A/N: READ ME! I am SO sorry about this. Life decided to be...well...life and throw me a crapload of stuff all at once. Plus, since the big Valentine's Day and all the cute couples and all that romantic crap, my mood has swung towards wanting to write romance and fluff, which is most definitely not this at the moment. But because of this, I'm willing and wanting to do a couple of fluffy one-shots that you guys want to see (because I seriously have no idea on where to start AND I'm here to serve). This'll go for any plausible couple (whether canon or not) that is public knowledge (meaning that yes, because of Haunted Houses, JC/Skylar can be in the mix and because of some history given, JC/Erik can be as well if you really want them to be) and goes for any situation aside from lemons (just haven't had my hand in writing them in a while. Let's just say I intend to practice in other ways, heh). Just say if you want to see any couple in some kind of situation or something along those lines in a review/PM and I'll pick a few to work on.
I dunno, I feel like every once and a while, authors need a fluff dump. I guess this is my mind telling me I need one now.
Disclaimer: Would you believe that nothing, aside from the plot, up until JC's POV is mine? Well, it's true...none of it is mine. Arnold belongs to ukrainianelfhorse...and everyone else belongs to the Casts.
Aurox's POV
I had witnessed the chaos that occurred during the rituals. It was horrifying, but at the same moment I wanted to join in with the Raven Mocker beasts and help in whatever ways I could. I was excited and I could feel power starting to course through my body, I was ready to jump into the action.
That was when Priestess came and ordered me not to. I had no choice but to obey and we stood side by side watching the madness. I noted Zoey Redbird and her circle were in danger and I had the sudden, strange urge to protect her. Zoey was in trouble and all I wanted to do was run through everything going on, scoop her up in my arms, and run out of the area with her.
But I had no choice to do so. However, I watched with mild interest as JC spoke with her and Aphrodite and then ran out of the circle into the fight. That was how I knew they would be safe. Jennifer was always a family oriented person, and she had finally grown out of her shyness. She had matured greatly and I was relieved and proud at the same moment.
It did occur to me that I should not have known or felt any of those emotions. It made no sense that I had these thoughts, but I did. I could not act upon them as that would be against Priestess's order, but the urge was great and hard to ignore at times.
After the fight, Neferet ordered me back to her room to wait and I obliged. However, I walked into the room and came to find the winged man, Kalona, waiting as well. I was confused and curious. "Why are you here?" I asked as I walked in.
Kalona turned around to look at me and narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?" he asked in return.
"My name is Aurox. Priestess ordered me here, why are you here?" I answered and asked again.
He seemed to debate with himself for a moment then nodded. "I wish to speak with Neferet on some matters," he explained and returned to looking out the glass door that led to the balcony.
"She is out tending to duties. I do not know what duties or when she will be back," I told the immortal.
Kalona let out something that resembled a snort and a laugh and nodded again. "Very well, Aurox, I will wait for her here," he said.
Unsure of what to do, I let him stay and resumed waiting for Priestess like she had asked. It did not take long for her to return, and she seemed surprised to find Kalona in our house as well.
"Well, Kalona," Priestess said after she came in and saw him, "I wasn't expecting you. I hope you are coming out of good intentions."
"I just want to talk," Kalona answered and turned to look at her, "you are content with the results of tonight?" he asked.
"While hard to do with my careful planning, it turned out better than I expected. Though the circle escaped, that little Spirit brat is still here and the magick she was performing is now to blame for your sons' attack," Priestess answered with a small, wicked smile.
"As I hoped you would be. I lost three sons," he responded evenly, but there was a flicker of pain that crossed his face. Losing his sons, even if they were Raven Mocker beasts, hurt him.
Priestess shrugged it off. "Casualties are to be expected in war, I figured you would know this," she answered and the Darkness became more prominent around her.
"I do, but I don't appreciate casualties when I am doing a favor for another," he answered quickly.
She snorted, "you do me no favors, Kalona, you do your orders from me. Besides, why do you come to me for this? Do you know who actually killed your sons?" she asked and smirked.
Kalona faltered a moment, "I do not. And I have a feeling I will not like the answer."
"Rephaim, your former favorite son, killed one of his own brothers. Jennifer, his High Priestess, and I use the term loosely, killed another in her attempt to save her roommate's love," Priestess paused and rolled her eyes, "and Zane, one of our students, killed your third."
