Destined

“I only hope that I can continue to surprise you over and over again, my lord.”

“Only is such a small word…” the bull said.

Aurox continued to kneel on the rooftop long after Priestess and the bull had departed, leaving him discarded and forgotten. He stayed where he had been left, staring up at the sky.

CHAPTER TWO

Zoey

“A short bus? Really?” All I could do was shake my head and stare at the squatty yellow thing that said HOUSE OF NIGHT in fresh black letters across its side. “I mean, it’s nice that my call to Thanatos worked so fast and we’re being allowed to go back to school, but a short bus?”

“Twin! They sent the retard bus for us!” Erin said, giggling.

“Twin, that’s really mean,” Shaunee said.

“I know, Twin. I can’t believe Neferet’s so f-ing evil she sent the retard bus for us,” Erin continued.

“No, I don’t mean Neferet’s being mean. I mean it’s mean to say retard,” Shaunee explained, rolling her eyes at her Twin.

“I think Shaunee’s correct, and you should consider expanding your vocabulary. You’re using mean too many times; it’s redundant,” Damien said.

Shaunee, Erin, Stevie Rae, Rephaim, and I stared wide-eyed at Damien. I knew we were all thinking it was great to hear him obsessing about vocabulary again, but we didn’t want to say anything because we were all scared he might burst into tears and retreat back into the soggy depression that had been haunting him since Jack’s death.

Aphrodite and Darius chose that moment to emerge from the depot’s basement and as per usual, Aphrodite bridged the gap between decorum and disaster by invoking her one tried and true rule: Care About How It Looks.

“Oh, for shit’s sake. I’m not getting in that. The short bus is for ’tards,” Aphrodite said with a snort and a hair toss.

“Y’all, it’s not that bad. I mean, obviously it’s a new bus. Check out the fresh black House of Night lettering,” Stevie Rae said.

“It might as well say Social Suicide,” Aphrodite said, frowning at Stevie Rae.

“I’m not lettin’ you rain on my parade. I like school,” Stevie Rae said. She stepped up into the bus, grinning at the Son of Erebus Warrior who had, unsmilingly, opened the door for her.

“Priestess.” He greeted her somberly with a nod, and then, totally ignoring our own Son of Erebus Warrior, Darius, he looked at me and, with even a more clipped nod said, “Zoey, I am to notify you and Stevie Rae that there will be a school Council Meeting, which will convene in a thirty minutes. You are both to attend.”

“Okay, well, Stark’s letting everyone else know you’re here, so we’ll be ready to leave in just a sec,” I said, smiling at him like his face didn’t look like a storm cloud.

“Hey, y’all, it still smells new!” Stevie Rae yelled. I could see her short blond curls bobbing as she gawked around inside. Then she popped back out and skipped down the stairs to take Rephaim’s hand and grin up at him. “Wanna sit in the backseat with me? It’s real bouncy!”

“Seriously,” Aphrodite said. “That bus is perfect for you; you’re a retard. And I hate to be the one to break it to you—oh wait, that’s a lie; I don’t really hate it—but even though the Vamp High Council has clearly put the pressure on Neferet and forced her to bus us back to the House of Night, birdboy is still not welcome there. Did you forget in the afterglow of whatever you two could have been doing in the one-point-two seconds between sunset and now that he wasn’t a bird?”

I saw Stevie Rae tighten her hand clamp on Rephaim. “I’ll have you know it’s been more than one-point-two seconds since sunset, none of your business what we’ve been doin’, and Rephaim’s goin’ to school. Just like the rest of us.”

Aphrodite’s blond brows went up to her hairline. “You’re not kidding, are you?”

“No,” Stevie Rae said firmly. “And you should understand that better than anyone else.”

“Me? Understand? What in the hell are you talking about?”

“You’re not a fledgling, red or regular. You’re not a vampyre. You’re maybe not even a human.”

“’Cause she’s a hag,” I heard Shaunee whisper.

“From Hell,” Erin whispered back.

Aphrodite narrowed her eyes at the Twins, but Stevie Rae wasn’t done.

“Just like Rephaim, you’re something that’s not quite normal, but Nyx has given her blessing to you— even if none of the rest of us understands why the heck she’d do that. Anyway, you’re goin’ to school. I’m goin’ to school. So’s Rephaim. The end.”

“Stevie Rae has a point,” Stark said as he joined us in the parking lot outside the depot, the rest of the red fledgling kids trailing along behind him. “Neferet’s not gonna like it, but Nyx forgave and blessed Rephaim.”

“In front of the entire school,” Stevie Rae added quickly.

“They know that,” Rephaim murmured to her. He looked from her to the rest of us, his gaze finally settling on me. “What do you think?” he surprised me by asking. “Should I try to go to the House of Night, or would that just be causing trouble for no reason?”

Everyone gawked at me. With a quick glance at the stony-faced Son of Erebus Warrior in the bus, I said, “Uh, would you guys go ahead and get on the bus? I need to talk to my … uh…” I trailed off with a gesture that took in Aphrodite, Stevie Rae, and the rest of my closest friends.

“Your circle,” Stevie Rae said, smiling at me. “You’re goin’ to talk to your circle.”

“And their accoutrements,” Damien added, nodding at Aphrodite, Darius, and Kramisha.

I grinned. “I like that! Okay, would you guys get on the bus while I talk to my circle and their accoutrements, please?”

“I ain’t sure I like being called accoutrements,” Kramisha said, narrowing her eyes at me.

“It means—” Stevie Rae began, but Kramisha interrupted her with a shake of her head. “I know what it mean. I’m sayin’ I ain’t sure I like it.”

“Could you journal about it later and right now shut up and follow Zoey so we can get this over with?” Aphrodite said while Kramisha sucked air and glared. “And for the record,” she pointed at everyone except Darius. “You are a Nerd Herd. I am your token Popular and Perfect.”

The Twins looked like they were taking verbal aim at Aphrodite so I said, “Guys, focus. Rephaim’s question is important.” Thankfully, that shut everyone up and I motioned for my circle, accoutrements, and Aphrodite to follow me down the sidewalk and out of hearing range as the red fledglings clambered into the bus and I frantically tried to think about Rephaim’s very important question.

My mind felt mushy. Last night had been awful. I glanced at Stark and felt my cheeks getting warm. Okay, well, not all of it had been awful, but still, hard questions filled my head. I mentally shook myself. I wasn’t just a kid anymore. I was the first Fledgling High Priestess and all these guys looked up to me and expected me to Know the Right Answers (well, to everything except geometry, Spanish translations, and parallel-parking issues).

Please, Nyx, let me say the right thing. I sent up a quick, silent prayer, then met Rephaim’s gaze and realized suddenly it wasn’t my answer we needed.

“What do you want?” I asked him.

“Well, he wants—” Stevie Rae began, but my raised hand silenced my BFF. “No,” I said. “This can’t be what you say Rephaim wants, or even what you want for him. I need Rephaim’s answer. So, what it is? What do you want?” I repeated.

Rephaim met my gaze steadily. “I want to be normal,” he said.

Aphrodite snorted. “Sadly, normal plus teenager equals going to stupid school.”

“School isn’t stupid,” Damian said, and then he turned to Rephaim. “But she’s right about the normal part. Going to school is what normal kids do.”

“Yep,” Shaunee said.