Hey if you like chapter one, then you will love chapter 2 or not. Just read.
Netilie's POV
Luke looked at me with a surprised look on his face, he seemed as if he was ready to puke. I smiled and said, "Well. Welcome to the land of the dead, señor Cage. I hope you enjoy your stay here at the House of Night. You will be surprised that we are very welcoming and that you will be staying here until you either graduate and become a vampyre or until you reject the Change."
"Reject the Change? What's that about?" Sam asked. He was awake and thankfully no one had to wake him up. I walked up to the wall that surrounded the house and climbed it, well more like vaulted over it. The others were still on the other side of the wall so I walked over to the door and unlocked it. They all walked in and they each seemed a whole lot better, especially Danny who was now only wearing his underwear. I whistled very loudly and my familiar, Tygris who is a very large, I mean she is up to my shoulder and I am 5 foot 7, white tiger, came with a tiger cub at her and had clothes on her back while Clay passed the clothes around I started to talk, "My name is Necro, the boy is my brother, Clay, and this lovely feline is my familiar, Tygris, although I do not know who the tiger cub belongs too nor her name, yet I have suspicions. Anyway you all are currently in the Manhattan House of Night and we are on a very secluded island, you all will be living here until you complete the Change and become a vampyre or until your body rejects the Change and you die in a very bloody manner. Though you will still be in the school after your death since there has been word of red fledglings and vampyres who have died and were reborn with red Marks. Now you may leave the island as you please as long as the professors know since you are part of S.H.I.E.L.D. Now why don't you change out of the costumes and into the clothes you have now. After that, we all will have dinner."
Everyone nodded and started to change clothes except Ava. I pulled her towards a very low, very leafy branch and told her to change there, yet the small cub kept on following her. It was so cute she had large, round, emerald green eyes and a white coat with black strips that seemed a little rough and bordered her eyes, giving her a vampyre look. When everyone finished, Clay and I dug up our fourth former jackets and we all headed towards the cafeteria with Tygris following close behind. On the way there, Clay got tackled by a giant, same size as Tygris, golden tiger and it stared to paw him repeatedly on the chest. My brother laughed and petted the tiger while saying, "Okay, okay. I missed you too, Nero. Guys this giant golden tiger is my familiar, Nero. Oddly enough Nero and Tygris are siblings." Nero growled. "Okay, not oddly. Now please get off me, before my ribs collapse. Also, you should know that this place has a lot of cats, mostly tigers, do not mind them, they are free to be anywhere they wish and they will choose who they want as their familiar."
Nero leaped off Clay and joined Tygris in watching for anyone who would be sneaking up on us. By the time we got to the cafeteria everyone was looking at us, well Danny and his friends since everyone was already used to us. We took our dinner, steak with fava beans, and headed for an empty booth. The team ate in silence until Sam cut his finger with his steak knife and blood started to come out. Clay tried to get up from the table to drink some, but Nero and Tygris stopped him while I talked, "Lick the cut, it will seal up instantly. I suggest that you do it now since Clay and I have blood-lust and my dear brother has little control of it."
Sam licked his bleeding wound and it turned pink while Tygris and Nero left the room. I was just about to choke on my food when Demetrius and Aurora ran in and announced, "FLEDGLINGS, THE HOUSE OF NIGHT IS BEING ATTACKED!"
All the boys took out daggers, collapsable bow staffs, collapsable swords, and other weapons while all the girls with affinities for the elements called upon their element. Clay pulled out his sword and Nero offered Clay a ride on his back while Tygris did the same. We mounted our familiars and got ready for battle, the others wanted to battle, but I stopped them, "You guys are still adjusting. Just watch the fight from the gate and you guys have to go with the other third formers and be our last line of defense."
"What about you? You are heading straight into the main battle." Peter said.
