On my list of other less desirable ways to woken up is a cat hissing like mad, a guy yelling at a girl, and girl yelling back at him in a bit of a shrill voice.
I jerked up and looked toward Zoey's bed. There was a human shaped shadow sitting on her bed with multiple arms.
"Zoey! It's okay. Wake-up! Ow! Shit!" Said…wait, that was the rapist Stark's voice!
"Get away from me!" Zoey shouted.
I began untangling the blankets from my legs.
"Get a grip!"
I grabbed my pillow, giving up on untangling myself, and threw it at him. He didn't even react, much.
"Stark, what the hell are you doing in my room?"
"Exactly what I want to know." I said.
"You're pretty outspoken, you know that Raven." Stark said. "I was walking by in the hall out there and I heard your cat yowling and hissing, then you started yelling. I thought you were in trouble." He said.
I think he likes her.
"Thought maybe a Raven Mocker got in here. Cats really hate them, you know. Anyway, that's why I came busting in here."
I glanced at Snap who was still sleeping peacefully. I scratched her stomach and she rolled onto her back, paws still curled up and a smile on her face.
"It wasn't a Raven Mocker. My cat's still dead." I said. I looked at Zoey. "Are you okay?"
"It was just a nightmare." She said.
"Hell of a nightmare." I mumbled. I rubbed my head. My leg felt stiff. "What were you doing wandering the halls of the girl's dorm anyway?"
"Yeah, and at…noon?" Zoey asked. "All the red fledglings I know don't do well in the sunlight and are seriously sound asleep right now."
"It's noon?" I mumbled. I was getting my days and nights mixed up. And now what was I going to tell my parents?
I stretched my leg and wiggled my toes.
"Yeah, I could sleep, but whatever. And there's no sunlight out there. Everything's all gray and icy."
"Jeesh, the ice storm's still going on?"
"Yeah, another front is moving through today. It would suck to be a human trying to deal with this mess without all the generators and stuff this school has." Stark said.
I leaned over and drew back the shade. It was gray and bleak. A feeling, a bad feeling, kicked my stomach. I held my stomach like I had been physically kicked.
"What?"
"I just have a really bad feeling." I said. I felt sick to my stomach. "Something terrible has happened…I think to someone I love."
I slumped back and swallowed the sick feeling building in my throat. Snap immediately woke-up and climbed into my lap.
"You do not know this for a fact." She said. "Do not be distracted by what might be."
"You're pretty unusual for human." Stark said. But the way he was talking, he knew I wasn't completely human.
"I'm probably just worried because I haven't seen them in a couple of days." I said. I slumped back down on the pillow. Snap curled up on my chest with her head pressed against my neck.
"You haven't really answered my question. Why did you come here? I mean really?"
"I needed to see you." He said after a while. I turned my head. He liked her, he liked her.
"Why?" Zoey asked.
"They'll make you hate me." He said. He sounded like a scared little boy, rather than a terrifying rapist.
"Who's they?" Zoey asked.
"They-everyone, they'll tell you I'm a monster, and you'll believe them."
"No offense, but Zoey can see through people a lot better than most." I said. "She knows you're not a complete monster."
I got out of bed. "I'm going to go scurry into the bath real quick like." I scurried into the bathroom and shut the door. They needed a moment. I went to the bathroom and washed my hands and face. I took a peek at my leg. There were bruises even outside of the bandages. I was scared to look at what was around the actual break point.
I opened the door and limped out. I collapsed back on the bed.
"It's harder for him to get into your dreams if you're not sleeping alone." Stark told Zoey.
"I'm here." I said.
"It has to be a guy." He said.
I snorted.
"Stark, that sounds like utter bullpoopie."
"Is bullpoopie really a word?" Stark asked.
"People make up words all the time." I said. "Why do people only have to use real words?"
"How the hell would you know this little tidbit about Kalona?"
My skin prickled at the mention of his name.
