"The name sounds familiar. What does it mean?"

"It's the name of the maiden the Ghigua women created to trap Kalona."

Darius sighed deeply. "Well, at least we now know why he's so intent upon protecting you. He thinks you are the maiden he loved."

"I think it was more obsession than love," I said quickly, not wanting to even consider the idea that Kalona could possibly have loved A-ya. "Plus, we have to remember that A-ya did trap him, causing him to be imprisoned in the earth for more than a thousand years."

Darius nodded. "So his desire for you could very easily change to violence."

My stomach clenched. "Actually, the reason he wants me might be just to get back at A-ya. I mean, I don't know what he's actually planning to do with me. Neferet was all for killing me, but he stopped her because he said he can use my power."

"But you would never turn from Nyx to him," Darius said.

"And once he realizes that, I can't see him keeping me around."

"He'll view you as a powerful enemy, one who might find a way to entrap him again," Darius said.

"Okay, so explain to me what to do to get you fixed up, and then let's find the others and get the hell out of here."

Darius walked me through a very gross cleaning of the long slash wound, during which I actually had to pour alcohol into his cut f height="reated t elesh to, as he put it, flush out any infection that might have been caused by the Raven Mocker's blood. I'd totally forgotten that the same knife had been imbedded in Rephaim's chest and it definitely had nasty mutant man-bird blood all over it. So I cleaned the cut and then Darius helped me find this weird but cool stuff called Dermabond, better known as liquid stitches, which I squirted in a line down the length of his cut, mushed the sides of the wound together, and, ta-da! except for a big not- yet-healed cut, Darius said he was good as new. I was slightly more skeptical, but (as he reminded me) I really wasn't a credible nurse to begin with.

Then he and I searched though the cabinets because I was not going anywhere with a sheet wrapped around me. Okay, you would not believe the gross, paper-thin, backless hospital "gowns" (oh, please, they are so not real gowns) we found in one drawer. Why is it hospitals make you wear ugly, too revealing stuff when you already feel awful? It just makes no sense. Anyway, we finally found a pair of green hospital scrubs that were way too big for me, but what ever. They were seriously better than being wrapped up in a sheet. I completed my look with some booties. I asked Darius if he'd seen my purse, and he said he thought it was still in the Hummer. It was probably shallow of me, but I spent quite a few minutes stressing that if my purse was lost I'd have to get a new driver's license and cell phone, and wondered briefly if I'd remember the exact right shade of the cool Ulta lip gloss I was going to have to replace.

Sometime after I put on the scrubs (while Darius's back was turned) and started worrying about my purse being missing, I realized I was sitting on the bed staring off into space and almost falling asleep.

"How are you feeling?" Darius asked. "You look..." His words trailed off as I'm sure he tried and vetoed words like "crappy" and "hideous."

"I look tired?" I volunteered helpfully.

He nodded. "You do."

"Well, that's a not-so-amazing coincidence because I am tired. Really tired."

"Perhaps we should wait and--"

"No!" I interrupted. "I meant it when I said I wanted to go. Plus, there's no way I can get any real sleep as long as we're here. I just don't feel safe."

"Agreed," Darius said. "You aren't safe. None of us are safe."

Unspoken was the understanding that we would still not be safe even if we managed to get away from the House of Night, but it was better for morale if neither of us mentioned that.

"Alright, let's get the others," I said.

I checked the clock on the wall before we left the room and realized that it was a little after 4:00 A.M. It was a shock to see how much time had passed, especially since I must have been out for several hours, even though I didn't feel rested at all. If things were normal at the House of Night, fledglings should be finished with classes. "Hey," I told Darius, "it's about dinnertime. They might be in the cafeteria."

He nodded, moved the propped-up chair, and opeuo;t y z3ned the door slowly.

"Hallway's empty," he murmured.

While he'd been peeking down the hall, I'd been checking him out. So, instead of following him out of the room, I grabbed his sleeve and held him back. He gave me a questioning look.