Betrayed

in the entertain­ment center with the TV, then he grinned at me. 'It's three twenty. We did it.'

The five of us smiled at each other. It's true; I was relieved, but I still had a nagging worried feeling I couldn't seem to get rid of that was more than just the stress about Heath. Maybe I needed a fourth brown pop.

'Okay, well, that's taken care of. So why are we sitting around here talking about my love life?' Damien said.

'Or lack thereof,' Shaunee whispered to Erin, who tried un­successfully (with Stevie Rae) not to laugh.

Ignoring them, Damien stood up and looked at me. 'Well, let's go.

'Huh?'

He rolled his eyes heavenward and shook his head. 'Must I do everything? You have a ritual to perform tomorrow, which means we have a rec hall to transform. Did you think Aphrodite was go­ing to volunteer to get things set up for you?'

'I guess I hadn't thought about it.' Like I'd had time?

'Well, think about it now.' He yanked on my hand and pulled me to my feet. 'We have work to do.'

I grabbed my brown pop and we all followed the Damien whirlwind out into a very cold, cloudy Saturday afternoon. The rain had stopped, but the clouds were even darker.

'Looks like snow,' I said, squinting up at the slate-colored sky.

'Oh, man, I wish. I'd love some snow!' Stevie Rae twirled around with her arms outstretched, looking like a little girl.

'Move to Connecticut. You'll have more snow than you can stand. It gets pretty damn tiresome after months and months of cold and wet. Please. It's why we northeasterners are so grumpy,' Shaunee said pleasantly.

'I don't care what you say. You can't ruin it for me. Snow is magic. I think it makes the earth look like it has a fluffy white blanket pulled over it.' She spread her arms wide and yelled, 'I want it to snow!'

'Yeah, well, I want those four-hundred-fifty-dollar embroi­dered vintage jeans I saw in the new Victoria's Secret catalog,' Erin said. 'Which proves we can't always have what we want, snow or cool jeans.'

'Oooh, Twin, maybe they'll go on sale. Those jeans are just too damn cute to give up on.'

'So why don't you just take your favorite pair of jeans and see if you can reproduce the pattern yourself? I can't be that hard, you know,' Damien said logically (and very gayly).

I was opening my mouth to agree with Damien when the first snowflake plopped on my forehead. 'Hey, Stevie Rae, your wish came true. It's snowing.'

Stevie Rae squealed happily. 'Yeah! Snow harder and harder!'

And she definitely got her wish. By the time we made it to the rec hall, fat, quarter-sized flakes of snow were covering every­thing. I had to admit that Stevie Rae was right. The snow was like a magic blanket on the earth. It turned everything soft and white, and even Shaunee (from grumpy, snowbound Connecticut) was laughing and trying to catch flakes with her tongue.

We were all giggling when we went into the rec hall. There were several kids inside. Some were playing pool, others were playing video games on the old-fashioned-looking arcade ma­chines. Our laughing and brushing off snow made several of them stop what they were doing and pull back the thick black curtains that shielded the big room from daylight.

'Yep!' Stevie Rae yelled the obvious. 'It's snowing!'

I just smiled and made my way toward the little kitchen area in the back of the building, with Damien, the Twins, and snow-crazed Stevie Rae following me. I knew there was a storage room off the kitchen, and inside was the stuff the Dark Daughters kept there for their rituals. Might as well get started setting things up, and I might as well pretend like I knew what the hell I was doing.

I heard the door open and then close behind me, and then was surprised by Neferet's voice.

'The snow is quite beautiful, isn't it?'

The kids standing around the windows answered Neferet with respectful yeses. I was surprised to feel a hint of annoyance, which I instantly squelched, as I stopped and turned to go back to greet my mentor. Like baby ducks, my gang followed me.

'Zoey, good. I'm glad I found you here.' Neferet spoke with such obvious affection for me that the annoyance I'd felt at her interruption vanished. Neferet was more than my mentor. She was like a mother to me, and it was selfish of me to be irritated that she had come looking for me.

