“Yeah, but it’s Rephaim getting carved up this time and not you,” she said.
“Wait, isn’t this good news?” Stark said, coming up to me and taking my hand.
Aphrodite snorted. “Sure, unless you’re Rephaim.”
Stark ignored her comment and continued, “You’ve seen Rephaim killed. You know where and you know who has to be there. So what if we’re sure those elements don’t all come together? That’ll stop the death, won’t it?”
“Maybe,” Aphrodite said.
“Hopefully,” I said.
“We need to be sure Dragon stays away from Rephaim,” Darius said. “Even if he didn’t actually kill him, you know for a certainty that he was present when Rephaim was killed.”
“That much I do know,” Aphrodite said.
“Then that’s it. We keep Dragon and Rephaim separate, even if that means Rephaim doesn’t come with the rest of us when we go to Grandma’s farm.”
“If I go, Rephaim goes.”
Stark, Darius, and I turned to see Stevie Rae and Rephaim ducking under the blanket and coming into the room. Aphrodite frowned, but kept the washcloth on her eyes.
“Her vision was about Rephaim.” Stevie Rae didn’t say it like a question, but I answered her anyway. “Yeah. He dies.”
“How? Who does it?” Stevie Rae’s voice was hard. She looked ready to take on the world.
“Not sure,” Aphrodite spoke up. “It was from birdboy’s point of view, which means the whole damn thing was confusing.”
“But we know it happens at Grandma’s farm and that Dragon is there,” I said. “Which is why we were saying Rephaim should stay here when we all go out there,
“We will,” Stark said. “You can’t let this stop the ritual you were going to do for your mom.”
“It’s not for her,” I said miserably. “She’s dead. That won’t change.”
“That’s right,” he said. “It’s for you and your grandma, which is more important than doing something for a dead woman.” He glanced at Rephaim and Stevie Rae. “The ritual needs to happen, but Rephaim doesn’t need to be there and be in danger. It would be smartest if, like Z was saying, he stayed here.”
“So that someone, like Dragon, can sneak up on him when he’s all alone? I don’t think so,” Stevie Rae said.
“I do not understand,” Rephaim said.
I sighed. “Aphrodite gets visions of deaths. Sometimes they’re real clear and easy to keep from happening. Sometimes they’re confusing.”
“Because I’m inside the person who’s getting killed. That’s how it was with you. And, speaking of, flying seems scary. No matter what your birdbrain thinks.”
“It is not scary when you have wings,” Rephaim said, sounding matter-of-fact.
“Huh,” I said.
“No,” Stevie Rae spoke up. “Keep whatever you found inside his head to yourself. It’s not anyone’s business.”
“She was inside my head?” Rephaim was obviously confused squared.
“In a vision I was. It won’t happen again. I hope. And there was something else hanging around the vision besides Dragon. It was a bull, or at least the shadow of a bull.”
“Shadow of a bull?” My stomach felt sick. “Was that the dead white thing you saw?”
“No. That was definitely something else.”
“Did you see what color it was?”
“Zoey, shadows are only one color,” she said.
“Aurox,” Stark said.
“Did you see Aurox?” I asked quickly.
“Nope. Just the bull shadow. And for the record, I agree with you and Stark and Darius—birdboy should stay away from Dragon. If that means he stays here, then that’s what should happen. Now, may I please have a refill on my wine and some rest?”
“I don’t think it’s good for you to drink while you’re bleedin’ like that.” Stevie Rae said.
“Don’t question me. I’m a professional,” Aphrodite said.
“What does that even mean?” I asked.
“It means my beauty is done talking and needs to sleep,” Darius said.
“The pizza should be here soon,” Stevie Rae said. “I got you one.”
“If I’m still awake when it gets here I’ll eat it,” Aphrodite said. Then she took the washcloth off her eyes and blinked them slowly open. I was prepared. I’d seen this before. Rephaim, however, was not.
“By all the gods! You do weep blood,” he said.
She turned her red-tinged gaze to him. “Yeah. Even I know it’s terrible symbolism. Birdboy, you need to remember this. I got this damn vision because there was a message in it for you. Keep your ass safe. Stay away from pointy objects, and if that means you need to stay away from Dragon Lankford, then do it.”
“For how long?” he asked her. “How long must I hide from this vampyre?”
She shook her head. “I got a warning, not a timeline.”
“I’d rather not hide.”
“I’d rather not have you dead,” Stevie Rae said.
“I’d rather sleep,” Aphrodite said.
“All right, let’s go,” I said. I handed Darius my last bottle of water. “Try to make her drink this between glasses of wine.”
“I’m right here. You don’t have to talk about me like I can’t hear you.” She made a toasting gesture with her glass and then drained it.
“You’re under the influence, so I’m ignoring you,” I said. “Get some rest. I’ll talk to you later.”
We moved from Aphrodite’s room, Rephaim and Stevie Rae holding hands and talking in low voices to each other as we made our way up through the tunnels and outside where we were going to wait for a very confused delivery boy who I was going to be sure got an excellent tip.
“What do you think about the vision?” Stark asked, putting his arm around me and holding me close to him.
“I think Stevie Rae is going to be a problem. She’s going to try to protect Rephaim so much that she’s gonna end up getting him killed.”
Stark nodded and looked grim. “That’s how Darkness works. It turns love into something bad.”
His words surprised me. He sounded so cynical, so old. “Stark, Darkness can’t turn love into anything. Love is the only thing that lasts through Darkness and death and destruction. You know that—or you used to.”
He stopped then and all of a sudden I was in his arms and he was holding me so tight that he almost stopped my breath.
“What is it?” I whispered to him. “What’s wrong?”
“Sometimes I think I should have been the one to die and Heath should have been the one who stayed with you. He believed in love a lot more than I do.”
“I don’t think the amount of belief you have is what’s important. I think it’s what you have belief in that matters.”
“Then we’ll be okay because I believe in you,” he said.
I wrapped my arms around him and held on, trying to reassure him and myself with touch when words just didn’t seem to be enough.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