Emotions flooded the immortal's face and he looked away. "You've managed to turn brother against brother," he muttered finally.
"I have done no such thing. However, the Kalona I once knew would be outraged and swear revenge on his sons' murderers," Priestess commented slyly.
Kalona let out something akin to a growl and turned back to her. I stiffened in response, ready to attack, but Priestess did not seem concerned, "when you knew me, my son was not fighting for the Goddess and did not kill his own. I will not exact revenge on him, no matter what position he is in."
"A family man, how sweet," Priestess responded sarcastically, "what of the others?"
"If what you say is true, and Jennifer is Rephaim's High Priestess, I shall do nothing to her. Harming her shall harm him in turn. I do applaud your attempt to get me to do your bidding," he sighed, "as for the boy, Zane, I shall see to him. Tell me, since you seem to know, how were they killed?"
"You truly are a masochist," she said and grinned wickedly, "Rephaim had a knife on him. He was protecting Stevie Rae. JC and Zane managed to do enough damage with their fists. None were quick deaths obviously, your sons are near immortal."
Kalona sighed again, but I noticed the Darkness around Priestess and him swell. "Very well, he shall be dealt with accordingly. Not right away, but accordingly," he promised.
"Good. I have one other matter to discuss with you, and that is pertaining to Jennifer. Have you spoken to her yet?" she continued to press for information.
"Of yet, no. I shall work on that, actually, I shall try to do so tonight. It should be interesting to try and talk to one of my sons' killers," Kalona announced and turned to look out the glass door again, "I should be going if this is planned."
"Go, I have other matters to tend to myself," Priestess ordered, "but you should not go out through the campus ground. It is too soon after the attack. Report back to me when you have everything completed."
The immortal said nothing in response to her order, just left through the back without a word. He reminded me of a beaten puppy. He had no choice in the matter, Priestess had demand over him no matter what. Priestess soon followed after him and I was left alone and forgotten in the apartment. Darkness swirled around once again and it was unsettling paired with the conversation I just witnessed.
I watched it with mild, frightened curiosity and saw it bloat with power. There was something more to that conversation. Knowledge was passed between Kalona and Priestess through Darkness and I did not know what it was. All I knew was that, whatever was planned, was not good news for Light. Meaning it was not good for Zoey Redbird and her group.
Zoey's POV
Well that was hell. A collective sigh of relief came when we were finally told our plane had landed and opened up for us to get on. It meant we would all finally be safe from the crap that happened back at the House of Night and we didn't have to be quite so on high alert like we all were in the Hummer. Actually though…not all of us were out of the woods yet.
20 stitches in her shoulder, a new red fledgling that was actually Marked by a tracker, and probably countless other injuries that we didn't know about, all of them were still back there. None of them would be safe from that…they were still there with Neferet. Neither Erik nor JC gave any indication that the Raven Mockers were still around though. That was at least some relief for them and it was nice to get in touch with the two of them to make sure they were alive.
I sighed and sunk deeper into my plane seat, listening to my friends talk. Stevie Rae was attempting to console Rephaim. He had killed a Raven Mocker during the fight, and though he understood it was to protect Stevie Rae (his duty on nearly all levels now), it hurt him to know that he had killed his own brother. Damien had settled into his seat across from me and Stark and was gazing out the window, it was probably best not to disturb him. The Twins were sitting in the back and still quietly bickering over what they should and shouldn't have packed and Aphrodite and Darius were up front being all lovey dovey. Not exactly something I wanted to listen in on.
The red fledglings were scattered throughout the plane and were either talking or falling asleep. We all probably should've done the same, but I had way too much stuff on my mind. "I should probably call again before the plane takes off," I muttered and reached for my phone in my carry on.
"And what good is that going to do?" Stark asked and looked at me, "even if something was going wrong back there, what can we do? The plane is leaving in a couple of minutes, we can't go back."
"I know…" I admitted and put my phone back in the bag pocket, "I'm just worried that something else went wrong."
"Oh trust me, I know what you're feeling," he chuckled, "but seriously, how much is going to change in a time span of 15 minutes from when Erik and JC last spoke to us? You know everyone back there can handle themselves."
"Again…I know but…"
"No buts, you need to calm yourself down and get some sleep. We all do, in fact that's probably what JC is doing right now," he ordered.
"Ok, alright," I relented. My Guardian was right, we all needed some rest and worry-free relaxation. "But you need to do the same," I added and looked at him.
