by P. C. Cast
“You should come with us—you and Dragon and Anastasia. The House of Night is no place for you right now.”
“The House of Night is our home,” she said.
I met her eyes. “Sometimes the people closest to you betray you, and your home isn’t a place you can be happy anymore. It’s hard, but it’s true.”
“You sound very wise for your years, Priestess.”
“Yeah, well, I’m a product of divorce and crappy stepparenting. Who knew it would come in handy?”
We were laughing together when the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Lenobia was on her feet in an instant. “We should get messages to your friends. They can meet here. It, at least, is safe from the ears and eyes of the Raven Mockers.”
“Already done,” I said. “They’ll all be here in a little while.”
“If Neferet realizes you’re meeting here, it will go badly for us.”
“I know,” was what I said; Ah, hell, was what I thought.
CHAPTER 30
Despite the fact that it had started to sleet again, Damien, the Twins, Aphrodite, and Darius arrived just minutes after the bell rang.
“Nice note,” Erin said.
“Very wily of you to get us here without having us think about it beforehand,” Shaunee said.
“Well done, you!” Damien said.
“But you are thinking of it now, so we need to be sure those thoughts are protected, and move and move fast with whatever it is we’re going to do,” Darius said.
“Agreed,” I said. “Guys, summon your elements and get them to form a protective wall around your thoughts.”
“No problem,” Erin said.
“Yeah, we’ve been practicing,” Shaunee said.
“Do you need me to cast a quick circle?” I asked.
“No, Z, we just need you to hush for a second,” Damien said. “We’ve already had our elements primed and waiting.”
“Partial herd of nerd, get to it!” Aphrodite said.
“Shut up!” the Twins yelled at her.
Aphrodite snorted at them and went to stand beside Darius, who automatically put his arm around her. I noticed the cut on his face was almost completely healed, and there was only a thin pink line where before there had been a nasty laceration. It made me think of my own scar, and while the Twins and Damien were busy summoning their elements, and Aphrodite was nuzzling Darius, I turned my back to them and unobtrusively peeked down the front of my shirt. And grimaced at what I saw. Okay, my scar wasn’t a long, thin pink line. It was puckered and jagged, and was still red and angry-looking. I shifted my shoulders. No, it didn’t really hurt. It was just sore and tender to the touch. And ugly. Really, really ugly.
Whenever I thought about anyone seeing my nasty scar (“anyone” being Stark, or Erik, or even Heath, for that matter) I wanted to burst into tears. Maybe I’d just never be with another guy. It would certainly make my life less complicated…
“Battle scars from the war of good versus evil have a unique beauty all their own,” Lenobia said.
I jumped. She was standing close to me, and I hadn’t heard her approach. I looked at her steadily. She was utterly perfect and completely unscarred and beautiful. “That sounds nice in theory, but when the scar belongs to you, reality is kinda different than the theory.”
“I know of what I speak, Priestess.” She swept the curtain of her silver hair over one shoulder, turned so that I could see the back of her neck, and with her other hand, pulled aside the yoke of her white blouse to expose a terrible scar that ran from up into her hairline, down the back of her neck, and disappeared, thick and puckered, into her back.
“Okay! We’re all elemented up over here,” Erin called.
“Yeah, we’re ready to get down and dirty,” Shaunee said.
“So, what’s the latest?” Damien said.
Lenobia and I exchanged a quick glance. “That story will wait for another time,” she said softly. I followed her back to my friends, wondering what kind of evil she could have been fighting that could have made those awful scars.
“Zoey has named the people mentioned in the poem,” Lenobia said without any preamble. “And the place of power at which they need to join.”
Everyone looked at me. “It’s the Benedictine Abbey. I remembered that one of the reasons Sister Mary Angela wasn’t totally shocked when I showed her I could invoke the elements was that she’d felt elemental power herself. She said her abbey had been built on a place of spiritual power. I didn’t think much of it then.” I paused and gave a little laugh. “Actually, I didn’t take her seriously, and thought she was just being crazy-eccentric-nun-lady.”
