No, girl, I only seen you and your boy here sucking face, Kramisha said quickly.
I wondered if maybe she hadnt answered a little too quickly.
Aww! Are Erik and Z making out? Thats so sweet! Seemingly from nowhere, Jack suddenly materialized behind Kramisha, Duchess woofing and wagging by his side.
Z, dont freak. You probably just saw more of those bats, Erik said, squeezing my shoulder reassuringly before he nodded at Jack. Hey there, Jack. I thought youd be basking in a hot shower by now.
Hes gonna, but he came to help me get some towels and stuff, Kramisha said. And, yeah, there is definitely bats down here. They dont mess with us if we dont mess with them. Then she yawned and did a seriously impressive stretch that made her look like a long, lean black cat. Since you here, how bout you two helping Jack carry the stuff back to the showers and Ill just take me a little beauty sleep?
No problem. Wed be glad to help, I said, regaining my voice and feeling like a moron for letting bats in a dark tunnel almost scare the poopie out of me. Jeesh, I must really need some sleep. Erik and I·ƒI were just heading to the bathrooms.
Kramisha gave us a long, slow look that wasnt any less knowing because she was sleepy. Uh-huh. You looked like you was headin to the bathrooms.
I felt myself blush again.
She turned, and I thought she was going to (bizarrely) walk right into the tunnel wall behind her, but instead she disappeared into it. Then I heard a match strike and a flickering lantern illuminated a hollowed-out section of the tunnel, just a little bit smaller than Dallass room. Kramisha hung the lantern on a spike and then looked over her shoulder at us.
Well? What you waitin for?
Oh, yeah, okay, I said.
Jack, Duchess, Erik, and I moved up beside Kramisha to look into the new room. It actually had shelves built into the squared cement walls and looked just like a tidy closet. I gazed at neat piles of folded towels and, weirdly enough, big puffy bathrobes that Duchess was nosing around.
Is that dog sanitary? Kramisha asked.
Damien says that a dogs mouth is cleaner than a humans, Jack said, patting the big yellow Lab on her head.
We aint humans, Kramisha said. So could you please keep her big wet nose off the merchandise?
Fine. But try to remember that shes been through a trauma and her feelings are easily hurt.
While Jack pulled Duchess over to him and had a very serious conversation with her about keeping her nose off things, I stared at the piles of stuff. Huh. Who knew all this was here?
Aphrodite, Kramisha said as she filled our arms with terry cloth. She paid for it. Or her mamas gold card money did. You wouldnt believe all the stuff you can order from Pottery Barn if you got unlimited credit. Its made me decide once and for all on my future career.
Really? What do you want to do? Jack asked. Duchess sitting politely beside him, he held his arms out to be filled with towels and robes.
Im gonna be an author. One of those rich ones. With an unlimited gold card. Do you know people act different to you when you got you some serious credit?
Yeah, I guess. I have seen store people kiss the Twins butts, Jack said. Their families have money, too. He whispered the last part like it was a big secret, which it wasnt. Everyone knew the Twins parents were rich. Okay, not Aphrodite rich, but still. Theyd bought me boots for my birthday that cost almost $400. Thats definitely rich to me.
Well. I decided I like me some butt-kissing. So Im gonna get me some. Okay, thats enough stuff. Come on. Ill walk partway back with you, but when we get to my room, Im crashing. Jack, you can find the way back to the showers, cant you?
Yep, he said.
We walked down the tunnel, following it as it curved to the right. The next blanketed doorway we came to was covered with a shimmering strip of purple silk.
This heres my room. Kramisha saw me staring at the amazing material masquerading as a door, and she smiled. Its a curtain from Pier One. They dont deliver, but they do take unlimited gold cards.
Its a great color, I said, thinking how moronic it was for me to be imagining booger monsters in every shadow when the place had been Pier Onedecorated.
Thanks. I like me some color. Its an important part of decoration. Wanna see my room?
Yeah, I said.
Definitely, Jack said.
Kramisha looked from Jack to Duchess. She potty trained?
Jack bristled. Of course. Shes a perfect lady.
