Chosen

of Erebus.' His smile was grim, but kind. 'And that would not help you concentrate on your prayers, my lady.'

'I'll remember.' I tried not to flinch when he called me Priestess and my lady. No dang way I deserved either title.

With one fluid, unhurried movement, he vaulted from the top of the twenty-foot wall, landing neatly on his feet. Then he saluted me with his fist over his heart, bowed slightly, and disappeared soundlessly into the night.

It was then that my legs decided they wouldn't support me anymore. I sat heavily in the grass at the base of the familiar old oak, pulled my knees up to my chest, wrapped my arms around them, and began to cry, silently and steadily.

I was unbelievably sorry. How could I have been so stupid? How could I have fallen for Loren's lies? I really had believed him. And now I'd not only given the jerk my virginity, but I'd Imprinted with him, which made me a double idiot.

I wanted my grandma. With a little choking sob, I reached into the pocket of my dress for my cell phone. I was going to tell Grandma everything. It'd be awful and embarrassing, but I knew she wouldn't leave me or judge me. Grandma wouldn't stop loving me.

But my dang cell phone wasn't there. Then I remembered it had fallen out of my pocket when I'd gotten naked with Loren. I must have forgotten to pick it up. Didn't that just figure? I closed my eyes and let my head fall back against the rough bark of the tree.

'Mee-uf-ow!'

Nala's warm wet nose poked against my cheek. Without opening my eyes I spread my arms so that she could hop up into my lap. She put her little front paws on my shoulder and pressed her face into the crook of my neck, purring furiously, as if the sound could force me to feel better.

'Oh, Nala, I've messed up so bad.' I held my cat and let the sobs shake my shoulders.

CHAPTER 25

When I heard the sound of footsteps approaching I figured it must be Darius coming back to check on me. I tried to get myself under control, wiping my face with my sleeve and attempting to stop crying.

'Well, crap, Aphrodite, you were right. She does look majorly like shit,' Shaunee said.

I looked up to see the Twins descending on me with Aphrodite and Damien close behind them.

'Z, you have snot on your face,' Erin said to me, then she shook her head and told Shaunee, 'Sadly, I, too, must say Aphrodite was right.'

'Told you so,' Aphrodite said smugly.

'I do not think it's particularly appropriate to give accolades to Aphrodite for her being right that something is seriously wrong with Zoey.'

'Damien, I really wish,' Erin began.

'You'd stop with the damn Sylvan Learning Center vocab bullshit,' Shaunee finished for her.

'Would you two cease and desist, and perhaps get a dictionary?' Damien said primly.

I know it's weird, but their bickering sounded wonderful.

'You guys make a pathetic rescue squad,' Aphrodite said. 'Here.' She handed me a ball of (hopefully) clean Kleenex. 'I'm more nurturing than the three of you, and that's a damn shame.'

Damien huffed and moved the Twins out of the way so he could crouch beside me. I blew my nose and wiped my face before I looked at him.

'Something bad's happened, hasn't it?' he said.

I nodded.

'Well, shit. Is someone else dead?' Erin said.

'No.' My voice broke and I cleared my throat to try again. This time I sounded stuffy, but more like myself. 'No, no one's dead. It's nothing like that.'

'Go ahead and tell us,' Damien said, patting my shoulder lightly.

'Yeah, you know there's not much we can't handle together,' Shaunee said.

'Ditto, Twin,' Erin said.

'I may puke at the nerd herdishness of this,' Aphrodite said.

'Shut up!' the Twins said.

I looked at each of my friends. As much as I didn't want to, I had to tell them about Loren. I also had to tell them about Stevie Rae. And I had to do it before what Neferet said came true— before my lies and my secrets pissed them off so much that I lost them.

'It's messed up and complicated, and not very pretty,' I said.

'Oh, you mean like Aphrodite,' Erin said.

'No problem. We're getting used to that,' Shaunee said.

'Die Dorkamese Twins,' Aphrodite said.

'If you three would shut up, Zoey might be able to explain what's wrong,' Damien said with exaggerated patience.

'Sorry,' the Twins muttered.

Aphrodite just rolled her eyes.

I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to start the whole horrible story when Jack's perky voice interrupted me.

'Okay! I found him!'

Jack scampered up. His cute grin fading a little when he caught sight of me, proving that I really must look as bad as I felt. Then he hurried over to sit beside Damien, leaving Erik standing alone staring down at me.

'Go ahead, honey,' Damien said, patting my shoulder again. 'We're all here now. Tell us what's wrong.'

I couldn't speak. All I could do was stare at Erik. His face was a handsome, unreadable mask. Or at least it was unreadable until he started speaking, then his blank expression changed to disgust. His deep, expressive voice was a sneer.

'You want to tell them, honey, or should I?'

I wanted to say something. I wanted to yell at him to stop—to please forgive me—that he'd been right and I'd been so damn wrong that it was making me sick. But the only thing that came out of my mouth was a whispered no, so soft that I don't think Damien even heard me. Soon I realized it wouldn't have mattered if I'd shouted. Erik had come there to get back at me, and nothing was going to stop him.

'Fine. I'll tell them.' Erik looked at each of my friends. 'Our Z's been fucking Loren Blake.'

'What!' the Twins said together.

'Impossible,' Damien said.

'Nu-uh,' Jack sputtered.

Aphrodite didn't say anything.

'It's true. I saw them. Today. In the rec hall. You know, when all of you thought she was oh-so-upset because I'd Changed? Yeah, Zoey, I saw how upset you were. So upset you had to suck Blake's blood and ride him like a horse.'

'Loren Blake?' Shaunee said, sounding utterly stunned.

'Mr. Luscious? The guy we've been talking about eating like he was a Dove chocolate bar all semester?' Mirroring her twin's tone, Erin gave me a shocked, horrified look. 'You must have thought we were completely pathetic.'

'Yeah, why didn't you say something?' Shaunee said.

' 'Cause if Zoey'd told you how in love they were, you might not have been cool with her using me and pretending like we were together so she could sneak around and be with Blake. And anyway, she probably liked laughing at you two,' Erik said cruelly.

'I wasn't using you.' I said to Erik, surprising myself with how strong my voice suddenly sounded. 'And I never laughed at you two, I promise,' I told the Twins.

'Yeah, and your word is something they can really trust,' Erik said. 'She's a lying slut. She used all of you just