Hidden: House of Night: Book 10

right. My fake name is really Kitina Maria Bartovick.”
    “And that’s so much less obviously fake,” I said, rolling my eyes again.
    “Whatever. It works.”
    “You missed my point about the zillions of glasses of champagne,” I said.
    “No, I didn’t, but you missed a sense a humor.” She sipped the bubbly pink stuff. “By the by, all of a sudden you look like shit. What’s up with that?”
    I wiped my hand across my brow. It was shaking. My stomach was killing me.
    Aphrodite leaned closer to me, pretending to be interested in the open geometry book, and whispered, “If you start coughing blood and die you will seriously screw up tonight’s Plan.”
    “I am
not
dying. I’m just—” My words broke off as I was filled with a surge of energy. “Oh, no!”
    “What is it?”
    “Spirit. The element’s back.” I was already punching Thanatos’s number on my phone. Through the huge front window I saw Shaunee’s shoulders jerk, like something had just slammed into her, too, and I swear the air around her sparkled with fire. She whirled around. Our eyes met. She picked up her red candle.
    Thanatos answered on the first ring. “Does Kalona have Grandma?” I asked.
    “No. There has been no sign of her. Zoey, you can’t—” I hung up on her and grabbed the little purple votive candle.
    “She’s not safe?”
    “No.” I was on my feet. “I’m going up there.” Without waiting to see if she’d argue with me, I sprinted from the restaurant andacross the lobby to the elevators. Shaunee and Darius met me there. She was holding her candle. Its flame was burning a lot brighter than my little purple votive, but both candles were still burning.
    “Fire’s back,” Shaunee said.
    I punched the up arrow button. “I know. Grandma’s still up there.”
    Stark ran into the lobby, with Damien close behind. He, too, still carried his lit candle. “Air returned! Fire and spirit, too?”
    I nodded. Then faced Stark. “Grandma’s not out. I’m going up there.”
    “Not without me you’re not,” Stark said.
    “Or me.” Stevie Rae’s face was flushed, but she was cradling her burning candle.
    Shaylin looked scared and confused when she jogged into the lobby, cupping her hand around the flame of her blue candle. “Something happened. I have water back and Thanatos didn’t close the circle. I figured I better get in here.”
    “You did good,” I said. “Okay, look.” The elevator doors opened and I stepped in. “Aurox has lost control. Probably because Neferet did something awful. Stark and I are going up there to be sure that awfulness isn’t going to get Grandma killed. You guys stay here. Don’t let your candles go out. Keep the circle open.”
    “Hell, no,” Shaunee said, striding into the elevator. “If you go—fire goes.”
    “We’re all going,” Stevie Rae said.
    “Fuck it. Me, too,” Aphrodite said.
    And that was it. My friends and I all squeezed into the elevator. I hit the penthouse button.
    “You know there’s going to be some majorly screwed-up shit going on when these doors open,” Aphrodite said.
    “Stay inside the circle close to Zoey,” Darius told her. He had a knife in each hand.
    Stark notched his bow. I put the hand that wasn’t holding a candle on his arm. “Don’t kill Aurox unless you have to.”
    “Zoey, it won’t be Aurox. It’ll be the beast. Remember that,” he said.
    I nodded. “I’ll remember. You remember that I loveyou.”
    “Always,” he said.
    The doors opened to a deserted hallway. As one we stepped out of the elevator, holding our lit candles and keeping our circle open.
    The smell of blood hit me. Laced in the terrible seduction of its scent was lavender and something I couldn’t identify. Something that reminded me of the bluffs that edged Grandma’s farm.
    “Turquoise,” Stevie Rae said. “I can smell it.”
    Then I heard Grandma sob Aurox’s name, followed by a shout, a terrible roar, and then Neferet’s unmistakable command, “Kill her. Now!”
    I ran into the penthouse. “Air, fire, water, earth, spirit! Stop the beast!”
    There was a blinding flash as Aurox, fully changed into the horrible creature that slept beneath his skin, charged Grandma. The power of the elements encased him, sizzling with energy. The beast roared his rage, spittle and blood spraying from his terrible mouth, while he circled Grandma.
    “U-we-tsi-a-ge-ya!”
    “Get to the balcony!” I yelled. There was a shattered glass door just yards