Return of the Runebound Professor

Chapter 192: Deal?

While Noah, Moxie, and Lee tried to figure out what they were going to do with the presumably fake Evergreen, the survival exam ground on. Had Noah been paying attention to the screen, he would have seen five Root Fiends descend upon Isabel’s freshly built shelter just moments after it had gone up.

To the students’ retrospect, it certainly seemed more than a little suspicious. It was supposed to be a survival exam, but monsters were coming out of nowhere specifically to attack them in the middle of a budding snowstorm.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t any time to ask the Root Fiends questions. The group made it about a dozen paces before it was ripped to shreds by a colorful mixture of magic. Their corpses were then subsequently dragged over to the shelter and used to build a wall that helped block out the wind.

The storm intensified, beating down on their shelter. It held strong. For some reason, monsters continued to show up, even through the thick blanket of snow. All of them fell, and by the time Noah had torn his attention away from Evergreen for long enough to check up on everyone, he found that they’d built a tiny fort from wooden bodies.

In the meantime, Noah had still yet to figure out how to get even a single speck of information from the fake Evergreen. She had stubbornly resisted every single threat and offer he’d made. It was like trying to wring water from a brick.

To the old woman’s great misfortune, however, was that Noah wasn’t in any huge rush. The survival exam was set to go on for several more days, and he didn’t need to make any impulsive decisions right now.

And that was how Evergreen found herself bound to her chair, her mouth covered to keep her from complaining or screaming too loudly and her ears plugged with vines, while Noah, Moxie, and Lee tossed ideas around.

“So eating her is off the table?” Lee asked.

“Not entirely, but probably a last place resort,” Noah suggested diplomatically. “We need to find out what Evergreen was doing sending a fake. I think we can all pretty much agree that, given how much she knows about the Torrin family, this is probably an intentional clone. We obviously can’t let on that we believe that, though.”

“Maybe Evergreen was just lazy?” Lee offered.

“She didn’t have any obligation to come here in the first place.” Moxie frowned and snuck a glance at the bound Evergreen. “It really doesn’t make sense. This seems like a pointless risk. Evergreen could have ignored this exam entirely. She hasn’t shown up to any of the earlier ones.”

“Some sort of political move, maybe?” Noah suggested, tapping a finger on his knee. “I can’t imagine what it would be, though. She brought us to a secluded room after showing herself to the general public for all of a few minutes. That’s hardly going to do anything, is it?”

“I can’t imagine it would,” Moxie agreed. She shrugged helplessly. “I’m resisting the urge to beat it out of the clone. You’re a terrible influence, you know.”

“I have not once suggested beating Evergreen’s secrets out of her.”

“You’ve been thinking it, though.”

“How would you know that?”

“Are you not?”

“No, I totally am,” Noah admitted. “But I didn’t say it out loud. What, can you read minds as well now?”

“It’s just easy to tell what you’re thinking sometimes,” Moxie replied with a smirk. It fell away when she remembered the situation they were stuck in.

Noah snuck a glance at the cube. Eline was currently buried under a large snowdrift. She’d dove into it to avoid the gaze of a large bird with sharp, metallic feathers as it flew overhead and had yet to emerge.

Meanwhile, Isabel and the others were all huddled within one of her stone tents, using a small ball of flame Todd had created for warmth. Not a single one of them looked the slightest bit concerned, and they were chatting in low tones.

This is unfair. I’m glad they’re doing great, but I’m supposed to be able to sit back and revel in their success, not be stuck in an exam myself.

“So, what do we do?” Moxie asked. “We can’t just leave Evergreen like this forever.”

“Well, we still have seven days. A day of being wrapped up like that will be sure to loosen anyone’s lips.” Noah shrugged. “I can’t think of what else to do. I’d feel bad attacking if Evergreen can’t defend herself, but there’s absolutely no way I’m giving her the staff back. We don’t really have an Imbuer to call on either. Anyone shown the staff would probably recognize how powerful it is if it let this fake Evergreen pretend to be the real deal. We’re pretty much stuck for the time being.”

Moxie sighed in annoyance. She rose from her chair and walked over to the cabinet at the side of the room, opening one of the doors and peering inside. She let out a surprised grunt and reached in, pulling out a large piece of frosted sweet bread.

“Look at this! There’s a bunch of food in here, and it looks pretty damn good.”

“Game day snacks, huh?” Noah asked. “Well, that’s one strategy. Could you uncover Evergreen’s eyes for a moment?”

Moxie blinked, then nodded. She flicked a hand and the vine that had been blocking out Evergreen’s vision shifted to the side. Evergreen blinked furiously, then glared at them. Noah beckoned for the bread and Moxie reluctantly handed it over.

