A/N: Hey hey, guess who's back! The majority of my tests are finally over, I'm in an attempt at getting my health back on track, summer is almost here, and my writers' block finally cleared up!
This is a little bit shorter than usual and it isn't very actiony (which is now a word). It's also late and has been revised, but quite possibly not to the best, so I apologize for any errors. Next couple of chapters revolve around school and what is going on in Tulsa, and that is when the OC's will begin to truly take their parts. The next chapter, I promise it'll happen.
Also, shout out to Nyx of the Moon (sorry, for some reason I can't put your whole username) for continually review Spirit Revived and here and reminding me that people are still reading and I should still be writing ^^.
Disclaimer: I own the guniea pig sitting on my lap. His name is Gadget, he says hi. He also says that I don't own him, he owns me...which is very true. And he also says that if the readers recognize it, it isn't actually mine. Gadget likes to kill my dreams and bring me back to this world.
Isle of Skye
Aphrodite's POV
I really, really hate visions. In fact, I hate them worse than I hate bad hair days (which I get few and far between of), and that's really saying something. The point is, I hate them, and they're only worse when they make you drop to the ground in a screaming, writhing, unattractive mess during the middle of class on your first day at a new House of Night run by a queen. Unfortunate timing to say the least.
As I was forced to focus my undivided attention to the damn vision, the last thing I knew was someone, presumably my Darius, picking me up from the floor and taking me out of the classroom, the absolute last way a girl like me should be making an exit. Then the song started, which was really strange, even for a vision, and what I was supposed to be seeing panned out before me.
If anything, I suppose I had to be a bit thankful that it wasn't a vision where I was in the vision like they had been the past couple of times. What I saw was a field filled with bloodshed and the bodies of the Nerd Herd, no doubt Neferet's doing. Dear Goddess, what the hell was this?
The fucking song continued, and it was doing nothing for the headache that was forming or my thoughts that I was trying to sort out to figure out just what the hell this shit was. But as I looked for the source, I found a red headed figure standing next to me, staring out at the same scene I was seeing. "JC?" I asked and she turned to look at me in confusion and fear. "How the hell are you here?" I asked, confused myself. Ok, I was the Prophetess, but this shit never happened before, and JC was allegedly my High Priestess, so she should have the answer!
Instead, she shrugged and looked like she tried to say something else, but all that came out was that stupid ass song. Well, I found the singer, but I couldn't do anything about it, and neither could she by the looks of it. So I dealt with it, as any good person should, and focused in again on what I was supposed to be seeing…and I really didn't want to go back to that hellhole.
Bodies, blood, arrows, Neferet with Stark, Bumpkin, and Bird Brain killing JC and admitting to the rest, all of it was enough to make me want to lose that salad I ate for lunch and make me want to drop to my knees and sob which, even during the field visions where people were burning, I never felt the desire to do before. I mean, I was Aphrodite, I didn't cry. When JC died, I thought that would be the end of it, but no, of course not.
"Events in quick succession can lead to this, Daughter." After that, I was brought back to the real world with a scream half from pain and half from fear.
"Aphrodite…Aphrodite can you hear me?"
I groaned as someone stupidly decided to shake me and nearly shout at me. "Damn it, Z, knock it off! I didn't fall into a freaking coma, I had a vision," I growled and swatted blindly at her arms. At the very least, they were smart enough to get me lying down on something relatively comfy (it wasn't Girogetti…but I'd suffer through) and put a cloth over my eyes.
"You weren't responsive for some time, my beauty, longer than usual. Your eyes are bloodier than usual as well," Darius explained and I felt his hand cover mine.
"Was it worse than usual?" Zoey asked a moment later.
"No, my body just decided to have a worse reaction to a 'walk in the park' vision," I retorted, "yes…this was pretty fucking bad."
"What was it about?" Damien asked. Well, the whole Scooby Gang must be here.
"Is JC here?" I asked in response.
"No, she was the only one not notified per the queen's request. She needs the sleep, I had to agree," Z answered, "why?"
