“What if you go back temporarily. Just long enough to train your replacement. I really could use you here. The depot tunnels house the only House of Night for red fledglings. You’d be a better High Priestess to them than me.”
“Really?” Stevie Rae’s blue eyes sparkled happily.
“Really,” I said. “What with Stark and Kramisha added to the staff here, I have a few extra priestesses. I’m sure one of them would love to check out Chicago.”
“What about Damien? New York can’t be any easier to integrate than Chicago.”
“Damien finished the yearly professor evaluations at his House of Night early,” I said.
“’Course he did,” Stevie Rae said with a grin.
“Yeah, he’s super organized. He gushed about one young High Priestess in particular. I think I remember that her name is Monique. Anyway, in his evaluation he went on and on about how skillful she is at brainstorming creative answers to dead-end problems. Perhaps Damien should groom her to take his place in New York.” And then return to T-Town and help me organize the administrative mess I’ve buried myself under.
“Z, you’re gonna make three people real happy this holiday!”
Feeling lighthearted, I linked my arm with my BFF and, like giggling preteens, we skipped to catch up with the rest of our group.
Everyone was waiting for us at the rocky ridge that looked down on the walled, concealed grotto prison.
“All right, does everyone remember their parts?” I asked.
Aphrodite, Shaunee, Shaylin, and Stevie Rae all nodded. I met Damien’s sad gaze. “Honey, I need you to stay up here with Stark and Rephaim.”
“But I really wanted to be part of the circle, even if I can’t call air,” he spoke quietly, miserably.
“I don’t think it’s safe. Aphrodite’s vision took place down there.” I pointed to the place beside the grotto wall where I’d decided to cast the circle and set the new protection spell. “You were killed, Damien.”
“But by Jack, and that’s impossible,” he insisted.
“Seriously, Damien? You’re going to argue about what’s possible and what isn’t after everything that happened last year?” Aphrodite said, though she spoke kindly. “I don’t understand the vision Nyx sent me. I do understand I was in a body that died. And that body was holding your yellow candle. It’s not safe for you down there. Hell, I don’t even like the fact that you’re going to be up here. My vote was for you to wait back at the House of Night with Grandma Redbird and Nicole.”
Aphrodite’s gaze met mine. I’d vetoed her vote and allowed Damien to come with us. I just couldn’t bear the misery in Damien’s eyes. He personified air and had been part of my circle since the first time I’d cast one so long ago. I couldn’t leave him behind.
“I won’t run. I’ll close the circle if something crazy happens. That wouldn’t change whether Damien was here watching or not,” I told her firmly.
“What does that mean?” Damien asked.
“Nothing!” Aphrodite, Darius, Stark, and I all said together. Yeah, the four of us had decided to leave some of the details out of the vision she retold to Damien. He didn’t need to know his breaking the circle had let the tide of zombie things loose on Tulsa. I’d been forewarned. My running wouldn’t happen until after my circle was closed. I could say that for sure. But if there was even the slightest chance something to do with Jack might happen, none of us believed Damien would be in any shape to make the right decision—the safe decision.
“It means that whatever happens tonight we’re all going to be clear-headed,” I said. “That’s why Stark and Rephaim are going to wait up here with you, Damien.”
“To make sure I don’t do something idiotic,” Damien said sadly.
“No. To make sure the circle stays safe,” Stark said—only semilying.
“Hey, I’d rather be down there with Stevie Rae,” Rephaim said. “But I don’t want to distract her.”
“Damien, we have a perfect view up here. If anything goes wonky, we’ll know it and we can warn Z and the circle. I can cover them easily from up here.” He patted the full quiver of arrows strapped to his side.
“Yeah, Stark and I are glad for another set of eyes to watch with us,” Rephaim added.
“And I’ll go down to ground level with the circle,” Darius said. “If you see anything—yell. I’ll get them out.”
“Sounds good.” I turned to Shaylin, taking an instant to admire her adult vampyre tattoo. Hokusai’s Great Wave looked amazing in scarlet. The tattoo was layered, with wave upon wave, giving it the appropriate effect of having an aura. “Shaylin, could you please check each of the five of us out before we cast the circle and set the spell? Our intentions have to be solid. I need to know for sure that we’re all ready.”
“Of course, High Priestess,” she said formally. Then Shaylin studied each of my friends. It didn’t take long. Her skill at reading auras had definitely gotten quicker during the past year. “We all look good. And I do mean me, too. I checked myself out in a mirror before we left the House of Night.” Shaylin paused, sending me a questioning look. I nodded slightly, and she continued. “Damien, your aura is usually like a summer sky—all bright and billowy with stuff that looks like cumulus clouds swirling in it. But right now your sky colors look bruised and thunderstormish.”
“What does that mean?” he asked, sounding uncharacteristically hesitant.
“Nothing awful,” she assured him. “Just that you’re stretching yourself thin. Even if Aphrodite hadn’t had that vision I would be recommending to Zoey that you sit this circle out. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry for telling the truth. It’s okay.” Damien made an effort to smile, which was only a so-so success. “I’ll stay up here with Stark. I do feel tired.”
“I’m going to take care of that when we’re done here. I have an idea,” I said. “An outstanding idea.”
“Great. That’s never gone wrong before,” Aphrodite muttered.
“Be nice,” I said.
“It’s hard to be nice and honest,” she said.
I ignored her.
“Okay, do all of you have your props?”
My four friends nodded. I lifted my hand and felt for the redbird feather Grandma had woven into my hair just before we left. “All right, remember our intention. It’s simple and clear—protection against Neferet. That’s it. That and calling your element are the only things you need to be thinking about down there. Got it?”