Betrayed

that he did not enter the school grounds, and that he has not been seen by anyone there. Of course there is much speculation about these disappearances, espe­cially since the medical examiner's report states that the cause of death of the other two abducted boys was blood loss from multiple bites and lacerations. And while it is true that vampyres do not bite when they take blood from humans, the lacerations do follow a pat­tern that is consistent with vampyric feeding. It is important that we remind the public that vampyres have a binding legal agreement with humans to not feed on any human being against his or her will. We'll have more on this story at ten o'clock, and of course will break as news becomes available …'

'Someone get me a bowl, I'm gonna be sick!' I managed to yell over the humming in my head. A bowl was thrust into my hands and I promptly puked my guts into it.

CHAPTER 26

'Here, Zoey, it'll help if you swish this around in your mouth.' Blindly I took whatever Erin handed me, relieved when it was just cold water. I spit it into the nasty bowl of puke.

'Ugh, take it away,' I said, suppressing my gag reflex as I got a whiff of puke. I wanted to cover my face with my hands and burst into tears, but I knew that the entire room was looking at me, so I slowly straightened my shoulders and pushed my damp hair back behind my ears. I didn't have the luxury of dissolving into a pan­icked heap. My mind was already processing the things I needed to do—had to do. For Heath, He was what was important right now, not me, and not my need for hysteria. 'I have to see Nef­eret,' I said resolutely and stood up, surprised at how steady my knees had become.

'I'll go with you,' Erik said.

'Thanks, but first I need to brush my teeth and put on some shoes.' (I'd just stuck on a pair of thick socks to come down and watch TV.) I smiled my thanks to Erik. 'I'll run up to my room and be right back.' I could feel the Twins getting ready to follow me. 'I'll be fine. Just give me a sec.' Then I turned and hurried up the stairs.

I didn't pause at my room, but kept going down the hall, turned right, and stopped before room number 124. I'd raised my fist, but hadn't knocked when the door opened.

'I thought it would be you.' Aphrodite gave me a cold look, but she stepped to the side. 'Come on in.'

I walked in, surprised by the pretty pastel interior of the room. I guess I'd expected it to be dark and scary, like a black widow's web.

'Do you have any mouthwash? I just puked and I've seriously grossed myself out.'

She pointed her chin at the medicine cabinet over the sink. 'In there. The glass on the sink is clean.'

I washed out my mouth, taking the opportunity to try to col­lect my thoughts. When I was done I turned to face her. Deciding not to waste time on bullshit, I got straight to the point. 'How can you tell if a vision is real or just a dream?'

She sat down on one of the beds and shook back her long, per­fect blond hair. 'It's a feeling in your gut. Visions are never easy or comfortable or fucking flower-draped like they are in the movies. Visions suck. At least real ones do. Basically, if it makes you feel like shit, it's probably real and not just a dream.' Her blue eyes looked me over carefully. 'So, you've been having visions?'

'I thought I had a dream last night, a nightmare actually. To­day I think it was a vision.'

Aphrodite's lips turned up only slightly. 'Well, that sucks for you.

I changed the subject. 'What's going on with Neferet?' Aphrodite's face went carefully blank. 'What do you mean?'

'I think you know exactly what I mean. Something's off about her. I want to know what.'

'You're her fledgling. Her favorite. Her new golden girl. Do you think I'm actually going to say shit to you? I may be blond, but I'm definitely not stupid.'

'If that's the way you really feel, why did you warn me against taking the medicine she gave me?'

Aphrodite looked away. 'My first roommate died six months after she got here. I took the medicine. It—it affected me. For a long time.'

'What do you mean? How did it affect you?'

'It made me feel funny, detached. And it stopped my visions. Not permanently, just for a couple of weeks. And then it was hard for me to even remember what she looked like.' Aphrodite paused. 'Venus. Her name was Venus Davis.' Her eyes met mine again. 'She was the reason I chose Aphrodite as my new name. We were best friends and we thought it was cool.' Her eyes were filled with sadness. 'I've made myself remember Venus, and I fig­ured you'd want to remember Stevie Rae.'

'I do. I will. Thanks.'

'You should go. It won't be good for either of us if anyone knows you've been here talking to me,' Aphrodite said.

I realized that she was probably right, and turned for the door. Her voice stopped me.

'She makes you think she's good, but she's not. Everything that's light isn't good, and everything that's darkness isn't always bad.'

Darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does not al­ways bring good. The words that Nyx had said to me the day I was Marked were mirrored in Aphrodite's warning.

'In other words, be careful around Neferet and don't trust her,' I said.

'Yeah, but I never said that.'

'Said what? We're not even having this conversation.' I shut the door behind me and hurried to my room where I washed my face and brushed my teeth, pulled on some shoes, and then re­turned to the living room.

'Ready?' Erik asked.

'We'll come, too,' Damien said, motioning to include the Twins, Jack, and Drew.

I started to tell them no, but I couldn't make the word come out. The truth was that I was glad they were here, glad they obvi­ously felt the need to join forces around me and protect me. I'd worried for a really long time that my extra powers and my weird Goddess-chosen Mark would brand me such a freak that I wouldn't fit in, wouldn't have any friends. But the opposite seemed to be happening.

'Okay, let's go.' We headed for the door. I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to say to Neferet. All I knew was that I couldn't continue to keep my mouth shut, and that I had a terrible feeling my 'dream' had really been a vision, and that there was more to the 'spirits' I'd been seeing than ghosts. Most of all, I was afraid they'd taken Heath. What that said about what Stevie Rae had be­come chilled me to my core, but it didn't change the fact that Heath was missing, and that I think I knew who had taken him (if not what).

We hadn't quite made it to the door when it opened and Nef­eret glided into the room on a tide of snow- scented air. She was followed by Detective Marx and Detective Martin. They had blue down jackets on that were zipped to their chins. Their hats were covered with snow and their noses were red. Neferet, as usual, looked perfectly poised, perfectly groomed, perfectly in control.

'Ah, Zoey, good. This saves me from having to look for you. The two detectives have some rather bad news, and they'd also like to speak with you for a moment.'

I didn't spare a glance for Neferet, and I could feel her stiffen­ing as I responded directly to the detectives. 'I already heard on the news that Heath's missing. If there's any way I can help, I will.'

'Could we use the library again?' Detective Marx asked. 'Of course,' Neferet said smoothly.

I started to follow Neferet and the detectives from the room, but paused to look back at Erik.

'We'll be here,' he said.

'All of us,' Damien said.

I nodded. Feeling better, I went to the library. I'd hardly entered the room when Detective Martin started questioning me.

'Zoey, can you account for your whereabouts between six thirty and eight thirty this morning?'

I nodded. 'I was upstairs in my room. Around that time I was talking on the phone to my grandma, and then Heath and I text messaged each other back and forth a few times.' I reached into my jeans pocket and pulled out my cell phone. 'I haven't even deleted the messages. You can see them if you want.'

'You don't have to give him your phone, Zoey,' Neferet said. I made myself smile at her.