"He talks a lot around me. It's almost like he doesn't notice I'm there sometimes. I heard him and Rephaim talking about the dreams. Kalona said he was thinking about putting Raven Mocker guards up between the girls' and boys' dorms to keep them apart, but he decided he wouldn't because he really wasn't having an issue with controlling the fledglings-with or without being in their dreams."
"They've forgotten that evil still exists." I whispered.
"What about the professors? Are they all under his control, too?" Zoey asked after a moment of silence.
"Apparently. At least none of them have stood up against him or Neferet."
"What about the Sons of Erebus? I saw one when we first came on campus but haven't even seen him since."
"There aren't many of them left." Stark stated.
"What happened?" I asked.
"A bunch of them died when Shekinah fell. Ate freaked and led an attack against Kalona, even though I don't think Kalona was the one who killed her." Stark said.
"It was Neferet." I said. The statement hit me with complete certainty.
"How do you know?" Stark asked.
I shrugged. "Neferet seems more bloodthirsty than Kalona. She smiled when Shekinah fell. She wanted her dead."
"Raven's right." Zoey said.
"I wish you had been there instead of Neferet." Stark told Zoey.
"Been there?"
"When I woke-up. It would have been different if it had been you instead of her when I opened my eyes." Stark said. "Look, you should get some rest and if you don't want Kalona brothering you then we should sleep together. Just sleep."
I snorted. "That's not what you want to do boy."
Zoey was silent while she thought.
"Okay, fine. But you really have to get out of here early before anyone see you."
I grinned up at the ceiling.
"You mean it?"
I laughed silently. What a bunch of love birds.
They were muttering quietly to one another as they drifted off to sleep. I stroked Snap and tried to think soothing thoughts to easy the uneasy feeling in my gut.
"Hey Raven?" Stark asked.
"Yeah?" I whispered.
"Are you really Kalona's daughter?"
My stomach squiggled uncomfortably.
"I really think so." I said.
I turned my back to him and snuggled against the pillow. Snap curled up against me.
XOXOXOXOXO
"Hey, Raven, wake-up." I blinked and rolled over. Snap was waiting for Nala to finish eating, she sneaked through and ate a mouthful before pulling back so Nala could eat too. Honestly those two were acting like littermates. Zoey dug through her drawers and laid a pair of pants and a t-shirt on my legs.
"Those should fit you." She said.
I tore off the doctor's pants and pulled on her jeans. I took off my slept in shirt, which smelled, and tugged on the t-shirt she lent me.
She tossed me her brush and I ran it through my hair. I slid on a pair of borrowed socks and then my shoes. I picked up my crutches and followed Zoey out with Snap at my side. I limped down the stairs rather than using the crutches, like I need my other leg broken.
I hobbled over to their little kitchenette-and there was cereal! I grabbed a bowl and poured a big helping of Lucky Charms. I need something magically delicious to get me through today.
"Hey guys." Zoey greeted Shaunee and Erin. I plunked down at the table and immediately shoved a spoonful into my mouth.
"What's up?" I asked after I swallowed.
"You'll see what's up once you sit here for just a few minutes." Erin said.
"Yeah, observe the pod people." Shaunee said.
I looked at them. Clearly they needed something magically deliciously to fix their shared brain.
But then I understood what they were talking about. No morning talk about how weird their dreams were or about how some of their hair still looked slept on. They weren't talking at all. They were eating and smiling. It was beyond creepy.
"Almost as annoying as that asshole Stark." Erin whispered.
"Stark? What about him?" Zoey asked looking sorta of guilty.
"The buttball walked through here while you both were still upstairs." Shaunee said, not noticing the guilt in Zoey's eyes. "All like he owned the place and didn't care who knew he'd been raping and pillaging some poor helpless pod girl."
"Yeah, you should have seen Becca. She panted after him like a terrier." Erin said.
"And what did he do?" Zoey asked.
"It was pathetic. He barely looked at her." Shaunee said.
"Talk about being used and then wadded up and thrown away like a snot rag." Erin said.
I was beginning to wonder if he was just acting last night or was he acting this morning. Who was the real Stark? I guess the bigger question was, did I trust him with my secret?
