No! Listen to yourself! The next thing you know youll be sounding as empty-headed as Becca and Cassie and the rest of them. Think! Hes your enemy. Dont forget that. Forcing myself to look beyond his physical beauty and the hypnotic allure he radiated, I realized hed been talking while Id been yelling at myself.
That said, I thought I would help direct this class, since it seems you are so very hard on your instructors.
The classs appreciative laughter was warm and welcoming.
I raised my hand. His amber eyes widened in surprise, and then he smiled and said, How delightful that my first question comes from the most special of all the fledglings. Yes, Zoey, what answer may I give you?
With you taking over Drama I was just wondering if that meant you expect Erik Night to be gone for quite some time? Okay, I hadnt wanted to ask him a question, but my instincts had made me raise my hand, just as my instincts were telling me what to say. I knew taunting him with the fact that Erik had escaped was dangerous, but I was doing so in a way that I hoped wouldnt give him a reason for outright anger. I just wasnt sure why I was being prompted to bait an already volatile immortal.
Kalona didnt look fazed at all by my question. I believe Erik Night may return to the House of Night sooner than some may think. But, sadly, Ive heard he might not be in any shape to resume his duties as a professor, or as anything else for quite some time. His smile got warmer and more intimate, and I could feel Becca and Cassie and the rest of the girls in the room shooting daggered looks of envy at me. I realized with a terrible sense of fear and disbelief that the girls hadnt really heard anything Kalona had said. They couldnt grasp that he had just threatened Erik and said that he was coming back, probably just short of being hauled here in a body bag. All theyd heard was the sound of his beautiful voice. All they knew was that hed singled me out for his attention.
Now, sweet Zoey, or as I like to think of you, A-ya, I give you the honor of choosing what piece of work we shall study first. Be wary! The entire class must abide by your choice. And know that I shall play the lead in whatever you choose. He strode over to my side of the room. I was in the desk that sat second to the front, directly behind Becca, and I swear I could see her tremble at his nearness. Perhaps I will give you a part to play in our little drama.
I stared at him, my heart hammering so violently in my chest that I was sure he must hear it. His being so close was hard on me. It reminded me of my dreams, where hed come to me and held me in his arms. I could feel the tendrils of cold that snaked from his bodywrapping around memaking me yearn for the blanket of those ebony wings
Hes going to hurt Erik! I clung to that thought and felt the delicious chill slither from me. No matter what was going on between Erik and me, I wasnt about to be cool with anything happening to him.
I know the perfect play for us to do. I was proud that my voice was calm and strong.
His smile was pure, sensual joy. Im intrigued! What is your choice?
Medea, I said without hesitation. Ancient Greek tragedy set in a time when gods still walked the earth. Its about what happens when a man has too much hubris.
Ah, yes, hubris. When a man exhibits godlike arrogance. His voice was still deep and seductive, but I could see the anger that had begun to burn in his eyes. I think you will find that hubris only applies when youre dealing with mortals, and not the gods themselves.
So you dont want to do the play? I said with exaggerated innocence.
On the contrary! I believe the play will be amusing. Perhaps I shall let you dramatize Medea herself. He broke eye contact with me and refocused his charisma on the class. Study this play tonight. We will begin acting it tomorrow. Rest well, my children. I look forward to seeing each of you again. He turned and, as abruptly as hed entered the room, he left.
There was complete silence for what seemed like a long time. Finally, to no one and everyone I said, Well, I guess Ill try to find some copies of Medea. I got up and went to the back of the room. But not even the sound of opening and closing cabinets and pawing through files of old plays and mounds of scripts could cover the whispers that rained around me.
Why should she get noticed by him?
Its not fair!
If this is Nyx being mysterious, then Im damn sick of it.
Yeah, its crap. If youre not Zoey Redbird, then youre not shit to Nyx.
Nyx gives her anyone she wants. The Goddess doesnt leave anything for the rest of us.
On and on they muttered, sounding more and more pissed off. The guys were even chiming in. Apparently I made a handy scapegoat for what had to be a massive amount of anger and jealousy they must already have had for Kalona, but werent allowed to take out on him because he was messing with their minds.
