by P. C. Cast
“But you kept your sense.”
Stevie Rae didn’t say it like a question, but Aphrodite answered her anyway. “Someone had to.”
“Good. Okay, I think I have somethin’ figured out about Kalona. If I’m right, Neferet is up to her elbows in evil, so much so that she’s got his body trapped, and his spirit has to obey her to get it back.”
“Like that would surprise any of us?”
“I’ll bet it would surprise most of the High Council. Neferet has a way of gettin’ people on her side.”
Aphrodite snorted. “As far as I can tell, most of them are clueless about her.”
“That’s what I thought. So moving against her out in the open there is going to be even harder than moving against her when she was here.”
“That about sums it up. So, what’s the deal with Kalona?”
“You need to check out his body using your super Spidey Otherworld senses.”
“You’re such a dork. There is no such thing as Spider-Man. He is a made-up comic-book-bullshit character,” Aphrodite said.
“They’re called graphic novels, not comic books—don’t be so dang judgmental. I do not have time to argue with you about the benefits of graphic novels on people’s imaginations,” Stevie Rae said.
“Oh, please, if its ass is feathered and waterproof, it’s a duck. Hello, pictures with little word balloons makes it a comic book. They’re dorky comic books for nerdy antisocial, nonbathing people. End of discussion.”
“Aphrodite! Focus! Just go back in the Chamber and check out Kalona’s body with your Otherworld-spirit-sensing stuff. Look for any kind of weirdness that no one else can see. Like, I dunno—”
“A disgusting, sticky spiderweb of darkness wrapped all around him like freaky chains?” Aphrodite offered.
“Don’t mess with me about this. It’s too important.” Stevie Rae’s voice had gone completely serious.
“I’m not messing with you. I’m telling you what I’ve already seen. His body is completely covered by dark threads of yucky stuff that, apparently, no one else but moi can see.”
“It’s Neferet!” Stevie Rae’s voice was tense with emotion. “She’s tapped into something called Darkness—that’s evil with a capital D. It’s how she’s using the power of the Tsi Sgili. She managed to trap Kalona with it right after Zoey wounded his soul—it’s the only time his body is weak enough to be vulnerable.”
“How do you know that?”
“It’s how the Cherokee imprisoned him last time.” Stevie Rae avoided the question by using the only part of the truth she could ever tell anyone. “A-ya messed up his spirit with emotions he wasn’t used to feeling, and the old women used his weakness to trap him.”
“That does make sense. So now Neferet’s got him all tied up and soulless. Why? She’s his super nasty lover. Why wouldn’t she want him here with her? The two of them could have taken off together and not been caught for killing Heath.”
“Yeah, except for two things: she would have looked guilty, so the High Council would have been forced to act against her, and she wouldn’t have been one hundred percent sure Zoey is going to die.”
“What the hell? The Council says she has a week, but then Z will be dead.”
“Not true. If her soul returns to her body, Z won’t die. Neferet knows that, so she—”
“She trapped Kalona’s body and told him to follow Z to the Otherworld and make sure she doesn’t get back to her body,” Aphrodite finished for her. “That fucking figures! But it doesn’t feel right. Kalona’s totally obsessed with Z. I don’t think he wants her to die.”
“Yeah, but what if the only way to get his body back is to kill Zoey?”
Aphrodite’s voice hardened. “Then he’ll kill her. Stevie Rae, what the hell are we going to do?”
“We have to figure out a way to protect Z and help her get back to her body, and no, I don’t know how we’re gonna do that.” She hesitated and, crossing her fingers behind her back against the semi-lie, added, “Today the earth helped me find out some pretty weird stuff about Kalona. Seems he used to be Nyx’s Warrior. So, he used to be one of the good guys. Then something happened in the Otherworld, and the Goddess banished him, and that’s when he fell to earth.”
“Which means he knows the Otherworld a hell of a lot better than any of us,” Aphrodite said glumly.
“Yeah. Dang it! What we need is a Warrior for Zoey in the Otherworld who can stand up against Kalona and get Z back to her body.”
