Solace & Grief by Foz Meadows Page B

any other means, foretold the future? No.’
    ‘Yes,’ said Jess.
    ‘No,’ said Electra and Evan.
    ‘Yes,’ said Solace, her heart beating faster.
    Five pens went down. Five heads came up.
    ‘Question eleven,’ Evan began, clearing his throat.
    ‘Are you sure this came from university students?’ Electra asked carefully.
    ‘Yes, and don't interrupt,’ replied Evan, somewhat loftily. ‘Now. Question eleven – oh.’ He paused. ‘Has anyone ever had congress with a demon? And don't say yes, Manx, Dahlia Stromberg doesn't count.’
    ‘Does,’ muttered Manx, but Solace saw him tick ‘no’, anyway, the same as everyone else.
    ‘My turn,’ she said, struggling to keep her voice calm. ‘Question twelve: Have you ever flown by any means other than parachuting, paragliding, hang-gliding, conventional aircraft or any such man-made contraption? No.’
    ‘No.’
    ‘No.’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Yes.’
    That was Evan. Everyone stared.
    ‘All right, no.’ He exhaled grumpily. ‘I hate not being special.’
    ‘I guess that's me, then,’ said Electra, consulting her piece of paper. ‘Question thirteen: Other than any of the above questions answered in the affirmative, do you have any reason to suspect you are anything other, more or less, than human? If yes, describe below.’ She closed her eyes. ‘No.’
    ‘No,’ said Evan and Jess together.
    ‘Yes,’ said Solace and Manx. Both glared when the others looked at them.
    ‘That's private,’ Manx mumbled, holding his survey just a teensy bit closer so that Evan, who was trying and failing to peer subtly over his shoulder, couldn't read it.
    ‘Is there something on here I can say yes to?’ Evan complained. ‘I'm starting to feel left out.’
    ‘Yes,’ said Jess, who'd been reading ahead. ‘Right here, Question eighteen: Have you ever displayed any psychic and/or empathic tendencies?’
    ‘ Yes, ’ said Evan, more emphatically than was needed.
    ‘Yes,’ said Electra and Solace.
    ‘No,’ said Jess and Manx.
    ‘Great, now we've missed three,’ Manx grumbled. ‘Um, has anyone ever raised the un-dead, eaten human flesh or conducted an animal sacrifice? No? Sure? Good.’
    ‘Who wrote this?’ Solace asked, holding the paper at arm's length and turning it over, half expecting to find an author's name on the back. Instead, there were just more questions. Jess leaned over and scanned them.
    ‘Oh, look!’ she said. ‘They even ask if you can speak in tongues. Just as well we're not Pentecostals, or we might skew the statistics.’
    That got a laugh, but afterwards, everyone finished off their respective surveys silently and in their own time. Evan looked slightly annoyed to finish first, while Solace and Manx tied last, as each of them seemed to find more questions that required explanatory answers.
    ‘Well,’ said Jess, when everyone was done. ‘When do they go in?’
    ‘We're actually handing them in?’ asked Electra, looking around for someone to contradict her. Oddly enough, no one did. ‘Oh,’ she said, and then again, ‘ oh ! Well. That's fair enough. I guess.’ Tentatively, she held her page out to Evan, who took it. With only a little reluctance, everyone else did likewise.
    ‘Cross my heart I won't read them,’ Evan said solemnly. ‘We can take them back tomorrow morning, unless anyone objects.’ He paused. ‘No? Excellent . In the interim, I propose we draw on Glide. Any takers?’
    ‘Draw on him?’ Solace asked. Change of subject notwithstanding, her head felt numb. Evan didn't even have the grace to look guilty.
    ‘Only a little,’ he said, with winning cheerfulness. ‘No takers? Anybody? I promise enjoyable hijinks for all. Well, except for Glide, but that's only because he might not actually have a sense of humour. Or, you know, a pulse.’ He glanced round, false innocence radiating from every pore. ‘Going once? Twice? Third and final?’
    ‘Oh, very well,’ Manx drawled, but as he stood, he flashed Solace a look that