Hidden hon-10

by P. C. Cast

  “How could she have done that?” I asked, even though I wanted very much to believe finding Grandma was as easy as following Neferet to her penthouse. “Grandma wouldn’t have just walked in there with her, and even though the mayor and City Council seem to be kissing her butt, no way is the staff of the Mayo going to ignore the fact that she’s dragging an old woman through their lobby.”

  “You have seen her move silently, invisibly. I daresay you can appear and disappear fairly easily yourself, Zoey Redbird,” Thanatos said.

  “Well, yeah, I can. Sorta. But I don’t think I can make someone else invisible.”

  “Neferet can,” Aurox said solemnly. “That and much more. Your goddess has gifted her with power. The white bull has gifted her with power. And what power she hasn’t been gifted with, she steals through pain and death and deception. She is bloated with it.”

  “It would be a mistake to underestimate Neferet,” Thanatos agreed.

  “Then we need to go to her penthouse and make her let Grandma go,” I said.

  “Hang on,” Stark said. “How do we know he’s not making this all up as a way to get us to go after Neferet?”

  “I am not Neferet’s creature!” Aurox cried.

  “You sure as hell were two nights ago. Dragon Lankford is dead because of it,” Stark shot back at him.

  “Stark has a point,” Stevie Rae said. “Try callin’ your grandma.”

  Glad I had something to do, I pulled out my phone and punched Grandma’s number. As it rang, Thanatos said, “If she does not answer, sound normal. Leave her a message about the open house. If Neferet has taken her, she may have access to Sylvia’s phone as well.”

  I nodded and felt my stomach sink when she didn’t answer and Grandma’s familiar voice said she wasn’t available, but that she would call right back. I took a deep breath, and after the beep tried to sound as normal as possible.

  “Hey there, Grandma, sorry to be calling you so late. I’m glad you have your phone on silent, though, so I’m not waking you up.” My voice started to shake, but before I could fall totally apart and burst into tears Stark’s strong arm slid around my shoulders. I leaned into him and spoke quickly, hoping I sounded perky and not hysterical. “I don’t know if you saw the news yet, but Thanatos announced that we’re having a big open house and job fair and basically inviting all of Tulsa. It’s a charity for Street Cats, too, and a way to make Neferet look as crazy as she is and us look, well, not crazy,” I added, thinking so there, you hateful hag! “Anyway, it’s this coming Saturday, and Thanatos asked me to ask you if you’d help us coordinate with Sister Mary Angela. I told her I thought you’d be totally cool with that, so call me as soon as you can and I’ll give you the details, ’kay? I love you, Grandma! I really, really love you! Bye.”

  Stark took the phone from me and pressed the END call button. Then he pulled me into his arms as I did, indeed, burst into tears. During my shaking and snotting I felt another hand touch my back and recognized the calm presence of earth. Then another hand touched me, and air brushed softly against me. Yet another hand joined the others, and fire warmed me. Spirit, that was already present, settled within me, calming my tears and allowing me to pull back from Stark enough to smile shakily at my friends.

  “Thanks, guys. I’m better now,” I said.

  “Well, you will be after you blow your nose,” Stark gently kidded as he handed me a balled up tissue from his pocket.

  “You’re a mess, Z. That’s for damn sure,” Aphrodite said. She was shaking her head, but she was also standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of my circle—showing solidarity—showing support.

  “I am not lying.” I looked from my friends to see that Aurox had stood. He was facing Thanatos. Darius and Kalona had positioned themselves protectively between him and the High Priestess. Aurox turned his head and his eyes met mine. I was shocked to see tears standing in them. He looked almost as devastated as I felt. Then he faced the High Priestess and begged, “Chain me up. Lock me away. I will take whatever punishment you mete out to me, but please, for the sake of Sylvia Redbird, believe me. I am not in league with Neferet. I despise her. I hate that she created me from death and pain. In order to control me, she must have Darkness take over my body and awaken the creature within. High Priestess, you know that is true.”

  “From what evidence we have uncovered it would seem that is the truth,” Thanatos said.

  “Then listen to me. I give you my oath—Neferet has taken Zoey’s grandmother.”

