Redeemed (House of Night #12)(60)

I started to get up, but Grandma pressed my shoulder down, sitting beside me. “Eat and drink first. Besides Thanatos, you are the last to awaken.”

“So, she’s okay? She’s just sleeping?” I asked around a mouthful of corn.

“She seems well, though she doesn’t wake. Tell me, Zoeybird, do you remember your dreams?”

I shook my head. “I only remember seeing everyone passing out, and then I fainted. Then I smelled your corn and thought I was at your house.”

She smiled again. “I brought supplies with me. Corn is always eaten after a Busk Ceremony. I thought it would be appropriate after this ceremony as well.”

“It’s perfect, Grandma. And yummy, too. As usual.” I chewed quickly and swallowed, then asked, “Did it really work? Is Tulsa protected from the Mayo?”

“Well, I don’t know about the Mayo, but Tulsa is protected from the rest of the world.”

I looked up to see Detective Marx approaching me. He had his phone in his hand and a super-shocked look on his face.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“It means this ancient spell Thanatos cast is working exactly like the spell Cleopatra cast around Alexandria. The 911 lines are flooded. Apparently, there is a selective wall of fire stranding some people inside the city limits and stopping others from entering Tulsa—and that includes the FBI team that was supposed to be providing our backup.”

“Thanatos’s spell asked that no one with ill intent enter or leave Tulsa,” I said. “Wow, it did work!”

“The FBI can be a pain in the ass, but they don’t wish us ill,” Marx said.

“They intend violence. Do you think violence is a positive or negative thing, Detective?” Aurox asked, joining us.

Marx frowned. “If I had to make a blanket categorization, I’d have to say violence is negative, but there’s way more to it than that. Violence can be used in a positive way, to protect and serve. I’d know a little something about that.”

Grandma nodded in acknowledgment. “We are all quite sure you do, Detective. It has been your life’s work.”

“And mine,” Aurox said. “That is why I understand it so intimately. Be it good or ill willed, there should be choices made that do not include violence. Thanatos has seen enough death to understand that, too. She cast a spell as raw and basic as Old Magick, and as Zoey can tell you, Old Magick works on intent more than anything else.”

“Thanatos’s intent wasn’t just to stop Neferet. It also was to stop the violence and chaos that are going on in our unbalanced world,” I said.

“You do understand,” Aurox said.

I started to tell him I understood and agreed, when the phone I’d stuck in my pocket started vibrating like crazy. “Sorry, I thought I turned this off,” I said, pulling it out of my pocket to see Aphrodite’s picture lighting up the screen.

“Speak to your Prophetess,” Grandma said.

I tapped the phone. “Hey,” I said.

“Get back here. Now,” Aphrodite said.

“What’s going on?”

“Kalona’s back. The spell worked. One of Neferet’s hostages got out. And to say Neferet’s pissed is like saying Louis Vuitton makes cute purses. Hello, understatement of the decade.”

“Okay, we’re on our way.” I clicked off and faced my audience, which now included Stevie Rae, Damien, and Shaylin. “It worked. Totally. And Kalona got one of Neferet’s hostages out. They’re waiting for us at the House of Night.”

“Neferet will be furious,” Grandma said.

“And hard to contain,” Damien said.

I glanced at the tent that held Thanatos in time to see Shaunee coming out to join us. She looked tired, but she seemed to be okay. “The spell worked,” I told her.

Shaunee nodded. “I know. I can feel it whenever the protective wall flames on.”

“You should eat more,” Damien said. “You don’t look grounded yet.”

“I’ll unwrap the sandwiches I brought and get more corn,” Grandma said, reaching into her bottomless picnic basket.

“You do look really tired. Are you okay?” I asked Shaunee.

She didn’t answer for long enough that I started to worry. Finally she said, “I’m not bad, but I’m not okay, either. And I can say the same for Thanatos.”

“Did she wake up?” I peered around Shaunee, but all I saw was the High Priestess’s motionless form.

“She’s not asleep,” Shaunee said. “She’s meditating. It’s only the power of her intent, mixed with the power of my element, that is holding the spell in place.”

“How long can you two keep this up?” Detective Marx asked.

Shaunee’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t know. It’s hard—really hard—and draining. It’s like I’m running a marathon without moving. I don’t understand how Cleopatra kept her spell up for all those years.”

“She wielded Old Magick.” I felt guilty as hell. “I wish I could help you!”

“’Course ya do, Z. We all know that. And we all believe you’ll figure it out,” Stevie Rae said.

“Go back to the school, Z. Meditate, pray, do whatever you have to do to find a way to use your Seer Stone,” Shaunee said. “Thanatos and I can’t hold on for the years Cleopatra did.”