Hunted House of Night - By Kristin Cast Page 0,130

said something to Aphrodite, who was pressed against his back. She slid to the side a little, allowing him to swivel around. He lifted his arm, sighted, and squeezed off half a dozen shots. The sound was deafening in the frozen night, but not half as eerie as what followed it--the screams of wounded Raven Mockers and the thud! crash! of bodies as they fell from the sky.

"There!" Shaunee cried, pointing in front of us and to the right. "I see flames!"

At first I didn't see anything, and then through a stand of ice-enslaved trees I caught sight of first one and then another and another candle-flickering welcoming light. Was that it? Was that the Benedictine Abbey? Visibility was terrible, and b bGYeverything was so disorienting and dark, that I couldn't tell if it was the abbey or just one of the houses-turned-plastic surgeon offices that lined this part of the street.

Concentrate! If it's a place of power, I should be able to feel it.

I breathed deep and reached out with my instinct, and I felt it--the unmistakable draw that came from the combined power of spirit and earth.

"That's it!" I yelled. "That's the abbey!"

We yanked our horses' heads to the right and plunged off the road, through a ditch, and then up an embankment dotted with trees. The horses had to slow to dodge around fallen limbs and dead, downed power lines, and then we popped through the trees and into a clearing. Directly in front of us was a huge old oak. Its lower branches were filled with little glass cages holding cheerily burning candles. There was a carport farther behind the tree, and beyond it I could just make out the looming hulk of the brick building that was the Benedictine Abbey, or at least I could make out its windows, because there were candles lit in each one of them.

"Okay, you guys can lay off the elements now and let things calm down." The Twins and Damien whispered to their elements, and the madness of the storm began to quiet to a cold, cloudy night.

"Whoa!" I called, and our obedient, loyal mares skidded to a stop just before an awe-inspiring figure clothed in a dark robe and wimple.

"Hello, child. I heard you were coming," she said, smiling up at me.

I slid from Persephone's back and threw myself into her arms. "Sister Mary Angela! I am so glad to see you!"

"As I am glad to see you, too," she said. "But, child, perhaps we should put off our hellos until we've dealt with the dark creatures filling the trees behind you."

I spun around in time to see dozens of Raven Mockers landing in the trees. Except for the sounds of their wings they were absolutely silent, and their red eyes glowed like watching demons.

"Well, hell!" I said.
Chapter Thirty-three

"Language," Sister Mary Angela said serenely.

Darius had already dismounted and was helping Aphrodite and the Twins down. Damien hadn't waited for help, but dismounted almost as quickly as I had, and was standing beside me.

"Priestess," Darius addressed Sister Mary Angela, "you don't, by any chance, keep firearms at the abbey, do you?"

Her laughter sounded completely out of place yet utterly comforting. "Oh, Warrior, of course we do not."

"There aren't enough of us to fight them, but we have the circle," Darius said as he studied the bird-filled trees. "If you stay within it, you stay safe." Darius was right, of course. Our circle was intact. Though weirdly off center, the silver thread that bound us together still glowed between us. C="5O l

"I will run back to the House of Night and bring help," Darius said.

I heard the frustration in his voice. What help was he going to bring? I hadn't seen any of his brother warriors since we'd entered the school grounds. Dragon was great with a sword, but even he wouldn't be a match for all of these Raven Mockers. The trees that bordered the Twenty-first Street side of the abbey were filled with the dark shapes. Already groaning under the burden of ice, the additional weight of the Raven Mockers was more stress than many of them could bear, and the cracking and breaking of limbs was as terrible as the birds' mocking cries.

"Hey, I hear y'all need some help out here."

In my entire life, I had never been so happy to hear any voice as I was at that moment to hear Stevie Rae's Okie twang. I hugged her hard, not caring about the secrets she was