Redeemed (House of Night #12)(37)

Aphrodite glared at her and brushed the iPad away. “Seriously? The assembly just ended. You were on YouTube when I was speaking?”

“Seriously.” Nicole rolled her eyes. “Get over it. Everyone was on YouTube. You have to check this out.” She shoved the iPad at Aphrodite.

“Being a teacher is a pain in the ass. Teenagers suck,” Aphrodite said, still ignoring the iPad.

“Ohmygoodness, is that Kalona? On YouTube?” Stevie Rae pushed around Aphrodite to peek at the screen.

“What? Kalona?” Lenobia hurried to join Stevie Rae, with Darius and Rephaim close behind.

“Fine. I’ll look. Now that I’m done telling the entire student body that we’re going to have to save the world. Again.” Aphrodite glanced at the screen and her eyes went huge and round. “Oh, for shit’s sake! What took you so long to tell us? Turn that damn thing up!” She grabbed the iPad, tapped the replay button, and turned the volume up all the way.

The video wasn’t professional, but the beginning of it was super clear. First, it focused on Thanatos. She was standing in front of a seriously messed-up-looking building that appeared to be covered with a slimy black curtain. They watched as the High Priestess finished her spellwork, raising her arms and cradling a bunch of beautiful glowing orbs. When they whooshed off into the sky, the video was still focused on Thanatos, but in the background they could hear Neferet yelling.

“Death’s crone, you have no dominion over my Temple!”

The video shifted so that they could see Neferet standing in front of what had to be the Mayo.

“She’s a bunch of fries short of a Happy Meal,” Stevie Rae said.

Aphrodite didn’t take her eyes off the screen. “That’s all you got, bumpkin?”

“I’d say crazier than a shit house rat,” Nicole said.

“No one asked—” Aphrodite began, but the explosion on the video cut off her words.

“Oh, Goddess, no!” Lenobia gasped as they watched Neferet blast a wave of Darkness after Thanatos and the rest of them.

“Father’s saving them!” Rephaim said.

“Look at him move.” Darius’s voice was hushed, respectful. “His speed and strength are incredible.”

Aphrodite didn’t get a chance to agree. The video ended with whoever was taking it jostling around to get inside the school’s Hummer, though he still managed to film Neferet and her bloody tentacles of Darkness slithering back inside the Mayo.

Then the interview began, and Aphrodite had to tell herself to close her unattractively gaping mouth because there sat Kalona, next to Thanatos—wings and all—on Fox 23.

“I am Kalona, immortal brother of Erebus. Once, when the earth was younger, I was Warrior and companion to the Goddess Nyx, but I chose poorly and because of that I Fell from the side of my Goddess in the Otherworld to this realm.”

“Erebus’s brother? You’ve got to f**king be kidding!” Aphrodite felt like her brain was going to explode.

“It is the truth,” Darius said quietly as the video concluded.

The screen went dark and Aphrodite stared at him. “You knew?”

“Yes, Kalona told us—Zoey, Stark, me,” Darius admitted.

“And none of you thought that was important enough to tell any of the rest of us?” Lenobia asked, looking almost as annoyed as Aphrodite felt.

Darius’s wide shoulders shrugged. “Honestly, I didn’t give the truth of it much thought. Kalona’s veracity has been more than questionable since the moment he appeared here.”

“But now you believe him,” Rephaim said.

Darius met his gaze. “I do.”

“Rephaim, did you know your daddy was Erebus’s brother?” Stevie Rae asked.

Bird Boy’s eyes looked sad. “Father never speaks of before.”

“Which means no, you did not?” Aphrodite asked.

“Correct,” Rephaim said, sounding eerily like his father.

“This changes things,” Lenobia said.

“Yeah, in an awesome way.” Nicole nodded like a bobblehead. “It means we have Nyx’s Warrior on our team.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Aphrodite said dryly. “It means we have Nyx’s ex-Warrior who screwed up so badly he got kicked out of the Otherworld on our team. And that isn’t so awesome.”

“He said he’s trying to atone,” Rephaim said.

“And he saved Thanatos and the rest of them,” Darius said.

“Sorry, but I’m not ready to jump blindly on Team Kalona,” Aphrodite said.

“I think it is blind to ignore what is in front of our eyes,” Rephaim said, gesturing at the dark iPad screen.

“And I think there’s a whole bunch of stuff about Kalona we don’t know.” She paused and gave Darius a hard look. “Or at least most of us don’t know. Now, if there isn’t something you’d rather do, I’d appreciate it if you’d round up all of the fledglings you think might have some Warrior talent. I’m pretty sure Thanatos is going to want a battle-ready head count. After watching Crazy on YouTube, I have a feeling Neferet’s not going to give a shit about Team Kalona.” Aphrodite slapped her forehead and then added sarcastically, “Wait! Effing Neferet probably already knows about the Kalona slash Erebus connection like practically everyone else except me.” She flipped back her hair and twitched away.