Hunted (House of Night #5)(80)

"No," I stiffened, getting ready to pull out of his arms. "It wouldn't be appropriate."

His chest rumbled under my ear as he chuckled. "Relax, will ya?"

"Then don't talk about seeing me naked."

"Okay." He caressed my hair silently for a little while, then he said, "That Raven Mocker hurt you pretty badly."

It wasn't a question, but I still said, "Yeah."

"Kalona doesn't want you hurt, so he'll be in for some shit when he gets back here."

"He won't be getting back. I killed him. Burned him up," I said simply.

"Good," he said. "Zoey, would you make me one more promise?"

"I suppose, but you don't seem one hundred percent happy when I keep my promises to you."

"I'll be happy if you keep this one."

"What is it this time?"

"Promise me if I become a real monster like them, you'll burn me up, too."

"That's not a promise I feel comfortable making," I said.

"Well, think about it because it might be a promise you'll have to fulfill."

We were silent again. The only sound in my room was Nala's soft snoring from the foot of my bed, and the steady beat of Stark's heart under my ear. He kept stroking my hair, and it wasn't long before my eyelids started to feel incredibly heavy. But before I fell asleep I had one more thing I wanted him to hear.

"Would you do something for me?" I asked sleepily.

"I think I'd do almost anything for you," Stark said.

"Stop calling yourself a monster."

His hand stilled for a moment. He shifted slightly and I felt his lips against my forehead. "Go to sleep now. I'll watch over you." I drifted to sleep while he was still slowly stroking my hair. Kalona didn't once enter my dreams.

Chapter Twenty-five

Stark was gone when I woke up. Feeling majorly refreshed as well as starving, I stretched and yawned, which is when I found the arrow lying on the pillow beside me. He'd broken it in half, which immediately caught my attention. I mean, I'm from a town named Broken Arrow. I know what the symbolism of an arrow snapped in half means--peace, an end to fighting. There was a note folded underneath the arrow pieces with my name printed on it. I opened it and read: I watched you while you were sleeping and you looked completely at peace. I wish I could feel that. I wish I could close my eyes and feel at peace. But I can't. I can't feel anything if I'm not with you, and even then all I can do is want something that I don't think I can ever have, at least not now. So I left this, and my peace, with you. Stark.

"What the hell does that mean?" I asked Nala.

My cat sneezed, "mee-uf-owed" grumpily at me, jumped from my bed, and padded to her food bowl. She looked back at me, purring like crazy.

"Okay, yeah, I know. I'm hungry, too." I fed my cat and thought about Stark while I got dressed for what I was sure would be a very weird school day. "Today we're getting out of here," I told my reflection firmly after I'd used the flatiron to semi-tame my hair.

I hurried downstairs and arrived in the kitchen just in time to grab my favorite cereal, Count Chocula, and join the Twins, who had their heads together and were whispering and looking annoyed.

"Hey, guys," I said, sitting next to them and pouring myself a huge bowl of chocolatey deliciousness. "What's up?"

Keeping her voice pitched low for my ears only, Erin said, "You'll see what's up once you sit here for just a few minutes."

"Yeah, observe the pod people," Shaunee whispered.

"Okayyyyy," I said slowly, adding milk to my cereal and watching the kids around us with what I hoped was utter nonchalance.

At first I really didn't notice much of anything. Girls were busy grabbing protein bars or cereal or some other favorite breakfast food. And then I realized that it wasn't what I was seeing that was weird--it was what I wasn't. There was none of the typical joking around going on where someone makes fun of someone else's hair, and then someone else tells her to tell her mom to be quiet. No one was talking about boys. At all. No one was complaining about not having their homework done. Actually, no one was saying much of anything. They were just chewing and breathing and smiling. A lot.

I gave the Twins a WTF look.

Pod people, Erin mouthed to me while Shaunee nodded her head.

"Almost as annoying as that ass**le Stark," Erin whispered.

I tried not to sound massively guilty when I said, "Stark? What about him?"

"The buttball walked through here while you were still upstairs. All like he owned the place and didn't care who Gheight="+S knew he'd been raping and pillaging some poor helpless pod girl," Shaunee said, still keeping her voice down.

"Yeah, you should have seen Becca. She panted after him like a terrier," Erin said. "And what did he do?" I asked, holding my breath.

"It was pathetic. He barely looked at her," Shaunee said.

"Talk about being used and then wadded up and thrown away like a snot rag," Erin said.

I was trying to figure out what I could say that would give me more info about what Stark had or hadn't done without letting the Twins know I cared as much as I was caring, and I thought I should maybe try to say a little something that would kinda somehow stand up for Stark, when Erin's eyes got all wide and buggy as she stared behind me.