somehow escaped her. And then the trapdoor closed, sealing us out of the House of Night.
'Okay, reform up the circle. Tighten it up. Twins! You're too close together. You're making it lopsided. Cats! Stop hissing at Duchess. We don't have time for it.' Aphrodite was calling orders like a drill sergeant.
'The tunnels.' Stevie Rae's weak voice seemed to slice through the night.
I looked at her. She couldn't stand up. Erik had lifted her in his arms, and he was holding her like a baby, careful not to touch the arrow that was sticking out of her back. Her face was completely chalk white except for her red tattoos.
'We have to get to the tunnels. We'll be safe there,' she said.
'Stevie Rae's right. He won't follow us there, and neither will Neferet, not anymore,' Aphrodite said.
'What tunnels?' Darius asked.
'They're under the city, old Prohibition hiding places. The entrance is through the depot downtown,' I said.
'The depot. That's a good three miles or so away, through the heart of the city,' he said. 'How are we going to—?' His words broke off as we heard terrible screams coming from all around us outside the House of Night. Bright balls of fire were blossoming in the sky like terrible, deadly flowers.
'What's happening?' Jack asked, moving closer to Damien.
'It's the Raven Mockers. They have their bodies back, and they're hungry. They're feeding on humans,' Aphrodite said.
'They can use fire?' Shaunee asked, looking supremely pissed.
'They can,' Aphrodite said.
'Like hell they can!' Shaunee started to lift her arm, and I felt heat begin to swirl in the air around us.
'No!' Aphrodite yelled. 'You can't call attention to us. Not tonight. If you do, we're finished.'
'You've seen this?' I asked.
She nodded. 'All this and more. Those who don't get underground will be their prey.'
'Then we get to Stevie Rae's tunnels,' I said.
'How?' one of the red fledglings I didn't recognize said. She sounded young and very afraid.
I braced myself, already exhausted by manipulating all five of the elements to such an extent. I didn't want them to know how draining I was finding all of this. They had to believe I was strong and sure and in control. I drew a deep breath. 'Don't worry. I know how we move without being seen. I've done it before.' I smiled wearily at Stevie Rae. '
Stevie Rae managed to nod weakly.
'Yep, we sure have,' Aphrodite said.
'So what's the plan?' Damien asked.
'Yeah, let's get with it,' Erin said.
'Ditto. I'm getting a cramp from smooshing so close to everyone,' Shaunee muttered, obviously still pissed she couldn't fight fire with fire.
'Here's the plan. We become mist and shadows, night and darkness. We don't exist. No one sees us. We are the night and the night is us.' As I explained it, I felt that familiar shiver of my body and saw the red fledglings gasp, and knew when they looked at me, they were seeing nothing but mist covered with darkness, steeped in shadow. I thought how weird it was that blending with the night felt easier now that I was exhausted . . . it was like I could just fade away and finally sleep . . .
'Zoey!' Erik's voice shook me out of my dangerous trance.
'Fine! I'm fine,' I said quickly. 'Now you guys do it. Concentrate. It's no different than when you used to sneak out of the House of Night to meet boyfriends or go to off campus rituals, only you're going to focus even more. You can do it. You are mist and shadow. No one can see you. No one can hear you. Only night is here, and you are part of night.'
I watched my little group shimmer and begin to dissolve. It wasn't perfect, and Duchess was still solidly a big blond Lab—unlike our cats she couldn't blend with the night—but the kid she stuck close to was little more than a shadow.
'Now let's go. Stay together. Hold hands. Do not let anything mess with your concentration. Darius, lead the way,' I said.
We moved out into what had become a city of living nightmare. I wondered later how we ever made it, and realized the answer even as I wondered. We made it because the guiding hand of Nyx was on us. We moved in her shadow. Covered with her power we became the night, even though the rest of the night had become madness.
The Raven Mockers were everywhere. It was just after midnight New Year's Eve, and the creatures had their pickings of tipsy, celebrating humans who poured out of clubs and restaurants and beautiful old oil mansions because they'd heard the crackle and pop of the creatures' inhuman fire and, thinking the city had set off fireworks, rushed out to watch the show. I wondered with oddly detached horror how many of them looked up at the sky only to have their last sight be terrible red eyes of men looking out at them from monstrous faces.
Before we'd reached the halfway point near Cincinnati and Thirteenth I started hearing police and fire sirens, along with gunshots, which made me smile grimly. This was Oklahoma, and us Okies did love our guns. Yep, we exercise our Second Amendment right with pride and vigor. I wished I had a clue if modern weapons would make any difference to creatures born of magic and myth, and knew I wouldn't have to wonder long. Soon we'd all find out.
Within a block of the abandoned Tulsa depot, it began to rain a cold, miserable misty wetness that chilled us to the bone, but it did help to hide our little group even more from probing eyes—whether they were human or beast.
We hurried into the basement of the abandoned Tulsa depot, gaining entrance easily by swinging open a metal grate that looked deceptively well barred. As soon as the darkness of the basement swallowed us, we gave a group sigh of relief.
'Okay, now we can close the circle.'
'Thank you spirit, you may depart,' I began. I turned to Stevie Rae, still in Erik's arms. 'I am grateful to you, earth, you may depart.' Erin was on my left, and I smiled through the darkness to her. 'Water, you did well tonight. You may depart.' Still turning to my left, I found Shaunee. 'Fire, thank you, please depart.' Then I closed the circle with the element that opened it. 'Wind, you have my gratitude as always. You may depart.' And with a little pop and sizzle, the silver thread that had bound us and saved us, disappeared.
I gritted my teeth against the exhaustion that threatened to overwhelm me, and I think I would have fallen had Darius not grabbed my arm to steady my wobbly knees.
'Let's get down there. We're still not completely safe,' Aphrodite said.
We all moved toward the rear of the basement to the drainage entrance I knew hid a wide system of tunnels. Reentering these tunnels was as surreal an experience as the night had become. The last time I'd been here had been in the middle of a snowstorm. I was struggling to save Heath from Stevie Rae and a bunch of the fledglings I was now struggling to save.
Heath!
'Zoey, come on,' Erik said when I hesitated. He had passed Stevie Rae to Darius, so he and I were the last of the group left aboveground.
'Gotta make two phone calls first. There's no reception down there.'
'Then make it quick,' he said. 'I'll tell them you're coming.'
'Thanks.' I smiled wearily at him. 'I'll hurry.'
He gave me a tight nod and then disappeared down the steel ladder into the tunnels.
I was surprised when Heath picked up on the first ring. 'What do you want, Zoey?'
'Listen to me, Heath, I have to be quick. Something terrible has been released at the House of Night. It's going to be bad, really bad. I don't know for how long because I don't know how to stop it. But the only way you'll be safe is if you get underground. It doesn't like to be under the earth. Do you understand?'
'Yes,' he said.
'Do you believe me?'
He didn't even hesitate. 'Yes.'
I sighed in relief. 'Get your family and anyone else you care about and get underground. Doesn't your
