“Well, I look at it like this: People, especially my friends, will be thinking a whole lot of not-so-nice stuff about the possibility that you and I have suddenly become friends.”
Aphrodite’s eyes widened. “Which will keep their wee little brains from thinking about Stevie Rae.”
“My friends do not have wee brains.”
“Whatever.”
“But, yes, Damien and the Twins will be busy thinking pissed-off thoughts about you, which will definitely keep their minds busy if Neferet happens to be listening in,” I said.
“Sounds like the beginnings of a plan,” she said.
“Sadly, it’s all I have of a plan.”
“Well, at least you’re consistent about not knowing what the hell you’re doing.”
“So good of you to look on the bright side of things.”
“Anything I can do to help,” Aphrodite said.
When she’d put the finishing touches on her fake Mark, we headed toward the door. Just before I opened it, I glanced sideways at her. “Oh, and I don’t hate you, either,” I said. “Actually, you’re kinda growing on me.”
Aphrodite gave me one of her best sneers and said, “See, that’s what I mean about you being consistent about not knowing what the hell you’re doing.”
I was laughing when I pulled open the door and ran smack into Damien, Jack, and the Twins.
“We want to talk to you, Z,” Damien said.
“And we’re glad to see she’s leaving,” Shaunee said, glaring at Aphrodite.
“Yeah, don’t let the door hit your skinny ass on the way out,” Erin said.
I saw the hurt that flashed across Aphrodite’s face. “Fine. I’m out of here,” she said.
“Aphrodite, you’re not going anywhere.” I had to wait till the Twins got over making sputtering sounds of disbelief before I could go on. “Nyx is working strongly in Aphrodite’s life. Do you trust Nyx’s judgment?” I asked, looking at each of my friends.
“Yes, of course we do,” Damien spoke for all of them.
“Then you’re gonna have to accept Aphrodite as one of us,” I said.
There was a long pause during which the Twins, Jack, and Damien all shared looks, and then Damien finally said, “I suppose we do have to admit that Aphrodite is special to Nyx, but the honest truth is none of us trust her.”
“I trust her,” I said. Okay, maybe I didn’t trust her one hundred percent, but Nyx was working through her.
“Which is ironic, because we’re having trust issues with you,” Shaunee said.
“Nerd herd, you make no damn sense,” Aphrodite said. “In one breath, you’re all ‘Oh, yes! We trust Nyx!’ and in the next you’re saying you have trust issues with Zoey. Zoey is
the
fledgling. No one—vamp or fledgling—has ever been so gifted by Nyx. Get a clue, would ya?” Aphrodite rolled her eyes.
“Aphrodite may have a point,” Damien said into the stunned silence.
“No shit?” Aphrodite said sarcastically. “Here’s another newsflash for the herd of nerd—my latest vision is of Zoey being killed and the world being thrown into total chaos because of it. And guess who was responsible for your supposed friend’s murder?” She paused, raising her brows at Damien and the Twins before answering her own question. “You all are. Zoey’s killed because you guys turn your backs on her.”
“She had a vision of your death?” Damien asked me. His face had suddenly gone very white.
“Yeah, two actually. But the visions were pretty messed up. She saw them from my point of view, which was kinda nasty. Anyway, I just have to stay away from water and—” My words broke off as I almost said
and Neferet
. Thankfully, Aphrodite chimed in.
“—She has to stay away from water, and she can’t be isolated,” she said. “Which means you guys need to kiss and make up. But wait till I’m not watching, ‘cause it’s definitely going to make me sick.”
“You pissed us off, Z,” Shaunee said, looking almost as pale as Damien.
“But we don’t want you to die,” Erin finished, looking equally upset.
“I’d just die if you died,” Jack said, sniffling. Then he reached for Damien’s hand.
“Well, then, you’re gonna have to get over yourselves and be the buddy-buddy dork pack again,” Aphrodite said.
“Since when have you cared whether Zoey lives or dies?” Damien said.
“Since I’m working for Nyx, and not myself. And Nyx gives a shit about Zoey; therefore, I give a shit about Zoey. And it’s a good thing I do. You’re supposed to be her best friends, and a secret or two and some stupid misunderstandings have made you freeze her out.” Aphrodite looked and me and snorted, “Hell, Zoey, with friends like them, it’s a good thing we’re not enemies.”
