by P.C. Cast
Aphrodite widened her eyes in mock innocence and put on a ridiculous Southern Belle accent, "Why, what ever do you mean? I'm helping you because you and your friends have always been so sweet to me."
"Cut the crap, Aphrodite."
Her expression flattened and her voice returned to normal. "Let's just say I have a lot to make up for."
"To Stevie Rae?"
"To Nyx." She looked away from me. "You probably won't get this, being all-powerful with new gifts from Nyx and basically Miss Perfect, but once you've had your gifts for a while, you might find out that it's not always easy to do the right thing. Other things—people—get in the way. You'll make mistakes." Aphrodite scoffed. "Well, maybe you won't. But I did. I might not particularly give a shit about you or Stevie Rae or maybe anyone here at school, but I do care about Nyx." Her voice faltered. "I know what it's like to believe the goddess has turned from me and I don't ever want to feel like that again."
I reached out and touched her arm. "But Nyx didn't turn from you. Those were just lies Neferet told so that no one would believe your visions. You know Neferet's behind what Stevie Rae's turned into, don't you?"
"I've known since the vision, when I saw Heath dying." She forced a little laugh. "Good thing she can't read our minds. I don't know what she'd do to a fledgling who knows how awful she is."
"She knows I know."
"You've got to be kidding!"
"Well, she knows I'm on to her." I hesitated, and then figured, what the hell. Weirdly enough, it was turning out that Aphrodite (a.k.a., the hag from hell) was the one person on this earth I could really talk to. "Neferet tried to erase my memory of the night I saved Heath from those undead dead kids. It worked for a while, but I knew right away something was wrong. I used the power of the elements to heal my memory, and, well, I kinda let Neferet know that I remembered what had happened."
"You kinda let her know?"
I fidgeted. "Well, she threatened me. Said no one would believe me if I said anything about her. And, uh, it made me mad. So I told her that it didn't matter if no vamp or fledgling believed me, because Nyx does."
Aphrodite smiled. "I'll bet that pissed her off."
"Yeah, I suppose it did." Actually it made me a little sick to think about just how pissed Neferet probably was. "But she left right after that for winter break. I haven't seen her since."
"She'll be back soon."
"I know."
"Are you scared?" Aphrodite asked.
"Totally," I said.
"I don't blame you there. Okay, here's what I know for sure from my visions. We have to get Stevie Rae some place safe and away from the rest of those things. And we have to do it now. Before Neferet comes back. There's some connection between the two of them. I don't understand it, but I know it's there, and I know it's wrong." Aphrodite made a face like she'd just tasted something nasty. "Actually the whole undead-dead monster thing is all wrong. Talk about disgusting creatures."
"Stevie Rae's different than the rest of them."
Aphrodite gave me a look that said she definitely didn't believe me.
"Think about it. Why would Nyx have given a fledgling such a powerful gift as an affinity for earth and then let her die. And then un-die." I paused, struggling with how to make her understand. "I think her connection to earth is the reason Stevie Rae has kept some of her humanity, and I really believe that if I—I mean we, if we can help her she'll find the rest of her humanity. Or maybe we'll find a way to heal her. To turn her back into a fledgling or maybe even a grown-up vamp. And maybe if Stevie Rae is fixed, that means there's a chance for the rest of them, too."
"So do you have a clue how we're going to fix her?"
"Nope. Not one clue." Then I grinned. "But now I have a powerful fledgling with visions and an earth affinity helping me."
"Great. That makes me feel so much better."
I didn't want to admit it to Aphrodite, but the truth was that being able to talk to her about Stevie Rae and having her help figuring out what we were supposed to do did make me feel better. Much better.
"Anyway," Aphrodite was saying, "how are we going to find Stevie Rae?" She curled her lip. "Do not tell me you expect me to crawl around nasty tunnels with you."
"Actually, Stevie Rae said she'd meet me at the Philbrook gazebo tonight at about three o'clock."
"Is she going to show?"
I chewed my lip. "I bribed her with country clothes, so I think so."
