I was thrusted back into my body with explosive force. I stumbled back and slid off the bed. There was a ringing in my ears and my legs trembled with holding up my weight. My heart pounded in an irregular way. My eye sight was blurry and I could only see fuzzy shapes and blurred colors.
"Raven? Raven!"
My eyesight completely blackened and all sound left me.
"Raven. Raven." My shoulder shook with each mention of my name.
I blinked. My eyesight was sharp and clear and there wasn't a ringing in my ears anymore, but my mouth was extremely dry.
"I'm all right." But my words were slurred. My heart was pounding so rapidly it was painful. "I need some water." I fainted, yet again.
"Aphrodite." Stark ordered.
A bowl tapped my nose. I lifted my hand and a long pink tongue slipped out of my mouth and scooped the water into my mouth. When I was done I ran my tongue over my lips and stood up.
"What happened?" Stark demanded.
"Kalona was there. He blocked my way to get to Zoey." I rubbed my paw over my nose. "He told me not to interfere and I guess shoved me back into my body." I shook myself and my fur fluffed out. I looked at Stark. "I think that pathway is blocked. We need to find another way."
"Well, before your rather interesting entrance." Aphrodite said. "We were about to go back to the library to figure that out."
"Let's go." I said.
They didn't argue with me, how do you argue with a panther anyway? I got claws and teeth and I'm pretty sure I'm a bit quicker too.
I followed them down a hallway and down some stairs. Evidently, we weren't in a hotel like I had assumed, but some kind of palace.
There was a musty smell and a dank smell of mold. I wrinkled my nose. I don't think I like this increase of smell. The increase of sound might be a downie too because people don't quietly pass gas with me around.
The rest of Zoey's group was gathered around a table covered with books, chip bags, and candy. They all had dark circles around their eyes, but their eyes were bright and wide.
Oh boy, sugar. What would happen if someone gave me sugar? Or cat nip? Do big cats like cat nip? I'm kinda curious of why the cat nip makes felines so nutty.
They looked at us and their mouths dropped at the sight of me.
"Are we having a sugar hallucination?" Erin started.
"Or is there a panther with you guys?" Shaunee finished.
I sighed. "Well, I'm pretty sure that I'm really here so I think the latter is true."
I wish a got a picture of their faces.
"Raven?" Damien squeaked.
"Yep." I sighed. "I somehow managed to shape shift into a panther."
Jack walked over and pet my head. He got a goofy smile on his face.
"You're soooooo soft!" He fell down onto his knees and buried his face into my shoulder.
My ears folded back in irritation and my tail flicked. Why did I have to be soft? Why?
"Come feel Damien!" Jack said.
So Damien and the Twins came over and stroked my soft fur.
"Damn, I'd love a pillow to be made outta your fur." Shaunee said.
"I wouldn't." I mumbled. I shrugged out of their embraces. "Sorry, y'all making me claustrophobic."
"Oh, lookie what I found." Jack sprang up and picked up a book. "This is a copy of the painting of the High Priestess Calliope. She was also the Poet Laureate after Sappho. Doesn't she look exactly like Cher?"
"Wow, that's insane. She does look just like young Cher." Erin said.
"Yeah, before she started wearing those white wigs. What the hell's up with that?" Shaunee piped in.
I looked at the picture, even tilted my head sideways. "I don't see it."
"There is nothing wrong with Cher. Absolutely. Nothing." Damien said causing my comment to be ignored.
"Uh-oh." Shaunee said.
"Stepped on a gay nerve." Erin said.
"I had a Cher Barbie doll. I loved that doll." Jack said quietly to stop a fight between Shaunee and Erin.
"I never liked Barbies." I said. "It was too easy to tear their heads off when I use to brush their hair." I brought my back leg up to my head and scratched my ear.
"Barbies, herd of nerd? Seriously? You're supposed to be saving Z, remember?" Aphrodite said giving me a look like she was mad at me for encouraging this conversation.
