Hidden (House of Night Novels)

for them to reach the stone balustrade. The inhuman power of the beast’s body shattered it and the two of them fell off the rooftop.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
    Zoey
    I dropped the mirror and ran forward. “Kalona! Save him!” The immortal was in motion before I’d finished the command. Wings spread, he leaped over the broken balustrade and disappeared. I rushed after him, coming to a halt at the edge of the roof. Peering down, I saw Kalona grab Aurox’s ankle just moments before the boy, who was now completely human again, hit the pavement.
    Neferet wasn’t as lucky. I could see her. She’d hit the sharp edge of the building and had tumbled and fallen, landing in the middle of Fifth Street. From this height, she looked like a broken doll. Her neck was twisted. Her arms and legs bent all in the wrong direction. Her head was a dark pool of blood.
    Thanatos joined me, putting a strong arm around me as if she was afraid I might fall after Neferet. Then everyone was there, beside me. Stark took me from Thanatos and held me while I trembled and continued to stare down at Neferet’s body. Kalona landed on the rooftop with Aurox. Aphrodite helped Grandma. She slipped her hand inside mine.
    “My u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya, come away from this terrible sight,” she said.
    Still I did not look away. So when Neferet’s body began to convulse I saw it. I watched everything. Her arms and legs flailed. Her hair lifted. Her back arched. And then the Tsi Sgili seemed to dissolve. From within the folds of her blood-soaked clothes, thousands of black spiders exploded, skittering into the gutter and disappearing into the darkness.
    Then I looked away. I faced Thanatos. “She’s not dead.”
    The High Priestess of Death answered me, though I hadn’t framed the words as a question.
    “I do not know.” Thanatos looked pale and shaken. “I have never seen, never even imagined, what we all just witnessed.”
    I felt very quiet inside. I wasn’t tired. I wasn’t crying. I wasn’t pissed. I was just very, very calm. “I think we better get ready. My gut says Neferet is going to come at us again,” I said.
    “Yes, Priestess. I agree,” Thanatos said.
    I put my arm around Grandma’s waist, and let her lean on me. “You need to go to the hospital,” I told her gently.
    “No, my u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya. I need only to go home.”
    I looked into her gentle eyes. “I understand completely, Grandma. Stark and I will get you home.”
    “You have to do something first,” Stark said.
    “She can kiss you and tell you she loves you later. Let’s get out of here. The spider thing was the cherry on this shit sundae of a night. I need a bath and a Xanax,” Aphrodite said.
    I didn’t say anything. I was getting a weird vibe from Stark. “Wait here. Everyone needs to see this.” He squeezed my hand and then he went into the penthouse. He came back a second later, holding my Seer Stone from its broken chain.
    It was Lifesaver-shaped again, and looked totally harmless. I knew better, so when he handed it to me I handled it gingerly, like the unexploded bomb it was, and I was stuffing it into my jeans’ pocket when Stark stopped me.
    “No, don’t put it away. Lift it. Point it at Aurox. Say the spell again.”
    “Huh?” Suddenly I didn’t sound so grown and together and brilliant.
    “Me?” Everyone turned to stare at Aurox. Well, the kid looked like crap. His clothes were all ripped up and his face and hands were bruised and bloody. “Why me?”
    “Because when you gored Neferet I caught your reflection in that magick mirror. Everyone needs to see what I saw,” Stark said. “Do the spell thing again, Zoey.”
    “I don’t even know if it’ll work again. It’s that old magick stuff. It’s weird and totally unpredictable,” I said.
    “Recite the spell, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya ,” Grandma said.
    “I don’t have—”
    Stark handed me the crumpled purple paper. “Yes, you do.”
    “Well, okay then.” I lifted the Seer Stone, and pointed it at Aurox. Even before I started reciting from the paper I could feel the heat radiating off of it.
“Ancient mirror
Magick mirror
Shades of gray
Hidden
Forbidden
Within, away
Part the mist
Magick kissed
Call the fey
Reveal the past
The spell is cast
I save the day!”
    My voice wasn’t as powerful as it had been the first time, but the words were strong and clear, and at the end of the spell the Seer Stone changed again, expanding to a reflective circle pointing right at Aurox.
    “Holy shit.