Текст книги "Burned"

Автор книги: P. C. Cast

Соавторы: Kristin Cast,P. C. Cast
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Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 22 страниц)

Thanatos nodded. “You traffic with the Otherworld and the realm of spirits much more than I, Prophetess. All I do is guide the dead as they transition, and through them I glimpse Beyond.”

Aphrodite looked hastily down at Zoey. “She is not dead.”

“Not yet, no. But her body will not last more than seven days in this soulless state, so she is close to death. Close enough that the Other-world has a strong hold on her, stronger even than it has on the newly dead. Touch her again, Prophetess. This time focus and use more of the gifts you’ve been given.”

“But I—”

Annoyingly enough, Thanatos cut her off. “Prophetess, do what Nyx would want you to do.”

“I don’t know what that is!”

Thanatos’s stern expression relaxed, and she smiled again. “Oh, child, simply ask for her help.”

Aphrodite blinked. “Just like that?”

“Yes, Prophetess, exactly like that.”

Slowly, Aphrodite placed her hand back on Zoey’s cold shoulder. This time she closed her eyes and drew three long, deep breaths, just like she’d watched Zoey do before casting a circle. Then she sent a silent but fervent prayer up to Nyx: I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important, but you know that already because you know I don’t like to ask for favors. Not from anyone. Plus, I’m not really good at this supplication bullshit, but you already know that also. Aphrodite sighed internally. Nyx, I need your help. Thanatos seems to think I have some kind of link to the Otherworld. If that’s true, could you please let me know what’s happening to Zoey? She paused in her silent prayer, sighed, and bared herself to Nyx. Goddess, please. And not just because Zoey’s like the sister my mom was too selfish to have. I need your help with this because so many people depend on Zoey, and, sadly, that is more important than me.

Aphrodite felt a warmth begin to build under her palm, and then it was like she’d slipped from her own body and slid into Zoey’s. She was only within her friend for a moment—no longer than one heartbeat—but what she felt and saw and knew shocked her so badly that, in the next instant, she found herself back in her own body. She cradled the hand she’d been pressing against Zoey to her chest, gasping with fear. Then, with a moan, she doubled up with vertigo, dry heaving while tears and spit spewed from her face.

“What is it, Prophetess? What did you see?” Thanatos asked calmly as she wiped Aphrodite’s cheeks and steadied her with a strong hand around her waist.

“She’s gone!” Aphrodite bit back the sob and began pulling herself together. “I felt what happened to her. Just for a second. Zoey threw the full power of spirit at Kalona. She tried to stop him with everything inside her, and it didn’t work. Heath died in front of her. That ripped her spirit to pieces.” Feeling weirdly light-headed, she looked hopelessly through her tears at Thanatos. “You know where she is, too, don’t you?”

“I believe I do. You must confirm it, though.”

“The pieces of her spirit are with the dead in the Otherworld,” Aphrodite said, blinking hard against the stinging of her red-tinged eyes. “Zoey is completely gone. What happened out there, she just couldn’t handle it—she still can’t.”

“You saw nothing more? Nothing that might help Zoey?”

Aphrodite swallowed back rising bile, and lifted her trembling hand. “No, but I’ll try again and—”

Darius’s touch on her shoulder held her back from touching Zoey.

“No. You’re still too weak from the breaking of your Imprint with Stevie Rae.”

“That doesn’t matter. Zoey’s dying!”

“It matters. Do you want your soul to become as Zoey’s?” Thanatos said quietly.

Aphrodite felt a stab of new terror. “No,” she whispered, and covered Darius’s hand with her own.

“And this is exactly why it is often unfortunate that the young are given great gifts by our loving Goddess. They rarely have the maturity to know how to use them wisely,” Neferet said.

At the sound of Neferet’s cool, patronizing voice, Aphrodite saw a jolt go through Stark’s body, and his gaze finally lifted from Zoey.

“This creature shouldn’t be allowed in here! She did this! She killed Heath and shattered Zoey!” Stark sounded like he had to grind the words around gravel to speak them.

Neferet shot him a cool look. “I realize you are under duress, but you cannot be allowed to speak to a High Priestess in that fashion, Warrior.”

Stark surged to his feet. Darius, lightning fast as always, held him back. Aphrodite heard him whisper urgently, “Think before you act, Stark!”

“Warrior,” Duantia addressed Stark, “you were present when the human boy was killed, and Zoey’s soul shattered. You have borne witness to us that it was the winged immortal who did the deed. You said nothing of Neferet.”

“Ask any of Zoey’s friends. Call Lenobia and Dragon Lankford at the Tulsa House of Night. All of them will tell you Neferet doesn’t have to be physically present to cause someone’s death,” Stark said. He shook off Darius’s restraining hand and swiped angrily at his face as if he just noticed he’d been crying.