"We've been at it all day. We're just taking a little break. Thanatos went out for more food." Damien said. "We have made some headway, but I'll wait until she gets back to report everything."
"Oh Raven. I found a picture of your tattoo." Jack said suddenly flipping through a book.
I blinked and then I remembered the unusual tattoo Nyx had burned onto my chest.
"You had a tattoo?" Aphrodite said.
"Yeah. I kept it covered up most of the time." Technically not a lie.
"I saw it when we came by to check on you while you slept in the stables. I thought it was really weird and then I came across it while we were doing our research for Zoey." Jack said. "Here it is."
I padded over to him and looked at the picture on the page. It was my tattoo.
"I was looking through this and its Hekate's symbol." He said.
"Hekate." I repeated. In Greek/Roman mythology she was the goddess of the dark moon as well as the crossroads. Later she was referred to as an evil witch goddess who kidnapped people to take to the underworld.
"Yeah. She was a High Priestess of Nyx. But her power was a bit controversial." Damien said. "She could control darkness."
I suddenly remembered the woman from one of my dreams. Was she Hekate?
"I thought darkness was all bad?" Erin said.
"I guess not because she was one of the most devoted Priestesses ever, although later she was made out to be an evil witch who stole people's souls. She claimed that darkness was necessary for change and that the balance between light and darkness meant that both could be good or evil." Damien said. He tapped the symbol. "That's why she often used this symbol to show that balance."
Why did Nyx mark me with that symbol? Did she want the others to see it and do this research so they would be accepting of the fact I use darkness? Or did she want to show that someone else good had used darkness? Who knows, she's a goddess.
"Hekate." A unfamiliar female voice said. I turned and saw a strange woman who radiated some kind of weird power. "A very powerful Priestess. A very kind soul." She looked at me. "I don't believe we've met young panther."
"I'm Raven."
A smile appeared on her face. "A panther named Raven. Bit unusual."
"I was…human, but I accidently shape shifted into this form, and I'm unsure how to change back."
"Um, we kinda told Thanatos that you're Kalona's only daughter." Jack said sort of guiltily.
"Fine. I was a half-breed and shape shifted into this form." I said. I wasn't too upset they told her, they must trust her a lot to let them know about my issue because telling someone about a half-immortal girl with great powers is kinda of a thing you only tell certain people.
"What else do you guys learn?" Stark said. His voice sounded like he was trying his hardest not to blow up at everyone.
"We found in our research I that whenever a High Priestess suffered such a shock that her soul shattered, her Warrior didn't seem to be able to stay alive."
I shivered. That didn't sound good.
"Do you mean the Warriors all dropped dead?" Stark asked.
Well, that would certainly suck not to even be given a chance to save their Priestess.
"In a way." Damien said.
"Some of them killed themselves so that they knew they could follow their High Priestesses to the Otherworld and continue to protect them there." Thanatos said.
"But that didn't work because none of the High Priestesses returned, right?" Stark said.
"Why would they want to return if their Warrior was dead?" I asked.
"Raven is correct. Many of Priestesses were able to heal their souls, but decided to remain with their Warriors." Thanatos said.
"Some of them healed." Stark said very slowly. "What happened to the High Priestesses who didn't?"
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
"As you learned yesterday, if a soul remains shattered, the person becomes Caoinic Shi', a being that will never rest."
I shivered.
"It's like a zombie, without the eating people part." Jack said.
Stark almost rounded on me. I folded my ears back uncomfortably. "How was Zoey when you saw her?"
"She was talking to a strange girl with bright red hair and the girl told her 'that she was truly broken.' Zoey started sobbing, and now that I think about it, she did look zombie-ish." I said softly. And then my father and that freaky cloud popped up and I got shoved back to this reality. "When Kalona showed up, there were these weird runes on him, they were black, but tinted red like they were covered with blood."
"The red head might have been a fragment of her soul." Thanatos said. "But I'm not sure about the runes on the Immortal."
