“It was better being at school today. It felt like a step toward normal.” Damien spoke slowly and carefully, as if he had to think about each word. “But I missed Jack a lot. Actually, and I know this might sound crazy, but I kept expecting to see him around every corner in the hallway.”
“That’s not crazy,” Zoey said. “I keep expecting to see Heath, too. It’s hard and just plain wrong when someone dies too soon.” Everyone watched the different expressions play across Z’s face, and then she added, “My mom, too. I know I’ve been at the House of Night since last year, and even before that she and I hadn’t been close for a while, but it’s hard to really get that she’s dead. So I understand what you mean about Jack.”
“That makes it better, too,” Damien said. “The fact that you guys understand what it’s like to lose someone close to you.” He smiled at Stevie Rae. “So, my answer to your question is that I’m holding up as well as can be expected.”
“Good. Next question, or actually back to the original question,” Aphrodite said. “What were the birdboys doing at the House of Night?”
“Kalona sent ’em. They were supposed to tell Rephaim that his daddy will take him back as soon as he admits he made a mistake choosing me and the Goddess.” Stevie Rae shook her head. “Sometimes I think Kalona’s just plain dumb.”
“What do you mean?” Z asked.
“Heck, Rephaim hasn’t even been my official boyfriend for a month. You’d think his daddy’d at least give us a chance to have our first fight before he was all ‘oooh, you’ve made a mistake.’”
“What exactly was Rephaim’s response?” Darius asked.
“Well, what do you think it was? Jeeze Louise, he’s still here.” Stevie Rae felt her anger build. “He told them to tell Kalona that he hadn’t made a mistake and he wasn’t comin’ back. Period. The end.”
“Yeah, but is it?” Aphrodite said.
“Is it what?” she asked.
“Is it the end? Isn’t Kalona going to keep hanging around, trying to get Rephaim to see the light or whatever?”
“So what if he does? Rephaim isn’t on his team anymore. He hasn’t been for a long time.”
“So you say.”
“So he says!” Stevie Rae felt like she was going to explode. “So his dad says. So his brothers say. So even Nyx says! The dang Goddess herself showed up and forgave him. What the hell does Rephaim have to do to prove to you guys he’s changed?”
“Hey, no one’s saying Rephaim has to prove anything,” Zoey said, sending Aphrodite a
“Z, nothin’s up with them. Well, except that it really hurt Rephaim that that dang bull kid killed one of ’em. Seriously, guys, his brothers weren’t doin’ anything except talkin’ to him. Dragon showed up, pissed of course, but we all get that because of Anastasia. Still, the Raven Mockers were just defendin’ themselves. Aurox is the one we should be askin’ questions about.”
“Yeah, except that we don’t have Aurox answers here—and we should have Rephaim answers,” Aphrodite said.
“I gave you his answers.” Even as weak and tired as she felt because it was past sunrise, Stevie Rae automatically began pulling power from the earth. Not that she’d really hurt Aphrodite, but the girl definitely needed a good smack.
“Hey, you’re glowing green,” Z said.
“Well, I’m pissed!” Stevie Rae saw Darius move closer to Aphrodite, which really annoyed her. “You know what, Darius, you need to check yourself. We’re all on the same side here, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get pissed at each other once in a while.”
“I think we can all understand that. Isn’t that right, Darius?” Damien said in his calmest, most soothing voice.
“Yes, of course,” Darius said.
Aphrodite snorted.
“So, basically, Rephaim said no to Kalona and the Raven Mockers were just the messengers,” Z said. “Right?”
“Totally right,” Stevie Rae said.
“Okay, let’s move on to True Sight.” Zoey looked at Damien. “Want to summarize what you’ve found out?”
“Yeah, but it’s not much. There’s only a short reference to it in the advanced handbook. Basically, it’s rare and it hasn’t happened for a long time. Like as in more than a couple hundred years. It’s frustrating because there isn’t a lot of documentation about it, but from what I could find it seems that a fledgling or vampyre gifted with True Sight—and they’re usually vampyres, by the way—has the ability to see the truth about people.”
“That’s a handy little gift,” Aphrodite said.
“You’d think so, but the problem is that the ‘seeing’ is only as accurate as the person with the gift,” Damien said.
“Huh?” Zoey said.
“Okay, it’s like this: Shaylin has to be good at using her gift. She has to understand what she’s seeing and interpret it accurately,” Damien said.
“And if she doesn’t, it’s just a bunch of colors?” Zoey said.
“Worse,” Damien said. “Because with True Sight it’s never just a bunch of colors. We all know she’s seeing inside someone’s soul.” He shook his head. “In the handbook there were excerpts of stories about how True Sight has been misunderstood and misused. It can be bad, really bad.”
“How about guidelines or rules or whatnot?” Z asked.
“None. It’s different for everyone who has the Sight,” Damien said.
“So we’re just shootin’ in the dark,” Stevie Rae said, feeling totally overwhelmed. “Again.”
“I think that depends entirely on what kind of person Shaylin is,” Damien said.
“She’s buddied up to Erik, which isn’t a great sign,” Aphrodite said.
“Hey, some of us who used to be buddied up with Erik have turned out okay,” Zoey said. “And plus, a girl who can see his true colors could be really good for him.”
Aphrodite snorted. “If she can actually translate them correctly—or whatever you want to call it.”
“I want to believe that she can,” Damien said.
“Yeah, me too,” Stevie Rae said, but who she was really thinking about was Rephaim and Kalona.
“I want to believe, too,” Zoey said softly as if she could read Stevie Rae’s mind.
“Well, I want to believe that when I step out of this room and down the hall I’m going to be instantly transported to a suite at the Ritz-Carlton on Grand Cayman Island. I understand the rest of you are sun challenged, but I could use a little shake and bake.” Aphrodite paused and gave Darius a sexy grin. “I’ll take care of the baking part if you can handle the shaking.”
Stevie Rae stood up and yawned. “Okay, before y’all get totally gross I’m gonna go pass out. I’ll see everybody at dusk.”
“Ugh, school and no Ritz. Double ugh, reality,” Aphrodite said. “Goddess, I’m glad tomorrow is Friday.” She raised a blond brow at Zoey. “I can promise you I’m doing some serious shop and redecorate this weekend. Battling evil, Darkness, or whatever is just gonna have to wait.”
“Hey, speaking of rooms, does anyone know where Erik put Shaylin?” Stevie Rae asked around another huge yawn.
“Elizabeth No Last Name’s room,” Damien said.
“Kinda creepy,” Stevie Rae said.
“It’s not like she’s using it,” Aphrodite said.
“I’m going to bed,” Z said. “’Night guys.”
Everyone called “night” to her, but Stevie Rae watched her walk slowly away down toward Dallas’s old room that she and Stark were making their own. Her steps were slow and her shoulders were slumped, as if she was trying way too hard to carry way too much weight on them.
