P.C. Cast - Hunted

“Tell me what you know of the creature that rose from the earth and the bird beings that followed him.” Darius’s words made the whole just-hanging-out façade crumple like a house of cards.? Jcrate.

“Sadly, we don’t know as much about him as I wish we did, and what we do know comes from my grandma.” I swallowed down the tightness in my throat that mentioning her caused. “Grandma’s in a coma, so she can’t help us right now.”

“Oh, Z! I’m so sorry! What happened?” Stevie Rae cried, touching my arm.

“The official version is she was in a car accident. The truth is that the accident was caused by the Raven Mockers because she knew too much about them,” I said.

“Raven Mockers—those are the beings that came out of the earth after the winged man appeared?” Darius said.

I nodded. “They’re his children—what happened after he raped the women of my grandma’s people more than a thousand years ago. When Kalona broke out of the ground their bodies were returned to them.”

“And you know these things because they are creatures from Cherokee legend?” Darius said.

“Actually, we know these things because in the vision Aphrodite had a couple days ago she was shown what we figured out was a prophecy about Kalona returning. It was written in Grandma’s handwriting, so we called her—told her about it. She recognized the references and came to the House of Night to help us.” I paused, steadying my voice. “That’s why the Raven Mockers attacked her.”

“I really wish we had that prophecy,” Damien said. “I’d like to take a look at it again now that Kalona has actually been set free.”

“That’s easy enough,” Aphrodite said. She took a long drink from her bottle of wine, hiccupped a little, and then recited:

“Ancient one sleeping, waiting to arise

When earth’s power bleeds sacred red

The mark strikes true; Queen Tsi Sgili will devise

He shall be washed from his entombing bed

Through the hand of the dead he is free

Terrible beauty, monstrous sight

Ruled again they shall be

Women shall kneel to his dark might

Kalona’s song sounds sweet

As we slaughter with cold heat.”

“Wow! Well done, you!” Jack said, clapping his hands.

Aphrodite inclined her head regally and said, “Thank you…Thank you…It was nothing. Really.” And then went back to her wine.

I made a mental note to keep an eye on her drinking. Okay, yeah, she’d been through a bunch of stress lately, and being bitten—twice—by Stevie Rae and, bizarrely enough, Imprinting with her couldn’t be particularly good for her nerves, but the last thing we needed was Vision Girl to turn into Drunk Vision Girl.

Darius nodded thoughtfully. “Kalona is the ancient one, but that doesn’t explain what type of being he is.”

“Grandma said that the easiest way to describe him is to think of him as a fallen angel, an immortal being that walked the earth in ancient times. Seems there were a bunch of them that showed up in the mythology of many cultures, like ancient Greece and the Old Testament.”

“Yeah, on vacation from heaven or whatever, they decided women were hot, and so they mated with them,” Aphrodite said, slurring her words a little. “Mated—that’s an uptight way to say that they fu—”

“Thanks, Aphrodite. I’ll take it from there,” I said. I was glad she had stopped her silent pouting, but wasn’t so sure that her drunken sarcasm was much better. Wordlessly Damien handed me a sandwich and nodded at Aphrodite. I passed the sandwich to Aphrodite telling her, “Eat something.” Then I took up the thread of the story. “So Kalona started getting with Cherokee women and became bizarrely addicted to sex. The women rejected him and he started raping them and enslaving the men of the tribe. A group of Wise Women called Ghigua made a maiden out of the earth to trap him.”

“Huh?” Stevie Rae said. “You mean like a dirt doll?”

“Yeah, only an attractive one. Each of the women gave the doll a particular gift, then they breathed life into her and named her A-ya. Kalona wanted A-ya, and she ran from him, leading him to a cave deep in the ground. He followed her into the cave, even though he usually avoided anything that was underground, and that’s where they managed to trap him.”

“That is why you brought us here, into these tunnels,” Darius said.

I nodded.

“So we are to think of Kalona as a dangerous immortal and the Raven Mockers as his servants. Who is the other creature mentioned in the prophecy and also by Damien, a Queen Tsi Sgili?” Darius said.

“According to Grandma, the Tsi Sgili are really awful Cherokee witches. Don’t think cool Wiccans or Priestesses. They’re not good at all, but more like demons, really, except that they are mortal and known for their psychic abilities, especially the ability to kill with their minds,” I said. “Neferet is the queen the prophecy was talking about.”

“But Neferet announced to the House of Night that Kalona is Erebus on earth, and her consort, as if she had become the literal incarnation of Nyx,” Darius said slowly, as if he was reasoning through it aloud.

“She’s lying. Really, she’s turned from Nyx,” I said. “I’ve known it for a while, but acting openly against her has been pretty close to impossible. I mean, look what happened tonight. Everyone saw Stevie Rae and the red fledglings and they didn’t turn on her. Except for Shekinah, they barely even blinked even after she ordered Stark to shoot.”

“Which is why she got Stark transferred from the Chicago House of Night to Tulsa,” Damien said. When just about everyone gave him confused looks, he explained. “Stark is James Stark, the fledgling who won the gold medal at the Summer Games for archery. Neferet wanted him here so she could use him to shoot Stevie Rae.”

“Makes sense,” Aphrodite said. “We already know Neferet has something to do with fledglings un-dying. Obviously she wanted to use him, and her plan worked because he’s definitely undead and under her control.” She looked pleased at her powers of deduction and upended the bottle of wine for another long drink.

“Guess I’m just lucky his aim wasn’t so good now that he died and then came back,” Stevie Rae said.

“That’s not it.” My mouth spoke before I could shut myself up. “He missed your heart on purpose.”

“What do ya mean?” Stevie Rae asked.

“Before Stark died, he told me about his gift from Nyx. He never misses. He can’t. He always hits the mark he aims at.”

“Then if he missed killing Stevie Rae on purpose, that must mean he’s not totally under Neferet’s influence,” Damien said.

“He did say your name,” Erik said. His piercing blue eyes seemed to see deep inside me. “I remember that distinctly. Before he shot Stevie Rae he definitely recognized you. He even said he’d come back to you.”

“I was with him when he died,” I said, returning Erik’s questioning gaze and trying not to look as guilty as I felt for being attracted to yet another guy besides him. “Right before he died I told Stark that fledglings at our House of Night were coming back from the dead. That’s what he was talking about.”

“Well, there was obviously a connection between the two of you,” Darius said. “And it probably saved Stevie Rae’s life.”

“But Stark definitely wasn’t himself,” I said, looking away from Erik. It had just been a few days ago that I’d kissed Stark and he’d died in my arms, but it seemed like forever had passed. “He was obviously under Neferet’s influence, even if he was trying to resist her.”