Betrayed

"You have to stay!" she said through chattering teeth. Obvi­ously, she was having difficulty talking. "You have to hear the vi­sion!"

"No, I do not." I pried her viselike fingers from my wrist. "Whatever's going on, it's about you—not me. You deal with it." This time when I turned I walked away more quickly.

But not quick enough. Her next words felt like she'd sliced them through me.

"You have to listen to me. If you don't your grandma will die."

CHAPTER 9

"What in the hell are you talking about!" I rounded on her.

She was gasping in weird little panting breaths, and her eyes were starting to flutter. Even in the darkness I could see the whites in them begi

"Tell me what you see!"

Clearly trying to control herself she nodded with a jerky little movement. "I will," she panted. "Just stay with me “

I sat beside her on the bench and let her grab my hand, not caring that she was squeezing so hard it felt like she was going to break something—not caring that she was my enemy and some­one I'd never trust—not caring about anything except the fact that Grandma might be in trouble.

"I'm not going anywhere," I said grimly. Then I remembered how Neferet had prompted her. "Tell me what you see, Aphrodite."

"Water! It's awful … so brown and so cold. It's all confusion ... can't—can't get the door of the Saturn open ..."

I felt a horrible jolt. Grandma has a Saturn! She bought it be­cause it was one of those ultra-safe cars that were supposed to be able to survive anything.

"But where's the car, Aphrodite? What water is it in?"

"Arkansas River," she panted. "The bridge—it collapsed."

Aphrodite sobbed, sounding terrified. "I saw the car in front of me fall and hit the barge. It's on fire! Those little boys … the ones who were trying to get truck drivers to honk as they passed ... they're in the car."

I swallowed hard. "Okay, what bridge? When?"

Aphrodite's whole body suddenly tensed. "I can't get out! I can't get out! The water, it's …" She made a horrible noise that I swear sounded like she was being choked, and then she slumped back against the bench, her hand going limp in mine.

"Aphrodite!" I shook her. "You have to wake up. You have to tell me more about what you saw!"

Slowly, her eyelids moved. This time I didn't see the whites of her rolled back eyeballs, and when she opened them they looked like normal eyes. Aphrodite abruptly let go of my hand and shak­ily pushed her hair out of her face. I noticed it was damp, and that she was covered with sweat. She blinked a couple more times be­fore meeting my eyes. Her gaze was steady, but I couldn't read anything except exhaustion in her expression or her voice.

"Good, you stayed," she said.

"Tell me what you saw. What happened to my grandma?"

"The bridge her car's on collapses and she crashes into the river and drowns," she said flatly.

"No. No, that won't happen. Tell me what bridge. When. How. I'll stop it."

Aphrodite's lips curled up in the hint of a smile. "Oh, you mean you suddenly believe my visions?"

Fear for Grandma was like a boiling pain inside me. I grabbed her arm and stood up, pulling her up with me. "Let's go."

She tried to jerk away from me, but she was too weak, I held on to her easily. "Where?"

"To Neferet, of course. She'll figure this crap out, and you'll damn sure talk to her."

"No!" she almost screamed. "I won't tell her. I swear I won't. No matter what, I'll say I don't remember anything except water and a bridge."

"Neferet will get this out of you."

"No she won't! She'll be able to tell that I'm lying, that I'm hid­ing something, but she won't be able to tell what. If you take me to her, your grandma will die."

I felt so sick I'd started to tremble. "What do you want, Aphrodite? Do you want to be leader of the Dark Daughters again? Fine. Take it back. Just tell me about my grandma."

A look of raw pain passed over Aphrodite's pale face. "You can't give it back to me, Neferet has to."

"Then what do you want?"

"I just want you to listen to me so that you know that Nyx hasn't abandoned me. I want you to believe that my visions are still real." She stared into my eyes. Her voice was low and strained. "And I want you to owe me. Someday you're going to be a power­ful High Priestess, more powerful even than Neferet. Someday I may need protection, and that's when you owing me will come in handy."

I wanted to say that there was no way I could protect her from Neferet. Not now—maybe not ever. And I wouldn't want to. Aphrodite was messed up, and I'd already witnessed how selfish and hateful she could be. I didn't want to owe her; I didn't want anything to do with her.

I also didn't have any choice.

"Fine. I won't take you to Neferet. Now what did you see?"

"First give me your word that you owe me. And remember, this isn't an empty human promise. When vampyres give their word—be they fledgling or adult—it is binding."

"If you tell me how to save my grandma I give you my word that I will owe you a favor."

"Of my choice," she said slyly.

"Yeah, whatever."

"You have to say it to complete the oath."

"If you tell me how to save my grandma I give you my word that I will owe you a favor of your choice."

"So it is spoken; so it shall be done," she whispered. Her voice sent chills up my back, which I ignored.

"Tell me."

"I have to sit down first," she said. Suddenly shaky again, she collapsed onto the bench.

I sat beside her and waited impatiently while she collected her­self. When she started to talk I felt the stark horror of what she was saying pass through me, and I knew deep within my soul that what she was telling was a true vision. If Nyx was pissed at Aphrodite, the Goddess wasn't showing it tonight.

"This afternoon your grandma will be on the Muskogee Turnpike on her way to Tulsa." She paused and cocked her head to the side, like she was listening in the wind for something. "Your birthday's next month. She's coming into town to get you a present."

I felt a jolt of surprise. Aphrodite was right. My birthday was in December—I had a sucky December twenty-fourth birthday, so I never got to really celebrate it. Everyone always wanted to mush it in with Christmas. Even last year, when I was turning six­teen and I should have had a big, cool party, I didn't get to do anything special. It was really a

"Okay, so she's coming into town this afternoon, and what happens?"

Aphrodite narrowed her eyes, like she was trying to see out into the darkness. "It's weird. I can usually tell exactly why these accidents happen—like a plane doesn't work or whatever, but this time I was so tuned in to your grandma, that I'm not sure why the bridge breaks." She glanced at me. "That might be be­cause this is the first vision I've ever had where someone I recog­nize dies. It threw me off."

"She's not going to die," I said firmly.

"Then she can't be on that bridge. I remember the clock on her car's dashboard said three fifteen, so I'm sure it happens in the afternoon."

Automatically, I glanced at my watch-6:10 A.M. It'd be light in the next hour (and I should be going to bed), which meant that Grandma would be waking up. I knew her schedule. She woke up around dawn and went for a walk in the soft morning light. Then she came back to her cozy cabin and had a light breakfast before begi