Just before we went into the building Stark said: "I'm right here, and I love you."
"I love you, too, Z." Stevie Rae said.
"Me, too." Damien said with a little sob.
"You can always count on me." I said.
"You can borrow my two-carat diamond stud earrings." Aphrodite said.
"Huh?" Zoey said stopping the line.
"That's as close to a declaration of love as you're gonna to get from me."
Stevie Rae sigh and I just rolled my eyes. At least she didn't cuss.
"Thanks, I'll take you up on it." Zoey said. I barely heard Aphrodite's: "Goddess, I hate being nice."
I willed the doors open (hey, I figured I might as well practice so something doesn't accidently get blown up or people get shoved through walls again) and Grandma Redbird was there in a big leather chair.
Her eyes were all puffy and she suddenly looked aged a gazillion years since the last time I saw her. My heart clenched in sympathy.
Zoey broke out of the line and lunged for her Grandma. Grandma Redbird stood up and hugged her grandbaby tightly.
A stab of jealously burned into my heart. When my parents died, I had no one close to mourn with when my parents died. I had no one who would miss them as dearly as I do and seeing Zoey and Grandma Redbird together like this did make me a just the tiddly bit jealous.
"Mom's dead." She said.
"Yes, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya. Your mother is dead. Did her spirit come to you?"
"In a way. Last night, while I was asleep, Nyx showed me Mom entering the Otherworld."
Astral projection is a bitch. I honestly can't see its value.
Grandma Redbird suddenly swayed.
"Spirit, come to me! Help Grandma!"
I rushed over and clasped my hands over their joined ones. Golden flames curled out from my fingers and wrapped around both of them. Skye warbled and Grandma Redbird opened her eyes.
"Oh my." She gasped.
"Uh, yeah, um, Grandma Redbird meet Skye. She's sorta my hatchling." I said smiling sheepishly. Skye perched herself on the edge of my shoulder to sniff at Grandma Redbird. "She doesn't bite."
Aphrodite snorted.
Grandma Redbird reached out and touched the little dragon. Skye rubbed her jaw along Grandma Redbird's hand. She purred loudly and looked at me.
"Grandma Redbird." I told her.
She put the image of a majestic red bird into my mind. I nodded and Skye chittered happily and rubbed her head over Grandma Redbird's hand. Grandma Redbird cracked a small smile.
"I think we should start selling your dragon for therapy." Stark said.
Everyone gave a small laugh.
"Gv-li-e-li-ga, ta-tsu-wa." She looked at my hatchling with a small smile. "Gv-li-e-li-ga, wa-da-du-ga."
Zoey smiled. I would have to ask her what Grandma Redbird called us later.
Grandma Redbird took Zoey's hands in hers. "Your mother was killed at my lavender farm."
"What? I don't understand. How? Why?" Zoey said.
"The sheriff is saying it was a robbery, and that she just got in the way."
It felt like something kicked me in the stomach. Um, no. Zoey's mom was not killed because of a robbery. Don't ask me how I know, I just do.
Great, now I'm psychic. Oye.
"He says from what they took, my computer and television and my cameras, and the random violence of the crime, that they were probably addicts stealing so they would have money for drugs." She paused and looked at Zoey earnestly. "She'd left him, Zoeybird, and come to me. I was at a powwow. I was not there for her." Tears spilled over her eyes.
"No, Grandma, don't blame yourself. It wasn't your fault, and if you'd been there I would have lost both of you-and I couldn't stand that!"
"I know, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya, but the death of a child, even one that has been lost to her parent, is a heavy burden."
Note to self: don't have kids.
"Was it-did she-did Mom suffer?" Zoey asked softly.
"No. She died quickly." Grandma Redbird said.
"You found her?"
Grandma Redbird nodded and I clutched her hand. I knew how that was like.
"I did. She was in the field just outside the house. She was laying there and she looked so peaceful that at first I believed she was sleeping." She sobbed. "She was not sleeping."
