Z nodded at her Warrior and then turned to Darius. “Were you able to reach the Warrior on guard at the park?”
“No. His phone rang until it went to voicemail.”
“That’s bad,” said Damien.
“This whole thing is bad,” agreed Stark.
“Then let’s get it over with. Stark, should we cut through the neighborhood, or walk down Utica until we get to Twenty-First and approach the park from the street side where we’ll have a clear view of the grotto?”
“The clear view sounds good to me. You, Darius?”
Darius nodded. “If she’s there, we’ll know it soon enough.”
“Agreed,” Stark said. “Warriors, you lead. Be ready for anything. Remember, protect the priestesses.”
Zoey lifted her hand, and everyone turned their attention to her. “Damien, Aphrodite, Kacie, and Stevie Rae—if either or both Neferets are there, I want you to circle up around me immediately. I’ll call the elements and see if we can force one of the Neferets—or both—back into that grotto, or at least keep them away from us long enough for us to get back here and regroup.”
“Lenobia is casting an evil-repelling spell around the House of Night right now,” said Stevie Rae. “It won’t keep something as awful as the Neferets out forever, but it’ll definitely slow them down and buy us time.”
Z looked at Kevin. “Kev, has your Neferet become immortal?”
“Not as far as we can tell, but she has been messing with Old Magick,” he said.
“Alright. The Neferets have Old Magick and Darkness on their side,” Z said. “We have the elements and Nyx and Light with us. And remember what happens when you shine light into the dark.”
“It runs away,” said Kevin, putting his arm around his sister. “Let’s go make it run.”
18
Other Kevin
The ice changed to rain as the Warriors led their group down the sidewalk toward the Twenty-First Street intersection, which was less than a block away from the school. Kevin stayed in the rear, walking beside his sister. Stark was on the other side of her, with James behind them. Stevie Rae, Kacie, and Rephaim were to Kevin’s right, and behind him Aphrodite walked between Darius and Damien. He was glad he couldn’t see Aphrodite. It was hard to think when he looked at her.
“How’d you two get here? I didn’t feel you using Old Magick,” asked Z.
“Oh, that’s ’cause we didn’t use it. And FYI, you shouldn’t use it either. Stark—er, I mean James and I just got two major warnings about Old Magick. The first was from Sgiach.”
Stark peered around Zoey at Kevin. “He said you went through Skye. I really like that island.”
“You knew they went through Skye?” Z said.
“Well, yeah. Didn’t you recognize the cuts on his arm?”
“They were all bloody. I couldn’t see much.” Z turned her head and looked back at James. “It was Seoras, right?”
“Right.” He nodded and didn’t say anything else.
Kevin sighed. “Yeah, Sgiach totally wouldn’t let me ask the sprites for help. And by the way, when she called Oak just to get some simple info about whether Neferet was over here or not, the sprite acted super bitchy.”
“Really?” Zoey said. “That’s weird. When I was on Skye with our Sgiach the sprites seemed fine.”
“Well, maybe they used to be, before we started calling on them so much.” Kevin cracked his knuckles, rubbed his hands together, and then shoved them into his pockets—glad G-ma had made them all wear slickers. “They’ve changed. Or at least Oak has. Especially since the stadium … and what happened there.” He couldn’t say any more, but Z reached out and squeezed his arm.
As if an echo from his memory, Aphrodite’s voice drifted from behind him. “So, how’d you get here if you didn’t use Old Magick?”
He didn’t turn to look at her. He couldn’t. “Stark’s blood and my connection to spirit summoned the Black Bull, and he gave us a ride to Nyx’s Realm. I called you.” Kevin paused, cleared his throat, and corrected himself. “Sorry, I mean my world’s version of you—the one who’s dead. She led us through Nyx’s Grove to the portal.”
“Holy shit!” The words burst from Aphrodite.
“You saw her again!” Z said. “You okay?”
He nodded but didn’t meet his sister’s knowing gaze. “I’m good. Actually, it helped to see her. And she was the one who gave us the second warning about using Old Magick.”
“She said it’s addictive,” James added from behind them.
“Yeah, I can understand that,” said Z.
“So, I want to know more about Other Aphrodite’s ghost,” said Aphrodite. “And also, how are you getting back?”
“She gets pissed if you call her a ghost,” said James. “Even though she said that it’s all about love over there, she’s still pretty bitchy.”
Kevin did turn then so he could frown at James. “She’s not bitchy. She’s real. Don’t be an ass because she called you out on your shit.”
James put up his hands in surrender. “I didn’t mean anything. I’m glad all I have to do is cut myself and drop some blood on the ground before you call her to take us back. Losing a day of life for every day we’re here is bad enough. I don’t want to get sliced up again.”
“What?” snapped Zoey.
Kevin shrugged. “It was part of the price for traveling through Nyx’s Realm. For every day we’re here we lose one day of our lives. It’s not that big of a deal when you have a lifespan of a couple hundred years or so.”
“Huh,” James snorted. “Right now it doesn’t seem like a big deal. Wait ’till you only have a few days left and then talk to me about it.”
“Other Bow Boy has a point,” said Aphrodite.
“You need to go back ASAP,” said Z.
Kevin hiked his shoulders and didn’t say anything.
“And that’s how you’re getting back? She’s guiding you again?” Aphrodite prodded.
Kevin nodded without looking at her. “Yeah. Once James gives a blood sacrifice, then I just need to call her, and I guess the magick door thingy will appear again, and she’ll be there.”
They’d come to the intersection
