Hunted

“All done with her secret phone number note?” Erik said.

“Yep,” Stevie Rae teased back. “As soon as I put this in my phone, I’m go

“Or it might self-destruct,” Heath slurred from over on the bed.

I opened my eyes and looked at him. “Hey!”

“What?” he said.

“Thanks again,” I said.

Heath shrugged. “No big deal.”

“Yeah, it is,” I said. “Stay safe, okay?”

“Does it matter?” he asked.

“Yeah, it does. But next time I really wish you wouldn’t drink.” I burped again and then grimaced when the movement hurt my chest.

“I’ll try to remember that,” he said, tipping the wine bottle back to his lips.

I sighed, told Stevie Rae, “Get me out of here,” and closed my eyes, clutching my purse and the two indecipherable poems to me.

“That’s your cue, Erik,” Stevie Rae said.

Erik was suddenly at my side. “This is going to hurt, and I’m sorry, but you really need to get back to the House of Night.”

“I know. I’m just go

“Sounds like a good idea,” Erik said.

“I’ll be right here with you, too, Z,” Stevie Rae said.

“No. Stay with Heath,” I said quickly. “If you let anyone eat him, I’m go

“I’m right here,” Kramisha said, “and I heard that. I ain’t eatin’ your boyfriend. He don’t taste good no more.”

“That’s not what Zo says!” Heath slurred and lifted his almost empty bottle like he was going to toast to us.

I ignored both of them and kept my eyes on Stevie Rae.

“Don’t worry. Heath’ll be fine. I’ll take care of him.” Stevie Rae hugged me and kissed my cheek. “Stay safe,” she said.

“Remember what I wrote,” I whispered. She nodded.

“Okay, let’s go,” I told Erik, and squidged my eyes shut tight.

Erik lifted me as gently as he could, but the pain that sheared through my body was so awful that I couldn’t even scream. I kept my eyes closed and tried to breathe in shallow little pants while Erik hurried down the tu

When we got to the iron ladder that led up to the basement, Erik said, “I’m sorry, but this is going to hurt like hell. Just hang on, though, Z. It’s almost over.” Then he shifted his grip on me and lifted me to Darius, who was reaching down for me.

That was when I fainted.

Sadly, I came to when the freezing rain and an icy wind slapped against my face.

“Ssh, don’t struggle. You’ll only make it worse,” Darius said. He was holding me in his arms. Erik was walking at his side, watching me with worried eyes as we made our way toward a huge black Hummer that was idling in the parking lot. Jack was standing beside the open door to the wide backseat. I could see Aphrodite in the passenger’s seat and the Twins together with a whole buttload of cats in the far back area. Damien was sitting by the open door.

“Slide over and help me lay her down here,” Darius said.

They somehow transferred me to the backseat of the Hummer, pillowing my head on Damien’s lap. Unfortunately I didn’t pass out again. Before Darius closed the door, Erik squeezed my ankle.

“You have to get well, okay?” Erik said.

I barely managed a weak “Okay.”

When Darius closed the door and jumped into the driver’s seat and we took off, I made a conscious decision to avoid the whole Erik-Heath issue until my life was calmer and I could deal with the two of them. I admit that at that moment I left the two of them behind with a guilty sense of relief.

Most of the ride back was as dark and silent as ice-swept Tulsa had become. Darius had to battle the Hummer to keep it on the sheets of ice that masqueraded as streets, and Aphrodite only commented once in a while on a fallen limb in their way or a turn they should take. Damien, tense and speechless, held me securely on his lap, and the Twins were, for a change, not chattering with each other. I closed my eyes, trying to control the dizziness and the pain. A disturbingly familiar sense of numbness had started to creep slowly over my body again. This time I recognized it, though, and knew how dangerous it would be to give in to the numbness, no matter how restful and compelling it seemed. This time I knew the numbness was a disguise for death. I forced myself to take deeper breaths, even though each one made pain radiate throughout my body.

Pain was good. If I hurt, it meant I wasn’t dead.

I opened my eyes and cleared my throat, making myself speak. My blood-wine buzz was gone and all I felt was exhausted and consumed by pain. “We have to remember what we’re walking into. It’s not the old House of Night. It’s not our home,” I said. My voice carried, but I sounded like a hoarse stranger. “Besides keeping our elements close to us, I think the smartest thing we can do is to try to stick as close to the truth as possible whenever we’re questioned about anything.”

“That’s logical,” Damien said. “If they sense we’re telling the truth, they’ll be less likely to feel the need to probe farther into our minds.”

“Especially if those minds are protected by the elements,” Erin said.

“We might very well baffle them with our supposed ignorance, and Neferet will underestimate us again,” Shaunee said.

“So we’re coming back because of that text message sent from the school calling all of us back,” Damien said. “And because Zoey’s been hurt.”

Aphrodite nodded. “Yeah, and the only reason we left was because we were scared.”

“And that’s the damn truth,” Erin said.

“Totally,” Shaunee added.

“Just remember: Tell the truth when possible and keep your guard up,” I said.

“Our High Priestess is correct. We are entering the enemy’s camp, and we can’t afford to be lulled into forgetting that by the familiarity of our surroundings,” Darius said.

“I have a feeling we won’t be tempted to forget it,” Aphrodite said slowly.

“What kind of feeling do you mean?” I asked.

“I think our entire world has changed,” Aphrodite said. “No, I know it has. The closer we get to the school, the more wrong it feels.” She swiveled and looked over the seat at me. “Can you feel it?”

I shook my head slightly. “I can’t feel anything except the cut in my chest.”

“I can feel it,” Damien said. “It’s like all the hair on the back of my neck is standing up.”

“Ditto,” Shaunee said.

“My stomach feels awful,” Erin said.

I took another deep breath and blinked hard, concentrating on staying conscious. “It’s Nyx. She’s warning you with those feelings. Remember the effect Kalona’s appearance had on the other fledglings?”

Aphrodite nodded. “Zoey’s right. Nyx is making us feel like crap so we don’t give in to this guy. We have to fight against whatever it is about him that sucks the rest of the fledglings in.”

“We can’t go over to the Dark Side,” Damien said grimly.

Darius crossed the intersection of Utica and Twenty-first Street.

“It looks really creepy that Utica Square is totally dark,” Erin said.

“Creepy and horrible and wrong,” Shaunee said.

“There’s no power anywhere,” Darius said. “Even St. John’s Hospital has hardly any lights, like it’s barely ru

Darius continued down Utica and I heard Damien gasp. “It’s eerie, the way it’s the only thing in Tulsa still lit up.”

I knew the House of Night had finally come into view. “Lift me up. I need to see it,” I told Damien.

He hoisted me up as gently as he could, but still I had to grit my teeth so I wouldn’t scream. And then the bizarre sight of the House of Night made me temporarily forget my pain. It was ablaze with flickering oil lights, illuminating the huge castlelike structure. Ice covered everything, and the captured flames glistened against the slickened stone, making it appear faceted as if it were one humongous jewel. Darius reached into his pocket and pulled out a little remote. He aimed it at the school’s wrought-iron gate and clicked, and with a creaking sound it swung open, the movement sending shards of ice raining down on the driveway.