“Sh-she can make really horrendous things happen even when she’s not there,” Damien spoke up hesitantly from across the room. The Twins and Jack tearfully but forcefully nodded their support.

“There is no proof that Neferet had a hand in this deed,” Duantia said gently to all of them.

“Can’t you tell what happened to Heath? Couldn’t you talk to his ghost or whatever and find out?” Aphrodite asked Thanatos, who had returned to her throne when Neferet had begun to speak.

“The human’s spirit did not tarry in this realm, and before it departed, it certainly didn’t seek me out,” Thanatos said.

“Where’s Kalona!” Stark ignored everyone else and shouted at Neferet. “Where are you hiding your lover, who caused this?”

“If you mean my immortal consort, Erebus, that is exactly why I have come to the Council.” Neferet turned her back to Stark and spoke only to the seven Council members. “I, too, felt Zoey’s soul shatter. I had been walking the labyrinth and mentally preparing myself to depart San Clemente Island for what might be a very long time.”

Neferet had to pause because Stark snorted sarcastically, and said, “You and Kalona plan to take over the world from Capri. So, no, you probably won’t be returning here in the near future unless you mean to drop bombs on the place.”

Darius touched his shoulder again in a silent warning to be careful, but Stark shook him off.

“I do not deny that Erebus and I wish to bring back the ancient days, when vampyres ruled from Capri, and the world revered and respected us, as is our due,” Neferet began by addressing him. “But I would not destroy this island or this Council. In truth, I wish for its support.”

“You mean its power, and now that Zoey’s out of the way, you have a better chance of getting that,” Stark said.

“Really? Did I misunderstand what passed between your Zoey and my Erebus earlier today in this very Council Chamber? She admitted he was an immortal seeking a goddess to serve.”

“She never named him as Erebus!” Stark shouted.

“And my immortal Erebus kindly named her as fallible instead of a liar,” Neferet said.

“So what did you do, Neferet? Force him to kill Heath and shatter Zoey’s soul because you were jealous of the bond between them?” Stark said, though it was obvious to Aphrodite that it was tough for him to admit there had been so much between Zoey and Kalona.

“Of course not! Use your mind and not your pathetic broken heart, Warrior! Could Zoey have forced you to kill an innocent for her? Of course she couldn’t. You’re her Warrior, but you still have free will, and you’re still bound to Nyx, so you must ultimately do the Goddess’s will.” Without allowing Stark to speak, she turned back to the Council. “As I was explaining, I felt Zoey’s soul shatter and was returning to the palace when I came upon Erebus. He was badly wounded and barely conscious. There was only time for him to say these words: ‘I was protecting my Goddess,’ and then he was gone.”

“Kalona’s dead?” Aphrodite couldn’t stop herself from blurting.

Instead of answering her, Neferet turned to look up at the entrance to the Chamber. Standing there were four Council Warriors carrying between them a litter that sagged with the weight of its occupant. One black wing spilled over the side of the litter and dragged on the floor.

“Bring him forward!” Neferet commanded.

Slowly, they descended the steps until they laid the litter on the floor in front of the dais. Stark and Darius automatically moved together to stand between Zoey’s body and Kalona.

“Of course he isn’t dead. He is Erebus, an immortal,” Neferet began in her familiar, haughty voice, but then she broke, and on a sob said, “He isn’t dead, but as you can all see, he’s gone!”

Almost as if she couldn’t control herself, Aphrodite stood and approached Kalona. Darius was beside her in an instant.

“No. Do not touch him,” he warned.

“Whether we call him Erebus or not, it is obvious that this being is an ancient immortal. Because of the power in his blood, the Prophetess will not be able to enter his body, even if his spirit is not present. He doesn’t hold the same danger for her Zoey does, Warrior,” Thanatos said.

“I’m okay. Let me try and see what I can find out,” Aphrodite told Darius.

“I’m right here with you. I’m not going to let go of you,” he said, taking her hand and walking with her to Kalona.

Aphrodite could feel the tension radiating through her Warrior’s body, but she drew three more long, deep breaths and concentrated on Kalona. Hesitating for only an instant, Aphrodite reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, just as she’d done for Zoey. His skin was so cold to the touch that she had to force herself not to pull away. Instead, Aphrodite closed her eyes. Nyx? One more time, please. Just let me know something . . . anything to help all of us. Then Aphrodite’s silent prayer finished with the thought that solidified her bond with the Goddess and finally made her truly a Prophetess in her own right. Please use me as a tool to help fight the darkness and to follow your path.