She better be, Kramisha grumbled, then she pulled the curtain to the side and made a graceful flourish with her free hand. You may enter my space.
Kramishas room was about twice the size of Stevie Raes. She had two lanterns and a dozen scented candles lit, which gave the fresh paint smell a hint of citrus. Shed obviously recently painted the round cement walls a bright lime color. Her furniture was dark woodbed, dresser, nightstand, and bookcase. She didnt have any chairs, but piled around the room were huge satin pillows in bold purples and pinks, which matched the linens on her bed. On said bed were half a dozen books, with bookmarks in them or lying open, like she was in the middle of reading all of them at the same time. I noticed that they, along with the books in the bookcase, had Dewey Decimal stickers on their spines. Kramisha noticed me noticing.
Central Library downtown. They stay open real late on weekends.
I didnt know the library let you check out this many books at the same time, Jack said.
Kramisha fidgeted. They dont. Not technically. Not less you do a little this and a little that with they minds. Ill give em back soon as I can get to Borders and buy my own, she added.
I sighed and added committing library theft to the list in my head of things the red fledglings needed to be encouraged to stop doing, and as I made the mental addition I also chastised myself. Kramisha definitely looked guilty about ripping off library books. Would a kid who still had monstrous tendencies be worried about petty theft? No, no, hell no, I told myself, automatically wandering over to the bed to read some of the titles. There was a huge copy of the complete works of Shakespeare, as well as an illustrated hardback of Jane Eyre, which was piled on top of a book called The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee. There was also a hardback edition of Dragon-flight by Anne McCaffrey lying beside Thug-A-Licious, Candy Licker, and G-Spot by an author whose name was blazed as Noire. Those three books were open with their extremely nasty-looking covers spread wide. Totally curious, I put my pile of towels down on the bright pink bedspreaded bed, picked up Thug-A-Licious, and began reading at the open page.
I swear my retinas started to burn with the heat of the scene.
Book porn. I like it, Erik said from over my shoulder.
Um, they some of my research. Kramisha quickly plucked the book from my fingers, shooting Erik a smooth look. And from what I seen out there, you dont need no help.
I felt my face get hot again and sighed.
Hey, cool poetry, I heard Jack say. Glad for the distraction, I looked up to see Jack pointing at several posters neatly hot-glued to Kramishas green walls. They were filled with poetry, all written in the same curling script in different colors of fluorescent Magic Markers.
You like it? Kramisha said.
Yeah, its great. I really like poetry, Jack said.
They mine. I wrote em, Kramisha said.
Are you kidding? Man, I thought they were from a book or something. Youre really good, Jack said.
Thanks, I told you Im gonna be an author. A famous, rich one with major gold card power.
I vaguely heard Erik join the discussion. All of my attention had become focused on one short poem that was written in black on a blood-red poster. You wrote that one, too? I asked, not caring that I was interrupting their discussion of whether they liked Robert Frost better than Emily Dickinson.
I wrote all a them, she said. I always did like writin, but since I was Marked I been doing it more and more. They just come to me. I been hopin I can write more than poems. I like em and all, but poets, they dont make no money. See, I researched careers at Central Library, too, cause, you know, it stay open late. Anyhow, them poets dont make
KramishaI cut her offwhen did you write that one? My stomach felt funny and my mouth had gone dry.
I wrote all them in the past few days. You know, since Stevie Rae got us our sense back. Before that I didnt think much bout anything cept eatin humans. She smiled apologetically and lifted one shoulder.
So you wrote that onethe one in blackin the past couple of days? I pointed at the poem.
Shadows in shadows
He watches through
dreams
Wings black as Africa
Body strong as stone
Done waiting
The ravens call.
Jack gasped as he read it for the first time.
Oh, Goddess! I heard Erik say under his breath as he, too, read the poem.
Thats easy. Its the last one I wrotejust yesterday. I was Her words ran out as she understood our reactions. Shit! Its bout him!
CHAPTER 8
What made you write it? I asked, still staring at the black words.
Kramisha had sat down heavily on her bed, all of a sudden looking almost as exhausted as Stevie Rae. She was shaking her head back and forth, back and forth, making her orange and black hair dance against her smooth cheeks. It just come to me, like all the stuff I write do. Things just come into my head, and then I write it down.
