Page 91 of Demon Apathy: Sunderverse
Thenextweekpassedin relative quiet. I didn’t hear from Drevan, and my friends and I kept to ourselves, licking our wounds after our summoning fiasco. We focused on our lessons and didn’t discuss anything that could remotely get us in trouble.
In between classes and studying, I read as much as I could about the Truesight spell. The books Preston had provided me were very detailed and clear. The process was supposed to be painless and successful in most cases. And, for a demon hunter, acquiring the skill posed benefits much greater than the risk of the procedure.
In the early nineteen sixties, when the spell was invented by Mabella Huxley, the risks were much higher. However, over the years, its methods had been perfected by other witches and mages. But since in the beginning, the failure rate had been higher among younger candidates, the required age was raised to twenty-one. I figured this was the reason I couldn’t find much data on the risks of performing the spell on younger people. Still, I dug out a few references from the last two decades about a few teens who’d received the spell and had no issues.
Heaving a heavy sigh, I snapped the book shut and whirled in my chair. It was Thursday night, past curfew, and I was glad the weekend was almost here. Being a good student was exhausting.
Jenna was lying on her bed, earbuds in, a foot tapping to the rhythm of the music. When she noticed me looking at her, she turned the music off.
“Made up your mind yet?” she asked.
I bobbed my head from side to side. “Maybe.”
At the beginning of the week, I had told Jenna, Sage, and Benjamin about Grant’s offer to give me Truesight. I’d worried they would get jealous and say the director was playing favorites or something like that, but they hadn’t. On the contrary, they’d all been very understanding and believed it was a great idea for me to have the choice, given my involvement with Drevan and his impossible task.
“I’m leaning towardsyes,” I added. “Not as many people under twenty-one have gotten it done, but the ones who have were okay. They’ve improved the spell a lot, and the age requirement might be overly safe.”
“Sounds like you did some good research. With how old Preston is, I bet he's done it a million times!”
“Two million!”
We both laughed.
A knock came at the door. Jenna and I exchanged a glance. Was Sage breaking curfew again?
Jenna shook her head. “Not getting in trouble tonight. I’ve had enough for a week. Maybe for the rest of the semester.”
I jumped to my feet and opened the door. It wasn’t Sage. It was one of the hall monitors, holding a couple of fancy-looking boxes in his hands. He blinked at me from behind thick glasses.
“Director Grant asked me to bring this to you,” he said.
“Thank you.” I took the boxes and closed the door with my foot.
Jenna sat up. “What’s that?”
“No idea.”
I set the boxes on my bed and opened the top one. “It’s a men’s suit.” There was a shirt, pants, a jacket, and even a tie. “They lookveryexpensive.”
Setting the first box aside, I opened the next one. My jaw fell open at the sight of a luxurious evening gown.
“Holy goblins!” Jenna exclaimed. “That is gorgeous.”
I pulled it out of the box and let it hang free. I didn’t know much about fancy dresses, but I knew this had to beex-pen-si-ve. The cream-colored top was embroidered with sequin and crystals, forming delicate flowers, and the bottom flowed to the floor in a cascade of rich, black fabric.
Jenna sighed as if in love. “Halter neckline, check. A-line silhouette, check. Oscar de la Renta, check. Somebody has good taste.” She whistled, then picked up something from the bottom of the box. “What is this?”
She handed me a piece of paper. I grabbed it and read the note, marveling at the beautiful handwriting and fancy paper.
“Who wrote that?” Jenna asked, reading over my shoulder. “George Washington?”
There was certainly something old-fashioned about the handwriting as if it actually had been written a couple of hundred years ago.
Lucia:
You will find that these clothes fit you and Mr. Donnelley perfectly. However, if any alterations are required, return them to Director Grant by tomorrow morning and my assistant will take care of them. Saturday, at noon, I will pick you both up to explain how you may play your part in our new scheme.
Drevan Morningstar
