Hunted (39 page)

Lenobia sucked in a shocked breath. “Then you are the instrument through which he will be defeated again.”

“Yes, but not defeated, just chased away,” I said automatically, and then my instinct caught up with my mouth and I knew what I'd said was true. “It is me. This time he can't be trapped because he's expecting that. But I can make him run away.” I spoke more to Persephone than to Lenobia or even to myself.

“But you're not just a tool this time. You've been given free will by our Goddess. You choose good, and good is what will make Kalona flee.” Lenobia spoke with a confidence that was infectious.

“Wait, what was that part about ‘five'?”

Lenobia retrieved the poem from where I'd laid it on the floor of the stall. “It says ‘place of power—joining of five.' And then it lists the five: Night, Spirit, Blood, Humanity, Earth.”

“They
are
people,” I said, feeling a rush of excitement. “Like Damien said, that's why they're capitalized, because the poem is talking about people who symbolize those five things. And . . . and I'll bet if Grandma was here, she'd tell me that there were five Ghigua women who got together and created A-ya.”

“Does it feel right to you, deep in your soul? Is the Goddess speaking to you?”

I smiled and my heart soared. “It does! It feels right.”

“The most obvious place of power is here at the House of Night,” she said.

“No!” I spoke with more emphasis than I'd intended, causing Persephone to snort nervously. I petted and soothed her and in a more reasonable voice said, “No, inside the school the place of power has been tainted by him. It was his power joined with Neferet's and mixed with Stevie Rae's blood that released him and—” I gasped, realizing the implications of what I'd just said. “Stevie Rae! I would have thought she'd represent earth. I mean, that's her affinity and all, but she's not earth: she's blood!”

Lenobia smiled and nodded. “Very good. One down. Now all you must name is the other four.”

“And the place,” I muttered.

“Yes, the place,” she agreed. “Well, places of power are also tied to spirit. Like Avalon, the ancient isle of the Goddess, is tied in spirit to Glastonbury. Even Christians felt the pull of the power of the place and at one time built an abbey there.”

“What?” I came around Persephone to stand excitedly in front of Lenobia. “What did you say about an abbey and the Goddess?”

“Well, Avalon isn't literally of this world, though it is a great place of power. Christians felt it and built an abbey dedicated to Mary there.”

“Oh, Lenobia, that's it!” I had to blink hard to clear the tears of relief from my eyes. Then I laughed. “And it's perfect! The place of power is at Twenty-first and Lewis, the abbey of the Benedictine nuns.”

Lenobia's eyes widened, and then she smiled. “Our Goddess is wise. Now, all you need do is to figure out who the other four are, and get everyone there. The rest of the poem tells how they join together . . .” She paused. Glancing down she read:

 

Night leads to Spirit

Blood binds Humanity

And Earth completes
.

 

“Blood is there already, or at least I hope she is,” I said. “I told Stevie Rae to get herself and the red fledglings to the abbey when I found out Kalona was going to grab her.”

“Why would you think of sending her there?”

My grin was so wide I swear I almost split a lip. “Because that's where Spirit is! Spirit is the head nun, Sister Mary Angela. She saved my grandma from the Raven Mockers, and she's been taking care of her there.”

“A nun? To represent Spirit and conquer an ancient fallen angel? Are you quite sure, Zoey?”

“Not conquer—just banish and give us enough time to regroup and figure out how to get rid of him permanently. And, yes, I'm sure.”

Lenobia hesitated only an instant, then she nodded. “So you have identified Blood and Spirit. Think. Who have Earth, Night, and Humanity hidden within them?”

I went back to currying Persephone, and then I laughed and had an urge to hit myself in the head. “Aphrodite. She has to be humanity, even though most of the time she wants nothing to do with it.”

“I will take your word for it,” Lenobia said caustically.

“Okay, so, only Night and Earth are left.” I hurried on. “As I said before,
my first guess for earth would have been Stevie Rae, because of her affinity. But I know in my heart she's blood. Earth . . . earth . . .” I sighed again.

