Untamed

'Did you say her name is Maleficent? Isn't that the name of the evil witch in Sleeping Beauty?'

'Yes, and Maleficent was way more interesting than that sickeningly sweet, goody-goody Princess Aurora. Plus I like her name. It's powerful.'

I reached out hesitantly to pet the huge cat ball of white fur. Maleficent opened her eyes to slits and growled menacingly at me. 'Maleficent's root word is malevolence,' I said, pulling my hand quickly out of her paw range.

'Yes, and malevolence is a powerful word,' Aphrodite said, making kissing noises at the beast.

'Is she declawed?' I asked.

'Nope,' Aphrodite said happily. 'She could put an eye out with those big paws of hers.'

'Lovely,' I said.

'I think she's as unique and beautiful as her new mistress,' Darius said. I noticed that when he petted Maleficent, the cat narrowed her eyes at him but didn't growl.

'And I think your judgment is impaired. But whatever. Let's go. I'm starving. I didn't get any breakfast, and we've already missed lunch, so we're gonna have to grab something quick on the way back to school.'

'I'll get Maleficent's things,' Darius said, striding to the side of the room to pick up a neat little bag that had For Your New Kitty written in lovely cursive script on the side of it.

'Did you already pay for her?' I asked.

'She absolutely did,' said Sister Mary Angela from the doorway. I noticed she walked carefully around Aphrodite and Maleficent, staying well out of paw range. 'It's just wonderful that the two of them have found each other like this.'

'You mean no one else could touch the cat?' I asked.

'Not one single person,' Sister Mary Angela said with a big grin. 'At least not until lovely Aphrodite stepped through the doors of the kennel. Sister Bianca and Sister Fatima said it was nothing short of a miracle how Maleficent took to Aphrodite immediately.'

Aphrodite's smile was one hundred percent authentic, and it made her look young and heartbreakingly gorgeous. 'She was waiting for me,' she said.

'Yes,' the nun agreed. 'She was, indeed. You two are a good match.' Then she looked at me and Darius, including all of us in her next words. 'I think Street Cats and the House of Night is a good match, too. I feel great things for us in the future.' Then she raised her right hand over us and said, 'Go forth under the watchful eye of our Blessed Mother.'

We mumbled our thanks to Sister Mary Angela. I had the weird urge to give her a hug, but her outfit—the whole wimple and black robe/dress thing—didn't seem conducive to hugs. So instead I did a lot of what felt like overexuberant grinning and waving as we left the building.

'You were grinning and waving like a fool,' Aphrodite said as she waited for Darius to open her door and help her and the tail-twitching, flat-faced Maleficent into the front seat of the Lexus.

'I was being polite. Plus, I like her,' I said, opening my own door. I slid into the backseat and after strapping on my seat belt looked up into the glaring eyes of Maleficent, who was stretched out across Aphrodite's chest and over her shoulder so that she could hang halfway over the seat and stare at me. 'Uh, Aphrodite, shouldn't you put her in a cat carrier or something?'

'Oh my god! Are you mean and hateful or what? Of course she doesn't ride in a cat carrier.' Aphrodite stroked the beast, causing white fur to float all around us like a disgusting cat hair shower.

'Jeesh, never mind. I was just thinking of the cat's safety,' I lied. Actually, I was thinking of my safety. Maleficent looked like she'd love to have a big bite of Zoey for dinner. Which reminded me. 'Hey, I'm starved,' I told Darius as he started the car. 'We gotta stop somewhere quick so I can eat something.'

'Fine with me. What do you want?' he said.

I glanced at the time on the car dash. Unbelievably, it was after 11 P.M. 'Well, the time is definitely going to limit what's open.' I heard Aphrodite whisper something about 'stupid going-to-bed-early humans' to Maleficent, which I ignored. I looked around, trying to remember what decent fast food places (that is, Taco Bueno and Arby's versus McDonald's and Wendy's) were close by. And then a lovely and familiar aroma drifted through the cracked windows of the Lexus to me. My mouth had already started to water when I spotted the big yellow-and-red sign next door. 'Oh, yum! Let's go to Charlie's Chicken!'

'It's awful greasy,' Aphrodite said.

'That's part of its deliciousness. Heath and I used to eat there all the time. It fulfills all the basic food groups: grease, mashed potatoes, and brown pop.'

'You're disgusting,' Aphrodite said.

'I'll pay,' I said.

'Done deal,' she said.

CHAPTER 18

Darius volunteered to stay in the car and babysit Maleficent while Aphrodite and I got something to eat, which I thought was above and beyond the call of duty.

'He's way too good for you,' I told Aphrodite. For as late as it was, Charlie's was really busy, and sheeplike, we jostled around with the rest of the herd animals, finally getting in line behind an obese woman who had really bad teeth and a balding guy who smelled like feet.

'Of course he's too good for me,' Aphrodite said.

I blinked in surprise at her and said, 'Excuse me? I couldn't have heard you right.'

Aphrodite snorted. 'You think I don't know I'm awful to my boyfriends? Please—I'm selfish, not stupid. Darius will probably get sick of my crap within a couple months. I'll dump him right before he dumps me, but at least it'll be a fun ride till then.'

'Did you ever think about being nice and not putting him through your usual crap?'

Aphrodite met my eyes. 'Actually, I have been thinking about it and may consider changing things up with Darius.' She paused and added. 'She chose me.'

'She who?'

'Maleficent.'

'Well, yeah, she chose you. She's your cat. Just like Nala chose me and Darius's cat, whatever her name is . . . uh . . .'

'Nefertiti,' Aphrodite said.

'Yeah, Nefertiti, she chose him. So what's the big deal? Happens all the time. Cats choose their fledglings, or sometimes their vamps. Most every vamp eventually gets one and—'

And I suddenly realized why the cat choosing her had made such an impact on Aphrodite.

'It makes me belong,' she said quietly. 'Somehow I'm still a part of the whole'—she paused, talking so low, I had to lean into her to hear her—'I'm still part of the whole vamp thing. It means I'm not totally an outsider.'

'You couldn't be an outsider,' I whispered back. 'You're part of the Dark Daughters. You're part of the school. And most important, you're part of Nyx.'

'But since this happened'—she brushed her hand across her forehead where she hadn't needed any makeup to cover the Mark that no longer was there—'since this happened, I haven't really felt like I was a part of anything. But Maleficent changed that.'

'Huh,' I said, more than a little taken back by Aphrodite's sincerity.

Then she shook herself, shrugged, and—looking much more like the Aphrodite we all knew and couldn't stand—said, 'Whatever, though. My life still sucks. And after I eat this cheap, greasy crap with you, I'll probably break out.'

'Hey, a little grease is good for your hair and nails. Kinda like vitamin E.' I bumped her shoulder. 'I'll even order for you.'

'Could I have something diet?'