What did you think it meant? Jack asked, patting her arm gently, a lot like he patted Duchess (she was curled up by his feet).
I didnt really think bout it. It come to me. I write it. Thats all. She paused, glanced up at the poster board, and then looked quickly away, as if what she saw scared her.
Are these all poems youve written in the days since Stevie Rae Changed? I shifted my attention to the other poems. There were several haiku.
Eyes watching always
Shadows in shadows they wait
A black feather falls
First accepted, loved
Then betrayedspit in the face
Vengeance sweet like dots
Sweet, blessed Nyx. Eriks shocked voice came from behind me, kept low for my ears alone to hear. Theyre all about him.
What does sweet like dots mean? Jack was asking Kramisha.
You knowdippin dots. I love me some dippin dots, she said.
Erik and I moved around Kramishas room. The more I read, the tighter the knot my stomach curled into.
They done
Wrong
Like ink from a busted pen
Thrown away cause of someone else
Used up
But he come back
Dressed in night
Fine as a king
With his queen
The wrong
Made right
So right
Kramisha, what were you thinking about when you wrote this one? I asked her, pointing at the last one Id read.
She shrugged that one shoulder again. I guess I thought bout how we out of the House of Night, but we shouldnt be. I mean, I know its best for us underground, but it just dont feel right that only Neferet know about us. She a wrong kind of High Priestess.
Kramisha, would you do me a favor and copy down all of these poems?
You think I messed up, dont you?
No. I do not think you messed up, I assured her, hoping I was being guided correctly by my instincts and wasnt just chasing bats in the darkness again. I think youve been given a gift from Nyx. I just want to be sure we use your gift in the right way.
I think shes Vamp Poet Laureate material, and a major improvement over our last one, Erik said.
I looked up at him sharply, and he shrugged and grinned. It was just a thought, thats all.
Okay, even though it made me uncomfortable to think about Loren, especially when Erik had been the one to bring him up, I felt the rightness of what he was saying down deep in my gut, which said more about Kramishas true nature than my exhausted guessing and my apparently overactive imagination were telling me. Nyx obviously had her hand on this kid. What the hell. Im the only High Priestess we have. I can make a proclamation. Kramisha, Im going to make you our first Poet Laureate.
Whaaaaat?! Are you kiddin? You kiddin, aint ya?
Im not kidding. Were a new kind of vamp group. Were a civilized new kind of vamp group, and that means we need a Poet Laureate. Youre it.
Um, I agree and everything with you, Z, but doesnt the council have to vote on a new Poet Laureate? Jack said.
Yep, and I have my Council down here with me. I realized Jack had been talking about the Council of Nyx, the one Shekinah had been head of that ruled all vampyres. But I had a Council also, a Prefect Council, acknowledged by the school, made up of me, Erik, the Twins, Damien, Aphrodite, and Stevie Rae.
Kramisha has my vote, Erik said.
See, its practically official, I said.
Yea! Jack cheered.
Its a crazy idea, but I like it. Kramisha beamed.
So, write those poems down for me before you go to sleep, kay?
Yeah, I can do that.
Come on, Jack. Our Poet Laureate needs to get her sleep, Erik said. Hey, congratulations, Kramisha.
Yeah, big congrats! Jack said, giving Kramisha a hug.
Yall go on now. I got work to do. Then I gotta get my rest. A Poet Laureate do have to look her best, Kramisha said primly, finishing up with a couplet.
Erik and I followed Jack and Duchess out of Kramishas room and down the tunnel.
Was that poem really about Kalona? Jack said.
I think they all were, I said. Do you? I asked Erik.
He nodded grimly.
Ohmigod! Whats that mean? Jack said.
I dont have a clue. Nyx is at work, though. I can feel it. The prophecy came to us in poem form. Now this? It cant be a coincidence.
If its the work of the Goddess, then there must be some way we can use it to help us, Erik said.
Yeah, thats what I think, too.
We just have to figure out how, Erik said.
