Betrayed

empathetic for earth, and sincere for spirit.' I finished without looking at my notes. I al­ready knew the five ideals by heart. So I watched his eyes instead. He didn't say anything for a moment. Then, slowly, he reached out and traced one finger over the fluid line of my tattoo. I wanted to tremble under his touch, but I couldn't move.

'Beautiful and intelligent and innocent,' he whispered. Then his incredible voice recited, 'The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.'

'So sorry to interrupt, but I really do need to check out the next three books in this series for Professor Anastasia.'

Aphrodite's voice broke the spell between Loren and me, as well as almost giving me a heart attack. Actually, Loren looked as shaken as I felt. He dropped his hand from my face and walked quickly to the checkout counter. I sat where I was like I'd grown to my chair, trying to look oh-so-busy scribbling more notes (which were actually, well, scribble). I heard Sappho come back in and take over checking out Aphrodite's books from Loren. I could hear him leaving, and almost as if I couldn't help it, I turned and looked at him. He was walking out the door and not paying the least bit of attention to me.

But Aphrodite was staring straight at me with a wicked smile curving her perfect lips.

Well, hell.

CHAPTER 4

I wanted to tell Stevie Rae about what had happened with Loren, and about Aphrodite busting in on us, but I wasn't up to going into it in front of Damien and the Twins. Not that they weren't my friends, too, but I had hardly had time to process what had happened, and the thought of the three of them chattering like crazy about it made me cringe. Especially since the Twins had re­arranged their school schedules to get into Loren's poetry elec­tive, where they freely admitted they spent the entire hour every day just staring at him. They would totally lose their minds when I told them what had happened. (Plus, had anything happened? I mean, the guy had just touched my face.)

'What's wrong with you?' Stevie Rae asked.

The attention that the four of them had been focusing on try­ing to figure out if there was a hair in Erin's salad or if it was just one of those weird string things from a piece of celery shifted in­stantly to me.

'Nothin', I'm just thinking about the Full Moon Ritual Sunday.' I looked at my friends. They were watching me with eyes that said that they totally believed I'd come up with something and not make an ass out of myself. I wish I had their confidence in me.

'So what are you going to do? Have you decided?' Damien asked.

'I think so. Actually, what do you guys think of this idea …' I launched into the whole Council and Prefect idea, and realized about halfway through explaining it to them that it really was a pretty good plan. I finished with the five ideals that were each al­lied with an element.

No one said anything. I was just starting to worry when Stevie Rae threw her arm around me and hugged me hard.

'Oh, Zoey! You're going to be an awesome High Priestess.' Damien was all misty-eyed and his voice cracked adorably. 'I feel like I'm in the court of a great queen.'

'Or you could just be a great queen,' Shaunee said.

'Her Majesty Damien … hee hee,' Erin said, giggling.

'Y'all ...' Stevie Rae warned.

'Sorry,' the Twins said together.

'It was just so hard to resist,' Shaunee said. 'But seriously, we love the idea.'

'Yeah, sounds like an excellent way to keep the hags out,' Erin said.

'Well, that's another thing I needed to talk to you guys about.' I took a deep breath. 'I think seven is a good number for the Council. That way it's a decent size, and it's impossible to have a tie vote.' They nodded. 'So, everything I've been reading—not just about the Dark Daughters, but about student leadership groups in general— says that the Council members are upper­classmen. Actually the Senior Prefect, which would be me, is a, well, senior, and not a freshman.'

'I like the title third former better. It sounds older,' Damien said.

'Whatever we call it, it's still abnormal that we're so young. Which means we need two older kids on the Council with us.'

There was a pause, and then Damien said, 'I nominate Erik Night.'

Shaunee rolled her eyes.

Erin said, 'Okay, how many times do we have to explain this to you—the boy is not on your team. He likes breasts and vaginas, not penises and anu—'

'Stop!' I absolutely did not want to get off on this subject. 'I think Erik Night is a good choice, and not because he likes me or, well...'

'Girl parts?' Stevie Rae offered.

'Yes, girl parts versus boy parts. I think he has the qualities we're looking for. He's talented, well liked, and he's really a good guy.'

'And he's totally drop dead ...' Erin said.

'... gorgeous,' Shaunee finished.

'It's true; he is. But we're absolutely not basing membership on appearance.'

Shaunee and Erin frowned, but didn't argue with me. They're actually not real shallow; they're just kinda shallow.

I drew a deep breath. 'And I think the seventh member of the Council needs to be one of the seniors who was part of Aphrodite's inside group. That is, if one of them petitions to join our Council.'

This time there was no bedazzled silence. Erin and Shaunee, as usual, spoke at the same time.

'One of the hags from hell!'

'No f-ing way!'

Damien spoke while the Twins were taking breaths so they could shriek again. 'I don't see how that could be a good idea.' Stevie Rae just looked upset and picked at her lip.

I held up my hand, and was pleased (and surprised) when they actually shut up.

'I didn't take over the Dark Daughters to start a war at school. I took over because Aphrodite was a bully, and she had to be stopped. Now that I'm in charge I want the Dark Daughters to be a group kids are honored to belong to. And I don't mean just a little select clique of kids, like when Aphrodite was the leader. The Dark Daughters and Sons should be hard to get into and it should be select. But not because only the current leader's friends have a chance to get in. I want the Dark Daughters and Sons to be something everyone is proud of, and I think by allowing one of the old group on my Council I'll be sending the right message.'

'Or you'll be letting a viper into our midst,' Damien said quietly.

'Correct me if I'm wrong, Damien, but aren't snakes closely allied with Nyx?' I spoke quickly, following the intuitive feeling that was prompting me. 'Haven't they gotten a bad reputation because historically they've been symbols of female power, and men wanted to take that power away from women and make it something disgusting and scary instead?'

'No, you're right,' he said reluctantly, 'but that doesn't mean letting one of Aphrodite's gang into our Council is a good idea.'

'See, that's the point. I don't want it to just be our Council. I want it to be something that becomes a tradition with the school. Something that lasts beyond us.'

'So you mean if any of us don't make it through the Change, founding this new kind of Dark Daughters will be like we've lived on,' Stevie Rae said, and I could see that she'd captured the inter­est of the rest of them.

'That's exactly what I meant—even though I don't think I re­alized it until this second,' I said in a rush.

'Well, I like that part of it, even though I have no intention of drowning in my own bloody lungs,' Erin said.

'Of course you won't, Twin: It's a much too unattractive way to die.'

'I don't want to even think about not making it through the Change,' Damien said, 'but if—if something awful