“I can stand in for Stevie Rae.”
Everyone stared at Aurox.
“Why you?” Stark asked before I could say anything, which annoyed the crap out of me. It was my circle—not his!
“Why not me? I know where north is. I can hold a green candle and call earth. And I want to help Zoey.”
“Sounds good to me,” I said, not looking at Stark. “Damien, would you, Aurox, and Shaunee gather the circle candles and matches?”
Aurox bowed respectfully to me before the three of them headed toward Nyx’s Temple for the circle supplies.
“What’s going on? Why the circle now? Shouldn’t someone be cleaning up this mess?” Aphrodite asked, motioning to, but not looking at, Dallas’s body.
“That is exactly what Zoey and her circle will be doing,” Thanatos said. “A condemned and executed vampyre doesn’t deserve a pyre and the traditions of a funeral. He also shouldn’t be buried anywhere that could be made a shrine by misguided followers. His remains need to be simply, quietly, and quickly immolated.”
“Oh,” I said, getting it. “You want me to cast a circle and strengthen Shaunee so that she can, well, uh—” I hesitated, not sure how to put it, and feeling very squeed out at the thought of what we were going to have to do.
“Clean up this mess,” Aphrodite finished for me.
“Yes, well put.” Thanatos sounded like she was talking about taking out the trash. “And the less attention paid to this cleanup, the better. So, I thank both Prophetesses for fulfilling your role with dignity and wisdom, but now I must insist that Aphrodite go to class, and Shaylin join her directly after she has invoked water in Zoey’s circle.”
Aphrodite frowned. Class was not her favorite place to be. I frowned at her—not that she noticed—thinking that I’d be happy to change places with her.
“Come, my beauty, let us walk together,” Darius said, taking her hand and moving toward the main school building.
“I’ll go get my blue candle and tell Damien and those guys to hurry up,” Shaylin said. She began walking toward Nyx’s Temple, then she paused and turned back to Thanatos. “I read your colors. You were doing what needed to be done. Sometimes the ancient ways are the best,” she said.
“That is what I believe as well,” Thanatos said.
“That doesn’t make what happened here any less horrible,” Shaylin continued.
“Not less horrible, no, but necessary,” Thanatos said.
“The entire school isn’t for you,” Shaylin said.
“I am aware of that.”
“I think you would be surprised to know who all is having second thoughts about their pledge to you and to this school,” Shaylin said.
“I imagine you could tell me that by reading their colors, though. Couldn’t you?” Thanatos said.
My stomach rolled. “Okay, hang on,” I said. “I’m totally for a united front against Darkness, but I’m not for Shaylin being used to invade people’s thoughts.”
“What point are you making, Zoey?” Thanatos’s gaze seemed to pierce through me.
“That Shaylin shouldn’t be used as your spy!” I wasn’t sure exactly why the idea pissed me off so badly, but it definitely did.
“If she’s working in the service of Nyx—” Thanatos began.
I cut her off. “Nyx has given us all free choice. That means it’s not against even the Goddess’s rules for any of us to question the choices we’ve made and are going to make in the future. There’s nothing wrong with that. Only an idiot never questions what she’s been told to do.”
“Shaylin, did Dallas’s colors tell you he was dangerous?” Thanatos asked her, without taking her gaze from mine.
“I knew he was angry and violent. I didn’t know he was going to try to kill Stevie Rae and Shaunee.”
“But had Dallas been stopped because of what you saw within his aura before this morning, Stevie Rae would have been saved great pain,” Thanatos said.
“Stopped? Do you mean killed before he actually did anything?” I felt like I was going to explode.
“I don’t think that’s what Thanatos means,” Stark said.
“I’d like to hear Thanatos say that,” I said.
“In ancient times only vampyres who actually committed violence against other vampyres were executed,” she said.
“This isn’t ancient times,” I said. “And I don’t think it’s anyone’s business what people think. But you know who believed it was her business to listen in to what we all thought? Neferet. I don’t like what that did to her.”
