Redeemed (House of Night #12)(46)

“Look to the most ancient rituals and spells,” Sgiach said. “Do not think to defeat Neferet—you cannot do that without Old Magick. Think to isolate her, distract her, annoy her—anything you can do that forces her to rethink her plots and plans, anything that is a stumbling block slows Neferet, thus aiding you.”

“And giving Zoey more time to discover the path to commanding Old Magick,” Grandma said.

I sent her a nervous smile, wishing I had the confidence in myself she had in me.

“I’ll try as hard as I can, I promise,” I said.

“You cannot try, Zoey. Trying is far too dangerous. You can do nothing until you know you have banished from yourself all negatives: fear and anger, selfishness, vindictiveness, hatred, and even annoyance and frustration. Only then will you command and control Old Magick. Until then Aphrodite is to keep the Seer Stone far from you. We do not need to be battling two immortals who once were gifted Priestess of our Goddess.”

I couldn’t believe what she’d just said! She was actually sounding like she believed I could turn out like Neferet!

“I’m not immortal! I’m just a kid who doesn’t want anything to do with Old Magick or that damn Seer Stone!”

“I would imagine a young Neferet would have said much the same thing, and she was far from ‘just a kid’ as well,” Sgiach said.

Before I could even begin to recover from that horrid statement, Thanatos added, “I have only known one other fledgling who was as gifted as you are, Zoey Redbird. Her name was Neferet.”

I held tight to Grandma’s hand, feeling like my world was falling away from me.

“And now I must tend to my own flood,” Sgiach said. “I trust you, Zoey. I believe you will find a way to bring the forces of Old Magick into our battle on the side of Light. Until I see you again, may you blessed be.”

Then the Skype connection clicked off, leaving the room in utter silence.

Zoey

“Obviously, this is your fault,” Aphrodite told Kalona before turning to me and adding, “If you start calling me Frodo I’m going to be pissed.”

“Not to be mean or anything, Aphrodite, but you are Frodo-ing for Z,” Stevie Rae said.

“If that’s true, then that would make you a short, fat Samwise Gamgee,” Aphrodite said.

“A teenager?” Marx’s voice grumbled from behind us. “Why would the power to balance good and evil be given to a teenager?”

I frowned at him.

“I have been wondering that for months,” Kalona said.

“I must insist on productive discussion only!” Thanatos’s voice cut through the room, making even Marx and Kalona look sheepish.

“Actually,” I said hesitantly, “Detective Marx’s comment got me thinking.”

“I didn’t mean it to sound so rude,” Marx insisted.

“Oh, I know,” I said. “What you said wasn’t rude—it was just the truth. Why would the balance of good and evil be dependent on me?” I hurried on, not wanting my thoughts to get interrupted. “Maybe it’s not me, or even us, that’s so important. Sgiach says Old Magick is what’s important. Basically, I’m just along for the ride because for some reason that none of us gets, it works through me. So, like I said, it’s not me who’s important. It’s the magick.”

“What are you getting at, Zoeybird?” Grandma asked.

“Well, Old Magick responds to Sgiach, too. Thanatos, Lenobia, please correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Sgiach the personification of her island?”

“She is,” Thanatos said, and Lenobia nodded her agreement.

“Old Magick is in the land,” Grandma said, sitting up straighter in her chair. “Just as our Cherokee ancestors believed.”

“Oklahoma holds ancient power within its red dirt,” Kalona said. “I know. It drew me here not long after I was created, and again after I Fell.”

“And it entrapped you for centuries,” Thanatos said.

Kalona’s jaw tightened, but he nodded. “It did.”

“The day I was Marked, I ran away to your farm, remember, Grandma?” My voice was getting less hesitant as my thoughts discovered a path to follow. “I passed out trying to find you.”

“I remember,” Grandma said. “That was the first time Nyx appeared to you.”

“Yes! She told me that I was supposed to be her eyes and ears in a world that was struggling to find the balance of good and evil.”

“Even then the Goddess was warning us through you,” Thanatos said.

“Seems like it took way too long for us to listen,” Stevie Rae said.

“Not just you guys,” I said, “but me, too. I don’t think I really understood what Nyx was warning me about until now. I mostly just paid attention to the part she said about Light not always being good, and Darkness not always equating to evil. I thought Nyx was telling me to beware of Neferet, because Neferet’s so gorgeous to look at, but she’s totally rotten inside.”

“Makes sense,” Aphrodite said.

“Totally true,” Stevie Rae said.

“Yeah, but check out what else Nyx said. I remember she told me that I was special, her first U-we-tsi-a-ge-ya V-hna-I Sv-no-yi.”

“Daughter of Night,” Grandma translated for me.