Zoey's Guide

We got out of the car, Lenobia went straight to the trunk pulled out a small bag and gave it to me, then pulled out a huge heavy one that instantly fell on the ground. She looked and Darius and said, "take this bag to the top of that hill," she pointed to a small hill surrounded by trees then continued, "in the bag there is a tent, I want you to start working on that."

"But I need to talk to Zoey for a sec," he said.

"No… I need to talk to her," she replied, "Zoey's entire life depends on what happens in there tonight," she pointed to the middle of the forest away from the hill, "and if she does not do exactly what I tell her, her job as high priestess will be much harder!"

"It already is hard," I interrupted.

"Then you see what I mean!" she answered. And so, reluctantly, Darius carried the bag on his shoulders and went up the hill. The way he carried it made it seem weightless.

She then opened the lighter bag she carried and took out a small box. She opened the box and handed it to me saying, "When you meet the leader, this year he is named Adam, you greet him the way you would greet any vampire, this will show the equality between you two. It will show that you are not superior to him, and neither him to you," she paused for a while then continued, "he should then say something to welcome you and warn you about the dangers of this job, which is when you offer him this medallion." She looked at the box when she said that.

The medallion had a square-ish shape with round edges, it was made with a rock ad black as the night sky. On it was a silver crescent moon standing in the middle with two gold stars on either side. "this is a tradition that goes back hundreds of years," she said, "this medallion is given to the tracker leader by the high priestess recruit, and is given back to her with the first fledgling that enters her school under her rule, she then gives the medallion to her recruit. And so the cycle is complete."

"So you mean, Nefferet had this?" I asked.

"Yes," she answered, "why do you ask?"

"It's nothing," I said, "I am just surprised she would give this up for me!"

"But she did not give it up for you," she said, "she had given it to her own recruit before you got to the House of Night!"

At first I was confused, but then I remembered, Aphrodite was the leader of the dark daughters when I got to school. And if I remember correctly, she was going through high priestess training before I replaced her as leader of the dark daughters. Just then a strong feeling of guilt fell on my shoulders. It was my fault Aphrodite did not get to keep the medallion, it was my fault she is only a spirit on my side now. But that feeling was instantly replaced by Aphrodite's trust and care.

"So," I said after a short pause, "how do I get to the camp?"

"That's why I am here!" we heard someone say from around the car.

We go around and see a tall beautiful red-haired girl wearing a sort of camouflage dress; it was both weird and cool at the same time. She looked young, not older than I am, and something about her made me relaxed.

"I am Lisa," she said, "and I am going to be your guide to, in and from the tracker camp. So shall we go?"

"Not yet," Lenobia said stopping me from going to her, "where is your elder, protocol states that both next-in-line leader and his apprentice should come."

"That is true," said Lisa, "but my elder is not suited for this job, for this visit is going to be a special one. For as long as this camp has been such event has never happened. A young high priestess is visiting, so young that her tracker is still alive, and law clearly states that a vampire and his tracker should only meet at the day he was marked. Since we have no time to vote for a new heir, we sent Xander _your tracker_ off the camp, not to return until you leave."

Lenobia apologized instantly, and then told me to go with Lisa, Stark came too. Before we walked into the forest Lenobia wished me luck and went to help Darius with the tent.

The forest was lit by the almost full moon above, it was quiet and no sound could be heard. The first half of the walk was silent, Lisa walked, and Stark and I followed. To avoid the awkward silence, I asked her why was the camp so far inside the forest. To that she answered that the camp has always been there, it would be folly to move it, and to that she added humans are not permitted inside, so the camp must be well hidden.

Soon, we were able to see a light far ahead. It had an orange-yellow fire. Lisa said that it is the camp, a bonfire is lit every day, all night as a tribute to Nyx. She also said that the size of the fire increases with the increase of the moon, and since tomorrow is the full moon, the light of the fire can be seen this far.

About fifteen minutes later, we were standing at a wooden gate closed shut. Lisa knocked on the gate what appeared to be a secret knock. She stepped back as the gate was pulled open by two muscular shirtless men. As the gate was opening, I was able to see the huge fire at the exact center of the camp, soon I saw wooden houses forming a huge circle around the fire (it formed a big circular central "garden" with the bonfire in the middle). There were small paths from the central garden to the outer walls of the camp between the houses. There were only two large paths, one leading to the garden from the gate, the other is opposite this path that leads away from the garden towards the largest house in the cam (I suspect it to be the house of the leader.)

"Welcome Zoey" Lisa said with a smile on her face when the gate was fully opened, "to my home." And she invited us in. as we walked in the muscular men closed the doors behind us, and people from all over the camp started to arrange themselves along our path.