Suddenly the image of my parents slit throats and terrified eyes danced across my mind. My stomach tightened and my eyes prickled. I scratched my eyes, hoping to keep the tears inside.
Skye cooed and put her front paws on Grandma Redbird's shoulder. She rubbed her cheek against Grandma Redbird's and licked at her tears.
She gave a small smile and stroked Skye's neck.
"She's happy, Grandma. I saw her. Nyx took the sadness from her. She's waiting for us in the Otherworld, and she has the Goddess's blessing."
"Wa-do, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya. You give me strength." She hugged Zoey tightly.
"Grandma, please stay with me, at least for a little while."
"I cannot, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya." She stepped back and Skye climbed back onto my shoulders. "You know I will follow our people's tradition and mourn for seven full days, and this is not the right place for me to mourn."
"We're not stayin' here, Grandma," Stevie Rae said. She wiped her face with her shirt sleeve. "Zoey and our whole group have moved to the tunnels under the Tulsa Depot. I'm their official High Priestess, and I'd really like it if you'd come stay with us-for seven days or seven months-for as long as you want."
Grandma Redbird smiled at Stevie Rae. "That is a generous offer, Elohine, but your depot is not the right place for me to mourn, either. I must be on my land, at the farm. I must spend the next week eating and sleeping little. I must focus on cleansing my home and my land of this horrible deed."
"All by yourself, Grandma?" Stark asked. "Is that safe after what happened?"
"Tsi-ta-ga-ash-ya, do not let my looks deceive you. I am many things, and not one of them is a helpless old woman."
My heart clenched. "We're not saying that, Grandma Redbird. Things have just gotten…scarier lately and we don't think you should be alone."
"Ray has a point, Grandma." Zoey said.
"U-we-tsi-a-ge-ya, I must cleanse my home, my land, and myself as I mourn. I cannot do that unless I am at peace with the land, and I will not stay inside the house until it is thoroughly cleansed and the seven days have past. I will be camping in my backyard, in the meadow by the stream." Grandma Redbird smiled at us. "I do not believe you would fare so well exposed to the sunlight for that time."
"Well, I can do some darkness stuff and-"
Grandma Redbird stopped me. "This I must do myself, ta-tsu-wa." She turned to Zoey. "I do have something to ask of you, though."
"Anything." Zoey said.
"In seven days will you come to the farm with your friends? Will you cast a circle and perform a cleansing ritual of your own?"
"I will." She said.
"We will." Stevie Rae said and the other kids joined in.
"Then that is how it shall be," Grandma Redbird said. "The Cherokee tradition of mourning and cleansing will be coupled with vampyre ritual. It is a god that it is so, as my family had expanded to include so many vampyres, fledglings, and half-breeds."
Skye warbled loudly.
Grandma Redbird smiled. "And hatchlings."
She chirped happily and draped herself around my neck, purring. I sighed. How can she be so spoiled?
Grandma Redbird then looked at all of us. "I ask one more thing. That each of you think bright thoughts of me, and of Zoey's mother, for the next seven days. It does not matter that Linda faltered in life. What matters is that she is remembered with love and kind thoughts."
"Okay, Grandma Redbird." I said and a lot of other kids echoed my words.
"I will go now, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya. Sunrise is not far away, and I would greet the dawn on my land." Zoey and Grandma Redbird began walking towards the door.
I saw Zoey hug her Grandma tightly. "I understand why you have to, but I really wish you wouldn't go."
"I know, but in seven days-"
The door was pulled open and her bitchiness walked in. I swear to God I wanted to punch her and keep punching her until she could never move again. She was going to say something awful and manipulative even though it wouldn't work on any of us.
"Sylvia, I have heard of your loss. Please accept my sincere sorrow that it was your daughter who was killed."
"I accept your sorrow, Neferet. I do feel the sincerity in it."