I laughed darkly at that. "Oh, she'll be here soon enough. Until then, just have to ask, anybody got the wine?"
"There is no wine, love," Darius told me gently.
"It wouldn't matter anyway," Damien added on, "you're a fledgling now…again…it's impossible for you to drink this pain away." Right, the purple crescent and all that.
"Ok fine, what about blood?" I asked. All I wanted was something to get rid of the damn pain that came from my eyes trying to push their way out of my head.
"We don't know where Queen Sgiach keeps that exactly. There's probably some set out for lunch, but do you really want to wait for one of us to go get it?" Stark answered, "why don't you just do what JC did for you last time?"
"Which was what, Arrow Boy?" I asked. Honestly, I'd probably wait for the blood, but they seemed to be reluctant on that too. My memory, especially right now, didn't stretch that far back, the hellish headache made sure that didn't happen.
"Call Spirit to you."
Oh…that did make sense in hindsight. "Spirit, please come to me and take away the damn pain that horrid vision left me in," I called out and almost instantly felt the element settle over me and take away the majority of the pain. There was still a dull ache, but I'd live.
"Did that work?" Bumpkin asked, proving she was in the room too.
"Pretty much so, better than the wine or blood ever did anyway…"
The door slammed open and almost immediately came JC's voice, "everybody out!"
"JC, what are you doing here? I thought you were sleeping like you were ordered," Zoey asked in confusion.
"Oh trust me, I tried," she answered, "and I need to talk to Aphrodite, alone. So again I say, everybody, please, if you would so kindly get out, do so. You can ask about the vision later."
"You know Aphrodite had a vision? No one told you," Stevie Rae commented.
"Yeah, again, I know. That's why I need to talk to her alone, just please leave…we'll explain everything in a little bit," JC insisted and the door finally opened.
"Darius stays," I added.
"I didn't expect anything different, I wasn't even going to try to move the mountain," she said and, I assumed anyway, shut the door after everyone was out. Let the games begin! There was a moment before she spoke up again, "what in the hell was that?"
"I was hoping you would know," I answered.
"You're the Prophetess, not me!" she exclaimed.
"And that shit has never happened to me before, so, I don't know what the hell is going on," I explained.
"Zoey was never sucked into a vision about her or anything?"
"Did she ever tell you that she was?" I asked and my only reasons for not rolling my eyes were because she couldn't see it and they hurt like a bitch.
"I really don't need the attitude right now," JC warned and I could hear how tired she was just from speaking. For a moment, only a fleeting second, I felt bad, but then it was gone.
"Well then don't ask stupid questions," I responded and she gave a disgruntled sigh, "look, I don't know what happened and that damn song is still running through my head…and that gives no help what so ever."
"'Wine Red,'" JC muttered, "it was too fitting."
"If I may," Darius spoke up for the first time, "what happened that has caused you to be so worked up, Priestess?"
"Aphrodite had a vision, as you know," she answered and sighed, "what you don't know is that I was somehow pulled into it to. I just watched my own death…and the death of everyone else."
"Said for Bumpkin, Arrow Boy, and Bird Brain," I added as a reminder, "but they were doing the killing for Neferet."
"Which is my second worry from all this," she admitted.
"What could possibly be your first?" Darius asked. I really couldn't say what would be worse than…you know…everyone's death.
"The fact that I witnessed it without ever being a Prophetess. It just…it wasn't right for me to be there."
"But if Nyx willed you to be there, then there was a reason for you to witness it as well. You just don't know why yet. Maybe she wanted you to witness your own death." My Warrior had a point.
"Aphrodite always saw people's deaths before without anyone else being sucked in and watching it for themself." And so did JC.
We were silent for a few moments as all of us tried to figure out what could possibly have caused her to see the vision too. "Did you recognize the garden we were in?" JC asked, switching the topic.
"The hell if I know," I shrugged, "but how do you know it was a garden?"
She sighed and turned her eyes to the wall. "This chaos, this calamity, this garden once was perfect. Give your immortality to me, I'll set you up against the stars," she sang quietly, emphasizing the 'garden,' "I didn't recognize where we were, but it was a garden of some sort, and I don't think we were in Tulsa."
