Betrayed

CHAPTER 15

We were almost finished setting up the room when someone flipped on the nightly news on the big-screen TV we did have to leave in the main room. The five of us shared quick looks—what they were calling "the bomb hoax by Nature's Jihad" was the lead story. Even though I knew my call couldn't be traced, and I'd watched Damien "accidentally" drop and then totally step on and smash his disposable phone, I only breathed marginally easier when Chera Kimiko repeated that so far the police had no leads about the identity of the terrorist group.

In a related Arkansas River story Fox News reported that this evening Samuel Johnson, captain of a river transport barge, had a heart attack while piloting the barge. It was a "lucky coincidence" for him that river traffic had been halted and that police and paramedics were so close by. His life had been saved, and there had been no damage done to any other barges or bridges.

"That was it!" Damien said. "He had a heart attack and ran the barge into the bridge."

I nodded numbly. "And that proves that Aphrodite's vision was true."

"Not that that's good news," Stevie Rae said.

"I think it is," I said. "As long as Aphrodite lets us know about her visions, at least we can take them seriously."

Damien shook his head. "There has to be a reason Neferet be­lieves Nyx has withdrawn her gift from Aphrodite. It's too bad we can't tell her about this, then maybe she'd explain what's going on, or maybe even change her mind about Aphrodite."

"No, I gave my word I wouldn't say anything."

"If Aphrodite was really changing from hag to nonhag, she'd go to Neferet herself," Shaunee said.

"Maybe you should talk to her about that," Erin said. Stevie Rae made a rude noise.

I rolled my eyes at Stevie Rae, but she didn't notice because Drew had gri

"How's it look, Zoey?" he asked without taking his eyes from Stevie Rae.

Like you've got a thing for my roommate, is what I wanted to say, but I thought he was kinda cute and Stevie Rae's blush clearly said she thought so, too, so I decided against mortifying her. "Looks good," I said.

"Doesn't look too bad from here, either," Shaunee said, giving Drew a look up and down.

"Ditto, Twin," Erin said, waggling her eyebrows at Drew.

The boy didn't notice either of the Twins. Seems all he noticed was Stevie Rae.

"I'm starving," he said.

"Me, too," Stevie Rae said.

"So, how about getting something to eat?" Drew asked her.

"Okay," Stevie Rae said quickly, and then she seemed to re­member we were all standing there watching her, and her face got even pinker. "Gosh, it is di

Jack and Damien exchanged a look, and then Damien called back, "Yeah, we're coming."

"Okeydokey," Stevie Rae said, still gri

Shaunee sighed, and started for the door. "Just please. The young love hormones in this room are enough to give me a headache."

"I feel like I'm stuck in a Lifetime movie. Wait for me, Twin," Erin said.

"Why are the Twins so cynical about love?" I asked Damien as he and Jack crossed the room to join us.

"They're not. They're just mad that the last few guys they've gone out with have bored them," Damien said.

As a group, we went outside into the magic of a snowy Novem­ber evening. The flakes had changed and were smaller, but they were still coming down steadily, making the House of Night look even more mysterious and castlelike than usual.

"Yeah, the Twins are hard on guys. It's like they double-time them," Stevie Rae said. I noticed she was walking really close to Drew and that occasionally their arms brushed together.

I heard a bunch of muttered agreement noises from the guys who had been helping us drag furniture around the rec room. And I imagined it would be intimidating for any guy (vamp or human) to try to date one of the Twins.

"Do you remember when Thor asked Erin out?" said one of Drew's friends, whose name I think was Keith.

"Yeah, she called him a lemur. You know, like the moronic lemurs in that Disney movie," Stevie Rae said, laughing.

"And Walter went out with Shaunee a total of two and a half dates. Then, right in the middle of Starbucks, she called him a Pentium 3 processor," Damien said.

I gave him a totally clueless look.

"Z, we're up to Pentium 5 processors now."

"Oh."

"Erin still calls him Slowest McSlowenstein whenever she sees him," Stevie Rae said.

"Clearly it's going to take a couple of really special guys to date the Twins," I said.

"I think there's someone for everyone," Jack said suddenly. We all turned to him and he blushed. Before any of the kids could snicker at him I spoke up, "I agree with Jack." But figuring out which someone is the one for you is the hard part, I added silently to myself.

"Totally!" Stevie Rae said with her usual perky optimism. "Absolutely," Damien said, winking at me. I gri

"Hey!" Shaunee stepped out from behind a tree. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Your nonexistent love life!" Damien called cheerfully.

"Really?" she said.

"Really," Damien said.

"How about you talk about how cold and wet you are in­stead?" Shaunee said.

Damien frowned. "Huh? I'm not."

Erin popped out from around the other side of the tree, snow­ball in hand. "You will be!" she yelled, throwing it and hitting Damien smack in the middle of his chest.

Of course the snowball war was on. Kids squealed and ran for cover while they scooped up handfuls of new snow and took aim at Shaunee and Erin. I started to back away.

"I told you snow was great!" Stevie Rae said.

"Well, let's just hope for a blizzard then," Damien yelled, tak­ing aim at Erin. "Lots of wind and snow. Totally the best for snowball fights!" He let fly, but Erin was too quick and jumped for cover just in time to miss being plastered right in the head.

"Where are you going, Z?" Stevie Rae called from behind an ornamental shrub. I noticed Drew was right beside her, firing cover shots at Shaunee.

"To the media center—have to work on the words for the rit­ual tomorrow, so I'll grab something to eat back at the dorm when I get done." I kept backing away more and more quickly. "Hate to miss all the fun, but …" and I retreated inside the clos­est door, slamming it behind me just in time for it to catch the plop plop plop of three snowballs against its ancient wood.

I hadn't just been making an excuse to get out of the snowball war. I actually had been pla

I didn't know what the hell I was doing.

Okay, sure. I'd cast one circle with my friends a month ago as a little experiment to see if I really had an affinity for the elements, or if I'd been delusional. Until I felt the power of wind, fire, water, earth, and spirit rush through me and my friends witnessed it, too, I would have bet on the side of delusional. Not that I'm totally cynical or anything, but please. Just please (as the Twins would say). Being able to tap into the power of the five elements was pretty bizarre. I mean, my life wasn't an X-Men movie (although I'd definitely like to spend some quality time with Wolverine).