House of Night 09 - Destined

eyes from looking at Dragon’s body, but they didn’t listen to me. He’d fallen not far from Rephaim. Just seeing his face I would have thought he was sleeping. I mean, except for the trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth he actually looked more at peace than he had since Anastasia’s death. It was his body that was a disaster. Both arms had wounds in them. Aurox’s horn had ripped through the fabric of his pants leaving one of his thighs a hamburger meat–looking mess. His chest was a terrible thing to see. His ribs had splintered around the hole. From his chest down, blood was everywhere.
    I was standing there, staring, when Thanatos’s velvet cloak swirled into view. She’d unclasped the brooch that held it over her shoulders and, with a flourish, the High Priestess covered Dragon’s body. She had an odd expression on her face, and I was trying to figure out what was going on, when she spoke.
    “You may move on now. You were destined to either die this night with your oath reclaimed, your path true—or to emerge from this night with your body alive, but your spirit dead to all that is honorable.” Thanatos smiled, and I realized her expression looked odd because she was talking to the air above Dragon’s body. “By sacrificing yourself for Rephaim you found mercy again, and through it, our Goddess.” Thanatos made a sweeping gesture up with her arm, and I thought she looked incredibly graceful and totally beautiful. “There is your path. Move on to the Otherworld and your new future.”
    Then I gasped as the sky above Thanatos shivered. Night parted and a familiar tree came into view. It was green and lush, a rowan and hawthorn twined together. The pieces of cloth that were tied to its massive umbrella of branches kept changing colors and lengths as they waved gently in a warm breeze that smelled of earth and moss and springtime.
    “The Goddess’s hanging tree,” Stark whispered.
    “You can see it, too?” I murmured to him.
    “Yeah,” he said.
    “So can I,” Aphrodite said.
    “As can I,” Darius said—and all around me my friends nodded and whispered and stared in wonderment as a girl stepped from behind the tree. She was blond and smiling, and looked super gorgeous in a long skirt the color of blue topaz that had glass beads and shells and white leather fringe all around its hem and the neckline of the sleeveless, matching top. She was carrying a single sunflower.
    “It’s Anastasia!” Damien said.
    “She’s so young,” I blurted, and then closed my mouth, worried that I’d say something to shatter the vision.
    But Anastasia didn’t seem to see us. Her attention was completely captivated by the young man who strode into view. His hair was long and thick and tied back and his brown eyes sparkled with unshed tears.
    “It’s Dragon,” Shaunee said.
    “No,” Thanatos corrected her. “It’s Bryan, her Bryan.”
    The young Bryan Lankford touched Anastasia’s face reverently. “My own,” he said.
    “ My own,” she said. “I knew you would find yourself again.”
    “And in doing so, I found you.” Smiling, he pulled her into his arms and as their lips met the sky shimmered again and the doorway to the Otherworld closed.
    Stark handed me a balled-up Kleenex he pulled from his jeans pocket. I blew my nose.
    “Is Rephaim gonna die now, too?”
    Stevie Rae’s question pulled us firmly back to earth. I turned to see that she was still kneeling beside Rephaim. I was close enough now to see that he was bleeding from a deep gash in his head. He looked pale and still—too still.
    “Your affinity is Death,” Stevie Rae continued. Wiping tears from her face with the back of her hand, she stared at Thanatos. “So, tell me the truth. Is Rephaim gonna die?”
    There was a giant whooshing sound and Kalona dropped from the sky. Stark and Darius instantly raised their weapons and moved to stand between Aphrodite and me, and the immortal. But Kalona didn’t even glance at us. He hurried to Rephaim.
    “You’re too late!” Stevie Rae yelled at him. “I called, but you came too late.”
    Kalona looked from his son to Stevie Rae. “I did not hesitate. I came at your call.” Then he utterly shocked me by kneeling beside Stevie Rae. Slowly, he reached around her and touched his son’s face. “He lives.”
    “Not for long,” Thanatos said gently. “Take what time is left to say your farewells. Death has marked Rephaim for her own.”
    Kalona’s amber gaze seemed to