"Is there anything the House of Night can do for you? Is there anything you need?"
She needs you to take your fakeness outta here.
"The young mediator has strengthened me, and the Goddess has welcomed my daughter to the Otherworld."
She shot me a sharp look. I wonder if she could tell I wanted to beat her to a pulp. Skye warbled at her and then tugged on my hair.
"Raven is very kind, and the Goddess is generous."
"I don't believe it was kindness or generosity that was behind the actions of Raven or the Goddess. I believe it was love. Do you not think so, High Priestess?"
Well, I do heart me some Grandma Redbird.
"What I think is that you could be right." She said after a pause.
"Yes. I could be. And there is one thing I need from the House of Night."
"We would be honored to aid a Wise Woman in a time of need."
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I was just done with her fakeness. At least Damascus didn't pretend to be good, at least around me. I don't know, maybe he was screwing with some humans pretending to be an angel of the Lord or something like that.
Whoa, I hope he wasn't screwing around with the Pope or any other powerful Christian leader. That could be very, very bad.
"Thank you. I would ask that Zoey and her circle be allowed to come to my land in seven days to perform a cleansing ritual. That would complete my mourning and wash my home free of any lingering evil."
Something passed over her face. It was there for a millisecond. "Of course. I freely give permission for this ritual."
Bet she was scared. I had a feeling she might have something to do with this, I mean come she hates Zoey. Kalona wouldn't do something that would really hurt Zoey and I'm pretty sure Damascus wouldn't harm her mother. So she's the only person of malicious intent who would do something like that.
"Thank you Neferet." Then she turned to hug Zoey again. "In seven days, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya. I will see you again then."
"Seven days. I love you, Grandma. Don't ever forget."
"I could no more forget that than I could forget to breathe. I love you, too, daughter."
She then walked out the door and disappeared into the night.
Stark slipped behind Zoey and put an arm around her shoulders. "Come on, Z. I think we've all had enough school for one day. Let's go home."
"Yeah, Z. Let's go home." Stevie Rae said.
She started nodding and then paused looking confused and touching her chest. Then Dragon and Aurox walked through the door Grandma Redbird just left through.
"Zoey, I heard the news about your mother. I am sorry." Dragon said.
Huh, I wonder if he did learn something when I smacked some sense into him when it came to loss. Or maybe he was afraid I might slap him again, which I would have if he would have been a brainless jerk again.
"Th-thank you." Zoey muttered. "I want to go home, but first I need a minute to myself." She broke away from Stark and pushed past Dragon and Aurox. Stark moved after her.
"Zoey? Where are you-?"
"I'll just be by the fountain that's in the courtyard next to the parking lot. Come get me when the bus is loaded and ready to go." And then she darted off.
My heart went out to her. Losing a parent is not easy, especially when your parents died way too young and were murdered.
"Neferet, I need to speak with you regarding the new classes that are being taught in Lenobia's arena." Dragon said.
"It was decided by the High Council that these fledglings stay, at least for the time being." She said.
"I understand that, bu-"
Neferet interrupted him. "But would you rather have the Raven Mocker in your class?"
I gritted my teeth. Can I punch her? I really, really wanted to punch her!
"Rephaim isn't a Raven Mocker anymore." Stevie Rae said.
"And yet he calls those creatures, those Raven Mockers, brothers." Aurox said.
"So do I!" I snapped. "And no one has never called me a Raven Mocker, which is kinda of weird cause I am related to them only something freaky happened and I turned out to look normal." Skye chirped and tugged at my hair. I scratched her horns.
"Indeed, Aurox, that is a relevant observation." Why does she just ignore me? "As you are Nyx's gift to me I think it is important that we listen to your observations."
I snorted. Right, if he's a Goddess given gift then I'm a monkey.
"What in Sam Hill is the point? They are his brothers just like Raven is his sister. He's not tryin' to hid that." Stevie Rae said. "You shouldn't have attacked that Raven Mocker. He wasn't attacking anyone." She told Aurox.
