Redeemed (House of Night #12)(43)

I signed in agreement, headed to the Council Chamber door, then almost crashed into Shaunee, who burst around the corner looking everywhere except right in front of her.

“Jeeze, be careful,” I said, grabbing her so that neither of us fell over.

“What in the world are you doin’ running around up here?” Stevie Rae asked. “My mamma would say you’re actin’ like your hair’s on fire.”

Shaunee raised a brow. “I’d rather have my hair on fire than have a lost cat. I can’t find Beelzebub anywhere.”

I’d been super happy to have discovered that while I was locked up, Shaunee and Kramisha had gone to the depot and brought all of our cats—and Duchess, of course—back to the House of Night. Nala had launched herself at me when I’d gone up to my dorm room to change, and I’d squeezed her so hard she’d been super disgruntled and sneezed in my face.

“Why are you stressing? You know how cats are—they come when then want and they go when they want. I have no clue where Maleficent is right now,” Aphrodite said.

“I just hope she’s not around here,” Stevie Rae said under her breath.

I jumped in before Aphrodite could start hissing. “I gotta agree with Aphrodite. Beelzebub is probably just glad to be out of those tunnels and he’s stretching his paws.”

“That’s what I’d think, too, but Beelzebub never misses dinnertime. Never. And I always feed him right before sunrise. I shook his Whiskas bag and he didn’t come running as usual. So I started checking things out. Have you guys noticed that the cats are being super stealthy?”

I thought about it. I’d seen Nala before we’d gone to the Mayo, but since we’d been back she hadn’t made an appearance. Actually, now that I was thinking about it, I hadn’t seen any of the cats recently. “Huh, now that you mention it, no. I haven’t seen any of the cats. Duchess was in the field house with Damien and Stark, but Cammy wasn’t with him, and neither was Nala.”

“Like that surprises you? Please. Don’t be asstards. The field house is swarming with humans. I’m not a cat, but that makes me want to be super stealthy. I sure as shit can’t blame them for disappearing.”

“Makes sense,” Stevie Rae said. “Cats are weird like that. No offense,” she added, glancing at Aphrodite.

“I embrace weird. As I’ve said before, normal is overrated.”

“Okay, well, I’ll try not to worry about him. Sorry I crashed into you guys. See you later.”

“Join us in the Council Chamber, young fledgling.” Kalona’s voice surprised all of us.

“He lives in super stealth mode,” Stevie Rae whispered to me.

“Thanks for asking, Kalona, but no thanks,” Shaunee told him. “No one ever leaves a Council Meeting saying, ‘Wow! That was fun! I can’t wait to do it again!’”

I started to laugh and wave Shaunee away, but then my gut kicked in, making my mouth say, “Actually, I’d appreciate it if you did join us.”

Shaunee stopped, sighed, and shrugged. “All right. I guess it’s better than making beds in the field house.”

I smiled my thanks to her and the five of us entered the Council Chamber.

Thanatos and Grandma were sitting beside each other. Lenobia was there as well. I was surprised to see Detective Marx standing, arms crossed, behind Thanatos. I thought there wasn’t anyone else in the room, but a movement in the darkness by the rear door caught my eye, and I saw Aurox was there again, as if stationed on guard. He didn’t look at me.

“Zoey, Aphrodite, Stevie Rae, Kalona, please come in—sit,” Thanatos said. “Shaunee, I don’t believe I called for you.”

“I asked her to join us,” I said.

“Then she is welcome as well,” Thanatos said, gesturing for us to take our seats.

It wasn’t until I got to the table that I saw that the big, flat screen of the computer was lit up. I blinked in surprise and then smiled and hurried the last few feet to the table.

“Sgiach! Hi, it’s super awesome to see you!” I blurted.

The queen smiled and responded much more regally (and appropriately), “Merry meet, Zoey. It pleases me to see you as well.”

“We called Queen Sgiach, thinking to speak with one of her Warriors who could relay the message to her that we would like to confer,” Thanatos explained.

“And then were surprised—and pleased—when the queen herself answered our call,” Grandma added.

I quickly added in my head: if it was almost 6:00 A.M. in Tulsa, it had to be almost noon in Scotland. What the heck was Sgiach doing awake? I took a closer look at the queen. She was seated at the huge wooden desk in her private library—that all seemed normal. But Sgiach wasn’t looking normal. Her hair was crazy messy. Her face was smudged with dirt and, I leaned closer to the screen to get a better look … “Blood! Why is there blood and dirt on you? Are you okay?”

“I live,” Sgiach said, which I didn’t think really answered my question.

“Where’s Shawnus?” Aphrodite asked, mispronouncing Sgiach’s Guardian’s name on purpose.

“Seoras,” the queen said, enunciating it correctly and giving Aphrodite a narrow-eyed look, “is leading the daylight guard and protecting the island.”