Untamed (House of Night #4)(98)

"Of course I will. Look after yourself and your people. I shall look after her."

"I'll call you when I can." I flipped the phone shut.

When I looked up from the phone I saw that Neferet had turned her attention to us.

"We're there!" Aphrodite said. "Get that damn door open now!"

"It is already open," said a familiar voice. I glanced behind me at the wall to see Darius standing beside a cracked trapdoor that seemed to appear magically in the bricks and rock. And, with a huge rush of relief, I saw that Jack was standing beside the warrior, bawling his eyes out, but in one piece with Duchess close to his side.

"If you're with us, you have to be against them," I told Darius, jerking my chin back toward the House of Night and the Sons of Erebus who filled the school grounds and who were not making one move against Kalona.

"I've made my choice," said the warrior.

"Can we please get out of here? She's looking at us!" Jack said.

"Zoey! You've got to buy us some time," Aphrodite said. "Use the elements--all of them. Shield us."

I nodded and closed my eyes, centering myself. Vaguely in the back of my mind I knew Aphrodite was ordering around the red fledglings and telling them to stay close, stay inside our circle, even if it was mushed and not really circle-shaped anymore as we crammed ourselves through the trapdoor. But I was only partly there. The rest of me was commanding wind, fire, water, earth, and spirit to cover us, protect us, to blot us from Neferet's view. As they hurried to obey me, I felt a drain on my strength like I'd never known before. Of course I'd never tried to command all five of the elements at once to do such powerful work for me--it felt as if my mind, my will, was trying to sprint a marathon.

I gritted my teeth and held on. The elements swarmed above and around us. I could hear the wind and smell the salt of ocean as a strong breeze swirled a thick mist around us. Then thunder rolled in the suddenly cloudy sky and with a crack! a shard of lightning sizzled down, hitting a tree a few yards in front of us. The tree seemed to expand as earth magnified it, so that I opened my eyes as one of the red fledglings was guiding me backwards and through the trapdoor to see our little group completely shielded by the fury of the elements. In the midst of that chaos, I heard the wonderful sound of "mee-uf-ow!" and I looked through the trapdoor to see Nala sitting on the ground outside the school at the head of a bevy of cats, including the horrible and very disheveled-looking Maleficent, who was staying close to the Twins' hateful Beelzebub.

I got one last glimpse of Neferet as she looked wildly around, clearly not wanting to believe that we had somehow escaped her. And then the trapdoor closed, sealing us out of the House of Night. "Okay, reform up the circle. Tighten it up. Twins! You're too close together. You're making it lopsided. Cats! Stop hissing at Duchess. We don't have time for it." Aphrodite was calling orders like a drill sergeant.

"The tunnels." Stevie Rae's weak voice seemed to slice through the night.

I looked at her. She couldn't stand up. Erik had lifted her in his arms, and he was holding her like a baby, careful not to touch the arrow that was sticking out of her back. Her face was completely chalk white except for her red tattoos.

"We have to get to the tunnels. We'll be safe there," she said.

"Stevie Rae's right. He won't follow us there, and neither will Neferet, not anymore," Aphrodite said.

"What tunnels?" Darius asked.

"They're under the city, old Prohibition hiding places. The entrance is through the depot downtown," I said.

"The depot. That's a good three miles or so away, through the heart of the city," he said. "How are we going to--?" His words broke off as we heard terrible screams coming from all around us outside the House of Night. Bright balls of fire were blossoming in the sky like terrible, deadly flowers.

"What's happening?" Jack asked, moving closer to Damien.

"It's the Raven Mockers. They have their bodies back, and they're hungry. They're feeding on humans," Aphrodite said.

"They can use fire?" Shaunee asked, looking supremely pissed.

"They can," Aphrodite said.

"Like hell they can!" Shaunee started to lift her arm, and I felt heat begin to swirl in the air around us.

"No!" Aphrodite yelled. "You can't call attention to us. Not tonight. If you do, we're finished."

"You've seen this?" I asked.

She nodded. "All this and more. Those who don't get underground will be their prey."

"Then we get to Stevie Rae's tunnels," I said.

"How?" one of the red fledglings I didn't recognize said. She sounded young and very afraid.

I braced myself, already exhausted by manipulating all five of the elements to such an extent. I didn't want them to know how draining I was finding all of this. They had to believe I was strong and sure and in control. I drew a deep breath. "Don't worry. I know how we move without being seen. I've done it before." I smiled wearily at Stevie Rae. "We've done it before." My gaze took in Aphrodite. "Haven't we?"

Stevie Rae managed to nod weakly.

"Yep, we sure have," Aphrodite said.

"So what's the plan?" Damien asked.