by P. C. Cast
“I didn’t know,” I said softly, reaching across Stevie Rae to take Kramisha’s hand. “Kramisha, I’m so sorry.”
“You been distracted. No one holds it against you, Z. Other Kevin was only here for a little while, but everyone who met your little bro liked him. A lot.”
I shook my head. “No, I’m your High Priestess, and I’m doing a bad job of it.”
“You’ll be back to yourself soon, like me. We just need time and some rest.”
“You won’t get much rest if you go to Chicago. That House of Night is crazy busy,” Stevie Rae said. “And they don’t even have an equestrian program. I’ve been talkin’ to Lenobia ’bout—”
“I knows all about that. Me and Lenobia, we’ve been talkin’ too,” Kramisha said.
“She wants to go to Chicago with you?” I asked, not sure whether I should feel surprised, pissed, or relieved that there obviously was a bunch going on around me that I was clueless about.
“Just long enough to get the horse stuff settled. What do ya think, High Priestess?”
What do I think? I stared at the statue of Nyx. I think I need to figure out a way to help Kevin without totally messing up my own life. But what I said aloud was, “I think you’re highly capable. You and Lenobia will do a great job, as long as Stevie Rae doesn’t mind you taking over for her immediately.”
“Does that mean Rephaim and I get to stay here and not leave at all?”
“That’s what it means,” I said.
“Then I do not mind one tiny little bit! Kramisha, you just made me happier than a buzzard on a meat wagon!” Stevie Rae threw her arms around Kramisha, who grunted, briefly hugged her back, and then pulled away, straightening her wig.
“Watch the hair. I know it don’t look like it, but all this glamour can mess up fast if the hair goes wrong.”
I’d opened my mouth to ask Kramisha how soon she’d be ready to leave, when the first feeling hit me. It started in the middle of my chest—just a small building of heat—but not small enough that it went unnoticed. The feeling pulsed and spread, a little like I’d just sprinted up stadium stairs on a hot day (which I absolutely would not do unless someone was chasing me).
I coughed. Wiped my suddenly sweaty face. Cleared my throat. Coughed again.
My hand lifted as if I had no control over it, finding the center of my chest. My palm pressed against my skin.
There was nothing there. No heat. Nothing.
But I swear I’d felt something. Something hot and strong and strangely familiar.
“Zoey! Can you hear me?”
I looked up to see Stevie Rae standing over me with Kramisha at her side. I was still sitting on the bench, but they’d moved and were hovering, obviously worried.
“Yeah. I can hear you. I’m—I’m okay. I think.”
“What happened? You froze—with your hand pressed to your chest almost like you was clutching your pearls—’cept you don’t have no pearls on,” said Kramisha.
“I don’t know. It was a weird feeling. It’s gone now.”
The sound of running feet came from behind us and Stark was suddenly there, crouching before me, his hands on my knees as he peered up into my face. “Zoey! What is it?”
“Did you feel it too?”
“Heat? And something else. Something I couldn’t place.” He touched my face, brushing my hair from my damp cheek. “Z, is your breathing okay? Does your chest hurt?”
“No, not at all. There was never any pain. Just heat and … a strangeness.” I was relieved and afraid at the same time. If Stark had felt it, I hadn’t imagined it. But also, if Stark had felt it, whatever had happened was real—and that might be real bad news.
“I think we should take Z to the infirmary so she can get checked out,” said Stevie Rae. Rephaim must have been with Stark because he too was suddenly there, holding Stevie Rae’s hand and studying me with birdlike concentration.
“Infirmary? What the hell’s going on? Z, did you hurt yourself?”
I looked from Rephaim to see Aphrodite standing beside Darius (Goddess, had they all been in the Field House with Stark?). Her hands were on her hips and she was giving me a narrow-eyed glare that she probably meant as concern but was actually coming off as OMG-what-now-you’re-bothering-me instead.
“I don’t need to go to the infirmary. I’m fine. Really,” I insisted.
“And it wasn’t something Z did to herself,” Stark said. “It was something that happened to her.”
“That don’t make no sense,” said Kramisha.
“Or, said correctly, that doesn’t make any sense. Grammar—incorrect. Sentiment—correct,” Aphrodite quipped.
“It does make sense,” I said quickly, before Kramisha could verbally skewer Aphrodite. “Stark means there’s nothing wrong with me. That whatever he and I felt, it was something happening outside me. And it was more strange than scary.”
“Hey, what’s going on out here?” Damien said as he and Other Jack joined their group. They were each carrying perfect white pillar candles that they were obviously intending to light at the feet of Nyx. “Z, are you okay?”
I sighed. Sometimes it was seriously like I had zero privacy. “I’m fine. It was nothing.”
“Don’t say that.” Stark spoke earnestly as he sat beside me, putting his arm protectively around me. “You feel fine now—we feel fine—but it wasn’t nothing. Something happened. Something that touched you or me or both of us.”
It was Damien’s turn to crouch before me. “Tell me what it felt like.”
I described the sudden heat to him and watched Damien get paler and paler as Stark nodded in agreement with my description, but before Damien could say anything Aphrodite spoke up.
