Chapter 64: Lee

Chapter 64: Lee

Brayden snored away, completely oblivious to the expression on Noah’s face. He splayed out across the floor, managing to take up nearly half of the ground in the room. Noah slowly stood, careful to avoid bothering Brayden – not that he suspected he could, even if he started dancing aggressively on his face.

Vermil was trying to summon a demon. Were they going to make it somehow influence this election for their father, or did they have motives beyond that? It really sounds like Vermil was either meant to fake his death or possibly die to bring the demon into this world. I’m still not sure on which Brayden actually meant – but that could be why my soul ended up seeking his body.

I bet Vermil was in that forest because he was trying to summon the demon, then. It’s pretty secluded and there isn’t much of anything in the area. Other teachers seem to only go there for the exams – but why not choose somewhere even farther away?

Noah walked up to his door and reached for the handle. He needed some air to think, and there wasn’t going to be any rest getting accomplished with Bradley shaking the room with every breath. His hand paused as it touched the metal.

What if Vermil succeeded?

The back of Noah's spine prickled. When he’d first heard the word demon, his mind had instantly gone to the monster that had attacked Renewal at the Waters of Life – but that hardly made any sense.

There was no way that Vermil, no matter what his true goals or motivation was, could have been strong enough to summon a monster like that. It was much more likely he’d tried to summon something comparatively powerful.

And, if he had, but Noah had killed him upon arrival before he could do anything else, then the demon could still be strolling around in the Scorched Acres. Noah’s jaw tightened and he pulled the door open, throwing a glance back at Bradley.

Or worse, it could be in Arbitage.

He stepped out of the door, coming face to face with Lee.

“Well?” Lee asked. “Did it work?”

“It answered some questions,” Noah replied softly. “And added many others. Let’s walk.”

Lee’s features stilled. She nodded, following Noah out of the T building. They headed out into the garden, following the thinning dirt path through the multicolored foliage. It was empty, aside from the gentle rustle of leaves and crunch of dry foliage beneath their feet.

“You’re not a Skinwalker,” Noah said.

Lee jerked her head up to look at Noah. “What?”

“Am I wrong?”

It was several moments before Lee responded. “No.”

“Why’d you lie?”

“Because it’s easier for you to assume than it is for me to correct it. You thought I was a Skinwalker from the day we first met, so there was no reason to try to change your mind. It would have just made things harder.”

“What are you, then?”

Lee’s shoulders slumped. “A demon. Lesser, to be exact.”

Noah stopped beside a bush covered with beautiful red flowers. “What was the point of pretending to be a Skinwalker? I don’t get it. You could have just told me. I wouldn’t have–”

I wouldn’t have even known the difference. Can’t say that.

“I wouldn’t have cared,” Noah finished. “But you hid information from me. You already knew the answers to half the questions I was asking Brayden, didn’t you?”

“And you know what I am. Kind of,” Noah said with a shrug. “I might be missing some context here, but I’m not exactly sure why I should care about you being a demon rather than a Skinwalker. I could just be biased here, but I’m pretty sure that Skinwalkers are the ones that make it a habit of wearing people’s corpses – even if you’ve picked up on their hobby.”

Lee let out a snort of laughter, then wiped her nose and stared at Noah with a mixture of hope and disbelief. “Are you serious?”

“You haven’t really given me a reason to doubt you. I don’t have a lot of allies here, especially ones that know anything about me,” Noah said. “I don’t appreciate getting lied to, but I can’t pretend like I’m not doing the same, so it would be hypocritical of me to be angry.”

“So you aren’t going to try to banish me?”

“I’d banish that little prick Edward over you if I could.”

Lee laughed again. “You’re an idiot.”

“I’m well aware. I might understand your situation more than you’d think,” Noah said with a slight smile. “If you don’t give us any reason to be enemies, I don’t see why we need to be. Really, now we’re just on even ground. You know some of my secrets, and I know some of yours.”

“Does this mean you’ll tell me who you really are?” Lee asked.

Noah snorted. “No. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

Lee scrunched her nose. Noah rose to his feet and held his hand out. Lee studied it for a moment, then slowly reached out to let Noah pull her back to her feet.

“This means you aren’t bound by that oath at all, right?” Noah asked.

Lee glanced to the side. “I’m not. I specified Vermil’s original body to avoid fulfilling yours, but your command to leave the Scorched Acres still affected my original contract since it was still technically part of him speaking. Do you want me to–”

“No. You’ve gone this far without betraying my trust. I’ll extend the same to you.”

“You’re going to trust a demon?”

“You’ve been trusting a body-stealing idiot.”

“Okay, that’s a good point.”

They walked in silence for a minute, heading deeper into the garden, both equally lost in their own thoughts.

“I’ve still got one question,” Noah said. “Why did Vermil try to summon you? What did he want you to do about this election thing?”

“Oh. He wasn’t trying to summon me.”

“What?” Noah stopped walking and Lee looked over her shoulder at him.

“He was trying to summon a different demon. I just managed to slip through the opening in the process. It’s passing through the portal that starts the binding process, you know.”

“Lee,” Noah said, his voice taut. “What happened with the other demon?”

“I’m not sure. I ran away as soon as I arrived, but it was pretty powerful,” Lee replied. “As soon as I saw it start to arrive, I hid to make sure it wouldn’t kill me.”

Goddamn it.