Thats gonna take someone with more brains than me, I said.
There was a short pause, and then the three of us spoke together, Damien.
Spooky shadows, bats, and my worries about the red fledglings temporarily forgotten, I hurried down the tunnel with Erik and Jack.
The door to the depots over here. Jack led us through the surprisingly homelike kitchen to a side room that was obviously a pantry, though Id bet what used to be stored there was more liquid than the bags of chips and boxes of cereal it now held. All along one wall, rolled neatly, piled side by side and on top of each other, were a bunch of puffy sleeping bags and pillows.
So is that the way into the depot? I pointed to a wooden pull-down staircase in the corner of the storage closet that led up to an open door.
Yeah, thats it. Jack said.
Jack went first and I followed him, poking my head up into the supposedly abandoned building. My first impression was of darkness and dust, fragmented every few minutes by what looked like a strobe-light effect of flashes of sudden brightness leaking through the boarded-up windows and door. When I heard the rumble of thunder, I understood and remembered what Erik had said about a major thunderstorm going on, which wouldnt be unusual for Tulsa, even in early January.
But this wasnt a normal day, and I couldnt help but believe this also wasnt a normal thunderstorm.
Before I did any looking around I pulled my cell phone out of my purse. I opened it. No service.
Mine hasnt worked, either. Not since we got here, Erik said.
Mines charging down in the kitchen, but I know Damien checked his when we got up here, and he didnt have any service, either.
You know bad weather can knock the towers out, Erik said in response to what Im sure was my sickeningly worried expression. Remember that big storm a month or so ago? My cell didnt work for three entire days.
Thanks for trying to make me feel better, but I justjust dont believe this is a natural phenomenon.
Yeah, he said quietly. I know.
I drew a deep breath. Well, natural or not, we were going to have to deal with it, and right now there wasnt a darn thing we could do about our isolation here. There was a storm raging outside, and we werent ready to face it yet.
So first things first. I squared my shoulders and looked around. Wed come up in a little room that had a half wall, and then bank tellerlike windows cut in the real wall, complete with tarnished brass bars on the front. I decided quickly it must have been the depot ticket office. From there we entered a huge room. The floor was marble and it still looked slick and butterlike in the dimness. The walls were weird, though. All kinda rough and bare from the floor up to about a foot or so above my head, and then the decorations started. They were blurred by dust and time and inattention, and there were cobwebs hanging all over (eesh, first bats and now spiders!), but the vibrant old Art Deco colors were still visible, telling stories of Native American mosaic patterns, feather headdresses, horses, leather, and fringe.
I gazed around at the corroded beauty, and thought this could make a great school. It was big and it had the same kind of grace as many of Tulsas downtown buildings had, thanks to the oil boom and 1920s Art Deco styling. Lost in thought of what might someday be, I walked across the empty lobby, peeking around, noticing hallways that stretched off from this one big room, leading to others, wondering if there were enough of them for several classrooms. We took one of those hallways and it dead-ended at wide double glass doors. Jack bobbed his head at them. Thats the gym. We all gazed through the time-dirtied glass. In the nonlight I could just make out blobs of shapes that looked like great sleeping beasts from a dead world. And over theres the door to the boys locker room. Jack pointed to a closed door to the right of the gym. And theres the girls.
Okay, well, Im going to hit the showers, I said lamely. Erik, would you and Jack let Damien know about Kramishas poems? Tell him if he has to talk to me about it Ill be in Stevie Raes room, hopefully sound asleep for at least a few hours. If it can wait, well all meet and try to figure out what it could mean after weve rested. I shifted the towels and bathrobes Id been clutching so I could wipe sleepily at my face.
You need to rest, Z. Not even you can go through all of this and keep functioning without sleep, Erik said.
Yeah, if Damien wasnt staying awake with me, Id be scared of falling asleep on watch duty, Jack said, and yawned for punctuation.
The Twins will take over for you soon. I smiled at Jack. Just hold on till then. My smile widened to include Erik. Ill see you soon. Both of you.
I started to turn away and Eriks touch on my arm stopped me. Hey, were together again. Arent we?