"Speak of the damn devil." Shaunee said in a nasty voice.
"Literally." Erin said.
Did they always talk like this, finishing sentences or adding to them?
"Wrong table." Shaunee told him. "Your minions are all over there and there." She swept her hand around the room. I saw what she meant. All the girls at the other tables were staring at him like he was a god.
"Hi, Stark." Zoey said almost pleasantly.
"You look better than the last time I saw you." He said.
Zoey and I shared a look. I turned back to my cereal. He wasn't my almost boyfriend.
"Big surprise that she looks better than when you were chomping on Becca last night."
"Yeah, watching that would be enough to make anyone look a little peaked."
His eyes burned red and he rounded on the Twins. I flinched at his movement.
"I'm talking to Zoey, not either of you. So butt the fuck out." He hissed.
Both twins went pale. I watched as the tar like blackness shifted around him.
"Fuck is a wordy dird." I told him. His gaze flickered over to me, I did not flinch at the blood red gaze. I raised my chin and held it.
"What is it you wanted to say to me, Stark?" Zoey asked.
Stark looked away from me back at Zoey. "I didn't have really anything to say. I just found this. It's yours, isn't it?" He held up a purse.
"Thanks, it is mine." Zoey took it from him.
He turned to me. "Neferet wants you back in the infirmary."
My back prickled and Snap hissed at the mention of her name. There was pity in Stark's eyes, just a little.
"I'll finish my breakfast and head on ofr there." I told him.
"I'll wait outside the door." He glanced at Zoey before turning and leaving the room.
"You can't go to the infirmary." Zoey said.
"No dip Sherlock." I said with a bit of panic in my voice. "Give me a piece of paper." Shaunee passed one over and a pencil. I ripped it in half.
"Give me your phone number." I told her giving her one of the halves. I scribbled mine down.
"Shit! You're really not thinking about going are you?" Shaunee asked.
"I'm pretty sure that if Neferet wants me there she'll drag me there herself if she got the chance." I slid my number over to Zoey and took hers. I stuffed down my bra.
"If Stark gets to search you, he'll look there." Erin said.
"I bite him before he'll even looks there." I told her draining my cereal.
"His manhood won't be safe from my teeth if he touches you there." Snap said.
I almost choked on the milk. I limped up and put the bowl in the dishwasher. I grabbed the crutches.
"If you need us-" Zoey said.
"I'll call, scream, use smoke signals whatever I can get my hands on." I said. I took a deep breath and turned away from them before they could convince me not to go.
Snap padded loyally glued to my side. I rammed my shoulder against the door and pushed it open enough for me to slip through.
"I knew you would be smart enough to come." Stark said stepping out of the shadows.
"Was it really Neferet, or Kalona?" I asked.
"It was Neferet. I don't think she likes you too much." Stark said.
I smirked. I wonder why?
"Kalona was fine with just have one of the Raven Mockers keeping an eye on you. But Neferet wanted you back in the infirmary."
"I think that bitch is a bit of a control freak." I muttered. "I don't think she likes any female getting close to him, even blood."
There was a fluttering of wings. I glanced over and a Raven Mocker was perched on a windowsill.
Snap hissed and whipped her tail across my ankles.
"Hello ssssister." It hissed.
I focused on where to place my crutches instead of it.
Stark opened the infirmary door and I slipped in.
I felt her aura as soon as I entered the building, but my father was also here.
"Well, he likes me a lot, so he'll keep Neferet from killing me."
I hobbled into the room from before. Neferet stood calmly near the bed. My father stood beside her. His eyes light up when he saw me.
"Glad to see your return, young Raven." She said like I was a child.
"I'm not." I said.
Her eyes narrowed. I hobbled over and sat down on the bed. I pulled up the pant leg.
"Did you leave with Zoey?" She asked.
"Maybe." I said as she unwrapped my bandages.
"You shouldn't hang around her. I'm afraid she's a bad influence." Neferet said.
"I think I can tell the right sort on my own, thanks." I said, quoting Harry Potter.