“Oh, for shit’s sake, morons! It’s obvious what it is.”
“Aphrodite, it’s super offensive to call us morons,” said Stevie Rae.
“Bumpkin, this is just a guess, but before I joined this little impromptu group I’d bet you made at least one awful comparison that either had to do with your mama or with ticks. Am I right?”
“Almost,” Kramisha said. “It had to do with a buzzard on a meat wagon, which is nasty.” She glanced at Stevie Rae and sent her an apologetic smile. “I’s just tellin’ the truth.”
“Right,” said Aphrodite. “And that’s offensive, but you’re going to keep on with the bumpkin analogies, and as long as you do I’m going to call a moron a moron when I see you guys acting moronic.”
“Oh, my Goddess, stop bickering!” I felt like my head might explode. “Aphrodite, did you actually have a point?”
“Of course,” she said. “It’s Old Magick. And that slapping sound you metaphorically hear is all of you face-palming as you realize I’m right.”
“She is right,” Damien said as he stood and took Other Jack’s hand again. “It’s what I was thinking too.”
I just sat, unable to say anything because I was remembering … the time I spent on the Isle of Skye … the talisman of Skye marble that I brought back to Tulsa … the heat and power of that magick … and how it almost engulfed me and turned me into someone too similar to Neferet to be allowed to live.
“Z?”
I could feel Stark’s worry, and I let it pull me out of my head.
“Aphrodite and Damien are right,” I said. “I didn’t realize it at first because it was only a distant echo of how Old Magick actually feels to wield.”
“So, that must mean someone is usin’ Old Magick again,” Stevie Rae said.
“And that’s bad,” Rephaim said.
“Real bad,” Kramisha said.
“You should call Queen Sgiach,” Aphrodite said. “She’s the Old Magick expert.”
“I’d love to,” I said. “But she’s in mourning, which means she’s cut herself off from the outside world. I know. I’ve been checking on her once a w
eek, and this week’s checkup was yesterday. She’s still totally off-line and her phone just rings and rings and rings.”
“She’s still not taking calls? What’s it been now, almost a year since the White Bull attacked Skye the same night Neferet attacked us here? You’d think she’d at least check her Facebook,” Aphrodite said.
I looked up at her. She was my friend, a powerful Prophetess of Nyx, and with her new red and blue Mark, an adult vampyre—but she could still sound like a selfish brat. “She and Seoras were mated for centuries. I think a year of mourning isn’t much in comparison. Would you have moved on already had Darius been killed that night?”
Aphrodite paled and leaned into Darius. “No. No, I would not. You’re right, Z. I apologize for sounding like a moron.”
“Aphrodite, you know Damien could help you increase your vocabulary so that you don’t have to use words like—” Stevie Rae began a new admonishment when the second wave of feeling hit me.
I gasped and hugged myself, wrapping my arms around my torso while Stark held me close.
“It’s okay, Z. It’s okay. We’re okay. This’ll pass.” Stark murmured reassurances.
“What is it? What’s happening?” Aphrodite moved closer to me, shoulder to shoulder with Damien.
“Are you in pain?” Damien asked.
“N-no,” I said in a voice that wavered. “Just feels like … like …”
“Like someone just walked over her grave,” Stark finished for me.
“S-someone who uses Old Magick,” I added, and Stark nodded in agreement. As my Oathbound Warrior, Stark shared my feelings. The High Priestess–Warrior bond was set up that way so that our protectors would always know when we needed them, but there were times, like now, that I wished I could flip a switch and not put him through the strangeness that was too often me.
“It’s fading,” Stark said.
I breathed a long, relieved sigh. “Yeah. It’s gone.”
“Z, where’s it comin’ from?” asked Stevie Rae.
“I have no clue,” I said. “Stark, could you tell anything?”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t think I’m getting the actual feeling, but just an echo of what you’re experiencing.”
“Well, it’s attached to you,” Damien said. “Whether that means the magick itself, or the person wielding it.”
“What if Sgiach has called Old Magick? Is that what you could be feeling? You two got pretty close,” said Stevie Rae.
“I don’t think that’s it,” I said. “Queen Sgiach is the guardian of Old Magick, and I know it stirs on her island pretty often, but unless I’m there with her, I’ve never felt it.”
“She used it in the battle against the White Bull the night we entombed Neferet,” Damien said. “You didn’t feel it then, did you?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Shit! Could it be Neferet?” Aphrodite said.
I suddenly felt chilled. “I don’t know.”
“Well, find out!” Aphrodite said.
I frowned at her. “You’re the prophetess. How about you find out?”
She shook back her long, blond hair. “It doesn’t work that way and you know it.”
“Plus, you don’t need no prophetess. You just need you a High Priestess who can invoke Old Magick. Know anyone like that, Z?” Kramisha asked, sending me a pointed look.
I metaphorically slapped myself on my forehead. “I may be a moron.”
“Z!” Stevie Rae sucked air.
I waved away what was probably going to be a lecture on political correctness while Aphrodite snort-laughed. “Sorry. I was just kidding. Mostly. I’m the High Priestess that Kramisha’s talking about.”
“I don’t like you messing with Old Magick,” Stark said.