"So, the pieces of her soul want to come together?" I asked. "Because it sounded like that piece of soul wanted to be rejoined with the others."
"Yes, but it's up to the main part of Zoey's soul to pull the pieces back." Thanatos said.
"Wait, you went to the Otherworld?" Damien asked.
"I astral projected." I said.
"Cool!" Jack said.
"What?" Shaunee and Erin said.
"I went into a trance and projected my conscious spirit out of my body." I explained.
"I'm guessing that you didn't get Zoey back together." Erin said.
"Kalona was there and blocked my path." I said. I wasn't going to mention the creepy black cloud.
"Uh oh."
"Yep." Aphrodite said. "So we need to step it up before bird boy carries out his evil plan and keeps Zoey there."
"No shit." Stark hissed.
Some body missed their nap. Not that I would tell him that because he would probably rip my head off.
"Cool it arrow boy. I got in contact with Stevie Rae and she accidently invoked the white bull last night."
"Bull? What bull?" I asked.
"The white bull is the manifestation of Darkness in its most basic form of this realm. The black bull is the basic form of Light." Thanatos said. "You're saying a fledging invoked Darkness?"
"She's not a fledgling." Aphrodite said. "She's like Stark, a red vampyre, but yes. She did. In Tulsa."
"Crappies!" I said.
Aphrodite pulled out a piece of paper. "The Warrior must look to his blood to discover the bridge to enter the Isle of Women, and then he must defeat himself to enter the arena. Only by acknowledging one before the other will he join his Priestess. After he joins her, it is her choice and not his whether she returns." Aphrodite waved the piece of paper around. "Anyone have a clue what that might mean?"
"Is there an island called the Isle of Women?" I asked.
"Yes, but the matron of the island has place a protective barrier around her island and no one may enter it." Thanatos said. She turned back to Aphrodite. "How is that she was able to survive the payment for this knowledge?"
"That's what I wondered myself, especially after Stevie Rae told me how bad the white bull was. She said she didn't think anything could defeat it except for the black bull, which was how she got away from it."
"She evoked the black bull, too?" Thanatos said. "That is almost unbelievable."
"Stevie Rae has some mad earth skillz." Jack said.
"Yeah, that's how she said she got the good bull to Tulsa. She drew power from the earth to call it." Aphrodite said.
Well, calling an elemental force via one of the main elements should bring it forth.
"And you trust this Stevie Rae vampyre?" Thanatos asked.
Whoa, did she think that Stevie Rae called the white bull, which should like a major evil jerkface by the way, on purpose?
Aphrodite's hesitation worried me. "Most of the time."
"Why do you ask about trusting Stevie Rae?" Damien asked quietly.
"Because of the few things I know about the ancient beliefs of Light and Darkness symbolized in the bulls, one is they always exact a price for their favors. Always. Answering Stevie Rae's question was a favor from Darkness."
I shivered. I would hate to know what the payment was and I really hoped Stevie Rae was okay.
"But she called up the good bull and it kicked the bad bull's butt. That kept Stevie Rae from paying a price to him." Jack said.
"But then she would have had to make a payment to the black bull?" I looked at Thanatos. "Right?"
She nodded. "You should look to your friend and discover what payment she rendered to the black bull." She told Aphrodite.
"And why she wouldn't tell me about it." Aphrodite said.
"Just remember, there are consequences for everything, whether good or bad." Thanatos said.
"Can we stop looking back at what happened with Stevie Rae?" Stark said. He really looked ready to lose it. "I need to move forward. To Skye and a bridge of blood. So let's get going."
Then I smelled it. It was a weird smell. It smelled like…prey.
Aphrodite screamed bloody murder. She actually leapt into Darius's arms. The Twins started screaming and them and Jack and Damien climbed up onto the table.
"Hello."
I looked down. There were three little mice. The voice came from the mouse in front.
