Zoey

So, I ended up cutting first hour. I mean, seriously. No way was I up to sitting there and letting Neferet take passive-aggressive shots at me after the whole Kalona/Rephaim thing. Instead I sent Rephaim to class (and told him to tell the professor he'd been in the bathroom) and then found a shadowy seat not far from the stables. I needed time to sit and think. By myself.

Kalona said he wanted a truce with us, which I figured was pretty much bull poopie. The truth probably was that he wanted to use Rephaim to infiltrate our ranks and mess us up-and that sounded like I thought the nerd herd and I were turning into a redneck Okie paramilitary group. I sighed. Why couldn't those groups be more attractive? Which made me think about the inbred panther people on True Blood and how stupid Jason was. Jeesh, I needed to rewatch season three. I was totally behind on season four ...

"hello, Zoey. Focus," I told myself.

So, Kalona is pretending like he wants a truce. Rephaim believes him because that kid has a bad case of I-want-my-dad-to-love-me. Stevie Rae is gonna be pissed when she finds out he's been talking to Rephaim, which I totally understood. She wanted to protect Rephaim's feelings, and Kalona + a new and improved Rephaim = train wreck.

And then there was the whole bad red fledglings returning to school and pretending not to be raving lunatics and kill ers. Ugh, just ugh. Thinking about the fights in the halls that was going to cause gave me a headache.

Throw into the mix the fact that Stark still wasn't sleeping well, Neferet's new Consort was a bull (Eew, that couldn't mean what it sounded like it meant, could it?), and the Aurox kid/whatever who made me feel uber weird-scared and anxious and just downright freaked-and the whole school seemed to be a bomb waiting to explode.

I stared up at the moon. "Plus," I said quietly, as if speaking directly to the shining crescent, "in six days I have to go perform a cleansing ritual on my grandma's land because my mom was killed there."

I blinked hard. I was not going to cry. Again. I was just going to sit out here in the moonlight until it was time for me to go to drama class second hour.

As if I didn't have enough drama in my life already.

"Well," I told the moon. "At least my soul isn't shattered anymore and I'm not a sleepless Otherworld almost-ghost." Right on the heels of that cheery thought I spoke aloud the very next thing that came into my mind: "I miss Heath so much." The words were still in the air around me when the small place in the middle of my chest began to warm. With a terrible sense of rubbernecking at an accident my gaze was pulled from the serene moon to the wall that framed the House of Night. Aurox was jogging along the school side of the wall. Even from this distance I could see that he was alert and searching for possible trouble, his gaze scanning around and up. He even looked like he was sniffing the air. He was coming toward me, though not directly so. My bench was several yards closer to the school from the wall and hidden in the shadows under the big trees, and he hadn't seen me. But he wasn't sticking to the shadows. He jogged in the open and even though the moon was not full, the night was clear and the fat crescent gave off enough silver-blue light that, as he approached, I could see his face.

Aurox was definitely what any girl would call hot. Well, any girl who didn't know he was some kind of killer creature in a boy skin suit. Then I remembered how a bunch of the fledglings had made over him after he'd killed the Raven Mocker. Guess they didn't care whether his skin was a suit or for real. It felt like something was crawling up my spine and I gave a little shudder. I cared. I cared a lot about what was beneath the skin.

His eyes were super strange. I'd noticed them before. Ironically enough, in this light they reminded me of the moon, or at least of those rocks called moonstones-only his eyes glistened, almost glowed.

My hand went slowly to my seer stone. I could feel my heartbeat speed up. What was it about Aurox that scared me so badly? I didn't know, but I did believe that I needed to defeat this fear. I needed to look through the seer stone and see whatever the rock revealed to me-Dark or Light, evil or good. I began to lift the stone and it was then that I noticed it.

His shadow, cast against the rocky wall of the school, did not mirror the tall, muscular body of a human guy. Aurox's shadow was that of a bull.

I must have gasped-must have made some little noise because his glowy eyes found me immediately. He changed the direction he was jogging and headed straight for me.

I slid the seer stone under my shirt and tried to keep my breathing normal and stop my heart from beating out of my chest.

When he was just a few yards away I couldn't help myself. I stood and moved around behind the wrought iron bench. I know it was silly, but somehow it felt better to have something, anything between us.

He stopped and looked at me for a few seconds without speaking. His expression was bizarrely curious, like he'd never seen a girl before and was trying to figure out what the heck I was-even though that analogy was ridiculous.

"You do not weep this night," he finally said.

"No."

"You should be in class," he said. "Neferet has ordered all fledglings to class."

"Why do you cast the shadow of a bull?" I blurted the question like a moron and then I wanted to smack my hand over my mouth. What the hell was wrong with me?

His brow furrowed and he looked to the spot on the ground beside him where his shadow-his very human and very normal looking shadow-

turned its head in time with him.

"My shadow is not a bull," he said.

