Hector's mornings had changed drastically since Mila's arrival. He woke up and now dangling above his bed was a silken hammock where she slept comfortably. She was a young Arachne, always hungry, and her stomach woke her up as he made breakfast. She wolfed down her meal and together they would head to the library in by opening time.

Hector soon learned that she did not know how to read. So he taught her, using the quiet library to gently guide her through their lessons. He quickly found her to be hungrier for knowledge than she was for food. She picked up on his lessons quickly and was soon able to read basic literature by herself.

She only occasionally asked him for help, and mainly called on him to read her favorite bedtime stories. Hector soon found that she had a taste for books based on the arts. She was completely obsessed with the works of the great artists. She asked Hector to read then re-read books on Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello.

She even had him read her books on liminal warrior reptiles of the same name from America.

Their days were often spent like this, with the occasional customer to mix things up. Rosalyn and Mila got on famously after they had been introduced. The centaur and the Arachne bonded over books involving physiology, Rosalyn studying how bodies worked and Mila on how they were proportioned.

The spiderling also managed to get on the good side of his monoeye regular. After the small girl had apologized for tearing up the books the woman had introduced herself as Isabelle and forgiven her. She still mainly kept to herself but her stern look seemed to soften whenever she spoke to Mila. One day she actually approached Hector for a reason outside of looking for a book.

"The girl, you teach her here, yes?"

For a moment Hector didn't realize that he was being spoken too. He straightened up as he realized she had said more than a handful of words to him. "Yes."

Isabelle hummed as she looked over at the little girl humming happily as she crafted a surprisingly accurate human figure out of clay. "She is talented in the arts, but you are not."

"True."

"I have an eye for these things," she said completely seriously so Hector bit down a smile. "She needs a teacher to hone her abilities."

Hector looked over and saw that the figure was now detailed and painted. It wore a familiar bucket hat, mask and sunglasses. "You may be right about that."

Finding a teacher required going into the city. After closing up the library Hector headed out with Mila out unto the city streets. He was unused to being out among the people. Mila had expressed no interest in adventuring out beyond the library either. She clung to him like a backpack, hiding in a hoodie he had lent her.

He could feel her head swivel as they walked along the roads and the small gasps as she saw something new. She also shrank whenever she received any attention, but Hector knew how to avoid attracting too many eyes. Soon they were standing in front of a nearby college, Rosalyn's in fact. She had told Hector the school accepted liminals, it stood to reason they would accept one more.

He found the college art studio and was about to enter when the door burst open. A group of scared looking students came rushing out like a wave to meet him. He sidestepped them and exchanged wary looks with Mila as they looked at them retreat.

"Scared?" Hector nodded and he could feel her tense up, "Go home?"

He shook his head, "You need a teacher."

She nodded, her fear giving way to determination. She held on tightly, but didn't so much as whimper as he stepped carefully through the entrance. The studio was well lit, which only served to let the two see what a mess it was. Brushes and paint cans were everywhere, have finished statues littered the floor, and pencils littered the floor. In the center of it all was a woman. Her hair was bright red…and writhing.

She turned and Hector could hear Mila give out a small gasp as they saw that her hair was actually a squirming nest of red snakes. She wore a loose blouse and a skirt but Hector could see the red scaled tail that stretched out behind her. She was practically hissing in anger as she picked art supplies. Mila clung to him tightly as he approached.

"Hello?"

She suddenly pointed her gaze at him and he froze in place. Her stare was unnaturally intense. Hector was rooted to where he stood like he had been frozen. She frowned as she adjusted her glasses before scoffing and continued cleaning. "The studio is closed."

Hector was suddenly able to breathe again and sighed in relief, the experience had been unpleasant. He had half a mind to leave before he looked at Mila to see her looking around in awe. He remembered why they had come.

"Hey," he said grabbing her attention, "go look around."

She nodded excitedly before leaping off her back and scurrying off. The snake woman watched her skitter off with a frown. She looked like she was about to complain before Hector began to pick up pencils. "What are you doing?"

"Helping," he answered as he placed pencils by the handful into a nearby box.

"Why?"

"You look like you need help."

She just huffed and together the two cleaned the studio up. It had been several hours and he had not heard from Mila so he assumed she had found something to occupy her time. The snake woman gave a tired sigh as they filed the last box. "That should be all of it. Humans, honestly they stampede like cattle when their scared." She looked at Hector warily, "No offense?"

Why was that a question? "None taken, what happened?"

The woman settled in a nearby chair and eased into it, clearly drained. "I run the art program here. But not because I'm qualified, oh no, it's because of my background no matter what they tell you."

"Because you're a liminal?"

"How cynical," she said in mock offense, "I was going to say it was because I'm Greek." She sighed, "I came to Japan to take up a job offer, but then I find out they only wanted a liminal with an artsy image for their flyers."

"Are Medusa's famous painters or something?" he knew the myths of their mythical stone stare, but he wasn't dumb enough to equate myth with reality. The original Arachne was a master weaver, but Mila couldn't sew to save her life.

The woman glared at him freezing him in place, her eyes searching his mask as if to make sure he wasn't joking around. "My kind is more associated with statutes."

"I did not want to assume."

"How nice of you, I wish the school thought the same way before they put me in here with the art students," she scoffed.

She looked away and Hector was able to breathe easier again, he really didn't like that sensation. He settled himself into a nearby seat, "What job did you actually want?"

"I wanted to teach math," she said with a smile. "I'm a bit of a wiz when you put an abacus in my hand."

"Imagine you with a calculator."

She laughed lightly before sitting up a bit straighter and holding out a hand, "I'm Eury, full name Euryale but I don't like the association with the myth."

Hector shook her hand gently, "Hector. So why'd they all run out like that, you're not very frightening."

"Nice of you to say," She suddenly frowned, "I was looking through my classes work. Unfortunately Medusa's have the tendency to have pretty intense stares." She adjusted her glasses, "We have terrible vision, and our squinting looks like glaring to any other species, which doesn't matter when we can freeze other people in place with a look."

"I noticed," Hector added dryly.

She only smirked, "It frightened some students, which has happened a lot since I got here, and when some pencils fell over…I guess I just snapped. The students saw an angry Medusa on a rampage and ran, you saw the rest."

Hector hummed and they spent a few moments in silence. "I'm sorry to hear that, really."

She smiled at his sincerity, "Its fine, it happens. What brings you here anyway?"

"I have a homestay in need of an art instructor. I figured this was the place to look."

Eury smiled sadly, "Sorry to disappoint."

Hector shook his head, "It's not your fault, at least I know who to call during tax season now."

Eury snorted before looking around, "Where is the girl anyway?"

Hector stood up and Eury did as well, "Around here somewhere, she shouldn't have left the studio."

Together the two looked for the tiny spider. "Hector, I feel like I should say that applications to this class were closed last week. Besides, this is a college level class and I don't think that we would be able to…" She trailed off as they turned the corner and she was left speechless.

Hector could not blame her, it was pretty amazing.

Mila had placed a canvas flat on the floor and drawn an intricate series of lines across its surface. Hector recognized it as a map of the area around the library. She must have copied it from memory. What was even more impressive was the incredibly detailed clay model of the library being built on the map where the real one would have risen.

It was half finished, but looked like it was to be incredibly accurate. It even had small lifelike clay figurines of Hector, Rosalyn, Isabelle and Mila at its steps. The Arachne was completely consumed by the project as she worked furiously. The two looked at her expertly use her clawed hands to cut and shape the clay.

Eury coughed into her hand before turning to Hector, "You know in light of recent events we may have some open spots by tomorrow."

"I'll be sure to sign her up."