"I am a fourth former and my mentor is Aurora, our High Priestess. Same as my brother and his mentor is Demetrius, our Sword Master. We can head out to battle and barely get hurt. Just do as we say and you all will be fine, now to the last line." I said. Each of them went with the other third formers towards the gate while the fourth, fifth, and sixth formers headed towards the surf. I lead all the girls with elemental attacks while Clay lead all the boys with close combat. Turns out it was the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier that was attacking us. Fury's voice came out from the speakers there, "AURORA, HAND OVER MY CADETS BEFORE THINGS GET OUT OF HAND."
"Accept the fact that they can't leave the island, Fury. This is their new home until they complete the Change. Now leave." Aurora said.
"NOT WITHOUT MY CADETS." Fury answered. He is such an idiot, now you see why I don't work for him.
"Have it your way. Necro, engage fire." Aurora said while turned her attention towards me. I nodded and called out to the girls, "Fire starters, to my side!"
All the girls who could control fire came up and summoned Fire, each of them prepared to attack the helicarrier. I held my hand up and made a quick motion forward. Flames started to attack the helicarrier until it lost one of it's engines. "Wind tamers, come forward!"
6 girls came up and got ready to blow the helicarrier away. I flicked my wrist and the wind blew fiercely until the helicarrier lost balance. "Water protecters, to the front!"
10 girls went up and made the waves go higher and the tide rise. I motioned up and the girls made the waves go high enough that the helicarrier flew away. Everyone started cheering and shouting at the victory against S.H.I.E.L.D and went back inside. The team started to look sad yet relieved that they didn't go back. Clay just pasted me, I stopped him and pointed towards the others. I could feel his heart sink at the same time mine did when we saw Danny and Ava lead the others towards the dorms. Nero and Tygris ran after them with us on their backs, we went in front of them and said, "We have something to show you."
Clay and I unmounted our familiars and walked back to the girls dorm. I lead everyone to my room and showed Ava her bed. She seemed surprised that all her stuff was here and that her bad was already made with her silver and green bed-spread, she walked over to the bed and pulled off the cover. Under it was the small white tiger cub that had followed her from the beach. Ava picked her up, sat down, and placed her on her lap. I smiled and sat down on my bed while everyone sat on the floor, making a circle, "The cub seems as if she wants you to be her familiar. It would make sense since you two are new to the world of Nyx."
"How did you know she was born today?" Ava asked
"I recognize a new born when I see one. When Clay and I were humans we would go visit our aunt and uncle at their nature preserve in Africa. Even when Clay says watching birth is gross, I helped my aunt help a white tiger give birth. Not the most pleasant thing to watch, but the cub was cute." I said. Clay's knees buckled and he collapsed on my bed. All the boys started to laugh while Ava and I scoffed and Clay sat up and tried to hug me. I pushed him away, instead of him being pushed a few inches, Clay fell off the bed. Everyone started to laugh at this and to make it even better, Nero used Clay as a bed. Clay tried to get Nero off, but he was as stubborn as a rock. At least until I said, "Nero, I would not like to make a pryre for my brother. Even if he makes a nice bed for you."
Nero hopped off Clay and went to help get him back on his feet or at least off his back and breathing. When the last bell of the day rang the guys left the dorm and headed for their own rooms, leaving me and Ava alone with our familiars. We started to talk about white tigers until we ran out of stuff to say, then started to talk about being Marked, then about the weird things happening around town. As the sun came up Ava started to go to bed with her familiar, now named Mara, while I went to bed with Tygris sleeping on my feet, not by on as in on top of my feet. Throughout the day Ava kept on trying to get out of bed, but I was always in the hallway outside our door before she even got out of the bed. This kept happening until sunset and I woke up immediately, headed to the shower, changed into my uniform, and waited for Ava to wake up. She woke up and tried to kick me in the face until I said, "Woah. Easy there, Ayala. It's time to get out of your coffin, so get dressed and let's go eat breakfast."
