A Dreadful Thing

16: THE SPIDER

SIXTEEN: THE SPIDER

Arden

Staggering beneath the weight of a dozen textbooks, Arden questioned every choice she'd ever made that brought her to this situation.

This is what I get for not packing early and bolting from the room.

"Just over here, dear, almost there," Master Odeis demurred as they walked together through the library stacks. Well, Odeis walked: she sauntered, silk frock gliding on the floor behind her dainty heels, her hair so dark it looked more violet than not, the straight locks swaying with every exaggerated tilt of her hips. In comparison, Arden lurched and dragged her shoes, gloves causing her grip to slip and slide on the bottom volume. "I do so appreciate the help, especially after that dreadful Evelyn Harper promised to levy a fine if I used Talent to return the books again. The nerve of the woman...."

In Arden's opinion, Librarian Harper's conditions were more about Master Odeis' lack of care when using Talent to displace the books back into the library than the actual use of it. As for how Arden wound up there, carrying the Master's burdens, she could only blame her own distraction and failure to get out of the room before Odeis picked a victim. Usually one of the boys enamored with the Master's generous décolletage and fitted bodice would volunteer, but there was a Feingarde match during the next period between a favorite in the House of Ignarhl and an up-and-comer from the House of Luxiahl, so they'd been quick to duck from the room once Odeis dismissed them.

Thus, Arden, too slow to pack her satchel, had become the Master's hapless prey.

"Those three go on that shelf there." Odeis eyed Arden, and seeing she wasn't in any state to shuffle books around, sighed. "Oh, allow me to assist."

They delivered the first set of instructor texts, then moved onto the next. Arden followed along, her burden lessened so she could at least walk at a normal pace.

As they crossed the library using the upper mezzanine, a few people milled about the lower level in the main cluster of tables, most packing up as their study session came to an end. Arden's gaze drifted until it landed on an increasingly familiar head of untidy blonde hair. Tiernan sat slumped, cheek on her folded hand, while Master Davidson chattered.

He must be her tutor, Arden thought. She could do worse. Davidson's aggravating, but he's knowledgeable.

Davidson laughed at something he said, and Tiernan slumped further, flopping over like a ragdoll or a puppet with its strings cut.

"Terrible posture," Arden murmured.

"What was that, dear?" Odeis stopped her rather vapid and contrived nattering and followed Arden's glance over the railing. "Oh. The new Bloodless child, is it? I've been told to expect her. I believe she's in my next class."

"Her name's Orla Tiernan," Arden commented.

A slight crease appeared around Odeis' otherwise pert and shapely nose. "A terribly human name."

Arden hummed, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. She'd never heard of the Tiernan family, but Orla was Irish, which in and of itself made it a perfectly human name, but also curious with how many Seraphium from the Emerald Isle had been displaced after Morsath's ruin. At least a third of the population on Bilarthus had been forced to relocate here when the Albion Kingdom collapsed, and the Ominous' attack on Morsath crippled the economy in the smaller Sanctum Liras. It was undoubtedly a coincidence; plenty of Irish descendants populated America's eastern seaboard. Yet, something about the other girl pricked Arden's mind, a stubborn little splinter that kept slipping out of place.