The girl was trembling as Garrett entered the room. They stood in the entrance of Master Paramonos‘ house and were alone here. He saw her cowering before him, she knew what was about to come, but he knew she was already preparing to play dumb.

“Teacher,... what brings you here? Another contract?”

Garrett was in no mood to play games. He had seen the corpses, he had heard the testimony of the witness. “Nannade, did you do it?”

Her eyes darted away from his. “What did you mean? I didn’t do anything!”

“You know what I mean. Stop playing dumb and we can get to solving the issue.” He was almost ashamed to have trained such a bad liar.

Nannade exhaled and let her shoulders and ears slouch. “Yes, it was me.” Before the words settled in Garrett’s mind, she followed up with quick words. “But I wasn’t aware of it! The Serpent had control! I was out of it!”

“First you say the Serpent was not even talking to you and now she was the one acting on her own?! I don’t believe it!”

She slapped her hands together in a pleading gesture. “Please Teacher, you have to believe me, she is reverting back into viciousness, she adheres to no rules and just does what she wants!”

“And have you turned to Master Paramonos’ yet?”

“Yes and he did nothing! He wants me to become brutal, he wants to turn me and her into a tool, ply the Serpent into whatever he desires.”

Garrett had already heard similar excuses; she was just making stuff up to justify her selfish lifestyle. “How do you know that? That seems like a serious accusation!”

She lowered gaze away from him. “I just know.”

He knew this was a lie. Had she done her own investigations? “Nannade, tell me now if you know anything!”

She seemed to somewhere within herself find some determination and no longer shrunk away from him. “I snuck around, yes, I found and went through his secret studies. He’s keeping preserved parts of other abominations. He just sees me as another subject to study and use! He's keeping a bound daemon and it was he who told me Paramonos’ plans!”

“I told you to keep your nose out of this and not act on your own!”

“And I told you that the issue with Ssil needed to be addressed. I will wait no longer!” She put her index finger on his chest. “I’ll try myself if you’re unwilling to help. I will not become some monster, not after I had to fight for so long to convince the Trusted Judges. It’s your decision whether you put me down now or later.”

The girl was out of it. He grabbed her by her student’s jacket, spun around and slammed her against the wall next to the door frame. “Maybe I should put you down! Don’t make me itch for it, girl!”

She seemed not the slightest bit impressed. “I have faced death more than once, I was offered better lives more than once, but I always refused. Not because I love you, or anything like that, Teacher. No, because I knew there was a greater purpose for me in this vocation of yours.” She just hung there in her jacket, didn’t even struggle, just scowling his way with these bright green-yellow eyes of her, caustic spite pushing against his blue-grey. “And now you would stand by idly while I am turned into a lapdog? Or did you commission Paramonos exactly so he would do that for you?”

He pushed her harder onto the wall. “Do NOT even insinuate this! I made a promise to your mother, that’s why she was willing to set you free into my care!”

He could see the girl’s jaw clench at the mention of her mother. “You are about to let that promise fall and shatter. I need your help; don’t you get that? I am asking you, because I don’t want to do this alone! I know you can help me.”

Her words rung like the echo of a distant bell. The girl is right now in a very difficult and complicated situation and before too long, she will need your help. That’s what Black Surgeon had told her. Did he know the girl that well? Or did he know that much about the nature of that Serpent?

He looked back at her eyes. She was still staring at him with determination. It wasn’t the pouting determination of a rebellious girl wanting to go shopping in the big city, but the determination of a woman with something left to lose. She had found something out there on her journeys and she was resolute to keep it.

“What would you have me do then?”

“Stop treating me like a child. And help me forge this shapeless lump of a demon into a proper deity. I am sure we can find the necessary books and make the necessary preparations. And when the time has come, let me preach my sermon to my parish of the guilty.”

She had thought about this well, he could tell, she was not stupid after all. “Well then, what would you do about Paramonos and his plans then?”

Nannade grinned wide and toothy, it disturbed him how long her fangs were now. “I think I got a way to keep him guessing.”

Garrett put her down. “Either way, I have an investigation to lead, I better make sure to keep the city guard guessing on my end, too.”

“Got any plans?”

“Well, as long as no more attacks happen that people ascribe to ‘the beast of the equinox’, the guard will not look into it much a month from now and we’ll be in the clear. The victims at least seemed well chosen.”

The girl nodded. “The Serpent is not completely gone yet. But without justice to remind her or snakes to sustain her, her refined shape will soon vanish. That’s why we need to reshape her into something more...” She searched for words.

“...felicitious?”

Nannade nodded. “I will head to the library of the House of the Unthought, maybe the Unseen. They are bound to harbour some writings about the liturgies and rites of various cults. They might be in love with uncaring or indifferent gods, but they’re good at handling them. I will let you know if I have worked out more of what I need.”

The girl straightened her clothes, put her hat on properly and left the house. Garrett left soon after. He had tracks to cover. He felt weird. As if he was suddenly a lot further with the girl and her situation. The path ahead was suddenly open before him. He shouldn’t have tried to load her off on someone else. At least not someone he had no reason to trust. Elissa was no longer there to take care of the girl. It was his job now and he thought he could avoid that by loading her off on Paramonos, an ambitious, secretive man with his own plans and intentions. Garrett’s new goal was to make sure that man’s ambitions would stay fruitless.