DISCLAIMER: P. C. Cast + Kristen Cast own the House of Night series, I don't.

Chapter One

I stared up at the ceiling of my dorm room, Nala perched, sleeping, on most of the pillow. The ceiling stared back, blank.

I glanced at the clock. It was midmorning, and the House of Night was quiet, most of its occupants sleeping. The Sons of Erebus were probably the only ones awake, patrolling the perimeter, making sure none of the humans who had killed Loren and finally broken the peace would return . . .

I closed my eyes tight. Damn. I would not think about that. I wouldn't.

Grimacing, I sat up and grabbed my cell phone. Quickly, I dialed Aphrodite's number, to keep my mind on something slightly safer than that topic. Like something that wouldn't make me cry and puke me guts up. Again.

Aphrodite would probably be at her house right now, and perhaps Stevie Rae would be there as well, comforting her and thanking her. I waited silently for someone to pick it up.

Finally, a scratchy, strained voice answered. "Hello?"

"Aphrodite?"

"Zoey!" There was no mistaking the relief in her voice. "Zoey, come here! Please come here!"

"Is Stevie Rae there?"

"Yeah, she's here. Zoey!"

I hesitated. "Aphrodite, I can't. The Sons of Erebus are everywhere, there's no way in hell I'll be able to sneak out."

"I know you can do it," Aphrodite was practically, uncharacteristically pleading. "Please come, I want to talk to you, face-to-face."

"All right." I sighed. It was tempting. I needed to do something.

"See you." I hung up.

Ah, hell.

I ignored that very reasonable thought. Now. How to sneak out?

I knew what I had to do – turn invisible and silent, ghostlike. Float over the wall. But if one of the warriors saw me or heard me? And then how would I get back? And, most important, what if the alarm went off when I crossed the border?

Well, that was just a chance I had to take. I would turn invisible and, uh, start flying the moment I got out of my room, not wait until I reached the wall, since I would definitely be caught if I tried to run.

Trying not to wake Nala, I slipped out of bed and ducked into the bathroom to slap some concealer over my tattoos. I gazed at my reflection, and winced.

I looked tired and there were still tear tracks on my cheeks. My skin was too pale, like the time I was first Marked. And my Marks themselves – they seemed to glow with their own inner light, deep and dark and mysterious. The delicate swirls once again reminded me of some strange old forgotten language, written on the walls of caves long before people began to speak English.

Maybe I would go to the library and research it, I thought, slightly cheered by the obvious signs of Nyx's favor. Unlike the friends who had abandoned me, just because I was trying to save their lives . . .

I would not think about it.

Without giving myself time to chicken out, I hurried back to my room, opened the window, and took a deep breath.

I began to center myself, to calm myself. I thought of the five elements. Closing my eyes, I summoned air and spirit, wind and darkness, mist and fog. I prayed for speed and silence.

And just like that, I relaxed. A wonderful tingling went up my spine, tracing my Marks. I looked down at my body, and a thrill went through me when I realized I couldn't see it. Or feel it.

Taking one more deep breath, I called softly, "Carry me away, magic, carry me over the wall . . ."

I felt the wind blow gently over my cool, insubstantial skin. It lifted me off my feet and I floated gently out the window. Looking down, I gazed at the trees and the school building. Though the sun was blinding, strong enough that my skin would have burned and itched under normal circumstances, I felt no pain. It was a little like when I hit my head in my Grandma Redbird's lavender farm, just before I had met the Goddess for the first time.

In no time at all, I had flown/floated all the way past the wall. I had seen a couple warriors pacing beneath me, but not one of them had looked up. And when I passed the barrier, a strange feeling shot through me, as though I was swimming something thick and gooey, but then I was through and the alarm had not sounded.

Relieved, I smiled as the elements set me gently down on the grass outside the House of Night, and as soon as my feet touched solid ground I dismissed the magic that concealed me with my thanks. Looking at my body again, I could see that it was visible again.

Playing with the elements and the magic had lightened my mood and now, grinning like an utter dork, I set off for Aphrodite's mansion. The gorgeous castle-like house came into my view quickly. It came into my view quickly since I ran, and since I'm a very weird fledgling, I ran really, really fast.