What was more than obvious was that Kalona was methodically tearing down the fledglings love for Nyx, and he was using me to help him. They couldnt see the love and honor and strength of their Goddess anymore because Kalonas physical presence was blocking their view, like the sun shadows the brilliance of the moon during a lunar eclipse.
I found the box of Medea scripts and carried it over to Beccas desk and plopped it down. As she glared up at me, I said, Here. Hand these out. Then, without another word, I left the room.
When I got outside I stepped off the sidewalk into the shadow of the school and leaned against the ice-slick side of the stone-and-brick mixture that made up the House of Night buildings and the wall that surrounded campus. I was shaking. With one appearance Kalona had turned an entire class against me. It hadnt mattered that I had obviously not been drooling over him like everyone else. It hadnt even mattered that Id pissed him off. All that those kids had processed was his hypnotic beauty and that hed singled me out for special attention, above and beyond any of them.
And they hated me for it.
But it was so much more than them hating me. The most frightening, most unbelievable part of it was that they had begun to hate Nyx.
I have to get him out of here. I spoke the words out loud, making them an oath. No matter what, Kalona will leave this House of Night.
I walked slowly toward the stables, and not just because Id left my last class early so I had time to kill before sixth hour and Equestrian Studies began. I walked slowly because I was going to slip and fall on my butt if I wasnt extremely careful. My luck Id break something and have to deal with a cast or two along with everything else.
Someone had put a sand and salt mixture on the sidewalk, but it had little effect on a storm that just kept coming. Wave after wave of freezing rain fell, making the world look like a giant cake with crystal icing. It was still beautiful, but in an eerie, dreamlike way. As I slipped and slid and struggled the few yards I had to cross from the drama classroom to the stables, I realized there was no way the six of us were going to be able to walk out of here, not to mention the mile or so wed have to go to get to the Benedictine Abbey on the corner of Lewis and Twenty-first.
I wanted to sit down in the middle of the cold, wet, slippery mess and burst into tears. How was I going to get us out of here? I needed the Hummer, but I couldnt cloak it. That left only escape on foot, which wasnt fast enough under normal circumstances. During an ice storm that coated the streets and sidewalks of midtown Tulsa with ice and darkness, it was not just slow but impossible.
I was almost at the entrance to the stables when I heard the mocking crooak from the branches of the huge old oak that stood sentry outside the building. My first reaction was to slip and slide quickly to the door and get inside. I actually started to hurry, and then my anger caught up with me. I stopped, drew a deep breath to center myself, and ignored the the bird things terrible human eyes staring at me and causing the little hairs on the back of my neck to lift.
Fire, I need you, I whispered, sending my thoughts south, to the direction ruled by that elements flames. Almost instantly I felt heat brush against my skin and there was a waiting, listening quality to the air around me. I turned and looked up into the ice-crusted branches of the proud old oak.
Instead of a Raven Mocker, a terrible, spectral image of Neferet clung to the center of the tree where the massive first branches began to spread. She radiated darkness and evil. There was no breeze, but her long hair was lifting around her, as if the strands had a life of their own. Her eyes glowed a nasty scarlet, more rust than red. Her body was semi-transparent; her skin shimmered with an unearthly light.
I focused on the one thing that allowed my terror to thaw enough for me to speakif her body looked transparent, then she really wasnt there.
Dont you have more important things to do than spy on me? I was glad my voice didnt shake. I even raised my chin and glared at her.
You and I have unfinished business. Her mouth didnt move, but I heard her voice echo eerily around us.
I mimicked one of Aphrodites haughty sneers. Okay, so maybe you dont have anything better to do than spy on me. I, on the other hand, am way too busy to be bothered by you.
Once again you need a lesson in respecting your elders. As I watched, she began to smile, and her wide, beautiful mouth stretched and stretched and stretched until, with a horrible gagging sound, spiders exploded from that gaping maw and her image broke apart into hundreds and hundreds of seething, multilegged creatures.
