Tempted

Right behind her, Shaunee yelled, “Cole? What about Cole?”

“He didn’t stand up to them,” T.J. answered in a strained voice, which made Shaunee stop at the open door to his room like she’d been smacked in the face.

“Didn’t stand up? But…” Shaunee’s voice faded, like she was utterly confused.

“Oh, shit, boy! Look at your hands!” Erin’s exclamation drifted from T.J.’s room.

“Hands?” I repeated.

“T.J.’s a boxer. He even placed in the last Summer Games, against vampyres,” Drew explained. “He tried to knock out Rephaim. It didn’t quite work out like he expected, and the bird guy tore up his hands.”

“Oh, Goddess, no.” I heard Stevie Rae say softly, her words filled with horror.

I was watching Shaunee as she stood outside T.J.’s room, looking like she didn’t know what to do with herself, which gave me a really bad feeling. Cole and T.J. had been best friends, and they’d been dating the Twins. T.J. was seeing Erin; Cole was seeing Shaunee. The two couples had done a lot of hanging out together. All I could think was, “How could one stand up to the Raven Mockers and not the other?”

“Exactly what I’d like explained to me.” I hadn’t realized I’d spoken aloud until Darius commented.

The last kid in the hall answered him. “It just happened. The stables caught on fire, then Neferet and Kalona freaked. The Raven Mockers went crazy. If you stayed out of their way they didn’t mess with you, which is what we were doing until one of them grabbed Professor Anastasia. Then some of us tried to help her, but most of the fledglings just ran for the dorms.”

I looked at the kid. She had really pretty red hair and eyes that were bright, gorgeous blue. Both of her biceps were wrapped in gauze, and one side of her face was all bruised and swollen. I swear I’d never seen her before in my life.

“Who the heck are you?” I asked.

“I’m Red.” She smiled shyly and shrugged. “Yeah, my name’s obvious, but that’s me. Um, you guys don’t know me because I just got Marked. Right before the ice storm hit. Professor Anastasia was my mentor.” She swallowed hard and blinked back tears.

“I’m really sorry,” I said, thinking how awful it must be for her to be newly Marked, newly uprooted from her family and everything she’d ever known, and plopped down in the middle of this mess.

“I tried to help her, too,” Red said. A tear escaped and slid down her face. She brushed it away, wincing as the movement caused pain in her arm. “But that huge Raven Mocker slashed my arms and then threw me against a tree. I couldn’t do anything but watch when he—” Her voice broke on a sob.

“Did none of the professors stand with you?” Darius asked, his voice sounding harsh, though it was obvious his anger wasn’t directed at Red.

“The professors knew the Raven Mockers had simply become overexcited because Neferet and her consort were highly upset. We knew better than to further agitate them,” said Sapphire in a clipped voice from where she and Margareta still stood in the entrance to the infirmary hallway.

Incredulous, I turned to face her. “They simply became overex-cited? Are you kidding me? Those creatures were attacking House of Night fledglings and none of you did anything about it because you didn’t want to agitate them?”

“Unforgivable!” Darius almost spat the word out.

“And what about Dragon and Professor Anastasia? They obviously didn’t buy into your whole don’t-agitate- them theory,” Stark said.

“Wouldn’t you know more about what happened than anyone, James Stark? I recall that you were very close to Neferet and Kalona. I even remember seeing you leave the school with them,” said Margareta smoothly.

Stark took a step toward her, his eyes beginning to glow a dangerous red. I grabbed his wrist. “No! Fighting our own isn’t how we win this,” I said to him before I rounded on the two vampyres. “Stark went with Neferet and Kalona because he knew they were attacking me and Aphrodite and Damien and Shaunee and Erin and a whole abbey full of nuns.” With every and I’d taken a step toward Sapphire and Margareta. I could feel the elemental force of spirit, which I’d so recently called on to soothe Dragon, swirling dangerously around me. The vampyres felt it too, because they’d both stumbled several steps away from me. I stopped and got a handle on my temper, lowering my voice and my blood pressure. “He stood with us against them. Neferet and Kalona are not who you think they were. They’re a danger to everyone. But right now I don’t have time to try to convince you of something that should have been obvious to you when the winged guy exploded from the ground in a shower of blood. Right now I’m here to help these kids, and since you seem to have a problem with that, I think it would be a good idea if you scuttled to your rooms like the rest of the House of Night.”

Looking shocked and offended, the two vampyres backed from the entryway and hurried up the stairwell that led to the professors’ rooms. I sighed. I’d told Stark we couldn’t win this by fighting our own, and then I’d threatened them. But when I turned to our little infirmary group, I was met with grins, cheers, and clapping.

“I’ve wanted to tell those cows off since we got here,” called Denio from her room as she beamed a smile at me.

“And they call her Terrible,” Aphrodite said, obviously referring to the fact that Denio, in Greek, means terrible.

“I’m just good at sensing what people are feeling. I can’t smack them around with an element or five,” Denio said. She rubbed her wounded arm absently then turned her attention from me to Aphrodite. “Hey, I shouldn’t have been such a bitch to you the last couple months. Sorry about that.”

I expected Aphrodite to puff up and tell her about herself. I mean, Denio had been awful to her—as had all of Aphrodite’s supposed friends.

“Yeah, well, all of us screw up now and then. Forget about it,” Aphrodite said, totally surprising me.

“You sound all grown,” I said to her.

“Don’t you have a circle to cast?” she said.

I grinned at her because I swear her cheeks looked pink. “Actually, I do.” I looked from Stevie Rae to Damien and Shaunee, then called, “Erin, can you quit playing nurse long enough to get in on this circle?”

She popped out of T.J.’s room like one of those old jack-in-the-boxes. “Yep, easy-peasy.”

I noticed she and Shaunee didn’t look at each other, but no way did I have the time or the energy to get into Twin problems just then.

“Okay, so, which way’s north, earth girl?” I asked Stevie Rae.

She marched over to stand opposite the entrance to the hallway. “This is definitely north.”

“All right. The rest of you guys know what to do,” I said.

Like pros they moved into place: Damien taking the position in the east for air, Shaunee south for fire, Erin west for water, and Stevie Rae firmly stationed in the north for earth. When they were ready I took my place in the center of the circle. Beginning with Damien in the east, I called each element into our circle, moving deasil, or clockwise, until I finished by calling spirit to me.

I’d closed my eyes during the casting, and when the circle was complete, I opened them to see a glowing silver thread binding the five of us. I threw back my head, raised my arms, and shouted with the joy of being touched by all five elements. “It’s good to be home!”

My friends laughed, happy and whole, fulfilled by their elements and, even if just for a moment, able to forget the chaos and hardship that surrounded us.

But not the pain. I wouldn’t forget the reason I’d cast the circle, even though it was easy to get caught up in the thrill of the elements.

I centered and calmed myself. In a strong, confident voice, I began to speak. “Air, fire, water, earth, and spirit—I have called you here to our circle for one specific reason. Our fledgling friends at the House of Night have been hurt. I’m not a healer. I’m really not even technically a High Priestess.” I paused and glanced out of the circle, meeting Stark’s gaze. He winked at me. I smiled and continued. “But my purpose is clear. I would like you to please touch these hurt kids. I can’t heal them, but I can ask that you soothe and strengthen them, so that they can heal themselves. Actually, I think that’s what all of us want—a chance to fix ourselves. In the name of Nyx, and through the power of your elements, fill these fledglings!” Concentrating with my mind, body, and soul, I tossed out my hands, imagining I was hurling the elements through me and out at the wounded kids.

I heard the exclamations of surprise and pleasure, and even some gasps of pain as the five elements swirled