Page 40 of Lost

10

Zoey

“I’m not real sure this is a good idea,” Stevie Rae said.

“I’m real sure it’snot,” Stark said.

“Zoey, shouldn’t you circle before trying to call Old Magick?” Rephaim asked. “Shaylin’s still here, isn’t she? I could go get her. And I saw Shaunee heading to the Drama classroom with Erik. I could let her know you need her here too.”

“Wow! This is definitely not how this tree looks in my old world,” said Other Jack.

“Okay, listen up.” I turned my back to the ruined oak to face my friends. “I’m not going to circle. I want to keep this short and simple—and not focus too much energy on Old Magick.” I turned to Rephaim. “Thank you for reminding me that this is here. I’d like you and Stevie Rae to stay.” My gaze went from him to take in Aphrodite and Stark. “But I want everyone else except Stark and Aphrodite to leave. My gut is telling me not to make a big show of calling on Old Magick, and the more people here with me, the bigger the show. I’d do this alone, but I know my Warrior well enough to know that’s not possible.”

“Damn right,” Stark said, looking very Warrior-ish and totally badass as he glared over my shoulder at the ruined tree I hadn’t even actually looked at yet.

“And Aphrodite is, well…” My words faded as I realized I wasn’t entirely sure how to describe what Aphrodite had become.

“Weirdly attached to Nyx and powerful?” Stevie Rae offered.

“How about awesomely attached to Nyx and powerful?” Aphrodite said, narrowing her eyes at Stevie Rae.

“Both,” I said.

“And I’m going to use my High Priestess rank and stay right here with Z,” said Stevie Rae.

“I stay with Stevie Rae,” added Rephaim.

“Which is exactly what I expected,” I said.

“What can the rest of us do?” Damien asked, threading his fingers with Other Jack’s.

“Thank you for understanding,” I said. “Could you and Jack make sure all the students stay inside?”

“Of course,” Damien said. “It’s the middle of second hour. We’ll send each professor an emergency email. No one should be going anywhere for a good thirty minutes or so.”

“And if they do, Damien and I will shoo ’em right back to class,” said Other Jack, dimpling at me.

“But are you absolutely sure you don’t want me to stay?” Damien asked. “I could take notes about what happens.”

“Actually, what would help even more than that would be if you’d pull those books on Old Magick from the restricted section of the Media Center, and mark anything you think I should read.”

“I can do that, Z.”

“May I help too?” Other Jack asked, looking at me with big, anxious eyes. “I mean as soon as we let the professors know not to allow fledglings out of class.”

“Of course,” I said. “I’d appreciate that.”

Other Jack did a happy little skip step that made me smile as he and Damien hurried away hand in hand.

“Well, I for one don’t need to see no Old Magick spirits or any other mess like that,” Kramisha said. “I need to pack. Z, if a poem come to me, I’ll text it to you. Sound good?”

“Yep,” I said, secretly hoping there would be no crazy prophetic poem texted to me in Kramisha’s bright purple font.

“High Priestess, I would prefer to remain with Aphrodite.”

My eyes met Darius’ serious gaze. I sighed, but nodded. “Yeah, I get that. You can stay.” Darius bowed to me respectfully, fist over his heart.

“Okay, Z. Meet us in the dining hall after? It’s almost lunch time, and I’m getting hangry,” Kramisha said.