Hidden (House of Night Novels) (38 page)

“Zoey, watch out!” Stark shouted.

I looked from Aurox in time to see Neferet closing on me. She was still staring at the mirror I held. Tears of blood streamed from her eyes. She had torn her own flesh with her claw-like hands. She raised them, blood-soaked and deadly. “You bitch! I won’t let you bring it all back to me! Nyx be damned—I’ll kill you myself!” Neferet rushed me.

Aurox hit her hard. He still was beast enough to have horns, and one long, white tip speared Neferet in the middle of her chest. Momentum carried them forward and together they crashed through the remnants of the web Kalona had been battling. The winged immortal jumped aside as the part beast, part boy carried a writhing, screaming Neferet across the balcony. It took less than a breath for them to reach the stone balustrade. The inhuman power of the beast’s body shattered it and the two of them fell off the rooftop.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Zoey

I dropped the mirror and ran forward. “Kalona! Save him!” The immortal was in motion before I’d finished the command. Wings spread, he leaped over the broken balustrade and disappeared. I rushed after him, coming to a halt at the edge of the roof. Peering down, I saw Kalona grab Aurox’s ankle just moments before the boy, who was now completely human again, hit the pavement.

Neferet wasn’t as lucky. I could see her. She’d hit the sharp edge of the building and had tumbled and fallen, landing in the middle of Fifth Street. From this height, she looked like a broken doll. Her neck was twisted. Her arms and legs bent all in the wrong direction. Her head was a dark pool of blood.

Thanatos joined me, putting a strong arm around me as if she was afraid I might fall after Neferet. Then everyone was there, beside me. Stark took me from Thanatos and held me while I trembled and continued to stare down at Neferet’s body. Kalona landed on the rooftop with Aurox. Aphrodite helped Grandma. She slipped her hand inside mine.

“My
u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya,
come away from this terrible sight,” she said.

Still I did not look away. So when Neferet’s body began to convulse I saw it. I watched everything. Her arms and legs flailed. Her hair lifted. Her back arched. And then the Tsi Sgili seemed to dissolve. From within the folds of her blood-soaked clothes, thousands of black spiders exploded, skittering into the gutter and disappearing into the darkness.

Then I looked away. I faced Thanatos. “She’s not dead.”

The High Priestess of Death answered me, though I hadn’t framed the words as a question.

“I do not know.” Thanatos looked pale and shaken. “I have never seen, never even imagined, what we all just witnessed.”

I felt very quiet inside. I wasn’t tired. I wasn’t crying. I wasn’t pissed. I was just very, very calm. “I think we better get ready. My gut says Neferet is going to come at us again,” I said.

“Yes, Priestess. I agree,” Thanatos said.

I put my arm around Grandma’s waist, and let her lean on me. “You need to go to the hospital,” I told her gently.

“No, my
u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya.
I need only to go home.”

I looked into her gentle eyes. “I understand completely, Grandma. Stark and I will get you home.”

“You have to do something first,” Stark said.

“She can kiss you and tell you she loves you later. Let’s get out of here. The spider thing was the cherry on this shit sundae of a night. I need a bath and a Xanax,” Aphrodite said.

I didn’t say anything. I was getting a weird vibe from Stark. “Wait here. Everyone needs to see this.” He squeezed my hand and then he went into the penthouse. He came back a second later, holding my Seer Stone from its broken chain.

It was Lifesaver-shaped again, and looked totally harmless. I knew better, so when he handed it to me I handled it gingerly, like the unexploded bomb it was, and I was stuffing it into my jeans’ pocket when Stark stopped me.

“No, don’t put it away. Lift it. Point it at Aurox. Say the spell again.”

“Huh?” Suddenly I didn’t sound so grown and together and brilliant.

“Me?” Everyone turned to stare at Aurox. Well, the kid looked like crap. His clothes were all ripped up and his face and hands were bruised and bloody. “Why me?”

“Because when you gored Neferet I caught your reflection in that magick mirror. Everyone needs to see what I saw,” Stark said. “Do the spell thing again, Zoey.”

“I don’t even know if it’ll work again. It’s that old magick stuff. It’s weird and totally unpredictable,” I said.

“Recite the spell,
u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya
,” Grandma said.

“I don’t have—”

Stark handed me the crumpled purple paper. “Yes, you do.”

“Well, okay then.” I lifted the Seer Stone, and pointed it at Aurox. Even before I started reciting from the paper I could feel the heat radiating off of it.

“Ancient mirror

Magick mirror

Shades of gray

Hidden

Forbidden

Within, away

Part the mist

Magick kissed

Call the fey

Reveal the past

The spell is cast

I save the day!”

My voice wasn’t as powerful as it had been the first time, but the words were strong and clear, and at the end of the spell the Seer Stone changed again, expanding to a reflective circle pointing right at Aurox.

“Holy shit. It’s true,” Aphrodite said. “That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some weirdness.”

Grandma limped to Aurox. She touched his cheek. He was staring at the mirror with tears in his eyes. He looked from it to her.

“I knew I was right to believe in you,
tsu-ka-nv-s-di-na,
” Grandma told him. “Thank you for saving me, child.” When she leaned forward he bent and she gave him a soft, mom kiss on the cheek.

“You need to look in the mirror, Z,” Stark said.

“No I don’t.” I felt weirdly numb. “I know what Heath looks like.”

Aurox was staring in the mirror again. “So, that is Heath?”

“Yeah,” Stark said with a sigh. “That’s Heath. Which means somehow you’re a friend of mine.”

Aurox was still looking at his reflection when his expression changed. He smiled and said, “Good to see you again.”

Something about his voice made me shiver.

Then Aurox looked from the mirror into my eyes. “And you?” he asked me. “What was Heath to you?”

Lots of answers flitted through my mind:
he was my problem—my pain in the butt—my lover—my Consort—my rock—my forever boyfriend.

“Heath was my humanity” was what came out of my mouth. “And now it looks like he’s become your humanity.”

I dropped the mirror. Before it could shatter there was a little popping noise and it was a Seer Stone again. This time I did shove it into my pocket.

Grandma came to me and I put my arm back around her waist. Stark took my hand, lifted it, and kissed my palm.

“Don’t worry,” he said softly. “No matter what else, we have love. Always love.”

The End

For now …

Stay tuned for the next House of Night novel, coming Fall 2013

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

#1
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling
P. C. CAST
is an award-winning fantasy and paranormal romance author, as well as an experienced speaker and teacher. Her novels have been awarded YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, and have received the prestigious Oklahoma Book Award, as well as the PRISM, Daphne du Maurier, Bookseller’s Best, HOLT Medallion, Beacon, Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice, and Affaire de Coeur Awards. She lives in Oklahoma with lots of dogs, cats, horses, and a burro.
KRISTIN CAST
is a
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author who teams up with her mother to write the House of Night series. She has stories in several anthologies, as well as editorial credits. Currently, Kristin is working on her first stand-alone novel, a dark, mysterious fairy tale.

ALSO BY
P. C. CAST AND KRISTIN CAST

Marked

Betrayed

Chosen

Untamed

Hunted

Tempted

Burned

Awakened

Destined

The Fledgling Handbook 101

Dragon’s Oath

Lenobia’s Vow

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.

HIDDEN.
Copyright © 2012 by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Cover design by Elsie Lyons

Cover photographs: girl © Herman Estevez; lightning/Sky © Tony Watson/Arcangel Images; tree © EPG_ Europhotographics/
Shutterstock.com

ISBN 978-0-312-59442-8 (hardcover)

ISBN 9781250014153 (e-book)

First Edition: October 2012