“Could it be Anastasia? Her gift for spells and rituals is often grounded in the earth.”

I thought about it, and sadly didn't feel the twinge that told me I had the right answer. “Nope, it's not her.”

“Perhaps we're focusing on the wrong people. Spirit came from outside the House of Night, which is something I would not have anticipated. Maybe Earth does, too.”

“Well, it's worth considering when you look at it like that.”

“What person—not a fledgling or a vampyre—could symbolize Earth?”

“I guess the people I've known who are closest to the earth are my grandma's people. The Cherokee have always respected the earth, versus using and owning and abusing it. The worldview of traditional Cherokee people is much different than today's worldview.” And then I suddenly closed my mouth and rested my forehead against Persephone's soft shoulder, whispering a small thank-you to Nyx.

“You know who it is, don't you?”

I looked up, smiling. “It's my grandma. She's Earth.”

“Perfect!” Lenobia agreed. “Then you have them all!”

“Not Night. I still haven't figured out who—” I broke off as I registered Lenobia's knowing look.

“Look deeper, Zoey Redbird, and I do believe you will discover who Nyx has Chosen to personify Night.”

“Not me,” I whispered.

“Of course it is you,” Lenobia said. “The poem states it perfectly, ‘Night leads to Spirit.' None of us would have ever looked to the Benedictine Abbey or its prioress to fill in the pieces of the poetic puzzle, but you led us straight to it.”

“If I'm right,” I said a little shakily.

“Listen to your heart. Are you right?”

I drew a deep breath and searched inside me. Yes,
it
was there, the
feeling I knew came from my Goddess, the feeling that told me I'd gotten it right. I met Lenobia's wise gray eyes. “I'm right,” I said firmly.

“Then we need to get you and Aphrodite to the Benedictine Abbey.”

“All of us,” I said automatically. “It has to be Darius, the Twins, Damien,
and
Aphrodite. If something goes wrong, I have to have my circle together. Plus, my reception here hasn't been great, and if getting rid of Kalona doesn't snap the fledglings and faculty out of their weird obsession, I don't think I'll be coming back to school any time soon. And, of course, we still have to deal with Neferet; I'm going to need a lot of help for all of that.”

Lenobia frowned slightly, but nodded. “I understand, and though it pains me, I am in agreement with you.”

“You should come with us—you and Dragon and Anastasia. The House of Night is no place for you right now.”

“The House of Night is our home,” she said.

I met her eyes. “Sometimes the people closest to you betray you, and your home isn't a place you can be happy anymore. It's hard, but it's true.”

“You sound very wise for your years, Priestess.”

“Yeah, well, I'm a product of divorce and crappy stepparenting. Who knew it would come in handy?”

We were laughing together when the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Lenobia was on her feet in an instant. “We should get messages to your friends. They can meet here. It, at least, is safe from the ears and eyes of the Raven Mockers.”

“Already done,” I said. “They'll all be here in a little while.”

“If Neferet realizes you're meeting here, it will go badly for us.”

“I know,” was what I said;
Ah, hell
, was what I thought.

 

 

 

 

Despite the fact that it had started to sleet again, Damien, the Twins, Aphrodite, and Darius arrived just minutes after the bell rang.

“Nice note,” Erin said.

“Very wily of you to get us here without having us think about it beforehand,” Shaunee said.

“Well done, you!” Damien said.

“But you are thinking of it now, so we need to be sure those thoughts are protected, and move and move fast with whatever it is we're going to do,” Darius said.

“Agreed,” I said. “Guys, summon your elements and get them to form a protective wall around your thoughts.”

“No problem,” Erin said.

“Yeah, we've been practicing,” Shaunee said.

“Do you need me to cast a quick circle?” I asked.

“No, Z, we just need you to hush for a second,” Damien said. “We've already had our elements primed and waiting.”

“Partial herd of nerd, get to it!” Aphrodite said.

“Shut up!” the Twins yelled at her.

