Rephaim nodded. "That's fair."

"Hey, Damien!" One of the red fledglings, an unusually small boy, hurried up to them, giving Rephaim a look, then adding a quick, "Hey, Rephaim."

"Hi, Ant," Damien said.

Rephaim nodded, uncomfortable with the whole greeting process.

"I heard you had fencing this hour. Me, too!"

"I do," Damien said. "Rephaim and I were just-" He paused and Rephaim watched several emotions pass his face, ending with embarrassed.

He sighed heavily before saying, "Um, Rephaim, Dragon Lankford is the fencing professor." Then Rephaim understood.

"That's, uh, not good," Ant said.

"He may still be at the school Council Meeting," Damien said hopefully.

"I think it best that I stay here, whether Dragon is absent or not. If I come with you it will only cause..." Rephaim's voice ran out because all he could think of were words like: chaos, trouble, and disaster.

"Unpleasantness." Damien filled in the silence for him. "It would probably cause unpleasantness. Maybe you should skip fencing for today."

"Sounds smart," Ant said.

"I'll wait for you." Rephaim motioned vaguely to the tree-filled area around them. They weren't far from one of the school walls where, just inside the stone façade there was a particularly large oak under which sat a wrought iron bench. "I'll be sitting there."

"Okay, I'll come by and get you after class. The next hour is Spanish. Professor Garmy is nice. You'll like her," Damien said as he and Ant started toward the field house.

Rephaim nodded and waved and made himself smile because Damien kept glancing worriedly over his shoulder at him. When the two fledglings were finally out of sight, Rephaim walked to the bench and sat heavily down.

He was glad for the time alone, when he could be unguarded-could let his shoulders slump and not worry about having others stare at him. He felt like such an outlander! What had he been thinking when he'd said he wanted to be normal, to go to school like everyone else? He wasn't like everyone else.

But she loves me. Me. Just as I am, Rephaim reminded himself, and thinking it made him feel a little better-a little lighter of spirit.

Then, because he was alone, he said it aloud.

"I am Rephaim, and Stevie Rae loves me just the way I am."

"Rephaim! No!"

The whispery, semi-human voice came from the branches of the oak. With a terrible sense of dread Rephaim looked up to see three Raven Mockers, three of his brothers, perched there staring down at him in shock and disbelief.

CHAPTER FOUR

Zoey

Okay, I know I'm a teenager and all, but I suck at using Skype. Actually, I'm kinda moronic about technology in general. Casting a circle-yep.

Communing with any of the five elements-definitely. Figuring out how to synch my iPhone with a new computer-uh, probably not. Just thinking about tweeting gave me a headache and made me really miss Jack.

"Here, it ain't that hard. You just gotta click that." Kramisha reached over my shoulder and snagged the magic mouse. "And then that, and that's it.

We's all on Skype and the camera's workin' now."

I looked up to see Stevie Rae and everyone else, including Dragon, Lenobia, and Erik all gawking at me.

Stevie Rae, at least, grinned and mouthed a quick, "Easy-peasy."

"What exactly is the point behind-" Dragon began, but Neferet's entrance to the Council Room cut him off. And, thankfully, it was at that moment that the commanding voice of the Leader of the Vampyre High Council carried clear and strong through Damien's computer.

"Merry meet, Zoey Redbird," Duantia said. "I am pleased to speak with you again." I fisted my hand over my heart and bowed respectfully. "Merry meet, Duantia. Thank you for making time for this call."

"Merry meet, Duantia," Neferet said, stepping up beside me and bowing formally. I saw her shoot a quick, questioning look at Dragon before she smiled silkily and continued. "I must apologize. I knew nothing about this call. I was only expecting a simple school Council Meeting." Then she skewered me with her emerald eyes. "Are you responsible for this, Zoey?"

"Yeah, definitely. I would have told you earlier, but you just now got here," I said, smiling and sounding super cheerful. Before Neferet could respond I turned my attention to Duantia. "I wanted to make sure the High Council heard all the details about Nyx's amazing appearance at the school yesterday and," I paused, nodding to Neferet as if I was including her, "I knew Neferet would be eager to share with you as well."