Hidden: House of Night: Book 10

jobs—clearing the rubble from the stables or adding to the enormous network of wooden beams and planks that would become Dragon Lankford’s funeral pyre.
    “I am inagreement with you, my beauty,” Darius said grimly.
    Silently, I sent up a quick but fervent prayer:
Nyx, help me to say and do the right thing—and help my circle, my friends, to be strong and sure.
Then I faced my group and followed my gut. “Okay, as much as I hate to admit it out loud, well, or even not out loud, Aphrodite’s right.”
    Aphrodite tossed back her long blond hair. “Of course I am.”
    “This school needs a big dose of normal and, sadly, I think we’re the best part of normal they’re gonna get right now.”
    “That mean they’s fucked,” Kramisha said. She had on her yellow bobbed wig and stacked heels that had to have been five inches of black patent leather. Her skirt was short and super sparkly. Somehow she pulled off the crazy look, making me consider (for about 2.5 seconds) wearing heels more often.
    “I’m being serious, Kramisha,” I said.
    “So am I,” she said.
    “Look, y’all. We can be normal. A new normal. One that’s more interestin’,” Stevie Rae said with a big grin up at Rephaim.
    Aphrodite snorted. I ignored her, smiled at Stevie Rae, and kept talking. “We’re going to split up. Part of you guys go to the stables. Part of you go to Dragon’s pyre.
Remember, be normal
,” I said sternly. “Act like you would regularly act. We need to get a grip and help guide things back to something that seems manageable. Look, right now it feels like we’ve been attacked from everywhere. The stables were on fire. Cats were killed. Dragon’s dead. And now Neferet isn’t just an evil nutjob. She’s an evil nutjob who has involved the human community in stuff that’s way beyond their understanding or their ability to deal. We gotta be strong and visible. We gotta keep the House of Night together. Like I told Thanatos last night—we’re a lot more than bickering children and it’s about time we stand up, stand together, and get the respect we deserve.”
    “Wise counsel, Priestess,” Darius said, making me want to hug him. “I will go to Dragon’s pyre and spread calm there.” He smiled warmly at Aphrodite. “Come with me. Your influence will be good for the Warriors who are bereft over the Sword Master’s death.”
    “Usually, I’dsay, wherever you go, I go, handsome,” Aphrodite said. “But I need a little Z time, so I’m gonna go with her to talk to Thanatos. How ’bout I meet you at the pyre afterward?”
    Her words surprised me, and I thought about the fact that, except for Shaylin earlier that day, I hadn’t really talked to anyone since the reveal ritual. The bus ride back with Dragon’s body had been silent and difficult. Then there had been the fire, the dead cats, and—thankfully—sleep, though not enough of it. All of that meant no one had backed me into a corner about Aurox. Was Aphrodite getting ready to? I glanced at her. She’d tiptoed and was giving Darius a kiss. She looked like she always did—crazy about her Warrior and kinda bitchy about everything else.
    “I’m gonna go with Z, too,” Stevie Rae’s voice broke into my neurotic study of Aphrodite. “When we get done talkin’ to Thanatos I’ll be out by the funeral pyre. You’re gonna be needin’ some serious grounding there, and earth is the right element for that.” She gave Rephaim a quick kiss. “Will you meet me out there?”
    “I will.” He kissed her back, touching her cheek gently. Then he glanced at me. “If no one has an objection, I would like to patrol around the wall of the school, especially the eastern wall. If Neferet’s threads of Darkness are slithering around we need to know about it.”
    “That sounds like a good idea. You guys okay with that?” I asked, looking to Stark and Darius for input. The two Warriors nodded. “Okay, great.” Then I turned my attention to Stevie Rae. “I think invoking your element is a really good idea, too, Stevie Rae. Damien, Shaunee, and Erin—you guys keep your elements close. If they can help strengthen or support, call on them. Just don’t be totally obvious and …” My words trailed off as I fully realized what I was saying. “No. That’s wrong. If you need to use your element
do
be obvious.”
    “I get your point, Z,” Damien said. “It’s about time the House of Night is aware that there are prodigious forces of good working on