Hidden

“I did not want to! I tried not to.” Aurox’s gaze found mine. “Zoey, tell them. Tell them that I tried to stop what was happening. I don’t know what happened. You believe me. I know you do. Grandma Redbird said you protected me.”

Stark took a step toward Aurox. “Do not talk about Zoey’s grandma!”

“That’s why I’m here! Zoey, your grandma’s in danger.”

I felt like Aurox had punched me in the gut. Stark was stepping on the back of Aurox’s neck, forcing his face into the ground and yelling something about Grandma. Darius was shouting, too. Damien had started screaming. Aurox’s face had begun to ripple again and suddenly Kalona was there. He picked up Stark in one hand and Darius in another and tossed them away. Wings fully spread, he stood over Aurox, fists closed, face looking like an immortal Hulk. He was totally going to smash Aurox into nothingness.

“Don’t kill him!” I shrieked. “He knows something about Grandma!”

“Warrior, stand down!” Thanatos didn’t raise her voice, but the power of her command rippled across Kalona’s skin. He twitched like a horse trying to dislodge a fly, but he lowered his fists. The High Priestess of Death skewered me with her dark eyes. “Call spirit. Strengthen the good within Aurox. Help him not to change.”

I drew a shaky breath and closed my eyes so that I couldn’t look at the thing that was Aurox—the thing that I’d thought was Heath—the thing that might have hurt Grandma. “Spirit, come to me,” I whispered. “If there is good within Aurox, strengthen it. Help him to stay a boy.” I felt the element I considered my closest affinity whisk around me and heard Aurox’s gasping intake of breath as it moved to him. And then, for just an instant, I felt my Seer Stone heat up.

I opened my eyes and the Seer Stone went cold. Aurox was sitting on the ground, leaning heavily against a big oak, bleeding and bruised, but completely a boy again. Darius and Stark had picked themselves up and, scowling, were moving back to our group. Kalona looked pissed, but he’d stepped aside.

“Stevie Rae, summon earth. Deepen the shadows beneath this tree. Damien, call on air. Make the breeze blow hard enough to muffle our words. Our fledglings do not need to witness more violence and chaos. What happens here remains private,” Thanatos commanded.

Stevie Rae and Damien obeyed the High Priestess, and in moments it felt like the group of us was standing in a little oak-scented bubble as wind whipped around us, carrying away our words.

Thanatos gave the two of them a nod of approval. Then she turned to Aurox. “Now, what do you know about Sylvia Redbird?” Thanatos shot the question at him.

“Neferet has taken her.”

“Oh, Goddess!” I staggered and Stark caught me before I could fall. “Is she dead?”

“I-I do not know. I hope she is not,” Aurox said earnestly.

“You don’t know? You hope she’s not dead?” Stevie Rae sounded super pissed. “Was this somethin’ you did again, but tried not to do?”

“No! I had nothing to do with it.”

“Then how do you know about it?” I managed to ask, even though my voice was shaky and I felt like I was going to puke.

“I went back to her home and she was gone. There was blood on her porch. It was Neferet’s. I know it. I know her scent.”

“Was Grandma’s blood there, too?” I asked.

“No.” He shook his head. “But traces of her power lingered in smoke and in the land, as if she had been prepared for battle.”

“You said you went back to Sylvia’s home. Why?” Thanatos asked.

Aurox brushed some of the blood from his mouth. His hand was trembling. Actually, he looked like he was going to burst into tears.

“She found me yesterday morning, after that awful night. She forgave me. She said she believed in me, and then she offered me sanctuary. She talked to me, like I was normal. Like I wasn’t a monster. She named me tsu-ka-nv-s-di-na.” Aurox met my gaze.

“Bull,” I said, recalling words recited from my childhood lessons. “That’s the Cherokee word for bull.”

“Yes, that’s what Grandma said. She offered me sanctuary, as long as I didn’t hurt anyone else, but I left.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have! I should have stayed there and protected her, but I did not know she was in danger.”

“I am not blaming you. Not at this time,” Thanatos said. “You say you left yesterday, and then returned today?”

Aurox nodded. “I left because I needed to figure out who I am—what I am. I came here. I hid under the shattered tree.” He looked beseechingly at Thanatos. “I heard what you said at Dragon’s funeral pyre about what I am. I couldn’t bear it. All I could think was that I had to get back to Grandma Redbird—that she would help me figure out a way to undo whatever was done to make me.”

“The killing of her daughter made you, Vessel,” Kalona said, his voice cold. “You expect us to believe you were granted sanctuary by the woman whose daughter’s death created you?”

“It is unbelievable. I know that.” Aurox’s strangely colored eyes found mine again. “I do not understand how Grandma could be so kind, so forgiving, but she is. She even fed me chocolate chip and lavender cookies with milk.” He pointed down to his shoes, which I recognized as hand-stitched moccasins, the kind Grandma liked to make for Yule gifts.

“No human is that forgiving. Even a goddess would find it difficult to forgive one such as you,” said Kalona’s cold, dead voice.

“A goddess forgave me,” Rephaim said softly. “And I have done worse things than Aurox.”

“Grandma named him bull. She makes chocolate chip and lavender cookies,” I said. “And those are her handmade moccasins, too.”

“Which means you have been at her house, and that she talked to you,” Stark said. “But it doesn’t mean you didn’t do something terrible to her and then steal her stuff.”

“If that’s true, then why would he come here?” I heard myself asking.

“An excellent point,” Thanatos said. She turned to Shaylin. “Child, read his colors.”

“I already have. That’s why Aphrodite stopped Darius and Stark from beating him up,” Shaylin said.

“His aura is made of moonlight,” Aphrodite took up the explanation. “Which is why I stepped in and used a PAUSE button on the testosterone.”

“Explain, Prophetess,” Thanatos commanded.

“If he’s the color of moonlight then I have to believe he is, somehow, co

“Well reasoned,” Thanatos said. She studied Aurox. “Even before Zoey strengthened your spirit you were controlling the metamorphosis that was trying to change you.”

“I wasn’t controlling it very well,” he admitted.

“But I could see you were trying.” Her gaze went from Aurox to me. “Would your grandmother forgive him, even after witnessing what he can become?”

I didn’t hesitate. “Yes. Grandma is the kindest person I’ve ever known. She is our Wise Woman, our Ghigua.” I walked up to Aurox. “Where is she? Where has Neferet taken her?”

“I do not know. I only know that Neferet battled with her. Grandma Redbird drew her blood, and now they are both gone. I am sorry, Zo.”

“Don’t you ever, ever call me that again,” I said.

Beside me, I could see Stark had narrowed his eyes and was studying Aurox like a fly he wanted to pull the wings off of.

“You are not Heath Luck,” Stark said. He kept his voice pitched low, but it was obvious that he was ready to explode.

Aurox shook his head, looking utterly confused. “I am Aurox. I do not know this Heath Luck.”

“Damn right you don’t,” Stark said. “So, like Zoey said, don’t ever call her Zo again. You couldn’t even wipe the shoes of the guy who used to call her that.”

“Does Heath Luck have something to do with Grandma Redbird?” Aurox asked.

“No!” I cut off whatever pissed-off thing Stark was getting ready to say. “And we really need to focus on finding Grandma.”