"You think we should wait for the creatures to slaughter another one of us before we move against them?" Dragon said.
"Well then, you better kill Rephaim now. Oh, and Stark and Darius and Zoey too. And you most definitely should kill me because you never know, we could turn inexplicitly evil some time in the future and just go on a freaking kill spree and enslave everything in sight." I said with a smirk. "Or you know, we could be the only hope humanity has of surviving. But it's probably best to not take the chance." Skye chirped. "Oh, Skye too. She could grow-up and crave mortal meat." I just crossed my arms and glared at him.
At least I didn't smack him again!
He opened his mouth to say something, probably something along the lines that they were a special case (bullshit!) so that's why they had to be killed immediately whether they were being aggressive or not, and then suddenly a very loud, evil sounding cackle came from under my armpit.
Skye shrieked and dove into the back of my shirt.
"Dammit Skye." I said once I regained balance. "It's just my phone."
"That's your ring tone?" Stevie Rae said.
"Yep." I started rummaging through my bag looking for the source of the cackling. I finally yanked the phone out. I pressed the send button, shouldn't it be the answer or call button, and pressed it up against my ear as I turned away from everyone else.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Raven? It's me, Melissa Everhart."
Oh shit.
This wasn't a bad oh shit this was just an oh shit cuz this is my parent's lawyer.
"Hi Melissa." I started for the door.
"I wasn't sure if you remembered me much." She said.
"I kinda remember you. Weren't you the one my dad conned into wearing that Blues Clues costume for my fifth birthday?" At least I think it was fifth.
She chuckled. "I was hoping to get ahold of you. Your…um High Priestess said you have been busy with an emergency. We need to get together so we can discuss your parent's will."
Oh boy.
"Kay." I said.
"I am very, very sorry for your loss." She said. "I realize this might be painful for you. If you need some more time, this can wait."
"No. I'm ready now." Better get it over with before I'm kidnapped by minions of evil. "Or I guess the day of nearest convenience."
"How about this Saturday?"
"Kay. Um, I can wake-up early so we can meet up at seven p.m.-ish."
"I think that would be prefect. Do you know where my office is?"
"No."
She gave me directions that I wrote in the air with light, I didn't have a pad of paper in my bag that's what the phone is for.
"All right. I'll see you at seven on Saturday."
"Kay."
"Bye Raven."
"Bye." I clicked the phone off and typed the directions into my notepad tool.
Skye shifted under my shirt and curled back up on my neck.
"Come on stinker, let's go home." I said. "I really need some comfort food."
She pressed her cheek against mine and purred loudly.
"You're too cute sometimes you know that?" I said.
She looked at me with big blue eyes.
Yes, yes she did know that.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXOXOXO
Sorry it took me so long. Writer's block is awful. If I could I would just rip it out of its hidey hole and beat the snot out of it, I would. Does writer block even have snot?
And it's not like my Muse is out of imaginative juice, I just had this really epic dream where this Frollo from Disney and Voldemort mix took over the world with Darth Vader as his second in command (um, could the world be any more screwed?) And me and a bunch of random people were at this school, I don't think it was Hogwarts, where I arranged an uprising and then there was this kick ass battle with laser beams, lightsabers, and magic just flying everywhere and I was like some avenging angel kicking ass and we got defeated. Don't know how, it could be the fact that we were a bunch of kids and they were Storm Troopers and Death Eaters. Voldollo decided to have me imprisoned instead of killed cuz he thought I could lead him to Potter and bring him to his doom! But Potter gets into the castle and writes Gryffindors Rule in sparkly dust and also writes Stars Shine Brighter In Eternal Darkness. I see their reaction and just smile as I glow!
Then I wake-up. But it was the most epic dream I have ever had to date!
So, um, if you read this review please and once I remove this stupid writer's block I will give you all a brand new chapter. TTFN.