The door flew open before I could knock, and Aphrodite's face peeked out. She motioned for me to come in and then slammed the door nervously, like someone could be watching her.

I examined her as she led my to her living room. She still looked weak and pale and sad, but the shock had left her eyes, and there was something familiar in the way she walked already (like there was something stuck up her butt). But my grin faded when I looked at her face, and remembered that only a few hours ago there had been a beautiful blue Mark on the now-smooth forehead . . .

Aphrodite turned to look me full on the face and smiled sadly at my expression.

"Yeah," she said softly. We stood like that for a second. Then a girl rushed in.

She was wearing dorky, countrified clothes and she had bouncy blond curls. Her big blue eyes were shining again, and the swirling flowery red tattoos on her face didn't remind me of, well, blood anymore.

"Stevie Rae!" I cried, and then I rushed into her arms. Her familiar sweet smile shined.

"Yeah, it's me," she twanged. I laughed, feeling lighter than I had ever felt in the past few months.

I heard Aphrodite give a tiny little laugh behind me too. "We have a surprise for you:" she drawled, just before my sweet old grandmother's lavender scent enveloped me.

"Grandma! What are you doing here?" Not that I wasn't happy that she was here. I had missed my Grandma Redbird's comfort and acceptance. I hugged her again.

"Sweetheart, your friend called me and I heard there's been some problems . . ."

I looked her in the eyes, willing her to believe in me and accept me and not to judge me, like my only two remaining friends. "Yes, Grandma, there have been," I managed.

And my wonderful grandmother, instead of asking stupid questions and looking at me with suspicion and/or fear, held me in her arms and didn't say anything. I think she understood that I couldn't talk about it.

I pulled back after just a moment, and looked at the three of them. My heart swelled. I smiled. They smiled back. My friends.

Then I turned to the first of my pressing problems – Aphrodite. "Aphrodite, are you all right?" I asked her anxiously.

She nodded seriously at me. "I know I freaked out before, but I was thinking just now and really, it could have been a lot worse, I could have died. And really, I gave that sacrifice freely. I deserved it. And, you always told me that the Goddess really did believe in me and loved me, and I believe that," she swallowed, then grinned, "Maybe I wasn't turned into a human as a punishment, but as another chance! Maybe Nyx thinks I can help vampyres by being human, I heard we're going to war so it's like having a spy amidst your enemy, isn't it? And I'd really like to kick some ass, personally!"

That was the most powerful and emotional speech I've ever heard her utter.

I grinned back at her, and thought, One problem down. Then I turned to Stevie Rae. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, honestly, and being a full-grown vampyre is amazing, I can't explain it. But there's just one little issue – no way can I go back to the House of Night."

I nodded. Her red tattoos would probably make her an outcast, and even if they didn't, Neferet would kill her. Damn it.

"Well," Grandma began hesitantly, "Maybe you could stay with me. At my lavender farm. I would love it, if you want."

There was a silence, in which my grandma's face turned worried, until Stevie Rae hugged her. "That's an amazing idea! And I'd love it, too! I've always wanted to see your lavender farm."

Grandma gave a relieved smile. "It's a great idea, really!" I said enthusiastically. "But, won't Neferet and the warriors know?"

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "The answer is obvious. Neferet kept out humans by casting a spell around the House of Night, right? Well, you can do the same thing, Zoey, to your grandmother's place."

For the first time since I'd entered Aphrodite's house, a cold finger of sadness touched my spine. "I'll need a circle, though," I heard myself whisper.

"I'll be earth," Stevie Rae said immediately.

Aphrodite looked at her for a moment, a strange look in her eyes, and then those eyes widened. "I'll be fire," she said looking startled. I felt a beautiful, familiar scent brush my skin, reminding me of the presence of . . . Had the Goddess just spoken to Aphrodite?

"I'll be air," Grandma Redbird said, and I smiled at her. I had never heard of a human in a circle, but Grandma had so much magic in her, and she was Cherokee through and through, and she just felt right in my gut.

But then my gut twisted. I had no one to represent water. By the looks on everyone else's faces, they realized it too. I looked down, ashamed.

Suddenly a brilliant thought made me look up. "Lenobia," I said.