"Why not Tulsa?" Darius asked.
"Just…based on descriptions of where you guys have been, there is nowhere in Tulsa that matches what we saw. And none of the people in Tulsa were there…it was just the circle and Rephaim and Stark," she answered.
My Warrior's head shot up and looked between us, "Aphrodite and I weren't there either?"
"That's not to say we aren't dead, hotness," I said, "it just means we weren't killed with everyone else. Neferet did say that all of your fledglings were dead except for Rephaim."
"And as of right now, my fledglings consist of you and Rephaim, so sorry to say, but you're both probably dead," JC agreed.
"Happy day," I muttered and rolled my eyes. I was feeling better enough to take the cloth off my eyes and sit up, everything was red…but I could see again.
"Have you regained your vision, love?" Darius asked quietly and supported my back with his hand.
"Enough of it," I responded just as quietly and smiled, reaching up and firmly planting my lips on his.
"Great, we just have a vision about the death of the entire circle and you two are playing lovey dovey," JC cut in with a groan, "and as an added comment, ew!"
I sighed as we pulled apart and glared at her, actually somewhat happy my eyes were still bloodied since it intensified an already scary glare. "Don't be jealous because you aren't getting any," I smirked, "besides, you apparently have a Guardian and mate according to the vision…when did that happen?"
She snorted and rolled her eyes, "I picked him up at the airport, did I forget to mention that?" she asked sarcastically. After a few moments, JC sighed and ran her bandaged hand through her hair, "if you have no other bursts of genius right now, I'm gonna go get the others. Zoey is freaking out like no tomorrow about my behavior, and we might as well get the Brain Trust in here anyway…and Sgiach if possible."
"As I said, I've got nothing, this shit was new to me too," I shrugged, "but why Sgiach?"
"She is kind of the ruler of this castle…and besides, she probably knows more about us than we do, so maybe she can explain what happened, maybe it isn't as uncommon as we think," she answered and went to the door, "I'll be back in a few," she promised and disappeared into the hallway, leaving me and Darius alone in the room.
"Are you sure you are alright?" he asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Freaked out as all hell, but no different than any other vision otherwise," I answered, "no need to worry, hotness. I actually feel a bit better than usual, Spirit is one hell of a pain reliever."
"In these times, there is always reason to worry," Darius muttered and pulled me back into his lap, "and when visions like that happen, it is you who worries me the most."
We remained like that in silence for a few minutes. It was sad to say, but he made perfect sense, visions like that were enough reason to freak the fuck out, and I really wanted to figure it out and sleep it off. Where the hell were they? "Ten bucks says JC got lost in this maze," I grumbled.
"Or the group went out further than I initially thought," JC counteracted, walking through the door with everyone else, "though I do admit it is totally plausible for me to get lost here…it's already happened twice."
"Ok, so are you going to tell us what the hell happened now?" Stark demanded, apparently not at all fazed by her attempt at some humor.
"I had a vision moron, you were there for that," I retorted and crossed my arms, "and it was the usual, Neferet kills us all vision, with a twist containing chief over there."
"That twist being that I witnessed the vision as well," JC added when all eyes landed on her.
"Witnessed as in…"
"As in I was standing by Aphrodite, having a song forced out of me as I watched my own death," she effectively cut Z off, "and it's not exactly pleasant to be standing there watching your own death as you're singing about the death of beauty. I hope that explains my manner when I first walked in here, I was more than a little freaked."
"Wow…" Stevie Rae muttered, "well, do ya'll know why you saw the dang thing in the first place?"
"That's the problem, Bumpkin," I sighed, "JC didn't intend or want to see the vision, and I sure as hell didn't intend for her to be there, so we don't know why."
"Maybe you were just meant to see your own death, JC," she suggested. Already been there, Bumpkin, already been there.
"But why do it to me and not to Z? Aphrodite has had way more visions about Zoey dying than me, yet I was the one to witness my first death, why me?" JC asked rhetorically.
