House of Night 5
PC and Kristin Cast
Kalona comes to Zoey in a dream. He tells knows she is A-ya because she commands the five elements. He can see A-ya in her. He wants her to love him again, but this time, he will be in control and give her the world. Zoey refuses to turn her back on Nyx. She wakes up and tries to convince herself it was just a dream, but she knows it wasn’t.
Zoey is with Stevie Rae, who Darius is trying to get the arrow out of. Erik comes in with the an old radio to try and get some stations. Stevie Rae asks him about Venus, who was supposed to be with him. He doesn’t know where she went. Damien, Jack, and the twins come in with tools Darius might need. Zoey tries to suggest her friends leave Stevie Rae alone for a bit, but they hesitate. Finally, Stevie Rae tells them she needs them to leave (except Zoey) so the arrow can be pulled out. Before they leave, Damien notices the new marks on Zoey’s hands and points them out to everyone else. Aphrodite, Darius, and Zoey stay with Stevie Rae as the others go to check the radio for news, make food, find Venus, and get blood for Stevie Rae.
Darius explains he is going to cut the arrow. Then Zoey will place gauze over it and push while he pulls the other end. Aphrodite will try to retrain Stevie Rae. After this is all done, Stevie Rae is even more pale than before. Darius convinces Aphrodite to let Stevie Rae drink her blood. Stevie Rae drinks from her wrist while Darius kisses her. Damien, Jack, and the twins walk in on the strange scene. Zoey takes the blood and wine from them and mixes them. Darius takes Aphrodite’s wrist from Stevie Rae and he licks her wrist, which closes up. They are both surprised, but promise it won’t impact their relationship. Zoey gives Stevie Rae the glass of wine and blood. Venus comes in and is surprised by the scent - Aphrodite and Stevie Rae have imprinted.
Aphrodite starts introducing everyone, trying to take the focus off her imprint with Stevie Rae. Most people laugh at their situation, including Aphrodite’s old best friend, Venus. Erik comes in to tell them there is a horrible storm that is preventing both radio and cell phone signals. Stevie Rae continues the introductions of the rest of her group: Elliot, Montoya, Shannon Compton, Sophie, Dallas, Ant, Johnny B, Geraty, Kramisha. She says it is all of her fledglings, but Zoey notices a look that indicates she is lying. Zoey introduces her own group. When they get to Erik, he is recognized by Shannon, who was also into acting. He says he was called back to the school right after he changed by Shekinah. When Zoey says that Neferet killed Shekinah with her mind, Darius says they are going to have to fill the rest of them in on what has really been going on. They all agree and go to get food while they talk.
Zoey fills everyone in on the story of Kalona and how Neferet has chosen his side rather than Nyx’s. Damien and the twins admit they were tempted by Kalona, but kept their wits because they were in the circle and Aphrodite was shouting orders. Jack and Darius were too focus on their tasks to pay too much attention to Kalona. Erik felt a draw, but not like the fledglings. The red fledglings said it was obvious Kalona was evil. Stevie Rae explains Aphrodite let them use her credit card to get supplies to fix up the tunnels. They would have the delivery men take the stuff into the tunnels and then make them forget. Stevie Rae says they don’t really control the human’s minds, just alter their memories.
Darius works out a schedule for people to keep watch on the two known entrances to their part of the tunnels. Stevie Rae tells the red fledglings to get the sleeping bags out and help the new arrivals find places to sleep. Jack asks about bathrooms and they explain they have to go up into the depot above for that. Zoey keeps getting bad feelings about Venus. Stevie Rae offers to have Aphrodite stay in her room with her and Zoey. Aphrodite insists on going with Darius, who wants to keep an eye on her anyway. Stevie Rae sends Erik to room with Dallas (who Zoey thinks has a thing with Stevie Rae).
Zoey and Erik leave Stevie Rae so that she can get some sleep and heal. As they start walking to the bathroom, Erik tells her she saved him because she was all he could think about during the ritual. She admits that she misses him and he has missed her too. They start kissing and Erik starts grinding against her. At first, Zoey thinks she isn’t ready to have sex again, but starts to change her mind. Suddenly, she sees something glowing red from down the tunnel. Kramisha appears from the other direction showing Jack the way to their supply of towels and toiletries. Zoey is embarrassed they were caught in a compromising position together. Kramisha shows them the supplies and then her room. Zoey looks around and notices a poem on the wall that Kramisha wrote. It is about Kalona appearing in dreams.
