Hunted (House of Night #5)(71)

"He's not kidding. They are everywhere. It's like Invasion of the f**king Body Snatchers," Aphrodite said. "The good guys look the same on the outside, but are screwed on the inside, and the Raven Mockers are the damn aliens."

"And the Sons of Erebus? Are they supporting this?" Darius asked.

"I haven't seen one warrior since Aristos escorted us onto campus," Damien said. "How about you guys?"

The Twins and Aphrodite shook their heads no.

"This is so not good," I said. I rubbed my forehead as a wave of exhaustion engulfed me. What were we going to do? Who were our friends? And how the hell were we going to get out of the House of Night and to what I could only hope would be safety?

Chapter Twenty-two

"Zoey? Are you okay?"

I looked up to meet Damien's soft brown eyes. Before I could answer him, Darius spoke up.

"She is not. Zoey must get sleep; she must rest to restore her strength."

"How's your nasty, ugly, gaping wound?" Erin asked.

"It doesn't look like you're bleeding through that charming hospital garb, so we assumed you were fixed right up," Shaunee said.

"I'm better, but I'm having an issue with getting my strength back. It's like I'm a cell phone with a messed-up charger."

"You must rest," Darius repeated. "Your wound was almost fatal. Recovery takes time."

"We don't have time!" I yelled in frustration. "We need to get the hell out of here and away from Kalona until we can figure out how we can beat him."

"Getting out of here isn't going to be as easy as it was last time," Damien said.

Aphrodite snorted. "As if that was easy!"

"It will be compared to what we're up against now," Damien continued. "Raven Mockers are everywhere. Last night they were attacking people randomly. It was mass confusion then, and that helped us slip away. Today they're well organized and stationed all over."

"I saw them around the perimeter. They've more than doubled the guards we had before," Darius said.

"But there aren't any of them outside the dorm, like you used to be," I said to him.

"It's because they don't care whether we're safe. They just care that we don't leave the school," Damien said.

"Why?" I asked wearily, rubbing at my temple where a headache was starting to pound.

"What ever they're planning needs isolation right now," Darius said.

"Doesn't that point more to them just taking over this House of Night, versus trying anything with the High Council?" Aphrodite said.

She asked me, but when I couldn't make myself give her the reassuring response she was obviously hoping for, Darius spoke up.

"Perhaps, but it is too early to really know." "Well, the ice storm's helping with the isolation thing. Power is down everywhere. Cell phone ser vice is sketchy. Except for little pockets being run by generators, Tulsa's blacked out," Damien said.

"I wonder if Nyx's High Council even knows Shekinah is dead," Darius said.

I looked at Damien. "What happens when the High Priestess of all Vampyres dies?"

Damien's forehead scrunched up as he thought. "Well, if I remember correctly from Vamp Soc class, Nyx's Council meets and elects a new High Priestess. That only happens about once every three to five hundred years. Once elected, a High Priestess reigns for her entire life. The election is a big deal, especially when it's sudden like this one will have to be."

I perked up. "Doesn't it make sense that Nyx's Council would be verrrry interested in how Shekinah suddenly dropped dead?"

Damien nodded. "I'd definitely say so."

"S _uOrdqo that might be a major reason for Kalona wanting to keep our House of Night isolated. He doesn't want the attention of the High Council," Aphrodite said.

"Or he does want their attention--as in presenting Neferet as the new vamp High Priestess, but they are gathering their power so they can be sure of the Council's vote."

There was a dead silence in the room as everyone stared in horror at me.

"We cannot allow that to happen," Darius finally spoke.

"We won't," I said firmly, hoping we'd somehow be able to back up my statement. "Hey, is Kalona still saying he's Erebus come to earth?" I asked.

"Yeah," Erin said.

"And even though it sounds stupid, everyone believes him," Shaunee said.

"Did you actually see Kalona today?" I asked Shaunee. "I mean, except for when we first got here?"

She shook her head, "Nope."

I looked from her to Erin.

"Ditto. I didn't see him either," she said.

"Didn't see him," Damien said.

"Neither did I, and I say good riddance," Aphrodite said.

"Yeah, but you might be the only one," I said slowly. I looked from the Twins to Damien. "We've already said that Kalona has some kind of mojo crap he uses on everyone. It even works on us, or at least it does unless we don't look him in the eye and fight it real hard--and we were ready for him. We knew he was evil. Hell, it took me seeing him almost choke Darius to death for me to stop panting over him."