Disclaimer: I don't own the plot or characters of The House of Night Novel series-that honor goes to P.C. and Kristen Cast ***sigh*** i wish i did but who doesn't, i mean come on ppl

Chapter 9

Misunderstood…Confused

As I watched her face turn pure white and then a swallow/yellow color. I mean she seriously looked like she was about to faint. I couldn't help but feel that I was the one who had forced that reaction on her. Apparently whatever I said had affected her and she obviously didn't want to think about it, but what had I said anyway… "What do you mean I can't tell anyone I mean we have to tell Neferet or something, right?"

All I had said was that we should tell someone. Was it just the thought of telling someone, but that couldn't be right because she hadn't really been affected until I mentioned telling Neferet, and then it clicked- why she had put on a false smile for Neferet and, then Neferet had a cold and wicked sneer when she looked at Zoey before. Of course- I felt like I should have been hitting myself on the head. Zoey, Nyx's eyes and ears of today, despised Neferet and that could only mean one thing. If Zoey didn't feel like Neferet was a good person then Nyx had the same feeling. At that moment I got a warm feeling in the pit of my stomach and a voice filled my head- they were the words that Nyx had spoken to me when she "gifted" me, as Zoey had put it:

"You see the truth immediately while others linger on false pretenses.For this you are now my purpose and my connection to all vampyres of this new age. Now you must go and help Zoey to understand my decisions."

I guess that this meant that I had found out something important and that I was on the path that Nyx had picked out for me. At the very least I hadn't messed anything up yet. I looked back up at Zoey. I could only imagine what my expression looked like but I guessed that my eyes held an understanding because she realized that she didn't have to explain anything to me. At that moment there was a rather loud knock at the door and the deep, yet still young, voice of a boy.

"Zoey, are you still in there. I can't find Shaunee or Erin anywhere and we need to talk. Something weird happened in the infirmary and a whole bunch of people are freaking out." I couldn't place the voice to any of the people who had been in the infirmary room with Zoey and I.

"That has to be Damien," said Zoey. I was surprised that she was able to keep her voice so even. It must have been because whoever was knocking outside of her room could still hear us. I looked into her eyes and she could definitely see the naked panic that they held even though I tried to hide it, unsuccessfully may I add.

"Seriously, it's okay. He's a good friend. I've known him since the first day I got here," she was trying to reassure me but it was NOT working. I couldn't breath. This was one of the reasons that it was not so great to start your entire life over. It meant that you had no friends and it was totally like moving to a new country where you didn't speak the language. You were treated like an outcast and thanks to my "shimmering" Mark I was totally gonna be the biggest freak at the school. Not to mention that I was going to be even weirder then Zoey when she had first started.

She could still see the near-hysteria on my face. I had always been pretty bad at hiding my emotions or at least when I met Jasmin I hadn't had to hide them in the first place so it hadn't been one of my worries before but this was different. I really wanted to calm down and then I could feel my terror-stricken expression slide from my face and I could feel myself loosen up as calm took its place. I looked to Zoey. Again it seemed like she could sense what was happening inside me and her concerned look vanished. Even she would have to admit that she looked impressed.

She walked over to the door with a slight smile on her face. As she opened it the boy's worried expression changed to one of happiness. He smiled at her and she turned to introduce us. Had it not been for his smile I would have lost my nerve right then and there.

Before he smiled I would have run out the open window. Before his smile I was ready to up-chuck from the fear of meeting another fledgling. Before his comforting smile I was ready to go to a different room and cry. That was all before he smiled and wiped the fears from my mind. Before I knew what I was doing I threw myself into his arms.

"Damien, Oh my god, Damien it's really you!" I was nearly crying hysterical tears of joy. He stared at me with a shocked expression. His smile was still there (I hoped) under the mental breakdown that he must have been going through. He looked at me and then just as I began to worry his familiar features warmed.

"Lela, is it really you. What are you doing here?" It might have sounded really mean and prying had it been coming from somewhere else but from him you could tell that it was just his surprise. I heard his joy underneath the bombshell. I was pleased to tell that even after all this time he still couldn't fool me. I was seriously crying all over his shoulder. He wrapped me in a humongous hug that I, of course, returned. I was sniffling against his shoulder. He had gotten so much taller (did being Marked give you a growth spurt?) I felt so short compared to him.

"It really is you!" He picked me up and swung me around still keeping me in his hug. I wondered if I looked different too. At that moment he seemed to notice my forehead. His hug stopped in mid-air and then silence overcame him. Again a look of wonder crossed his face but then he seemed to get almost...mad.

"No it can't be y- this can't happen Zoey!" What was he shouting about now.

"It's too dangerous!" He was basically screaming in my ear. Zoey was still staring at us with an astonished air.

"You know each other?" She was still amazed that something like this could happen? From the sound of it she talked to the Goddess of Night regularly! This should NOT be such a surprise.

"Of course! He's my best friend!" Why did she still look like that. A weird look crossed her face. I was still studying her eyes searching for the cause when Damien's voice pierced the tense bubble:

"Zoey, this can't happen to her- the Goddess has you. Why is this still happening, and why in hell is it HER?!" What did he mean why was it me? Why was what me? Non of this was making sense anymore. There was something going on that they weren't telling me. Damien had protected me from everything when we were little but he had never had this panicked kind of desperateness in his voice before. Either way, what did I know? I hadn't seen Damien in forever so maybe he was like this all the time now. But I still couldn't believe that, a person could only change so much over that period of time. I looked back to them. What had Damien just said? Something about being in a lot of danger? Well I had already accepted that when Nyx told me that the entire world would be in "great danger" so what was bothering Damien so much?

I looked back and Zoey's mouth had actually popped open. She stared at us as Damien yelled to her and she looked like she was just beginning to comprehend something big. She looked back at me and her expression turned to one of horror. Damien had a mirror look on his face. What was wrong with them? They were acting really strange.

"Power" Zoey only mouthed the words but they sent another jolt of pain through my stomach and these words floated through my mind like a long forgotten memory;

"Power changes people, but it is only when the person truly loses faith do they give way to darkness." It was then that I blacked out for (hopefully) the last time that day, all the while having sharp pains in my stomach and a roar in the back of my head.

Yeah i know i'm horrible for leaving you guys hanging like this. I probably really confused you but all will be reveled in time- god i just sounded like some freaky carny. Oh well i hope you have a good time reading this. Sorry i took so long to get this chapter out but the characters truly do write themselves- however corny that sounds it's true. Keep R&R i need a couple more. Seriously try to break 10 people both criticism and comments are welcome at this point!