"Yeah, I know, once the plane gets going I will," Stark agreed and grabbed my hand.
"Good," I nodded and we didn't speak until the plane took off. After it leveled off, my eyes closed without warning and I was enveloped in sleep.
I soon found myself in a beautiful garden in the same, white buckskin dress I was in when I first met Kalona. Great, here we go again. I saw him standing about 10 feet away from me in the typical black pants no shirt getup. After the incident with Heath, nothing he tried to do worked on me anymore, and I was coming to be annoyed.
Luckily, and a bit strangely, I heard a wolf's howl in the distance and the image quickly faded. I could only guess that JC was beginning to learn her powers, even however many miles away we were from one another. After that, I fell into a deep, no dream sleep for pretty much the rest of the plane ride.
"Z, Zoey, c'mon mo bann ri, we're 15 minutes out." Stark's voice penetrated my mind and I opened one eye and let out a groggy groan in question. "We all have to get up," he repeated.
"We're 15 minutes out already?" I asked and rubbed at my eyes, "I slept the entire plane ride?" I asked, more awake now at that fact.
"We all did for the most part," Stark said and nodded, "but yeah, you did. You needed it just as much as the rest of us."
"So, you slept too?" I asked. Sure, it was a lot of questions, but ever since our last trip here he hadn't been sleeping. Jen said she would try to do something about it and maybe she had now. I was convinced she did with my dream thing with Kalona. The only issue was that she probably could've used the rest just as much.
"I did actually," my Guardian answered and grinned a bit. Looking over him, he did seem a bit…well…better. He didn't have giant bags under his eyes and he didn't look nearly as pale as usual. He seemed to have the energy too.
"Well good, you definitely needed it too," I agreed and rested my head back against the seat. Honestly, airplane seats weren't exactly the most comfortable thing in the world. It was surprising that I managed to sleep for the majority of the entire plane ride, but I was pretty dang tired.
"Hey Z?" I glanced up to notice Stevie Rae had gotten up and came over to us. "Do you think when we get to the Isle of Skye I can use your phone to call your cousin?" she asked.
"Sure," I shrugged, "but she's probably sleeping right now. I mean, I don't think she'll be too happy about it. Is it important?"
"We have a 15 to 20 minute drive back to the new House of Night. And yeah, it kinda is…I wanna talk to her about the new fledgling," my BFF answered.
"Yeah, that's fine. Just remind me when we get to Skye," I nodded and glanced back to her seat, "how's Rephaim?"
"Finally asleep for the past couple of hours," she sighed, "he's beatin' himself up over the death. None of us even knew what he did 'til he brought it up. He was just protectin' me and us in the circle. When I finally got it through to him that JC did the same thing and the Goddess would not be angered, he calmed down some. He's still got a close connection with his daddy though."
Stark and I looked at each other a moment. "He does know that Kalona is our enemy right?" he asked what was on both our minds.
Stevie Rae let out another sigh and nodded, "yeah…but he's still Rephaim's daddy and they've got that connection. I wanna get Rephaim out of it, but I dunno how. He's not listenin' to me in that regard."
I smiled a bit at her to reassure her, "well right now, all that's important is that he saved you and we're all away from that for a bit. Time will help hopefully," I responded, "now you should probably go wake him up. Everyone seems to be getting up now."
"Goddess I hope so. And yeah, I will, thanks Z," she nodded and went back to her seat.
"We've got a lot of weird shit going on," Stark commented after a moment.
I laughed at the bitter truth of that. "Yeah, but hopefully the Goddess is still with us," I agreed and stopped as the pilot announced we were landing.
"It's absolutely gorgeous," I heard Damien say from across the row. He was looking out the window as the plane was starting to land. "I can see why you would never want to leave," he added and glanced to us.
I nodded, "yeah, sadly we can't stay here forever," I sighed and turned to look out the window too. Forgetting that I had it on, I jumped when I felt the seer stone warm on my chest. We were definitely back on Skye, and the stone knew it as much as we did.
"Eventually, maybe," Stark shrugged and pecked me quickly. The plane had landed and he tugged my hand, "now let's get our stuff and get going to the House of Night. Like Stevie Rae said, we've got another 15 or 20 minute ride to get there," he said.
