So here is the next chapter. Want to be a kind person and update first before the residential camp starts on Wednesday. So, camp started today... so boring, we hardly did anything today. Hopefully tomorrow will be fun!
I wish to dedicate this chapter to for establishing this awesome website and of course, my fabulous loyal readers.
Enjoy!
*Disclaimer: I don't own the HoN Series and any of the characters.
The ground, which is soaked with Stevie Rae's blood that is still coming out from the arrow wound,-the arrow that I shot-began to shudder like it has changed from solid ground to water, tremble like there is an earthquake, just that it only affects here but not other places, considering the fact that nothing else in far sight is moving even one inch.
Everybody but Neferet, still wearing her triumphant and evil grin, started crying out in panic. No, wait. I missed out one person: Aphrodite. "Move in to us, but don't break the circle!" she was instructing Zoey's friends calmly.
Well, that is indeed a very good idea/plan now, seeing as something really bad is probably going to happen soon and that the Nyx elemental circle (Nice name? Hee hee… I came up with it since I first attended a ritual) is definitely strong enough to defend any kinds of evil.
"Zoey." As soon as I heard Zoey's name, I focused my attention and concentration on the speaker, Stevie Rae. "Listen to Aphrodite. Don't break the circle. No matter what!" She was staring at Zoey with pain-filled eyes.
"But you're-" Zoey protested as I switched my gaze from Stevie Rae to her and back again when her words are cut off by Stevie Rae.
"No! I'm not dying. I promise. He's just taken my blood, not my life." Glad you know that. Thank Zoey for it. If not for her, you would have died like intended. "Don't break the circle." She repeated again, trying to tell Zoey that not breaking the circle is more important than tending to her injury now.
Zoey nodded to reassure Stevie Rae that she will do as she wishes, then stood up and spoke. "Get on either side of Stevie Rae. Hold her up. Help her keep the candle, and no matter what, don't let it go out and don't let the circle be broken," she told a blue vampyre whom I suppose is Erik according to what I heard before I died and un-died and another red fledgling whom I don't know as they are standing the nearest to her.
The unknown red fledgling nodded and went over to Stevie Rae while Zoey stared at Zoey in shock with big eyes.
"Make your choice now. You're either with us or with Neferet and the rest of them," she said to Erik. Oh, please do NOT choose to join Neferet, it will be equals to crossing over to the dark, evil side whereby people aspire to conquer the whole world, killing all the humans and anybody else in their way.
Erik didn't hesitate to answer Zoey's question. "I made my choice when I volunteered to be your consort tonight. I'm with you." Phew… luckily he chose to make the correct choice. As in Zoey's side will always be the good side, the one helping everybody-the cowards, which sadly, I suppose I can be considered as one-fight evil. Then, he hurried to help the other blond (the unknown red fledgling) to lift Stevie Rae up.
Hold on for a minute there, did he just say that he volunteered to be Zoey's consort in the ritual? Does that mean that he and Zoey have already made up, or even made out? Argh! Such a strong rival. How I wish that I could get another arrow and kill Erik right now. Sigh… But then if they really did get together again, if Erik died-from my arrow, nonetheless-Zoey will be very sad, not to mention really angry with me, killing all the chances I might have to date her.
With Erik's answer, Zoey went back to the center of circle and picked up her purple candle, representing spirit, in the nick of time, just before it could fall over and the flame could go off. She clutched it near her and together with the others, moved towards each other so that they were all clustered together.
"Start moving away from the tree. All of us, without breaking the circle. We need to head to the trapdoor in the wall. Now."
Aah, right. Aphrodite is vision girl, she can see future disasters. Did she get a vision of this happening? That's why she can remain so calm and even instruct everybody what to do in order to get to safety. If she did, why didn't she try to stop it from happening in the first place, before it is too late?
Wait. Did she say that they are to 'head to the trapdoor in the wall'? Trapdoor in the wall? Since when is there a trapdoor in the wall? How come I don't know about it? Maybe because you only technically spent less than one day here when you died and un-died only today, minutes before?
She noticed Zoey staring at her and she nodded solemnly once before explaining, "I know what's going to be happening next, and it's not going to be good." Duh. I think anybody with a brain will know that something not good is going to be happening. I nodded mentally to myself as she answered my unasked question, proving that she really did have a vision about it.
"Then let's get out of here," Zoey said and everybody started moving, listening to her not-so-much-as-an-order.
They took one small step at a time, being careful with Stevie Rae and to make sure that not one flame of the candles extinguishes or else the circle will break.
I looked at the floor, trying to see exactly how much blood have Stevie Rae lost. To my surprise, the ground hardly has any traces of blood but the grass seemed to be smoother. It is like Stevie Rae's blood has aided the grass to grow better.
