Revealed

started to form, but I couldn’t tell what color they’d be yet.

The stupid thunderstorm would probably beat them to death and they’d never bloom anyway.

I kicked at a rock.

Aphrodite had had me spied on! I just couldn’t let that betrayal go. I wondered what Stevie Rae would say when I told her. Then I realized if I told her I’d also have to tell her about Aurox and me in the cafeteria and I sure as hell didn’t want to tell Stevie Rae or anybody about that—

I stopped. “Ah, hell! I’m not going to have a choice about telling people. No way are Shaylin and Aphrodite going to keep their mouths shut.” I’d come to the stone stairs that led from the top part of the park down to the rocky, grotto-like areas and the shallow pool that wrapped around the western part of the park.

I considered hurling myself off the side of the ridge, but decided it wasn’t high enough so it probably wouldn’t kill me. And I really didn’t want to kill myself. Now, had Aphrodite been there, I might have considered shoving her off the ridge!

The thought was disturbingly satisfying.

I took the stairs down to street level. There was a stone bench not far from where the steps opened to the grass. Thunder sounded again. I sat and frowned at the sky. Yeah, it was definitely going to rain on me. Soon. I sighed and looked around. Maybe it was the impending rain, but this little section of Woodward Park suddenly reminded me of the Isle of Skye. An unexpected feeling of homesickness washed over me. I should go back there. I was happy there. No one spied on me. No one tried to kill me. And I could ask Sgiach what the hell was up with my stupid Seer Stone. Stark would go with me. I wouldn’t have to see Aurox every day and wish…

No! I derailed that train of thought. I didn’t wish anything. I’d made my decision. It was just this crap with Aphrodite and Shaylin that was messing with my head—messing with my heart.

And I couldn’t run away to Scotland. Or at least not right now I couldn’t. I had to stay here and face my friends—and ex-friends—and clean up the mess that the House of Night had turned into.

God, it was depressing. And annoying. And exhausting.

Thunder rumbled, this time closer. It wasn’t fixing anything to run away or to hide. I should go back to school. Maybe I’d get lucky and Stark had actually slept through my emotional explosion and I could crawl into bed and still get some sleep before I had to face the poo storm that would be waiting for me when the sun set.

I’d stood and turned to climb back up the stone stairs when I saw the two men. They’d just stepped out of the azalea bushes and were pausing at the top of the stairs. They were scruffy looking, dirty even. Their clothes didn’t fit right. One of them carried a plastic garbage bag slung over his shoulder, making him look like an anorexic Santa. That one saw me first. He nudged his friend with his elbow and jerked his chin in my direction, grinning with a rot-toothed smile. His friend nodded and they started down the stairs.

Ah, hell.

I should have hurried toward Twenty-first Street. That was the smart thing to do—the safe thing to do. I almost did, but then I remembered who I was and I got pissed. I wasn’t some weak little kid who people could scare and push around. I had an affinity for all five elements. I was a High Priestess in training. Hell, I was almost a vampyre! Why shouldn’t I be able to be in the park on a Sunday morning and not be hassled by anyone?

Instead of running away I sat back down on the bench. Maybe they’d just walk past, say “morning,” and that would be that. Maybe.

“Hey, girl, you, uh, got any extra money?” the first guy said as they got to the bottom of the stairs.

“Yeah, we could use some cash for food,” said the second guy.

I’d had my face turned away, hoping that they’d walk on by. Now I lifted my chin and looked straight at them. Their eyes widened as they saw my tattoos.

“Really? In what universe do you think it’s okay for two men to ask a girl, who’s all by herself in a deserted park, for money?” As I spoke I felt my anger heat up again.

“Hey, what’s it to you?” the guy with the garbage bag said. “You’re a vampyre. It’s not like we scare you.”

I knew they thought I was a full vampyre. I knew that made them afraid of me.

I was glad.

“So, you’re used to scaring human girls into giving you some cash?” What total jerks!

The second guy shrugged. “If a girl don’t want to be scared, she shouldn’t be out here alone.”

“Oh, it’s the girl’s fault?” I’d meant the question hypothetically, but the garbage bag guy didn’t get that.

“Yeah, it’s the girl’s fault!”

“But we won’t scare nobody if they just give us some cash.”

“We don’t take no credit cards, though.” Garbage bag guy laughed and smacked his friend on the arm.

“You’re jerks. You’re both jerks. How about you get jobs instead of messing with little girls?”

“Messing with little girls pays better,” said the garbage bag guy.

“I was sitting here, minding my own business. You two need to remember that. You brought this on yourselves.” I stood. My whole body felt hot. I was really pissed. “Guess what? You should’ve picked another little girl to mess with today.”

“Hey, we wasn’t messing with you. We was just passin’ by,” said the second guy. He grabbed his friend’s arm and started pulling him away.

“Relax, girlie. No harm, no foul,” said the garbage bag guy, sending me a sarcastic grin and flashing his black, broken teeth.

So they thought they were going to slither off and find a real girl, a normal girl, to scare?

I felt like my heart was going to blaze out of my chest.

“No! Not today you’re not!” I threw my anger at them. It was a glowing blue ball of light. It slammed into the two guys, lifting them off their feet and hurling them against the stone wall of the ridge.

I was breathing hard and feeling good about what I’d done. They’d think twice before they messed with any other girl! Assholes!

Thunder cracked above me and a fork of lightning stabbed into the center of the park, making the hair on my forearms lift. It was then I realized I had my fist wrapped around the Seer Stone.

I blinked and shook my head. Wait, what had just happened?

I stared at the men. They were still there, lying in the shadow of the stony ridge. They weren’t yelling back at me or brushing themselves off and getting up, or even taking off because I’d scared the crap out of them.

I couldn’t see that they were moving at all.

Holy crap! I’d used Old Magick to attack the two men. It had been just like when I’d knocked Shaylin off her feet. I’d done it automatically after the burn of my anger had become unbearable. But the burn hadn’t been my anger, it had been the Seer Stone heating up, penetrating my body, feeding from my emotions and then striking out.

I let loose the stone and looked at my palm. A perfect circle had been burned into it.

Dazed, I looked up, seeing smoke coming from the heart of the park above me. The air smelled of electricity and fire and I realized lightning must have struck a tree, or maybe even one of the park buildings. Woodward Park was on fire.

Firemen would be coming soon. So would the police.

My knees were wobbly and my head hurt as I stumbled forward, getting closer to the men, staring at the two shapes that were crumpled at the base of the ridge. One of them moaned. The other’s arm twitched.

The sky opened and ropes of rain began falling, so that I couldn’t tell if the wetness was water or blood or my tears.

I didn’t think. I just ran.

I didn’t need to call mist and shadow to me. The thunderstorm cloaked me. No one noticed a lone girl, running through the rain, away from the burning park, especially since emergency vehicles and the police were swarming in the opposite direction.

I ran around the school wall, entering back through the hidden door. And I kept running until I was inside the stables, gasping and shivering. I went to the tack room and got a clean towel. Wrapping it around myself, I