Untamed

'Stevie Rae, you really can't keep living in those tunnels.'

'I like the tunnels,' she said stubbornly.

'They're nasty and damp and dirty,' I said.

'They're better now than they were last time you saw them, and they'd be lots better if they were fixed up a little more.'

I stared at her.

'Okay, maybe more than a little.'

'Whatever. My point is, you need the money and the power and the protection of the school behind you.'

Stevie Rae met my eyes steadily, and all of a sudden she looked way older and more mature than I'd ever seen her look before. 'The money and the power and the protection of the school didn't help Professor Nolan or Loren Blake or even that Stark kid.'

I didn't know what to say. She was right, but I still felt deep in my gut that people—specifically vampyre people—needed to know she and the red fledglings existed. I sighed. 'Okay, I know it's not a one hundred percent good plan, but I honestly believe everyone needs to know about you guys.'

'Honestly, as in Nyx is giving you one of those you need to do it feelings?'

'Yep,' I said.

Her sigh was much deeper and filled with more worry and stress than mine. (Jeesh, who knew that could happen?) 'All right, then. I'll be there tomorrow. I'm countin' on you to make this all turn out okay, Zoey.'

'I will.' Silently I sent a short prayer up to Nyx: I'm counting on you like she's counting on me . . .

Stevie Rae and I had finished the seemingly unending cat-toy inventory about the time I glanced up at the clock and realized we were going to be late getting back to school if we didn't hurry like crazy. And of course, Stevie Rae had to get back to her group of fledglings before they committed more than petty pizza theft. So we said a quick bye, and I repeated that I'd see her the next day for her outing. She looked a little pale, but gave me a hug and promised to be there. Then I stuck my head in Sister Mary Angela's office.

'Excuse me, ma'am.' I wasn't sure exactly what to call a nun when one was being ultra-respectful and needed to get her attention while she was definitely engrossed in what looked like instant messaging on her laptop.

The ma'am seemed to work just fine, because she looked up at me with her warm smile. 'All done with the inventory, Zoey?'

'Yes, and we have to get back to school.'

Sister Mary Angela glanced up at the clock, and her eyes widened in surprise. 'My goodness! I had no idea it was so late. And I forget that your days are rather upside down.'

I nodded. 'It must seem like we keep weird hours to you.'

'I'll just think of you as nocturnal—much like our lovely felines. You know they prefer the night, too. Which reminds me, how would you like it if we extend our hours on Saturday nights so that can be your volunteer day?'

'That sounds great. I'll run it by our priestess to make sure, though, and call you. Oh, and do you want me to go ahead with the flea market idea?'

'Yes. I put in a call to our Board of Church Directors, and after a slight discussion, they agreed the idea was a good one.'

I noticed the hardening in her voice and the way her already straight spine seemed to grow even straighter. 'Not everyone is okay with fledglings, huh?' I said.

Her hard look warmed. 'That is not for you to worry about, Zoey. I've often forged my own path and am used to taking a machete to weeds and other bothersome barriers.'

I felt my eyes get big and didn't doubt for a minute that this tough nun's meaning might not be only figurative. And then part of what she'd said made me ask, 'When you said that you had to check with your Board of Church Directors, did you mean they were from your church, or others?'

'They aren't from our abbey, which isn't exactly a church, because our only congregation is made of Benedictine sisters. The Church Board of which I was speaking is made of several of the leaders of local churches.'

'Like the People of Faith?'

She frowned. 'Yes. The People of Faith have a rather large representation on the Board, which reflects their congregation size.'

'Bet they were the weeds you had to chop down,' I muttered.

'Pardon me, Zoey. I didn't quite catch that,' she said, eyes squinting impishly with the smile she was trying (unsuccessfully) to hide.

'Oh, nothing. I was just thinking out loud.'

'A terrible habit, and one that can get you in much trouble if you're not careful,' she said, smiling fully.

'Don't I know it,' I said. 'So you're sure the flea market will be okay? You know, if it's too much hassle, we can figure out some other way to—'

Sister Mary Angela's raised hand shut me right up. She simply said, 'Get with your High Priestess and see what day next month would be good for your school for the flea market. We shall accommodate ourselves to your schedule.'

'Okay, good,' I said, feeling proud of myself for how well my community service idea was working out. 'I better get Aphrodite and go now, though. We were excused from only the first part of our classes today, and we gotta get back.'

'I believe your friends have been finished for a while now, but they have been rather—' She paused, eyes twinkling again. '—distracted.'

'Huh?' I was feeling kinda shocked. It was cool that Sister Mary Angela wasn't freaked about fledglings and vampyres in general, but to have her be oh-so-amused by Aphrodite's gross flirtation with Darius was totally too liberal—even for me.

Obviously the nun must have been able to guess what I was thinking by the look on my face, because she laughed, turned me around by my shoulders, and gave me a gentle push out of her office and toward the cat kennel. 'Go on—you'll see what I mean,' she said.

Totally confused, I walked down the short hallway to the room that held cats available for adoption. There were no nuns around, but (sure enough) Aphrodite and Darius were sitting over in the 'playground for cats' corner, snuggled together like lovers with their backs turned to me. They were doing something (ugh) with their hands. Actually, it looked like they were doing a lot of something with their hands (double ugh). I cleared my throat dramatically. Instead of jumping apart guiltily as they should have, Darius glanced over his shoulder at me and grinned—Aphrodite (the ho) didn't even turn to look to see who had just walked in on them. Jeesh, I could have been a nun or someone's mom.

'Uh, I really hate to interrupt this cozy little scene, but we gotta go,' I said sarcastically.

With a big sigh, Aphrodite finally turned around, saying, 'Fine. Let's go. But I'm taking her with us.' And I saw what it was that she and Darius had been doing with their hands.

'It's a cat!' I said.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. 'No shit? Imagine that—there's a cat at Street Cats.'

'It's an ugly cat,' I continued.

'Don't call her that.' Aphrodite was instantly defensive as she struggled to stand up while clutching the ginormic white cat in her arms. Taking her elbow, Darius made sure Aphrodite didn't fall back on her butt. 'She's not ugly. She's unique, and I'm sure quite expensive.'

'She's a Street Cats cat,' I said. 'She only costs an adoption fee, same as all the rest of them.'

Aphrodite stroked the cat absently, and it closed the beady eyes that sat in its totally smushed face and started to purr, skipping beats every now and then, like a missing engine, which probably meant she was full of hairballs. Aphrodite ignored the messed-up purring and smiled lovingly down into the cat's flat face. 'Maleficent is clearly a purebred Persian who ended up in these dire circumstances because she is the sole survivor of an awful tragedy.' Aphrodite wrinkled up her perfect nose, and her haughty gaze took in the neat cages that were filled with all different sizes and shapes of cats. 'She definitely doesn't belong in such an ordinary place.'