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Zoey

I&039;d known it beforethe fire trucks and the smoke I&039;d known all hell had broken loose at the House of Night the moment Thanatos had witnessed the truth of Neferet&039;s criht it had been proven beyond all doubt that Neferet was on the side of Darkness Thanatos hadn&039;t wasted any ti her On the way back to the school froh Priestess of Death had ency call to Italy and officially inforer a Priestess of Nyx-that she&039;d chosen Darkness as her Consort Neferet had been seen for who she really was, sousting truth Only, now that I&039;d gottenNeferet would serve more to free her than to force her to pay the consequences for her lies and betrayals

Everything seeht had been the last half of a terrible slasher horror es of on and Rephaio there! Not no the stables were on fire Seriously At our school horses were neighing and clustering nervously by the east wall Lenobia looked singed and soot-covered Erik and Shaylin and a bunch of other fledglings were standing there, shell-shocked and soggy because, of course, it had started to pour buckets of rain And Nicole, as in the Nicole as a super irlfriend, was collapsed on a bench with a couple of hued baby Jesus

I wanted to punch a button, turn off the scary movie, and drift to sleep safely curled up next to Stark Hell, I wanted to close o back to a time when the worst stress I had was triple boyfriend stress, and that had been really, really bad

I mentally shook myself, did my best to shut out the chaos that surrounded me inside and out, and focused on Lenobia

"Yes, the stables caught fire," she was explaining to us "We don&039;t knoho or what caused it Have any of you seen Neferet?"

"We have not seen her in person, but we have seen her irand, sure voice that carried through the rain pronounced, "Neferet has allied herself with the white bull She sacrificed Zoey&039;s mother to him She will be a powerful eneht and the Goddess"

I could see that the announceh I knew the Horse Mistress had been aware that Neferet had beco difference between thinking soined was true Especially when that so was so horrible it was almost beyond comprehension Then Lenobia cleared her throat and said, "The High Council has shunned her?"

"I have reported what I have witnessed this night," said Thanatos, acting High Priestess of our House of Night "The High Council commands Neferet appear before them where they will mete out justice upon her for her betrayal of our Goddess and of our ways"

"She had to have knohat you would find if your ritual was successful," Lenobia said

"Yeah, which is why she sent that thing of hers after us-to kill Rephaim and mess up our circle and stop the reveal ritual," Stevie Rae said, sliding her hand within Rephai by her side

"Doesn&039;t look like that worked," Erik Night said

He was standing close to Shaylin Now that I thought about it, it see close to Shaylin Hmmm

"Well, it would&039;ve worked," Stevie Rae said, "but Dragon showed up and stopped Aurox for a while" She paused and looked back at Kalona She actually sent hi, "Kalona is really who saved Rephaion! That&039;s where he is-with you guys," Erik said, his eyes searching around behind us, obviously expecting to see Dragon

I felt ut clench and blinked hard so that I wouldn&039;t start bawling When no one said anything I drew in a deep breath and delivered the really crappy, sad news "Dragon ith us He fought to protect us Well, us and Rephai it hard to say the next words

"But Aurox gored Dragon to death, breaking the spell that had sealed the circle and setting the rest of us free so we could get to Rephai for h," Stevie Rae added "Rephaim would have died, too, if Kalona hadn&039;t shown up in tion Lankford is dead?" Lenobia&039;s face had gone still and white

"He is He died a Warrior, true to himself and to his Oath He has been reunited with his Mate in the Otherworld," Thanatos said "We all served witness to it"

Lenobia closed her eyes and bowed her head I could see her lips werea soft prayer When she lifted her head her face was set in angry lines and her gray eyes looked like stor my stables was a distraction which allowed Neferet to escape"

"It seeh Priestess paused as if listening carefully through the rain and firemen and horse noises Her eyes narrowed and she said, "Death has been here-recently"

Lenobia shook her head "No, the fire the stables I do not believe anyone died there"

"I a or a vaot out!" Nicole spoke up suddenly I was surprised at her tone I mean, until then I&039;d only heard Nicole sneer or say soular kid-one as normal and upset by stuff like horses on fire and evil loosed on the world

But Stevie Rae, like me, knew a very different Nicole

"What the hell are you doin&039; here, Nicole?" Stevie Rae said

"She was helping Lenobia and Travis get the horses out," Shaylin said

"Yeah, I&039;ht after she set the fire!" Stevie Rae said

"Bitch, you can&039;t talk toway more familiar

"Watch yourself, Nicole," I said, stepping up beside Stevie Rae

"Enough!" Thanatos lifted her hands and power surged, crackling through the rain andIt is past tih Priestess of your kind You will not curse at her Is that understood?"

