by P. C. Cast
“Oh, I see. Now your nervousness around me makes much more sense.” Neferet sighed sadly. “Aphrodite . . . she has become a problem. It really is a pity. As I said on Samhain when I realized how far wrong she’d gone, I feel partially responsible for her behavior and her transformation into the dark creature she has become. I knew she was selfish, even when she first joined our school. I should have stepped in sooner and taken a firmer hand with her.” Neferet’s gaze caught mine. “How much did you overhear today?”
A warning skittered down my spine. “Not very much,” I said quickly. “Aphrodite was crying really hard. I heard you tell her to look within. I knew you wouldn’t want to be interrupted.” I stopped, careful not to say specifically that that was all I had heard—careful not to lie outright. And I didn’t look away from her sharp eyes.
Neferet sighed again and sipped her wine. “I would not normally talk about one fledging to another, but this is a unique case. You know that Aphrodite’s Goddess-given affinity was to be able to foresee disastrous events?”
I nodded, noting the past tense she used when she mentioned Aphrodite’s ability.
“Well, it seems that Aphrodite’s behavior has caused Nyx to withdraw her gift. It’s something that is highly unusual. Once the Goddess touches someone, she rarely revokes what she has given.” Neferet shrugged sadly. “But who can know the mind of the Great Goddess of Night?”
“It must be awful for Aphrodite,” I said, more thinking aloud than really meaning to comment.
“I appreciate your compassion, but I did not tell you this so that you would pity Aphrodite. Rather, I tell you so that you know to be on your guard. Aphrodite’s visions are no longer valid. She might say or do things that are disturbing. As leader of the Dark Daughters, it will be your responsibility to be certain that she does not upset the delicate balance of harmony among the fledglings. Of course we encourage you to work out problems among yourselves. You are much more than human teenagers, and we expect more from you, but feel free to come to me if Aphrodite’s behavior becomes too”—she paused, like she was considering the next word carefully—“erratic.”
“I will,” I said, my stomach beginning to hurt again.
“Good! Now, why don’t you tell me the plans you’ve made for your reign as leader of the Dark Daughters.”
I put Aphrodite out of my mind and outlined my new plans for the Prefect Council and the Dark Daughters. Neferet listened attentively and was openly impressed by my research and what she called a “logical reorganization.”
“So, what you want from me is to lead the faculty in voting on the two new Prefects, because I agree with you that you and your four friends have more than proven your worth and are already an excellent working Council.”
“Yes. The Council wants to nominate Erik Night for the first of the two open positions.”
Neferet nodded her head. “Erik is a wise choice. He’s popular with the fledglings, and he has an excellent future before him. Who did you have in mind for the last position?”
“Here’s where my Council and I disagree. I think we need another upperclassman, and I also think that person should be one who belonged to Aphrodite’s inner circle.” Neferet raised her brows in surprise. “Well, including a friend of hers reinforces what I’ve said all along, that I didn’t come into this because I’m power crazy and set out to steal what was Aphrodite’s or anything stupid like that. I just wanted to do the right thing. I didn’t want to start some kind of silly clique war. If one of her friends is on my Council, then the rest of them might understand that it’s not about me getting over on her—it’s about something more important than that.”
Neferet considered for what seemed like forever. Finally she said, “You know that even her friends have turned from her.”
“I realized that today in the dining hall.”
“Then what is the point of putting an ex-friend of hers on your Council?”
“I’m not convinced they are ex-friends. People act different in private than they do in public.”
“Again, I agree with you. I already made the announcement to the faculty that Sunday the Dark Daughters and Sons will convene a special Full Moon Ritual and meeting. I would expect that the vast majority of the old members will attend—if for no other reason than curiosity about your powers.”
I gulped and nodded. I was already way too aware that I was the main attraction in a freak show.
“Sunday is the right time for you to tell the Dark Daughters about your new vision for it. Announce that there is one spot left on your Council, and that it must be filled by a sixth former. You and I will look over the applications and decide who is the best fit.”
