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The caing! of one stupid crow kept ht (Well, more accurately, all day--'cause, you know, I' and we have that whole issue of day and night being turned around) Anyway, I got zero sleep last night/day Butto deal with since life really sucks when your friends are pissed at you I should know I' My Friends Pissed Land

Persephone, the big sorrelas I lived at the House of Night, craned her head around and nuzzledher sleek neck Groo Persephone always helped me think and made me feel better And I definitely needed help with both of those things

"Okay, so, I'veConfrontation for two days, but that can't continue," I told thedinner while they hang out together being all buddy-buddy and totally leaving me out"

Persephone snorted and went back tohay

"Yeah, I think they're being jerks, too Sure, I did lie to them, but it was mostly by omission And, yeah, I kept sohed Well, the stuff about Stevie Rae being undead was for their own good The stuff aboutwith Loren Blake--Vaht--well, that was ood "But still" Persephone flicked an ear back to listen to mental"

Persephone snorted again I sighed again Crap I couldn't avoid theer

After giving the sweet mare one last pat, I walked slowly out of her stall to the tack room and put up the array of curryco on her for the past hour I breathed deeply of the leather and horse s lassof the tack roo tovaht for just over two er And supergood hair was only one of theplace with me Some of them were invisible--like the fact that I had an affinity for all five of the elements Some of them were very much visible--like the unique tattoos that framed my face in intricate, exotic swirls and then, unlike any other fledgling or adult van spread downmy spine, and most recently, had moved around oddess Nyx, and I knew

Like who could I show?

"Well, yesterday you had not one, but three boyfriends," I told the me with the dark eyes and cynical half slass "But you fixed that, didn't you? Today not only do you have zero boyfriends, but no one will ever trust you again for at least, I dunno, a gazillion years or so" Well, except Aphrodite, who totally freaked and took off two days ago because she ht have suddenly been turned back into a hu said freaked re-hu-to-human issue when I cast a circle and turned her from creepy undead dead kid to odd-red-tattooed-vaain kid "Either way," I told ed to mess up just about everyone who has touched your life Well done, you!"

My lip had actually started to quiver and I felt the sting of tears in ood I mean, seriously, if it did, then my friends and I would have kissed (well, not literally) andto have to face theht

The late Dece the sidewalk that stretched from the stable and field house area of the school to the ht, looking beautiful and old-worldly Actually, the whole caeous, and always end more than in the twenty-first century I love it here, I re I'llwill be okay then

I was chewingtowas interrupted by a weird flapping noise that filled the air aroundabout the sound sent a chill downabove e oaks that lined the sidewalk I shivered, having a walking-over-ht went from soft and misty to dark and malevolent

Hang on--dark and malevolent? Well, that's just silly! What I had heard was probably nothing h the trees Jeesh, I was losing it

Shakingbut had taken only a couple of steps when it happened again The weird flapping above rees colder, to flutter wildly againstbats and spiders and all sorts of creepy things

My fingers passed through nothingness, but it was frigid nothingness, and an icy pain sliced through ed my hand to my chest For a moment I didn't knohat to do, andlouder and the coldI could think to do I ran for the nearest door to the school

After slipping inside, I sla for breath, turned to peer through the little archedin the center of it The night shifted and swae Still, the terrible feeling of icy fear lingered withinwhat I was doing, I whispered, "Fire, come to me I need your warmth"

Instantly the ele heat of a hearth fire Still staring out the little , I pressed h wood of the door "Out there," I murmured "Send your heat out there, too" With a whoosh of warh the door, and poured into the night There was a hissing sound, like steaiving o that an to evaporate Then the heat coun, the night was once again quiet and familiar

What had just happened?

My stinging hand drew my attention from theI looked down Across the back ofwith claws, or talons, had scraped acrosslike a curling iron burn

Then the feeling hit iven sixth sense that I shouldn't be here by hostly so that had chased me inside and weltedand for the first ti time, I was truly and utterly afraid Not for randed mom I was afraid for myself I didn't just want the company of my friends; I needed them

Still rubbing s move and knew beyond any doubt that I would rather face the hurt and disappoint for ht

I hovered for a second just outside the open doors to the busy "dining hall" (aka school cafeteria) watching the other kids talk easily and happily together, and I was almost overwhel--that I didn't have any extraordinary abilities or the responsibilities that went along with those abilities For a second I wanted to be normal so bad that it was hard for me to breathe

Then I felt the soft brush of wind against my skin that seeht a whiff of the ocean, even though there is definitely no ocean near Tulsa, Oklahorass And ed ifts of an affinity for each of the five elements: air, fire, water, earth, and spirit

I wasn't nor or va of me to wish otherwise And part of o in there and try to htened my spine and looked around the room with eyes that were clear of self-pity, and easily foundat our booth

I drew a deep breath and thena little nod or small smile to the kids who said hi toto me with their usual mix of respect and ahichcrap about me to the masses It also ainst me Yet

I grabbed a quick salad and a brown pop Then, holding on toht to our booth and took my usual seat beside Damien

When I sat down, no one looked atI totally hate I roup of your supposed-to-be friends and having the about you? Ugh