She kept looking at me, but nodded and started to get ready. I went over to the full-body mirror that was beside my bed and did a double-check on my uniform. The uniform was pretty basic button-up shirt; for girls it has this ruffle-thing bordering the buttons; girls must have a skirt that is 3 inches above the knees while boys must where dress pants, boys have to wear a suit jacket while girls have to wear a knee-length jacket with our formers emblem and the collar pulled up. Normally each House of Night lets you where whatever you want with the exception of having to wear a jacket with your formers emblem. When Ava came out of the bathroom I almost laughed because (a) her collar was down (b) she was wearing a belt over her skirt, and (c) she didn't even had on the right jacket. I walked up to her and said, "Might want to change into this jacket, lose the belt, and then we can get breakfast. There is still a lot of time before the guys wake up."
"Why are you treating me like this?" Ava asked while changing jackets and taking off the belt.
"Because here we fledglings have to watch out for each other. Here we are brothers and sisters under the protection of Nyx's night. Besides Aurora would bust my butt if I didn't ya get around with as little problems as possible. Now you have to know that tonight is a full moon and Aurora and I will be leading a Full Moon Ritual. After that, I will be having a gifted fledglings ritual. You, Danny, Luke, Sam and Peter are invited." I said to Ava. She still had her collar pulled down, so I fixed it. Only thing was that she kept looking at me like I was crazy and more than likely freaking insane. Ava didn't seem convinced of what I was saying.
"I'm barely got here yesterday, thanks to you. Now your telling me that I am some sort of abnormal fledgling." Ava said while moving back a little.
"Have you even seen your Mark? It's filled in unlike every other third, fourth, fifth, and sixth former beside Clay, Danny, Luke, Sam, Peter, and myself. The other fledglings attending have certain affinities." I answered while looking around my side of the room.
"What if I don't want to go?" Ava asked
"Then the circle between you and your friends will more than likely be broken. Hey have you seen my athame? I know I left it somewhere around here." I said while searching under my bed.
"Okay, I'll go. Oh and it's by the window, why?" Ava answered
"For the ceremony. Now why don't we get some breakfast and then I can give a tour around campus since classes don't start until tomorrow." I answered. Ava smiled and we started to walk downstairs and into the lounge. Clay and the others were there watching Iron Monkey. We got some sandwiches before joining them about 11 minutes into the movie. "What did we miss?"
"Iron Monkey went inside the castle kicked ass, stole the governor's money, the guards went the hospital and one of them just burned his own hand. So not really all that much." Clay answered
"And who's idea was it to watch Iron Monkey?" Ava and I asked.
"Danny." Clay, Luke, Sam, and Peter answered. Danny held his hands up in defense and smiled.
"It's a good movie." He answered.
"A funny one too. What kind of half-brain starts moving like a crazy dude in the middle of a treatment?" Clay said
"I'm guessing that kind." I answered while pointing to the TV since the guard was shaking his hand and making weird gasping sounds. We all kept watching as the man, Mr. Wong, fight Iron Monkey to almost eating a dropped dumpling to eating the super hot chilies; at that part Sam wouldn't stop laughing at least until I hit his head like how Mr. Wong hit the kid. About 33 minutes in we heard a sound coming from the front door, Clay and I were ready to attack when necessary though it wouldn't be until that person attacked as well. No one came into the room and we just kept on watching and watching until someone said, "Now where have I heard the saying, 'Life can be a lot like cooking a dish with many ingredients. Sometimes you can't find everything you want, so then you just have to make do. You can never be sure of how exactly it will turn out.' before?"
"Mentor, what's wrong?" Clay asked. Immediately I went to hyperdrive since Demetrius delivering news is never good.
"Nothing, you all just need to meet with my sister immediately. She wishes to know how you are adjusting to the school." Demetrius answered.
"Okay. It's always best to not keep my mentor waiting. She has a tight schedule." I said while getting up. Ava followed me quickly and linked her arm in mine. We smiled and got the guys to get up and go to my mentor's classroom. On the way I kept thinking, 'Why is Ava suddenly so nice to me. Could it be a trick? I'm keep my guard up just in case.' By the time we got to the door Aurora already said, "Come in."
