--Sorry about the long wait for Chapter 2. Trying to improve on my writing skill. Any advice would be greatly appreciated."--

I woke up the next day in the room from last night. Shit, we fell asleep! She was in my arms. Smiling and mumbling in her sleep. I checked my watch. Classes started in two hours. I had to wake her up and get going.

I was sure to be gentle about waking her. "Wake up Stevie."

She became very alert when she saw our surroundings. "We're still in here? Oh my goodness! What time is it? Did you call me Stevie?"

I smiled. "We fell asleep. Class starts in about two hours. Yes, I called you Stevie."

"Oh." She smiled as she got hold of herself. "Did the drawing come out good?"

I remembered drawing her. She took a relaxed pose, holding herself up by her elbows, and smiled the entire time. It was no comparison to her though. It wasn't possible to capture the softness of her skin or the way her eyes sparkled when she smiled at me like that. "It came out as good as I could get it."

When I showed it she kissed my cheek. "Oh Josh. I love it." She brought her lips to my ear, making it seem like she was going to say something provocative. "We need to get ready for class."

I laughed. "Yeah, you're right." We got up and snuck into the main room.

"Oh boy, what were you guys doing in there?" Great. Erin saw us come out of the room. She had a grin on her face. No doubt hoping for good gossip to share with Shaunee.

"Shhhh" said Stevie Rae to Erin as she rushed me out the door. I heard her say "Erin, shut up for a minute!"

I was halfway to my dorm when someone stepped from one of the halls. A majestic face with eyes of authority. Neferet. Shit!

"Joshua it is after hours." Her voice was very calm yet chilling. "What are you doing out here this late?"

"I'm really sorry Ma'am." I was slightly nervous. "I was hanging out with Stevie Rae and we fell asleep. We just woke up and I'm heading back to my dorm."

"Don't make a habit of this." Neferet smiled. "I understand you and Ms. Johnson are close, but people like to talk, so try to make sure you get to your dorm on time."

"Thank you High Priestess."

"Now be on your way."

"May I ask one thing?"

"Yes, of course." Her eyes met mine and I got a feeling I shouldn't ask. I ignored it.

"Who was Hera?"

Her face turned grim. "Be on your way."

I knew at that point something big was going on. Bigger than me. Maybe even bigger than Zoey. Whatever it was, the look on Neferet's face could only mean one thing. Trouble.

I went back to my dorm, took a shower and got dressed. I was going to make this day as normal as I could. I could talk to Zoey in class. And we really needed to talk.

That thing, the way she smelled like a dead flower, it wasn't right. I didn't realize what she smelled like until last week. I smelled a lillac and it made me realize that.

"Josh?" My roommate woke up. "You're up already? I'm usually the on that wakes you up."

I laughed. "Yeah. Couldn't sleep."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." I felt bad lying to him. He really was a nice guy.

"Well okay." He sat up. "I'm gonna go get ready."

Breakfast went normally, as did lunch.

Finally it was time for equestrian class. I told Zoey about what Neferet had said. Then Zoey told me why she doesn't trust Neferet either. Neferet was into some seriously dark magic. That shit could be seriously scary. We decided we would wait and see what happened next.

Now it was dinner time. I was so hungry I could eat a horse. Well, not literally. It would be gross, and my sister would kill me.

Dinner was grilled shrimp. Yum. Damien was all smiles. "In a good mood?" I asked.

He just sighed.

"He's excited about Jack." Stevie Rae said as she sat next to me.

"Jack?" I didn't know this person.

"Oh crap" Erin said. "We never told you."

Shaunee talked through a mouth of food. "He ish Damien'sh boyfshriend." It wasn't hard to make out what she said.

"Why isn't he around?" I said before putting a delicious shrimp covered in cocktail sauce in my mouth.

Damien swallowed before speaking. "He's in Japan on a student exchange program with another House of Night. He's coming back in a few weeks."

"That's cool" I said. "I wish I had a girlfriend here." I winked at Stevie.

She elbowed me but then rubbed her leg against mine under the table. She was fond of sending mixxed signals.

The sides of rice and grilled veggies were really good. The food at this school really was amazing.

So another week went by without anything major happening. Just Shaunee and Erin making a list of who the hottest guys in school are. When Stevie found out my name was on it she started to make a point to hold my hand in front of them. It was kind of cute.

And then came tonight. The night of my first official Dark Daughters and Sons ritual. I was really nervous, but excited at the same time

I was dressed in all black as was the others from our lunch table. I couldn't help but to notice that Stevie's dress kind of hugged her ass. I got the feeling she did that on purpose for me.

Zoey began the ritual and lit the four outer candles. As she lit the spirit candle, something happened. The purple turned to black and Zoey started to scream and keeled over in pain.

The door blew open in a violent gust of cold wind and black smoke flew in. I ran over to Zoey and the black smoke was spinning above us.

"Licentia!" Zoey screamed. "Licentia iam!" The smoke stopped spinning. "Vos es non exspectata hic, vos nequam morbus! EGO to order vos! Licentia!" Her eyes opened. They were glowing purple light.

A disturbing screech came from the smoke, and I could hear it's voice in my head. Terminus est coming! Pupa,vestri fatum est super vos! Vos operor non to order mihi! EGO sum vestri excellens! EGO sum vestri messor!"

"Fuck you" I heard myself say. I felt my body surge with heat, like I was about to explode. Then I felt it. Stevie's arms surrounded me from behind.

I heard her voice. "No Josh! Its okay! Its gone!"

My body returned to normal. The smoke was gone and Zoey was unconscious on the floor. "What happened?" I sat on the floor.

Stevie sat next to me. "Z said something funny and yelled. Then the cloud started flashing bright purple and ran away." She looked over at Erin, Shaunee, Damien, and Zoey. "Y'all okay?"

Damien called for Erik. "Carry her to the infirmary. We'll be there soon. Stevie Rae, Z is unconcious."

Erik picked her up. "I'll take her there right away." He left with her and a few of his friends.

Once we were alone in the rec hall I looked around at the others. All their faces said the same thing as mine. Something is up. And it's big trouble.