Aphrodite felt a little zap of understanding at Stevie Rae’s words. “But she already has a Warrior.”
“Stark’s in this world. Not the Otherworld.”
“But a Warrior and his Priestess are connected by a bond that is all about spirit and oaths and dedication. I know! I have it with Darius.” Aphrodite’s voice was getting more and more excited as she reasoned it through. “And you can’t tell me that my Warrior wouldn’t follow me straight into the mouth of hell to protect me. All we need to do is to get Stark’s soul to the Otherworld so he can protect Z there, just like he does here.” And it might save him, too, she added silently to herself.
“I don’t know, Aphrodite. Stark has to be pretty messed-up after losing Zoey and all.”
“That’s the point. He has to save himself by saving her.”
“But that doesn’t work. I’ve been remembering somethin’ from The Fledgling Handbook 101. There was that whole big story in there about a High Priestess and her Warrior who died when her soul was shattered and he went after her into the Otherworld.”
“Please, dork. It’s in the 101 handbook because it’s meant to scare the crap out of retarded third formers, like you, so that hot young fledglings stay away from sexy Sons of Erebus Warriors. The stupid thing was probably written by some dried-up old hag of a High Priestess who hadn’t had sex in, like, a hundred years. Literally. Stark needs to follow Zoey to the Otherworld, kick Kalona’s spirit’s ass, and then bring her back here.”
“It has to be more complicated than that.”
“Probably, but whatever. We’ll figure it out.”
“How?”
Aphrodite paused, thinking of Thanatos and her wise, dark eyes. “I might know someone who can at least point us in the right direction.”
“Don’t let Neferet know you’re onto her,” Stevie Rae cautioned.
“I’m not stupid, stupid,” Aphrodite said. “Leave this whole thing in my extremely capable and well-manicured hands. I’ll call you later with an update. Bye!” She hit the red END CALL button before Stevie Rae could nag her anymore. And, smiling slyly, headed back into the Council Chamber.
CHAPTER NINE
Stark
The longer he stayed in the same room as Neferet, the hotter Stark’s anger burned. And that was good. He could think through anger. He couldn’t think through the grief. Goddess! The unbearable grief of losing his Priestess . . . his Zoey . . .
“So we are in agreement then,” Neferet said. “I will take my consort’s body to Capri. There I can watch over him until the time when—”
It finally registered with Stark what the bitch was saying, and he rounded on her, only stopped short from launching himself at the evil hag by Darius’s ironlike grip on his arm.
“You can’t let her escape with him!” Stark yelled at Duantia, the Leader of the High Council. “Kalona killed Heath; I saw it. Zoey saw it. That’s what made this happen to her.” He gestured at Zoey’s soulless body without looking down at her. He couldn’t look at her.
“Escape?” Neferet scoffed. “I’ve already agreed to be escorted by a group of Sons of Erebus Warriors, and to make regular reports to the Council regarding Erebus’s state of consciousness. After all, my consort isn’t a criminal. It isn’t against our laws for a Warrior to kill a human if he’s in the service of the Goddess.”
Stark ignored Neferet and concentrated on Duantia. “Don’t let her go. Don’t let her take him. He did more than kill a human guy, and they aren’t in the service of
Nyx.”
“Lies propagated by a jealous teenager, who had so little control over herself that her eternal soul has been shattered!” Neferet snapped.
“You fucking bitch!” Stark lunged for Neferet, who didn’t so much as flinch. Instead, she lifted one elegant hand and pointed it, palm outward, at Stark. As he struggled to free himself from Darius’s hold, Stark thought he saw black smoke begin materializing around Neferet’s fingers.
“Stop it, Stark, you total moron!”
Suddenly, Aphrodite was there right in front of him. Stark knew she was Zoey’s friend, but if Darius hadn’t had a vise-like hold on him, he wouldn’t have hesitated to knock her aside to get to Neferet.
“Stark!” Aphrodite yelled at him. “You’re not helping Zoey!” Then the blonde did something that totally shocked him, and by Darius’s sharp intake of breath, she shocked her Warrior, too. She took his face between her smooth palms and forced him to stare into her eyes, whispering words that changed his life. “I know how to help Zoey.”