  “You only have this one chance.” I stepped from the circle of my friends and walked over to Aurox. “If you are lying to us. If you have anything to do with Grandma being hurt I will use all five of the elements and all of my Goddess-given powers to destroy you, no matter what you are. No matter who you are. You have my oath on that.”

  “Accepted,” he said, bowing his head to me.

  “Bound,” Thanatos said. “All beings with spirits have a choice. I hope you are making the correct one, Aurox.”

  “I am,” he said.

  “Yes, we have your oath on that,” Thanatos said, then she gazed around at the rest of us. “We need to get into Neferet’s penthouse.”

  “I can go,” Aurox said.

  “No!” Stark, Darius, Kalona, and I yelled together.

  “I can get into her damn penthouse,” Aphrodite said. “That bitch believes I’m as big a bitch as she is, and while in some ways that might be semi-true, Neferet measures everyone’s loyalty by her own, which is non-existent. She’s always wanted to use me, and she can’t hear my thoughts. I can get in.”

  “She may let you in, but she would never allow you to see whether she has taken Grandma Redbird prisoner,” Aurox said.

  “He speaks the truth. She would cloak her prisoner’s presence from Aphrodite,” Thanatos said.

  “Not from me. She would never believe it necessary. Neferet will be angry at me for failing to stop the reveal ritual, but she will allow me in at least long enough for me to discover if she holds Grandma Redbird,” Aurox said.

  “Or long enough to manipulate you,” Darius said.

  “And wake up that thing that sleeps inside you,” Stark added.

  “Aurox, you cannot control the beast. Not if Neferet sacrifices to awaken it,” Thanatos said.

  “That may be why she captured Zoey’s grandmother,” Darius said, sending me an apologetic look. “Perhaps she needs a greater sacrifice than a Warrior’s cat to regain control of Aurox.”

  “No! I, no…” Aurox said brokenly, his shoulders sagged and he put his face in his hands.

  All I could do was shake my head back and forth, back and forth. Stark took my hand and squeezed it. “We won’t let that happen. We’re going to get Grandma back.”

  “But how?” My words came out between sobs.

  “I will go.” Kalona was staring at me as he spoke. “I will not simply enter Neferet’s home. If she is holding Sylvia Redbird prisoner, I will find her and rescue her. Darkness cannot cloak itself from me; we have too long known one another. Neferet thinks herself invulnerable because she has become an immortal, but she has only a child’s experience compared to my vast centuries of power and knowledge. I cannot kill her, but I can steal an old woman from her.”

  “Well, maybe. If she lets you in the front door,” Stark said. “Last time I checked, she doesn’t like you much.”

  “Neferet loathes me, but that does not change the fact that she desires me.”

  “Really? That’s not how it looks to everyone else. Neferet’s moved on,” Stark continued. “Her Consort’s the white bull.”

  Kalona smiled sardonically at Stark. “You are young and know little of women.”

  I felt Stark bristle and quickly wiped my eyes and my nose and pulled myself together. “You’re going to have to make her believe you’re betraying us to her—that your oath to Thanatos is a fake.”

  “Neferet does not know I have sworn to Thanatos,” he said.

  “Uh, I think she mi
ght,” Shaunee said.

  I glanced at her in surprise.

  “I’m not saying this to be mean, and I really don’t want to go into details, so I’m asking you to just trust me—but it’s pretty safe to say that whatever Erin knows about us, Dallas knows,” Shaunee said.

  “Holy crap!” Stevie Rae said.

  “Dallas talks to Neferet,” Rephaim said.

  “Huh?” I’d practically forgotten Rephaim was there, and then I felt guilty as hell when he shrugged and explained, “I’m not used to talking a lot. I don’t say much, so people ignore me and then I hear things.”

  “I don’t ignore you,” Stevie Rae said, tiptoeing to kiss his cheek.

  He smiled at her. “No, never you. But Dallas does. He was near me when his phone rang between classes today. Twice. It was Neferet both times.”

  “And I’m about ninety-nine percent sure Erin would tell Dallas anything he wants to know about us,” Shaunee said.

