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Zoey

"I like his horse," I said to Lenobia

"I like his horse, too," Lenobia said, even though she sounded like she hated to ad in the corral, a little ways froiant Percheron, Bonnie The cowboy had been deuys (and Darius and Rephaim and Stark) how to use a lance and a sword from horseback

"So," Johnny B said, "Is that all she can do? Just, like, lope or whatever back and forth in a straight line?" From on top of Bonnie the cowboy looked about a zill ion feet tall Currently, he had a long lance in his hand and I wondered for a second if he was going to skewer smart aleck, muscle-brained Johnny B But Travis just tilted his hat back, rested the lance on his hip, and said, "My girl can do everything a saits: walk, trot, lope, gall op" He glanced over at Lenobia and his easygoing smile turned wry

"Well, Bonnie can&039;t turn as quick as a quarter horse She can&039;t run as fast and as long as a Thoroughbred But she can tear up a trail with the best of

&039;eet that she can carry me, a pile of armor and weapons, and pull down a house All at the sa her would be a mistake" He shot another look at Lenobia and added, "But then underestiood idea, boy" I covered h

Lenobia looked at ling court all day The girls want to date hi my head hurt"

"So you like hi from Lenobia&039;s frosty stare when Travis raised his voice and called, "Well, you&039;d have to ask the professor over there about that, but I&039;d be all for a little field trip"

Huh? Field trip? My ears perked up "We go on field trips?"

"Not since we&039;ve been battling evil we haven&039;t," Lenobia said under her breath Then she raised her voice and started toward Bonnie and her cowboy saying, "I&039; What is it you&039;re asking?"

"One of the kids wanted to see Bonnie in action on a trail ride I&039;d be happy to take soht I grew up outside Sapulpa and know the old oill paths on the ridges there like the back o&039;in a breath and was sure she was getting ready to blast the cowboy into the stratosphere, when Ant, the littlest of the red fledgling kids, reached way up and, looking starstruck, patted Bonnie on her nose saying, "Wow! A trail ride? Like cowboys used to do? That&039;d be awesoazed at Lenobia "Professor Lenobia, could we really?" I think it hitto do some normal school stuff-to take a field trip and be a kid-

versus being dead and undead and fighting iht with the the world

"Perhaps I&039;ll have to see if I can work it into es lately," Lenobia said in her teacher voice

Johnny B sighed "Changes That&039;d be us undying and co up the schedule"

"Actually, the professor probably means me more than you," Rephaim said "I&039;m the reason Stark and Darius had to start a new class here in the stables"

"Neither and both of you are right," Lenobia said crisply "You&039;ve changed things at this House of Night, but that&039;s not necessarily negative I like to see change as a positive thing It prevents stagnation And I&039; the Warrior classes in my stables As Travis has so aptly de, rich history together"

I saw Rephaim&039;s surprised look and his tentative smile Then the bell chimed and before everyone could sprint for the door Travis called out,

"Whoa there, guys! No one leaves the stable until everythin&039;s in its right place You boys there help Stark and Darius put the weapons and targets up" Then he pointed at Rephaiet this tack off Bonnie and wipe her down She&039;s worked hard today" Everyone snapped to Lenobia hesitated, and then kinda nodded to herself, changed direction, and disappeared into her office

Huh So noith the approval of a tougher-than-tough va an ex-Raven Mocker, sos what to do Huh

By the tiot on the short bus, and drove back to the depot it was just a little before six AM Even I was tired and unbelievably glad it was the weekend I swear I didn&039;t want to do anything but sleep, watch trash TV, andof the tunnels I was just thinking about rabbed when I&039;d crammed my clothes and stuff from my dorm room into a cardboard box), and how nice it would feel to be curled up under it with Stark and Nala when Stevie Rae rained on otta hurry" She motioned to me, Rephaim, Stark, Darius, Aphrodite, the Twins, and Daonna be dawn in about an hour and a half Rephaim and Zoey have Kalona stuff they need to tell us"

I sighed "Okay In the kitchen"

It took even longer for us to get the kitchen cleared of hungry fledglings and sent off to their roo We need us a place where we can have our own Council Meetings without morons all up in our business," Kra to see how many Cheetos he could cram in his mouth at one time

"Muh uh mu," Johnny B said around the Cheetos

"Just take your silly ass outta here We got things to discuss" She shook her head and finished shooing his from the kitchen Then Kramisha faced the rest of us "No I ain&039;t leavin&039;"