I frowned. “But I don’t want it to just be our choice. I want the faculty to vote, as well as the student body.”
“They will,” she said smoothly. “Then we will decide.”
I wanted to say more, but her green eyes had gone cold; I’m not ashamed to admit that that scared me. So instead of arguing with her (which was totally impossible) I went down a different road (as my grandma would say).
“I also want the Dark Daughters to get involved with a community charity.”
This time Neferet’s brows totally disappeared into her hairline.
“You mean community as in the human community?”
“I do.”
“You think they will welcome your help? They shun us. They abhor us. They are afraid of us.”
“Maybe that’s because they don’t know us,” I said. “Maybe if we acted like part of Tulsa, we’d get treated like part of Tulsa.”
“Have you read about the Greenwood riots in the 1920s? Those African-American humans were part of Tulsa, and Tulsa destroyed them.”
“It’s not 1920 anymore,” I said. It was hard to meet her eyes, but I knew, deep inside, that I was doing the right thing. “Neferet, my intuition is telling me this is something I must do.”
I watched her expression soften. “And I did tell you to follow your intuition, didn’t I?”
I nodded.
“What charity will you choose to get involved with—providing they actually allow you to help them?”
“Oh, I think they’ll let us help them. I’ve decided to contact Street Cats—the cat rescue charity.”
Neferet threw back her head and laughed.
CHAPTER EIGHT
I was already out of the dining hall and heading to the dorm when I realized that I hadn’t said anything to Neferet about the ghosts, but no way did I want to go back upstairs and start that subject. The conversation I’d already had with Neferet had completely exhausted me, and despite the beautiful dining room with its great view and its crystal and linen, I’d been eager to get out of there. I wanted to go back to the dorm and tell Stevie Rae about the whole Loren thing and then do nothing but veg out and watch bad reruns on TV and try to forget (at least for one night) that I had a terrible premonition about Chris’s disappearance and that I was A Big Deal now and in charge of the most important student group at the school. Whatever. I just wanted to be me for a while. As I’d told Neferet, Chris was probably safely at home already. And there was plenty of time for everything else. Tomorrow I’d write down an outline of what I was going to say to the Dark Daughters on Sunday. I guess I’d also have to work on a Full Moon Ritual . . . my first real public circle casting and formal ritual. My stomach started to gurgle. I ignored it.
I was halfway to the dorm when I remembered that I also had an essay due Monday for Vamp Soc. Sure, Neferet had excused me from most of the third former work in that class so I could focus on reading ahead in the higher level Soc text, but I’d been trying really hard to be “normal” (Whatever that was—hello—I’m a teenager and a fledgling vampyre. How could any of that be normal?), which meant I made sure I turned in papers when the rest of the class did. So I hurriedly backtracked to my homeroom class, where my locker and all of my books were kept. It was also Neferet’s room, but I’d just left her having wine with several of th
e other profs upstairs. For a change I didn’t have any worries about overhearing something awful.
As usual, the door was unlocked. Why have locks when you had vamp intuition to scare the bejeezus out of kids instead? The room was dark, but that didn’t matter. I’d only been Marked one month, but already I saw just as well with the lights off as with them on. Actually, better. Bright lights hurt my eyes—sunlight was almost unbearable.
I hesitated as I opened my locker, realizing that I hadn’t seen the sun in almost a month. I hadn’t even thought about it till now. Huh. Weird.
I was considering the bizarreness of my new life when I noticed the piece of paper that had been taped to the inside shelf of my locker. It fluttered in the temporary breeze I’d created by opening the door. My hand lifted to calm it, and I felt a jolt of shock when I realized what it was.
Poetry.
Or, more accurately, a poem. It was short and written in a bold, attractive cursive. I read it and reread it, registering specifically what it was. Haiku.
Ancient Queen awake
A chrysalis not yet formed
Will your wings unfold?