  “Erin remained here at the House of Night when the rest of you returned to the depot yesterday,” Thanatos said.

  I met Shaylin’s gaze. “Tell her.”

  The fledgling didn’t hesitate. “Erin’s colors are different than they used to be. I noticed it a couple of days ago.”

  “She’s changing,” Aphrodite said. “Shaylin and I both believe it. That’s why we advised Zoey to let Erin stay when she told Zoey she wanted to.”

  “Then I agree with Shaunee. It is very possible that Neferet knows everything Erin knows,” Thanatos said.

  “Here’s what I think,” Aphrodite said. “I think we all need to keep our mouths shut about what’s going on with Grandma Redbird and Aurox and our business in general. If you’re not part of this group, then you don’t know shit. Erin’s just one kid, but what she knows could definitely mess us up.”

  “Prophetess, it sounds as if there is a lesson to be learned in what you’re saying,” Thanatos said, and the rest of us nodded.

  I glanced at Kalona. Including him in our group felt really weird, but I couldn’t tell if that meant we should or shouldn’t trust him.

  Weirdly echoing my thoughts, Thanatos asked Kalona, “Do you still believe she will trust you?”

  “Neferet? Trust me? Never. But she does desire me, even if it is only my immortal power after which she lusts. And, as Aphrodite said, she measures everyone’s depth of loyalty by her own,” Kalona said.

  “Neferet is only loyal to herself,” Rephaim said.

  “Exactly,” Kalona said.

  “Well, let’s hope you’re not that shallow,” Stark added, sounding like he believed the opposite.

  I just stood there, staring at Kalona, remembering what a lying, manipulative killer he had been, and thinking that’s who’s going to save my grandma?

  I was blinking back freaked-out tears when Rephaim whispered my name. I looked over at him. He smiled and mouthed two small words: people change.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Shaylin

  “Here. Now.” Aphrodite crooked her finger at Shaylin, motioning for her to follow. She did her twitchy walk, cutting across the grass and heading in the general direction of the fledglings’ dorms.

  Shaylin sighed, squelched her irritation, and followed the annoying blonde. As she caught up with her, Aphrodite was already talking. “Okay, you need to reconnoiter.”

  “Okay, you need to grow some manners,” Shaylin said.

  Aphrodite stopped and narrowed her eyes to blue slits.

  “You should know that look is unattractive and it causes crow’s feet,” Shaylin spoke quickly before Aphrodite could say something mean and smart-assy.

  “You’ve been talking to Damien, haven’t you?”

  “Maybe,” Shaylin answered vaguely, not wanting to get Damien in any trouble. But, yeah, the truth was she had been talking to him. Actually, she’d really started to like Damien, as well as Stevie Rae and Zoey. Aphrodite, though, she was a different story. “Aphrodite, really, it looks like you and I might have to work together, or whatever you’d call this Prophetess stuff. So, it’d make both of our lives easier if you could, at least, be polite to me.”

  “No, it would make your life easier. Mine, it wouldn’t change at all.”

  Shaylin shook her head. “Really? Why don’t you run that attitude past Nyx? We have major Darkness to fight. Zoey’s mom was just killed and now her grandma’s in serious danger. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Zoey a friend of yours?”

  Aphrodite’s eyes narrowed again, but she only said one word: “Yes.”

  “Then how about you do everything you can to help her.”

  “I am doing that, bitch,” Aphrodite snapped.

  “How can you be so sure? Did you ever consider the small fact that maybe, if you were less hateful, you’d have access to more of your Prophetess gifts?”

  Aphrodite’s eyes un-narrowed. Slowly. She even looked a little surprised. “No. I’ve never considered that.”

  Shaylin threw her hands up in frustration. “Jeesh, were you raised by wolves?”

  “Sort of,” Aphrodite said. “But they had money.”

  “Incredible,” Shaylin murmured. Then she started over. “Okay, here’s what I know. When I read your aura and was bitchy about the little flickering light I saw within you, it messed with my head. The next time I looked at you, it was like your colors were all running together.”

  “Which, obviously, means you saw me being pissed.”

