Destined

room she shared with her Twin. But she needn’t have hurried. Erin was loaded down and just a few yards from the kitchen she’d dropped an entire giant Pier 1 bag.

“Hey, Twin,” Shaunee said as she bent to pick up a shiny pillow. “It looks like a glitter explosion happened out here.”

Erin didn’t smile. She took the sequinned pillow from Shaunee’s hands and crammed it back into an already bulging bag, saying, “I got this under control.”

Shaunee touched Erin’s shoulder, which felt hard and cold and lifeless. “Wait, Twin, what is it? Why are you so pissed?”

“You didn’t even tell me you cared so much about your dad. You just kept it from me,” Erin said, jerking her shoulder from Shaunee’s touch.

“No, I didn’t.” Shaunee shook her head, feeling like Erin had just smacked her. “I tried to say stuff to you, but you were all, ‘hey, that’s in the past, Twin, let’s shop’ so I gave up. Don’t you remember?”

“Okay, yeah, whatever. What is the big deal? I just don’t get it! We’ve been best friends since we were both Marked—on the same day. Everything was fine until this daddy crap came up with Rephaim and now we’re suddenly not BFFs anymore.”

“Wait, I get how Rephaim’s feeling and you don’t, that’s all. I never said we weren’t BFFs anymore.”

“Yeah, well, you’re right. I don’t get it.” Erin crossed her arms. “What exactly is the issue?”

Shaunee felt like the world was pressing down on her shoulders and her best friend had suddenly become a stranger. “Erin, I miss my dad sometimes. That’s all.”

“Your dad? He didn’t give a shit about you years before you were Marked. How can you miss him?”

Shaunee hesitated. She looked deep and truly saw Erin. “Wow. You really don’t care, do you?”

“About what? About the cool crap I got for our room totally not on sale at Pier One and charged to Aphrodikey’s gold card? Hell, yes. About the new stuff I just snagged from Miss Jackson’s afterhours? Double hell yes I care! Alice + Olivia is the shit for the spring. I even got you a fox-lined red cashmere wrap thing that is To Die For. Oh, and I got me one, too, totally to match only in blue. We are gonna look awesome in this stuff. Perfect. We’re perfect. That’s what I care about. And you, too, Twin. I care about you and you care about our stuff. You always have.” Erin’s tirade ran out, leaving her looking kinda sad and confused. She wiped her eyes and her MAC Wonder Woman blue mascara smeared.

“No,” Shaunee said slowly. “None of that’s real. And, Twin, nobody’s perfect. Especially not you and me.”

“What the hell is it? How could Rephaim’s dad change everything?” Erin shouted.

“It’s been bothering me for a while, but I didn’t say anything.”

“Rephaim’s dad or your dad?” Erin said.

“Neither, Erin. I’m not talking about either one. I’m talking about stuff in general. Like Jack dying.” Shaunee felt, really, really tired.

“I cared about Jack dying! We cried and stuff.”

“No, we cried, and then you got an e-mail from Danielle that had a link to Rue La La and we shopped,” Shaunee said.

“So? I bought black shoes. Wait, no. We bought black shoes. Platforms. With pink bows and Swarovski crystals on the heels. We said it was appropriate mourning attire and that Jack would appreciate it. Then we cried some more. We did it. Both of us. How are you so much better than me if you did the same thing?”

Shaunee wondered how Erin could look like she was pleading and pissed at the same time.

“I’m not better than you. I didn’t say that. Actually, you’re better than me ’cause you’re fine and I’m not. That’s the bottom line. I’m not fine anymore. Not with myself and I think that means not with us, either, but I don’t really know—”

“I’ll tell you what, Twin,” Erin butted in, wiping angrily at the tears that were smearing blue across her cheeks. “When you’re fine again come see me. Until then find your own room and your own stuff. I don’t want a roommate, or a twin, who’s not fine with me.” Crying silently and ignoring the things that kept spilling from her shopping bags, Erin stomped down the tunnel, leaving Shaunee standing in a pile of glittery pillows and velvet tights.

Someone cleared her throat and Shaunee jumped. It was only when Zoey handed her a wad of semi-used Kleenexes that she realized she was bawling.

“Do ya wanta talk about it?”

“Not really,” Shaunee said.

“Okay, you want to be by yourself?” Zoey asked.

“I’m not sure. But I do know one thing and it’s gonna sound really bad,” Shaunee said with a little hiccupy sob.

“Well, then say it fast ’cause when you say it fast it gets over with and it doesn’t seem so bad.”

“I want to go live back at the House of Night.”

There was a heavy silence, and then Zoey asked, “Does Erin want to go with you?”

“No,” Shaunee said, wiping away the last of her tears. “I’m going by myself.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Zoey

Sunday sucked as bad as Saturday had. Later I looked back and realized that when Erin and Shaunee split was when the whole thing started to unravel. It was weird what the two of them not speaking did to the rest of us. It was like them being pissed at each other unbalanced everyone.

“I don’t know about you, but the brain-sharers are driving me crazy.”

Aphrodite plopped down beside me where I was sitting on the curb that edged the old circle driveway entrance to the depot. I sighed and thought so much for taking a second and trying to be by myself. I scooted over to give her more room.

“Yeah, I know. It’s weird them not always being together, and now Shaunee looks like she’s ready to burst into tears all the time and Erin’s all silent and pouting. It’s super crazy down there.”

“Fire and ice,” Aphrodite mumbled.

My brows shot up. “You know, you may be right.”

“I do not know when you’re going to get a fucking clue and realize that I’m right mostly all the time.” Aphrodite pulled a little jeweled emery board from her Coach purse and started to file her nails. “I don’t know what else that damn stupid poem means, but part of it is definitely about the brain-sharers.”

“Why are you filing your nails?”

She shot me a WTF look. “Because this stupid town doesn’t have enough all-night spas. Well, except for the scary ones and I just want my nails done, not my vagina. I don’t want the HIV either, for that matter.”

“Aphrodite, you make no sense at all sometimes.”

“You are welcome for broadening your horizons. Anyway, as I was saying, what are you going to do about Tweedledee and Tweedledumber?”

“Uh, nothing. They’re girlfriends. Sometimes girlfriends get mad at each other. They’re gonna have to figure out a way to make up by themselves.”

“Seriously? That’s all you have?”

“Well, Aphrodite, what the hell do you expect me to do?”

“Did you just curse? Isn’t ‘hell’”—she air quoted—“a curse word?”

“How ’bout you go straight there and see?” I narrowed my eyes at her. “And for the zillionth time— there’s nothing wrong with not having a potty mouth!”

“Yelling and cursing. Next thing I know snowballs will be flying through H E double toothpicks.”

“You. Are. Hateful,” I said.