Devil's Soul

Chapter 8 (it's not sad, I promise)

When Chung caught me staring at Professor Belkin with my demon eyes, he freaked out. “Mavis! Your demon eyes are on!” he whispered frantically.

“I know,” I murmured, hardly paying him any attention. I wanted to know what was up with Professor Belkin. Why was his soul so much darker than everyone else’s?

“She thinks that Professor Belkin is evil,” Abhinav explained to Chung, since he hadn’t been in class when I had expressed my suspicions about Professor Belkin.

“I don’t think he’s evil. I just think he’s a sinner.”

“Most people are,” Chung pointed out.

“He’s committed a lot more sins than most people,” I said. “Trust me. I know. I just don’t know what he’s done. Whatever it is, he’s still doing it. His soul is darker than the last time I saw it.”

“Really?” Chung asked, sounding more intrigued than disturbed.

I turned toward my friends. I had a proposal for them. They seemed to realize that I was about to say something of some significance, so they gave me their full attention. “Guys, an idea occurred to me. What if I were to use my power for good?”

“Go on,” Chung encouraged.

“I’m in,” Abhinav announced, apparently not caring about the details.

As you can see, I wasn’t the only one that thought this was a good idea at the time. I can’t really be blamed for anything that followed.

“I think we should find out what Professor Belkin has been doing in his spare time and put a stop to it.”

Chung was sold. “I’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity to practice my ninja skills,” he said.

Abhinav and I collectively rolled our eyes.

And that’s how we ended up outside of Professor Belkin’s apartment that night.

We were lurking across the street, trying to not be conspicuous to the passersby that we were watching a man go about his nightly activities through his window. We had followed him from MIT via the T, thinking that he was heading to a dark alley to murder somebody or something along those lines. Alas, his apartment was his destination, and it seemed to be murder free.

We could see into his bedroom and his kitchen, but it was hard to tell what he was doing a lot of the time because he lived on the third floor, so we didn’t have a direct line of vision. Still, it was hard to interpret his actions as malicious in nature. As far as I could tell, he was making dinner.

“Hey, Mavis?” Chung whispered.

“Yeah?” I asked, standing on my tiptoes, as if that would actually put me at a better vantage point.

“Am I losing parts of my soul for stalking this guy?” he asked.

I turned to face him to see if he was serious. He was definitely not laughing. He looked pretty nervous, actually.

I gave him a once over with my demon eyes. “Not that I’ve noticed,” I answered.

“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” he said. He was getting kind of twitchy.

“I’m sure you guys are fine. We have the best of intentions.” I managed to sound very unsure of myself, which put Chung even more on edge.

Abhinav, on the other hand, was completely at ease. “We should have brought beer,” he declared.

I rolled my eyes. “We don’t want to impair our ability to get the job done,” I lectured.

“I’m pretty sure I can drink beer and still be able to watch Professor Belkin make dinner,” he argued.