Scarred

Chapter 61

Cas' POV
When Cassie calls to tell us Elizabeth has arrived, Eva lets out an exaggerated groan from her hiding spot in the wardrobe. I don't exactly know what was said between her and Caleb and I don't plan to ask until she's ready, but if things really went well like she said, then maybe they've reached a point where they're no longer fighting. That would definitely be the desired outcome.

"Hey Cas, where's Eva? Elizabeth wants to talk to her," Cassie says, poking her head into the room, Elizabeth standing behind her.
"She's not in the mood to talk to anyone. I'm barely getting a word out of her at the moment... I can't necessarily blame her," I explain, "at least she's getting stuff done though."
"But where is she? I couldn't care less if she's in a grump," Elizabeth steps past her and walks into the room, crossing her arms as she stares at me. "I know about the curse, so you can't lie and say she's elsewhere."
"You told her?"

I thought we agreed not to mention the curse unless it was necessary.

"I figured it out by myself. I saw the chain the first time we met and I got curious, it's not that hard to research curses y'know. Now, where is she?" I don't respond, instead, I smirk a little as I continue to read about the curse affecting Eva's father. "C'mon Cas, I'm not in the mood to play around. I need to ask her about those strike plans."
"And Eva's not in the mood to talk. Here's an idea, you ask me the questions, and I'll answer them for you. We've discussed most of the plans together," I reply, placing the book down beside me. "What do you want to know?"
"Where Eva is. God, you're no help, I'll just search myself. Cassie, you gotta help me," Elizabeth begins looking around the room, peering under beds and lifting up duvets.

"What happened? Is she okay?" Cassie asks.
"Something with her dad, she hasn't really mentioned anything to me quite yet. And well... she just needs to be alone for a moment. Do you think you could come back later?"
"If she's really in such a bad mood, then I guess we have no other choice," Elizabeth says, finally giving up.

Once the two leave, I hear Eva let out a little sigh of relief from her hiding spot in the wardrobe. Other than that, the only sound I hear from her is the flick of a page, she's likely still reading that book about nightmares. "Any ideas yet?" I ask once I'm certain the other two are long gone. I get a single knock in response. No. We've been at this for ages, I want to take a break but I also don't want Eva to continue at it all by herself, she might over work herself. "Why do you like it so much in there? You've always liked small spaces, you even insisted on having the smaller bedroom. I don't get it, I've always hated them."

I don't expect a response from her, I just wanted to ask the question that's been lingering in the back of my mind all day; but to my surprise, I get a quiet response. "It reminds me of the tent mum and I lived in. Despite being so small, it was so cosy and warm. This is the easiest way to emulate that feeling. Plus, all that princess rubbish made me despise big open spaces, so it makes sense that I'd appreciate small areas like this. That's part of the reason I'm okay with all the books that clutter my room back home, it helps make it feel smaller."

"I guess that makes sense. I'd bet you'd love being a familiar, it's so much easier to fit into smaller spaces," I smile slightly as she lets out a quiet laugh in response. "Have you ever tried summoning your familiar before?" She's back to knocking in an instant, two knocks this time: yes. I'm guessing it didn't work out then, she definitely would've shown me if she were successful. But it's supposedly very easy to summon your familiar, a simple spell found in most basic spell books. It's something Eva should be able to do with ease, I wonder why she failed.

Maybe she's one of the people my type of familiar is supposed to help. My job is to serve as a familiar for someone whose soul is too damaged to summon one. With all the hell Eva's been through, it wouldn't surprise me if she was one of those people.