“You see how uncontrollable he is! If my consort’s body remains here, who knows what this undisciplined child could do to it?” Neferet spewed her poison as Stark kept his eyes locked with Aphrodite’s.
“Do you swear?” Stark whispered urgently back to her. “You’re not just talking crap?”
Aphrodite lifted one blond brow. “If you knew me better, you’d know I never just talk crap, but yes. I swear on my new and annoyingly responsible title of Prophetess that I know how to help Zoey, but we need her away from Neferet. Get it?”
Stark nodded once and quit straining against Darius. Aphrodite took her hands from his face. Looking and sounding every bit a Prophetess of Nyx, she whirled around to face Neferet and the High Council.
“Why are you all so willing to believe Zoey is going to die?”
Duantia was first to respond. “Her soul has left her body, and not just on a Spirit Journey to the Otherworld, or in temporary communion with the Goddess. Zoey has been shattered.”
One of the Council members who had stayed mostly silent until then spoke up. “You must understand what that means, Prophetess. Zoey’s spirit is in the Otherworld in pieces. Past lives have been stripped from her, as have memories and different aspects of her personality. She is becoming one of the Caoinic Shi’, a thing not dead and not alive—a being trapped in the realm of spirits, yet without the comfort of her own spirit.”
“No. Seriously. Speak American and not this ancient and very fucked-up, confusing olden-day Euro crap.” Aphrodite planted one hand on the curve of her waist, and the other pointed a finger at the Vampyre High Council in general. “Without the confusing woo-woo references, explain why the hell you’re writing Zoey off.”
Stark heard a few of the Council members draw in breath at Aphrodite’s brash words and registered the smug, “I told you they were out of control” look Neferet shared with several of the vamps, but Thanatos responded smoothly. “What Aether is saying is that the layers of spirit that make Zoey who she is today—her past lives, her past experiences, her personality—have been stripped from her, and without those layers intact, it is impossible for her to rest in the Otherworld, or for her spirit to return to her body here in this world. Think of it as if you had been in a terrible accident and the layers of skin and muscle and bone that protect your heart have been peeled away from your body, leaving that vital organ bare and defenseless. What would happen to you then?”
Aphrodite paused, and Stark thought she hesitated because she didn’t want to say the obvious answer, but she glanced at him, and when their eyes met, he was surprised to see triumph and excitement in hers. “If my heart didn’t have any protection, it wouldn’t keep beating. So why not get Zoey some protection?”
Protection! I’m Zoey’s protection! A small quiver of hope moved through his body. “I’m her protection!” he said quickly. “I don’t care if it’s in this world or the next. Just show me how to get to where she is, and I’ll be there for her.”
“That does, indeed, sound logical, Stark,” Thanatos said. “But your gifts are that of a Warrior, which means your skills are corporeal and not of the spirit realm.”
“Protection is protection,” Stark insisted. “Just show me how to get where she is, and I’ll figure the rest of it out.”
“Zoey must make her spirit whole again, and that is a battle you cannot fight for her,” Aether said.
“But I can be there for her while she gets herself together. I can protect her,” Stark insisted.
“A living Warrior cannot enter the Otherworld. Not even to follow his High Priestess,” Aether said.
“Should you attempt it, you would be lost, too,” Duantia said.
“You don’t know that for sure,” Stark said.
“In our recorded history, there is no Warrior who has recovered from attempting to follow his Priestess’s shattered spirit into the Otherworld. All of them perished—every Warrior and every High Priestess,” Thanatos said.
Stark felt a jolt of surprise. He hadn’t even thought of that—that he’d die, too. With a detached sense of curiosity, he realized he didn’t really mind the idea of dying, not if he could fulfill his Oath to Zoey; but before he could respond, Neferet’s cold voice intruded again. “And all of those Warriors and High Priestesses were older and more experienced than you.”
“Maybe that was their problem.” Aphrodite pitched her voice low enough that only Stark heard her murmur. “They were too old and had too much experience.”