All of us got out of the plane and collected our stuff rather quickly when we got into the airport. Goddess we must have been a sight to see too. I mean, 20 or so vampyres and fledglings of varying colors and varying Mark lengths…yeah that was an interesting sight for sure. We got quite a few stares as we walked through the airport, but surprisingly none were excessively mean or anything, just curious and a bit confused. Already the Isle of Skye was better because there didn't seem to be any prejudice.
"Zoey, do you believe he is the one to take us back?" Darius asked and pointed to a vampyre standing in the corner. He had longish, blonde hair in a ponytail and a completed Mark with eagle wings.
"Sgiach didn't mention anything about an escort…but since he's the only vampyre here, I'd guess so," I shrugged.
"I'm not typically one for long hair on guys…but damn!" Erin exclaimed.
Shaunee giggled a bit, "so agreed Twin, so agreed."
"Hey, Dorkamese! Shut the hell up," Aphrodite grumbled and rolled her eyes.
"He's probably a Warrior," Stevie Rae cut in before anything could be started, "either way, we ain't gonna know until we go and talk to him. So c'mon!" she said.
By now, the Warrior in question had noticed us and nodded as we started over. "Are you Zoey Redbird?" he asked.
I smiled and nodded, "yeah, that's me. It's nice to meet you, I'm guessing you're taking us back to the House of Night?" I asked.
"That is what Queen Sgiach sent me for. It is a cloudy day outside, so the red fledgling and vampyres should be alright. Follow me to the car," he ordered and we did as we said.
Somehow, we managed to fit all of us and our luggage comfortably enough in the van and we were on our way. The Warrior, who had finally told us his name was Arnold Griffith, was driving and we were trying to figure out exactly what was going to be going on when we got to the House of Night in Skye. It was clearly night time for us, so most of the students would probably be asleep. And we'd probably have schedules and would be starting class tomorrow.
"It's going to be different from the last time we were here," Aphrodite pointed out, "last time it wasn't a House of Night and last time the entire isle wasn't open."
"That's a good point," I agreed, "but really that only applies to us, Stark, and Darius. It's still a castle and the Warriors are still there, it's just going to be much busier with students and who knows what else."
"So it's just another House of Night and another place to stay," Stevie Rae shrugged, "hopefully one that's gonna be better and more helpful than Tulsa with Neferet bein' all crazy there. Especially for Rephaim and Aphrodite," she added.
"And JC," Rephaim added and I sighed. He looked at me in confusion for that and I met his eye.
"I don't know if or when she's going to be able to get here…and neither does she," I admitted, "she got stuck in Tulsa and right now…there is no way to get here. We're going to have to explain that to Sgiach too."
"But Sgiach knows all about what is going on already," Stark said.
"Yes, but even we don't know about what really went on," Damien spoke my thought, "we know what happened, but we don't know how or why Neferet did it, and we don't know the repercussions that will go with it. That's what is important with the events that happened and we know nothing of it."
He said it better than I ever would, and I nodded in agreement, "what Damien said."
"So we gotta figure that out," Stevie Rae twanged, "that can't be too hard can it? That's gotta come out pretty soon with Neferet being…well…her."
"Yeah, I guess," I agreed, but I had gotten back to thinking about my cousin trapped in Tulsa again. She had to come up with something to get here for sure.
For the remainder of the ride we just talked about what we thought would happen now that we were at Skye and away from Tulsa for a bit. We seemed to come to the agreement that being away from Neferet would mean that our lives would finally calm down some…which was a really nice thought. I could use another break, and the others could probably use a break more than me. Arnold remained quiet during the drive.
We didn't even need to go through the gate in order to get in, the castle just came into view. We all got out excitedly and followed after the Warrior into our temporary home. He brought us to the main room of the castle and bowed formally before Queen Sgiach who was already there.
"They have arrived, I know you wished to speak with them," Arnold said.
Sgiach nodded, "very well, thank you Arnold. You may go," she said and he left the room. She then turned to us and smiled, "Merry meet, Zoey Redbird, it is such a pleasure to see you again…even under these circumstances."
I grinned back. "Merry meet, Queen Sgiach, it's great to be back here…especially as a fully functioning school!"
"Yes, well I am glad that I received the permission to do so. I forgot the joy it is to teach other students beside Warriors," she said, "this is your group coming as well I see. Wait…" she paused and frowned a bit, "you are missing one it seems. Where is the girl I spoke to on the computer, the new Spirit vampyre?"