Aphrodite shook her head. "So she dies, un-dies, and still has a shitty fashion sense."
"Apparently."
"Now that's really sad."
"Yeah." I sighed. I loved Stevie Rae, but even I had to admit she liked to dress like a hick.
"So, where are you taking her after you give her the clothes?"
I didn't think I should mention that I'd like to take her straight to a bathtub. "I don't know. I haven't thought much past getting her clothes and, uh, blood."
"Blood!"
"She has to have it. Human blood. Or she goes crazy."
"Isn't she already pretty much crazy?"
"No! She's just dealing with issues."
"Issues?"
"Lots of issues," I said firmly.
"Okay. Whatever. You've gotta decide where you're going to take her. She can't stay with the rest of those things. That won't help her," Aphrodite said.
"I was going to try to talk her into coming back here. I figured I could hide her pretty easily while most the vamps are gone."
"You can't bring her back here." Aphrodite had gone pale. "This is where I saw her die. Again."
"Crap! Then I don't know what the hell I'm going to do," I admitted.
"I suppose you could take her to my old place," Aphrodite said.
"Yeah, right. Your parents are so understanding and all. That sounds like a great idea, Aphrodite."
She rolled her eyes. "My parents are gone. They left early this morning for three weeks skiing in Breckenridge. Plus, she won't be staying inside the house. My parents live in one of those old oil mansions right down the street from the Philbrook. They have a garage apartment that used to be a servants' quarters back in the day. It's not used anymore except when my grandma comes to visit, and my mom just stuck her in one of those high-class, high-security, high-dollar nursing homes, so you don't need to worry about that. Still, everything in the apartment should work—you know, electricity and water and such."
"You think she'd be okay there?"
Aphrodite shrugged. "She'd be safer there than here."
"All right. That's where she goes then."
"Is she gonna be okay with that?"
"Yeah," I lied. "I'll tell her the fridge is filled with blood." I sighed. "Even though I don't know how the hell I'm going to get her a glass of blood, let alone a fridge full of it."
"It's in the kitchen."
"At your house?" Now I was totally confused.
"No, jeesh, stay with me. They have blood here. In a big stainless steel cooler in the kitchen. For the vamps. Fresh shipments come in all the time from human donors. All the upperclassmen know about it. We get to use it sometimes in rituals."
"That'll work, especially since there's hardly anyone around right now. I should be able to get into the kitchen and grab some blood without being caught." I frowned. "Please tell me it's not just sitting in a Tupperware pitcher or something equally disturbing." Okay, even though I really, really liked to drink blood, I was still completely grossed out at the idea of actually drinking blood. I know, I need therapy. Again.
"It's in pouches, like at the hospital. Nothing to stress about."
By this time we'd made an automatic turn to the right and were meandering back toward the dorm.
"You have to go with me," I said abruptly.
"To the kitchen?"
"No, I mean to Stevie Rae. You'll have to show us your house and how to get in the apartment and everything."
"She's not going to want to see me," Aphrodite said.
; "I know, but she'll have to get over it. She knows your vision saved my grandma. When I tell her you've had a vision about her, she's just gonna have to believe it." I was glad I sounded so sure. I definitely didn't feel sure. "But it might be best if you hide and wait until I've talked to her for a while before she sees you."
"Look, I'm trying to do the right thing here, but I'm not going to hide from a kid I used to use as a refrigerator."
"Don't call her that!" I snapped. "Did you ever think that a big part of your problem and why so many bad things have happened to you isn't Neferet and all the bullpoop she's up to, but it's the fact that you have such a bitchy, crappy, attitude?"
Aphrodite's brows went up and she cocked her head to the side, which made her look like a blond bird. "Yeah, I've thought about that, but I'm not like you. I'm not all positive and Miss Goodie-Two-Shoes. Tell me something. You think people are basically good, don't you?"
Her question surprised me, but I shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Not me. I think most people, and I'm talking vamp or human, are shitty. They put on an act. They pretend to be all nicey-nice, but are really just one step away from showing their true asshole-ness."