"It was a bull, before, while you were jogging beside the wall. I saw it," I said, wondering how I could sound so calm and certain when even to my own ears I seemed totally crazy.

"The bull is part of me," he said, and then he looked as surprised by his answer as I'd been by my question.

"The white bull or the black bull?" I asked.

"What color was my shadow?" he countered with.

I frowned and glanced at his dark, human shadow. "Black, of course."

"Then my bull is black," he said. "You should return to class. Neferet has commanded it."

"Zoey, is everything okay out here?"

Stark's voice made me jump. I turned my head to see him walking quickly toward me, a bow with a notched arrow held with deceptive nonchalance in his hand.

"Yeah, fine," I said. "Aurox was telling me I needed to get to class."

Stark gave Aurox a hard look. "I didn't know you were a professor at this school."

"I am following Neferet's command," Aurox said. He sounded the same as he had before Stark had shown up, but his body language had totally changed. He looked bigger, more aggressive, more dangerous.

Thankfully, the bell that signaled the end of first hour chimed. "Oh, oopsie, looks like I won't be making it to first hour. Better get to second hour on time, though." I turned my back on Aurox and went to Stark, linked my arm through his, and said, "Walk me to drama class?"

"Absolutely," he said.

Neither of us said anything to Aurox.

"He scares you," Stark said when we were out of Aurox's hearing range.

"Yeah."

Stark opened the door to the main school building and the long hallway that held most of our classrooms. It was busy, filled with fledglings changing class, but he kept his voice low and me close so that only I could hear him. "Why? Did he do something?"

"He casts the-"

My words broke off as a tall, dark-haired vampyre stepped from Neferet's classroom and into the hall before us. Stark and I stopped. At first it was hard to really believe who I was seeing, and I wanted to rub my eyes as if to clear them. Then Stark fisted his hand over his heart and bowed deeply, breaking me out of my waking dream and I followed his example while he said, "Merry meet, Thanatos."

"Ah, Stark, Zoey, merry meet. I'm pleased to see you both looking so well."

"What are you doing here?" I asked way more bluntly than I should have.

Her dark brows went up, but she looked more amused than offended. "I am here because the High Council has decided the very special fledglings," she paused and glanced at Stark, "and vampyres here deserve some additional attention."

"What does that mean?" I asked. The kids walking by us in the hall were gawking and whispering. I saw Damien's head stick out of the door to his second-hour class and his mouth formed a round, surprised "Ooooh!" when he saw Thanatos.

"It means that Monday if you cut your first-hour class, you'll be cutting one taught by Thanatos." Neferet came out of the open doorway to her classroom. She spoke with no more sternness than any normal teacher would have used with a kid who cut her class, but her eyes told a different story. I felt Stark's body tense and my guess was Darkness was all around her.

"I'd like to believe Zoey is mature enough that she has an excellent reason for not coming to class today." Thanatos smiled at Neferet, and her tone was obviously patronizing.

Neferet's face seemed to freeze. Her answering smile looked brittle. "I'd like to believe so, too. Be that as it may, Monday you will have charge of Zoey and any of those other special students you would like to include. There is a spare classroom down this hall and to the right. Now, if you'll excuse me I need to be sure a room is readied for your indefinite stay."

"Of course I'll excuse you, and I do apologize again for arriving with no notice, and not truly knowing how long I will be with you here at the lovely Tulsa House of Night. These are simply unusual times. Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again, Neferet," Thanatos said.

Neferet fisted her hand over her heart and bowed her head slightly, muttering the parting words as she hurried away.

"She is not pleased that I am here," Thanatos said.

"You knew she wouldn't be," I said quietly. During our time on Skye, Stark had told me that he'd had an ally in Thanatos, so much so that he and the rest of my friends had taken the vampyre who had an affinity for death into their confidence and told her everything they'd known then about Neferet.

Thanatos nodded. "I did, though I was happy to volunteer for this mission. The very balance of good and evil in this world is in question, and I believe the answers can be found here, at this House of Night."

The bell started to chime. "Ah, hell!" I said and then added a quick, "Sorry. Uh, I'm gonna be late for class."

"Complete your classes today, Zoey. I will look forward to seeing you first hour Monday." Thanatos smiled at Stark. "Young Warrior, I have just a few bags in my car. Could you please assist me?"

"Yeah, of course," he said. He smiled and waved at me as I fisted my hand over my heart and bowed to Thanatos, and then I scampered down the hall and ducked in the drama classroom, sending Erik an I'm really sorry look.

He narrowed his eyes at me, but thankfully didn't say anything. Actually, he pretty much ignored me and let me sit and stare out into space and wonder if I wished the hours would hurry until the end of school, or if I should be dreading what might come next.

I was kinda leaning toward the dreading side ...

* * *

I stared at the food on my lunch plate and, in spite of the stupid stress I was feeling, smiled. "Spaghetti." I sighed with true happiness. "And brown pop and cheesy garlic bread. Seriously, yum."

