Hunted (House of Night #5)(46)

"She has a point, which makes the circle complete without me," Stevie Rae said. "As much as I want to stay with you, Darius is right. I can't take the chance that I can't get back here to my fledglings."

"You are all forgetting another reason the rest of you can't return with Zoey," Darius said. "Neferet, and perhaps even Kalona, can read your minds. Which means everything you know about the red fledglings and this safe haven, they will know, too."

"Uh, guys, I have an idea," Heath spoke up. "Okay, I don't really know much about this stuff, so I might be totally wrong, but can't each of you get help from an element to, I dunno, set up some kind of roadblock around your minds?"

I blinked in surprise at Heath and then grinned. "You might be on to something. What do you think, Damien?"

Damien looked excited. "I @all spirom think we were idiots not to have thought of it ourselves." He smiled at Heath. "Well done, you!"

Heath shrugged and looked adorable. "No problem. Sometimes it takes someone from the outside to figure stuff out."

"You really believe that could work?" Darius asked.

"It should," Damien said. "Or at least it should for those of us who have an actual affinity for an element. The Twins and I have called our elements to protect and shield before. It shouldn't be hard to ask them to put up barriers around our minds." He hesitated and glanced at Aphrodite. "But can you do it? You don't really have an affinity for spirit, do you? I'm not trying to be mean, but just because you can stand in Zoey's place and evoke the element within a circle, it doesn't mean you are actually able to conjure spirit on your own."

"I don't have to conjure spirit to protect my mind," Aphrodite said. "Neferet hasn't been able to read my mind from the day I was Marked, just like she hasn't been able to read Zoey. And I have to tell you I'm getting damn tired of you guys giving me shit because I'm a human again!" "Okay, you're right about the mind reading part. Sorry about that," Damien said. "But I think we should know for sure if spirit will really work for Aphrodite, before we blunder back into the House of Night."

"Yeah, Aphrodite," Jack said. "We're not being judgmental about you being a human and all. We just need to know if your spirit mojo works."

I had a sudden thought. "It doesn't really matter whether Aphrodite can conjure the element outside a circle casting, because I can. Spirit," I said softly, "come to me." As easily as drawing a breath, I evoked the element and felt its wonderful presence. "Now go to Aphrodite. Protect and serve her." I flicked my fingers wearily in her direction, and felt spirit rush away from me. An instant later Aphrodite's big blue eyes widened and she smiled.

"Hey! It works," she said.

"How long can you keep that up?" Erik asked me.

Annoyed at the total lack of emotion in his voice, I snapped, "As long as I have to."

"So the circle stays intact," Damien said.

"Yeah, we all go with Z back to school," Erin said.

"Together. The five of us," Shaunee said.

"I feel like one of the dorky Mouseketeers," Aphrodite said, but she was smiling.

"We're agreed, then," Darius said. "The five of you and I will return. Stevie Rae, Erik, Jack, and Heath stay here."

"Hell no, he doesn't stay here," Erik said, finally showing some emotion.

"Dude, you don't have shit to say about it. Anyway, I'm not staying. I'm going with Zoey."

"You can't, Heath. It's way too dangerous," I said.

&ld to say ab$@quo;Aphrodite's human and she can go. So can I," he said stubbornly.

"Moron football boy, first, I might be human, but I'm also special, so I go. Second, you can't go because they can use you to get to Zoey. You're Imprinted with her again. They hurt you; they hurt Zoey. So show some sense and take your butt back to suburbia."

"Oh. I hadn't thought about it like that," Heath said.

"You have to go home, Heath. We'll talk later after things have settled down."

"Shouldn't I stay here, where I'm close to you? So if you need me you can get to me fast."

I wanted to say yes, even with Erik watching me all dead-faced and even knowing that the best thing for Heath was if I never saw him again. Our Imprint was incredibly strong, even more so than it had been the first time. I could feel him, so close and sweet and familiar, and even though I knew it was wrong and knew I shouldn't, I wanted to keep him beside me. But then I remembered how Kramisha had looked at him, like she wanted to take a chomp outta him. I knew that his blood would taste funny to any other fledgling or vampyre because we'd Imprinted, but I couldn't be sure that would stop them from wanting to sample it. Just thinking about someone else drinking from Heath made me feel seriously pissed.

"No, Heath," I insisted. "You have to go home. It's not safe for you here."

"I don't care if I'm safe or not. I care about being with you," Heath said.

"I know, but I care if you're safe or not. So, go home. I'll call you as soon as I can." "Okay, but I'll be back here the second you call," he said.

"Want me to walk him outside?" Stevie Rae asked. "The tunnels can be kinda confusing if you're not familiar with them."