House of Night 09 - Destined

with deceptive nonchalance in his hand.
    “Yeah, fine,” I said. “Aurox was telling me I needed to get to class.”
    Stark gave Aurox a hard look. “I didn’t know you were a professor at this school.”
    “I am following Neferet’s command,” Aurox said. He sounded the same as he had before Stark had shown up, but his body language had totally changed. He looked bigger, more aggressive, more dangerous.
    Thankfully, the bell that signaled the end of first hour chimed. “Oh, oopsie, looks like I won’t be making it to first hour. Better get to second hour on time, though.” I turned my back on Aurox and went to Stark, linked my arm through his, and said, “Walk me to drama class?”
    “Absolutely,” he said.
    Neither of us said anything to Aurox.
    “He scares you,” Stark said when we were out of Aurox’s hearing range.
    “Yeah.”
    Stark opened the door to the main school building and the long hallway that held most of our classrooms. It was busy, filled with fledglings changing class, but he kept his voice low and me close so that only I could hear him. “Why? Did he do something?”
    “He casts the—”
    My words broke off as a tall, dark-haired vampyre stepped from Neferet’s classroom and into the hall before us. Stark and I stopped. At first it was hard to really believe who I was seeing, and I wanted to rub my eyes as if to clear them. Then Stark fisted his hand over his heart and bowed deeply, breaking me out of my waking dream and I followed his example while he said, “Merry meet, Thanatos.”
    “Ah, Stark, Zoey, merry meet. I’m pleased to see you both looking so well.”
    “What are you doing here?” I asked way more bluntly than I should have.
    Her dark brows went up, but she looked more amused than offended. “I am here because the High Council has decided the very special fledglings,” she paused and glanced at Stark, “and vampyres here deserve some additional attention.”
    “What does that mean?” I asked. The kids walking by us in the hall were gawking and whispering. I saw Damien’s head stick out of the door to his second-hour class and his mouth formed a round, surprised “Ooooh!” when he saw Thanatos.
    “It means that Monday if you cut your first-hour class, you’ll be cutting one taught by Thanatos.” Neferet came out of the open doorway to her classroom. She spoke with no more sternness than any normal teacher would have used with a kid who cut her class, but her eyes told a different story. I felt Stark’s body tense and my guess was Darkness was all around her.
    “I’d like to believe Zoey is mature enough that she has an excellent reason for not coming to class today.” Thanatos smiled at Neferet, and her tone was obviously patronizing.
    Neferet’s face seemed to freeze. Her answering smile looked brittle. “I’d like to believe so, too. Be that as it may, Monday you will have charge of Zoey and any of those other special students you would like to include. There is a spare classroom down this hall and to the right. Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to be sure a room is readied for your indefinite stay.”
    “Of course I’ll excuse you, and I do apologize again for arriving with no notice, and not truly knowing how long I will be with you here at the lovely Tulsa House of Night. These are simply unusual times. Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again, Neferet,” Thanatos said.
    Neferet fisted her hand over her heart and bowed her head slightly, muttering the parting words as she hurried away.
    “She is not pleased that I am here,” Thanatos said.
    “You knew she wouldn’t be,” I said quietly. During our time on Skye, Stark had told me that he’d had an ally in Thanatos, so much so that he and the rest of my friends had taken the vampyre who had an affinity for death into their confidence and told her everything they’d known then about Neferet.
    Thanatos nodded. “I did, though I was happy to volunteer for this mission. The very balance of good and evil in this world is in question, and I believe the answers can be found here, at this House of Night.”
    The bell started to chime. “Ah, hell!” I said and then added a quick, “Sorry. Uh, I’m gonna be late for class.”
    “Complete your classes today, Zoey. I will look forward to seeing you first hour Monday.” Thanatos smiled at Stark. “Young Warrior, I have just a few bags in my car. Could you please assist me?”
    “Yeah, of course,” he said. He smiled and waved at