Aurora was wearing a sapphire artemis haven ruffle dress, her thick, silver hair streamed down her back, and around her neck was a necklace with the professors emblem. Around her were white threads that surrounded her like a fog and went down her arms like snakes. I could hear the other suck in sharp breaths when they saw Aurora, well besides Clay. She held open her arms and I entered her embrace while saying, "Merry meet, Aurora. How are you?"
"Merry meet, Necro. I am well, thank you for asking. Are these our newest fledglings?" Aurora asked while resting her hand on my shoulder. Clay and I nodded while the others smiled with bashful expressions plastered on their faces. "I welcome you all to our House of Night. As Clay and Necro should have informed you there will be a Full Moon ritual at midnight and after that Necro will lead a cleansing ritual for gifted fledglings. Both are mandatory for all of you."
"Yes, High Priestess." Everyone answered. When they left the room, I stayed with my mentor. I kept standing in the same spot until she asked, "What's wrong, Necro? Are you not feeling well? Have you been coughing?"
"I am fine and no coughing. Just that I'm worried that the ex-High Priestess, Neferet, might target us. By the looks of how much you are engulfed by Light she must be equally engulfed by Darkness, which as we all know is never good." I explained. Aurora bowed her head and nodded. She knows the threat level if Neferet comes here, she will try to take all of our Goddess-touched fledglings and add them to her army. As if things couldn't get any worse, Demetrius burst in through the doors with my brother close behind. They were both super pale making their Marks bulge out like crazy. My mentor and I reacted at the same time by saying, "What is the matter?"
"A House of Night ship has been spotted coming towards the island. We don't know who is coming, but we can presume many possibilities that are not even near the border of almost good." Demetrius and Clay answered infusion. Aurora bolted for the exit and towards the beach. Surely enough a boat was floating towards us and quickly might I add. I was about to call on the elements to throw them off corse when Aurora put her arm in front of me. She didn't want me to attack, but why not? The protection of the island and it's inhabitants comes first. Of course I thought this was Neferet on the boat instead of Thanatos and every good fledgling and vampyre from the Tulsa House of Night, including my pen-pal Zoey Redbird. If it wasn't for Clay I would've thrown myself into the waves and try to get a closer look at them. When they docked Aurora and Thanatos hugged then Demetrius greeted her like an old friend. "Why are your here, Thanatos?"
"There is great trouble at our House of Night and we were hoping that we might be able to stay at your House of Night as we replenish our strength." Thanatos answered. I became a little bit bored so I climbed the wall and sat at the top, trying to clear my head. Clay joined me shortly after and tried to make me laugh since we were out of earshot. We watched as the 2 High Priestesses talked and the 2 Sword Masters talked, and just so that way you know their Sword Master was a guy who was half-dress, and had black wings. My brother kept trying to convince me to us my affinity for water to let us surf a riptide. It was pretty boring until Aurora called us over. I leaped off the wall and landed kneeling to my mentor as Clay followed my lead. Aurora let us rise and said, "I would like you both to meet Zoey Redbird and her Guardian James Stark."
"It's nice to finally see you in person, Zoey. I'm Necro, your pen-pal. Plus I will guarantee that you all will be safe here since this island is basically impossible to find by boat thanks to a really thick fog and during the day the enchantments make the island invisible." I explained. Stark turned towards my brother quickly, notched an arrow, aimed at Clay, and got ready to fire while my brother, as thick-skulled he may be, turned away, took our his claymore, tossed it up in the air, caught it, and turned towards Stark. Turns out Clay was getting better at his surprise techniques since the arrow was now sliced in 2, leaving Stark wide-eyed. Clay came up to my side and said, "I never miss."
