Ice Cream Shoes’s voice sounded a lot older than her sixteen years. “She was also so terrified of Batshit Neferet that her fear stayed in this world even after she retreated to hers.”
“I don’t think the question right now is whether or not Other Neferet might be an ally,” said Darius. “The question is, how are we getting to the Other World, and who is going with us?”
“And how are we gonna find Rephaim’s daddy from another world?” said Stevie Rae.
“Well, however we do all that, we need to keep in mind that if Other Kalona can’t handle Batshit, and Other Neferet is our ally but she runs, the whole world goes to shit—and that includes any of us good guys who are there too,” said Kacie.
“I swear the key is Other Lynette,” said Aphrodite. “In both visions, when she dies everything goes wrong.”
“Great. We gotta keep a middle-aged human alive,” said Stevie Rae. “Not that I have anything against middle-aged humans, but they’re sure fragile.”
“Ah, hell,” muttered Zoey.
Silently, Aphrodite agreed with her.
20
Zoey
The slickers could only do so much, and the Warriors who returned to school were all completely soaked. Intermittent ice had turned to rain—and then rain had turned to a thunderstorm—a winter thunderstorm.
Stark took the towel I offered him. “If a tornado happens, I’m going to talk to you seriously about moving to a different House of Night.”
“You don’t mean that.” I tossed another towel to James and my brother, who looked equally drowned.
“He might not mean it, but I do,” said James. “Isn’t there a House of Night in the Bahamas?”
“Dude, you’d fry like bacon,” said Kev.
“Nah,” James said, sounding a lot more like my Stark as he teased with Kevin. “Not me. You two, sure. Blue vamps are just uncomfortable in the sun. Well, I’d rather be uncomfortable from sun than from freezing rain turned pounding rain turned goddess-only-knows-what-next.”
Kevin actually laughed for a moment before changing back into the somber, unsmiling kid he’d been since Other Aphrodite had died. “Hey, how’s Aphrodite doing?” he asked.
“She’ll be fine,” I said. “But her vision sucked. And we need to talk about it. ASAP. But first, did Marx have any news?”
Damien took my last towel and answered as he dried himself. “The medical examiner identified the bones we found as human and female. But I doubt they’re going to be able to tell much more about them.” He met my gaze solemnly. “The tendrils of Darkness hit their mouths so hard that their jaws were shattered and their teeth scattered everywhere.”
My stomach rolled. “What about those capes?”
Damien shrugged. “They’re nothing special. Probably bought at the ren faire in Muskogee. It’ll take a while for Marx to track down the vendors and see if any of them remember selling five velvet capes in the colors of the elements to human females. The only other clothing items found were five pairs of Ugg boots, and you know how common those things are.”
“There was nothing to identify them in the capes?” I asked.
Kevin shook his head. “Absolutely nothing. Whoever planned this made sure that identifying the five women would be almost impossible.”
“This is our Neferet’s doing,” said James. “It reads like something she’d instigate, and we know she is the one who released your Neferet.”
I nodded, still thinking about how insane it was to even consider any Neferet being our ally, especially one who sacrificed five women to break a monster out of jail—however she managed to do that.
“What about the apartment building?” I asked.
“Last count Marx said thirty-seven people were dead. They’re still trying to figure out who wasn’t home and who is missing, presumed dead,” said Stark.
“As well as which body part belongs to which person,” said Kevin.
“Does he have any leads on where Batshit might be?” I asked.
“Batshit?” Stark said, his lip curling up into the beginnings of a smile.
“Oh, yeah, that’s what we’re calling our Neferet. Aphrodite thought it’d be less confusing that way,” I said.
“And accurate,” added Stark. “No, he says that with the electricity out, the street cameras weren’t working.”
“What about the security cameras at the apartment building?”
“They were fake,” Stark said with a scowl. “Cheap-ass landlord just got himself into some major shit for trying to pinch pennies. If the system had been for real, it would’ve had backup batteries and still been recording. We could’ve at least seen from what direction they came and went.”
“And whether Batshit was waiting outside for them,” I said. “Though Aphrodite’s vision made it clear that Other Neferet, Other Lynette, and Batshit are all going to end up in your world. Sorry, Kev.”
“I’d bet my favorite bow tie that Batshit is still in this world though” said Damien.
“Because of the slaughter at the apartment?” I asked.
“The apartment slaughter is indicative of why she’s still here. She’s been trapped in that tomb for a year. She and those loathsome tendrils have to be ravenous.”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s why they’re so much littler than they were before.”
“She knows this world—especially this city,” Damien continued. “She’ll be here, feeding, for as long as it takes for her to regain all of her strength. Then she’ll follow Other Neferet to Kevin’s world. They may even be allies and have it all planned out.”
“I would normally agree with you,” I told Damien, “but Aphrodite’s vision and some insight by Kacie is pointing to the two Neferets not being allies.”
“Kacie?” James asked, still towel drying his hair that looked so identical to my Stark’s adorable scruffy blondish mess that I had to look away as I answered him.
“Ice Cream Shoes,” I said.
“Oh, yeah. She’s an interesting vampyre,” said James.
“I believe she is a young prophetess in the making,” said Damien.
“I do too,” I said. “Hey, where’s Rephaim? We’re gonna need his input on Aphrodite’s vision.”
“He’ll be along soon,” said Stark. “He stayed to
