Revealed (House of Night #11)(70)

“Here? Now?”

“Here, yes. Around the vampyre’s body. But not now. Wait until the fledglings have returned to class.”

“Okay,” I said slowly. “But I’ll need someone to stand in for Stevie Rae.”

“I can stand in for Stevie Rae.”

Everyone stared at Aurox.

“Why you?” Stark asked before I could say anything, which annoyed the crap out of me. It was my circle—not his!

“Why not me? I know where north is. I can hold a green candle and call earth. And I want to help Zoey.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said, not looking at Stark. “Damien, would you, Aurox, and Shaunee gather the circle candles and matches?”

Aurox bowed respectfully to me before the three of them headed toward Nyx’s Temple for the circle supplies.

“What’s going on? Why the circle now? Shouldn’t someone be cleaning up this mess?” Aphrodite asked, motioning to, but not looking at, Dallas’s body.

“That is exactly what Zoey and her circle will be doing,” Thanatos said. “A condemned and executed vampyre doesn’t deserve a pyre and the traditions of a funeral. He also shouldn’t be buried anywhere that could be made a shrine by misguided followers. His remains need to be simply, quietly, and quickly immolated.”

“Oh,” I said, getting it. “You want me to cast a circle and strengthen Shaunee so that she can, well, uh—” I hesitated, not sure how to put it, and feeling very squeed out at the thought of what we were going to have to do.

“Clean up this mess,” Aphrodite finished for me.

“Yes, well put.” Thanatos sounded like she was talking about taking out the trash. “And the less attention paid to this cleanup, the better. So, I thank both Prophetesses for fulfilling your role with dignity and wisdom, but now I must insist that Aphrodite go to class, and Shaylin join her directly after she has invoked water in Zoey’s circle.”

Aphrodite frowned. Class was not her favorite place to be. I frowned at her—not that she noticed—thinking that I’d be happy to change places with her.

“Come, my beauty, let us walk together,” Darius said, taking her hand and moving toward the main school building.

“I’ll go get my blue candle and tell Damien and those guys to hurry up,” Shaylin said. She began walking toward Nyx’s Temple, then she paused and turned back to Thanatos. “I read your colors. You were doing what needed to be done. Sometimes the ancient ways are the best,” she said.

“That is what I believe as well,” Thanatos said.

“That doesn’t make what happened here any less horrible,” Shaylin continued.

“Not less horrible, no, but necessary,” Thanatos said.

“The entire school isn’t for you,” Shaylin said.

“I am aware of that.”

“I think you would be surprised to know who all is having second thoughts about their pledge to you and to this school,” Shaylin said.

“I imagine you could tell me that by reading their colors, though. Couldn’t you?” Thanatos said.

My stomach rolled. “Okay, hang on,” I said. “I’m totally for a united front against Darkness, but I’m not for Shaylin being used to invade people’s thoughts.”

“What point are you making, Zoey?” Thanatos’s gaze seemed to pierce through me.

“That Shaylin shouldn’t be used as your spy!” I wasn’t sure exactly why the idea pissed me off so badly, but it definitely did.

“If she’s working in the service of Nyx—” Thanatos began.

I cut her off. “Nyx has given us all free choice. That means it’s not against even the Goddess’s rules for any of us to question the choices we’ve made and are going to make in the future. There’s nothing wrong with that. Only an idiot never questions what she’s been told to do.”

“Shaylin, did Dallas’s colors tell you he was dangerous?” Thanatos asked her, without taking her gaze from mine.

“I knew he was angry and violent. I didn’t know he was going to try to kill Stevie Rae and Shaunee.”

“But had Dallas been stopped because of what you saw within his aura before this morning, Stevie Rae would have been saved great pain,” Thanatos said.

“Stopped? Do you mean killed before he actually did anything?” I felt like I was going to explode.

“I don’t think that’s what Thanatos means,” Stark said.

“I’d like to hear Thanatos say that,” I said.

“In ancient times only vampyres who actually committed violence against other vampyres were executed,” she said.

“This isn’t ancient times,” I said. “And I don’t think it’s anyone’s business what people think. But you know who believed it was her business to listen in to what we all thought? Neferet. I don’t like what that did to her.”

Thanatos’s brows went up. “That is a point well taken, young Priestess.”

“Shaylin, go on and see what’s taking Damien and those guys so long,” I told her. Shaylin hesitated for just a second, then she bowed to me and hurried away.

“You have strong opinions,” Thanatos said.

“So do you.”