“They are,” she said.
“Zoey’s Seer Stone is Old Magick, too. Isn’t it?” Aphrodite said.
I frowned at her.
“That is true as well,” Thanatos said.
“Okay, but does any of us know what Old Magick really is?” I said, irritated at the whole subject.
“Old Magick has not manifested outside the Isle of Skye for longer than I have been Marked,” Thanatos began slowly, as if she were remembering and reasoning aloud at the same time. “From what I know of it, the best description I can give you is that it is energy at its most basic level—raw, powerful, and neutral. Old Magick is creation and destruction at once.”
“Which is probably why ancient spells, like Cleopatra’s Protection Ritual, were so dependent upon the Priestess who cast the spell,” Damien said. “It could be that the five Major Rituals all had roots in Old Magick.”
“That does seem logical,” Thanatos said.
“It still doesn’t explain exactly what it is or why it’s become active again,” Aphrodite said. “But I’d say it’s definitely active again. Wouldn’t you, Z?”
Thankfully, the sound of the classroom door banging open and Kalona striding down the center aisle interrupted her.
The winged immortal bowed respectfully to Thanatos. “High Priestess, I have returned with your prisoner.”
“You have done well,” she said, and then faced the class. “I want you all to assemble at the center of campus near the pyre site immediately. Class is dismissed.”
As we filed out of class, I watched Thanatos speaking quietly to Kalona. I saw the immortal’s eyes widen, and then he nodded, and bowed to her again—this time unusually low, holding the pose longer than normal. While he was still bowing, Thanatos went to her desk, picked up the phone, and punched a button. Her voice echoed from the school’s intercom system. “All students and faculty will assemble at the center of campus at the pyre site! Professors who are members of our Council will report to the Council Chamber immediately. All classes are suspended until after our assembly.” Then she clicked off and hurried out through the back door to the classroom, with Kalona on her heels.
I had a bad feeling. “I wonder what the hell’s going on?”
“Don’t have a clue,” Aphrodite said. “But whatever it is, it’s going to happen in front of everyone
We went right to the pyre site and formed a big circle around the black burned area that had definitely seen too much use lately. I looked for Stark, but didn’t see him or Kalona. Darius met us, taking Aphrodite’s hand and saying he didn’t know what was going on, either. Just when everyone was starting to get restless and the talking was heading toward the I-have-to-yell-to-be-heard level, the people at the opposite side of the group I was in shifted and then parted.
Thanatos stepped into view first. She’d changed her clothes to a long black velvet dress that was decorated only with the emblem of Nyx in silver thread, hands upraised cupping a crescent moon. Thanatos had let her hair down, and it fell long and dark, in a thick veil around her waist. Within its depths I could see silver glinting, which reminded me of the thread used to embroider Nyx’s emblem. Her face was grim. I thought she looked scary but beautiful—ancient yet timeless.
Then my attention was pulled from her as Kalona and Stark came into view. Dallas limped between them. He looked like crap. His hands were tied in front of him. His face was a bloody, scratched-up mess. His clothes were wet and filthy. Buried to its feathers, one of Stark’s arrows was stuck through his right thigh. Kalona and Stark looked as serious and powerful as Thanatos as they pulled Dallas into the center of our assembly. They didn’t stop until he was standing right in the middle of the blackened pyre site.
Dallas didn’t look grim or powerful. He looked pissed. I saw when his eyes found Shaunee. He sneered at her and hacked up a nasty loogie, then spit it into the ashes at his feet.
“Professors of the Tulsa House of Night Council, come forth!” Thanatos commanded.
Lenobia, Penthesilea, Garmy, and Erik stepped from the crowd to stand to one side of Thanatos. I was thinking that the Council looked sparse with the absence of Dragon and Anastasia Lankford and Professor Nolan, when Thanatos continued, “I also command our two Prophetesses, come forth!”
“Oh, for shit’s sake,” Aphrodite grumbled, but she let go of Darius’s hand and went to join Thanatos. Shaylin took longer to make her way forward, but when she joined Thanatos, the High Priestess nodded and motioned for her to stand beside Aphrodite.
“Our school has been richly gifted with two additional High Priestesses. Sadly, one of them, the first red High Priestess, Stevie Rae, is unable to take her place beside me today because she has been gravely wounded.” I was just realizing she’d said
Feeling nervous and unsure, I went to stand beside Aphrodite and Shaylin.
Thanatos faced Dallas. “Are you the red vampyre known as Dallas?”
Dallas curled his lip. “Everybody knows who I am.”
“Dallas, at dawn you attacked the red High Priestess, Stevie Rae, with the intent to expose her to sunlight until she died. Do you deny this?”
“No, I ain’t denying it.”
“Dallas, at dawn you also planned to kill the fledgling Shaunee with the power you have been gifted with by Nyx. Do you deny this?”
“I ain’t denying anything!” His voice was mean and his eyes glinted with a rust-colored glow. “Shun me! I’m more than ready to leave this shithole of a school.”
Thanatos turned so that she faced the crowd. “I know this vampyre has followers who share his same views. I believe they knew and even may have assisted him in his crimes. They, too, should share his fate. I now call forth the followers of Dallas who wish to stand with him!”
I was super curious about what was going to happen next. There were probably about ten kids who hung around Dallas all the time. Well, nine now that Nicole had come over from the Dark Side. I kinda expected a whole herd of his red fledglings to come forth, swaggering like jerks and throwing notes at people.
Only two actually joined Dallas. One of them was the big kid named Kurtis. I remembered him from the fight in the tunnels. He was a total ass. The other kid was Elliott, the fledgling I’d watched die all those months ago in English class. I knew Elliott was a mean breather (a kid who didn’t do much in class but breathe), but I would have figured he was too lazy to stand up with Dallas, especially since it looked like he was going to be kicked out of school with him.
Oh, wait.
“Elliott and Kurtis, do the two of you knowingly stand with this vampyre as accomplices to his crimes?” Thanatos asked.
“Hell yes!” Kurtis said. He looked nervously around, but he was trying to sound all tough and sure of himself.
“Yeah, whatever,” Elliott said.
“Now I ask my Council—do you acknowledge the guilt of this vampyre and his fledgling followers?”
The instant Thanatos asked that question, my Seer Stone began to radiate heat. I cupped my hand around it, wishing I knew what it was reacting to, and wishing I knew what to do about it.
Each of the Council members answered Thanatos by solemnly saying, “I do.”
“Prophetesses of Nyx, these three have been found guilty of plotting to murder a vampyre High Priestess. Look within you. Use your gifts. Are you in agreement with me that, as in ancient times, their punishment should be swift and public?”
Aphrodite answered first. “I agree with you.”
Shaylin took longer. She walked a few steps closer to where Dallas, Kurtis, and Elliott stood and studied them. Her face looked like she smelled something disgusting, but she didn’t say anything to them. She returned to her place near Thanatos. She still didn’t say anything. She just stared at Thanatos for what seemed like an uncomfortably long time. Finally, Shaylin drew a deep breath and said, “I believe the right thing to do is to agree