I let my fingers brush the words. I knew who had written it. There was only one logical answer. My heart squeezed as I whispered his name, “Loren . . .”
“I’m serious, Stevie Rae. If I tell you, you have to swear you won’t say anything to anyone. And when I say anyone I especially mean Damien and the Twins.”
“Dang, Zoey, you can trust me. I said I swear. What do you want me to do, open a vein?”
I didn’t say anything.
“Zoey, you really can trust me. Promise.”
I studied my best friend’s face. I needed to talk to someone—someone who was not a vamp. I searched inside myself, to the core of what Neferet would call my intuition. It felt right to confide in Stevie Rae. It felt safe.
“Sorry. I know I can trust you. I’m just . . . I don’t know.” I shook my head, frustrated by my own confusion. “Okay, weird stuff has happened today.”
“You mean more than the normal weirdness that goes on around here?”
“Yeah. Loren Blake came into the library today while I was there. He was the first person I talked to about the Prefect Council idea and my new ideas for the Dark Daughters.”
“Loren Blake? As in the most gorgeous vamp any of us have ever seen? Ohmygoodness. I better sit down.” Stevie Rae collapsed on her bed.
“That’s who I mean.”
“I can’t believe you haven’t said anything about this until now. You must have been dying.”
“Well, that’s not all. He . . . uh . . . touched me. And more than once. Okay, actually I saw him more than once today. Alone. And I think he wrote me a poem.”
“What!”
“Yeah, at first I was sure it was perfectly innocent and I was imagining anything else. In the library we just talked about the ideas I had for the Dark Daughters. I didn’t think it meant anything. But, well, he touched my Mark.”
“Which one?” Stevie Rae asked. Her eyes were huge and round and she looked like she was going to explode.
“The one on my face. That time.”
“What do you mean that time!”
“Well, after I got done with brushing Persephone I wasn’t in any hurry to get back to the dorm. So I went for a walk over by the west wall. Loren was there.”
“Ohmydearsweetlord. What happened?”
“I think we flirted.”
“You think!”
“We were laughing and smiling at each other.”
“Sounds like flirting to me. God, he is so totally gorgeous.”
“Tell me about it. When he smiles at me I can hardly breathe. And get this—he recited a poem to me,” I said. “It was a haiku a man wrote about looking at his naked lover in the moonlight.”
“You have got to be kidding!” Stevie Rae started fanning herself with her hand. “Get to the touching part.”
I took a deep breath. “It was really confusing. Everything was going really well. Like I said, we were laughing and talking. Then he said he was out there by himself because that’s how he gets inspired to write haiku—”
“Which is insanely romantic!”
I nodded and continued. “I know. Anyway, I told him I hadn’t meant to mess up his inspiration and bother him, and he said that more things inspired him than just the night. And he asked me if I’d be his inspiration.”
“Holy shit.”
“Exactly what I thought.”
“Naturally you said you’d be happy to inspire him.”
“Naturally,” I said.
“And . . .” Stevie Rae prompted eagerly.
“And he asked to see my Mark. The one on my shoulders and back.”
“He did not.”
“He did.”
“Man, I would have peeled off my shirt faster than you can say Bubba loves trucks!”
I laughed. “Well, I didn’t take my shirt off, but I slid my jacket down. Actually, he helped me.”
“Are you telling me Loren Blake, Vampyre Poet Laureate and hottest f-ing male on two feet, helped you off with your jacket like an old-time gentleman?”
“Yeah. Like this.” I demonstrated by pushing my jacket down around my elbows. “And then I don’t exactly know what came over me, but all of a sudden I wasn’t all nervous and stupid-acting. I took the strap of my tank off for him. Like this.” I pushed my tank strap down, exposing my back and shoulder and a good part of my breast (relieved all over again that I had on my good black bra). “That’s when he touched me. Again.”
“Where?”
“He traced the pattern of my Mark on my back and shoulder. He told me that I look like an ancient vampyre queen and recited the poem to me.”
