MidniteHearts: Okay, this is my first attempt at writing a House of Night fanfic, and I hope that it's really good so that I can continue. And no I don't own the characters or the story plot of the House of Night series. All of that credit goes to P.C. and Kristin Cast. Keep up the great writing!

Chapter 1: Tunnels

I couldn't believe it, I thought as all of my friends joined in the covering of our hands, telling me that they were all with me for coming up a plan to defeat Kalona. This is what my life had been reduced to. And if you want to know what I'm talking about, then let me explain. It all started when I first got Marked at SIHS and then sent to the House of Night in my town of Tulsa, Oklahoma. I met awesome people like Okie-fied Stevie Rae. Damien with his massive vocab brain, Shaunee and Erin who were the Twins (but not really twins because Shaunee is of Jamaican descent who's from Connecticut and Erin is a white girl straight from Oklahoma). Erik, my hot and sexy boyfriend (okay well ex-boyfriend, at least until we get things figured out). And of course there was Aphrodite, the hag we all love to hate.

But Aphrodite has grown on me. If it wasn't for her, then I would have never known how hateful Neferet really was.

Oh, yeah by the way, Neferet is the High Preistess and also my mentor (well okay as of right now she is no longer my mentor...ever!). Alright, anyway as soon as I'm a month within staying at the House of Night, my best friend, Stevie Rae dies and then becomes undead, Neferet is starting to show evil sides, I end up having to save my human ex-boyfriend from a pack of undead kids that were being led by Stevie Rae and controlled by Neferet (go figure!).

But that's only half of it. I soon became fixated on Loren our vampyre poet, and him and I Imprinted (breaking the Imprint I had with Heath. Forgot to mention that). Then I later discovered that Neferet was behind Loren Imprinting me which made it so Erik would catch us and dump me.

I also restored Stevie Rae's humanity, and found out that she had gone through a different sort of Change (she was now an adult vampyre) along with the other undead kids, who we now call "red fledglings" (but they weren't adult vampyres).

And now Aphrodite is human, but a special kind of human (whatever that means).

I confess to my friends of all the things I've done and they forgive me, and just recently my grandma informed me of an evil demon named Kalona that was buried in the earth. Of course, Neferet awakes him by making the earth bleed (aka attacking Stevie Rae) and has now declared herself Queen Tsi Sgili.

So now I'm running for my life in underground tunnels with a group of my closest friends. What could be more perfect?

Once we all released our hands and the cheering had died down, Shaunee pointed out, "Hey, Z, check out your hand!"

"Yeah, totally!" Erin chimed in.

As if I hadn't noticed that there would be a brand new mark, I looked at the palms of my hands anyway. They were the exact same tattooing that was on my face, shoulders, back and recently my waist.

"Your mark has been added to," Jack said.

I smiled. "Yeah, I guess it has."

I noticed that others had commented except for Erik. I sighed. He was still mad at me. I guess I thought that being in a dire situation would change his attitude toward me, but I suppose not.

Why was he being so difficult?

I heard coughing and immediately looked toward Stevie Rae. The arrow was still pierced through her chest. Darius cradled her in his strong arms. I had completely forgotten about that. I went to her, stroking her curly blond hair.

"Stevie Rae," I called out quietly.

She let out a few ragged breaths. "I'm alright, Zoey."

I fought to hold back hot tears that threatened to overcome me. "Are you sure?" I heard my voice breaking.

She nodded her head.

"Should we try and pull it out?" Erin asked.

Damien shook his head. "Bad idea. We don't know how far the arrow went. We could accidentally kill her."

I shuddered at the thought. Accidentally killing Stevie Rae was not an option for me.

"Then what she would do?" I asked.

Damien shrugged. "We'll just have to wait and see."

I frowned. I didn't want to wait and see if Stevie Rae's condition would worsen. I wanted to know if she would be alright.

"Okay," was all I said in the end.

I hadn't known that I was really tired until I released a sleepy yawn.

"I suppose you guys don't have a plush comforter from Macy's, would you?" Aphrodite asked.

The red fledglings only glared at her.

"Okay, fine," she said, giving up.

"But we are tired," I said, trying to stifle another yawn.

After casting a circle that would cleanse the entire school, and then having to use all five of the elements to escape once Kalona began to rise and then conceal a whole group of kids with the element spirit so that we wouldn't be detected by Neferet took a lot out of me.

"We do have a few pull out sofas," said one of the red fledglings who I didn't recognize.

I nodded. "Thanks."

Everyone huddled together to find a decent couch to sleep on. And if there weren't enough sofas, then there were plenty of chairs and mattresses. Nobody seemed to complain, even Aphrodite.

I slumped onto one of the dirty mattresses, fanning when a cloud of dust kicked up. I glanced around the dimly lit tunnels. Everyone were beginning to settle in. And that's when I saw him; Erik, all by himself. I wanted so badly to go over to him, apologize about everything I'd done, and pray that he would take me back.

I silently laughed to myself. Yeah right. Fat chance, Zoey.

I blew it with Erik when he caught me with Loren (who was now dead by the way).

I pulled my knees to my chest, my arms resting on top of them. I buried my face into my arms, trying my hardest not to cry. Why did it have to be this way? If I hadn't met Loren, then I would have never cheated, and Erik and I would still be together, even in these terrible situations.

I wiped at my eyes which were now soaking wet. I laid across the mattress, huddled in a fetal position and closing my eyes.

I would only think of positive dreams, just like Grandma would want me to. I would relieve myself of any evil thoughts and only concentrate on the voices of my Native American ancestors.

They would bring me good luck in these perilous times. Their eyes would always watch over and protect me.

MidniteHearts: Okay, that was the first chapter so I hope you guys really like it. Please review and I will be sure to update as much as I can.