House of Night 09 - Destined

lunch.” She grinned once more at Rephaim, waved at the rest of us, and then went over to Shaylin. “Lemme see.” She read the fledgling’s schedule. “Oh, good, you have Spells and Rituals first hour. You’ll like that class. I hear the new professor is cool.”
    “Hey, what’s up with you?” Stark asked me.
    “Not sure,” I said quietly. “Actually, probably nothing more than the fact that I’m going to sociology class, which is taught by Neferet. Talk about stress.”
    “You’ll be fine. She’s pretending to be a professor and a High Priestess right now,” he said.
    “Yeah, which means she’ll only humiliate me a little, versus ripping my head off with her claws,” I muttered.
    “If she tries, be sure to run around a lot and be scared so I can get to you in time to save you.” He smiled his cocky grin at me, and I knew he was trying (unsuccessfully) to make me feel better.
    “I’ll keep that in mind. See you at lunch.”
    He kissed me, and then after one more worried look, headed toward the stables with Darius. Everyone scattered, leaving Damien, Rephaim, and me walking to class.
    “You okay?” I asked Rephaim.
    “Yes. Fine,” he said.
    I seriously didn’t believe him, and I guess my sneaked peeks were super obvious because he finally stopped, sighed, and then he truly surprised me by saying, “Hey, Damien, I need to talk to Zoey. Can I meet you in class?”
    Damien looked more than a little curious, but he was too polite to protest. “Sure, no problem. Don’t be late, though. The professors here really get annoyed about tardiness.”
    “I’ll make sure he hurries,” I assured Damien, and then I slowed down so that Rephaim and I stayed outside the building when everyone else went in. “What’s up?”
    “My father is here. I can feel his presence.”
    “Kalona? Where?” I knew my eyes were all big and googly as I looked around us like I expected the immortal to pop out of the shadows.
    “I don’t know where, but I want you to know that I haven’t contacted him, haven’t seen him, haven’t talked to him since he freed me.” Rephaim shook his head. “I-I don’t want you and the rest of your friends to think I’m keeping things from you.”
    “Okay. Well, at least that’s a good thing. Do you have any idea what he wants?”
    “No!”
    “Okay, okay, I’m not accusing you of anything. You came to me with this, remember?”
    “Yes, but I—” His face went still again. Then his eyes met mine and the sadness in them was so intense that it made my stomach ache. “He’s calling me.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
    Zoey
    “Calling you? What the hell do you mean? I don’t hear anything.” I kept gawking around expecting the boogerman to jump at me.
    “No.” He shook his head. “You wouldn’t hear it. I don’t even really hear it. Father can call me through the immortal blood we share. I didn’t think he’d still be able to after Nyx changed me.” He stared off into the distance, looking totally miserable. “But I’m not truly human. I’m still a mixture of beast and man and immortal. I still share his blood.”
    “Hey, it’s okay. You’re doing your best. I see the way you look at Stevie Rae. I know you love her. And Nyx herself forgave you.”
    He nodded and swept a hand across his face, which made me notice he had started to sweat. A lot.
    Obviously, he noticed me noticing, and said, “It’s difficult not to respond to his call. I’ve never resisted him before.”
    “Look, you stay right here. I’m gonna go get Stark and Darius and Stevie Rae. Then you can follow Kalona’s call. We’ll all go with you and show him that you’re really one of us—that he needs to leave you alone.”
    “No! I don’t want everyone to know he’s here. Especially not Stevie Rae. She thinks I have to completely turn my back on him, but it’s so hard!” He put his hands together like he was begging me to understand. “He’s still my father.”
    Even though I wished I didn’t, I was beginning to understand what he was saying. “My mom was messed up. She chose a guy over me, but deep inside I still loved her and I wanted her to love me. Really love me. I think the hardest part about her being dead is that there isn’t any chance left that she’ll be my mom again.”
    “Then you understand,” he said.
    “Yeah, in a way I think I do, but I also agree with Stevie Rae. See, Rephaim, you might feel like every other kid who’s had a messed-up parent, but the problem