Destined (House of Night #9)(60)

"Does she charge by the hour?" she asked, petting Nala who had definitely turned her purr machine on high.

"Yep. She works for catnip. Lots of it."

Stevie Rae smiled and wiped her eyes. "I'll be sure to get me a bunch."

"Wanna call your mom? Would that make you feel better?"

"Nah, she's busy getting breakfast for my brothers. I'm fine."

I gave her A Look.

"Okay, well, I'll be fine. I'm just so worried about Rephaim. I know y'all can't forget that he's a Raven Mocker, but I wish you could understand that he's really not evil anymore. Since Nyx changed him, he's just a regular boy during the sunset hours. And he doesn't know much about being a boy.

Z, I'm afraid Kalona is gonna to do something that will make him mess up, and then he'll have his humanity taken away from him." She burst into noisy tears.

I pulled her into a big hug, complaining Nala and all. "No, honey! That's not gonna happen. Once the Goddess gives a gift she doesn't take it away, even if free will makes someone totally mess things up. I mean, Neferet is the perfect example. She's seriously, totally messed up and still has a bunch of Goddess-given powers. Rephaim is gonna stay a boy at night. What you have to do is decide whether you can live with the weakness that his being human brings with it."

"But love isn't a weakness," she said.

"Loving the wrong person is," I said.

Her eyes got big and round and more tears spilled over them. "Do you think it's wrong that I love him?"

"No, honey. I think it's wrong that he loves Kalona-and that makes him weak." I paused and in a small voice admitted, "I know about that. I've been there. You know I thought I loved Kalona and that made me believe he was changing."

"Yeah, I figured that."

"It took him killing Heath to wake me up," I said.

"What if it takes something terrible like that to get Rephaim to quit believing he will change?" I sighed. "Maybe it's not so much that Rephaim thinks Kalona will change, but more that he hopes he will."

"Is there a difference between the two?"

"Yeah, I think there's a big difference between believing something will happen and just hoping for it," I said. "Give Rephaim a chance to deal with this. It's a hard thing, and like you said, it's all new to him. Just love him for a while and see what happens. I do believe he'd never hurt you on purpose," I said.

"I'll love him and see what happens," she agreed. Then she drew a deep breath and hugged me hard, causing Nala to grumble and squirm.

Stevie Rae and I laughed at her and spent some time settling the cat down, and then I said, "Okay, I'm gonna fall over right here if I don't get to my bed." I kissed Nala on top of the head and handed her to Stevie Rae. "Keep Dr. Nal. She's a good cuddler."

"Thanks, Z. You're the best."

I ducked out of Stevie Rae's blanket door and made my way slowly down the tunnel until I came to the pink My Little Pony blanket I'd made Stark tack up as our door. I ran my hand down the soft front of it and let myself smile as I remembered how I used to play dress up with My Little Pony and how Mom had cut some of the ponies' hair short so I'd know which were the boys and which were the girls.

Mom ...

I closed my eyes and centered myself. "Spirit, I need you," I called softly. I felt the infilling of the element almost immediately. "This time could you stay with me a little while, just until I fall asleep?" Spirit answered my question with a rush of feeling that made me feel warm and very tired.

I ducked under the pink blanket and walked quietly to the bed. I knew he'd be asleep. I lay down beside him, pulled my blue blanket over both of us, and watched Stark for a few minutes while I let spirit lull me. He was frowning in his sleep. Under his eyelids I could see his eyes moving like he was watching a Ping-Pong match with his eyes closed. I touched his forehead gently, with just the tips of my fingers, trying to soothe away his stress. "It's okay," I whispered. "Don't have bad dreams." It seemed to work a little because he let out a long breath, his face relaxed, and he threw an arm around me so I could snuggle close while I finally fell into deep, dreamless sleep.

Kalona

At first it had been simple, even accidental, that Kalona had followed the thread of shared immortal spirit that bound him with Stark. He had slipped into the young vampyre's mind easily. But as the days multiplied and their experience in the Otherworld faded further and further into the past, Kalona found the job of invading Stark's subconscious more and more difficult.

The boy's mind was rebelling.

Kalona's invading spirit had to remain still and simply observe, or only make small suggestions to the Warrior Guardian of Zoey Redbird, or Stark's subconscious resisted and, more often than not, severed the thread that tied the two of them, ejecting Kalona's spirit in a most uncomfortable manner.

Of course it did tend to be easier if the boy was distracted by either making love to Zoey or when he was asleep and dreaming.

Initially, Kalona had preferred entering Stark as he entered Zoey. It was, indeed, pleasurable. But the sex was also a diversion the winged immortal didn't need. So as the days and nights passed, Kalona had returned to a skil he'd perfected eons ago-he entered Stark's dreams.