“It’s him, isn’t it?” I said listlessly.

“Him?” Heath asked, helping me step over a rough gray stone.

“Kalona.” The word seemed to change the density of the air around us. “He’s come for me.”

Heath gave me a sharp look, and shouted, “No, I’m not going to let him get you!”

“No, I’m not going to let him get you!” Dragon shouted.

Along with everyone else in the Council Chamber, Stevie Rae stared at the Sword Master, who looked like he might be getting ready to pop a major blood vessel.

“Uh, him who, Dragon?” Stevie Rae said.

“That Raven Mocker who killed my mate! That’s why you can’t go out alone until we track that creature down and destroy it.”

Stevie Rae tried to ignore the hollow feeling Dragon’s words gave her and the horrible sense of guilt she experienced as she faced him, seeing his heartbreak and knowing that even though Rephaim had saved her life, twice, it was also a fact that he had killed Anastasia Lankford.

He’s changed. He’s different now, she thought, wishing she could say the words aloud and not bring her world crashing down around them.

But she couldn’t tell Dragon about Rephaim. She couldn’t tell anyone about the Raven Mocker, so instead she began, again, to weave lies with the truth, forming a terrible tapestry of evasion and deceit.

“Dragon, I don’t know which Raven Mocker was there in the park. I mean, it’s not like he told me his name.”

“I think he was the head one—the Ref-whatever,” Dallas spoke up, even though Stevie Rae shot him a look.

“Rephaim,” Dragon said, with a voice like death.

“Yeah, that’s it. He was huge, just like you guys described, and his eyes really were human-looking. Plus, he had a thing about him. It was obvious he thought he was the shit.”

Stevie Rae stifled the urge to press her hand firmly over Dallas’s mouth—and maybe nose, too. Smothering him would definitely make him stop talking.

“Oh, Dallas, whatever. We don’t know who that Raven Mocker was. And, Dragon, I can understand why you’re worried and all, but we’re just talkin’ ’bout me goin’ to the Benedictine Abbey so that Grandma Redbird hears about Zoey from me. I’m not goin’ off into the wilderness alone.”

“But Dragon does have a good point,” Lenobia said. Erik and Professor Penthasilea nodded, their disagreements about Neferet and Kalona temporarily put aside. “This Raven Mocker did appear where you were, while you were communing with earth.”

“It’s too simplistic to say she was communing with the earth,” Dragon spoke quickly into Lenobia’s pause. “As Stevie Rae explained to us, she was dialoguing with ancient powers of good and evil. That creature appearing during the manifestation of evil cannot be a coincidence.”

“But the Raven Mocker wasn’t attackin’ me. It was—”

Dragon lifted a hand to silence her. “Undoubtedly it was drawn to the Darkness, which then turned on one of its own as evil often does. You cannot know with certainty that the creature isn’t after you.”

“We also cannot know with certainty that there is only one Raven Mocker in Tulsa,” Lenobia said.

Panic fluttered in Stevie Rae’s stomach. What if everyone was so freaked-out about the possibility of a bunch of Raven Mockers stalking around Tulsa that they made it impossible for her to get away to see Rephaim?

“I’m goin’ to the abbey to see Grandma Redbird,” Stevie Rae said firmly. “And I don’t think there’s a flock of those dang Raven Mockers out there. What I do think is that one bird guy somehow got left behind, and he was at the park because he was drawn to Darkness. Well, I’m sure as heck not gonna call Darkness to me again, so there’s no reason for the bird to have anything to do with me.”

“Do not underestimate the danger of that creature,” Dragon said, his voice sad and somber.

“I won’t. But I also won’t let it keep me locked up on campus. I don’t think any of us should let it do that,” she added hastily. “I mean, we can be careful, but we can’t let fear and evil rule our lives.”

“Stevie Rae makes a valid point,” Lenobia said. “Actually, I believe we should get the school back on a regular schedule and include the red fledglings in classes.”

Kramisha, who had until then been sitting silently to the left of Stevie Rae, snorted softly. She heard Dallas, who was sitting to her right, sigh heavily. She stifled a smile, and said, “I think that’s a real good idea.”

“I don’t think we should say much about Zoey’s condition,” Erik said. “At least not until something more, well, permanent happens.”

“She’s not gonna die,” Stevie Rae said.

“I don’t want her to die!” Erik said quickly, looking obviously upset at the thought. “But what with the stuff that’s gone on around here lately, including a Raven Mocker showing up, the last thing we need is a bunch of talk.”

“I don’t think we should hush it up,” Stevie Rae said.

“How about we agree on a compromise,” Lenobia said. “Answer questions about Zoey when they’re asked, focusing on the truth—that we’re all working to get her back from the Otherworld.”

“And we issue a general warning through all homeroom classes for fledglings to be watchful and vigilant in reporting anything they see or hear that might be unusual,” Dragon added.

“That sounds reasonable,” Penthasilea said.

“All right, that seems good to me, too,” Stevie Rae said. Then she paused before adding, “Uh, I’m just wonderin’, but am I supposed to go back to the classes I was in before?”

“Yeah, I’s wondering that, too,” Kramisha said.

“Me, too,” Dallas said.

“Fledglings should attend classes, taking up where they left off,” Lenobia said smoothly, smiling at Kramisha and Dallas as if the “left off” part had been unscheduled vacations rather than unwelcome deaths, which somehow made the whole thing sound weirdly normal. Then she turned to Stevie Rae. “Vampyres choose their career paths and the areas they’d like to study—not in class with fledglings but with other vampyres who are experts in their field. Do you know what it is you’d like to study?”

Even with everyone gawking at her, Stevie Rae had no hesitation in her answer. “Nyx. I want to study to be a High Priestess. I want to be one because I’ve earned it, and not just ’cause I’m the only dang red vamp female in the known universe.”

“But we have no High Priestess under which you may study—not since Neferet was driven away,” Penthasilea said, giving Lenobia a pointed look.

“Then I guess I’ll study on my own until we get our High Priestess back.” She met Penthasilea’s eyes, and added, “And I can promise you that High Priestess will not be Neferet.” Stevie Rae stood. “Okay, well, I’m gonna go to the abbey like I said before. When I come back, I’ll go see the rest of the red fledglings and clue them in that classes start tomorrow.”

Everyone had started to shuffle out of the room when Dragon pulled her aside. “I want you to promise me that you will be cautious,” he said. “You have powers of recovery that border on miraculous, but you are not immortal, Stevie Rae. You must remember that.”

“I’ll be careful. I promise.”

“I’m goin’ with her,” Kramisha said. “I’ll keep an eye to the sky for them nasty bird things. And I got me a girl scream that is deadly. If one shows up, I can make sure the whole world knows he there.”

Dragon nodded but didn’t look convinced, and Stevie Rae was relieved when Lenobia called him over to her and started a conversation with him about making his martial arts classes mandatory for all fledglings. She slipped out of the room and was trying to figure out how she could get rid of Kramisha, who was being way too sticky-boogerish, when Dallas caught up with them.

“Can I talk to you for a sec before you leave?”

“I’ll be in Zoey’s Bug,” Kramisha said. “And no, you can’t get outta takin’ me.”