"Maybe it's your affinity," Damien added after a few moments of thought, looking directly at me, "when you were having visions before, you were a fledgling or a human…but you were never a Spirit fledgling. It is quite plausible that your abilities have been enhanced and improving since your second Marking."
"A very astute observation, young one," another voice agreed and all other talking and speculation stopped. Sgiach could do that to a room. "Is this your first vision as a Spirit fledgling, Aphrodite?" she asked me.
I shook my head, "this is my second. The first one was of another fledgling dying because of a Raven Mocker."
"But in the first one, you were Maggie, you weren't watching the death," JC pointed out, "this is the first one where you weren't directly in the vision."
"Interesting," Sgiach muttered.
"You think what happened was caused by Aphrodite's new affinity?" Zoey asked.
"I think this occurred because of both of their affinities," the queen answered, but didn't give anything else.
"What the hell does that mean?" I demanded.
"It means that I believe your Spirit affinities combined during Aphrodite's vision, and that is what caused both of you to be in the room," she explained, "Jennifer, you were sleeping like ordered when this happened?"
"Attempting to, unfortunately," JC grumbled in response.
"That is what I expected. Are any of you familiar with the Realm of Dreams?" Sgiach asked, we all gave her blank stares as her answer. Seriously, we were a bunch of fledglings, how the hell were we supposed to know all of this old magick shit?
"My father used his powers to call upon it," Rephaim admitted, "that is how he invaded your dreams, Zoey…and Stark. He would call on his immortal right in the Realm of Dreams to lead his soul to the one he desired…but he had to have a connection in order to get there."
"Huh, Bird Brain isn't always useless after all," I commented.
"He was never useless to start, and will you stop calling him Bird Brain? He has a name ya know," Stevie Rae snapped, crossing her arms and glaring at me.
"True, he just got us into shit loads of trouble," I agreed and rolled my eyes.
"That wasn't his fault! That was his daddy and Neferet bein' all evil," she retorted.
"Are we really going to do this in the presence of Queen Sgiach?" JC cut in, "I mean…just so I know for future reference and can prepare for how many times I'm going to have to apologize for my fledglings."
"I don't apologize for anything I do, it's just not my nature," I said, "so you'll be doing it a lot for me if you want to."
"Hateful bitch," Erin muttered.
"Hag from hell," Shaunee agreed. Oh the Dorkamese.
"It's been a stressful week, we're all just tired and worried," Zoey explained, looking to the queen, "we don't mean for this to be disgraceful to you."
"That's an understatement," I muttered.
"It is quite alright," Sgiach smiled at her, "now, where were we? The Realm of Dreams is a very spiritual place. All mortals, fledglings, vampyres, and humans alike fall into this realm when they are sleeping, though their connections to the realm vary. Those closer to the element tend to be more aware in the realm, subconsciously if not consciously, the best example would be a Spirit guide and their Charge. I suspect something similar happened here."
"I don't follow," JC commented. She wasn't the only one. "Aphrodite isn't my Charge, and I'm not hers. So how did this happen in the first place?"
"Would you all agree that High Priestesses and their fledglings have a type of bond?" Sgiach answered with a question. I hated when people did that, it gave you jack shit in way of answers. We all nodded though and she continued, "and you would agree that Jennifer is Aphrodite's High Priestess," we all nodded again, "then that is your connection to one another. Aphrodite, I take it that you do not necessarily like having visions alone?"
"Fuck no," I agreed and shook my head. Having visions was scary as all hell, in case I haven't mentioned that yet.
"And subconsciously, your soul recognized that," Queen Sgiach said, "visions are much like dreams in that they do not happen in our realm, they are either of the future or of the past. So when you have visions, Aphrodite, you do fall into the Realm of Dreams. Since Jennifer was sleeping, she was in the same realm as you, and your subconscious picked up on the fact that you did not want to have the vision alone, so it latched onto the strongest bond you had that was in the same realm, which just so happened to be your High Priestess."
