Page 16 of Lost

“Excellent. I will escort you to him and remain with you. He really is an unpleasant man.”

“Yeah, he sure is, and thanks for staying with me.”

Neferet motioned for Dream Zoey to follow her, which she did even though I was yelling, “No, don’t go!”

And when Dream Z closed the door I felt myself float after herand right through the closed door.

“Okay, this is the weirdest dream I’ve ever had,”I spoke aloud to myself as I drifted after Dream me and Neferet, who were chatting nonchalantly together like Dream Neferet was actually a decent High Priestess and Dream Zoey was just a newly Marked fledgling—kinda like when I’d first been Marked and Neferet had seemed like a mother to me.

I’d beenverywrong about that, but this was just a dream. It was supposed to be strange.

And the House of Night looked strange too. It seemed somehow darker and emptier than my always-busy, never-sleeping school. In the year since my friends and I had taken over, we’d expanded the human/fledgling program so much that there was usually something going on at all hours.

Not so here. Everything was silent, and the fading light of the setting sun did nothing to alleviate the sense of gloom.

“Um, aren’t we going the wrong way?” My dream-self’s question pulled my attention back to her and I saw that Neferet had led Dream Zoey out a back door of the school, instead of toward the administrative offices in the front of the main building.

“Oh, I apologize. I should have explained. Your stepfather refuses to enter campus. One of the Warriors discovered him lurking outside the east wall.” Neferet paused and gave my dream-self a big, pretend smile. “That didn’t sound very charitable of me. I should have chosen another word thanlurk.”

Dream Zoey’s cheeks blazed pink and she shook her head in disgust. “No, that’s the perfect word. And I’m the one who needs to apologize. Again. My stepfather is awful. A total religious hypocrite, filled with hate and judgment.” Dream me shuddered. “Getting Marked and being able to move away from him was a relief. I’ll talk to him and be sure he doesn’t come back here and bother you or any other vampyre.”

“Oh, my dear, please do not worry about a human man being a bother. That’s nothing new. That’s what human men seem to do best—bother their betters.”

Dream Zoey didn’t appear to know what to say to that, and about then Neferet picked up her pace, so both of us had to hurry to keep up with her as she strode across the lawn, heading straight to the trapdoor in the east wall.

“The east wall. That figures. Horrible stuff always happens there,” I mumbled.

But Dream Zoey couldn’t hear me, so we followed Neferet to the trapdoor, which she tripped by pressing the stone stamped1926, the year the wall was built. I floated through the opening behind them out to the area just outside the wall. If the sun hadn’t set yet, it sure seemed like it had, because it was so dark under the arms of the giant old oaks framing the wall that we were all cast in shadow.

“John?” Dream Zoey called, looking around the dark, empty area. “It’s me. Zoey. What did you need to tell me?”

Dream me was searching the area, hands on hips, obviously exasperated. But my attention wasn’t on Dream Zoey. It was on Neferet. The High Priestess had stayed close to the wall, where I noticed a wooden fencepost had been stuck into the ground—you know, like something a rancher would use to string barbed-wire on.

But there were no barbed-wire fences in midtown Tulsa. What the hell was going on?

Neferet went to the fencepost and opened a big duffel bag that was lying behind it—and unsheathed a long, dangerous-looking sword.

I understood in a flash. The fencepost was way too much like the one I’d found Professor Nolan staked to, without her head.

“Zoey! Get thehellout of here!”I yelled at my clueless dream-self, but that Z did nothing but peer around looking for her annoying stepfather.

Soundlessly, Neferet approached her from behind, carrying the sword with two hands, looking like a samurai assassin.

“Ohmygoddess, turn around!”

Dream Zoey didn’t hear me, but she did turn as she said, “Neferet, I think he took off. I’m really sorry this was such a waste of your time and you had to—” Her words cut off as she saw Neferet’s sword.

“Oh, my dear, there isabsolutelyno need to apologize. And things have goneexactlyas I planned. When they find you they will believe this was the work of humans—the People of Faith in particular. I will have my war.” Neferet’s smile was feral—a victorious baring of her teeth. “And you will never have to be bothered by your ridiculous stepfather again. I consider it a win for both of us.”

Dream Zoey’s eyes looked glassy with shock, and she kept shaking her head back and forth, back and forth. In a little girl’s voice she repeated over and over, “No, I don’t understand… I don’t understand… I don’t—”

I screamed as Neferet whirled around in an arc that was as graceful as it was deadly, and with one single strike she severed Dream Zoey’s head from her body. Blood sprayed everywhere as the body collapsed, twitching spasmodically.

So much blood! There’s so much blood!

I couldn’t stop screaming. I wanted to close my eyes. I wanted to wake up. But I was frozen in place, hovering over my dream-self as Neferet wiped her sword on the ground and then returned to the duffel bag to pull out rope and a rough, homemade plaque that had scrawled on it:THOU SHALT NOT SUFFER A WITCH TO LIVE! EXODUS 22:18.

I recognized the Bible quote. It had been the same one found on Professor Nolan’s crucified, headless body.