My internal musing and questions marks were halted by Neferet's terrible laughter. Suddenly, the ancient oak tree tore apart with a horrible ripping sound. This was a very spectacular sight but I am sure that most people will not want to witness it again. At first sight, one can only see something black at the middle of the badly destroyed oak tree. But then, you will see it move and realize that the black thing is actually a pair of night-dark wings enfolding something. Afterwards, a creature-that looks like a person so, somebody-stepped out from the oak, straightening his mighty body and unfurling huge wings.
"Oh, Goddess!" I heard Zoey cry out, her gaze locked on him. I looked at him. He had shoulder-length black hair and amber eyes. Even though he looked ancient, I must admit that he still looked really good. Wonder how old is he now.
While I was registering his perfect looks, I felt a pull towards him. It is something like the hold Neferet had on me, only stronger. I feel like kneeling down on my knees in front of him, to help him do anything he wants to do, not that I think that he will need any help in the first place.
Finally, I managed to stop staring at him and look at Zoey to see her reaction to this new good-looking stranger in front of us. She is also staring at that person, just like any others. But then, she snapped out of it when he raised both of his muscular arms and shouted out in a deep, strong, powerful voice. "Arise with me, children!"
At that moment, many other weird creatures came up from the hole in the ground. They, however, were not the least bit nice-looking. They also have huge black wings but they have the body of a human but instead of mouths and hands, they have beaks and claws.
They shrieked and circled around the-supposedly, according to what he said: children-father. Oh my gosh, they are seriously creeping the hell out of me. Their father raised his both hands up even higher-if that is even possible-so that their wings were touching his arms lightly, caressing them.
"We have to get out of here!" Aphrodite hissed to everybody, they came out of their 'wooden block' state and stopped staring at him, traces of devotion in their eyes also disappeared.
"Yes, now! Hurry," Zoey agreed with Aphrodite immediately when the words left her mouth. Her gaze was on her front, which is the place whereby the oak was as she is walking backwards so she could see everything that happened just now.
Neferet slowly approached the out-of-the-world-handsome guy, love very evident even on her face. When she came to a stop in front of him, she swept a low, graceful curtsy, her long black silk dress touching the floor.
"My Queen," he addressed her, lust in his seducing eyes.
"My Consort," she said back in a flirty voice. Consort? If he is Neferet's consort, won't I be the one who sort of released him from the ground? I mean, at the morgue, when she asked for my help, she said: The tsisigilli will rise, along with her consort. Oh my Goddess, not only have I committed the sin of hurting Stevie Rae, I also released that creature!
Then, she turned to face the crowd once again. I, too, looked at the people around me. I am not sure if I should be surprised or not but then everybody was no longer panicking when the oak cracked open but were instead staring in fascination at the new appearance-on his chest as he is not wearing a top.
"This is Erebus, come to earth finally! Bow to Nyx's consort, and our new lord on earth," Neferet proclaimed. Hmm… I just realized that she can be quite dumb at times.
Firstly, Erebus's wings are white with a shade of gold while that creature's wings are black. Didn't people already point that out to you already when they were talking about your necklace? Speaking about the pendant on the necklace, the raven-black wings carved on onyx is probably symbolizing his wings.
Second, she just said it herself that he is Erebus, Nyx's consort. If he really is who she claims to be, why wouldn't Nyx be here with him? Why would he call Neferet his queen and in what way will he be Neferet's consort be he is Nyx's consort?
Lastly, if he really is Erebus, why would he appear from the middle of a cracked oak tree? I know that Earth is one of Nyx's elements but then why would they want to destroy it? I am sure that if he and Nyx want to come down to Earth, there is a better way.
However, apparently many people are all as dumb as she is as when they absorbed her words, they fell to their knees to worship him or something.
Being out of my trance, only a little part-very little indeed-of me that craves to also kneel down before him like the rest of them. Therefore, I think I can be considered to have a clear mind, at this moment anyway.
But then I am not the only one with a clear mind now. It seems that Zoey and her gang of friends are also not in the way of temptation.
To avoid having to kneel down and pretend like he is a god to me, Erebus come down to earth, whatever, I moved back from the main ground whereby the 'show' is being broadcasted, away from anyone's sight.
Zoey's eyes scanned the ground, as if she is looking for something-or somebody. Could she be looking for me, to see if I am safe? Hope swelled my heart and looking at her perfect full lips, I had a brief flashback of how it had felt on me, the passionate way it moved against mine… Stark! Concentrate! Now is not the time to daydream-daydream because I am quite sure that even though I did not kill her friend, she will still not be with me.
