Breathe in the Embers

Part 34

Martin paced his room, dinner just fifteen minutes away now. He’d been doing just this for over two hours now, Lithuega sitting on the bed, legs crossed, sky blue eyes watching him with what she pretended was idle curiosity. But he knew her better than that. There was genuine concern in those eyes however she tried to disguise it with periodic yawns.

“So what are you going to do?” she eventually asked, glancing at the clock emphatically. Martin was well aware his time for a solution was running out.

“I just don’t see why Margaret is being so difficult! Some random student starts bothering me after class and she practically has an aneurism. What do I even say to her at dinner? And what if Tessa floats over and pesters me again?”

“You’re awfully dim for someone so smart.” Lithuega chided, Martin giving her a skeptical look. Lithuega shook her head. “She isn’t upset some random student is floating around you, she is upset a random girl is.”

“Why?” Martin asked incredulously.

Now it was Lithuega’s turn to give Martin a disbelieving stare.

Martin’s cheeks heated. “No… she just… Margaret doesn’t get jealous when you and I are around each other all the time! And I mean… you’re like literally in my head, in my dreams, for shit’s sake you’re on my bed right now!”

“I’m also a thousand times older than you, look a decade your elder, and am a demon from another world.” Lithuega pointed out, leaning back and stretching on the bed in an obviously affected manner that emphasized every curve. Martin rolled his eyes. “And while I pull shit like that all the time, she is as aware as you are that there is little chance of me actually trying anything, much less you agreeing to it. With Tessa, the territory is definitely unknown. From what you say, she is awfully free with your personal space.”

“Which has absolutely nothing to do with my own motivations.” Martin commented, continuing his laps around the room. “She does as she will and any attempt to dissuade her could simply encourage it, or earn me an enemy on my first day of class. If she is untenable when she is being friendly then imagine her being spiteful. More than that, I can’t afford to have anyone else actively trying to sabotage the actual reason I’m here.”

“Ah, and here I thought your girl troubles had made you completely forget about the potential catastrophe brewing, the hundreds whose lives have been endangered already, and the ancient demon many times my power plotting diabolical things.”

“Hardly. I just have no leads right now. The best thing I can do is find a way to take a look around Mr. Ludo’s classroom. It’s also a shop for magical wares, you know, and if anyone has something that could help us, it’s him. Maybe I can convince him to give me some after class tutoring or something, where I’ll have more of a chance to take a peek around. The point is that as urgent as that might be, we still need to be circumspect. Unless we want to involve the actual authorities.”

“The actual authorities would likely try and banish me. And now that we know your powers, they probably can’t without your consent. And when you don’t consent, I’d think they’d have some kind of punishment for you too.” Lithuega sighed heavily. “Besides, as I mentioned, if this were truly world ending, Ishlithtavast could destroy us all in a breath. She has to be up to something else, but not necessarily something truly dangerous. The factory was her backlash at the summoner, not some greater plot.”

“Still, her presence here at all is obviously a danger.”

“It is, but you are forgetting one thing.”

“What is that?” Martin asked.

“You need to figure out what she is up to, which means you need magical knowledge, and I need more power. All of this means you have to move very carefully here at school and not stir people up into working against you. But you have two allies in this so far. Only two. And one of them is being alienated by your other schemes. A house divided and all that.”

Now Martin sighed. “You’re right. Margaret is a better ally than Tessa could ever be an enemy. Besides, she is my oldest friend. She deserves better than to be sidelined because it’s strategically convenient.”

“Which it isn’t anyway. You admitted it yourself. You need Margaret more than you need Tessa to leave you alone.”

“Well fine. Then what do I do oh great and all knowing genie?” Martin muttered.

“Flattery will get you everywhere, and since you asked, get your butt over to her room in the next five minutes and talk to her. I’d say this is a foreign concept to you as a male, but you have shown admirable ability to express yourself when you speak with me. Be that as it may, you may want to practice that very skill with someone else. Someone else rather specific.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.” Martin muttered, snatching up his phone and heading for the door. “Get your ass back into the shadow, you’re exhausting me.”

“Such a gentleman. Maybe I’ll lounge around in your room for the next three days so you end up sleeping through class.”

Martin flipped her off as he reached for the door, and Lithuega vanished, laughing, in a cloud of smoke.