Awakened (House of Night #8)(44)

"It is too late. It was Neferet who put me on their trail tonight. Stevie Rae, I'm asking you to stay away from the rogue reds. They mean nothing but doom for you." "I'll be careful. I already told you I would. But I'm a High Priestess and the red fledglings are my responsibility."

"The ones who have chosen Darkness are not your responsibility. And Dallas is no longer a fledgling. He is not your responsibility."

Stevie Rae's smile was crooked. "Are you jealous of Dallas?"

"Do not be ridiculous. I simply don't want to see you hurt again. Stop changing the subject."

"Hey, Dallas isn't my boyfriend anymore," she said.

"I know that."

"Are ya sure?"

"Yes. Of course." He shook himself and his wings unfurled. Stevie Rae's breath caught as she watched him. "Call your Zoey as you drive back to the safety of the school. I will see you again soon."

"Stay safe, 'kay?"

He turned to her and cupped her face in his hand. Stevie Rae closed her eyes and stood there, taking comfort and strength from his touch. Too soon it was gone. Too soon he was gone. She opened her eyes to watch his majestic wings beat against the night air and lift him higher, higher, until he disappeared into the barely discernable lightening of the eastern sky.

Rephaim had been right. It was too close to dawn for comfort. Stevie Rae hit redial as she hurried through the deserted mansion and back to the Bug.

"Hey, Z. It's me. I got some hard stuff to tell you, so brace yourself..."

Chapter Fifteen

Zoey

"Z? Are you still there? Are you okay? Say somethin'."

The worry in Stevie Rae's voice made me wipe the snot and tears from my face with the sleeve of my shirt and kinda sorta pull myself together. "I'm here. N-not okay, though," I said with a little hiccup.

"I know, I know. It's terrible."

"And there's no chance of a mistake? Jack's really dead?" I knew in my heart it was ridiculous to cross my fingers and close my eyes when I asked, but I had to give it one silly little-girl try. Please, please don't let it be true ...

"He's really dead," Stevie Rae said through her own tears. "There's no mistake, Z."

"It's so hard to believe, and it's just not fair!" It felt good to get mad, better than breaking down in completely useless snot and tears. "Jack was the sweetest guy in the world. He didn't deserve what happened to him."

"No," Stevie Rae said in a shaky voice. "He didn't deserve it. I-I wanna believe Nyx has him and is takin' care of him real good. You've been there--to the Otherworld, I mean. Is it true that it's wonderful there?"

Her question tugged at my heart. "I know we've never talked about it, but didn't you go there, before, you know, when you--"

"No!" she said as if she wanted to cut off my words. "I don't remember much from that time, but I do know I wasn't anywhere nice. And I didn't see Nyx."

The words came to me as I began to speak and I knew in my soul that Nyx was talking through me. "Stevie Rae, when you died Nyx was with you. You're her daughter. You have to remember that always. I don't know why you and the other kids died and undied, but I can tell you that I am one hundred percent sure Nyx never abandoned you. You just took a different path than Jack. He is in the Otherworld with the Goddess, and he's happier than he's ever been in his life. It's hard for those of us back here to understand, but I saw it with Heath. For whatever reason, it was Heath's time to die this go-round, and he belonged there, with Nyx. Just like Jack belongs there, too, now. I know in my heart that they are both completely at peace."

"Promise?"

"Absolutely. We have to be strong for each other back here, though, and believe we'll see them again someday."

"If you say it, then I'll believe it, Z," she said, her voice sounding better. "You really need to come home. It's not just me who needs to hear your High Priestess everything's-gonna-be-okay speech."

"Damien's pretty bad, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm worried 'bout him, and the Twins, and the rest of the kids. Heck, Z, I'm even worried 'bout Dragon. It's like the whole world is drownin' in sadness."

I didn't know what to say. No, that's not true. I did know what I wanted to say: I wanted to shriek, If the whole world's drowning in sadness why do I want to come back to it? But I knew that was weak and wrong on many different levels. So instead I said, kinda lamely, "We'll make it through this. We really will."

"Yeah, we will!" she said firmly. "Okay, look, together you and me, we gotta be able to figure out a way to expose Neferet's evil to the High Council once and for all."

"I still can't believe they bought that load of bullpoopie she shoveled at them," I said.

"Me neither. I guess it basically came down to a High Priestess's word against a dead human kid. Heath lost."

"Neferet isn't a High Priestess anymore! Jeesh, it pisses me off! And now it's not just Heath, but Jack. She's going to pay for what she did, Stevie Rae. I'm gonna make sure she does."

"She's gotta be stopped." "Yeah, she does." I knew we were right--that we had to fight to get Neferet out of power, but just the thought overwhelmed me. Even I heard the exhaustion in my voice. I was tired all the way down to my soul, truly sick and tired of fighting against Neferet's evil. It seemed like for every one step forward I won I was somehow, eventually, no matter what, knocked two steps back.