"Neither do I." Stark answered. I pulled Zoey aside and watched as Clay and Stark started to argue about their victories and whatnot. We sat down in the sand and exchanged stories about our encounters with Nyx, our affinities, our families, our familiars, our friends (Mostly her's), the day we got Marked and went to our House of Nights, etc. "Now I'm wondering if I'll ever see Aurox again since he basically is Heath."
"Well, I will tell you this. With your luck, Zoey, Aurox will come back since he... oh I don't know, likes... um oh yeah... you. Don't worry what goes around, comes around. You will see him again. Now why don't I show you the place where my amulet felt like it was going to fly off my neck." I said while pulling Zoey off the sand. Just as we were about to go inside the gates a girl with short, curly, blonde hair came up to us. She was as tall as me with her Mark filled in, expanded, and... oh yeah... FREAKING RED! This must be Steve Rae, who is non other than Zoey's BFFE (Best Friend For Eternity) "Hi, you must be Steve Rae. My name is, Necro, I'm honored to meet you."
"Thanks, but it's nothin'." Steve Rae answered.
"Nothing? Girl, you are the first, not second, but first red vampyre High Priestess. You also have an Earth affinity." I said while linking arms with the 2 of them. We all smiled and Steve Rae gasped when a really cute guy walked up to us, well to me not that cute, but still cute. Steve Rae ran up to him, hugged him, and kissed him within the next minute. Zoey gave a small sigh while I said, "Young love, don't you just.. love it. My guess is that this young Cherokee-looking boy is Rephiam a.k.a Steve Rae consort and son to Kalona, who happens to be your Sword Master. Now please tell me if I'm forgetting anything."
"Me." said a voice from behind us. Zoey and I turned to see Stark there, waiting. He walked up to Zoey and kissed her before saying, "I am of course Zoey's Guardian and I the scars to prove it."'
"I have scars of when I fought with a whale-eating shark and won. Also, from when I went on a trip to Africa when I was 10. Trust me hyenas never like it when you try to coral them." I said. Stark looked at me wide-eyed and tried to shake it off.
"Aye, wumman! How can yu fight a creature like that, without getting wee pussy scratches?" Stark asked in a strangely clear and good Scottish accent.
"Was that Irish?" I asked while giving a half-grin.
"IRISH! It's Scottish, wumman, Scottish." Stark answered while throwing one of his hands in the air.
"I know. I just wanted to see your reaction. You were right, Zo, he does sound like he has lived in Scotland for his entire life when he does that accent." I said while jumping over the wall, unlocking the gate, and letting them in.
"Hey, Necro. Who are they?" Peter asked while he and his friends walked up to me, my brother, and my Tulsa friends.
"Oh, yeah. Guys, this is Zoey, her Guardian Stark, Steve Rae, her Consort Rephiam, and they are from the Tulsa House of Night. Wait. Uh, Zo, where's the rest of your group?" I said while scanning the area.
"Their coming. I told them to meet us at the dorms. Knowing Damien already has a map of the campus." Zoey said, but she suddenly jerked back a little bit because of a growl coming from the distance. I pulled out my athame and got ready to attack when the growl became softer, more welcoming. A figure started to move in the bushes near the old tree, a streak of white showed then disappeared quickly. "What was that."
A new growl came from the opposite side and a patch of orange flashed like a light in the surrounding darkness. Both figures moved closer to our group until they leaped out and tackled both Clay and myself. When things slowed down Tygris nudged my head with her nose while Necro pawed my brother again. Tygris jumped off of me, helped me up, and laid down while I said, "Zoey, this is my familiar, Tygris. The other tiger is Necro, my brother's familiar and Tygris's brother."
"Wow. They are huge." Stark commented.
"Well, they are rather abnormal. Though when your Marked, who isn't normal? Anyway follow me we were in the middle of Iron Monkey when you came." I said while we walked towards the girls dorm. We all sat through the rest of Iron Monkey until it was just the end credits. After that, we all tried to guess what affinity Peter, Luke, Sam, Ava, and Danny have. So far we got Wind = Peter, Water = Luke, Fire = Sam, Earth = Ava, and Spirit = Danny. At midnight we all went to the beach, where a a circle was made out of students and Nyx's offering table was in the middle. I went to the center, told everyone to find a place to stand and got ready for the ritual.