Damien turned from Aphrodite, shaking his head and looking more hurt than angry. “What really confuses me about all of this is that it’s perfectly clear you’re telling
her
the things you won’t tell us.”
“Oh, please, gay boy. Don’t get your panties all in a big bunch over me taking your dorkish place beside Zoey. It’s simple why she tells me stuff. Vamps can’t read my mind.”
Damien blinked in surprise. Then, eyes widening in understanding, he looked at me. “They can’t read your mind either, can they?”
“No, they can’t,” I said.
“Oh, shit!” Shaunee said. “You mean you think telling us things is like telling everyone?”
“It can’t be that easy for the vamps to read fledglings, Z,” Erin said. “If it was, then a bunch of kids would be in trouble all the time.”
“Wait, they overlook things like fledglings sneaking off campus or PDA,” Damien said slowly, as if he were putting two and two together as he spoke. “The vamps don’t really care enough about a little broken rule here and there just as long as it’s only typical teenage stuff, so they don’t ‘listen in’ or whatever you want to call their psychic eavesdropping all the time.”
“But what if they thought something was going on that was more than a little broken rule or two, and they had an idea about a certain group of fledglings who might know something,” I said.
“They’d focus their thoughts on that group of fledglings,” Damien concluded for me. “You really can’t tell us certain things!”
“Damn,” Shaunee said.
“Sucks royally,” Erin said.
“Took you guys long enough,” Aphrodite said.
Damien ignored her. “This has something to do with Stevie Rae, doesn’t it?”
I nodded.
“Hey, speaking of,” Shaunee said.
“What happened to her?” Erin asked.
“Didn’t shit happen to her,” Aphrodite said. “She found me. I un-freaked when I finally got my Mark back, and then I came back here.”
“And she went where?” Damien asked.
“Do I look like a damn babysitter? How the hell am I supposed to know where your bumpkin friend went? All she said was she had to go because she had issues. Like that was a big shock.”
“You’re gonna have issues with my fist in your face if you start talking shit about Stevie Rae,” Shaunee said.
“I’ll hold her skinny ass for you, Twin,” Erin said.
“Do you two share a brain?” Aphrodite said.
“Oh. My. God! Enough!” I yelled. “I might die. Twice. Some weird ghostly thing messed with me today, and now I’m feeling scared crapless about it. I’m not sure what the hell’s going on with Stevie Rae, and Neferet has called a Council Meeting probably to go over her plans for war—a war that is totally not the right thing to do. And you guys can’t stop bickering! You’re giving me a headache
and
pissing me off.”
“You better listen to her. I counted two real cuss words and one almost cuss in that little speech. She’s serious,” Aphrodite said.
I saw the Twins actually have to stifle smiles. Jeesh. Why is my not liking to cuss such a big deal?
“Okay. We’ll try to get along,” Damien said.
“For Zoey,” Jack said, giving me a sweet smile.
“For Zoey,” the Twins said together.
My heart squeezed as I looked at each of my friends. They had my back. No matter what—they would still stand beside me.
“Thanks, guys,” I said, blinking back tears.
“Group hug!” Jack said.
“Ah, hell no,” Aphrodite said.
“That’s one thing we can agree with Aphrodite on,” Erin said.
“Yeah, time to go,” Shaunee said.
“Ah oh, Damien, we gotta go, too. You told Stark we’d check to be sure he was settled in before the meeting,” Jack said.
“Oh, that’s right,” Damien said. “Bye, Z. See ya soon.”
He and Jack followed the Twins out of my room. Calling goodbye to me, they filed down the hall, then went on chattering about the hottiness of Stark, leaving me with Aphrodite.
“So, my friends aren’t so bad, huh?” I said.
Aphrodite turned her cool blue gaze on me. “Your friends are dorks,” she said.
I grinned and butted my shoulder into her. “Then that makes you a dork.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she said. “Speaking of me being in hell—come to my room. There’s something you have to help me figure out before we go to the Council Meeting.”
I shrugged. “Okay by me.” Actually, I was feeling pretty good about myself. My friends were speaking to me again, and it seemed that everyone might actually have a chance of getting along. “Hey,” I said as we walked down the hall to Aphrodite’s room. “Did you notice that the Twins said something nice to you before they left?”
“The Twins are symbiotic, and I hope very soon someone takes them away to perform science experiments on them.”
“That attitude is not helping,” I said.
“Could we just focus on what’s really important?”