They continue to read more poems and Zoey asks Kramisha to write down all of them for her. Erik points out that Kramisha could be the next Vamp Poet Laureate. Zoey agrees and says her council will vote on it. Kramisha agrees to write down the poems before she goes to sleep and they all leave her to it. They decide they need Damien’s help to decipher what they mean. Jack shows them to the showers in the depot and then takes off to join his boyfriend for their watch shift. Erik asks Zoey if they are back together and she tells him yes to simplify things. On her way into the locker room, she starts wondering about how Erik has changed since he has become a full vampire, Erin calls for Zoey to join them.
The twins have used their water and fire affinities to make the showers steamy and relaxing. This leads to the girls using the elements to horse around a bit. Afterwards, Zoey returns to Stevie Rae’s room and falls asleep instantly. Zoey wakes up a few hours later and goes to the kitchen. She drinks a bag of blood and then takes a pop and bag of chips with her to go ask Darius about cell reception and where Damien and Jack are keeping watch. Whens he gets to the basement of the building they entered through, Erik is there instead of Darius. She sees he is in the middle of reading Dracula and they start talking about it. He starts kissing and grabbing her, but she feels like he is being too aggressive and it makes her uncomfortable. She is able to get enough of a signal on her phone to call Sister Mary Angela. Through the broken connection, she is able to hear they are alright and so is Sylvia. Erik tells Zoey where Damien and Jack are so she can relieve them instead of the twins. As they are kissing, Heath comes in looking for Zoey.
At first, Erik is reluctant to let Heath know what is really going on. Zoey points out that keeping things from her friends is what got everyone mad at her previously. They tell Heath what has been going on with Kalona, Neferet, and the Raven Mockers. He tells them the news has said a new gang called the Mockers was responsible for all the damage and death the previous night. Erik says Heath should get back home before the sun sets and Zoey agrees he can’t stay there with how unpredictable the red fledglings are. Heath tells Erik to take care of Zoey or he will hurt him.
Zoey gets between the two boys and tells them to stop their macho behavior. She reminds them she is more powerful than both of them put together. Heath asks Zoey to go out with him so they can talk for a minute in private. Erik grabs her wrist to stop her. When Zoey turns angry, he reminds her that she has continually cheated on him. This makes Zoey even angrier and she decides to go outside with Heath. She walks him over to his truck, but doesn’t want to get inside to talk. He asks her to drink his blood so they can imprint again. He uses her nail to cut his own neck. Zoey pushes him away and tells him they can’t be together anymore. She starts to walk back to the depot when she hears a bird. She turns around to see Neferet in a tree. She transforms into a large Raven Mocker that tells her Kalona has been looking for her. Heath tells it to leave Zoey alone. The Raven Mocker’s attention shifts from Zoey to Heath.
Zoey runs to Heath and pushes him out of the way just in time, but gets slashed across the shoulder and chest. She calls on wind to keep the Raven Mocker on the ground and then uses fire to burn it up. Erik comes rushing out and tells Heath to follow him with Zoey. Heath carries her inside the depot and hands her down to Erik in the tunnels. Erik gives her back and then takes off to get Darius. Heath follows after as quickly as he can. Darius arrives and takes Zoey to Stevie Rae’s room in a flash. Stevie Rae clears off her table for Darius to lay Zoey on. He sends Erik to get Damien, the twins, and Aphrodite. Heath busts in with concern. Kramisha comes in with the twins and seems especially interested in Heath, so Zoey sends her away. When Aphrodite arrives, she is confused because she didn’t see this before it happened. She yells at Heath that it is his fault because he isn’t supposed to be there. He agrees.
Darius starts to work on cleaning up Zoey. He tells her friends with Affinities to cast a circle. Aphrodite leads the casting. Heath and Erik talk to Zoey to keep her awake. She makes the mistake of looking down at her chest and freaks out about all the blood. Darius has her drink Heath’s blood and they can both feel the imprint reform. Once the circle is closed, Darius starts bandaging Zoey and tells her she will need stitches. He also tells her that without being around a full coven of adult vampires, she will start to reject the change and die. They have to go back to the House of Night.
Everyone starts arguing on who should go back to the House of Night with Zoey. Erik becomes emotionless and distant when he suggests only Darius and Zoey should go. He points out that Neferet and Kalona can read their minds and will know where they are. Heath asks if the fledglings with abilities can use their respective elements to shield their minds. Damien says it is possible. Aphrodite points out that she was able to invoke spirit to cast the circle around Zoey. She suggests Zoey take the place of Stevie Rae at earth and Aphrodite be spirit. They are all in agreement. Stevie Rae will stay behind to watch over her fledglings. Erik and Heath will also stay behind. Darius will escort them back to the House of Night.