Her palm warmed, but Aphrodite didn’t need to sink into him to tell Kalona was gone. Darkness told her—and with a jolt she realized she should think of it as a capital D. This was a thing in its own right—an entity vast and powerful and living. It was everywhere. It encompassed the immortal’s entire body. Aphrodite got a very clear image of an inky web, like that spun by a swollen, invisible spider. Its sticky black threads were woven all around his body—holding it—caressing it—binding it tightly, as if in a twisted version of safekeeping because it was obvious the immortal’s body was imprisoned—just as obvious as the fact that what was inside of his body was complete emptiness.

Aphrodite gasped and took her hand quickly from his skin, rubbing it against her thigh as if the black web had tainted her, too. She fell against Darius as her knees gave way.

“It’s just like the inside of Zoey,” she said, as her Warrior lifted her in his arms, purposefully not disclosing that Kalona’s body was basically being held hostage. “He’s not here anymore, either.”

Chapter 5

Zoey

“Zo, you have to wake up. Please! Wake up and talk to me.”

The guy’s voice was nice. I knew he was cute before I opened my eyes. Then I did open my eyes and smiled up at him ’cause I had definitely been right. He was, as my BFF Kayla would say, “a hottie covered with awesome sauce.” Okay, yum! Even though my head was kinda fuzzy, I felt warm and happy. My smile turned into a grin. “I’m awake. Who are you?”

“Zoey, stop playing around. It’s not funny.”

The kid frowned down at me, and I realized all of a sudden that I was lying across his lap in his arms. I sat up fast and scooted a little away from him. I mean, yeah, he was super cute and all, but being in some stranger’s lap was pretty much outside my comfort zone.

“Uh, I’m not trying to be funny.”

His cute face went all still and shocked. “Zo, are you telling me you really don’t know who I am?”

“Okay, look. You know I don’t know who you are. Even though I know it sounds like you know me.” I paused, confused by all the “knows.”

“Zoey, do you know who you are?”

I blinked. “That’s a silly question. Of course I know who I am. I’m Zoey.” It’s a good thing the kid was cute because obviously he wasn’t the brightest Crayola in the pack.

“Do you know where you are?” His voice was gentle, almost hesitant.

I looked around. We were sitting on some really nice soft grass beside a dock that led out to a lake that looked like glass in the gorgeous morning sunlight.

Sunlight?

That was wrong.

Something was wrong.

I swallowed hard and met the guy’s gentle brown eyes. “Tell me your name.”

“Heath. I’m Heath. You know me, Zo. You’ll always know me.”

I did know him.

Flashes of him blinked through my memory like fast-forwarded DVDs: Heath telling me my hacked-off hair looked cute in third grade—Heath saving me from that giant spider that fell on me in front of the entire sixth grade—Heath kissing me for the first time after the football game in eighth grade—Heath drinking too much and pissing me off—me Imprinting with Heath . . . and then Imprinting again, and finally me watching as Heath—

“Oh, Goddess!” My memories coalesced and I remembered. I remembered.

“Zo”—he pulled me back into his arms—“it’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

“How is it going to be okay?” I sobbed. “You’re dead!”

“Zo, babe, it’s just what happens. I wasn’t really scared, and it didn’t even hurt too much.” He rocked me slowly and patted my back as he spoke to me in his calm, familiar voice.

“But I remember! I remember!” I couldn’t stop myself from unattractively snot crying. “Kalona killed you. I saw it. Oh, Heath, I tried to stop him. I really, really did.”

“Shhh, babe, shhh. I know you did. There was nothing you could have done. I called you to me, and you came. You did good, Zo. You did good. Now you have to go back and stand up to him and Neferet. Neferet killed those two vamps from your school, that drama teacher you had and that other guy.”

“Loren Blake?” Shock was drying my tears, and I wiped my face. Heath, as usual, pulled a wad of Kleenex out of his jeans pocket. I stared at them for a second and then surprised both of us by cracking up. “You brought nasty used Kleenex to heaven? Seriously?” I giggled.

He looked offended. “Zo. They so aren’t used. Well, at least not much.”

I shook my head at him and gingerly took the wad, wiping my face.

“Blow your nose, too. You have snot. You always have snot when you cry. That’s why I always have Kleenex.”

“Oh, be quiet! I don’t cry that much,” I said, momentarily forgetting he was dead and all.

“Yeah, but when you do, you snot a lot, so I need to be prepared.”

I stared at him as reality smacked me again. “Then what happens when you’re not there to give me snot rags?” A sob escaped from my throat. “And—and not there to remind me what home is like, what love is like? What being human is like?” I was bawling again, big-time.

“Oh, Zo. You’ll figure that all out on your own. You have lots of time. You’re a big-deal vamp High Priestess. Remember?”

“I don’t want to be,” I told him with complete honesty. “I want to be Zoey and be here with you.”

“That’s just part of you. Hey, maybe it’s part of you that needs to grow up.” He spoke gently in a voice that sounded suddenly too old and wise for my Heath.

