I return his smile, and he continues on about the perfect shade of black her hair was, with golden highlights.
Though he’s been known to flash interested looks to Lola on occasion, their little fling seems not to have progressed past minor flirting. I feel so out of the loop on Lola’s and Janet’s life now that I can’t go to classes or lunch with them. I try my best to ask lots of questions, but neither are very forthcoming. They blush and shrug and mumble that everything is fine or unchanged. Janet hasn’t mentioned Marcus in a while, leaving me to wonder if she’s no longer in a relationship with the Major Hall mage. And Lola’s been single as long as I’ve known her, beside her weekend-long fling with Stassi.
“Do you have an answer?” Manuela murmurs.
Stassi pauses, his expression one of minor horror at the interruption. “What?”
“Nothing,” Manuela answers smoothly. “Tell me about the gold in her locks,” she prompts.
“Right!” he continues on. “Last week, she wore it straight, but today it was wavy and—”
“Yes. I’m in,” I say under my breath.
“Wonderful. I’ll pass it along.”
Stassi pauses mid-sentence with a frown.
“I thought you preferred redheads?” Manuela asks him.
His eyes light up. “Oh, I love them all.”
I snort. Of course he does.
“But there is something about this one. The way her hair was both light and dark. It hit the light just perfectly and—”
I stand to leave, and Manuela lifts a brow. “Thursday,” she tells me.
I nod and then wave goodbye to them both.
“Why do I feel like I missed an entire conversation?” Stassi says. I stifle a chuckle and head off to bed, both hoping for and fearing that a certain demon prince might show up while I sleep.
26
New Allies
I spend the next two days fervently working on potions and my demon studies.
My second lesson with Professor Zyair went exceptionally well. Learning another world’s language is remarkably challenging, but I’m starting to catch on to the basics.
I look like such a studious good girl, following the rules and studying hard. No one would guess I’m secretly meeting with a demon fugitive to enact a plan to assassinate ten magical beings in a matter of minutes.
Manuela gives me strict instructions this time.
“Enter the looking-glass at exactly eleven fifty-nine. Make your step small and carry this at all times.”
She gives me a small vial of black liquid. Apparently, a smell that will temporarily scare off any of those shadow creatures.
I’m tempted to ask Manuela if Bea reprimanded her for her willy-nilly process of sending me into the portal the last time. She told me I solved her riddle quicker than she’d planned, but I decided not to add on to her guilt for almost getting me killed.
“Trust me,” she tells me just minutes before I head into the demon princess’s bedroom. “You’ll be safe this time.”
I almost roll my eyes.
There’s no such thing as safe when conspiring against the Cosmic Council with a fugitive demoness.
Does this make me a vigilante? I think it does. I need to make myself a sticker or something if I survive this.
Bea’s arms are crossed in her human form, her lips in a sly grin as I step through the looking-glass like an absolute pro, feet solidly on the stone platform looking down over the pit filled with shadow creatures.