"I know. I missed the food lots." Stevie Rae grinned and moved over so that Stark and I could slide in next to her and Rephaim. I noticed Rephaim had his mouth stuffed full and was chewing rapidly. He met my eyes, smiled and, showing way too much spaghetti mumbled, "It's good."

"So, do birds eat spaghetti?" Aphrodite asked as she settled into the bench across from the four of us.

"He isn't a bird," Stevie Rae said firmly.

"Not this second he isn't," Aphrodite said.

Damien rushed up and nudged Aphrodite, who frowned at him, but scooted over. "Okay, ohmygod. I've been dying to talk to you guys. What is Thanatos doing here?"

"hello, checked your mailbox lately?" Aphrodite said, waving around a piece of paper that looked very official and school-news-like. "My guess is you'll get the same schedule change I did. The brain-sharers got one."

The Twins joined us. "Quit calling us that," Shaunee said.

"Yeah, we don't share a brain. We share a soul. The two are way different," Erin said.

"Please, like soul-sharing is fine?" Aphrodite shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Starting Monday Thanatos is teaching a special class first hour," I butted in before a world war could start. "We'll probably all have schedule changes."

"I do," Rephaim said with his mouth still full. "I checked it before I went into first hour."

"Oh, that's what made you so tardy," Damien said. "I didn't want to ask."

"Tardy?" Stevie Rae said. "You know the professors get annoyed at you if you're tardy." Rephaim looked at me.

I looked at him.

He swallowed his mouthful of spaghetti. "Father was here."

"What? Kalona? Here?" Stevie Rae's voice almost squeaked the words. Kids at the nearest tables sent us curious glances.

"That's right," Aphrodite said, raising her voice and looking typically annoyed. "Barcelona is where all the best shoe shopping is-not here. Get a clue, bumpkin." Then she tilted her head down and whispered, "Not a good idea to say much about this in public-which means as in anywhere but the tunnels."

"Rephaim, are you okay?" Stevie Rae asked in a much quieter voice.

"Yes. I wasn't alone. Zoey was with me," he answered softly.

Stevie Rae blinked in surprise. "Z?"

"He's right. I was with him the whole time. It's okay. Well, as okay as it can be when He Who Cannot Be Named is involved," I whispered.

"Oh for shit's sake. This isn't Hogwarts," Aphrodite said.

"Wish it was," Erin said.

Then Shaunee did something that shocked me worse than Kalona's visit. She didn't echo her Twin. Instead, in a very small, very un-Twin-like voice she said, "You still care about him. Don't ya?"

Rephaim nodded once, just a little.

"Twin? Hogwarts?" Erin said, looking a little lost.

"Twin, this is more important." Shaunee's eyes found Rephaim again. "Dads are important."

"I didn't know you were close to your daddy," Stevie Rae said.

"I'm not," Shaunee said. "That's why I understand how important they are. Not having one who pays any attention to you doesn't mean you don't wish they were different."

"Huh," Erin said, still looking befuddled. "I didn't know that bothered you, Twin." Shaunee shrugged and looked uncomfortable. "I don't like to talk about it much."

"Was he mean?" Erin asked Rephaim.

Rephaim glanced at me. "No, not very."

"I think Aphrodite is right. We need to talk about this when we don't have to worry about being overheard. Right now let's finish lunch and then everyone needs to go to their mailboxes and check for schedule changes, that includes the red fledglings," I said.

"Dall as's group already got theirs," Aphrodite said. "I heard them talking about it in art class." I looked at Stevie Rae. Her face had gone real white. "We'll all be with you," I said. "And Thanatos is a powerful vampyre, a member of the High Council. She's not gonna let anything happen."

"Shekinah was Leader of the High Council, and she got killed her first day here, remember?" Stevie Rae said.

"That was by Neferet and not some douche-bag red fledgling guy," I said.

"The girls are on my nerves, too," Aphrodite said. "That Nichole bitch needs to have her hair pulled out by the roots, which are probably a different color than the rest of that mess on her head."

"I hate it when I agree with you," Stevie Rae said.

"Well, bumpkin, even you can be right sometimes."

"Can we stop now and eat the rest of our spaghetti?" I said. "There're only two more hours to get through, then we can go back to the depot and we'll have all weekend to figure this stuff out."

"That's a good idea," Damien said. "Next hour I'm checking out books and files on some of the questions we've been trying to answer. I got permission from Professor Garmy to go to the media center during Spanish class. I'm really good at conjugating verbs, and that's what she's focusing on today."

"Ugh," I said. Everyone (besides Damien) at the table nodded in agreement to my conjugating ugh, even though the Twins seemed out of synch and Erin kept giving Shaunee looks that went from annoyance to confusion and back again.

And that pretty much summed up the rest of the day: confusing, annoying, and just plain ugh.