “We might be able to arrange something.”

A minute later I was buried under dogs again, trying to work through my fighter’s backstory with Helene.

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In the morning, I was woken up by the sound of the engine thrumming to life. There were voices, too, but I pulled my pillow over my head. The world could do another ten minutes without me.

The world disagreed.

Shortly after the engine died down again, heavy footsteps thumped across the boat. The one word I could make out, despite my best efforts, was my name. I jumped out of my bed while the footsteps approached my room. Someone was coming for me.

This room was a horrible staging ground for a fight. But if push came to shove, I could always swap to something small, like the cat, and probably run past the intruder.

But the steps stopped in front of my room, followed by banging against my door. They knocked—they didn’t come to kill me. Of course they didn’t. This was a sanctified space. My friends wouldn’t have told a killer where my room was. Wouldn’t have navigated the boat to shore so they could get on board.

“Eve!” Roslyn shouted, followed by more knocking.