Everyone leaves Zoey to get ready to go and say their goodbyes. She asks Erik to stay behind so they can talk. He apologizes for acting possessive and admits he thinks Zoey being hurt is his fault for acting like a jerk. She is about to tell him she doesn’t know how things will work with them when he kisses her. Heath walks in on this, becomes angry, and starts drinking from a bottle of wine. He tells them he has to stay in the tunnels because the weather is too bad for him to drive. The others return and Kramisha gives them two new poems. The first describes how to make Kalona flee, but they need to figure out it’s meaning. They think the second is about Zoey rescuing Stark when they return to the House of Night. Heath and Erik are not happy about another guy in her life. Aphrodite tells them to stop with all the questions because they are exhausting Zoey.
Stevie Rae comes back to tell Zoey they are ready to go. Darius has suggested she drink from Heath again before they leave. Zoey is reluctant until Heath says he is willing to give her anything. They profess their love for each other and Erik leaves the room while she drinks. She ends up being drunk from the alcohol in Heath’s blood. She fights through it to give Stevie Rae a secret note telling her to join Sister Mary Angela if they run into any issues. Erik carries Zoey out to Darius. As the group gets closer to the House of Night, they get bad feelings from Nyx to warn them. As they pull up, the car is surrounded by Raven Mockers. A Son of Erebus, Aristos, is with them.
Darius gets out of the car and explains he needs to get a priestess to the infirmary. One of the Raven Mockers, Raphaim, starts to question Darius about whether or not the red one is with him. Darius assures him Stevie Rae is not with them. He tells the rest of the group to get out of the car. The Raven Mockers take to the sky and Aristos leads them inside. On the way to the infirmary, they run into Neferet. Kalona appears shortly after. Aphrodite warns them not to look into his eyes. Zoey summons spirit and sends it to Aphrodite. All of her friends refuse to leave Zoey, but Neferet and Kalona convince them to go. Aphrodite gives Zoey spirit and hints to the others to do the same with their elements. Darius hands Zoey over to Kalona and promises to wait there until she is better. Zoey passes out on the way to the infirmary.
Zoey wakes up to hear Neferet trying to convince Kalona to kill her because she is a threat to them. He sends Neferet away. Zoey feels someone standing over her and wakes up to find Raphaim hovering over her. She screams and Darius runs in and throws a knife into the Raven Mocker’s chest. Kalona grabs him and holds him against the ceiling. Zoey uses fire and air to throw Kalona across the room so that he drops Darius. Stark comes in and aims his arrow at Darius. He freezes up when he sees Zoey. When he goes to aim again, Kalona tells him if he aims for who throw him across the room, he would only hit Zoey. Zoey explains that Darius was only doing his job to protect her and a Raven Mocker was what injured her in the first place. Kalona believes her, but can’t leave Darius unpunished for attacking one of his sons. He slashes Darius’ face. He kisses Zoey and she crumples to the ground. He leaves with Raphaim following.
Stark is drawn to Darius’ blood, but Zoey sends him away. She cleans up Darius and uses some liquid stitches on his face. She finds some clothes around the room and they make their way upstairs to where the Sons of Erebus are staying. Darius changes while Zoey looks out the window. He points out the Raven Mockers have taken over watch from the Sons of Erebus. Zoey notices there are barely any students around. They each drink a bottle of blood and then start making their way to the dorms. Zoey uses the elements to hide them, but it is draining her energy. They hear a girl scream and then hear her attacker is Stark.
They rush over to find Stark forcing himself on a girl. Darius tells him he should not be abusing woman and he drops her. The girl crawls over to them and Zoey takes care of her. Darius slowly gets them to the door, but Zoey tells him she want to talk to Stark alone. He goes inside the door to wait. Stark tells her he likes being a monster. She reminds him that he asked her not to forget him and to take care of Duchess. She tells him how his dog reacted when he died. She says Duchess is still waiting for him with Jack. He tries not to care, but he can’t quite pull it off completely. Zoey slowly approaches him. She tells him Stevie Rae is fine and that she chose her humanity over being a monster. Stark isn’t sure he has any humanity left. She asks him to go to the tunnels with her, but he says their isn’t anyway out. She ends up kissing him. He grabs his bow and runs away saying she should have forgotten him.
Zoey goes inside the dorm to see her friends talking with the girl Stark attacked. She said it was no big deal and they were just fooling around. The twins are horrified, but Damien accepts her story and sends her along not wanting to draw attention to themselves. They all go up to find Aphrodite in Zoey’s room with their cats and some that belong to professors they have all been close with. Zoey tells them about Neferet’s new dark abilities, including using shadows to spy on them. She also tells them the plan she overheard Neferet and Kalona discuss about taking over the council. When Zoey and Darius ask about their classes, the others explain the Raven Mockers were in all the classrooms as well as all over campus. No one has seen any Sons of Erebus since they entered the school grounds.