"Kill them, kill them!" Aphrodite screamed.
"Oh, quit being a big baby. They're mice for crying out loud." I walked over to them. "Hi."
"Don't say hi to them!" Aphrodite said.
I snorted at her.
"We felt your presence and we wanted to say hi and was wondering if there was anything we could do to help you." He said.
"No I don't think you guys can help." I told them. "But thank you for offering."
"Okays. Can we hang out with you then?"
I looked up at the two legs in the room. Stark looked ready to take a book to the mice because everyone else was flipping shit about there being mice.
"I'm afraid not. The people here are freaking out a bit that you're here. I think it might be better if you guys returned home."
"Oh, okays." They didn't sound too disappointed and they scurried back to their mouse hole rather cheerily. I wondered why mice where so happy all the time?
"Do animals often seek you out?" Thanatos asked.
"Sorta." I said. "Sorry for the distraction. They're going back home now. What were we talking about? A bridge of blood?" Stark looked like he was going to lose it really quick if we didn't get back on topic.
"Well, first of all I don't think it's a literal bridge." Damien said all scholarly. I was grateful he was helping me pull everyone back into focus before Stark had a severe come apart. "It says to look Ito your blood Ito discover the bridge, not look for a blood bridge."
"Ugh, metaphor. Just one more reason I seriously hate poetry." Aphrodite said.
"If you read more then maybe metaphors won't bother you." I said snottily.
"Do you have an idea Raven?" Stark said.
I flicked my ears uneasily. "Well, in a book series I read blood referred to kin. So maybe you need to look to your family tree?" I suggested. I hated that Stark put me on the spot.
"Huh, Raven might have something," Damien said. "I researched some stuff about Sgiach. She is considered queen of Warriors. Lots of Warriors used to train on her island, so a bunch of Sons of Erebus came and went, but the Warriors who stayed with her, the ones sworn to her service-"
"Hang on, Sgiach had more than one Oath Sworn Warrior?" Stark asked.
Damien nodded. "Apparently she had a whole Clan of them."
The Warriors series! Why first the books give me an idea to the meaning of the metaphor and then Clan of Warriors come up? Granted the series was about wild forest cats, but still! Sigh, I needed a nice kitty nap.
"Only they didn't call themselves Sons of Erebus. Their title was the Guardians of the Ace."
"Why Ace?" Stark asked.
"It's a metaphor." Aphrodite said with an eye roll. "Another one. It's what they called. Sgiach. It symbolizes queen to their Clan."
"I think the Scottish clan stuff is cool." Jack said.
"Wait, how is Sgiach and Scottish connected?" I asked.
"The Isle of Skye is near Scotland." Darius said.
"Oh. Kay, I'm cleared up now." I said.
"And of course you like the Scottish stuff." Aphrodite told Jack." Guys in skirts is your wet dream."
"Kilt, not skirt." Stark said. "Or plaid. If you're talking about the really old, big one you call if a philamore."
Um, why did Stark know this stuff?
"And you know this because you like to wear them?" Aphrodite asked.
Stark shrugged. "Not me, but my grandpa use to."
"Ha! Blood equals kin!" I said. Go me!
"What's your grandfather's last name?" Aphrodite said. "If cat girl is right with her blood equals kin thing."
"MacUallis." Stark and Damien said together.
"How do you know that?" Stark asked.
"It was the Clan MacUallis who were the Guardians of the Ace." Damien grinned victoriously and held up a page with: CLAN MACUALLIS = GUARDIANS OF THE ACE in big letters.
"Looks like we found our blood bridge." Jack said giving his boyfriend a hug.
A smile curled on my face. We were going to get Zoey back and twart some major evil bitch evil while we did it.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Yeah, I read the Warrior cat series when I was in middle school/early high schooler-ish, case you were wondering. The whole mention of warriors and clans and the fact Raven is currently a panther brought back old memories.
So, read and review and maybe, just maybe you'll get a new chapter before the week's over.