House of Night 09 - Destined

friend.”
    “Okay. I’ll keep it secret.”
    “When Stark asked if I could see the Darkness that surrounds Neferet and Dallas’s red fledglings, my answer was a lie.”
    I blinked. “You mean you can see Darkness?”
    “I can.”
    I shook my head. “You need to ask Stark and Rephaim and Stevie Rae for forgiveness, too. They’re the ones who can see Darkness with you—they’re the ones the lie would hurt most.”
    “They cannot know. I have your word that you will keep this secret.”
    “Why? Why should I know and not them?”
    Instead of a clear answer, she just started talking. “I have lived almost five centuries. For most of that time I have dealt with death daily. I have seen Darkness. I have seen its carnage, its waste, its wages. I recognize its threads and shadows all too well. Perhaps it is because I have watched it for so long that I can also see that which is its opposite—that which causes the strength of Darkness to weaken, to falter.”
    “What are you talking about!” I wanted to scream.
    “You, Zoey Redbird. There is something about you that cannot be touched by Darkness; therefore, it is your fate to stand in the Light and lead the battle against evil.”
    “No. I don’t want to lead any battle. You do it. Or ask Darius to. Or even Stark. Hell, get Sgiach and the Guardians! They’re all leaders. They’re all Warriors who know how to fight. I don’t know anything. I don’t even know what to do without my mom.” I ended up gasping for breath and pressing my hand against my chest. When Thanatos didn’t speak, when she just held me with her dark eyes I finally managed a less crazy voice and said, “I don’t want this. I just want to be a normal kid.”
    “That may be part of why this has fallen on your shoulders, young High Priestess, because you do not want it. Perhaps the power that goes with the claiming of it will not be able to corrupt you.”
    “Like Frodo,” I whispered, more to myself than to Thanatos. “He never wanted the damn ring.”
    “J. R. R. Tolkien. Good books—excellent movies.”
    I gave her a look and said, “Yeah, I know. It’s the twenty-first century. You probably have cable.”
    “I definitely have cable.”
    “That’s cool for you, but let’s go back to the Ring Bearer stuff. Uh, if I remember correctly, and I do ’cause I’ve seen the long extended version of the movies like a gazillion times, Frodo is basically destroyed by this ring he didn’t want to bear.”
    “And thereby he saved his world from Darkness,” Thanatos said.
    I felt a freezing shiver wash down my spine. “I don’t want to die. Not even to save the world.”
    “Death comes to us all,” Thanatos said.
    I shook my head again. “I’m no Ring Bearer. I’m just a kid.”
    “A kid who’s already won her life back from Darkness, not once but several times.”
    “Okay, if you get that—and if you get that Neferet is on the side of Darkness ’cause you can see it why are you pretending like you don’t?”
    “I am here to settle the issue of Neferet and her true allegiance once and for all.”
    “Then tell the High Council about the Darkness that surrounds her!”
    “And have her admonished slightly only to return, perhaps stronger, to do more evil? What if she is really the Consort of Darkness? If that is truth, then the full might of the High Council must come against her, and for that to happen we must have unequivocal proof that she is forever lost to the Goddess.”
    “That’s why you’re here. To get that proof.”
    “Yes.”
    “I won’t say anything about you seeing Darkness. And I’m telling you the honest truth—get ready to see a whole bunch of it. Get ready to find your proof because I know with everything inside me that Neferet has gone over to it.” I almost added that she’s not even mortal anymore. But, no. That was something Thanatos needed to discover for herself. “Oh, and I forgive you. Just promise me you’ll keep your eyes open and when the time comes, you’ll make sure the High Council does the right thing.”
    “I give you my oath on it.”
    “Good,” I said. And then while Thanatos was calling Grandma I did finally return to sixth hour.
    Shaunee
    She hadn’t had any idea how much it would suck not to be Erin’s Twin anymore. It was like that one thing—not having Erin as her BFF—changed the whole blueprint of her life.
    It was so damn confusing.
    When had she lost Shaunee and become Twin? She really didn’t know.