I met Eriks eyes and saw his vulnerability through the pretend confidence of his smile. He wouldnt understand if I said I needed to talk to him about, well, sex before I agreed to get back together with him. That would hurt his ego as well as his heart and then Id be back where I was before, with me kicking myself for being the cause of us being apart.
So I simply said, Yeah, were together again.
The sweet vulnerability was reflected in the kiss he bent to place on my lips. It wasnt a groping, demanding, were-gonna-have-sex-now kiss. It was a warm, gentle, Im-so-glad-were-back-together kiss, and it utterly melted me.
Get some sleep. Ill see you soon, he whispered. He kissed my forehead quickly, then he and Jack disappeared through the boys locker room door.
I stood there for a while, just looking at the closed door and thinking. Had I been wrong about the change in Erik? Had I misunderstood what was behind his passion in the tunnel? After all, he wasnt a fledgling anymore. He was a fully Changed, adult vampyre. That made him a man, even though he was still nineteen, just like hed been less than a week ago, before hed Changed.
Maybe the increase in the sexual tension between us was natural, and not just because he thought I was a skank now that Id given up my virginity. Erik was a man, I repeated the thought to myself. I already knew from the disaster with Loren Blake that being with a man was different than being with a boy or a fledgling. Erik was a fully Changed vampyre, like Loren had been. The thought sent nervous skitters through my body. Like Loren wasnt a particularly good analogy. But Erik definitely was not Loren! Erik had never used me or lied to me. Erik was Changed, but he was still the Erik I knew and might even love. I really shouldnt be stressing myself out with worrying about this. The sex thing would work itself out. I mean, compared to an ancient immortal coming after us, Neferet having the school in her evil clutches, me freaking about whether there is or isnt something bizarre going on with the red fledglings, Grandma being in a coma, and the nasty Raven Mockers wreaking havoc in Tulsa, whether or not Erik would try to pressure me into having sex with him should be a stress break, or at least a stress vacation. Shouldnt it?
Z! There you are. Would you come on? Erin stuck her head out of the girls locker room door. There was a huge cloud of steam wafting around behind her and I could see that she was wearing only her bra and panties (matching, of course, from Victorias Secret).
With an effort I put Erik out of my mind. Sorrysorry, Im coming, I said and hurried into the locker room.
CHAPTER 9
Okay, taking a group shower with girls who had affinities for water and fire was an experience that went from awkward to interesting to pretty darn funny.
At first it was awkward because, well, even though were all girls, were not exactly used to communal showers. These werent horribly barbaric. There were about half a dozen shower heads (which were all bright and shiny and new lookingIm sure thanks to either Kramisha or Dallas or both, with help from Aphrodites popular gold card). Each of them had a separate shower stall one right after another. No, there werent any doors or shower curtains or anything. Actually, there was a rail at the top of each one, so my guess was that there used to be shower curtains back in the day, but they were long gone. Oh, the stalls for the toilets did have doors, even if they didnt want to stay latched. So it was awkward to be naked with my friends at first. But we are all girls, hetero girls at that, so we really werent interested in each others boobies and such, no matter how hard that is for guys to comprehend, so the awkward part didnt last long. Plus, the entire locker room was filled with dense steam, which gave the illusion of privacy.
Then, after I picked my shower stall, chose from the lovely assortment of bath and hair products, and started to soap up, it hit me that it was really steamy. As in unnaturally so. And that the unnaturally so was happening because all of the shower heads, even in the unoccupied stalls, were shooting jets of hot water from them, causing warm mist to rise and swirl, almost as thick as smoke.
Hmm
Hey! I stuck my head over my stall trying to see the Twins in their showers. Are you guys doing something to the water?
Huh? Shaunee said, wiping shampoo bubbles out of her eyes. What?
This, I flailed my arms causing the thick mist to billow around me dreamily. All of this doesnt seem like its happening without some help from certain someones who know how to manipulate fire and water.
Us? Miss Fire and Miss Water? Erin said. I could barely see the top of her bright blond head through the steam. Whatever could she mean, Twin?