"That's a depressing way to go through life," I said.
"You call it depressing. I call it realistic."
"How do you ever trust anyone?"
Aphrodite looked away from me. "I don't. It's easier that way. You'll find out." She met my eyes again and I couldn't read the weird expression in them. "Power changes people."
"I'm not going to change." I was going to say more, but then I thought about the fact that just a few months ago if someone had told me that I'd be making out with a grown-ass man while I had not one but two boyfriends I would have said no f-ing way. So didn't that mean I'd changed?
Aphrodite smiled like she could read my mind. "I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about the people around you."
"Oh," I said. "Aphrodite, not to be mean or anything, but I think I pick my friends better than you."
"We'll see. Speaking of—Shouldn't you be heading to the movies to meet your friends right now?"
I sighed. "Yeah, but no way can I go. I've got to get the blood for Stevie Rae, get her clothes together, and I also want to stop by Wal-Mart and grab one of those GoPhones. I figured it would be a good idea to give it to Stevie Rae so that she could call me."
"Fine. Why don't you pick me up outside the trapdoor in the east wall at about two thirty? That gives us plenty of time to get to Philbrook before Stevie Rae."
"Sounds good. I just need to run up to my room, grab some of Stevie Rae's clothes and my purse, then I'll be out of here."
"Okay, I'll go into the dorm first."
"Huh?" I said.
Aphrodite gave me a look that said she thought I was a retard. "You don't want people to see me with you. They'll think we're friends or something ridiculous like that."
"Aphrodite, I do not care what people think."
She rolled her eyes. "I do." Then she hurried ahead of me to the dorm.
"Hey!" I called. She looked over her shoulder. "Thanks for helping me."
Aphrodite frowned. "Don't mention it. And I mean it. Don't. Mention. It. Jeesh." Shaking her head, she hurried into the dorm.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I found the heart locket when I was going through the drawer getting Stevie Rae's clothes. I was with her the night she died, and by the time I got back to our room the vamp cleanup squad (or whatever they're called) had already been there and bad taken Stevie Rae's stuff. I got pissed. Really pissed. And I'd insisted they put some of her stuff back because I wanted to keep things to remember her by. So Anastasia, the professor who teaches spells and rituals (she's really nice and married to Dragon Lankford, the fencing instructor) took me to a creepy storage room where I shoved some of Stevie Rae's stuff into a bag and then dumped it back in what used to be her dresser. I remember Anastasia was kind to me, but she also clearly disapproved of me having keepsakes of Stevie Rae.
When a fledgling dies, the vamps expect us to forget them and go on. Period.
Well, I just don't think that's right. I wasn't going to forget my best friend, even before I found out she was really undead.
Anyway, I had grabbed her jeans when something fell out of the pocket. It was a kinda crunched-up envelope that had zoey printed on the outside of it in Stevie Rae's messy handwriting. My stomach hurt as I opened it. Inside was a birthday card—one of those silly ones with a picture of a cat (who looked a lot like Nala) on the front wearing one of those pointy birthday hats and a frown. Inside it said happy birthday, or whatever, like i care, i'm a cat. Stevie Rae had drawn a big heart and written love you! stevie rae and grumpy nala. Sliding around in the bottom of the envelope was a silver chain. I lifted it up to find a delicate silver heart locket dangling from it. My fingers were shaking as I opened the locket. A many-times-folded picture fell out. I smoothed it carefully and, with a little sob, recognized it as a cutout part of a picture I had taken of the two of us (by holding the camera out, smooshing our faces together, and pressing the flash button). Wiping my eyes, I folded the picture back into the locket and clasped the chain around my neck. It was a short chain, so the heart fit just below the hollow of my throat.
