P. Cast - Destined

“No!” he held up a hand, cutting her off. “I don’t think I want to know what else you can see.”

“Sorry,” she said softly, looking down and scuffing the toe of one shoe through the winter-brown grass. “I guess it is really weird. So, what happens next?”

Erik sighed again. “Don’t be sorry, and there’s nothing wrong with weird. I’m sure Nyx has a reason for giving you this gift, and this red Mark.”

“Nyx?”

“Nyx is our Goddess. The Goddess of Night. She’s awesome, and sometimes she gives her fledglings cool gifts.” As he spoke Erik felt like a total ass. He had to be the crappiest Tracker in House of Night history. He’d turned a blind kid into a red fledgling who could see inside stuff, and he was just now telling her about their Goddess. “Come on.” He didn’t care if Charon would approve or not—he wasn’t following the damn script anyway. He might as well go for broke and screw everything up. “Show me where you used to live. Pack a bag or whatever. You’re going to come with me.”

“Oh, yeah. To the House of Night in Tulsa, right?”

“Actually, no. First I’m going to take you to a red fledgling High Priestess. Maybe she can figure out what I did wrong.”

“Hey, she’s not gonna try to ‘fix’ me by making me blind again, is she?”

“Shaylin, as much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think it’s you who needs to be fixed. It’s me.”

“Zoey, did you hear me?”

I realized that while I’d been maniacally brushing Persephone, Lenobia had come into the stall and had been talking at me. Well, I mean I realized she’d been saying words. Out loud. To me. But I hadn’t really heard them. I sighed and turned to face the Horse Mistress, leaning against the mare’s warm, sturdy side and trying to draw calmness and energy from her familiar presence. “Sorry, no. I wasn’t paying attention. I’m super distracted. What were you saying?”

“I was asking what you know about this Aurox boy.”

“Nothing except that I can promise you he’s not just a boy,” I said.

“Yes, word’s already spread around campus that he’s a shape-shifter.”

I felt my eyes get really big. “Seriously? There are such things? Like Sam and his crazy white trash mom and brother?”

“Sam?”

“True Blood,” I explained. “They’re shape-shifters. They can change into anything they’ve seen. I think. Although I don’t think they can change into inanimate stuff. Jeesh, I need to read those books to get the real deal. Anyway, again, there are such things ?”

“A, I don’t watch TV. I never got into the habit. I’ll have to read the True Blood books, too.”

“Actually, they’re the Sookie Stackhouse books by a cool human author named Charlaine Harris.” I registered Lenobia’s look and hastily added, “Sorry, sorry, that’s really not your point. What’s your B?”

“My B is back to your original question, there are a lot of things out there—in this world as well as the Otherworld.”

I swallowed hard. “I know that. Especially the Otherworld part.”

“That said, many cultures have evidence of shape-shifters in their legends and mythology. It only stands to reason that at least some of those stories are based on truth.”

“I can’t figure out whether that’s good or bad,” I said.

“I think the best we can hope for is that it’s like the rest of us—good or bad based on the individual. Which leads me to my next question. Along with campus gossip about Aurox and his ability to at least appear to be able to change form, word has it that you had a pretty strong reaction to him. Is that true?”

I felt my cheeks getting hot. “Sadly, yes. I made a fool out of myself in front of most of the school. Again.”

“Why? When you know better then anyone how dangerously manipulative Neferet can be, why would you confront her publicly like that?”

“Because I’m a moron,” I said miserably.

“No.” She smiled kindly. “You’re definitely not a moron, which is why I wanted to talk with you about this—alone. I think you should play down your reaction to Aurox, maybe even to your closest friends. Keep what you’re feeling to yourself. Put on your poker face.”

“Poker face? Sorry, I only know how to play Candyland.”

“It means to keep your reaction to what you’re seeing and how you feel about it secret from everyone watching you.”

“Why?” She really had my attention now. It wasn’t like Lenobia (or any sane vampyre) to ask a fledgling to keep secrets.

Her eyes met mine and I was struck anew by their unusual gray color. It was almost like she’d harnessed storm clouds within them.

“I learned young that evil sometimes likes to be bragged about, even when it would be best if it kept a low profile. It has been my experience that Darkness’s true struggle isn’t against Light and the strength of love and truth and loyalty. I think evil’s greatest threat comes from its own pride and arrogance and greed. I’ve yet to see a bully who doesn’t gloat, or a thief who doesn’t brag. That’s why they get caught. Darkness could get a lot more of its destructive work accomplished if it was more, shall we say, circumspect. ”

“But it’s in Darkness’s nature to brag and gloat, so Darkness understands it when someone calls attention to its actions and stuff,” I said, finally getting her point. “Which means when someone who is trying to fight for good stays quiet, and watches and waits for the right time to act, evil is thrown a curve ball.”

“And caught unaware by the strength that comes from honesty and serenity and quiet determination,” Lenobia said.

I drew a deep breath, looked around to make sure no one was lurking outside Persephone’s stall, and then spoke softly to Lenobia. “From the second I saw Aurox my seer stone got hot. The only two other times that’s happened has been when old magick has been present.” I hesitated, then admitted, “Last night I looked through the seer stone and saw something weird around Stark. It kinda freaked me out.”

“What did Stark say about it?”

“I, uh, haven’t told him.”

“You haven’t? Why not?”

“Well, first because I got distracted by him.” I hurried on, knowing that I was probably blushing. “And since then I don’t know why I haven’t said anything.” I thought about the almost-fight we’d had on the way to school. “No, wait, I do know why. Ever since the whole Otherworld thing things haven’t been the same between Stark and me. Some of that’s good—we’re really close most of the time. But some of it’s weird, too.”

Lenobia nodded. “That’s understandable. An experience the magnitude of what the two of you went through should change the dynamics of a relationship. And glimpsing some old magick attached to Stark could simply be a remnant of his time in the Otherworld.” She smiled. “I imagine if you could look through the seer stone at yourself you might see—”

“Oh, hell no! I don’t want to see anything hanging around me!”

Lenobia’s smile faded. “You sound frightened.”

“I’m freaked, that’s for sure. I think I’ve had enough of old magick and the Otherworld and all that goes with that stuff for a good long while.”

“Ah, I understand. If Aurox carries traces of old magick, that’s why his presence affected you so much.”

“He definitely made me feel funny, even before I saw him change into a bull.”

“Funny? Like you were frightened then, too?”

“Yeah, but I also had a weird surprised feeling, like my intuition was seeing something that my mind couldn’t handle. And then I got super anxious. There’s something wrong about that guy, Lenobia, and that something is real, real old.”