Aphrodite points out that she isn’t affected by Kalona because she has always been intuitive. Damien asks who the most intuitive professors are and they name the ones whose cats are in the room. They realize it is a sign. They all agree to try to talk to the professors they have in classes the next day. After everyone leaves Zoey’s room so she can get some sleep, she gets ready to go to bed. She stares at her reflection and wants to cry because of her scar. Zoey falls asleep and dreams about being on an island. She relaxes until she realizes it is the place Aphrodite saw her die in her second vision.
Kalona appears saying Zoey called him into her dream. He questions why she stays loyal to her goddess. Zoey explains that Nyx gives her free will and the only way she will love him is if he takes it away from her. She asks what he wants; why he fell. He tells her he wants everything. He kisses her and she finds it difficult not to love him, like eternity wouldn’t be long enough with him. She starts to wonder if she really is A-ya reincarnated. She pushes him away and screams at him to stay away. She wakes up and Stark is in her room.
Stark says he was outside her door when he heard Nala making a fuss, so he came in to check on her. He eventually admits he wanted to see her because he is afraid her friends will make her hate him. She explains that his actions are already doing the job. He tries to justify his actions, but admits Zoey makes him feel things. She tries to tell him he is still important to Nyx, but he isn’t sure. As he is getting ready to leave, he tells her having a guy sleep next to her will keep Kalona out of her dreams. She decides to trust him and has him join her so she can actually sleep. She makes him promise to be gone before anyone sees him. He asks her to kill him if he becomes a real monster.
The next morning while eating breakfast with the twins, Stark stops by to bring Zoey her purse. She tries to act indifferent to him, but smiles and thanks him. She looks through her purse to see everything is there and he left her a note thanking her for the previous night. Zoey goes to her first two classes and notices how much the professors have changed. She dubs them pod-professors and moves on. She goes to Vampire Sociology with Neferet next. They start studying a chapter about cloaking. Neferet has her read a section that tells them they can’t cloak inorganic items (cars, clothes, etc.). Zoey realizes she and her friends will not be taking the Hummer out the way they came in.
Zoey goes to Dragon’s fencing class and he tells her to sit out because she doesn’t look good. She watches the class and notices they seem to attentive for teenagers holding sharp objects. She also watches Dragon, who acts normal and winks at her. His cat, Shadowfax, comes to sit with Zoey. At lunch, Zoey asks Damien and the twins what they have learned. Damien writes a quick not to let them know the Raven Mockers have excellent hearing. They pretend like they are studying to get messages across. They know Dragon and Anastasia are on their side. Zoey writes them each a note telling them to meet at the stables after school and tells them not to read it until the end of the day. The twins go to the bathroom to burn the notes they have been passing back and forth. When Aphrodite arrives, Zoey asks Damien to leave. When he is gone, she explains the plans to Aphrodite. Aphrodite scouted out the wall with Darius and there are Raven Mockers everywhere. She also warns Zoey that Stark is bad news, but she can deal with the boy and best friend drama later.
When drama class rolls around, Zoey listens in on the girls talking about Stark. She reminds one of them that she and Darius saved her from being raped by him. The girls start talking about how Zoey thinks she deserves every attractive guy and Nyx only too happy to grant her anything. Kalona comes in and all the girls start fawning over him. Zoey asks him if he expects Erik to return soon. He tells her he expects he won’t be in any condition to teach when he does return. He then asks her to pick out a play for the class to study. She picks out Madea because it is about hubris being the man’s downfall. Kalona points out the lesson only applies to humans and not gods. He leaves. Zoey goes to the back of the class to find copies of the scripts. Her classmates are jealous that Kalona showed special interest in her. She gives them the copies and leaves. While walking towards the stables, she sees Neferet’s image again. She tells her former mentor that she is too busy to deal with her right them. Neferet bursts into spiders and a Raven Mocker appears. Zoey uses fire and air to scare it away. Stark warns her it will only make them more annoying if she aggravates them.
Zoey points out that she isn’t trying to get along with the Raven Mockers. She ends up kissing Stark, but pushes him away when she remembers how many girls he has been with lately. He tells her he can’t help what he is. Zoey tells him he always has a choice and he is choosing to give up on his humanity. She tells him she can’t be with him unless he can be good and around her friends. He pledges himself to her as her warrior and becomes a full red vampire. She sends him to Dragon for whatever ritual has to be done after the change is completed. She tells him not to be seen if he can help it. He tells her to go ahead if he isn’t back in time and he will find her later. Zoey sends a quick prayer to Nyx and then goes to work on getting her friends and herself out of the House of Night.