Hope shivered through Stark again. He turned to Duantia. “I was wrong before. Neferet should be able to take Kalona to wherever she wants to take him, but I want the same right to take Zoey with me.” He paused and made a gesture that included Aphrodite, Darius, and the other kids who were huddled together not far from them. “We want to take Zoey with us.”
“Stark, I cannot agree to what would amount to a death sentence for you, too.” Duantia’s voice was compassionate but firm. “Within this next week, Zoey is going to die. The best place for her is here, in our infirmary, being kept comfortable during the time she has left. The best thing for you to do would be to prepare yourself for that outcome and not sacrifice yourself in a futile attempt to save her.”
“You are very young,” Thanatos said. “You have a long and productive life before you. Don’t cut Fate’s thread for you.”
“Zoey will remain here until the end.” Duantia nodded in agreement. “You may, of course, stay by her side.”
“Um, excuse me. I don’t mean to be disrespectful or anything.” Everyone’s attention turned to Zoey’s group of friends, who had, until then, been mostly silent with grief and shock. Damien’s hand was raised like he was in a classroom waiting for the teacher to call on him.
“Who are you, fledgling?” asked Duantia.
“My name is Damien, and I’m one of Zoey’s friends.”
“He also has an affinity for air,” Jack added, wiping a hand across his tear-streaked face.
“Ah, I have been told of you,” Duantia said. “Do you wish to address the Council?”
“He is a fledgling. He should be seen and not heard in Council meetings,” Neferet snapped.
“I didn’t know you spoke for the Vampyre High Council, Neferet,” Aphrodite said.
“She does not,” said Thanatos, giving Neferet a hard look before turning to Damien. “Fledgling, do you wish to address the Council?”
Damien sat up straighter, swallowed hard, and said, “Affirmative.”
Thanatos’s lips twitched with the beginnings of a smile. “Then you may speak. You may also put down your hand, Damien.”
“Oh, thank you.” Damien’s hand hastily retreated. “Well, all I wanted to say, very respectfully, is vampyre law states that, as Zoey’s Oath Bound Warrior, it is Stark’s right to decide where and how she should be protected. At least that’s what I remember from my notes last semester in Vampyre Sociology Class.”
“Zoey is dying.” Duantia’s words were harsh, b
ut her tone was gentle. “You must understand that her Warrior will soon be released from his Oath.”
“I do understand. But she’s not dead yet, and all I’m saying is that her Warrior has the right to be her protector, in anyway he believes is best for her, as long as she is alive.”
“I have to agree with the fledgling,” Thanatos said, nodding respectfully to Damien. “He is absolutely correct in principle. It is law, as well as a Warrior’s Oath Bound responsibility, to decide what is best for his High Priestess’s safety. Zoey Redbird is living; therefore, she is still under her Warrior’s protection.”
“And the rest of my Council? Do you agree with Thanatos?” Duantia asked.
Stark held his breath while the other five High Priestesses either spoke solemn yeses or gave small nods.
“Well done, fledgling Damien,” Thanatos said.
Damien’s cheeks turned pink. “Thank you, Priestess.”
Duantia shook her head. “For my part, I am not as pleased as Thanatos at the prospect of the death of a promising young Warrior.” Then the vampyre shrugged with acquiescence. “But the Council is in agreement. Though it saddens me, I bow to the will of my Council and to our laws. Stark, where is it you would like to take your High Priestess for her last days?”
Before he could respond, Neferet’s cold voice cut in. “Am I to assume this little quorum of agreement means I am also free to leave and to take my consort with me?”
“We already decided upon that, Neferet.” Thanatos’s tone matched her chill for chill. “Under the conditions set, you may return to Capri with your consort’s body.”
“Thank you,” Neferet said shortly. She made a brusque gesture at the Sons of Erebus who had carried Kalona into the Council Chamber on the litter. “Bring Erebus. We are leaving this place.” With the barest of bows to the Council, Neferet strode imperiously from the room.
Everyone was watching her exit when Aphrodite grabbed Stark’s arm, and said urgently, “Stall. Don’t give them an answer about where you want to take Zoey.”