"Your Highness," Aphrodite stepped forward and bowed a bit. She paused for a moment then motioned for Rephaim to come with her, "right now, JC is stuck back in Tulsa. We had an incident with the Raven Mockers and she did not come with us in order to help the students back there."
"So she has not come?" the queen asked.
"As far as we know, she is trying to find a way. Of right now, no, we are the only Spirit fledglings here," Aphrodite answered.
Queen Sgiach sighed and shook her head, "Darkness stopped her. Goddess bless her and everyone there, and I would like to talk about this tomorrow. Zoey, Aphrodite, and…" she paused and looked at my best friend.
"Oh! Stevie Rae, your Highness," she said and bowed formally.
"Stevie Rae," Sgiach smiled, "you, Zoey, and Aphrodite are to report to me tomorrow with any Warriors you may have. There are many matters I wish to discuss with you. You all look exhausted right now," and despite the like, 20 hour plane ride that most of us slept on, jet lag caught up fast, "my Warriors will escort you to your rooms. There will be class schedules there. Meet me here tomorrow, and until then, good night." And just like that, she disappeared out of the room and two Warriors appeared a moment later. She had a plan for absolutely everything, which was awesome and sometimes surprising.
Taking that as our cue, we followed after them, and 25 minutes later, everyone was situated in their rooms properly. It was nice because there were no separate dorms, so the girls who had Warriors were allowed to stay with their Warriors, meaning Stark and I got a room together. Everyone else without a Warrior was paired with the same gender, but right next door could be a room of boys or something along those lines.
"So you're happy to be back here?" Stark asked after we had both changed out of our clothes and grabbed something more comfortable from our luggage.
"Yes and no. Skye is beautiful and I love it here, but I don't want to be here for these reasons," I answered and sat down on the bed.
"Good enough," he said after a moment, "things may calm down some so we can actually deal with it."
"Maybe," I agreed.
"Plus," Stark continued and his voice got a bit huskier. That, and looking over to him, he had his cocky grin on full blast, "we had some great times here. Maybe we can find the grove again." I didn't get a chance to respond since he leaned in and kissed me.
It was just starting to get heated when someone knocked on our door. Stark didn't seem to notice, or care because he kept on going with his tongue in my mouth, but I remembered that Stevie Rae had wanted my phone, and that was probably her.
"She wanted this," I mumbled and pulled away, grabbing my phone off the table and answering the door.
"I've never understood how you girls can stop…just like that," Stark grumbled but sat up on the bed anyway.
"I ain't interrupting nothing am I?" Stevie Rae asked as I handed her my phone.
"Nothing that can't be restarted," I answered before my Guardian got the chance. I knew he'd have some snarky retort ready for that.
"Good," she said and fumbled with my phone a bit before finding my cousin's number and calling it.
"As I said, I can't promise anything with her being awake," I restated.
"She's already picked up. Hey JC!"
JC's POV
I hate sleep. There, I said it. Sleep (of all things) is my new, natural enemy. I have powers that I can't seem to control, I'm being judged and prosecuted for a variety of reasons by the majority of my peers for something I didn't actually do, and then sleep goes and decides that it's going to evade me entirely and make me an insomniac from some crazy assed dreams making no sense. It'd been nearly three weeks since this all started with my initial illness, it was truly an amazement that I was still up and on my feet. Seriously, all I wanted was for that one issue to be fixed. I could worry about everything else if I weren't in a crazy, sleep deprived state of mind!
Since the weird 'on fire' dream and being done crying my frustrations out (which didn't actually do anything but make me puffy eyed and snotty), I just lied in my bed and shifted between staring at the white ceiling and staring at the blackness when I shoved my head into a pillow. It gave me time to think if anything. What happened last night with the Raven Mockers and Neferet was a game changer, at least for me. Neferet would stop at nothing to get what she wanted and thought she needed no matter what the cost…and that was unnerving because she could do a lot. Plus, the new information I learned yesterday from snooping around her office had come back to the front of my mind.
She knew about my mother and brother…I sure as hell didn't like that. Granted, I didn't want Neferet knowing anything about me at all, her knowing about the crash was pretty much the absolute worst thing for her to know about me. Then of course there was Gwen and those weird notes. My roommate was more powerful than we thought, than maybe even Gwen knew herself, and Neferet knew…and she wanted to get at that power. Enough to the point that she knew she could use Maggie against my roommate in order to try and get to it somehow.