'Hi, Neferet,' I said warmly. 'We were just getting ready to set up the room for tomorrow night's ritual.'

'Excellent! That's one thing I wanted to see you about. If you need anything for the ritual, please don't hesitate to ask. And I def­initely will be here tomorrow night, but don't worry'—she smiled at me again—'I won't stay for the entire ritual just long enough to show my support for your vision for the Dark Daughters. Then I'll leave the Daughters and Sons in your very capable hands.'

'Thank you, Neferet,' I said.

'Now, the second reason I wanted to find you and your friends'—she shared her brilliant smile with my group—'was that I wanted to introduce our newest student to you.' She mo­tioned, and a kid I hadn't noticed till then stepped slowly forward. He was cute, in a studious kind of a way, with tousled sandy blond hair and really pretty blue eyes. Clearly he was one of those geeky kids who is a dork, but a likable dork with potential (translation: he bathes and brushes his teeth, plus has good skin and hair and doesn't dress like a total loser). 'I'd like all of you to meet Jack Twist. Jack, this is my fledgling, Zoey Redbird, leader of the Dark Daughters, and her friends and Prefect Council members, Erin Bates, Shawnee Cole, Stevie Rae Johnson, and Damien Maslin.' Neferet gestured to each of them in turn, and there were 'hi's said all around. The new kid looked a little nervous and pale, but other than that he had a nice smile and didn't seem socially inept or anything like that. I was just wondering why Neferet had looked for me to introduce the kid to when she went on to explain.

'Jack is a poet and a writer, and Loren Blake is going to be his mentor, but Loren won't be back from his trip east until tomor­row. Jack is also going to be Erik Night's roommate. As you are all aware, Erik is away from school until tomorrow, too. So I thought it would be nice if the five of you would show Jack around and be sure he feels welcome and gets settled in today.'

'Of course, we'd be happy to,' I said without hesitation. It was never fun to be the new kid.

'Damien, you can show Jack to his and Erik's room, can't you?'

'Sure, no problem,' Damien said.

'I knew I could count on Zoey's friends.' Neferet's smile was incredible. It seemed to light the room by itself and it made me suddenly intensely proud that all of the other kids were standing around watching Neferet show such obvious favor for us. 'Re­member, if you need anything for tomorrow, just let me know. Oh, because it's your first ritual I asked the kitchen to prepare something special for you and the Dark Daughters and Sons as a treat afterward. It should be a lovely celebration for you, Zoey.'

I was overwhelmed by her thoughtfulness, and couldn't help but compare it to the cold, unconcerned way my mom treated me. Hell, the truth was my mom didn't actually care enough to treat me like anything anymore. I'd only seen her that one time in a whole month, and after the stupid scene her loser husband had caused with Neferet, it looked like I wouldn't be seeing her again soon. Like I cared? No. Not when I had good friends and a men­tor like Neferet to be there for me.

'I really appreciate this, Neferet,' I said, swallowing hard around the lump of emotion that had built in my throat.

'It's my pleasure and the least I can do for my fledgling's first Full Moon Ritual as leader of the Dark Daughters.' She gave me a quick hug, and then left the room, nodding kindly to the kids who spoke to her and saluted her respectfully.

'Wow,' Jack said. 'She's really amazing.'

'She sure is,' I said. Then I grinned at my friends (and the new kid). 'So, ready to get to work now? We have lots of stuff to clear out of here.' I saw poor Jack looking totally clueless. 'Damien, you better give Jack a quick catch-up lesson in vamp rituals so he doesn't feel so lost.' I started to walk back toward the kitchen (again), and heard Damien start his little professor act, beginning with the facts about the Full Moon Ritual.

'Uh, Zoey, can we help you?'

I glanced over my shoulder. Drew Partain, a short, athletic kid I recognized because he and I were in the same fencing class (he's an incredible fencer—as good as Damien, and that's saying something), was standing with