“Looks delicious,” Noah said, breaking a large chunk of the bread off. He raised it in mock greeting to Evergreen before popping it into his mouth. “Mmm. Delicious.”

“I want some!” Lee pawed for the bread, and Noah broke two more pieces off, handing them to Moxie and Lee.

“Too bad you can’t have any of this,” Noah said, looking back to Evergreen. Then he took another piece of bread and ate it, chewing slowly before flashing her a wide grin. “Bummer.”

“She can’t hear you, you know,” Moxie said. “I still have her ears blocked.”

“That’s fine. It’s about the message,” Noah replied. He pointed up at the screen, where Eline was still buried under her snowdrift. “Eline doesn’t look like she’s having too much fun though.”

Evergreen’s glare couldn’t have gotten any angrier but, if it could have, Noah suspected his skin would have started boiling beneath it. Instead he just cheerfully took another piece of bread before nodding to Moxie.

“She’s seen enough for now. You can cover her eyes again.”

“Not going to let her answer or anything?”

“Nah. That could at least give her a little satisfaction. You know what the worst feeling in the world is?”

Moxie thought for a moment, then shook her head. “I’d imagine there are a few pretty bad things that could all make a run for that title.”

“Boredom,” Noah said. “And a complete inability to act. If I had a few hundred years, I promise that Evergreen would do anything just to break the tedium. Unfortunately, we only have seven days, so we’ll have to figure out something more effective than that.”

“I’m pretty sure someone would go insane after being unable to do something for a single year, much less hundreds,” Moxie observed. “Why does it sound like you’re talking from experience?”

“Ask another day. This isn’t the time. For now, let’s just leave Evergreen the way she is. How much food is in that cabinet?”

“More than enough to last us through the week.”

“Great. Then I’m going to settle in and relax for a bit. Evergreen isn’t playing ball, so she can stew for the rest of the day. Why don’t we just watch the exam?”

Moxie shook her head, but it was clear that she didn’t have any better suggestions when she flopped back into her chair and craned her neck back to look at the image on the cube.

Time ticked by. Even though it had been Noah’s suggestion, he quickly found himself growing bored. The exam wasn’t exactly the most riveting thing to watch – why Evergreen had wanted to rent out a room to observe it was beyond him.

After the initial monster attacks, little had happened. Eline eventually emerged from her snowdrift and started trudging through the field of white, her hands raised to try to keep the snowstorm from her eyes. Isabel and her group just remained in their mini fort, completely unbothered by the weather.

Noah’s attention quickly drifted off. Without anything to do about Evergreen and with the exam going well for the students, the only problems he had left to focus on for the time being were his own.

He sank into his mindspace, hoping to check on the wrinkle in his soul and possibly find out if the demon had actually been telling the truth about their connection or not. The darkness of his soul swam out, swallowing the room as Noah’s Runes glittered to life all around him.

To his dismay, the wrinkle became immediately apparent. A winding spiral of reddish-black energy burned in the very center of his soul. Tiny flecks of ash swirled above it, occasionally glowing molten.

The ash swirled, gathering into a humanoid form. With a pop, the demon formed, sitting cross-legged upon the spiral with a bored expression on its face.

“Well, hello. You came to visit much faster than I’d expected.”

“What are you doing here?” Noah demanded, his eyes narrow. He warily glanced at his Runes, but they all looked correct. Nothing had changed other than the demon’s presence.

“Did you not hear a single word I said when we were talking?”

“I know you claim to be integrated with my soul, but you were never here before,” Noah pointed out. “And, to be frank, I’d like to keep things that way.”

“I’m sure you would,” the demon said with a wry laugh. “Unfortunately for you, I finally manifested enough power to carve out a little spot for myself. No, I’m afraid you won’t just be forgetting about me so easily. I’m here to stay until something changes.”

“Thrilling,” Noah said, not letting his face show just how concerning the demon’s words were. “You’re just here to annoy me, then?”

“Trust me, if I had literally any other option, I’d take it,” the demon said. It yawned, then rose to its feet. “But, now that we’re here, there’s no point wasting an opportunity. I’m bored, Noah. And, as much as I despise you – I’m fascinated with your story. I’ve only caught flashes of the biggest parts from your memory, but I want more. Entertain me.”

He kind of sounds like Lee, if Lee were a raging asshole.

“And why would I do that?” Noah asked. “I’m here to get rid of you, not make you want to stay.”

“Do you have a way to get rid of me?” the demon raised an eyebrow.

Noah sighed. “No. That doesn’t mean I’m just going to do what you ask, though.”

“Of course not. Nothing in life is free.” A grin stretched across the demon’s face and it held its hands out. “Care to make a deal with the devil, Noah Vines?”