“Like?”
“Me, of course, and what I need you to help me with.” Aphrodite opened the door to her room, and we walked into what I liked to think of as her palace. I mean, jeesh, the place looked like she’d decorated it out of a
Guide to Gossip Girl Design
magazine—if there was such a thing. Which, sadly, there probably was. (Not that I don’t adore
Gossip Girl
!)
“Aphrodite, has anyone ever told you that you might have a personality disorder?”
“Several overpaid shrinks. Like I care.” Aphrodite walked across the room and opened the door to the hand-painted (probably antique and majorly expensive) armoire that sat in front of her hand-carved (for sure antique and majorly expensive) four-poster canopy bed. As she rummaged around in it, she said, “Oh, by the way, you have got to find a way for the Council to make it okay for you and, tragically, me and—as much as I hate to say it—your nerd herd, too, to be allowed off campus.”
“Huh?”
Aphrodite sighed and turned to face me. “Would you please keep up with me? We have to be able to come and go so we can figure out what the fuck is going on with Stevie Rae and her nasty friends.”
“I already told you that I’m not gonna let you talk bad about Stevie Rae. Nothing is going on with her.”
“That’s up for discussion, but since you refuse to sanely discuss it this particular time, I’m talking about the freaks she’s hanging with. What if you’re right and Neferet wants to use them against humans? Not that I particularly like humans, but I definitely don’t like war. So I’m thinking you need to be checking into that.”
“Me? Why me? And why do I have to figure out a way to get all of us in and out of the school?”
“Because you are the superhero fledgling. I’m just your more attractive sidekick. Oh, and the herd of nerd are your dorky minions.”
“Great,” I said.
“Hey, don’t stress about it. You’ll think of something. You always do.”
I blinked in surprise at her. “Your confidence in me is shocking.” And I wasn’t kidding. I mean, she really looked like she thought I’d figure out this mess.
“It shouldn’t be.” She turned back to searching through the cluttered armoire. “I know better than just about anyone else how gifted you’ve been by Nyx. That you’re powerful, blah, blah, whatever. So you’ll figure it out. Finally! God, I wish they’d let us have housekeepers in here. I can never find anything when I’m forced to clean up after myself.” Aphrodite emerged with a green candle in a pretty green crystal glass and a fancy lighter.
“You need me to help you figure out something about a candle?”
“No, genius. Sometimes I
really
wonder about Nyx’s choices.” She handed me the little gold lighter. “I want you to help me figure out if I’ve lost my affinity for earth.”
I looked from the green candle to Aphrodite. Her face was pale and her lips were compressed into a thin bloodless line. “You haven’t tried to evoke earth since you lost your Mark?” I asked gently.
She shook her head and continued to look like her stomach hurt.
“Okay, well, you’re right. I can help you figure this out. I should probably cast a circle.”
“That’s what I thought.” Aphrodite drew in a deep shaky breath. “Let’s get this over with.” She walked over to the wall that was on the opposite side of the room as her bed. She stood there, holding up her candle. “This is north.”
“All right.” Resolutely, I went to stand in front of Aphrodite. Turning to the east, I closed my eyes and centered myself. “It fills our lungs and gives us life. I call air to my circle.” Even without a yellow candle representing the element—and without Damien and his air affinity—I felt the instant response of the element as a soft breeze smoothed against my body.
I opened my eyes and turned to my right, moving deosil, or clockwise, around the circle to the south, where I stopped. “It heats us and keeps us safe and warm. I call fire to my circle.” I smiled as the air around me warmed with the second element.
Moving again to my right, I stopped next in the west. “It washes us and quenches us. I call water to my circle.” Right away I felt the cool of invisible waves against my legs. Smiling, I moved to stand in front of Aphrodite.
“Ready?” I asked her.
She nodded and closed her eyes and raised the green candle that represented her element.
“It sustains us and surrounds us. I call earth to my circle.” I flicked the lighter and held the little flame to the candle.
“Ow, shit!” Aphrodite cried. She dropped the candle as if it had stung her. It shattered against the wood floor at her feet. When her eyes lifted from looking at the ruined glass and candle mess, I saw that they were filled with tears. “I’ve lost it.” Her voice was little more than a whisper as the tears spilled over and down her cheeks. “Nyx took it away from me. I knew she would. I knew I wasn’t good enough for her to gift me with an affinity for something as amazing as the element earth.”