Awakened

are bound to him,” was the Goddess’s enigmatic response.
    “I am,” she said firmly.
    “Even if your bond means splitting this House of Night, and perhaps, this world, in two?”
    “My mama used to prune her roses real fierce, and I thought she was gonna hurt them, maybe kill them. When I asked her about it she told me sometimes you have to cut away the old stuff to make room for the new. Maybe it’s time to cut away some old stuff,” Stevie Rae said.
    Her words surprised him so much that Rephaim turned his eyes from the ground to Stevie Rae. She smiled at him and at that moment, he wished more than anything else, he could smile back at her and take her in his arms like a real boy would be able to do, because what he saw in her eyes was warmth and love and happiness with not even the slightest glimpse of remorse or rejection.
    Stevie Rae gave him the strength to look up at the Goddess and meet her infinite gaze.
    And what he saw there was familiar because mirrored in Nyx’s eyes was the same warmth and love and happiness he’d seen within Stevie Rae’s gaze.
    Rephaim dropped Stevie Rae’s hand so that he could close his fist over his heart, in the ancient, respectful greeting. “Merry meet, Goddess Nyx.”
    “Merry meet, Rephaim,” she said. “You are the only child of Kalona’s to turn from the rage and pain of your conception, and the hatred that has filled your long life, and seek Light.”
    “None of the others had Stevie Rae,” he said.
    “It is true that she influenced your choice, but you had to be open to her and respond with Light instead of Darkness.”
    “That hasn’t always been my choice. In the past I’ve done terrible things. These Warriors are right to want me dead,” Rephaim said.
    “Do you regret your past?”
    “I do.”
    “Do you choose a new future where you pledge yourself to my path?”
    “I do.”
    “Rephaim, son of the fallen immortal Warrior Kalona, I accept you into my service, and I forgive you for the mistakes of your past.”
    “Thank you, Nyx.” Rephaim’s voice was rough with emotion as he spoke to the Goddess, his Goddess.
    “Will you thank me when I tell you that though I forgive you and accept you, there are consequences you must pay for the choices of your past?”
    “No matter what comes next, for an eternity I will thank you. This I swear,” he said with no hesitation.
    “Let us hope that you will have many, many years to live up to your oath. Know then that this is your consequence.” Nyx raised her arms as if she could cup the moon in the palms of her hands. It seemed to Rephaim she was gathering light from the stars themselves. “Because you have awakened the humanity within you, I will, each night from setting sun to rising sun, gift you with this: the true form you deserve.” The Goddess hurled the glowing power that had coalesced between her hands at him. It shuddered through his body, causing a pain so terrible that he screamed in agony and crumpled to the ground. As he lay there, paralyzed, the Goddess’s voice was the only sound that broke through to him. “To atone for your past, by day you will lose your true form and return to that of the raven, who knows nothing except the base desires of a beast. Consider well how you use your humanity. Learn from the past and balance the beast. So I have spoken—so mote it be!”
    The pain was beginning to recede and Rephaim was able to look up at the Goddess again as she opened her arms to take in everyone and said joyously, “I leave the rest of you with my love, if you so choose to accept it, and my desire that you will always blessed be.”
    Nyx disappeared in what looked like an explosion of the moon. The brightness of it was blinding, which didn’t help Rephaim’s lingering confusion. His body felt strange, unfamiliar, dizzy … Rephaim looked down at himself. His shock was so intense he could not, for a moment, comprehend what he saw. Why am I inside a boy? passed through his jumbled mind. It was Stevie Rae’s sobs that finally got through to him. He was able to focus on her and when he did, Rephaim realized she was crying and laughing at the same time.
    “What has happened?” he asked, still not fully understanding.
    Stevie Rae didn’t seem to be able to speak because she just kept crying what looked like happy tears.
    A hand came into his line of vision and he looked up to see the fledgling High Priestess, Zoey Redbird, smiling wryly at him. Rephaim took her offered hand