“Well, in your defense, the nun is kinda different,” Aphrodite said.
Darius nodded, “At least she is for a nun.”
“She’s also the Spirit the poem talks about,” I said.
“Wow, you did figure it out!” Damien grinned at me. “Who are the rest of the personifications?”
“Blood is Stevie Rae.”
“She definitely likes it enough,” Aphrodite said under her breath.
“You’re Humanity,” I told her firmly, punctuating my announcement with a big grin.
“Great. Just great. Let me state right now for the record: I. Do. Not. Want. To. Get. Bit. Again. Ever.” Then she glanced up at Darius and her expression changed, and she added, “Except by you, handsome.”
The Twins made retching noises.
“Earth is my grandma,” I continued, ignoring all of them.
“Good thing your grandma’s already at the abbey,” Damien said.
“How about Night?” Shaunee asked.
“It’s Zoey,” Aphrodite said.
I raised my brows at her.
She rolled her eyes. “Who the hell else could it be? Anyone who’s not mentally impaired or sharing a brain”—she gave the Twins and Damien pointed looks—“could figure that one out.”
“Okay, yeah, I’m Night,” I said.
“So we need to get to the Benedictine Abbey,” Darius said, going, as usual, straight to the heart of the logistics of our “operation.” I say “operation” because it usually feels to me like I’m flailing about hoping that somehow I’m getting enough things right that I don’t totally make a mess of stuff, which isn’t exactly an Operation.
“Yes, and you need to get there quickly, before Kalona and Neferet cause any more damage to our people,” Lenobia said.
“Or begin a war with the humans,” Aphrodite said.
Everyone but Darius gawked at her. And in my gawking I saw through the façade of her beauty, and how she always looked totally together, to the bruised darkness under her eyes and the vaguely reddish tint that hadn’t yet faded from their whites.
“You had another vision,” I said.
She nodded.
“Ah, crap. Did I get killed again?”
I heard Lenobia’s shocked intake of breath. “Uh, long story,” I said.
“No, dork. You did not get killed. Again,” Aphrodite said. “But I got a flash of the war—the same one I saw before—only this time I recognized the Raven Mockers.” She paused, shuddering. “Did you know they can rape women? Not a comfortable vision to have. Anyway, Neferet hooked up with Kalona to fulfill her crazy war-with-the-humans scheme.”
“But last time you had the war vision, saving Zoey kept it from happening,” Damien said.
“I know that. I’m Vision Girl, remember? What I don’t know is why this one was different, except that now Kalona has been added into the mix. And, well, I hate to clue you in about this, ’cause it’s more than a little frightening, but Neferet has totally gone over to the Dark Side. She’s turning into something, and it’s like no vampyre we’ve ever known before.”
Something clicked inside me, and as the pieces of the puzzle were fitting together, I knew what was happening. “She’s becoming Queen Tsi Sgili, the first vampyre Tsi Sgili, and that’s something we’ve never known before.” I said it in a voice that sounded as
cold as I felt.
“Yeah. That’s what I saw,” Aphrodite said, looking pale. “I also know that the war starts right here in Tulsa.”
“So the Council they want to take over must be the Council at this House of Night,” I said.
“Council?” Lenobia said.
“It’s too much to explain right now. Let’s just say it’s a good thing that they’re only thinking regionally and not globally,” I said.
“It stands to reason if we make Kalona and, hopefully, Neferet with him, flee Tulsa, then perhaps the war won’t start,” Darius said.
“Or at least it won’t start here,” I said. “And that might give us time to figure out how to get rid of him permanently, since he seems to be a main player in the war.”
“It is Neferet,” Lenobia said in a voice so calm it almost sounded dead. “She is the impetus behind Kalona. She has desired a war against the humans for many years.” She met my eyes. “You may have to kill her.”
I blanched. “Kill Neferet! No way. I’m not doing that!”
“You might have to,” Darius said.