Lenobia immediately sends Zoey to Persephone to clean her stall. The professor joins her shortly after and tells her Zoey will have to kill Kalona. Zoey is surprised at the bluntness of the comment and looks around to make sure no one can overhear the conversation. Lenobia points out there are no Raven Mockers around the stalls because they upset the horses. She has met with Dragon and his wife, Anastasia, but they don’t know why they weren’t affected by Kalona’s draw. Zoey shows her the poem Kramisha wrote and they start talking it over. They figure out that Stevie Rae is Blood, Aphrodite is Humanity, Sylvia is Earth, Sister Mary Angela is Spirit, and Zoey is Night. Zoey also believes the place of power they need is the abbey where they are going to meet everyone else. Zoey tells her they plan to escape and offers Lenobia and the other teachers to come with them. Lenobia says her home is the House of Night and admits they should have done something about Neferet earlier. They both know they are all in trouble if Neferet finds out they plan to meet in the stables.
Everyone gathers and starts invoking their elements to protect their minds. Zoey starts blubbering about her scar, so Lenobia shows her the one across her back. When the others are ready, Lenobia and Zoey tell everyone what they have figured out about the first poem. Aphrodite says her latest vision showed the war starting in Tulsa. Zoey thinks this means Kalona is starting small with the Tulsa council. They debate the best way to get to the abbey. Lenobia suggests Shaunee try heating up one of Penelope’s hooves. They see it works without hurting the mare. Lenobia suggests they use the horses with heated shoes to get to the abbey quickly. She thinks the Raven Mockers won’t be a big deal.
Lenobia goes to call Dragon and Anastasia to let them know what is going on. Damien expresses his concern with riding Penelope with Zoey without a saddle. Zoey laughs at him. She also laughs when Aphrodite and the twins come out of the tac room in riding gear. Lenobia returns to tell them they are set and Stark is isolated in Nyx’s temple. Damien and the twins are confused, so Aphrodite tells them Zoey is in love with Stark. Zoey explains Stark gave her his warrior oath and she excepted. Then he changed into a full red vampire. She thinks the decision to be good is what made both him and Stevie Rae change. They all decide to deal with the Stark issue later. They finish getting the horses ready. Darius takes Zoey to the tree that is about to fall down by the wall. He sets her down to make sure they won’t be spotted and ends up killing a Raven Mocker. The asks earth to take down the tree and then it falls. She feels bad about it, but tells earth to go to Stevie Rae to let her know they are coming. She sends spirit to Lenobia to let her know they have completed their task. Darius picks her up to get her back to the stable.
When Zoey and Darius return to the stable, everything is ready for them to go. Lenobia helps them up onto the horses and they wait for the signal. They hear her let the horses go free as part of their distraction. Shortly after, Lenobia tells Persephone to take off and the other two horses follow. They race towards the gate where Dragon is fighting three Raven Mockers. He tells them to hurry and wishes them luck. As they are going down the streets of Tulsa, more Raven Mockers appear in the sky. Darius pulls out a gun and shoots them. They find the abbey and all the candles lit in its window. Sister Mary Angela comes out to greet them and points out the Raven Mockers that followed them.
Zoey explains what they need to do as the others start to come out of the abbey to greet them. Sister Mary Angela sends Kramisha to get Sylvia. They move over towards Mary’s grotto. Kalona arrives with Neferet and Stark in the Hummer. Zoey is staring them down and telling Kalona she will never join them when Heath pushes Sylvia out in a wheelchair. The five powerful women join hands and Zoey points out what they all represent. Neferet tells Stark to shoot Zoey’s heart. He struggles against her until he realizes he has her heart. He shoots the arrow and it flies back at his own chest. Zoey sends the elements to destroy the arrow before it hits him. Kalona starts to approach, so she asks her grandmother to do the blessing that will send him away. Sylvia speaks it and everyone repeats her prayer line by line. Hurt by the blessing, Kalona takes Neferet into the air and they take off. Zoey feels new tattoos form over her chest.
Zoey thanks and releases the elements. She goes over to Stark to find he isn’t breathing so she touches him. His breath returns and he wakes up. Sylvia points out the sky has cleared and showing a crescent moon that is shining down on the statue of Mary. Sister Mary Angela points out Kalona isn’t finished. Zoey says she will be alright because her goddess is with her.