House of Night 09 - Destined

could we really?”
    I think it hit me at about the same time it hit Lenobia—Ant was just asking to do some normal school stuff—to take a field trip and be a kid—versus being dead and undead and fighting immortals and the booger monsters they brought with them and worrying about saving the world.
    “Perhaps. I’ll have to see if I can work it into my lesson plan. There have already been several changes lately,” Lenobia said in her teacher voice.
    Johnny B sighed. “Changes. That’d be us undying and coming back here and messing up the schedule.”
    “Actually, the professor probably means me more than you,” Rephaim said. “I’m the reason Stark and Darius had to start a new class here in the stables.”
    “Neither and both of you are right,” Lenobia said crisply. “You’ve changed things at this House of Night, but that’s not necessarily negative. I like to see change as a positive thing. It prevents stagnation. And I’m enjoying having the Warrior classes in my stables. As Travis has so aptly demonstrated today, Warriors and horses have a long, rich history together.”
    I saw Rephaim’s surprised look and his tentative smile. Then the bell chimed and before everyone could sprint for the door Travis called out, “Whoa there, guys! No one leaves the stable until everythin’s in its right place. You boys there help Stark and Darius put the weapons and targets up.” Then he pointed at Rephaim and Ant. “You and you—help me get this tack off Bonnie and wipe her down. She’s worked hard today.”
    Everyone snapped to. Lenobia hesitated, and then kinda nodded to herself, changed direction, and disappeared into her office.
    Huh. So now with the approval of a tougher-than-tough vampyre professor a human cowboy was telling an ex-Raven Mocker, some undead guys, and a bunch of fledglings what to do. Huh.
    * * *
    By the time we rounded up all the kids, got on the short bus, and drove back to the depot it was just a little before six A.M. Even I was tired and unbelievably glad it was the weekend. I swear I didn’t want to do anything but sleep, watch trash TV, and maybe do a little decorating of the tunnels. I was just thinking about my thick blue blanket (that I’d grabbed when I’d crammed my clothes and stuff from my dorm room into a cardboard box), and how nice it would feel to be curled up under it with Stark and Nala when Stevie Rae rained on my parade.
    “Okay, we gotta hurry.” She motioned to me, Rephaim, Stark, Darius, Aphrodite, the Twins, and Damien. “It’s gonna be dawn in about an hour and a half. Rephaim and Zoey have Kalona stuff they need to tell us.”
    I sighed. “Okay. In the kitchen.”
    It took even longer for us to get the kitchen cleared of hungry fledglings and sent off to their rooms.
    “This ain’t gonna work good for long. We need us a place where we can have our own Council Meetings without morons all up in our business,” Kramisha said, as she frowned at Johnny B who was trying to see how many Cheetos he could cram in his mouth at one time.
    “Muh uh mu,” Johnny B said around the Cheetos.
    “Just take your silly ass outta here. We got things to discuss.” She shook her head and finished shooing him and the last of the red fledglings from the kitchen. Then Kramisha faced the rest of us. “No. I ain’t leavin’.”
    “Oh, for shit’s sake, you have another poem?” Aphrodite said.
    “I read in People magazine that negativity gives you wrinkles,” Kramisha said to Aphrodite. “You may wanna consider your attitude when you look in the mirror. ’Cause I do know you love you some mirror time.” She made a little “huh” noise and then her gaze went to Stevie Rae and then to me. “It come to me in Latin class.”
    “Latin? Seriously?” Aphrodite said. “Your English isn’t even that great.”
    “Non scholae sed vitae discimus,” Kramisha said smoothly.
    There was a giant silence, then Stevie Rae said, “Dang, Latin always sounds so smart. Good job, Kramisha.”
    “Thank you. It nice to be ’preciated by my High Priestess. Anyway…” She dug around in her gihugic bag until she found her purple notepad, then she pulled it out, came over to the table, and slapped it down in front of me. “This one’s for you.”
    “Why?” I said before I could make my mouth stop.
    Kramisha shrugged. “Don’t know, but you’re supposed to read it.”
    “It would really be more helpful if you could get a little more info when these poems ‘come