That's when my half functioning mind maybe put two and two together. The Raven Mockers went after Maggie. Neferet had that information about the two. She very easily could have told the creatures to go after Maggie…either to break Gwen with the death or, if she saw it, freak her out enough to get another power to breakthrough. Maybe I was being paranoid, maybe I was overthinking it, I had a tendency to do both…but either way it brought about a good point that those two and Neferet's actions towards them needed to be watched. I'd see to it that that would happen.
About maybe three hours later, my mind finally started slowing down and my body and physical state were taking over. Of course though, right when my body finally did overpower my mind and I started dozing off…my phone started ringing.
Groaning, I reached over and grabbed my phone on the table. "Hey Z," I answered groggily, attempting to clear the fog from my brain and from my eyes. It wasn't working too well.
"Hey JC! It's Stevie Rae actually!" Stevie Rae's Okie twang came over the phone instead, "were you sleeping?"
"No, I just typically sound like this," I muttered and rubbed my eyes. Then, realizing what I just said, "sorry. Yeah, I was just dozing off again. It's been a long night…day, whatever. What's up? Are you guys there?"
"We just got here safely and got situated," she said and got right to the point, "I wanted to talk about this new red fledgling."
"I uh…haven't exactly met her yet so I don't know how much of a help I'm gonna be," I answered.
"I know, and that's alright. I just wanna make sure she was actually Marked."
"Well, so long as Erik is a tracker…then yeah, she was Marked. No one died by the Change in the past couple of days as far as I know," I answered.
"By the Change?" Stevie Rae asked warily.
I sighed, "we had a death count of four. Three fledglings and a vampyre cook who got caught up in the fighting."
"That's horrible!" she exclaimed.
Yup, and I'm considered the murderer by most. "Yeah, as I said, long night. What's up about the red fledgling though?" I asked.
"It's just weird about how she was Marked. There are a few red fledglings on Skye I've noticed, but based on what we've all heard, they all rejected the Change and came back just like us…she really was the first one Marked," Stevie Rae told me.
"Lots of things are weird these days, what else is new?" I asked rhetorically in response. "Is that all?" I switched the subject and asked a bit desperately. Sleep, rest, really I just wanted to go back to lying in bed staring at the ceiling. Maybe I would wind up dozing off again. Ok, hopefully, if everything was willing, I would doze off again.
"Well I guess," she said and made a small humming noise, "that's all I got. Oh! Zoey wants to know about you and what's goin' on with your mess."
"I don't know yet," I sighed, "if or when I get that info I'll call you guys. Until then, I'm staying here, I don't have any choice," I answered.
"Alrighty, that sucks a lot for you, but alrighty. Call us when you got something. Bye JC."
"Bye," I muttered and turned my phone off before flopping back onto my bed. My eyes drifted shut for a moment before, this time, there was a pounding on the door.
I pulled the pillow over my head and groaned. "Whoever you are, go the hell away!" I shouted but it came out muffled and quiet because of the pillow. The knocking didn't stop and I heard someone calling for us on the other side. With another groan, I tossed everything aside and got up, going to the door.
"Damn, you look like death warmed over," Maggie commented when I opened the door. Granted, with her wrapped up leg and crutches, she didn't look that much better, "and did you really sleep in that last night?"
"Damn near close," I grumbled and rubbed my eye, "and let's just say that I didn't care what I was in when I got back last night. Yes, I know it's disgusting, but that's not the point. What's going on?" I asked, "something wrong?"
"No, I ran into Lenobia when I was grabbing something to eat. Classes have been canceled for today because of last night, but she wants to see all of us in the stables…like now," she answered, "she didn't say why, but I'm going to venture to say it's about last night and/or about getting you to Skye."
"Quite possible. I need the good news right now, so let's go off of that," I agreed, "go ahead and get there with everyone else. I'll get Gwen up and I want to change out of…well…this," I said and pointed to the dirty, torn dress, "and we'll meet you there. Sound fair?"
"Yeah, sounds good," Maggie nodded and turned around, "I'll tell Lenobia when we get there. See you soon."
I shut the door and turned back, intent on waking my roommate up…only to find that all the commotion had already done that task. Gwen was sitting up in bed and blinking the sleep from her eyes, "what's going on?"
"Lenobia wants to see us, among a few other...currently less important things. I, um, may need some help though," I explained. The dress tied behind my neck and with my newly ripped up shoulder, I couldn't exactly reach to untie the double knot. That was another reason it stayed on when I got back last night.