We were all silent, letting the explanation sink in. "So…I was part of the vision because Aphrodite subconsciously wanted me there?" JC finally asked.
"That is the best reasoning as to explain what happened," the queen answered.
"So all this Spirit and subconscious crap…is there a way to fix it, like turn it off or something?" I asked.
"With age comes awareness and with awareness comes wisdom."
"In other words, no," JC sighed and ran a hand over her face, "this connection I have with you…and Zoey…and Stark, it's stuck on the 'on mode' until I've learned how to control it myself. But until that day, I'm stuck with spontaneous body swapping and dream stalking."
"Learning how to control your connections with other souls will be something that I help you with," Sgiach promised, "having open connections unnecessarily is taxing on the physical and mental body. I can tell it is taking its toll on you."
"Among other things," she added under her breath.
"But aren't these connections vital at a time like this?" Damien asked, "we are at war, and the main target is Zoey. For that matter, Stark still has some type of connection with Kalona. Shouldn't the spiritual connection remain open in order to ensure their protection?"
"Yes."
"No." JC and Zoey answered at the same time and looked at each other.
"You can't keep doing this to yourself, JC," Zoey argued, "you look like absolute hell right now with injuries and so little sleep."
"I'm not leaving either of you unequipped when I have the ability and task of protecting you," JC responded, "I am your Spirit Guide for a reason."
"Whatever is decided, I will still teach you this ability as you will not always need the connections open after this is ended," Sgiach said again, "now, may I inquire what this vision was about?"
"Death, as usual," I answered, "they're always about death. Neferet went on another killing spree with Kalona, Bumpkin, Bird Brain, and Arrow Boy."
"Stevie Rae, Rephaim, and Stark respectively," Damien translated.
"Everyone else was killed in some type of garden, JC was the last one and Neferet taunted her with that fact as well that she assumed JC would be the easiest one to turn to Darkness after Rephaim," I explained after being interrupted.
There was a long silence where no one spoke, probably taking in the creepy ass vision I had to live through. "So…all of us were evil with Neferet?" Bumpkin asked finally
"No, you were all prancing around in the fields behind her," I rolled my eyes, "all three of you, everyone else was either dead or killed grossly by an arrow through the throat," I answered.
All eyes turned to Stark and he shifted uncomfortably. "It was just a damn vision," he said to defend himself, "it's not like it's actually going to happen. Besides, I'm not going to turn away from Z, you can count on that."
"But it happened in a vision," Erin pointed out.
"And no matter what we think of her, Aphrodite's visions always have a chance of happening," Shaunee agreed.
"I'm not leaving Zoey," Stark said again.
"Nobody's saying that you will for a fact," JC promised, "but it happened in a vision, and visions don't lie, or they haven't thus far. Plus, Kalona still has some connection to you no matter what I do. There's a chance that Neferet can use that and turn you to Darkness."
"That's another puzzling matter," Damien spoke up, "the three who were turned, they all have been touched by Darkness at some point in their lives, that cannot be denied. But why would Neferet believe you would be the second easiest one to change?" he asked, looking at JC.
"That's a really good question," I agreed. I hadn't really thought much of it since she died like everyone else, but that was a good question.
Now she was the one to shift uncomfortable and look away. Maybe there was more to this than I initially thought…granted, there always is, because a vision can't just be fucking normal.
"Jenny?" Zoey pressed. She still didn't respond.
"Spirit is a volatile element," Sgiach said like it was an answer, "a brush with Darkness remains on someone's soul. Spirit is the essence of someone's soul, therefore it can be marked with both Light and Darkness. One typically has enough balance between the two that it is not a problem, however, time spent reveling in Darkness can throw that balance off, and Spirit will realize this and be marked accordingly. Did you at one time revel in Darkness, Jennifer?"
"After my mother and brother's deaths at the hands of a never caught drunk driver. I was a depressed child who wanted nothing but revenge on the man who took my family away, felt like that for probably two years before I was finally able to come to terms with what happened and let it go," JC answered.
"Do you believe that threw the balance of your soul off?" Sgiach asked.
