Destined

“Then be a better person. Be your own person, and maybe by doing that you can show Erin how to be your friend again.”

“But not my Twin.” Shaunee spoke so softly Neferet almost couldn’t hear her. “I don’t want to be anyone’s Twin again. I just want to be myself.”

Zoey smiled. “That’s all you need to be. Go to sixth hour, and I promise I’ll talk to Erin. You’re both still part of our circle, and that has to count for something.”

Shaunee nodded slowly. “’Kay. But only if you talk to her.”

“I will.”

Neferet sneered again as Zoey hugged the black girl who started to retrace her path toward the main school building. She expected Zoey to walk with her, but she didn’t. Instead the girl’s shoulders slumped and she rubbed her forehead as if it ached. If the little bitch stayed out of the business of her betters, she wouldn’t have any worries, Neferet thought as she watched Zoey leave the sidewalk and kick rather noisily at a tin can that the yard maintenance humans had, no doubt, left behind them. Knowing what their discarded rubbish would do to the fastidious Gaea made Neferet smile.

Zoey’s can rolled to a stop against an exposed root of one of the ancient oaks that dotted the school grounds. The winter bare branches waved in another strong gust of warm wind, almost obscuring Zoey from her view— almost as if they were reaching around to protect her as the child bent to pick up the can.

Protect her …

Neferet’s eyes widened. What if Zoey did need protecting? The trees certainly wouldn’t do it—not without the annoying child calling on earth. And Zoey wouldn’t know she needed to call the element if a sudden gust of wind—a sudden accident—caused a limb to break and fall on her.

Zoey wouldn’t know what was happening until it was too late.

Without flinching, Neferet stuck her fingernail into the pink slashes that had not yet healed. She held her hand up, cupping the blood, and saying:

“Drink and obey

The limb must do more than sway

Rip it—break it—to the earth it should hurl

Crush her—hurt her—kill the Zoey girl.”

Neferet braced herself for the pain that feeding Darkness brought with it, and was surprised when she felt nothing. She glanced from the tree to her palm. The sticky tendrils of Darkness quivered and writhed around her, but they did not feed.

What you ask tempts Fate

For that the sacrifice must be great.

The singsong words drifted through Neferet’s mind, and she recognized the echo of her power Consort in them.

“What is it you need from me?

What sacrifice must it be?”

The answer rumbled in Neferet’s mind.

Her life force does demand

the sacrifice be equal to your command.

Irritation filled Neferet. Zoey always caused her problems! With a mighty effort, Neferet tempered her tone so that her words would not offend her Consort.

“I change my request

not killing her would be best.

Frighten her—bruise her

but leave her lifeline unbroken and pure.”

With painful abandon, the threads of Darkness descended upon the blood pooled in Neferet’s hand. She did not flinch. She did not cry out. Neferet smiled and pointed at the tree.

“My blood from me to thee

by command—so mote it be!”

Darkness spewed from Neferet’s window. Mimicking the wind, it whirled around the mighty oak’s branches. Utterly captivated, Neferet watched. Zoey had picked up the can and was walking slowly away from the tree and toward the sidewalk.

But the old oak was huge and the girl was still under its canopy.

Like a whip, the tendrils of Darkness wrapped around the lowest hanging tree limb. There was a terrible, wonderful crack! The limb broke and hurtled down as Zoey was staring up in wide-eyed, open-mouthed shock.

In spite of what her Consort had said, for an exquisite moment Neferet believed Zoey would, indeed, be killed.

And then, quite unexpectedly, a silver blur intruded on the scene. Zoey was knocked out of the way and the massive branch crashed harmlessly to the ground. As Neferet stared disbelievingly, Aurox and Zoey began to slowly unwind themselves from the tangled ball they’d become when he’d saved her from the accident.

With a sound of absolute disgust Neferet turned away from the window and closed the heavy drapes. “Tell my Consort that I said he could have allowed her to get a little more bruised than that.” She spoke to the writhing black threads that were her constant companions, knowing they would carry if not her actual words, then their intent, to the white bull. “I think my blood was worth more than a tumble, though I can see that it was wise of him to have Aurox come to her rescue. It will make the creature appear even more heroic to silly young fledglings.” Neferet’s emerald eyes widened as understanding dawned. “What a delicious complication if one of the silly young fledglings who see the vessel as heroic is Zoey Redbird herself!” Darkness lapped against her legs as she left her chamber and, smiling slyly, went to find Thanatos.

Zoey

So, I’d just done a good thing—two good things actually. I’d talked Shaunee out of leaving the depot, and I’d picked up litter. I was holding the pop can thinking about how much I’d like a nice cold drink of brown pop when the wind, which had been acting crazy all night, blew a giant gust and crack! The gihugic branch directly above me broke off the tree. I didn’t have time to do anything but gawk in silent, frozen horror—and then he hit me from the side, low and hard, like I’d seen players do a zillion times on the football field. All the air was knocked out of me and I felt like I was smothering under a ton or so of guy.

“Get off!” I gasped, trying to push his leg from around me. I flailed enough that, with a grunt, he unwrapped from on top of me. As his weight lifted I could actually suck in a breath of air. I kinda elbowed my way to a half sitting position. My mind was working slowly. At the edge of my vision I saw the big limb, still quivering from its impact with the ground. That could’ve killed me, I realized and looked up at whoever it was that I needed to send a serious thank-you to.

Moonstone eyes were staring at me. He put his hands up the instant our gazes met and took a small step backward, as if he expected me to launch an attack at him.

Warmth radiated from the seer stone that hung between my breasts. It filled my body with heat, intensified as if by the touch of Aurox’s skin. It had to be my imagination, but it seemed that the stone’s heat lingered everywhere in my body even after his touch was gone.

“I was patrolling.”

“Yeah,” I said, and looked away from him, making myself oh-so-busy brushing grass and leaves from my shirt while I tried to sort through my jumbled thoughts. “You do a lot of that.”

“I saw you under the tree.”

“Uh-huh.” I kept brushing off grass and whatnot while my mind blared: Aurox saved your life!

“I wasn’t going to come near you, but I heard the branch breaking. I didn’t believe I was going to make it in time.” His voice sounded shaky. I looked up at him then. He seemed super awkward. As I stared at him, standing there, looking out of place and dorky, I suddenly realized that no matter what else he was, at that moment Aurox was simply a boy who was as unsure of himself as any other teenage boy.

Some of the anxiety, the terrible unease that I’d felt since the first moment I’d seen him, began to fade