held the first of the five paper swords by the long length of fishing line he’d tied to its hilt. “Oh, oopsie. Almost forgot. Gotta practice,” he said to himself, pausing to punch the controls on the portable iPhone dock he’d carried out there with the table.
Rachel’s voice began the song, strong and clear. Jack paused with one foot on the bottom rung of the ladder, and when Kurt took over the lyrics he sang with him, matching his sweet tenor, note for note.
Jack moved up the ladder as he and Kurt sang, pretending he was climbing the steps of the Radio City Music Hall where the
He reached the top rung of the ladder, paused, and began the first chorus with Kurt and Rachel while he reached up and threaded the fishing lure through the bare winter branches.
He was humming along with Rachel’s next lines, waiting for Kurt’s part again, when movement at the split base of the tree caught his attention and his gaze shifted to the damaged trunk. Jack gasped. He was sure he saw, right there, an image of a beautiful woman. The image was dark and indistinct, but as Kurt sang about losing love he’d guessed he’d lost, the woman became clearer, larger, more distinct.
“Nyx?” Jack whispered, awestruck.
Like a veil lifting, the woman was suddenly fully visible. She raised her head and smiled up at Jack, as exquisitely lovely as she was evil.
“Yes, little Jack. You may call me Nyx.”
“Neferet! What are you doing here?” The question burst from him before he could think.
“Actually, at this moment, I’m here because of you.”
“M-me?”
“Yes, you see, I need your help. I know how much you like to help others. That’s why I’ve come for you, Jack. Wouldn’t you like to do something for me? I can promise you that I’ll make it worth your while.”
“Worth my while? What do you mean?” Jack hated that his voice sounded squeaky.
“I mean if you do a little thing for me, then I’ll do a little thing for you, too. I’ve been away from the House of Night fledglings far too long. Perhaps I’ve lost touch with what makes their hearts beat. You could help me—guide me—show me. In return I would reward you. Think about your dreams, what it is you would want to do with your long life after you Change. I could make your dreams come true.”
Jack smiled and threw his arms out wide. “But I’m already living my dream. I’m here, in this beautiful place, with friends who have become my family. What more could anyone want?”
Neferet’s expression hardened. Her voice was stone. “What more could you want? How about dominion over this ‘beautiful place’? Beauty doesn’t last. Friends and family decay. Power is the only thing that goes on forever.”
Jack answered with his gut. “No, love goes on forever.”
Neferet’s laughter was mocking. “Don’t be such a child. I’m offering you much more than love.”
Jack looked at Neferet—really looked at her. She’d changed, and in his heart he knew why. She’d accepted evil. Utterly, completely, totally. He’d understood it before without really knowing it.
“Stay where you are!”
He didn’t know how, but Neferet’s words commanded his body. It felt like he was suddenly wrapped tightly, frozen in place by an invisible cage of ice.
“You impudent boy! You actually think you can defy me?”
“Yes,” he said as Kurt’s voice rang around him. “Because I’m on Nyx’s side, not yours. So just let me go, Neferet. I really won’t help you.”
“That is where you’re wrong, you incorruptible innocent. You’ve just proven that you’re going to help me very, very much.” Neferet lifted her hands, making a sifting movement in the air around her. “As I promised, here he is.”
Jack had no idea who Neferet was talking to, but her words made his skin crawl. Helplessly, he watched her leave the shadows of the tree. She appeared to glide away from him and toward the sidewalk that would take her to the main House of Night building. With an oddly detached observation he realized her movements were more reptile than human.
For an instant he thought she really was leaving—thought he was safe. But when she reached the sidewalk she looked back at him, and she shook her head, laughing softly. “You’ve made this almost too easy for me, boy, with your honorable refusal of my offer.” She made a throwing motion at the sword. Wide-eyed, Jack was sure he saw something black wrap around the hilt. The sword turned, turned, turned, until the upraised point was aimed directly at him.
“There is your sacrifice. He is one I have been unable to taint. Take him, and my debt to your Master has been fulfilled, but wait until the clock chimes twelve. Hold him until then.” Without another look at Jack, Neferet slithered out of his sight and into the building.
It seemed a long time before midnight came, before the school clock began chiming, even though Jack closed his mind to the cold, invisible chains that bound him. He was glad he’d put “Defying Gravity” on a loop. It comforted him to hear Kurt and Rachel singing about overcoming fear.
When the clock began chiming, Jack knew what was going to happen. He knew he couldn’t stop it—knew his fate couldn’t be changed. Instead of pointless struggle, last-minute regrets, useless tears, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then—joyously—joined Rachel and Kurt in the chorus:
Jack’s sweet tenor was ringing through the branches of the shattered oak when Neferet’s lingering, waiting magic hurled him off the top of the ladder. He fell gruesomely, horribly, onto the waiting claymore, but as the blade pierced his neck, before pain and death and Darkness could touch him, his spirit exploded from his body.
He opened his eyes to find himself standing in an amazing meadow at the base of a tree that looked exactly like the one Kalona had shattered, only this tree was whole and green, and beside it was a woman dressed in glowing silver robes. She was so lovely Jack thought he could stare at her forever.
He knew her instantly. He’d always known her.
“Hello, Nyx,” he said softly.
The Goddess smiled. “Hello, Jack.”
“I’m dead, aren’t I?”
Nyx’s smile didn’t waver. “You are, my wonderful, loving, untaintable child.”
Jack hesitated, then said, “It doesn’t seem so bad, this being dead thing.”
“You’ll find it isn’t.”
“I’ll miss Damien.”
“You’ll be with him again. Some souls find each other again and again. Yours will; you have my oath on