"For a time, yes. I rebalanced myself as I got older and managed to lock the majority of those emotions away for good, but the coming war with Darkness is making that harder…it still calls to me, to that side of me," she admitted quietly and then found the overly bland wall extremely interesting. Well damn.
"Do you have a personification?"
"If you mean that I have a Dark me that I have spoken with in the past couple of days, then yes," she nodded reluctantly.
"Holy shit," I muttered probably what was on everyone's minds, "so you're potentially evil?"
"NO!" JC exclaimed quickly and with a lot of force. It looked like she was about ready to cry over the whole thing. "No, Goddess no, I'm not evil. There is no way in hell that I ever will be. Goddess, this is why I didn't say anything! I didn't need the whole world to think that the freakily Marked girl of a race who was considered an abomination centuries ago was potentially evil, and I didn't need to lose the trust of the few friends that I had! Besides, it isn't your burden to bear."
We all looked at her in surprise over her little outburst. "Did you honestly believe we'd turn our backs on you over something like this?" Zoey asked, sounding hurt. Honestly, if my cousin just admitted that she had no trust in me…I'd probably be the same way.
"Can you honestly say that you would have stood by me so readily if I had admitted it?" JC answered with a question of her own, "I mean, think about it. In knowing that your cousin was touched by and pulled toward Darkness, a fact that could be easily leaked to the entire vampyre world, would you have stood by me? Because it would've been pretty stupid for you to do so. And besides that, I had no idea what the hell was going on! The first time I talked to me…I woke up in a cold sweat and freaking out because of the emotions and the one thing I thought I had finally put behind me was back and stronger than ever."
"Ya still could've come to us," Bumpkin argued, "we woulda listened and understood. Z still stood by me and Stark and the red fledglings during our time in Darkness."
"But there is a difference, my Red One," Bird Brain responded and looked to JC, "the pull of Darkness is still with us." She nodded in agreement.
"How can it be any different? Darkness is Darkness is Darkness."
"It all falls back to choice," Sgiach spoke up to explain, "the way I've heard it, the red fledglings were brought back from death by the one you call Neferet and forced into servitude with Darkness. You had no choice but to follow if you wanted to survive. However, when Zoey presented you the choice, you both chose Light. Rephaim and Jennifer, however, were given that choice from the start and both chose Darkness for a time. Though their ways may have changed since then, that mark remains on their soul, and thus the pull to Darkness."
"And there is no way that mark can be erased?" Damien asked.
"It can be ignored and hidden away, but there is no way to erase it," the queen answered grimly.
"You still should have come to me!" Zoey exclaimed, glaring at her cousin.
"I know, and I'm sorry," JC sighed, "but I didn't know what to do with myself, let alone what to say to you about the whole thing. Facing your Dark self is a little disconcerting and frazzling," she explained.
"Still, I would've understood, I would've helped you."
"How the hell are you supposed to understand when you're the Goddess's Chosen One for Light?" JC shouted then sighed, running a hand over her face. There was a lot more stressing her out than any of us initially thought. Now I actually did feel kind of bad. "Zoey, please," she begged, "for one, you know how I think…and two, when I don't have my own thoughts together on something, I can't just spurt it out to someone else. I didn't know how to feel about it, let alone how you would react and how everyone else would react. I can't chance that, you know that," she pleaded. Wow did she ever sound desperate.
"C'mon Z, cut her some slack," Dorkamese one piped up.
"Yeah, she obviously freaked out," the other was soon to follow of course.
"And besides, it's not like you haven't kept shit from us, oh Chosen One," I pointed out.
Zoey sighed and shook her head, "any other secrets you're keeping from us?"
JC winced at the word but shook her head, "no, it was just that, I swear on my life."
"And you promise to tell us if anything else weird happens?"
She nodded, "if I can, I will, I promise."
"Fine," Zoey sighed again, "about this other you, what do you know?"
"Hardly anything," JC admitted.
"It is a topic that can and will be discussed in detail later," Sgiach broke in again, "as for this vision, is there anything more that you know about it?"
