James put the towel around his shoulders and asked, “The wet and the cold don’t seem to bother Rephaim at all, so he’s definitely not human. What is he?”
“A raven,” Damien said with a grin.
James’s brow furrowed.
“It’s a long story,” I said. “And just part of what we need to talk about. Okay, Damien and Stark, do you two think you can find some dry clothes for Kevin and James and show them to a couple of the dorm rooms?” I looked from my Other World brother to my Warrior’s twin. “Are the dorms okay? I think there’s one professor’s room that’s empty if you’d rather stay there.”
Kevin spoke right up. “Nah, I’m cool with the dorm. As long as the curtains are blackout.”
Damien grimaced as he wrung out the bottom of his soaked sweater. “We have special dorm rooms for red vamps and fledglings—in case something happens like the ice storm and they’re stuck here and can’t get back to the depot tunnels,” he explained. “The windows to those dorm rooms are totally blacked out and they have thick velvet curtains. That’s where Jack and I are staying right now. I’ll show you to an empty room.”
“Thanks!” Kev said.
James hesitated, looking abashed. “Oh, um, that’s fine with me, but I don’t want to make Jack—that’s his name, right?”
Damien nodded. “You are correct.”
“I don’t want to make Jack nervous or give him a PTSD setback.” James picked nervously at the damp towel in his hands, but he kept speaking, his attention focused on Damien. “Back home we’ve been dealing with the aftermath of our Red Army having their humanity restored, and it’s been tough for them. So, I understand that seeing someone from his old world might not be good for your partner.”
“Thank you for acknowledging that,” said Damien sincerely.
Stark said, “That’s a good point. The professors’ quarters are in the same building as the infirmary, and James really should get those bandages on his arm changed. They’re soaking wet. So, Kev can go with Damien to the dorm and James can come with us.”
“Sounds good to me. Jack already knows me, so I shouldn’t upset him, right?” Kevin asked Damien.
“Jack really isn’t that fragile. I think it was just a shock to see James so suddenly earlier. I’m sure he’ll be fine with you, Kev.” Damien looked Kevin up and down. “You’re too big and muscular to wear anything Jack and I have, but I have a very comfy bathrobe you can borrow while we give your clothes a quick wash and a dry.”
“Okay,” said my brother. “I’ll follow you.”
“And James will come with us,” I said. “Right now, the TPD is searching for clues about where Batshit might be hiding, so, let’s take a couple hours to dry off, change, and grab something to eat—then we’ll meet in the Council Chamber. I’ll let Stevie Rae, Aphrodite, and Kacie know.”
“And G-ma,” said Kevin.
“Right—and Grandma. No way am I forgetting her,” I said.
“Is it wrong that I hope she brings cookies?” Kevin asked.
I shook my head and smiled at him. “Cookies are never wrong—especially Grandma’s lavender chocolate chip cookies.”
It was all kinds of weird walking to the section of the House of Night that held the professors’ quarters with Stark on one side of me and James on the other. Fledglings passed us in the hallway, gawking openly at the two Starks, and I realized that I needed to make a school-wide announcement to explain the Other Stark. As we dashed outside through the pouring rain, I was trying to decide if it would be better to tell the students James was Stark’s relative or tell them the truth and take the chance that a precocious fledgling might try to open the door between worlds “for fun.”
I decided that I definitely needed help making that decision and tabled it for the moment.
Stark and I showed James to the empty professor’s room down the hall from the one we shared and promised to bring him some dry clothes.
James opened the door as we turned to leave. “Hey, Stark,” he paused before he went inside his room. “Why didn’t you come with Zoey when she crossed over? You’re her Warrior. There was a battle going on. She needed protecting.”
Stark cocked his head and James mirrored his expression. Then Stark’s lip curved up in his cocky smile, and I knew what he was going to say before he answered.
“I didn’t go because Z wouldn’t let me. She knew I’d put her mission at risk because I’d be too easily recognizable.”
James pursed his lips. “There’s no way I’d let my High Priestess do something so dangerous without me,” he said, sounding so much like my Stark once had that I laughed.
“That could be why you’re not an Oathbound Warrior to a High Priestess,” I said. “You need to realize that a Warrior doesn’t boss his priestess around.”
Stark added. “Yeah, he honors and protects her. Sometimes that means he has to trust that she can take care of herself.” His arm slid around my shoulders. “This High Priestess can call on five elements. Plus, she had Rephaim and her brother with her. She was in good hands.”
“And she didn’t need to be rescued,” I said.
James snorted.
“You really should go to the infirmary and have that bandage changed,” said Stark.
“I will,” James said and disappeared inside the room.
“He has a lot to learn,” Stark said as we headed to our room.
“Please. He’s exactly like you used to be,” I said.
Stark kissed the top of my head. “Which is why I know he has a lot to learn. We’re really going to the Other World?”
“Sadly, yes. Only I don’t know how the hell we’re going to get there.” We’d come to our room, and instead of going in, I paused outside. “Hey, I’m going to Nyx’s Temple. I need to do some serious praying before we meet and go over Aphrodite’s vision and what we have to do
