Chapter Three
So shut your eyes while mother sings
Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
As you rock in the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three,
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod…
My mother's voice grabbed a hold of my spirit through the fog of sleep and seemed to pull me to wakefulness. Her sweet scent of strawberries, which I always thought came from her shampoo, wafted around me. I smiled as I looked at her. "Still singing to me huh?" Her melodic voice seemed to lull me even when I fought sleep with an imaginary bazooka.
She smiled down at me with her bright eyes, "You're never going to scare me like that again alright, and you need to make sure you keep your seatbelt on!" She hit my arm lightly as she tried to keep the 'angry mom' going, although she couldn't help but keeping on her smile. She was scared I had died, hell part of me had been scared I had died.
The young, no, the vampyre woman who walked in looked beautiful. She reminded me of a super-model mostly because of her thin, but not overly thing, look. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a single ponytail. She wore glasses which I guessed was mostly an accessory, because as a fully Changed vampyre she had no need problem seeing in even the darkest nights. Her blue crescent moon on her forehead was surrounded by what looked like olive branches. She wore a simple pants suit. Part of me wondered if this was another dream, and was going to get weirdly kinky. "Yes, following the law is a priority, especially among fledglings and vampyres." I knew instantly she was the woman from the fire.
"And you are?" I sat up, happy that the pain in my body seemed to end. I was wearing a different pair of my clothes, and I wondered when that came about, and really hoped my mom was the only who changed me.
"I am called Alyssa Lancaster, the High Priestess here at the House of Night." She put out her hand, and I took it easily. "You came to us in quite a condition, and although your mother mentioned you hit your head, it is hardly normal for a Mark to be filled in like that."
It was stupid to ask, and I knew it was stupid, but I needed to be sure. "Did I go through the Change?"
"No, you are still very much a fledgling, and you're not even the first within the last two years to have a crescent filled in. There was this girl down in Tulsa, but that is another story for another time." She sat down on the edge of the bed looking over at my mother. "Miss Johnson, you do understand that your son is now legally emancipated correct?"
"Of course, Miss Lancaster, I may be from South Dakota, but that hardly means I don't know the law." My mother held my hand, although I pulled it out of hers, giving her a smile of reassurance. "I understand that he will stay here and take classes. He has potentially four years unless his body doesn't make it through the Change, at which point he will die." Her words seemed to have venom in them. She hated when people thought she was stupid.
"Good," Alyssa said without taking a breath after my mom's short speech. "You, sir, have a chance at starting over. I've been going over most of the paperwork, and you have a choice as to whether or not you're going to go into this life with a new name. Alyssa isn't the name I was born with, it was the one I chose when I was Marked. I'm not saying you have to leave your life behind, but many do."
"Quinn," I spoke easily as I looked over at my mother, "Quinn Northstar. I…" A sudden wrench in his gut told him to keep it to himself. "Is that okay mom?"
A second young woman walked into the room. She did not exude as much confidence as Alyssa, but I knew she was a Changed vampyre almost immediately. Her hair was the color of ripe apples, while her eyes looked like the light underneath the canopy of a rainforest. "Alyssa, the Erebus and Neferet situation has just changed. You received a message from the Council."
"If you two will excuse me," She stood up giving me a short smile. "Phoenix Song, the professor music here at the House of Night, will be your mentor. He should be right along." She smiled at mom, "Miss Lancaster, Serena can escort you out."
My mom for a second stared at Alyssa with her mouth open, but she quickly closed it. "There's a parent's day every once in a while, I will make sure I attend. I'll talk to you father; feel free to call if you need anything. You may be emancipated, but that doesn't mean you don't have a home." She moved up and kissed my cheek as she walked over Serena.
"Phoenix will be right with you," Alyssa stated. Serena gave me a quick look before the three of them all rushed out of the room.
My mom popped her head back in. "I love you, don't forget that." She was holding the side of the doorframe with both hands almost like a cartoon character. I couldn't help but shake my head at her.
"I love you too, mom. Go, before they call the Sons of Erebus on you."
Oddly, my mom put on a mischievous grin before she made her way out. I shook my head a couple more times with a large smile on my face. She WANTED to see the Sons of Erebus. She'd like to be thrown to the curb by men who looked like Greek deities. I paused for a second to look over my thoughts, Nyx was a Greek deity, and well she was a deity who was worshipped by the Greeks. I needed to remember that. I didn't want to do anything sacrilegious.
When Phoenix Song strode through the door, I honestly felt like my heart was going to stop. He stood around six foot four inches, and had the brightest red hair, I had ever seen. It seemed to be speckled with orange, but it was mostly a crimson red. His eyes looked almost golden in the moonlight. He named seemed to be perfect fit. "You must be Quinn." He gave my filled in crescent a slight look, before giving me a smile and meeting my eyes once again.
I kicked my feet over the edge of bed, "Not for very long now, but yeah, that me." I was trying to sound chipper, when in reality my stomach felt like it was weighed down to my toes.
"Well, I'm going to show you my classroom, and then show you to your roommate." He opened the door for me and let me walk through it, before walking beside me down the hallway. "He'll be able to help you through mostly everything else here, but remember if you have any questions feel free to come to me."
"So… you're a teacher here?" I was asking redundant questions as we walked down the hallway.
"I teach music and dance. We have a shortage of teachers here, but we make due with what we have. We're generally very good at findings our pupils skills and working with them regardless of ourselves not having an affinity for it." His voice sounded like a melody, almost like you could write sheet music to each of her words, and a gentle sonata would ring out.
I pushed back my dark hair with both my hands and let them rest on my head. "I'm just your regular everyday kid. Well, besides my crescent being filled in, but Alyssa even says that is normal nowadays."
Phoenix gave a little laugh as he stood in front of a door with his name overtop of it, "It's hardly an everyday occurrence, but it has happened recently. It generally means you've been gifted by the goddess."
The smile on my face probably looked like my crescent turned on its side. I really liked Phoenix already; perhaps he would be able to teach me some dance moves. I have always been light on my feet, but perhaps I could use it for other things. "Do you have a fencing instructor?"
We began to walk once again down the hallway towards another wing as he continued go to on, "Yes, our instructor is Maria Curry. She actually nearly won the fencing championship against Dragon Lankford. By the way his words seemed to move with excitement, I figured that was a good thing. We stopped at a large doorway, "This is the dormitory. Your room is 243, which is right up the first flight of stairs after you enter the dorm."
I paused for a second and looked up at him. "I'm more than a little bit scared to be honest." I let out a breath as I forced a smile on my face.
"Don't let anyone tell you it isn't alright to be afraid. Being afraid is one thing, but facing it, and being determined to not let it bring you down is another thing." He touched my shoulder lightly as he left me standing in front of the doorway.
I stood there for a few seconds wondering who was going to be on the other side. I began to wonder what exactly my roommate was going to be like. I pictured a hundred different young men my age, and a few who were a couple years older. Finally, I took in a deep breath and opened the door handle.