Somehow, finding the necklace made me feel stronger, and also taking the blood from the kitchen was way easier than I'd thought it was going to be. Instead of my normal purse—the little designer one I'd found at a boutique at Utica Square last year (it's made of fake pink fur, totally cool), I took my ginormic bag—the one I used to use as a book bag when I went to South Intermediate High School in Broken Arrow, before I was Marked and my life exploded. Anyway, the bag was big enough to carry a fat kid in (if he was short), so it was simple to cram Stevie Rae's dorky Roper jeans, a T-shirt, her black cowboy boots (ugh), and some under things in it and still have room for five bags of blood. Yes, they were gross. Yes, I wanted to stick a straw in one and suck it down like a juice box. Yes, I'm disgusting.
The cafeteria was closed, as was the kitchen, and completely deserted. But like everything else at the school, not locked. I got into and out of the kitchen easily, holding my blood-filled purse carefully while I tried to look nonchalant and not guilty. (I'm really not good at theft.)
I was worried about seeing Loren (who I was really really trying to forget about, not so hard that I took off his diamond earrings, but still), but the only person I saw was a third-former kid named Ian Bowser. He's dorky and scrawny, but also kinda funny. I had drama class with him and he was hilariously in love with our drama teacher, Professor Nolan. Actually, it was Professor Nolan he was looking for when he literally ran into me on my way out of the cafeteria.
"Oh, Zoey, sorry! Sorry!" Ian gave me a nervous little vampyre salute of respect, hand fisted over his heart. "I—I didn't mean to run over you."
"No problem," I said. I hated it when kids got all nervous and scared around me like they think I might turn them into something vile. Please. It's the House of Night, not Hogwarts. (Yes, I read the Potter books and love the movies. Yes, that's more proof of my geekness.)
"You haven't seen Professor Nolan, have you?"
"Nope. I didn't even know she was back from break," I said.
"Yeah, she got back yesterday. We had an appointment to meet about thirty minutes ago." He grinned and blushed bright pink. "I really want to make the finals of the Shakespeare monologue contest next year, so I asked her to tutor me."
"Oh, that's nice." Poor kid. He'd never final in the kick-ass Shakespeare contest if his voice didn't stop cracking.
"If you see Professor Nolan would you tell her I'm looking for her?"
"Will do," I said. Ian hurried off. I clutched my bag and headed straight for the parking lot and then on to Wal-Mart.
Buying the GoPhone (and some soap, a toothbrush, and a Kenny Chesney CD) was easy. What hadn't been easy was dealing with the phone call from Erik.
"Zoey? Where are you?"
"Still at school," I said. Which wasn't a literal lie. By that time I was pulling off the side of the road just outside the place in the east wall where there was a secret trapdoor the led out the back side of school. I say "secret" because tons of fledglings and probably all of the vamps knew about it. It was an unspoken school tradition that fledglings would sneak off campus for a ritual and some vaguely bad behavior now and then.
"Still at school?" he sounded annoyed. "But the movie's almost over."
"I know. I'm sorry."
"Are you okay? You know you should ignore the crap Aphrodite says."
"Yeah, I know. But she didn't say stuff about you." Or at least not much stuff. "It's just that I'm majorly stressed out right now and I just need to think through some stuff."
"Stuff again." He didn't sound happy.
"I'm really sorry, Erik."
"Okay, yeah. No problem. I'll see you tomorrow or whenever. Bye." And he hung up.
"Crap," I said into the dead phone.
Aphrodite tapping on the passenger's side window made me jump and let out a little squeak. I put away the phone and leaned over to unlock the door for her.
"Bet he's pissed," she said.
"Do you have freakishly good hearing?"
"Nah, just freakishly good guessing ability. Plus I know our boy Erik. You stood him up tonight. He's pissed."
"Okay, first, he's not our boy. He's my boy. Second, I did not stand him up. Third, I'm so not talking about Erik with you, Miss Blow Job."
Instead of hissing and spitting at me like I thought she would, Aphrodite laughed. "Okay. Whatever. And don't knock something before you try it, Miss Goody-Goody."
"Okay, eew," I said. "Changing the subject. I have an idea about how to handle the Stevie Rae thing. I don't think you should hide, either. So show me how to get to your parents' place. I'll drop you off there and then go get Stevie Rae."