I do believe our Z is implying wed use our goddess-given affinities for something as selfish as making thick, warm, sweet-smelling mist to help relax all of us after weve just had a day that was ever so horrible, Shaunee said with mock Southern Belle innocence.
Would we do that, Twin? Erin asked.
We absolutely would, Twin, Shaunee said.
For shame, Twin. For shame, Erin said with mock severity. And then they dissolved into twin giggles.
I rolled my eyes at them, but realized Shaunee had been right. The mist was sweet-smelling. It reminded me of spring rain, filled with the fresh scents of flowers and grass, and it was warmno, the water was hot, like a lazy summer day at the beach. The truth was even though the room was occasionally semi-illuminated by flashes of lightning from the storm that was raging outside, and even though booming thunder was uncomfortably loud, the atmosphere the Twins had created was utterly soothing.
So heres where the interesting part came in. I decided that.
Hey, are you sending any of this over to the guys locker room? I asked as I scrubbed my hair.
Nope, Shaunee said happily.
Nada. Erin grinned.
I smiled back at them. Its good to be a girl.
Yeah, even if we do have to get butt-ass naked together and shower in what looks like a line of horse stalls, Erin said.
I giggled. Horse stalls. I think that makes you guys nags.
Nags! Us? Erin said.
Oh no, she did not just call us nags, Shaunee said.
Get her! Erin yelled, and she flung her hands at me, causing water to pelt me from all sides.
Of course it didnt really hurt, so it made me giggle even more.
Im heating her up, Twin! Shaunee said, flicking her fingers at me, and my skin was suddenly very, very warm. So much so that the steam in my stall doubled.
In between giggles I whispered, Wind, come to me, and instantly felt the brush of power surround me. Swirling my fingers in the steamy mist that engulfed me, I said, Wind, send all this back to the Twins! Then I pursed my lips and blew gently in their direction. With a mighty whoosh the mist and heat and water whirled around me once, twice, and then blew directly at the Twins, who screeched and laughed and tried to fight back. Of course they couldnt win. I mean, come on! I can call on all five elements, but it was a hilarious version of a pillow fightwater fight that left all of us drenched and breathless with laughter.
We finally called a truce. Okay, more accurately, I made the Twins yell, We give! We give! several times, and then I graciously accepted their surrender. It was wonderful to slip into soft terry-cloth robes and feel all squeaky clean and sleepy. We draped our clothes around the shower stalls and called water and mist once more to steam them, and then I commanded fire and air to blow them dry. Then the three of us drifted back down to the tunnels, ignoring the crack-and-boom show that was playing outside, secure in that fact that we were surrounded by the earth and protected by male vampyres who would no way let anyone sneak up on us.
Id say Stevie Rae had been dead to the world when I got back to her room, but the phrasing scared me. Shed been dead, or almost dead, too many times for my nerves. I will admit I tiptoed over to her and stood there staring to make sure she was breathing before going to my side of the bed and easing myself in under the covers. Nala put her head up and sneezed at me, clearly unhappy at being disturbed, but she padded sleepily over to me and curled up on my pillow, resting one little white paw on my robes. I smiled at her and, clean and warm and very, very tired, fell instantly to sleep.
Then Id had that horrible dream, which brought me back to current time. Id hoped replaying everything that had happened in the past several hours would be like counting sheep and maybe help me drift back into a hopefully dreamless sleep. But it was no use. I was too freaked about Kalona and too worried about what I was supposed to do next.
My cell phone was on the bedside table and I picked it up, checking the time: 2:05 P.M. So, great, Id gotten a whopping three hours of sleep. No wonder I felt like my eyes had sand in them. Brown pop. I needed some brown pop in the worst way.
I checked Stevie Rae again before I left the room, this time being careful not to wake her up. She was curled up on her side, snoring softly and looking about twelve years old. It was hard to imagine her ever having blood red eyes, snarling dangerously, and chomping on Aphrodite with such intensity that the two of them had Imprinted. I sighed, feeling like the entire world was pressing down on me. How was I supposed to deal with all of this, especially when the good guys sometimes seemed bad, and the bad guys were sosoImages of Stark and Kalona passed through my mind, making me feel terribly confused and stressed out.