Revealed (House of Night #11)(63)

“Zoey, would you go check on my kids? Tell them that I’m gonna be okay? You know Kramisha and Shaylin are gonna be freakin’ out when they hear what happened.” Stevie Rae’s voice was getting weaker and weaker, and even though she was smiling at me and holding Rephaim’s hand, she’d laid back on her pillow, looking exhausted and broiled.

“No problem,” I assured her. “I don’t want you to worry about anything except getting well. Aphrodite and Shaunee and I will all go see the kids and make sure they know you’re gonna be just fine.”

“Good. While you’re speaking to the red fledglings you can tell them that even though it is Saturday I have decided the House of Night needs an extra day of classes to make up for all the school time we have missed. I have already notified the professors. I will make a schoolwide announcement in a few moments. I expect everyone in their first-hour classes at eight P.M., sharp. Tardiness is unacceptable. Violence and hatred will not throw my House of Night into chaos,” Thanatos said.

“Oh, for shit’s sake—school—ugh,” Aphrodite muttered under her breath.

“I think that’s an awesome idea,” Stevie Rae said. “Take notes for me, Z.”

“Okie dokie,” I said, thinking that I’d get Damien to take notes for her. “I’ll come see you after class.”

“We all will,” Shaunee said.

Aphrodite grunted.

So, Stevie Rae had been totally right. Her red fledglings were freaked. Kramisha descended on us the second we entered the basement.

“If she ain’t okay I’m gonna shank Dallas my own self.”

“Stevie Rae’s going to be fine,” I assured her and the other kids who were clustering around.

“He really tried to kill her, didn’t he?” Everyone turned to Nicole, who was standing off from the group, with only Shaylin near her.

“Dallas tried to kill Stevie Rae and Shaunee,” I said, meeting her gaze and looking for any clue that she’d known what he’d planned.

Nicole’s expression didn’t betray anything except disgust. She shook her head. “He got worse and worse, but I didn’t think he’d try anything right here at the House of Night.”

“You used to be like him,” I said.

“You’re right. I used to be. Not anymore. Not for a while now.”

“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Shaunee asked.

“I believe her.” Shaylin spoke with no hesitation. “I’ve watched her colors change.”

I looked to Aphrodite. “You’re still sure about her?”

“Who her? Shaylin or Nicole?”

“Both,” I said.

Aphrodite’s gaze flicked over Shaylin before coming back to me. “I trust Shaylin’s judgment. If she says the girl’s changed, then I say believe her.”

“She used to be Dallas’s girlfriend, and Dallas just tried to kill Stevie Rae and me!” Shaunee blurted. “I’m not being a bitch—I’m just telling it like it is.”

I heard a few of the kids mutter in agreement with her. Nicole’s face had paled, but she’d lifted her chin and faced Shaunee. “Erin was Dallas’s girlfriend and you still cared enough about her to stand by her pyre until after dawn.”

“I knew Erin a long time,” Shaunee said. “I’ve known you for, like, two seconds.”

“Was Erin perfect for that long time you knew her?” Nicole asked.

Shaunee looked away from the red fledgling. “No. No, she wasn’t.”

“I wasn’t perfect in my past, either, but I’m asking for a second chance.”

I’d heard enough. My Prophetesses and my gut had convinced me. “That’s good enough for me,” I said loudly. “And it needs to be good enough for the rest of you, too. If we held the past against everyone, then Kalona wouldn’t be our High Priestess’s Warrior, and Stark wouldn’t be my Warrior. Hell, Stevie Rae wouldn’t even be my BFF.”

“I would have been shunned and cast out of the House of Night along with Neferet,” Aurox said. I hadn’t noticed him before. He was standing behind us, just inside the basement entrance.

I didn’t look at him, but I did nod in agreement. “And if Aurox hadn’t been given another chance my grandma would be dead. Shaunee, we need to be on the same page about this. Too much crap has happened for us to start mistrusting each other.”

Shaunee looked at Nicole briefly, and then her gaze met mine. “Okay, you’re my High Priestess. I trust you.”

“Thank you,” I said. I looked around the group. “Anyone have anything else to say?”

“Is Stevie Rae gonna be okay?” Kramisha asked.

“Completely,” I said.

“Did Rephaim really save her when he was a bird?” Shaylin asked.

I smiled at Shaunee. “Tell ’em the story, but be fast. Remember that Thanatos said she wants today to be a make-up day and everyone has to be in their first-hour class when the bell rings at eight.”

There were a bunch of groans at that news, but they were cut off by Shaunee’s retelling of what had happened earlier. I took the opportunity to exit to Darius, who was standing at the upper entrance to the basement. Aphrodite, of course, came with me.