Part 27 (1/2)

”Yes, Neferet. I readily admit to sensing there was something wrong about the school, but if you'll recall, I was firmly against buying this campus from the Cascia Hall monks five years ago.”

”We needed a House of Night in this part of the country,” Neferet insisted.

”And that is the argument that won the Council over and convinced them to open this House of Night. I didn't agree with it then, and I don't agree with it now. The recent deaths simply prove we should not be here.”

”The recent murders prove we need more of a presence here and all over the world!” Neferet snapped. I heard her draw a deep breath, as if she was working hard to control herself. When she spoke again, her voice was much more subdued. ”This bad feeling of which we were speaking-it has nothing to do with being reticent about opening a school. It's different, more malevolent, and it's grown far worse in the recent months.”

There was a long pause before Shekinah answered her. ”I do feel a malevolence here, but I cannot name it. It seems hidden, shrouded in something I do not find familiar.”

”I think I can name it,” Neferet said.

”What do you suspect?”

”I have come to believe it is an evil hidden, shrouded, in the appearance of a child, and that is why it is going to be so hard to expose,” Neferet said.

”I don't understand your meaning, Neferet. Are you saying one of the fledglings is hiding evil?””I don't want to say it, but I'm coming to believe it.” Neferet's voice was filled with sadness, like what she was saying was so difficult to admit, she was almost on the brink of tears.

I knew it was absolutely, utterly, an act.

”Again I ask you, what do you suspect?”

”It isn't a what, but a who. Shekinah, sister, it grieves me to say it, but the deep evil I have been sensing, that you have been sensing, too, began to build and intensify with one student's entry to this House of Night.” She paused, and even though I knew what she was going to say, it was a shock to hear her actually speak the words. ”I'm afraid Zoey Redbird is hiding a terrible secret.”

”Zoey! But she is the most gifted fledgling in history. Not only has no other fledging ever wielded the power of all five elements, but no other fledgling has ever been surrounded by so many gifted peers. Each of her closest friends can manifest one of the elements. How could she possibly be so gifted and be hiding evil?” Shekinah said.

”I don't know!” Neferet's voice broke, and I could tell she was crying. ”I'm her mentor. Can you imagine how much it grieves me to even think these things, let alone say them aloud?”

”What evidence do you have for your belief?” Shekinah asked, and I was glad to hear that she didn't sound particularly convinced Neferet was on to something.

”A teenage boy who used to be her lover was almost killed by spirits she conjured just days after she was Marked.”

I blinked in utter shock. Heath and I had been lovers? Not hardly! Neferet knew that. And I hadn't conjured those mean spirits-Aphrodite had. Yes, they'd almost eaten Heath-well, and also Erik-but with the help of Stevie Rae, Damien, and the Twins, I'd stopped them.

”Then not more than a month later, two more teenage boys, again humans who were, let's just say intimate with her, were abducted and brutally killed-drained of all blood. A third boy, another human close to her, was taken, too. The community was in a frenzy, and that is when Zoey rescued the boy.”

Oh. My. G.o.ddess! Neferet was twisting everything and lying her b.u.t.t off! It was the nasty undead dead kids who had killed the two Union football players, who I definitely had not been intimate with! Yes, I'd saved Heath (again-sigh), but I'd saved him from her disgusting, bloodsucking (not that there's anything wrong with it) minions!

”What else?” Shekinah said. I was glad to hear that her voice had remained calm and she still didn't sound like she was convinced Neferet was right about me.

”This last part is the most difficult for me to admit, but Zoey was special to Patricia Nolan. She spent quite a bit of time with her before she was murdered.”

My head was buzzing. Sure, I'd liked Professor Nolan, and I think she liked me, but I definitely hadn't been special to her, and hadn't spent any extra time with her, either.

Then I knew what she was going to accuse me of next, even though I could hardly believe it.

”And I have reason to believe Zoey had become Loren Blake's lover just before he, too, was murdered. Actually, I'm sure the two of them had Imprinted.” Neferet broke off, sobbing brokenly.

”Why did you not report any of this to the Council?” Shekinah asked sternly.

”What was I supposed to say? I think this most gifted of all fledglings has allied herself with evil? How could I bring such a charge against a young girl with no more proof than coincidence, supposition, and a feeling?”

Well, that was exactly what she was doing right now!

”But Neferet, if a fledgling gets involved with a professor, it is the High Priestess's duty to put a stop to it, and to report it to the Council.”

”I know!” I could hear that Neferet was still crying. ”I was wrong. I should have said something. Perhaps if I had, I could have prevented his death.”

There was a long pause, and then Shekinah said, ”You and Loren were lovers, were you not?”

”Yes!” Neferet sobbed.

”You realize your relations.h.i.+p with Loren could be clouding your judgment of Zoey?”

”I do.” I heard her ”valiantly” (barf!) try to pull herself together. ”Which is another reason I was hesitant to tell anyone about my suspicions.”

”Have you looked into her mind?” Shekinah asked.

I s.h.i.+vered while I waited for Neferet's answer.

”I've tried. I cannot read her mind.”

”How about her friends? The other fledglings who have special affinities?”

c.r.a.p! c.r.a.p! c.r.a.p!

”I have looked within them periodically. I have not found anything disturbing. Yet.”

I heard Shekinah's sigh. ”It is good that I am staying on here for the rest of this semester. I, too, will watch and listen around Zoey and the other fledglings. There is always a chance, and a very good one at that, that Zoey only seems in the middle of these events because she is, indeed, a very powerfully gifted young woman. She might not be causing the events, but might have been put here by Nyx to help thwart evil that is not of her making.”

”I sincerely hope so,” Neferet said.

She was such a liar!

”But we shall watch her. Closely,” Shekinah said.

”Be careful of the favors she asks,” Neferet said.

Huh? Favors? I hadn't asked Neferet for any favors! And then, with a jolt, I realized what it was Neferet was doing. She was messing it up for me to ask that Grandma visit me and stay here on campus. b.i.t.c.h!

And the jolt of understanding turned to a sick dread. How had Neferet known Grandma was coming?

Suddenly, a huge commotion from outside drowned Shekinah's response. I was listening from the hall, so it was easy for me to drift over to one of the large curtained windows. Because it was night, the drapes were open and I looked down on the front grounds of the school. What I saw made me press my hand against my mouth to keep from cracking up.

d.u.c.h.ess was barking her head off as she raced after a snarling, hissing, yowling white ball of Maleficent. Aphrodite was chasing after the dog, screaming for her to ”Come! Stay! Be good, d.a.m.nit!” Damien was close behind her, flailing his arms and yelling, ”d.u.c.h.ess! Come!” All of a sudden the Twins' cat, the huge and very stuck-up Beelzebub, joined in the chase, only he was tearing around after d.u.c.h.ess.