Thanatos’s brows went up. “That is a point well taken, young Priestess.”
“Shaylin, go on and see what’s taking Damien and those guys so long,” I told her. Shaylin hesitated for just a second, then she bowed to me and hurried away.
“You have strong opinions,” Thanatos said.
“So do you.”
“Will you cast your circle and lead Shaunee in immolating the guilty vampyre?”
“Yes. I don’t want him martyred any more than you do,” I said.
“Thank you. Then I will leave you to your circle.” Her gaze went to Stark. “You did well today, Warrior. I am proud of you. Blessed be.” She bowed her head slightly and walked away.
“I swear she acts more and more like Death every day,” I said, staring after her.
“Z, I think she’s only doing her best to keep us all safe.”
My first impulse was to argue with Stark, to ask him why he wasn’t taking my side, but when I really looked at him I saw that his clothes were torn and muddy, and he had Dallas’s blood spattered all over his shirt and pants. His face was pale and strained, and I understood that even though Kalona had announced he’d brought Dallas back to school, it was Stark’s arrow that had made his execution possible.
Then Stark had watched Kalona behead the kid.
I put my arms around him, pressing my face into his shoulder. “I think you’re doing your best to keep us all safe.”
“Are you okay, Z? I wanted to tell you what Thanatos was going to do, but there wasn’t any time.” He hesitated, then added, “I felt that huge surge of power you had when you spoke up. It wasn’t like how you feel when spirit fills you, so I figured it might have something to do with Old Magick. Was I right?”
I fidgeted uncomfortably. “Well, my Seer Stone got hot, and now I feel crappy. So, yeah, I’m thinking it had something to do with Old Magick.”
“Guess that makes sense, especially with Thanatos invoking ancient rules and all.”
“Yeah, we were just talking about that in class, but I wish I knew whether that meant she’s doing the right thing or not,” I worried aloud.
“Hey.” He lifted my chin. “You’re the one with the Seer Stone. All you have to worry about is whether you’re doing the right thing. Cleaning up the Dallas mess is definitely the right thing to do. Okay?”
“Okay.” I kissed him. “How are you?”
“Tired,” he said. “And the whole cutting Dallas’s head off thing—well—I knew what was going to happen and I thought I was ready for it. But…” His words faded and he held me tightly.
“Stark, I don’t think there’s any way to get ready to see a kid’s head cut off.” I squeezed him back. “Hey, you should go take a shower and change. How about we meet at lunch?”
“How about we make a date to do nothing but curl up together after school alone and Roku a Big Bang Theory marathon.”
I grinned at him. “No one but me knows what a dork you truly are.”
“I need to laugh, and Sheldon makes me laugh.”
“Okay, but only if you don’t make fun of me when I don’t get all his jokes,” I said.
“That’s part of what makes me laugh,” he said.
“Fine. Laugh at me. I’ll sacrifice for you,” I said kiddingly.
His expression went serious. “I’ll always sacrifice for you.” He drew a deep breath, then blurted, “I don’t want you to start hooking up with Aurox.”
I pulled back from him. “What are you talking about?”
“I know I said I’d share you with Heath but I really only said that after the kid was already dead and now he’s back and I don’t think I can share you and I want you to stay away from him,” he said all in one big rush.
“Sorry it took forever! Someone put the ritual matches in the smudge stick drawer. I thought we’d never find them. I hate it when things get out of place,” Damien gushed, all out of breath and frazzled-looking as he, Shaylin, Shaunee, and Aurox hurried up to us, their hands filled with candles and matches.
“Shaylin told me what Thanatos wants, and I’m ready,” Shaunee said.
“Is something wrong?” Shaylin asked, looking from Stark to me with unsettling concentration.
“No, everything’s fine,” I said. “Stark was just on his way to take a shower and change. Right, Stark?”