"Help on what?"
"I need to get out of this dress," I said and pushed my hair to the side, "however, I cannot get the double knot out. Would you mind, please?" I asked.
"Yeah sure," she said and got up. A moment later I felt her hands on the straps, "I guess this dress is ruined."
That's when I was reminded that this wasn't actually mine, "yeah…I guess it is. Sorry…"
"There, it's alright. I wasn't particularly fond of it to begin with," Gwen shrugged and I felt the straps loosen then fall onto my chest.
"So that's why you gave it to me huh?" I joked and held the cloth to my chest. Carefully, I went over to the closet and grabbed a pair of jeans and a baggy, black shirt (yeah, probably should've gotten that together beforehand) before navigating my way into the bathroom and spending 8 minutes figuring out and attempting to get them on. I managed to do so, somehow, and was out of the bathroom to find my roommate already dressed and her hair pulled back.
"If Lenobia wants to see us quickly, let's go," she answered my unasked question and we walked out together, Quinn, Duchess, and Oreo following curiously after us.
No one was up yet, especially with classes being canceled I'm sure, and it was a cool night. Looking around, I noticed something that sort of made me mad, "no one even bothered to start cleaning up last night?"
Gwen sighed and glanced over to some of the messes, "they got rid of the bodies. But that's just not right," she shook her head, "nobody wants a reminder of that. Even the blood is still out there," she muttered.
"That's just wonderful," Quinn muttered as she looked as well.
I grunted in a response and we made our way over to the stable. Walking in, I noticed that all of our friends were there plus Erik and a new girl…with dark hair and a red Mark. As Gwen went to go talk with the others, I approached the tracker and new fledgling, "so I guess this is her?"
"You look like shit," Erik said in response and I snorted.
"So I've been told," I answered and smiled at the fledgling instead, "you must be Shaylin."
To answer, she stared at me silently for a few moments then, "purple and silver! And some white," she said and shuddered a bit.
"Um…?" I trailed off and looked between the two.
The tracker shrugged, "she's kind of been doing that since she's been here."
"I can see colors," she explained, "it's kind of like auras I guess. Yours are purple and silver…but there's a little bit of that milky white, like around the rest of the school. It's kinda gross. But anyway, yeah, I'm Shaylin Ruede!" she answered finally.
Wow, well alright then. This girl was more than a little scatterbrained it seemed. And how exactly does one see and decipher colors? "JC Redbird," I introduced myself in turn then spun around when I heard someone else walking through the stables. "Lenobia, there you are!"
"I didn't expect you all to get here so fast. Sorry," my mentor said immediately and looked at us all, "but I'm glad you guys got here. I do have some good news, after Erik explained what you and Stevie Rae decided, I managed to get two tickets in order to get JC and Shaylin to the Isle of Skye."
"Hallelujah!" I cried and threw up one good arm in celebration. A thousand pounds just lifted off my shoulders.
"However, it is a day plane ride on a human plane, not one for a House of Night," Lenobia added.
"We're getting there, that's all that counts," I said.
"Daylight?" Erik asked quickly, "as in sunlight…with a red fledgling?" Oh…good point.
"Per Tulsa weather, it's cloudy and a little bit snowy. Though uncomfortable, Shaylin should be fine," Gwen answered as they all huddled around us.
"Then that sounds great. So long as Shaylin is still packed, we're set to go whenever we need to," I said and grinned just a bit. This was greatly wonderful and much needed news, "when do we need to get there?"
"Within two hours in order to get through security," Lenobia answered.
"Ok, while this is all great news, what does it have to do with the rest of us?" Zane asked, leaning up against the wall. I noticed a cut closed by three stitches on his cheek and he seemed to be forming a black eye. It occurred to me that I hadn't seen him, or any of the guys, since I saw them fighting. Doing a quick look over, I noticed Luke's right forearm was covered in gauze and Harley seemed to be favoring his right side. They had been injured, but luckily they seemed to be no worse for wear in the long run.
"I wanted to see you all," the Horse Mistress answered, "to make sure you were alright and to make sure we were still at an agreement for what is going on after JC and Shaylin leave."
"We keep them all updated on Skye," Maggie shrugged, "nothing's changing on that aspect. We're still going to do that despite what happened last night." The others nodded and I smiled again. I was proud of them, and with friends like this we would be alright at Skye. That was a fact.
