House of Night 09 - Destined

of the book, that is.”
    “Rephaim.” The professor spoke his name in a voice that had gone hard. Rephaim was surprised to feel the power of it against his skin. “In my classroom all fledglings are equal. All are called by their correct names. His is Rephaim.”
    “Professor P, he’s no fledgling,” Drew said.
    The professor’s hand came down on the top of her podium and the entire room vibrated with sound and energy. “He is here. As long as he’s here, in my classroom, he will be treated as any other fledgling.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” Drew said, bowing his head respectfully.
    “Good. Now that that is straight let’s discuss the creative project you’ll be doing for me. I want you to bring alive your choice of one of the many symbolic elements Bradbury uses in this wonderful book…”
    Rephaim held very still as the class’s attention was pulled from him and the Drew fledgling back to the book. She’s killed because of him was playing round and round inside his mind. Drew’s meaning was clear. He hadn’t been speaking of a character in a book. He’d meant Stevie Rae—that she was going to be killed because of him.
    Never. Not as long as he drew breath would he allow anything or anyone to harm his Stevie Rae.
    When the bell rang to release them from class, Drew met Rephaim’s gaze with unflinching hatred.
    Rephaim had to hold himself back from attacking him. Enemy! his old nature shrieked. Destroy him! But Rephaim ground his jaw and returned Drew’s gaze without blinking as the fledgling brushed roughly past him.
    And it wasn’t just Drew’s eyes that stared at him with hatred. All of them were sending him glances that ranged from hostile to horrified to frightened.
    “Hey,” Damien said, walking out of the classroom with him. “Don’t let Drew bother you. He used to have a thing for Stevie Rae. He’s just jealous.”
    Rephaim nodded and waited until they were outside and had drawn beyond hearing distance of the rest of the students. Then, quietly, he said, “It isn’t just Drew. It’s all of them. They hate me.”
    Damien motioned for him to follow him a little way off the path, then he stopped and said, “You knew it wouldn’t be easy.”
    “That is true. I just—” Rephaim stopped himself and shook his head. “No. It is simply true. I knew it would be a difficult thing for others to accept me.” He met Damien’s gaze. The fledgling looked haggard. Grief had aged him. His eyes were red and puffy. He’d lost the love of his life, yet here he was showing Rephaim kindness. “Thank you, Damien,” he said.
    Damien almost smiled. “For telling you this wouldn’t be easy?”
    “No, for showing me kindness.”
    “Stevie Rae is my friend. The kindness I show is for her.”
    “Then you are a remarkable friend,” Rephaim said.
    “If you really are the boy Stevie Rae thinks you are, you’ll find that when you’re on the side of the Goddess, you’ll make a lot of remarkable friends.”
    “I am on the side of the Goddess,” Rephaim said.
    “Rephaim, if I didn’t believe that I wouldn’t be helping you, no matter how much I care about Stevie Rae,” Damien said.
    Rephaim nodded. “That’s fair.”
    “Hey, Damien!” One of the red fledglings, an unusually small boy, hurried up to them, giving Rephaim a look, then adding a quick, “Hey, Rephaim.”
    “Hi, Ant,” Damien said.
    Rephaim nodded, uncomfortable with the whole greeting process.
    “I heard you had fencing this hour. Me, too!”
    “I do,” Damien said. “Rephaim and I were just—” He paused and Rephaim watched several emotions pass his face, ending with embarrassed. He sighed heavily before saying, “Um, Rephaim, Dragon Lankford is the fencing professor.”
    Then Rephaim understood.
    “That’s, uh, not good,” Ant said.
    “He may still be at the school Council Meeting,” Damien said hopefully.
    “I think it best that I stay here, whether Dragon is absent or not. If I come with you it will only cause…” Rephaim’s voice ran out because all he could think of were words like: chaos, trouble, and disaster.
    “Unpleasantness.” Damien filled in the silence for him. “It would probably cause unpleasantness. Maybe you should skip fencing for today.”
    “Sounds smart,” Ant said.
    “I’ll wait for you.” Rephaim motioned vaguely to the tree-filled area around them. They weren’t far from one of the school walls where, just inside the stone façade there was a particularly large oak under