27
Zoey
“I’d be worried about interrupting, but with the way Z looks I’m thinking she might need to be saved,” Aphrodite said.
I felt dizzy and everything suddenly looked blurry. I’d told Kev it wouldn’t bother me to hear how I’d died, but that was before I’d realized how absolutely violent and awful it had been. I blinked my eyes fast to clear my vision, and looked up to see Aphrodite and Darius standing beside our table. Her hands were on her hips and she was giving Other Kevin the stank eye.
“You’re not interrupting. Sit down,” Stark said. “Other Kevin just told Zoey how she was killed in his world. It—er—wasn’t good.”
“Well, of course it wasn’t good, boy genius. She died.” Aphrodite continued to glare at Other Kevin as he stood up and switched seats so that she and Darius could join us.
“Aphrodite, Darius, this is my brother, Kevin. Or Other Kevin.” I glanced at my brother and he shrugged.
“I’m cool with being Other Kevin.”
I nodded and continued, finding that a simple thing, like an introduction, was better to focus on than my decapitation and disembowelment at Neferet’s hands. “Kev, this is Aphrodite, the prophetess who returned the humanity to you and your guys.”
Other Kevin held out his hand for the traditional greeting and Aphrodite’s eyes narrowed at him, but she took it, grasping his forearm. “Merry meet,” she said.
“Wow,” Kevin said. “Your Mark is extraordinary, but I shouldn’t be surprised. Only an extraordinary priestess could’ve done what you did.”
“Huh. You’re Z’s brother?”
“I am.”
“You’re taller than I imagined.”
“So, you imagined things about me?” Other Kevin’s smile was just the right amount of cute and cocky.
“Uh, did I mention Darius is Aphrodite’s Oathbound Warrior and her Consort?” I added.
“You did now.” He offered his hand to Darius, too. “My man, you’re a lucky Warrior.”
Darius grunted at him, but took his hand. Briefly. Before sitting beside Aphrodite.
“Kevin, dear, I did find some cookies left in my basket, which might truly be a miracle. Zoey and her friends remind me often of locusts.” Grandma was holding a lavender-colored platter of her cookies, which she put in the center of the table before sliding in beside Kevin. “Oh, don’t let me interrupt.” She patted him on the cheek and flashed me a hello grin.
No one said anything. I sighed.
“Grandma, Kevin is telling me that in his world I’m dead. Are you sure you want to hear this?”
Grandma lifted her chin. “Zoey Redbird, I have battled evil beside you. I have almost been killed by the denizens of Darkness. Do not underestimate me.”
“Good point, Grandma,” Stark said.
“Excellent point, actually. So, go on with your story, Kevin. Z died. I take it horribly. Tell us everything,” Aphrodite said with way too much glee for my taste.
“Neferet killed me. Just like she did Professors Nolan and Blake.”
“Zoey’s death started the human-vampyre war. Other Kevin was Marked on the same day she died. Now you’re caught up,” Stark explained.
“That awful, awful, creature!” Grandma said. She grabbed a cookie and bit into it like she needed to devour something.
“G-ma, if you start crying I’m going to stop talking,” Kevin said.
“That, my dear, is a deal.”
Kevin’s gaze turned to me. “Neferet really did all of that? Killed the professors here, just like in my world?”
I met my brother’s gaze. “Yes. Definitely. That and a lot more. Finish telling us about you.”
“I was Marked the day the school called us about your death. It was bad, and not just because you died. At least you were Marked blue. You were normal. My Mark was red.”
“Which means what in your world, dear?” Grandma asked.
“It usually means brainless soldiers, walking viruses, and killing machines. Some kids stay mostly themselves after they’re Marked red, but you can always tell when someone’s getting closer and closer to the Change. They turn.”
“Explain turn,” Darius said.
“The hunger gets them. They turn from being mostly human, to being mostly eating machines. Once a red fledgling is fully Changed, only a few—like maybe one in a hundred—can reason through their hunger. Those of us who can are made officers in Neferet’s Red Army. The others are soldiers.”
“And you’re an officer?” Grandma asked.
“Yep. Like you, Stark.” Stark stiffened, but Other Kevin just kept on talking. “Well, not exactly like you. I’m just a lieutenant. You’re a general.”
“But aren’t you young to be Marked at all?” Aphrodite asked as she picked up one of Grandma’s cookies and nibbled on it.
“He just turned sixteen in August,” Grandma said.
“Yep. I was barely fifteen when I was Marked. I’m the youngest kid to ever be Marked at the Tulsa House of Night—red or blue. And I Changed faster than anyone on record—within one month.”
“Why are you okay right now and no one who was with you is okay?” Stark asked.
“Other Jack’s doing fine. Well, he is now,” Aphrodite said.
“But the rest of the fledglings aren’t,” Darius said. “And of the vampyres with you, three committed suicide and the two who are downstairs are in bad shape. What’s different about you?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never known. It’s not that I didn’t have their hunger. I did. It was terrible. But I could reason through it. I was sure I’d lose myself like everyone else did when they Changed, but I didn’t.”
“What did your mentor say about it?” I asked.
“Zo, in my world red fledglings don’t have mentors. They have handlers. And none of them are one-on-one. Basically, you’re herded with other fledglings from one weapons class to another until you Change. Then they wait and see if you can reason through your hunger. If you can’t—you’re a soldier. If you can—you go into officer training. But you don’t have a mentor. You have OICs.”