"It happened in a garden, everyone died or was evil, Darkness ruled…the end," I shrugged, "the only thing different than usual was that it wasn't in that stupid cornfield with burning bodies."
The queen finally nodded, seeming to fall into her own thoughts. You can always tell when old people are thinking, "very well, if that is all then I shall dismiss you back to your classes, or in Aphrodite and Jennifer's cases, back to your rooms for the rest that your bodies need."
"If I may your Highness, I'd really rather not do that," JC spoke up, "my rest tends to lead to visions and various other dreams and meetings that really aren't restful so much as they are stressful. If I can, may I got to class? Or, at the very least, do something at least semi-productive that'll keep me awake until tonight when it is actually time to sleep?"
"I would prefer it you didn't go to class as I don't believe you are physically or mentally able to do so right now after everything that's happened," Sgiach told her, "but I do suppose I can permit you to explore the school grounds until tonight if you so choose. My Warriors can keep an eye on you and you will be informed when dinner is ready."
She grinned, "thank you Queen Sgiach."
"Very well, everyone back to your sixth hour, let's go," the queen said with a smile as she left, everyone else filing out.
Darius helped me up and allowed me to lean on him for support. I didn't really need it, but I figured it was better to just accept it anyway. JC decided to hang back to and walked beside us as Darius made our way back to our room.
"So…you're sure you're alright?" she asked.
"It was a vision, not pneumonia," I answered and rolled my eyes, "I've got my Warrior, I'll be fine. How're you doing Darkness Girl?" I was still a bit surprised over the whole thing. I mean, my High Priestess admitted to being attracted to Darkness. That was one hell of a bombshell.
"Please don't ever call me that again," she threatened and sighed, "but I guess I'm alright for someone who did not want this day to go like this."
"Zoey did not appear to be happy with the new information," Darius pointed out.
"Yeah trust me, I know, you didn't feel the emotions rolling off of her," JC agreed and looked down, "and despite the fact that she seemed to accept my apology, she's still almightily pissed at me, I have a lot of explaining to do...to all of you. I just didn't think she'd be that hurt over it. I mean, I wanted to tell her myself in a much better way. I'm sure that plan not following through made the situation that much worse."
"Sure, when her newly Marked cousin admits that she might possibly have an attraction to Darkness, the soul thing we're fighting against, she was supposed to be perfectly fine!" I exclaimed sarcastically.
"For the love of the Goddess, it's not like I was going to do anything!" she shouted, "this is exactly why I didn't tell anyone. There's one person that can understand what I'm feeling and his name is Rephaim. I probably should have gone to him first, but that didn't happen either. I screwed up the chances of this going as smoothly as possible, I know that…but some things like that need time to be able to be understood and explained properly, and the hell if I've had the proper time to do that." Well, I struck a nerve apparently.
"You are stressed, Priestess," Darius said calmly, "why don't you explore the grounds like you said you wanted to and trust that Queen Sgiach will be able to help you with this. None of us truly believe you would do anything against us for Darkness. It was just a large surprise, and many of us need the time to think it over and calm down."
JC nodded and took a deep breath to calm herself down again, "I think I may do just that. I have a lot of things to sort out now apparently, and I can't talk with Zo until after classes end anyway, hopefully by then she'll be a bit more understanding." Probably not seeing as though the secret was huge and a bit of a game changer, but I wouldn't ruin her hope.
"Then we will see you at dinner," my Warrior nodded with a smile as she went off.
As we finished our walk back to our room, I looked up to him and chuckled, "knife throwing, shooting, killing Raven Mockers, talking down overly stressed teenagers, is there anything you can't do?"
"All in a day's work, my beauty," Darius smiled, "now go rest your eyes, I will wake you up when it is time to go to dinner."
I kissed him before obliging, going to our bed and getting the rest my gorgeous eyes needed.
Pardon me if the Realm of Dreams is going by the wrong name. I think that was its name when Kalona found the connection between him and Stark, but I'm not positive...I can't find my copy of Awakened to check...and Google is absolutely no help to me at all.