Parisa wasn't having the best time in her room either. It had taken her a while to muster up the desire to go bathe despite their stint outside, which had left her cold and jagged. The promising warmth of the tub inside, which had been carved into a slab of marble and built into the wall so that it resembled a flower lotus, was nothing compared to the setting dark. Altirians still relied heavily on oil lamps. "They're more trustworthy," Roo had said when they first toured, and she was right, as demonstrated by exhibit A, the smatter of lanterns downstairs which had given in to a demon's influence without even a wisp of a struggle.
Oil lamps made the world feel smaller.
She was perched in a corner of her bed, knees tucked under the blankets, her silk slip dress too thin against the cold for her to be entirely comfortable. There were warmer dresses but when she'd opened her closet, she'd spotted the imprint of small hands in the down of her velvet gowns, and it had unnerved her enough to pull the doors shut once more.
The kids wouldn't suddenly pop their heads out of some crevice... would they? Roo had seemed certain that they wouldn't appear again. She'd said that Melat had entered the house and marked some spots in the basement and the upstairs hallway, which was why she'd been able to reappear hours later, and then seemingly teleport between floors. but ghost children weren't like that. The very concept had seemed amusing to the little Lumanlisc demon whisperer, who had held back a smile while assuring Pari that her room was entirely her own. Pari was not sure that she trusted her, even though Roo had drawn several of those bloody wards in the walls outside and on the door. It had taken the blood a long time to dry, and you could still see the outline in rust-red. That was probably some kind of health and safety violation, wasn't it? Then again, so was the act of living in Altair.
She closed the book in her lap with a thump that seemed too heavy for the silence, tired and frustrated and more than a little unsettled. There were lamps all around the room, keeping the corners well-lit, but that would hardly help in the case of another demon manifestation. She could go retrieve some of the candles from downstairs, light them up too. It wouldn't help, but it would give her something to do, though that also meant wandering the wide halls of Feo's haunted house alone, at night, in the dark.
But her alternative was sitting in the room, alone, at night, and in the dark. With an exhale that sounded more like a growl, she pushed herself off the bed and set out for the door.