Aphrodite snorted at them and went to stand beside Darius, who automatically put his arm around her. I noticed the cut on his face was almost completely healed, and there was only a thin pink line where before there had been a nasty laceration. It made me think of my own scar, and while the Twins and Damien were busy summoning their elements, and Aphrodite was nuzzling Darius, I turned my
back to them and unobtrusively peeked down the front of my shirt. And grimaced at what I saw. Okay, my scar wasn't a long, thin pink line. It was puckered and jagged, and was still red and angry-looking. I shifted my shoulders. No, it didn't really hurt. It was just sore and tender to the touch. And ugly. Really, really ugly.

Whenever I thought about anyone seeing my nasty scar (“anyone” being Stark, or Erik, or even Heath, for that matter) I wanted to burst into tears. Maybe I'd just never be with another guy. It would certainly make my life less complicated . . .

“Battle scars from the war of good versus evil have a unique beauty all their own,” Lenobia said.

I jumped. She was standing close to me, and I hadn't heard her approach. I looked at her steadily. She was utterly perfect and completely
un
scarred and beautiful. “That sounds nice in theory, but when the scar belongs to you, reality is kinda different than the theory.”

“I know of what I speak, Priestess.” She swept the curtain of her silver hair over one shoulder, turned so that I could see the back of her neck, and with her other hand, pulled aside the yoke of her white blouse to expose a terrible scar that ran from up into her hairline, down the back of her neck, and disappeared, thick and puckered, into her back.

“Okay! We're all elemented up over here,” Erin called.

“Yeah, we're ready to get down and dirty,” Shaunee said.

“So, what's the latest?” Damien said.

Lenobia and I exchanged a quick glance. “That story will wait for another time,” she said softly. I followed her back to my friends, wondering what kind of evil she could have been fighting that could have made those awful scars.

“Zoey has named the people mentioned in the poem,” Lenobia said without any preamble. “And the place of power at which they need to join.”

Everyone looked at me. “It's the Benedictine Abbey. I remembered that one of the reasons Sister Mary Angela wasn't totally shocked
when I showed her I could invoke the elements was that she'd felt elemental power herself. She said her abbey had been built on a place of spiritual power. I didn't think much of it then.” I paused and gave a little laugh. “Actually, I didn't take her seriously, and thought she was just being crazy-eccentric-nun-lady.”

“Well, in your defense, the nun is kinda different,” Aphrodite said.

Darius nodded, “At least she is for a nun.”

“She's also the Spirit the poem talks about,” I said.

“Wow, you did figure it out!” Damien grinned at me. “Who are the rest of the personifications?”

“Blood is Stevie Rae.”

“She definitely likes it enough,” Aphrodite said under her breath.

“You're Humanity,” I told her firmly, punctuating my announcement with a big grin.

“Great. Just great. Let me state right now for the record: I. Do. Not. Want. To. Get. Bit. Again. Ever.” Then she glanced up at Darius and her expression changed, and she added, “Except by you, handsome.”

The Twins made retching noises.

“Earth is my grandma,” I continued, ignoring all of them.

“Good thing your grandma's already at the abbey,” Damien said.

“How about Night?” Shaunee asked.

“It's Zoey,” Aphrodite said.

I raised my brows at her.

She rolled her eyes. “Who the hell else could it be? Anyone who's not mentally impaired or sharing a brain” —she gave the Twins and Damien pointed looks—“could figure that one out.”

“Okay, yeah, I'm Night,” I said.

“So we need to get to the Benedictine Abbey,” Darius said, going, as usual, straight to the heart of the logistics of our “operation.” I say “operation” because it usually feels to me like I'm flailing about hoping that somehow I'm getting enough things right that I don't totally make a mess of stuff, which isn't exactly an Operation.

“Yes, and you need to get there quickly, before Kalona and Neferet cause any more damage to our people,” Lenobia said.

“Or begin a war with the humans,” Aphrodite said.

Everyone but Darius gawked at her. And in my gawking I saw through the façade of her beauty, and how she always looked totally together, to the bruised darkness under her eyes and the vaguely reddish tint that hadn't yet faded from their whites.