Betrayed

"Cool with me," Drew said, giving Erin a hesitant smile. "Short, but cute," I heard Shaunee whisper to Erin, and I do believe I saw Erin's cheeks get a little pink.

"Hey, I'm going to make us some popcorn. Plus, I need my—"

"Brown pop!" Damien, the Twins, and Erik said together.

I disentangled myself from Erik's arm and went to the kitchen, feeling more lighthearted than I had since Stevie Rae began cough­ing. Everything would be okay. The House of Night was my home. My friends were my family. I'd follow my own advice and take one day at a time—one issue at a time. I'd figure out a way to wade through my boyfriend issues. I'd do my best to avoid Neferet (without being too obvious that I was avoiding her) until I could figure out what was going on with her and the weird nondead Elliott (who was enough to give anyone nightmares—no wonder I'd had such a terrible dream about Stevie Rae and Heath).

I put one bag of extra-butter, super-pop popcorn in each of the four microwaves and grabbed big bowls as they started pop­ping. Maybe I should cast another private circle and ask Nyx for help understanding the gross Elliott issue. My stomach clenched as I realized that I would be minus Stevie Rae. How was I going to deal with replacing her? It made me feel sick, but it had to be done. If not now, for my private ritual, I'd have to find someone before the next Full Moon Ritual. I closed my eyes against the pain of missing Stevie Rae and the reality of going on without her. Please show me what to do, I prayed silently to Nyx.

"Zoey, you need to come into the living room."

My eyes sprang open as Erik's voice startled me. The look on his face had my adrenaline surging through my body. "What's go­ing on?"

"Just come on." He took my hand and we hurried out of the kitchen. "It's the news."

Even though the big living room was full of kids, it had gone completely silent. They were all staring at our big-screen TV, where Chera Kimiko was looking into the camera and speaking solemnly.

"... police are warning the public not to panic, even though this is the third teenager to have disappeared. They are investigating, and assure Fox News that they have several viable leads.

"To repeat this special bulletin, a Broken Arrow teenager, an­other high school football player, has been reported as missing. His name is Heath Luck."

My knees no longer held me, and I would have fallen if Erik hadn't put his arm around my waist and helped me to the love seat. It felt like I couldn't catch my breath as I listened to Chera continue:

"Heath's truck was found outside the House of Night, but the High Priestess there, Neferet, assures police that he did not enter the school grounds, and that he has not been seen by anyone there. Of course there is much speculation about these disappearances, espe­cially since the medical examiner's report states that the cause of death of the other two abducted boys was blood loss from multiple bites and lacerations. And while it is true that vampyres do not bite when they take blood from humans, the lacerations do follow a pat­tern that is consistent with vampyric feeding. It is important that we remind the public that vampyres have a binding legal agreement with humans to not feed on any human being against his or her will. We'll have more on this story at ten o'clock, and of course will break as news becomes available …"

"Someone get me a bowl, I'm go

CHAPTER 26

"Here, Zoey, it'll help if you swish this around in your mouth." Blindly I took whatever Erin handed me, relieved when it was just cold water. I spit it into the nasty bowl of puke.

"Ugh, take it away," I said, suppressing my gag reflex as I got a whiff of puke. I wanted to cover my face with my hands and burst into tears, but I knew that the entire room was looking at me, so I slowly straightened my shoulders and pushed my damp hair back behind my ears. I didn't have the luxury of dissolving into a pan­icked heap. My mind was already processing the things I needed to do—had to do. For Heath, He was what was important right now, not me, and not my need for hysteria. "I have to see Nef­eret," I said resolutely and stood up, surprised at how steady my knees had become.

"I'll go with you," Erik said.

"Thanks, but first I need to brush my teeth and put on some shoes." (I'd just stuck on a pair of thick socks to come down and watch TV.) I smiled my thanks to Erik. "I'll run up to my room and be right back." I could feel the Twins getting ready to follow me. "I'll be fine. Just give me a sec." Then I turned and hurried up the stairs.

I didn't pause at my room, but kept going down the hall, turned right, and stopped before room number 124. I'd raised my fist, but hadn't knocked when the door opened.

"I thought it would be you." Aphrodite gave me a cold look, but she stepped to the side. "Come on in."

I walked in, surprised by the pretty pastel interior of the room. I guess I'd expected it to be dark and scary, like a black widow's web.

"Do you have any mouthwash? I just puked and I've seriously grossed myself out."

She pointed her chin at the medicine cabinet over the sink. "In there. The glass on the sink is clean."

I washed out my mouth, taking the opportunity to try to col­lect my thoughts. When I was done I turned to face her. Deciding not to waste time on bullshit, I got straight to the point. "How can you tell if a vision is real or just a dream?"

She sat down on one of the beds and shook back her long, per­fect blond hair. "It's a feeling in your gut. Visions are never easy or comfortable or fucking flower-draped like they are in the movies. Visions suck. At least real ones do. Basically, if it makes you feel like shit, it's probably real and not just a dream." Her blue eyes looked me over carefully. "So, you've been having visions?"

"I thought I had a dream last night, a nightmare actually. To­day I think it was a vision."

Aphrodite's lips turned up only slightly. "Well, that sucks for you.

I changed the subject. "What's going on with Neferet?" Aphrodite's face went carefully blank. "What do you mean?"

"I think you know exactly what I mean. Something's off about her. I want to know what."

"You're her fledgling. Her favorite. Her new golden girl. Do you think I'm actually going to say shit to you? I may be blond, but I'm definitely not stupid."

"If that's the way you really feel, why did you warn me against taking the medicine she gave me?"

Aphrodite looked away. "My first roommate died six months after she got here. I took the medicine. It—it affected me. For a long time."

"What do you mean? How did it affect you?"

"It made me feel fu

"I do. I will. Thanks."

"You should go. It won't be good for either of us if anyone knows you've been here talking to me," Aphrodite said.

I realized that she was probably right, and turned for the door. Her voice stopped me.

"She makes you think she's good, but she's not. Everything that's light isn't good, and everything that's darkness isn't always bad."

Darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does not al­ways bring good. The words that Nyx had said to me the day I was Marked were mirrored in Aphrodite's warning.