“Problem?” I asked.
“Potentially,” she said. “Sorry, Damien. Again. But as Nyx’s prophetess I’m going to insist on this. Damien cannot represent air when you cast the circle for the protective spell.”
“Of course I have to represent air! I am air,” Damien practically sputtered. “And I absolutely have to be there when the spell is cast.”
“Why?” Aphrodite asked, meeting his gaze steadily.
“Because I’m air,” Damien said stubbornly.
“I can stand in for you,” Aphrodite said. “You can’t be there.”
“I must be there!”
“Why?” she repeated the question in a calm, reasonable voice.
“Because I have to be!” Damien shouted.
Into the after-shout silence I spoke to him softly, kindly. “Jack won’t be there, Damien, but Aphrodite’s vision was clear about one thing. We don’t know why, but your life is in danger.”
“But it could be a metaphor,” he said miserably.
“Could be isn’t enough,” I said. “Take Jack out of the vision, and you’d know that.”
Damien hung his head. “I—I don’t know what to say.”
“Say that you’ll help Z find the perfect spell,” Stevie Rae said, squeezing Damien’s shoulder.
“Say that you understand we can’t let anything happen to you,” Shaylin said.
“Say that you know how well-loved you are, even though Jack isn’t here,” Shaunee said.
Damien lifted his head. His eyes were bright with tears. “I think all I can say right now is thank you, my friends. Thank you.”
“That’s a good start,” Aphrodite said. “Would you also say you forgive me?”
I was surprised by Aphrodite’s question until I remembered the agony in her voice as she’d come out of the vision—how she’d screamed Damien’s name over and over. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Aphrodite feels things deeply, personally—even though she doesn’t often feel safe enough to show her feelings.
“There is nothing to forgive, my friend,” Damien said.
I watched the last of the tension relax out of Aphrodite’s shoulders.
“Thank you,” she said. Then she turned to me. “I’m coming to the media room with you.”
“I thought you hated research,” I said.
“I hate sitting and waiting more.”
“Well, okay then.”
“We’re gonna put our suitcases in our rooms, then we’ll meet you there, too,” Stevie Rae said.
“Rooms? Don’t you mean your visiting professors’ quarters?” I asked.
“No, um. Well. That was another part of your birthday surprise,” Stark said.
“Jesus effing Christ, Bow Boy!” Aphrodite exploded. “Do you have to give away all of it?”
“WTF?” I asked.
“Please don’t,” Aphrodite said. “Cuss or don’t cuss. But give up the abbreviations.”
“Oh, just tell her!” Shaunee said.
“I’ll tell her.” Stevie Rae skipped over to me, grinning like a crazy person. “We’re gonna be staying in our old dorm room. Well, at least for the next few nights we are. That was part of Stark’s gift to you. He had our room done up like it used to be.”
“He did?” I looked from my BFF to Stark. “You did?”
“Yep.”
“You mean, my dorm room—the one I shared with Stevie Rae—looks like it used to?”
“Yep again. You two can slumber party to your heart’s content. Surprise!”
I turned to him. “James Stark, that is the nicest birthday gift I’ve ever been given.” I kissed him then, like no one was watching.
“Ugh. Get a room,” Aphrodite grumped.
“She can’t! She’s sharing it with me, me, me!” Stevie Rae giggled.
“I hope this doesn’t mean I have to stay in the dorm, too,” Shaunee said as everyone began shuffling for the door.
“Goddess, how I hope that’s not what it means,” Damien said. “I’m loving the guest rooms at the tunnels. And that restaurant—delicious.”
“I only fixed up Z’s room,” Stark said, his arms still around me.
“Thank the Goddess,” I heard Shaylin whisper to Nicole. “I’m so done with twin beds.”
I hung back, keeping Stark with me until we were the only people left in the Council Chamber.
He waggled his brows at me. “Want to make out?”
“I’d usually say yes, but right now something else is on my mind. Here’s what’s bothering me.” I kept my voice low, even though we were definitely alone. “Kalona said Nyx didn’t think we should be worried, which is why he visited me without her knowing. But real soon after his stealthy dream visit, Aphrodite was given a vision—and her visions are always from Nyx. So, someone isn’t telling the truth.”
“Do you mean Kalona, Nyx, or Aphrodite is lying?” Stark asked.
“I’m afraid I do.”
8
Zoey
“It’s okay. Go ahead and teach your archery class. The school needs to stay as normal as possible for as long as possible. Hopefully the fledglings won’t even know anything weird is going on because the protection spell will work so well. That’s why I didn’t call Kramisha out of her poetry class.” I tiptoed and kissed Stark at the media center door, then gave him a little push down the hall. “Remember, normal. As far as the fledglings and most of the other professors know—everything is normal.”
“Got it. I’ll meet you back here as soon as my class lets out.”
“Text me first. It’ll be time for dinner and if we’re still working you can stop by the dining hall and give them an order to be delivered to the media center.”
“How ’bout we be really bad and order from Andolini’s?”
I grinned. “Stevie Rae will want to kiss you for that.”
“Well, she’ll be out of luck, because I prefer gorgeous brunettes.”
“Right answer!” I blew a kiss at him before heading into the deserted media center, which was an awesome mixture of cutting-edge modern technology and ancient, Dewey Decimal–filed books that are sooooo out of print that some of them just have the names of the vampyre authors who wrote and created the single and only copy of the book.
It was to those books—the ones that were off-limits to fledglings—that I headed.
Damien was there already and had several of the old tomes open around him. He didn’t notice me, which had way more to do with his ability to concentrate than my stealthiness, but it did give me an opportunity to study him.
His adult Mark still moved me with its beauty. It spread from the sapphire crescent moon in the center of his forehead to frame his eyes with wings. And they weren’t just any wings. They looked distinctively Egyptian. When the light caught the tattoo just right the center crescent seemed to be Isis turning her head in profile as she unfurled her mighty wings. It was a perfect Mark for the personification of air, and it was, quite simply, exquisite.
Damien was the first male to be accepted on a High Council. He was also the smartest person I knew. But at that moment I noticed how tired he looked. His tattoo almost, but didn’t quite, hide the bruised circles under his eyes. And he looked thin.
I cleared my throat and his gaze shot up to meet mine.