"Good," Lenobia nodded, "so long as we are clear on that. Things have changed with last night, and Neferet may be planning more than we thought initially…"
"It doesn't change what we are going to do however," Luke interrupted, "we promised JC and Zoey and everyone else that we would do this. And we will do it no matter what happened last night or what changes Neferet is making," he said resolutely.
"Lenobia, I may not have known them long…but they're not going to change their minds no matter what you say," I chuckled.
"Then I have nothing further to say," she responded and I saw a ghost of a smile, "JC, Shaylin, meet me in the lot in an hour and a half with your luggage, I will be driving you to the airport."
We started filing out of the stables, but there was one thing left I wanted to do. "Hey Zane, hang back for a second," I called and let everyone else get out before bringing up the rear with him. "I need a favor," I stated simply when he said nothing.
"Stressed and need a release?" he asked suggestively without missing a beat.
I glared at him and shook my head, "if you didn't have stitches I would slap you right now, just so you know. No, this is serious, it's about Gwen and Maggie," I explained.
Zane instantly sobered up, "what about them?"
"I want someone watching them and watching Neferet around them," I stated bluntly. It'd been in the back of my mind since my late night musings…and he continually came up as the best one to ask.
"Ok, what's going on with them and Neferet?" he asked after a minute.
I let out a breath and watched them ahead of us for a moment. Gwen was helping Maggie navigate on crutches since she was still a little wobbly. "It's best to admit this to someone now I guess. In order to get the information my cousin and her group wanted on Kalona, which is a whole other story, I snuck into Neferet's apartment. Yes, I know, not the smartest thing to do," I cut him off, seeing he was about to say something, "but I did it anyway and wound up finding a school roster. There's reason to believe there's more to Gwen's affinity than we know…and Neferet knows this."
"You mean…Gwen might be hiding her powers from us?"
"Gwen may not even know," I answered quickly. There was a note of hurt in his voice that didn't go unnoticed, "she's still relatively young, only a fourth former, based on everything I can understand, her affinity could still be developing…"
"True."
"So she may not know. But Neferet seems to think there's more to it…and being her crazy, bitchy self…she wants that power for herself," I said and paused to think about how to phrase my next statement, "and we know how Neferet views and gets power. Hurting Gwen can make those powers come out and…"
"One of the best ways to hurt Gwen is through Maggie," Zane said in understanding. I nodded in agreement. "Do you think that's why the Raven Mockers went after her? Because of Neferet?"
"It crossed my mind. I have no proof for it though," I responded.
"You don't need proof for that motherfucker," he muttered, "so what do you want me to do?"
"Just keep an eye on the two of them, especially Gwen and if her affinities are growing, then be there for her and help her."
"What about with Neferet?"
I sighed. What did I want him to do with her? "Try and keep her away from Gwen and Maggie. Which yes, I know is near impossible…but do the best you can. The less time she's near them, the less chance there is for one of them getting hurt or worse." Or so I really liked to believe.
We fell into a silence for a couple moments, then Zane responded quietly, "there's rumors that may not be the case anymore."
I knew that, and I hated to think about it. "Only rumors," I stated half-heartedly, "we can't get caught up in that. As I said, do your best."
He seemed to debate this before nodding, "I can do that."
I sighed in relief, "thank you. And…don't say anything about this, especially to Gwen and Maggie. For one, they wouldn't want you doing that and they'd be pissed at both of us. But also because Goddess only knows how much Gwen knows on it and I don't want to freak her out, because maybe I'm being paranoid about all of this."
"We have a right to be paranoid, but I can understand why you would want that," Zane nodded, "and I can do that."
"That's a shitload off my back, thank you," I said again.
"Hey, they're my friends too. And we're in this together," he responded with a shrug, "and shouldn't you be going to pack?"
"I need to go get ready, yeah," I nodded and turned toward the dorms, "I should go and do that. And seriously, Zane, thank you, it really…means a lot to me and lightens my load by a lot."
"For the third time, it's absolutely fine. Now go, the last thing you need to do is wind up being late to Lenobia and missing a second flight to Skye because you weren't ready," he said and motioned with his hand to shoo me off.
I laughed a bit and waved as I went back to my room. With that done and confirmed, I felt so much better with how things were going today. I mean, nothing would be perfect or fix what was going on and what happened last night, but a ray of light had shined just a little bit. Time to go get ready to catch a flight.