I watched as Shekinah made her way slowly over to where Neferet is, with a few Sons of Erebus Warrior tagging along behind her. However, when she reached mid-point of where she was and Neferet is, she suddenly clutched her throat like she is choking on something, cutting off her air supply, and crumpled to the ground. Then, many people-mostly, fine all, Sons of Erebus Warrior-rushed up to her-corpse.
I looked over at Zoey to gauge her reaction of what she has just witnessed. She looks shocked, maybe because of the big question mark of how Shekinah would just drop dead like that.
After just a short while, she took her cell phone out from her side pocket and dialed a number. Due to all the commotion over the High Priestess of all vampyres, I couldn't hear her clearly but then her voice is panicky and I caught something like 'Get out now!', 'Take Grandma with you'. Good. So it means Zoey have somehow anticipated this will happen and have made some arrangements. Well, as long as she made sure that her grandmother is in safety, there will be one less burden for her small shoulders to bear.
When she ended the considerably long phone call,-considering the situation, she must be really worried-she looked up to see Neferet staring at her. But then, I was not able to see how she handled it because Aphrodite chose that moment to speak. "Get that damn door open now!"
So the trapdoor is there. I don't see a door, all I see is solid, concrete wall that one person cannot walk through it and if he or she is that stupid to actually try, that he or she will get a badly bruised and bleeding forehead.
"It is already open." A voice travelled from the other side of the wall. As I watched, suddenly, a door appeared there between the brick and rock wall, like magic. I realized that the voice belongs to a guy, the one built like a mountain, must be a Son of Erebus Warrior, even though there are two guys behind that trapdoor as the other one is Jack and he has a super squeaky voice.
Next to Jack is Duch, bawling her eyes out. Many people think that dogs don't or can't cry but they cannot be less wrong. Dogs are also like people, like us but then they are so much more loyal. They also have feelings, they also have people and things they care about. So why can't they cry? I remember that Duch also cried when I died…how long ago was that?
"If you're with us, you have to be against them," Zoey told that super big-size guy, jerking her chin back to indicate who the them is, not doing anything at all. It must be really hard to go against someone who is like your brother as according to what I know, most of the Son of Erebus Warriors treat each other like real brothers.
"I've made my choice," that guy said in his deep voice.
"Can we please get out of here? She's looking at us!" Jack said and when I looked back at Neferet, she and her consort is indeed looking at their every movement.
Aphrodite said, "Zoey! You've got to buy us some time. Use the elements-all of them. Shield us." Shield us or shield me? Have she ever though how tiring and energy-consuming it is to use elements, especially when it is all of them? I'd bet she don't know. Well, actually, I don't know as well but have she ever spared a thought for Zoey?
Zoey closed her eyes, her forehead wrinkled in concentration but I don't think she knows that. Wind blows their hair around their faces but it doesn't only apply to that side. Thunder cracked, echoing loudly across the vast sky. A lightning bolt hit a tree, which is outside the House Of Night, a few yards from where Zoey and her friends are.
It might be dangerous but then the horrible weather condition helped to mask them as they made their way further away from here, from me. Since becoming a red fledgling, it appears that my eye sight has improved as well. I can vaguely see Zoey and her friends, still in their circle but I am quite sure that the others couldn't because Neferet looked around, her red hair lifting wildly around her, not believing that Zoey and her friends could actually escape. I mean, I wouldn't believe it as well, under such a situation, being able to escape when all eyes are on you… Wow!
I looked back to see how far and fast they are progressing and if I hadn't concentrated and squint to look through the thick sheet of rain, I wouldn't be able to see Zoey suddenly disappear. Her friends gasped, I mean I would to, how can a person just vanish into thin air? But then, after a while, they too, can't be seen.
Thanks to...
Desi772, horsemadissy, jamesstarkgirlfriend, Jazerelle, vampluver19, RayRayluvs2read, ImaginationFlow, Chaos Mossanite Shadow-Fox, Amiralys, quhuai, ruiqi, Peahen, rashel..quinn, Cassierb 183, SarahBird925, Melly31992 for giving a review.
Amiralys, horsemadissy, Chaos Mossanite Shadow-Fox, geeniebop, Melly31992, Tash Salvatore, Desi772, Peahen, Cullenz-Rule, analilo, rashel..quinn, Stark's one and only girl, I heart wolves, I-chart, TanzH, Lolita86, XMusicIsWhyILiveX for putting it on his/her favourite story list.
horsemadissy, RayRayluvs2read, ImaginationFlow, Blazedanblazin, Peahen, xXMcCullenXx, weirdouk, I heart wolves for putting it on story alert.
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