Nicole crossed her arms and nodded, once She didn&039;t look sorry at all toelse that had happened that night, really pissed me off I faced her and told her exactly as onto put up with your crap any to be different"

"For one, you&039;ll have to get through me to hurt Zoey," Stark said

"You used ain," Rephaim spoke up

"Zoey, Stevie Rae," Thanatos said sharply "To be respected as High Priestesses you ly, and so must your Warriors"

"She tried to kill us Both of us!" Stevie Rae said

"Not recently!" Nicole shouted at Stevie Rae

"How can we battle the great and ancient Darkness that has been newly loosed upon this world if we are nochildren?" Thanatos spoke quietly She didn&039;t sound powerful or wise or strong She sounded tired and hopeless, and that ay scarier than the zapping thing she&039;d done before

"Thanatos is right," I said

"What are you talkin&039; &039;bout, Z? You knohat Nicole&039;s really like" Stevie Rae pointed at her "Just like you knehat Neferet was really like, even when no one else believed you"

"What I&039; We can&039;t even begin to beat Neferet if our teaether" I looked at Nicole "Which et the hell off"

"If she&039;s cussing, she&039;s serious," Aphrodite said

"I areement with her," Damien said

"As am I," Darius added

"Me, too," Shaunee spoke up, and close behind her Erin said a quick, "Yep"

"I chose my side," Kalona spoke solemnly "I believe it is time others do, too"

"I&039;ht, and I choose their side" Shaylin stepped over to stand with us Erik followed her He didn&039;t say anything, but he did aze and nod I smiled at hiroup&039;s solidarity "We&039;re not bickering kids We&039;re just tired of being pushed around by people who say they knohat&039;s best, but who see up-even more than we do"

"Which is a lot," Aphrodite said dryly

"You&039;re not helping," I responded automatically To Nicole I said, "So choose your team"

"Fine I choose Team Nicole," she said

"Which really means Team Selfish," Stevie Rae said

"Or Team Hateful," Erin said

"Or Team Unattractive," Aphrodite added

"Thanatos is leaving," Lenobia spoke quickly, gesturing to the High Priestess&039;s back

"As I originally thought," Kalona&039;s voice seeer "She returns to her civilized High Council and leaves us to battle evil"

Thanatos stopped, turned, and skewered the winged iaze "Oathbound Warrior, be still! My word is no less binding than yours Where I a is to follow Death Sadly, that does not take me from this school, nor will it in the foreseeable future" Without another word Thanatos continued walking away fro entrance to the field house

"Jeesh, she&039;s so damn dramatic" Aphrodite rolled her eyes "She already said it&039;s not a vanat dies are we all going to freak the fuck out?"

"What is your problem?" Nicole shook her head at Aphrodite "Goddess, you&039;re always such a hag Why don&039;t you think instead of running your s and shit like that She has to be talking about a cat That&039;s the only other animal spirit here she&039;d care about"

That shut up Aphrodite, creating what seeiant silent vacuuht

I sucked air "Oh, Goddess no! Nala!"

Frowning at Nicole, Aphrodite said, "Relax, our cats are at the depot-even that s It&039;s not one of ours"

"Duchess is not slad she and Ca happened to Beelzebub," Shaunee said

"I would, too!" Erin added, sounding more defensive than worried

"I love Nal" Stevie Rae met my eyes and we both blinked back tears

"Our familiars are safe" Darius&039;s deep voice seemed to anchor me, until Erik spoke

"Just because the cat wasn&039;t one of yours doesn&039;t make its death any less awful" Erik sounded way more mature than usual "Wonder who&039;s on Tearee with Erik when Nicoleaway fro the path Thanatos had just taken

"Where do you think you&039;re goin&039;?" Stevie Rae called after her

Nicole didn&039;t pause She didn&039;t turn around, either, but her voice trailed back to us "Tea to help Thanatos with the dead cat-whosever dead cat it is-because Team Selfish likes animals They&039;re nicer than people The end"

"I don&039;t knohat she&039;s talking about," Aphrodite said

I rolled my eyes at her

"This is all soirl can&039;t be trusted" Stevie Rae glared after Nicole

"Well, I can tell you that Nicole al me free the horses," Lenobia said

"Her color&039;s changing," Shaylin whispered