“Huh?”
“Officers in Charge,” he clarified. “And you don’t talk to them about anything except fighting and killing.”
“No one knew you were different?” Grandma asked before I could.
My stomach hurt for Other Kevin.
He shook his head. “I got good at hiding it. They wanted us to do things. Terrible, awful things.” Other Kevin was holding his fork halfway to his mouth, just staring down at his plate.
“Kev?” I spoke softly.
“It’s okay, dear.” Grandma rested her hand on his arm. “We have battled Darkness. We will not judge you.”
He jerked and put his fork down. He took a big gulp from his glass, and then placed his hand over Grandma’s and met my gaze. “Being able to think clearly most of the time is an advantage—especially when no one knows you can. I made sure I kept myself out of the worst situations. But sometimes I couldn’t bear the thirst—the hunger. When that happened I made it fast for my victim. Painless.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose in a gesture I remembered so well. “There were times when I was sure I was going mad—when I thought, ‘Well, this is it—this is when I turn into one of them.’ But then I’d have one of those Nyx dreams and I’d wake up myself again.”
I sat up straighter. Grandma and Aphrodite leaned forward. “Nyx dreams?” Grandma asked.
“Yeah, what kind of Nyx dreams?” I said.
He shrugged. “I’ve had tons of them. After the first one, I don’t remember them clearly. Just the goddess’ smile and the way her hand felt resting on my head. Sometimes I’d wake up thinking that I’d been sleeping with my head on her shoulder.” He glanced sheepishly at me. “Real dumb, huh?”
“Not necessarily,” I said.
“Tell us about the first dream—the one you remember,” Aphrodite said.
Kev grinned at her. “Anything you say, Goddess of Love.”
I kicked him under the table.
“Hey!”
“Focus,” I said. “On the dream.”
“It’s going to sound weird, but I remember every bit of it. It started at your farm, Grandma. I was trying to find you, but I was sick and dizzy and I tripped. In my dream I hit my head and when I woke up—which sounds weird because I was technically still sleeping, but in my dream, my dream-self woke up.”
“Yeah, yeah, we get it,” Aphrodite said. “Keep going.”
“Hey, y’all aren’t havin’ a party without us!” Stevie Rae, holding Rephaim’s hand, smacked Stark on the shoulder and he slid over to make room for them.
“We’re not partying, bumpkin. Kev is telling us about the Nyx dream he had after he was Marked,” Aphrodite said. “Here, have a cookie and be quiet.”
I made quick introductions. “Kevin, this is Stevie Rae and her mate, Rephaim. Guys, this is my brother, Other Kevin.”
“Yeah! More cookies!” Rephaim snagged one and chomped happily, nodding a hello at Kevin.
“Hi, there.” Stevie Rae dimpled at him.
“Hi. You’re a red vampyre.” Other Kevin was staring at her like she was a science experiment gone wrong.
“She’s a High Priestess,” I said. “She also has an affinity for earth.”
“Wow.”
“Staring isn’t polite,” Darius grumbled at him.
Other Kevin blinked. “Sorry. It’s just that I’ve never seen a female red vampyre before.”
“What?” I gaped at him. “No girls are Marked in your world?”
“Not as red fledglings. Never.”
“That’s weirder than boobs on a boar,” Stevie Rae said.
“Goddess, give me strength.” Aphrodite rolled her eyes to the heavens.
“Let’s go back to the dream,” I said. “You were looking for Grandma and you tripped and fell. Then you woke up.”
“Yeah, I was in a cave-thing when I woke up, only it was only my soul and not my body. My body was all crumpled back where I’d tripped, and I remember my head was bleeding, too. This woman’s voice was calling for me and I floated around, following it. At first I thought it was you, G-ma, because it was singing in Cherokee, but it wasn’t. Zo, real weird stuff happened. Like, I could see the color of words and sounds.”
My skin felt all tingly. “Laughter is birthday-cake-frosting blue.”
Other Kevin looked shocked. “How did you know?”
“Keep talking.”
“Okay, um, I followed the voice and there she was—the goddess. She was sitting by a little stream.” Other Kevin’s gaze went far away and the corner of his lips lifted sweetly, making him look like a little boy again. “She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. She’s still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. She called me ‘u-we-tsi.’”
“Son,” Grandma said with a smile.
Other Kevin nodded. “I’m not as good as Zo with the Cherokee, but I do know that one. Nyx called me ‘u-we-tsi’ and told me I’m special. That my power is in the uniqueness of my combined blood of ancient Shamans and of the modern world. She said that I would be her eyes and ears in a world that is struggling to find the balance between good and evil. Then she said something I’ll never forget. I even had it tattooed around my arm.” He rolled up the sleeve of his T-shirt so that we could see the cursive script tattooed around his bicep. I knew what they would say before Grandma read them aloud.
“Darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does not always bring good.”
“Then Nyx kissed me. Right here.” He pointed to the filled-in red crescent Mark on his forehead. “When I woke up I’d made the Change.”
No one said a word.
Kevin’s gaze went around the table. He sighed and leaned back, running his fingers through his dark, tousled hair, food forgotten. “I knew you’d think I was crazy.”
“Ohmygoodness, Other Kevin is his world’s Zoey!” Stevie Rae blurted.
Kevin stared at me and together we said, “Ah, hell.”