Untamed (House of Night #4)(68)

"Let me see the poem." Typical for Mr. Studious, he went right to the point, bypassing a good portion of the drama.

Feeling utterly relieved to have another brain trying to figure it out, I stood up and handed him the poem.

"First, you know calling it a poem is really a misnomer," Damien said.

"Grandma called it a song," I said.

"It's not actually that, either. Or at least in my opinion it's not."

I had some major respect for Damien's opinion, especially on anything vaguely academic, so I said, "If it's not a poem or a song, what is it, then?"

"It's a prophecy," he said.

"Well, shit! He's right," Aphrodite said. "Sadly, I have to agree," Shaunee said.

"Gloom and doom to come put in confusing what-the-f*ck language. Yep, definitely a prophecy," Erin said.

"Prophecy, like in Lord of the Rings about the return of the king?" Jack said.

Damien smiled at him. "Yes, just like that."

Then they all looked my way. "Feels right to me," I said lamely.

"All right. Let's get to work deciphering it." Damien studied the prophecy. "Okay, so, it's written in an abab cdcd ee rhyme scheme, breaking it into three stanzas."

"Is that important?" I asked. "I mean, we're calling it a prophecy now instead of a poem, so do we care about that abab stuff?"

"Well, I'm not one hundred percent sure, but it is written in poetic form, so my best guess is that we should use poetic rules to decipher it."

"Okay, sounds logical," I said.

"Poetic stanzas are roughly synonymous to paragraphs in prose--each one being self-contained with its own subject, even though it has to fit together as a whole."

"That's my boy!" Jack said, grinning and hugging Duchess.

"Damn, the kid is smart," Shaunee said.

"Seriously a brainyack," Erin said.

"Just watching him gives me a headache," Aphrodite said.

"And it means we need to look at the stanzas separately at first," I said. "Right?"

"It can't hurt," Damien said.

"Read it out loud," Aphrodite said. "It was easier to understand when Zoey read it out loud."

He cleared his throat and read the first stanza in his excellent reading voice.

Ancient one sleeping, waiting to arise When earth's power bleeds sacred red The mark strikes true; Queen Tsi Sgili will devise He shall be washed from his entombing bed

"Well, it's obvious that the ancient one it's referring to is Kalona," Damien said.

"And Aphrodite and I already decided that the earth bleeding could come from someone being killed, like Professor Nolan." I paused and swallowed. I should have added Loren, but I couldn't make myself say his name.

"When I found her, there was--there was so much blood all over the grass that it --it hadn't soaked in, so it really did look like the earth had been bleeding." Aphrodite's voice was shaky with the memory.

"Yeah, it definitely could have been described as the earth bleeding," I agreed. "And if the person or vamp who had been killed was powerful, that would fit with the reference to power."

"Okay, that works, especially when you add the next two lines. Obviously this Queen Tsi Sgili devises the whole thing." Damien stopped and squidged his forehead, then added, "You know, it could be a trick reference. Tsi Sgili devises, or brings about what happens, but it's her powerful blood that makes the earth bleed and washes him from his bed."

"Ugh, nasty," Shaunee said. "So who's the Queen of the Tsi Sgili?" Erin asked.

"We don't know for sure. Grandma had no idea. Actually, she doesn't know much about the Tsi Sgili, except that they are dangerous and feed off death," I said.

"All right, then we need to keep our eyes open for a potential queen," Damien said.

"Even though we don't have a clue who she or he could be?" Shaunee said.

"We do have a clue," Erin said. "Zoey's grandma said the Tsi Sgili feed off death, so it has to be someone who gets stronger after someone dies."

"Also Zoey's grandma said that often the Tsi Sgili have something called . . . uh . . . ane li--what was it, Zoey?" Aphrodite said.

"Ane li sgi," I said. "It means they're majorly psychic." I took a deep breath and barreled on. "I think we all know one particular vamp who might fit into this description."

"Neferet," Damien whispered.

"Okay, we know that she's not what she appears to be," Erin said.

"But does that mean that she's as evil as it sounds like a Tsi Sgili has to be?" Shaunee said.

Aphrodite and I exchanged a look. I made the decision and nodded.

"She's chosen a different path from Nyx," Aphrodite said.

The Twins gasped. Jack hugged Duchess, and I swear he made a little doggy whining sound.

"You know that for sure?" Damien said, his voice sounding shaky.

"Yes. We know it for sure," I said.

"Then chances are Neferet is the queen the prophecy refers to."

I felt my stomach turn as more pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. "Neferet has been different ever since the deaths of Professor Nolan and Loren."