  “No, because everyone’s colors looked all runny and indistinct until I apologized to you. Wait, scratch that. The complete truth is my True Sight was messed up until I apologized to you and meant it.”

  “Huh. That’s almost interesting.”

  “I’m not getting through to you at all, am I?”

  “As much as anyone can,” Aphrodite said. “So, back to reconnoitering.”

  “Fine. Yes. What do you want me to do?”

  “Find Erin. And Dallas. If I’m correct, which, just FYI for future reference, I almost always am, you’re going to find them together.”

  “And that would be bad, right?”

  “Are you brain damaged?”

  “I’m not even going to answer that,” Shaylin said.

  “Good. We don’t have time for connect-the-dots. It’s going to be dawn in a couple of hours. The bus will be heading back to the depot and Kalona will be heading into Neferet’s nasty lair.”

  “Yeah, Kalona waiting until dawn so she’d be weakened by the sun without it being totally obvious that he was waiting until she was weakened by the sun doesn’t look like it’s going to work,” Shaylin said, looking skyward.

  “What in the hell are you talking about, fucktard?”

  Shaylin pointed up. “Rain clouds. Lots of them. I really wish they’d clear out. They blanket the sun and its weakening effect. Now who’s the fucktard?”

  “Do not call me a fucktard,” Aphrodite said.

  “Well, then don’t call me one,” Shaylin said.

  “I’ll think about it. Back to my original point—before we go back to the depot and Kalona takes off, I want you to check out Dallas and Erin’s colors. Any additional info you can give us about Erin, especially about whether she’s a traitorous, skanky ho—yeah, I’m paraphrasing Shaunee—would be a good thing. I have a feeling about them, and it’s not a warm, fuzzy one.”

  “All right, yeah, sounds good, but I have no idea where they might be. Do you? Is that one of the gifts you have?” Shaylin asked.

  “Goddess, you are brain damaged. No, I don’t have a GPS inside my head. I do have a brain inside it, though. It tells me that if Erin and Dallas are doing the nasty, it makes sense to start looking for them in Erin’s dorm room—the dorm room she doesn’t share with Shaunee anymore.”

  “Oh. Yeah. That does make sense.” Shaylin hesitated. “But I don’t know which dorm room is hers.”

  “Third floor, number thirty-six. When they shared a brain, they used to say it stood for their chest size. I said it was their combined
IQ.”

  “Of course you did,” Shaylin said.

  “See, you do understand me!” Aphrodite said with fake enthusiasm. “I’ll meet you back at the bus. Soon.” Aphrodite started to walk away, paused and added, “Please.”

  Shaylin’s eyes widened.

  Aphrodite rolled her eyes and opened her mouth, obviously preparing to say something hateful. Then she stopped, stared above her for one long moment, before glancing at Shaylin and saying, “Looks like you’re getting your wish. The rainclouds are clearing.” Then Aphrodite tossed her hair and twitched off.

  Shaylin shook her head. “Total nutjob,” she muttered to herself as she made her way to the girls’ dorm. “Nyx, I don’t know you very well, and I don’t want you to think I’m rude or blasphemous or anything like that, but Aphrodite as your Prophetess? Why?”

  “No one knows, and I think that includes Aphrodite herself.”

  Shaylin jumped in surprise as Erik Night stepped from the shadows of a nearby oak tree.

  “Erik! What are you doing out here?” Shaylin’s hand went to her throat. She imagined Erik could see how hard her pulse pounded there, and not just because he’d startled her. Her first view of him was always the same—his absolute, total, tall/dark/handsomeness was obvious and distracting. But then she got a glimpse of his colors and they weren’t nearly as attractive. Shaylin had decided he was like one of those gorgeously painted pieces of pottery that you’d like to use to toss a salad in or whatever, but if you flipped the piece over you’d see the WARNING: DO NOT USE TO SERVE FOOD label.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m out here procrastinating.” His smile was a zillion-watt lightbulb. Shaylin could see why almost one hundred percent of the fledgling girls were in love with him. The problem was, she could also see more than his gorgeousness.

  “I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I’ll let you get back to your procrastination. See ya.”