“I’m not going to mess with it,” I said. “I’m just going to give it a quick call, that’s all.”
“That’s never all where Old Magick is concerned,” Stark said darkly.
I sighed and silently agreed with him.
“Should we go to Skye? Even though she’s in mourning, I can’t believe Queen Sgiach wouldn’t let you back on her island.”
“That’s awful far away,” Stevie Rae said. “There’s gotta be an easier way. Or at least a closer way.”
“I know a closer way,” Rephaim said.
Everyone’s attention turned to the tall, handsome young Cherokee.
“Okay, I’m listening,” I said.
“There is Old Magick here. On these very school grounds,” he said softly, but earnestly. “I know because I came from it.”
I sat up straighter as what Rephaim said settled into my mind. My gaze drifted across the school grounds eastward, where in the distance I could barely make out the dark silhouette of a huge, broken oak.
“Rephaim is right. There is a closer way, but I’m not sure how much easier it’s going to be,” I said.
Stark’s gaze followed mine, and I heard him mutter under his breath, “Ah, hell.”
10
Zoey
“I’m not real sure this is a good idea,” Stevie Rae said.
“I’m real sure it’s not,” Stark said.
“Zoey, shouldn’t you circle before trying to call Old Magick?” Rephaim asked. “Shaylin’s still here, isn’t she? I could go get her. And I saw Shaunee heading to the Drama classroom with Erik. I could let her know you need her here too.”
“Wow! This is definitely not how this tree looks in my old world,” said Other Jack.
“Okay, listen up.” I turned my back to the ruined oak to face my friends. “I’m not going to circle. I want to keep this short and simple—and not focus too much energy on Old Magick.” I turned to Rephaim. “Thank you for reminding me that this is here. I’d like you and Stevie Rae to stay.” My gaze went from him to take in Aphrodite and Stark. “But I want everyone else except Stark and Aphrodite to leave. My gut is telling me not to make a big show of calling on Old Magick, and the more people here with me, the bigger the show. I’d do this alone, but I know my Warrior well enough to know that’s not possible.”
“Damn right,” Stark said, looking very Warrior-ish and totally badass as he glared over my shoulder at the ruined tree I hadn’t even actually looked at yet.
“And Aphrodite is, well …” My words faded as I realized I wasn’t entirely sure how to describe what Aphrodite had become.
“Weirdly attached to Nyx and powerful?” Stevie Rae offered.
“How about awesomely attached to Nyx and powerful?” Aphrodite said, narrowing her eyes at Stevie Rae.
“Both,” I said.
“And I’m going to use my High Priestess rank and stay right here with Z,” said Stevie Rae.
“I stay with Stevie Rae,” added Rephaim.
“Which is exactly what I expected,” I said.
“What can the rest of us do?” Damien asked, threading his fingers with Other Jack’s.
“Thank you for understanding,” I said. “Could you and Jack make sure all the students stay inside?”
“Of course,” Damien said. “It’s the middle of second hour. We’ll send each professor an emergency email. No one should be going anywhere for a good thirty minutes or so.”
“And if they do, Damien and I will shoo ’em right back to class,” said Other Jack, dimpling at me.
“But are you absolutely sure you don’t want me to stay?” Damien asked. “I could take notes about what happens.”
“Actually, what would help even more than that would be if you’d pull those books on Old Magick from the restricted section of the Media Center, and mark anything you think I should read.”
“I can do that, Z.”
“May I help too?” Other Jack asked, looking at me with big, anxious eyes. “I mean as soon as we let the professors know not to allow fledglings out of class.”<
br />
“Of course,” I said. “I’d appreciate that.”
Other Jack did a happy little skip step that made me smile as he and Damien hurried away hand in hand.
“Well, I for one don’t need to see no Old Magick spirits or any other mess like that,” Kramisha said. “I need to pack. Z, if a poem come to me, I’ll text it to you. Sound good?”
“Yep,” I said, secretly hoping there would be no crazy prophetic poem texted to me in Kramisha’s bright purple font.
“High Priestess, I would prefer to remain with Aphrodite.”
My eyes met Darius’ serious gaze. I sighed, but nodded. “Yeah, I get that. You can stay.” Darius bowed to me respectfully, fist over his heart.
“Okay, Z. Meet us in the dining hall after? It’s almost lunch time, and I’m getting hangry,” Kramisha said.
“Yep, will do. I won’t be long.” I hoped if I said it, I could make it true.
As my friends headed back to the main school building, I finally turned my attention to the ruined tree.
It looked awful. As I studied it I realized I should have had it cleaned up months ago. It was a creepy eyesore. I knew students avoided the east wall because of it, and I suppose part of the reason I’d ignored doing anything about it was because it discouraged fledglings from using the trapdoor hidden in the wall behind it to sneak off campus. But then again, I was now the High Priestess of this House of Night. Like I’d know if fledglings were sneaking off campus?
Probably not.
“Z? You okay?” Stark asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, just thinking about having this mess cleaned up.”
“Don’t. Leave it like this,” Aphrodite said. “If you want to do something, smudge it and add a salt circle of protection. But leave it.”
