P.C. Cast - Burned

Duantia’s wisdom was cut off by the sound of Aretha Franklin belting out the chorus from “Respect,” which was coming from the little Coach purse Aphrodite had slung over her shoulder.

“Oopsie, um, sorry ’bout that.” Aphrodite frantically unzipped her purse and dug for her iPhone. “Thought I had the ringer turned off. I don’t know who would be . . .” Her voice trailed off when she saw the caller ID was Stevie Rae. She almost pressed the IGNORE button, but a feeling hit her—strong and clear. She needed to talk to Stevie Rae. “Uh, sorry again, but I really have to take this.” Aphrodite hurried up the stairs and out of the Chamber, feeling way too exposed as everyone glared after her like she’d just slapped a baby or drowned a damn puppy. “Stevie Rae,” she whispered hastily, “I know you probably just found out about Z, and you’re freaked, but this really isn’t a good time.”

“Can you sense spirits and stuff from the Otherworld?” Stevie Rae asked without so much as a “Hey there, how ya doin’.”

Something about the tone of her voice brought Aphrodite up short and kept her from replying with her usual sarcasm. “Yeah, I’m starting to be able to. Apparently, I’ve been tuned in to the Otherworld since I started having visions—I just didn’t realize it until today.”

“Where’s Kalona’s body?”

Aphrodite ducked around the corner of the foyer. No one was around her, but she still kept her voice low. “Down there in front of the High Council in their Chamber.”

“Is Neferet there, too?”

“Of course.”

“Zoey?”

“She’s there, too. Well, her body is. Z herself has totally checked out. Stark’s absolutely freaked by what’s happened, plus Neferet is pissing him off so bad he can hardly think. Darius is saving his ass by not letting him tear her apart with his bare hands. The nerd herd is hysterical.”

“But you kept your sense.”

Stevie Rae didn’t say it like a question, but Aphrodite answered her anyway. “Someone had to.”

“Good. Okay, I think I have somethin’ figured out about Kalona. If I’m right, Neferet is up to her elbows in evil, so much so that she’s got his body trapped, and his spirit has to obey her to get it back.”

“Like that would surprise any of us?”

“I’ll bet it would surprise most of the High Council. Neferet has a way of gettin’ people on her side.”

Aphrodite snorted. “As far as I can tell, most of them are clueless about her.”

“That’s what I thought. So moving against her out in the open there is going to be even harder than moving against her when she was here.”

“That about sums it up. So, what’s the deal with Kalona?”

“You need to check out his body using your super Spidey Other-world senses.”

“You’re such a dork. There is no such thing as Spider-Man. He is a made-up comic-book-bullshit character,” Aphrodite said.

“They’re called graphic novels, not comic books—don’t be so dang judgmental. I do not have time to argue with you about the benefits of graphic novels on people’s imaginations,” Stevie Rae said.

“Oh, please, if its ass is feathered and waterproof, it’s a duck. Hello, pictures with little word balloons makes it a comic book. They’re dorky comic books for nerdy antisocial, nonbathing people. End of discussion.”

“Aphrodite! Focus! Just go back in the Chamber and check out Kalona’s body with your Otherworld-spirit-sensing stuff. Look for any kind of weirdness that no one else can see. Like, I dunno—”

“A disgusting, sticky spiderweb of darkness wrapped all around him like freaky chains?” Aphrodite offered.

“Don’t mess with me about this. It’s too important.” Stevie Rae’s voice had gone completely serious.

“I’m not messing with you. I’m telling you what I’ve already seen. His body is completely covered by dark threads of yucky stuff that, apparently, no one else but moi can see.”

“It’s Neferet!” Stevie Rae’s voice was tense with emotion. “She’s tapped into something called Darkness—that’s evil with a capital D. It’s how she’s using the power of the Tsi Sgili. She managed to trap Kalona with it right after Zoey wounded his soul—it’s the only time his body is weak enough to be vulnerable.”

“How do you know that?”

“It’s how the Cherokee imprisoned him last time.” Stevie Rae avoided the question by using the only part of the truth she could ever tell anyone. “A-ya messed up his spirit with emotions he wasn’t used to feeling, and the old women used his weakness to trap him.”

“That does make sense. So now Neferet’s got him all tied up and soulless. Why? She’s his super nasty lover. Why wouldn’t she want him here with her? The two of them could have taken off together and not been caught for killing Heath.”

“Yeah, except for two things: she would have looked guilty, so the High Council would have been forced to act against her, and she wouldn’t have been one hundred percent sure Zoey is going to die.”

“What the hell? The Council says she has a week, but then Z will be dead.”

“Not true. If her soul returns to her body, Z won’t die. Neferet knows that, so she—”

“She trapped Kalona’s body and told him to follow Z to the Other-world and make sure she doesn’t get back to her body,” Aphrodite finished for her. “That fucking figures! But it doesn’t feel right. Kalona’s totally obsessed with Z. I don’t think he wants her to die.”

“Yeah, but what if the only way to get his body back is to kill Zoey?”

Aphrodite’s voice hardened. “Then he’ll kill her. Stevie Rae, what the hell are we going to do?”

“We have to figure out a way to protect Z and help her get back to her body, and no, I don’t know how we’re gonna do that.” She hesitated and, crossing her fingers behind her back against the semi-lie, added, “Today the earth helped me find out some pretty weird stuff about Kalona. Seems he used to be Nyx’s Warrior. So, he used to be one of the good guys. Then something happened in the Otherworld, and the Goddess banished him, and that’s when he fell to earth.”

“Which means he knows the Otherworld a hell of a lot better than any of us,” Aphrodite said glumly.

“Yeah. Dang it! What we need is a Warrior for Zoey in the Other-world who can stand up against Kalona and get Z back to her body.”

Aphrodite felt a little zap of understanding at Stevie Rae’s words. “But she already has a Warrior.”

“Stark’s in this world. Not the Otherworld.”

“But a Warrior and his Priestess are connected by a bond that is all about spirit and oaths and dedication. I know! I have it with Darius.” Aphrodite’s voice was getting more and more excited as she reasoned it through. “And you can’t tell me that my Warrior wouldn’t follow me straight into the mouth of hell to protect me. All we need to do is to get Stark’s soul to the Otherworld so he can protect Z there, just like he does here.” And it might save him, too, she added silently to herself.

“I don’t know, Aphrodite. Stark has to be pretty messed-up after losing Zoey and all.”

“That’s the point. He has to save himself by saving her.”

“But that doesn’t work. I’ve been remembering somethin’ from The Fledgling Handbook 101 . There was that whole big story in there about a High Priestess and her Warrior who died when her soul was shattered and he went after her into the Otherworld.”

“Please, dork. It’s in the 101 handbook because it’s meant to scare the crap out of retarded third formers, like you, so that hot young fledglings stay away from sexy Sons of Erebus Warriors. The stupid thing was probably written by some dried-up old hag of a High Priestess who hadn’t had sex in, like, a hundred years. Literally. Stark needs to follow Zoey to the Otherworld, kick Kalona’s spirit’s ass, and then bring her back here.”