I sucked air for a huge scream, and had already started scurrying backwards, when I heard a rustling of wings and a Raven Mocker landed in the crotch of the tree. I blinked, expecting him to be overrun with spiders, but they shimmered and then seemed to soak into the night and disappear. There was only the tree, the Raven Mocker, and my lingering fear.
Zzzzzoey, the creature hissed my name. Obviously this was one of the bottom-feeding Mockers whose ability to speak wasnt nearly as refined as Rephaims. You ssssmell like ssssummer. It opened its dark beak and I saw the forked tongue that flicked out hungrily, like it was tasting my scent.
Okay. Enough was enough. Neferet had scared the bejeezus out of me. And now thisthisbird boy was going to try to bully me, too? Oh. Hell. No.
Alright, I am sick and tired of you freaks and the way you and your daddy and nasty Neferet think you can take over everything.
Father ssssays, find Zzzzzoey, and I find Zzzzzoey. Father ssssays, watch Zzzzzoey. I watch Zzzzzoey.
No. No. No! If I wanted a pain-in-the-butt dad to follow me around and check up on me, Id call the Step-loser. So to you, your daddy, the rest of your bird-boy brothers, and even to Neferet, I say: Get. Off. My. Back! I lifted my hands and flung fire at him. He screeched and took off, flapping wildly and flying erratically out of the tree and away from me as fast as he could go, leaving behind the scent of singed feathers and silence.
You know, its not smart to antagonize them, a voice said. Theyre normally annoying. Once you ruffle their feathers theyre really hard to get along with.
I turned back to the stable building to see Stark standing in the open door.
CHAPTER 28
See, thats one of the differences between you and me. You want to get along with them. I dont. So I dont care if I piss them off. I told Stark. I channeled what was left of my fear and turned it into anger. And you know what? Right now I really dont want to hear anything more about it. Still sounding pissed, I added, Did you see that?
That? You mean the Raven Mocker?
I mean the disgusting spiders.
He looked surprised. There were spiders in the tree? For real?
I blew out a long, frustrated breath. Lately Im not sure I can tell you whats for real and whats made up around here.
I did see you being pretty pissed off and tossing fire around like a beach ball.
I saw his eyes travel down to my hands and realized that not only were they shaking, but they were still glowing with the aura of flame. I drew a deep, calming breath and willed the shaking to stop. Then, in a much calmer voice, I said, Thank you, fire. You may depart now. Oh, wait. First, could you get rid of some of that ice for me? I pointed my flame-shining hands at the section of sidewalk between where I stood and the stable, and like a lovely miniature flamethrower, fire jubilantly spouted from my fingertips, and gaily licked against the thick coating of ice, causing it to turn to cold, wet mush. But at least the mush wasnt slippery. Thank you, fire! I called as the flames died from my fingers and sped away to the south.
I trudged through the water and ice muck and tromped past Stark, who was staring at me. What? I said. I was tired of almost falling and breaking my butt.
Youre really something, you know. He grinned his cocky, cute Bad Boy smile, and before I could blink, he pulled me into his arms and kissed me. It wasnt a groping, intrusive kiss filled with possessiveness like Id been experiencing with Erik. Starks kiss was more of a sweet question mark, which I answered with a definite exclamation point.
Sure, I should have been pissed. I should have pushed him away and told him off instead of kissing him back (enthusiastically). Id like to be able to say that my semi-ho-ish reaction to him was because Id had so much stress and fear in my life lately that I needed to escape, and his arms were the easiest escape available, which would imply I wasnt actually totally responsible for the fact that I was sucking face with Stark right there in the doorway to the stables.
The truth is less flattering, and yet is still the truth. I didnt kiss him because of stress, or fear, or escape, or because of anything except the fact that I wanted to kiss him. I like him. Really, really like him. I didnt know what I was going to do about him. I didnt know where he would fit in my lifeor even how he would fit in my life, especially if I was ashamed to admit my feelings for him in public. I could only imagine the freak-out it would cause among my friends. Not to mention the zillion pissed-off pod girls who would