"Oh, for shit&039;s sake, you have another poeazine that negativity gives you wrinkles," Kramisha said to Aphrodite "You may wanna consider your attitude when you look in the mirror &039;Cause I do know you love you soaze went to Stevie Rae and then to me "It come to me in Latin class"

"Latin? Seriously?" Aphrodite said "Your English isn&039;t even that great"

"Non scholae sed vitae disciiant silence, then Stevie Rae said, "Dang, Latin always sounds so smart Good job, Kramisha"

"Thank you It nice to be &039;preciated by ic bag until she found her purple notepad, then she pulled it out, came over to the table, and slapped it down in front of me "This one&039;s for you"

"Why?" I said before I could ed "Don&039;t know, but you&039;re supposed to read it"

"It would really be et a little more info when these poems &039;come to you,&039;" Aphrodite air quoted sarcastically

"Wrinkles," Kra at her

"Fine, I&039;ll read it" I took the paper and then glanced at roup "Yes, out loud" And I read:

"The dividing line foron&039;s tears

Missed years

Overcome fears

The fire and ice paradox

Seen with True Sight

Darkness does not always equate to evil

Light does not always bring good"

As I read the last two lines ht I was supposed to read this"

"How do you know?" Stark asked

"The last lines-the part that starts with Darkness-it&039;s what Nyx said to ht before she kissed my forehead and filled in my crescent the day I was Marked"

"Does the rest of itto you?" Daon would be crying" Rephaietic look "The years and fears part could have to do with Dragon, too Clearly we&039;re gonna have to get Shaylin involved &039;cause of the True Sight part, and I&039;hed "So, in other words, no, I&039;m clueless about the rest of it"

"A paradox is a statement or a situation that is contradictory, but true," Damien said

"Huh?" I said

"Okay, an example: the paradox of war is that you have to kill people in order for people to stop being killed"

"God, I hate figurative language," Aphrodite said

"But you are sure it out," Darius said

"The paradox could have so to do with Kalona and Rephaim," Shaunee suddenly spoke up

"What do you mean?" Stevie Rae asked

"Twin?" Erin said "Are you okay?"

"I&039;m fine," Shaunee told her and then continued "What I mean is that it&039;s a paradoxical situation, isn&039;t it? In order for Rephaiood now, he has to turn his back on his dad, and that&039;s so that would usually be considered bad"

"You ," Damien said

"She is fire," Aphrodite said

I blinked "And Kalona is ice"

"Butto do with Kalona," Erin said

"Yes, she does," Rephaim said "She understands how I feel about him, especially after today"

"Rephaiuy and love you, but you just gotta give up on that," Stevie Rae said I could hear the frustration in her voice

"Please tell her about today," Rephaih "Kalona wants a truce with us" After the co all "no way" and "oh please"-well, everyone except Shaunee and Rephaim-I went on to explain exactly what had happened between Kalona, Rephaim, and me, and summed up with, "So, no, I don&039;t think we can trust hi a truce with hi"

"Rephaiiving Rephaim a hard look

"Yeah, we&039;ve already talked about that Right, Rephaim?" I said

"I won&039;t tell Father our secrets," Rephaih," Stark said "It&039;s not a secret that we&039;re living here, but that&039;s so Kalona didn&039;t need to know"

"If it&039;s not a secret Father could have found out anywhere," Rephaim said

"Yeah, maybe But did ya ever think that maybe if he really had left Tulsa and was out west soht surrounded by Sons of Erebus he would have kept flying west and we&039;d be rid of hi to happen Father wasn&039;t going to leave me"

"He already did!" Stevie Rae suddenly blew She stood up and wrapped her ar to physically hold her eood He&039;s only coet you to spy for him

So now he&039;s tryin&039; for himself"

"Spy?" Darius said

Rephai at Stevie Rae as if she&039;d slapped him, but he answered Darius "Yes That is what on and the Aurox creature found me"

"Okay, look, like I already said, it&039;s clear that we shouldn&039;t trust Kalona, but I do think that he made a valid point today If Neferet is immortal and can only be destroyed by herself, then we definitely need help in figuring out how to push her in that direction" I paused and then added, "I also think we can trust Rephaih he loves his dad"

"Kalona is a ticking time bomb," Stark said

"So once were you So once was I," Rephaim said

Stevie Rae unwrapped her arms from around herself and took Rephaim&039;s hand "I was a tiuys But all three of us ht Your daddy hasn&039;t Please, you gotta reree with the bumpkin," Aphrodite said

"So do I," Erin said

There was an obvious pause where Erin looked at Shaunee, who didn&039;t echo her in Twin-like fashion and didn&039;t aze