She glared at me.
I glanced at my leg.
Oh, ugh. It was one big purple-black bruise. Neferet put a spidery hand on my shin.
"The leg muscles are a bit inflamed. If you hadn't walked on it, it would be fine." She said.
"Sorry. I got hungry." I said. "There's no food in here."
"You could have called." Neferet said.
"You left me nothing to summon you with." I said.
She gave me an icy stare. "I suggest you don't get up for the rest of the day."
"But if I need to walk on it, it's fine right?" I asked.
She looked at me with a bit of a frustration in her eyes. "Why would you need to get up?"
"Bathroom." I said. Snap rubbed against my elbow.
"Yes. You'll be fine." She said. "Although I suggest not wondering out of the infirmary."
I took a mental note that she was 'suggesting' what I should to do, which means I don't have to do what she says.
"All right." I said. "Does this place have any good books?" I made an effort of looking around.
"No. I'm afraid not. If you'll excuse me, I have a class to teach." She exited flourishly, with a swirl of her dress. I hope she gets a house fallen on top of her soon.
"Watch your tongue daughter." Kalona warned. "Not everyone will be tolerate of your sharp words."
Translation: don't smart off to your daddy.
"Why are you hanging out with that bitch anyhow?" I asked. "She doesn't seem like the type to share power. Not to mention she's a bitch."
He chuckled and ruffled my hair. "She is merely my tool in my plan for this world, nothing more."
Was I going to be a tool for his plan as well? I was betting so.
"What plan?" I asked.
He ran his fingers through my hair. "What do you want to happen to this world?"
Odd question.
"I wish…I wish that everything could be like it was. Lots of green, clear water, kinda of like Narnia. No more factories with black smoke, dull brick houses, or concrete. I guess I really want more magic in the world. Everything too scientific." I stopped and my face grew hot. People called people like me too childish and unrealistic.
"Ssh." Snap said. "You shouldn't share your dreams so easily."
"It's a silly dream." I told her.
"He doesn't think so." Snap warned.
I looked over. Kalona did look very interested. More interested than I felt anyone should be about a silly dream. I mean, it couldn't happen…right?
"It's just a silly dream though." I said. I pulled away and ran my fingers through my hair.
"A silly dream." He mused quietly. "You may find your dream may become reality."
Warning bells sounded in my head.
"I plan for so many things to be changed." He said. "Of course you and your brothers will be at my side when things finally come into play."
Oh boy.
"What about my powers?" I asked.
He turned his head to me. His amber eyes were glowing. "What powers do you possess?"
"I've only discovered two." I said carefully. "I can communicate with animals, and I healed Darius."
"Interesting." He mused. "I'll have to talk to Neferet about possibly finding a teacher for you."
"I'm sure she'll be more than willingly to help me." Heavy sarcasm. I really hope he caught it. Does he even get sarcasm?
"Don't worry. I can be pretty persuasive."
I didn't doubt that in the least bit.
He clapped a hand on top of my head. "You should rest daughter. You may have immortal blood, but your injury will take longer to heal if you keep using it and don't rest."
He got up and went to the door. He nodded at me before leaving and shutting the door behind him.
I sighed and rubbed my face.
"He is right." Snap said begrudgingly. "You do need to rest. Especially if you're going to escape tonight with the others."
I slumped down onto the pillow. Snap curled up next to me.
I closed my eyes and laid absolutely still.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Happy Note: MY HIGH SCHOOL LIFE ENDS THIS SATURDAY! Woot!
Sad Note: No I'm not going to stop writing Immortal's Daughter, but I am going on hiatus for a bit. You see, I've got wireless internet up at school, but at home I have Hughes Net and uploading takes forever! I don't want to stop uploading stuff, but most of the time it'll freeze and never upload…so, I will try to upload chapters, but it won't be like it has been with uploads. Not to mention I have to give up my laptop (Noooooooooooo!) and will go home to fight three sisters and one mom for computer time. Sigh.
Still love you guys bunches and bunches and remember patience is a virtue.