Devil's Soul

Chapter 11 (set in a women's bathroom)

***I really enjoyed reading your guesses for The Guy's name! Unfortunately, you don't get to find out if you were right quite yet!***

I don’t think there was any argument at this point about whether or not the world was better off after my lame attempt to try and improve it. It was most definitely worse off. MIT had asked Professor Belkin to resign, I’m sure his wife was an emotional wreck, Christina was under evaluation to determine if she should be allowed to stay at MIT, and our class was stuck with a professor that no one could understand. There was not a single winner in this situation. At least Professor Belkin and Christina wouldn’t be continuing to whittle away their souls. Not the way they were before.

This is what was on my mind as Abhinav and I filtered out of the classroom and into the Infinite Corridor, which is the long hallway that connects the majority of MIT’s classrooms.

Abhinav seemed to pick up on my glum mood. “Hey, Mavis, you don’t feel guilty for what happened, do you?”

I didn’t say anything and kept looking forward as we walked.

“You can’t blame yourself for this. We just have to move forward. Keep your demon eyes on the lookout for other souls that are at risk.”

I looked over at him. “How can you say that after how things went the last time?”

“Are you willing to give up on people’s souls because things didn’t go smoothly the first time? Buck up, Mavis!”

“I’ll catch up with you and Chung later for yoga,” I said, veering off toward the women’s restroom. I didn’t really want to talk about this right now. No, I didn’t want to give up on people’s souls, but couldn’t he just let a girl mope for a little bit? Sheesh!

“Keep your eyes peeled!” Abhinav managed to shout before the bathroom door closed on our conversation.

I just about had a heart attack when I saw The Guy sitting on the bathroom counter. Not a guy, but The Guy who had crashed our class. He was perpendicular to the mirror, with his back resting against the far wall and both his feet perched on either side of the sink. His wrists were resting on his knees, and he was grinning at me with that infuriatingly charming smile of his.

Somehow being startled triggered my demon vision, and I was glad that no one else was in the bathroom to witness it.

“There you are, Mavey! I’ve been looking left, right, and center for you!”

I frowned at the nickname. It rhymed with “Davey,” which reminded me of Dave. I didn’t like being reminded of Dave. I wasn’t the kind of person to be confrontational about it, though. “What do you mean you were looking for me? You knew I was in class.”

The Guy held up his hands in surrender. “You caught me. Now that I’m your mentor, I always know where you are.”

“That’s not fair if I don’t get to always know where you are,” I blurted. Then I wished I hadn’t said it. I didn’t want to always know where he was. I’d just been trying to illustrate that I didn’t like the idea of him always knowing where I was. Instead, he probably thought that I had a crush on him or something. Which I didn’t. Obviously.

“If you wanted my phone number, love, all you had to do was ask,” he replied.

My cheeks flushed with heat. “I don’t want your phone number,” I mumbled. I want you to leave me alone, I thought but didn’t say. I was too polite.

He snorted. “A bird like you doesn’t want my number? I find that hard to believe.” He smirked with an annoying air of confidence.

Was he trying to say that I was desperate?! Sure, I didn’t exactly have guys lining up to ask me out, but I wasn’t looking to date, either. “I don’t need you,” I said on a burst of outrage and confidence. I turned to march out the door. It’s not like I actually needed to use the restroom. I’d simply been using it as an escape route from my conversation with Abhinav. Some escape route it turned out to be!

“Oh, that’s right. You have your yoga thing, don’t you? That’s really impressive, learning to control the demon stuff on your own like that.” His voice was oozing sarcasm. “I admire you for not wanting to do things the easy way, no matter how long it will take.”

“Thank you,” I said, even though I knew he didn’t mean it as a compliment. I pushed the door open and was about to step into the hallway.

“Mavis, wait.”

The desperate tone of his voice was enough to get me to turn around. It was like all that confidence had just been a façade, and now it was stripped away to reveal him for the vulnerable man he truly was. I couldn’t help myself. He seemed too pitiful, and I was too kind.

As soon as I was facing him, he grinned. “Your demon eyes are showing,” he said.

I turned away from him before he could see my cheeks flush with embarrassment. He knew that I didn’t have complete control over them yet. And he knew that I’d been about to walk out with them looking like that.

Whatever. I didn’t need him. I just needed more time to get used to my eyes. There wasn’t anything else that I needed to know about being a demon. 

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