“Holy shit,” Stevie Rae said again.
I plopped down on my bed facing her and sighed, pulling the strap of my tank back up. “Yeah, it was amazing for a little while. I was sure we connected. Really connected. I think he almost kissed me. Actually, I know he wanted to. And then, out of nowhere, he changed. He got all polite and formal and thanked me for showing him my Mark and then he walked away.”
“Well, that’s no big surprise.”
“It sure as hell was to me. I mean, one second he was staring into my eyes and sending major signals that he wanted me and the next—nothing.”
“Zoey, you’re a student. He’s a teacher. This is a vamp school and a whole different world from life at a normal high school, but some things don’t change. Students are off-limits to teachers.”
I chewed at my lip. “He’s only a part-time, temporary teacher.”
Stevie Rae rolled her eyes. “As if that matters.”
“That’s not all that happened. I just found this poem in my locker.” I handed her the piece of paper with the haiku on it.
Stevie Rae sucked air. “Ohmygoodness. This is so romantic I could die. How? How did he touch the Mark on your back?”
“Jeesh, how do you think? With his finger. He traced the pattern.” I swear I could still feel the heat of that touch.
“He recited a love poem to you, touched your Mark, and then wrote a poem for you . . .” She sighed dreamily. “It’s like you’re Romeo and Juliet with the whole forbidden lovers thing.” In the middle of fanning herself dramatically she stopped and sat straight up again. “Ah oh, what about Erik?”
“What do you mean, what about Erik?”
“He’s your boyfriend, Zoey.”
“Not officially,” I said sheepishly.
“Well, shoot, what does the kid have to do to make it ‘official’? Get down on one knee? It’s been pretty obvious this past month that y’all are dating.”
“I know,” I said miserably.
“So do you like Loren more than you like Erik?”
“No! Yes. Oh, hell, I don’t know. It’s like Loren’s in a whole other world. And it’s not like he and I can really date, or whatever.” But I wasn’t so sure about the whatever. Could Loren and I see each other secr
etly? Did I want to?
As if she could read my thoughts Stevie Rae said, “You could sneak around and see Loren.”
“This is ridiculous. He probably doesn’t even feel like that about me.” But even as I said the words I remembered the heat of his body and the desire in his dark eyes.
“What if he does, Z?” Stevie Rae was studying me carefully. “You know, you’re different than the rest of us. No one has ever been Marked like you before. No one has ever had an affinity for each of the five elements. Maybe the same rules don’t apply to you.”
My gut clenched. Since I’d arrived at the House of Night I had been struggling to fit in. All I really wanted was to make this new place my home—to have friends I considered family. I didn’t want to be different and I didn’t want to play by different rules. I shook my head and said through clenched teeth, “I don’t want it to be like this, Stevie Rae. I just want to be normal.”
“I know,” Stevie Rae said softly. “But you are different. Everyone knows that. Plus, don’t you want Loren to like you?”
I sighed. “I’m not sure what I want, except that I know I don’t want anyone to find out about Loren and me.”
“My lips are sealed.” Stevie Rae, little Okie dork that she is, pantomimed zipping her lips closed and throwing the key away over her shoulder. “No one’s gonna get a word from me,” she mumbled through half-sealed lips.
“Hell! That reminds me, Aphrodite saw Loren touching me.”
“That hag followed you out to the wall!” Stevie Rae squeaked.
“No no no. No one saw us out there. Aphrodite walked into the media center when he was touching my face.”
“Ah, crap.”
“Ah, crap, is right. And there’s more. Remember when I missed part of Spanish ’cause I wanted to talk to Neferet? I didn’t talk to her. I got to her class and the door was cracked, so I could overhear what was going on inside. Aphrodite was in there.”
“That bitch was telling on you!”
“I’m not sure. I only heard a little of what they were saying.”
“I’ll bet you were totally freaked when Neferet pulled you out of the dining hall to eat with her.”
