“No wonder you aren’t interested in Mr. Viridian!” She smiled as though she were in on a secret. “You like a different boy, don’t you?”
Aurelie began to splutter in protest, then decided it was probably better to let Bonnie believe she was giddy over a crush rather than maniacally planning a man’s downfall. “Thank you for the tea,” she replied stiffly.
Bonnie winked before exiting.
Sipping her tea, Aurelie forcefully turned her attention back to the proposal. The interlocking metal plates would need to be positioned in a large square, the outer plates carved with runes, the inner plates fitting into recesses when the runes were activated. The runes themselves were engraved into the metal in a specific order. There was no lock or handle. Or rather, the runes themselves appeared to be what opened the door.
She had a good sense of mechanical workings from her job as a bricoleur, but she wasn’t an engineer by any means. Everard said he could supply the materials, so mostly this would require understanding and reverse engineering the mechanisms at play here. What she really needed was a mentor in arcane magic. Someone who could guide her without knowing exactly what she was up to. And there was only one professor at the university with the relevant experience who would possibly be willing to work on something this dangerous.
Mostly because he was—as Uncle Leo had once put it—off his rocker. Professor Sheldrake was technically in the science department, but he’d long been relegated to an ancient wing of the oldest hall on campus, near the clock tower, where he worked alone on demons only knew what. He was rumored to be one of the last remainingexperts in runic alphabets, though as far as Aurelie was aware, he didn’t attend any faculty functions or hold office hours. But he was tenured, and she was fairly certain everyone thought he’d pass on at any moment, so his presence was tolerated.
On Monday, Aurelie would pay him a little visit.
Through the window, she could just make out the lamplighter walking past, relighting an extinguished lamp with his long tool. She smiled wistfully. The tool wasn’t unlike the Helping Hand, really. She wondered who had created it, if they’d felt the same thrill she did when it worked. The best inventions were the simplest ones. They made life easier for multitudes of people, didn’t require expensive materials, and could be replicated easily. To create something of such purpose... Aurelie knew that washerpurpose. And yet she’d been born into a world that refused to allow her to pursue it.
Except for Everard. He was the first person in her entire life to offer her a chance to do more.Bemore. She knew it was dangerous, but she also couldn’t deny how lit up she felt when she thought about the project. How impossibly tempting the prospect of a genuine challenge was.
She wished she could ask Kiara for advice. She was always able to talk sense into Aurelie without rankling her the way Uncle Leo did. But though Kiara had diligently kept her secret about Mephisto and the lab, she couldn’t risk dragging her best friend into something this dangerous. Not when she hadn’t even decided if she’d take the commission.
Once the lamplighter passed the cottage’s window, Aurelie began to reach for her tea again, but something stopped her. It was little more than a shimmer at the edge of her vision, but...
There! Asomnia. She hurried to the window to observe it. The creature was tall and thin, somewhat humanoid, though its limbs were too long and it had no face, just two glowing red eyes. It didn’t appear to be stalking the lamplighter, however. It seemed hesitant, lingering for some unknown reason. A moment later, the demon turned to her, its eyes meeting her own. Aurelie stumbled backward, drawing the curtains closed on instinct.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she collapsed back into her chair, jostling her tea in its saucer. In all her years, Aurelie had seen only a handful of demons aside from the ones she created and killed. And now she’d been within feet of not one, but twosomniain a single day.
She’d scoffed when Daisy offered to be of service, but Aurelie wouldn’t have minded if she strolled by at that particular moment. Or even the big guard—he was brutish and rude, but she couldn’t deny that he looked more than capable of handling a demon. Or twelve.
“Are you all right, miss?” Bonnie said, causing Aurelie to jump halfway out of her seat. “Apologies, miss. I didn’t mean to startle you. I thought I heard a noise.”
“Yes, fine, all good,” Aurelie blurted, her words jumbled together. She risked a glance at the window, but thesomniawas gone.
As she gathered her belongings, Aurelie tried to convince herself there was no need to sleep in her old bedroom tonight. The walk across campus to her laboratory was short, and there was an iron gate between her and thesomnia, not to mention the campus guard on duty, but she still contemplated taking the salt cellar with her just in case. It wouldn’t kill a demon, but it might buy her some time with asomnia.
Finally, unable to put it off any longer, Aurelie thanked Bonnie forthe tea and said goodnight. But the moment the door to her uncle’s house closed behind her, cutting off her one light source, she knew she’d made a mistake.
She stared across the dark campus, made darker still by the tall buildings and ancient trees that cast sinister shadows over the courtyard. A part of her wanted to turn around and request a lantern from Bonnie, but how could she admit she was afraid to walk such a short distance? Bonnie might even ask the guard to escort her, which would be mortifying. It was only several hundred feet to Easton Hall, and she would walk like the proper lady her uncle expected her to be.
For the first few minutes, everything was fine.
A breeze picked up, tickling the hairs on Aurelie’s neck. Somewhere behind her, a branch scraped against a brick, causing goose bumps to erupt on Aurelie’s arms.
She squared her shoulders and forced herself to continue walking.
The sound again, closer now.
She was imagining it, surely.
Then why don’t you want to turn your head?
She told herself she was being daft. Wisteria City was a safe place. There hadn’t been a demon fatality in nearly a year, and she’d never heard of asomniaattacking a human. Besides, Daisy and her posse weren’t the only members of the Iron Guard patrolling the streets tonight. If there was a demon on the prowl, they would be hunting it.
To her left, the gates stood proud and straight, each spike-tipped iron bar a sentry warding off any would-be intruders. In the distance, she heard a man whistling. One of the campus guards, making hisrounds. She forced herself to take a deep breath and winced at the ache in her ribs. Curse the giant and his ridiculous muscles.
Something shimmered in the corner of her vision. Aurelie’s back broke out in a cold sweat as sudden certainty swept over her.
She couldn’t pretend this wasn’t real. Asomniawas stalking her, and she was still a considerable distance from Easton Hall. Under ordinary circumstances, Aurelie didn’t make decisions without conducting research or thinking through each possible outcome and weighing it against the others. Under ordinary circumstances, Aurelie prided herself on her rationality.
Tonight, Aurelie hitched up her skirt and ran.