Danny's POV
Necro walked to the middle of the circle and told us to go find a spot to stand along the border of the circle. I kept my eyes glued to Necro as she went around the circle and pasted a different colored candles (yellow, red, blue, and green) to 4 girls at different points of the circle. She had the athame pointed towards the moon and a cup at the center of the table. Necro stopped suddenly and music started to play. Flutes, guitars, and wind chimes was all we could here and Necro was doing this dance towards the girl with the yellow candle and said, "It fills us and breathes life into us. I call wind to this circle."
She lit the candle and danced towards the girl with the red candle and said, "It warms and succors us. I call fire to this circle."
The candle burst into flames and she continued to dance around the circle until she got to the girl with the blue candle and said, "It soothes and washes us. I call water to this circle."
After lighting the candle, Necro strode towards the girl with the green candle and said, "It sustains us. From it we are born, and to it we all shall return. I call earth to this circle."
Everyone seemed to be mesmerized as Necro lit the candle and went to the table, where a purple candle stood along with the smudge stick, Sweet Grass, and Eucalyptus. Necro picked up the purple candle and said, "It is our essence. I call spirit to this circle."
As she lit the purple candle I felt instantly better, like when I fought Venom there was a sudden boost of energy within me. No one seemed different when Necro lit the candle, but I felt my spirit leap and soar. Necro turned towards the rest of us and said, "The full moon is a magical time when the veil between the known and unknown is thin, and can even be lifted. That is mysterious and wonderful, and I honor the fact that this world is made up of more things than my eyes can see. May the unseen protect and guide us. The full moon is also an excellent time to complete, or end, things. Tonight I ask that we all welcome our newest fledglings with open arms and that our guests here have a calming stay."
Necro blew out the purple candle and went to the green and did the same. The process continued up to the yellow candle. She went back to the canter and said, "Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again."
"Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again." Everyone replied before leaving the circle. Only a few people stayed and made a smaller circle around Sam, Ava, Peter, Luke, and myself. They all put their hands together like a prayer and whispered under their breaths while Necro said, "Welcome, Goddess-touched fledglings. Tonight we have 5 new fledglings joining us. We will find out what their affinities are under the full moon, when the veil between the known and unknown is so thin that we can our Goddess to give us a sign of their affinity. Let us begin."
Turns out Zoey and her friends were here and they were going to help out with the ceremony. Necro gave Damien the yellow candle, Shaunee the red candle, Erin the blue candle, Steve Rae the green candle, and Zoey the purple candle. She turned towards us and said, "When you feel the wind blowing, the fire heating you up, the water on your face, the grass under your feet, your spirit leap, or all 5 then say the name of the element that you feel."
Necro walked towards Damien and said, "Wind, you guid us and give breath to us. Please let us know who is connected to you by joining our circle."
She lit the candle while Peter said, "Wind."
When Necro was in front of Shaunee, she said, "Fire, you warm us and protect us. Please give us a sign on who can summon you by joining our circle."
The candle burst into flames as Sam said, "Fire."
She moved towards Erin and said, "Water, you purify us and calm us. Please tell us who you are close to by joining our circle."
As Necro lit the candle, Luke said, "Water."
Slowly Necro walked to Steve Rae and said, "Earth, you ground us and where we return to after death. Please show us who is rooted to you by joining our circle."
Just as Necro lit the candle, Ava said, "Earth."
After Earth came Spirit and that is when Zoey shifted her feet. Necro lifted the match and said, "Spirit, you are unique and you are what we are before birth. Please give strength to who is connected to you by joining our circle."
Necro lit the candle while I said, "Spirit."
Hope you like it. Please comment on it.