“No!” I cried again. “If I was supposed to kill Neferet, I wouldn’t have this horrible sickness in my gut just thinking about it. Nyx would let me know that it was her will, but I can’t believe killing a High Priestess of hers would ever be the Goddess’s will.”
“Ex-High Priestess,” Damien said.
“Is High Priestess a job you can really lose?” Shaunee asked.
“Yeah, isn’t it one of those ‘for life’ things?” Erin said.
“Plus, is she really a High Priestess if she’s turning into something else, like Queen Tsi Sgili?” Aphrodite added.
“Yes! No!” I babbled. “I don’t know. Let’s just get off the subject of killing Neferet. I so cannot go there.”
I saw Darius, Lenobia, and Aphrodite exchange a long look, which I definitely chose to ignore. Then Lenobia said, “Back to getting all of you out of here. I think that is something we need to do now.”
“Right now?” Shaunee said.
“Like this second?” Erin chimed in.
“The sooner the better,” I said. “I mean, I can feel your elements, and I know they’re protecting your thoughts, but the truth is, if Neferet is trying to break into your minds, she’ll know something is going on when she comes up against an elemental wall. She just won’t know exactly what.” I glanced around, half expecting her to be floating like a bloated, spectral spider in the shadows. “She’s also appeared twice to me like a disgusting ghost, so I say we need to get the hell out of here. Now.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Erin said.
“Tell me about it,” I said. “But getting out of here is going to be a problem. The weather is definitely not helping us. I couldn’t even walk from the main building to the stables without almost breaking my butt. I had to use fire to melt some of the stupid ice.” I glanced at Shaunee and smiled a little sheepishly.
“Wait, what did you say about using the element fire to melt the ice?” Lenobia broke in.
I shrugged. “I was just sick of almost falling. So I focused some flame on the sidewalk. It melted the ice with no problem.”
“Actually, easy-peasy,” Shaunee said. “I’ve done it myself.”
Lenobia looked increasingly excited. “Do you think you could project flame specifically enough that it could melt the ice beneath your feet as a group if you moved?”
“Yeah, I think so. If we could figure out some way that it wouldn’t burn our feet, too. I don’t know how long I could do it, though.” I glanced questioningly at Shaunee.
She nodded. “Sure, I could help, and it wouldn’t even burn my feet. With the two of us joined together we could make it last longer than either of us trying to do it by ourselves.”
“Plus, Twin,” Erin said, “Twenty-first and Lewis is only like half a mile down the street. Zoey’s looking way better today, so you guys should be able to keep the heat going that long.”
“Even with the ice problem solved, we can’t possibly move fast enough on foot, and I can’t cloak the Hummer because it’s not organic,” I said.
“I think I have a solution for you,” Lenobia said. “Come with me.” We followed as she led us to Persephone’s stall. The mare was eating contentedly, and she simply flicked her ears back at us when Lenobia greeted her, went to her back leg, reached down, and said, “Give, sweet girl.”
Persephone obediently lifted her leg. Lenobia brushed off the straw that clung to her hoof, and then, still holding the mare’s leg up, she looked at Shaunee. “Can you send flame to heat her shoe?”
Shaunee looked surprised at the unusual request, but said, “Easy peasy.” Then she drew a deep breath, and I heard her whisper something that I couldn’t quite make out, and she pointed one glowing finger at Persephone’s hoof. “Burn, baby, burn!” she said. The glow rushed from her finger to the silver horse shoe snug against Persephone’s hoof. In no time it started to glow, too. Persephone stopped eating, craned her head around and gave her hoof a curious look, snorted, and then went back to eating.
Lenobia tapped the hoof, kinda like she was checking to see if an iron was hot, quickly pulling her finger away from the glowing surface. “It definitely worked. You can make it go away now, Shaunee.”
“Thanks, fire! Come on back to me now!” The glow swirled around the horse, making her snort again, and then came back to Shaunee whose bod$ As noty began to glow until she frowned and said, “Just settle down.”
Lenobia put the horse’s hoof down, patted her rump affectionately, and said, “That is how you leave here and get to the abbey quickly. On horse back, which, in my opinion, is the best way to travel anyway.”
