Burned (House of Night #7)(80)

As he stood up and began reaching for the wires he'd used before to channel power, Stevie Rae moved.

Pulling Rephaim with her, Stevie Rae backed from the kitchen. Stepping outside the entrance, she lifted her hand, took a deep breath, and said, "Earth, close this for me, please."

"No!" Dallas yelled.

Rephaim got a brief glimpse of him grabbing the wire and pointing at them, and then with a sound like the soughing of wind through autumn boughs, the earth rained down in front of them, closing the tunnel entrance to the kitchen and shielding them from the wrath of Darkness.

"Can you walk okay?" Stevie Rae asked.

"Yes. I'm not hurt badly. Or at least I'm not anymore. Your earth made sure of that," he said, looking down at her where she stood small, but proud and powerful in the circle of his arm.

"Okay, then. We gotta get outta here." Stevie Rae stepped from his side and began hurrying down the tunnel. "There's another way outta the kitchen. He'll be out in no time, and we need to be gone from here then."

"Why don't you just seal the other exit, too?" he asked as he followed her.

The glance she gave him was visibly annoyed. "What, and kill him? Uh, no. He's not really that bad, Rephaim. He just went nuts 'cause Darkness was messin' with him, and he found out about me and you."

Me and you . . .

Rephaim wanted to hold on to the words that linked them together, but he couldn't. There was no time for such things. Rephaim shook his head. "No, Stevie Rae. Darkness wasn't just messing with him.

Dallas chose to embrace it."

He thought she'd argue with him. Instead, he saw her shoulders slump. She didn't look back at him, but only said, "Yeah, I heard him."

They climbed the ladder silently and were making their way through the basement, when a sound drifted to Rephaim through the wrenched-open gate. He was just thinking that it seemed familiar when Stevie Rae gasped, "He's takin' the Bug!" and she sprinted outside with Rephaim at her heels.

They emerged in time to see the little blue car pulling out of the parking lot.

"Well, that sucks like roadkill," Stevie Rae said.

Rephaim's sharp eyes went to the eastern horizon, which was beginning to go from black to a predawn gray.

"You need to get back into the tunnels," he said.

"Can't. Lenobia and those guys'll be here crazy fast if I'm not back by dawn."

"I will leave," he said. "Return to the Gilcrease. Then you can rest underground, and your friends will find you. You'll be safe."

"What if Dallas is hotfootin' it back to the House of Night? He'll tell them about us."

Rephaim hesitated only for a moment. "Then do what you must. You know where I will be." He turned to leave.

"Take me with you."

Her words made his body freeze. He didn't look at her. "It's close to dawn."

"You're healed, aren't you?"

"I am."

"You're strong enough to fly and carry me?"

"Yes, I am."

"Then take me back to the Gilcrease with you. I'll bet that old place has a basement."

"What about your friends - the other red fledglings?" he said.

"I'll call Kramisha and tell her Dallas has lost his mind, and I'm safe, but not in the tunnels, and that I'll explain stuff tomorrow."

"When they find out about me, it will appear you're choosing me over them."

"What I'm choosing is to take some time to think before I have to deal with the shitstorm Dallas is brewin' up," she said. Then, in a much softer voice, she added, "Unless you don't want me to come with you. You could take off - get outta here - then you won't have to deal with the mess that's comin'."

"Am I or am I not your consort?" Rephaim asked the question before he could stop himself.

"Yes. You are my consort."

He hadn't known he was holding his breath until it left him in a long, relieved sigh. Rephaim opened his arms to her. "Then you should come with me. I will see you rest undisturbed today."

"Thank you," she said, and then Rephaim's High Priestess stepped into his arms. He held her tightly while his powerful wings lifted them into the sky.

Rephaim

Stevie Rae had been right. There was a basement in the old mansion. It had stone walls and a

hard-packed dirt floor, but it was surprisingly dry and comfortable. With a relieved sigh, Stevie Rae settled herself, sitting cross-legged, leaning against the cement wall, and pulled out her cell phone.

Rephaim stood there, not sure what he should do, while she called the fledgling named Kramisha and began a dialogue of hasty and sketchy explanations as to why she wouldn't be returning to the school: Dallas has lost his damn mind . . . electricity must have jacked with his good sense . . . kicked me outta Z's car on the way back to the House of Night . . . no, I'm fine . . . probably be back tomorrow night . . .

Feeling like an interloper, Rephaim left her to talk with her fledgling in privacy. He returned to the attic and paced before the open door of the closet he'd transformed into a nest.

He was tired. Even though he was fully healed, racing the sunrise carrying Stevie Rae had sapped his reserves of strength. He should retreat to the closet and rest during the daylight hours. Stevie Rae wouldn't leave the basement until sunset.