“No.” As I said the word, I saw a skittering, inky darkness slide past the edge of my vision. My stomach tightened, and I thought I caught the sharp shape of horns.

“Zo, you can’t change the past.”

“No,” I repeated, and looked away from Heath, peering into what had just moments before been a beautiful, bright meadow framing a perfect lake. This time I definitely saw shadows and figures where there had been nothing but sunlight and butterflies before.

The darkness within the shadows scared me, but the figures that were also within them drew me like bright things draw babies. Eyes flashed within the intensifying gloom, and I caught a good look at one pair of them. I felt a jolt of recognition. They reminded me of someone . . .

“I know someone out there.”

Heath took my chin in his hand and forced me to look from the shadows to him. “Zo, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to gawk around here. You just need to make up your mind to go home and then click your heels together, or do some kind of High Priestess extra-special-zapping-magick-stuff and get back to the real world where you belong.”

“Without you?”

“Without me. I’m dead,” he said softly, stroking the side of my cheek with fingers that felt all too alive. “I’m supposed to be here; actually, I kinda think this is just the first step of where I’m supposed to be. But you’re still alive, Zo. You don’t belong here.”

I pulled my face from his hand and lurched away from him, standing up and shaking my head, making my hair fly around me like a crazy woman. “No! I won’t go back without you!”

Another shadow caught my eye from what was now a dark, writhing mist that surrounded us, and I was sure I saw the sharp glint of pointed horns. Then the mist boiled again, and a shadow took on a more human form, peering at me from out of the darkness. “I know you,” I whispered to the eyes that were so much like mine, only they looked older and sadder—a lot sadder.

Then another shape took her place. These eyes met mine, too, only they weren’t sad. They were taunting and blue, but that didn’t erase their familiarity.

“You . . .” I whispered, trying to pull myself from Heath’s arms, which were holding me tightly against his body.

“Don’t look. Just pull yourself together and go home, Zo.”

But I couldn’t stop looking. Something inside compelled me. I saw another face framed by eyes I knew—and this time I knew them well enough that the knowledge lent me strength, and I pulled away from Heath, turning him so he could see where I pointed into the gloom. “Holy crap, Heath! Look at that. It’s me!”

And it was. The “me” froze as we stared at each other. She was probably about nine years old, and she blinked up at me in terrified silence.

“Zoey Look at me.” Heath wrenched me around, holding my shoulders in a grip that I knew would cause bruises later. “You have to get out of here.”

“But that’s me as a kid.”

“I think all of them are you—pieces of you. Something’s happened to your soul, Zoey, and you gotta get out of here so that it can get fixed.”

Suddenly I felt dizzy and sagged in his arms. I don’t know how I knew, but I did. The words I spoke were as true and as final as his death. “I can’t leave, Heath. Not unless all those pieces of me are me again. And I don’t know how to make that happen—I just don’t know!”

Heath pressed his forehead against mine. “Well, Zo, maybe you should try using that annoying mom voice you used on me when I drank too much and tell them to, I dunno, to stop all this bullpoopie and get back inside you where they belong.”

He sounded so much like me that he almost made me smile. Almost.

“But if I’m back together, I’ll have to leave here. I can feel it, Heath,” I whispered to him.

“If you don’t put yourself back together, you won’t ever leave here because you’re gonna die, Zo. I can feel that.”

I looked into his warm, familiar eyes. “Would that be so bad? I mean, this place seems a lot better than the mess that’s waiting for me back in the real world.”

“No, Zoey.” Heath sounded pissed. “It’s not okay here. Not for you.”

“Well, maybe that’s ’cause I’m not dead. Yet.” I swallowed and admitted, only to myself, that saying it out loud did sound kinda scary.

“I think there’s more to it than that.”

Heath wasn’t looking at me anymore. He was staring over my shoulder, and his eyes had gone all big and round. I turned around. The writhing figures that looked uncomfortably like bizarre, unfinished versions of me were hovering in and out of the black mist, milling and chattering and basically acting weirdly super nervous. Then there was a flash of light that turned into a huge set of dangerous, pointed horns, and with a terrible flapping noise, something descended on that end of the meadow, causing those spirits, those ghosts, those incomplete pieces of me to begin to scream and scream and scream while they scattered and disappeared before it.

“What happens now?” I asked Heath, trying—unsuccessfully—to keep the terror from my voice as we started backing across the meadow.

Heath took my hand and squeezed. “I don’t know, but I’ll be here with you through all of it. And right now,” he whispered in a voice filled with tension, “don’t look behind you, just come with me and run!”

For one of the few times in my life, I didn’t argue with him. I didn’t question him. I did exactly what he said. I held on to Heath and ran.