“The idea has merit,” Darius said. “But how do we escape? Surely the Raven Mockers won’t let us ride out the front gates.”
Lenobia smiled. “Perhaps they will.”
CHAPTER 31
“That is an insane plan,” Aphrodite said.
“Yet it just might work,” Darius said.
“I like it. It’s kinda romantic, with the horses and all. Plus, it’s the best plan we have,” Damien said.
“It’s the only plan we have,” I said. At Lenobia’s raised brows I hastily added, “But I like it, too.”
“The fewer horses you take, the easier it will be for you to get away unnoticed. I suggest you ride double,” Lenobia said.
“Three is definitely sneakier than six,” Erin said.
“But how are we going to get Dragon and Anastasia in on it?” I said. “We definitely can’t all go walking over to the fencing room or Anastasia’s class. And I don’t want us to split up.”
Lenobia’s brows went up again. “I don’t know if you’ve heard of this, but there is something many of us use, called a cellular telephone. Believe it or not, Dragon and Anastasia each have one.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling like a moron.
Aphrodite rolled her eyes at me.
“I’ll call them and fill them in on their part of the plan. Those of you wearing skirts—you need to change. Zoey can show you where the extra riding habits are kept in the tack room. Take anything in there you might need,” Lenobia said as she hurried toward her office.
“I’ll tell Dragon the diversion will start in thirty minutes.”
“Thirty minutes!” My stomach clenched.
“That should give you plenty of time to change and put bridles on three horses. You won’t be able to use saddles. That would be too obvious.” Lenobia disappeared into her office just as Damien said, “No saddles? I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Join the crowd,” I said. “Come on,” I told Aphrodite and the Twins, “You need to change out of those short skirts. And who the hell wears stilettos in an ice storm?”
“They’re boots,” Aphrodite said. “And boots are proper winter attire.”
“Three and a half inch stiletto boots are not sensible footwear for winter,” I said, leading them to the tack room and the riding
clothes hanging neatly there among the other tack.
“Fashion-impaired geek,” Aphrodite muttered.
“Agreeing,” Shaunee said.
“For once,” Erin added.
I grabbed three bridles and shook my head at my friends. “Just change your clothes. There are riding boots in that closet. Avail yourselves of their use.”
“Avail?” I heard Shaunee say as I marched out of the tack room.
“Girlfriend has been hanging around Queen Damien too much,” Erin said.
I slammed the door.
I wasn’t sure what other two horses Lenobia would choose to go with us, but I knew Persephone would be carrying me, so I hurried toward her stall. Darius had moved over to one of the high stable windows and was busy stacking hay bales on top of each other. Obviously he was going to give us a weather and Raven Mocker check.
“Uh, Z, may I have one little word with you?” Damien said.
“Sure, come on in.” I went back to Persephone’s stall, grabbed the currycomb, and started giving the mare a quick wipedown.
Damien stayed in the doorway. “Here’s the thing—I don’t really ride.”
“Well, that’s not a problem. I’ll do the hard part. You just sit behind me and hold on.”
“What if I fall off? I’m sure she’s a perfectly nice animal.” He sent a little hello wave to Persephone, who was still happily chewing her hay and not paying any attention to Damien. “But she’s also big. Really very big. Humongous, actually.”
“Damien, we are about to break out of school, run for our lives, and then try to banish an ancient immortal and a vamp High Priestess gone bad, and you’re stressing about riding behind me on a horse?”
“Bareback. Riding bareback behind you on a horse,” he said. Then nodded. “Yes, yes, I am stressing about it.”
I started giggling and had to lean against Persephone because I was hurting myself. Okay, here’s the life lesson I’ve really been learning: If you have good friends, no matter how much life is sucking, they can make you laugh.
Meanwhile, Damien was frowning at me. “Just so you know, I’m going to tell Jack you were laughing at me, and he’ll get mad at you. That means the next time I purchase a gift for you, he will go on strike and not supervise its tasteful wrapping.”