Awakened

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and said, “I think you’re a really good friend.”

“Oooh! Thank you!”

“But let’s postpone the Ritual.”

“Postpone? How come?” His voice already sounded trembly.

“Because…” I hesitated. Crap. Aphrodite was right. He probably was going to cry.

Stark pried the phone gently from my hand and tapped the speaker button.

“Hey there, Jack,” he said.

“Hi, Stark!”

“Could you do me a favor?”

“Ohmigoddess! Of course!”

“Well, I’m still kinda out of it from the Otherworld thing and all. Aphrodite and Darius are coming back tomorrow, but Zoey is going to stay here on Skye with me while I get stronger. So could you let everyone know that we won’t be back in Tulsa for a couple more weeks or so? Just pass the word for me and smooth everything over?”

I held my breath, waiting for the tears, but instead Jack sounded totally grown and mature. “Absolutely. Don’t worry about anything, Stark. I’ll let Lenobia and Damien and everyone know. And Z, no problem. We can definitely postpone. It’ll just give me more time to practice my song and figure out how to make origami swords for decorations. I thought I’d hang them with fishing line, that see-through stuff, so it would look like, you know, they’re defying gravity.”

I smiled and mouthed thank you to Stark. “Sounds perfect, Jack. I won’t worry about a thing if I know you’re in charge of the decorations and the music.”

Jack’s happy laughter bubbled. “It’s going to be a great Ritual! You wait and see. Stark, just get well. Oh, and Aphrodite, you shouldn’t assume that I’m going to burst into tears at the first hint of a change in party plans.”

Aphrodite frowned at the phone. “How the hell did you know that’s what I assumed?”

“I’m gay. I know things.”

“Whatever. Say goodbye, Jack. My phone’s roaming,” Aphrodite said.

“Goodbye, Jack!” Jack said, giggling, while Aphrodite snatched the phone from Stark and ended the call.

“That went better than you thought it was going to go,” I said to Aphrodite.

“Yeah, ‘she’ took it well. Wonder how that other one will take it, since she’s exponentially worse than Miss Jack.”

“Look, Aphrodite, Damien isn’t a fluttery gay, not that there’s anything wrong with that. But I really wish you’d be nicer about both of them.”

“Oh, please. I’m not talking your gays. I’m talking about Neferet.”

“Neferet!” My voice was sharp. I hated even saying her name. “What have you heard from her?”

“Nothing, and that’s exactly what I’m worried about. But, hey, Z, don’t lose any sleep over it. After all, you’re going to be here, on Skye, with a gazillion big, strong guys—and Stark—to protect you, while the rest of us mere mortals get on with the whole good versus evil, Darkness v. Light, epic battle, blah, blah, et cetera, ad nauseam.” Aphrodite turned and stomped up the front stairs of the castle.

“Aphrodite’s a mere mortal? I thought her pain-in-the-ass level was well beyond mere,” Stark said.

“I heard that!” Aphrodite called over her shoulder. “Oh, and FYI, Z, I had a luggage emergency, as in I didn’t have enough of it, so I’m confiscating that suitcase you bought the other day. I’m off to do some power packing. Later, peasants.” She slammed the thick, wooden door to the castle, which really took some doing.

“She’s magnificent,” Darius said, smiling proudly as he vaulted the steps and followed Aphrodite.

“I can think of a lot of m words that she could be. Magnificent isn’t one of them,” Stark grumbled.

“Mental and mean pop into my head,” I said.

“Manure pops into mine,” Stark said.

“Manure?”

“I think she’s full of shit, but it’s too many words and doesn’t start with an m, so that’s as close as I could get,” he said.

“Heehees,” I said. Then I linked my arm with his. “You’re just trying to distract me from the Neferet stuff, aren’t you?”

“Is it working?”

“Not really.”

Stark’s arm slid around me. “Then I’ll have to work on my distraction skills.”

Arm in arm, we walked to the castle entrance. I let Stark amuse me with his list of m words that fit Aphrodite better than magnificent, and tried to regain the sense of contented happiness I’d felt so recently and so briefly. I kept telling myself that Neferet was a world away—and the adults of that world could handle her. As Stark opened the castle door for me, something pulled my vision upward and my eyes caught on the flag that waved proudly over Sgiach’s domain. I paused, appreciating the beauty of the powerful black bull with the shape of the glittering Goddess within his body. Just then, a trail of mist lifted from the waters that flanked the castle, altering my sight of the flag and changing the black bull to ghostly white as it blanked out the Goddess image completely.

Fear skittered through my body.

“What is it?” Instantly alert, Stark moved to my side.

I blinked. The fog dissipated and the flag shifted back into its proper form.

“Nothing,” I said quickly. “Just me being paranoid.”

“Hey, I’m right here. You don’t have to be paranoid; you don’t have to worry. I can protect you.”

Stark took me into his arms and held me tightly, blocking the outside world and what my gut was trying to tell me.

CHAPTER FIVE

Stevie Rae

“You ain’t yourself. You know that?”

Stevie Rae looked up at Kramisha. “All I’m doin’ is just sittin’ here, minding my own business.” She paused, letting the unlike you implication sink in. “How is that not being myself?”

“You picked the darkest, creepiest corner stuck all over here. You blew them candles out so it’d be even darker. And you sitting here moping so loud I can almost hear your thoughts.”

“You can’t hear my thoughts.”

The hard edge to Stevie Rae’s voice had Kramisha’s eyes widening. “ ’Course I can’t. They’s no need for you to get all huffy. I said almost. I ain’t Sookie Stackhouse. Plus, even if I was I wouldn’t listen in to your thoughts. That’d be rude and my mama raised me better than that.” Kramisha sat next to Stevie Rae on the little wooden bench. “Speaking of—am I the only one who thinks that werewolf is hotter than Bill and Eric put together?”

“Kramisha, do not mess up season three of True Blood for me. I haven’t finished my DVDs of season two.”

“Well, I’m just sayin’, prepare for some serious four-footed hotness.”

“Seriously. Don’t you dare tell me anything else.”

“Okay—okay, but the whole wolf-monster-hotness-guy thing is somethin’ I need to talk to you ’bout.”

“This bench is made of wood. Wood equals earth. Which means I can probably figure out a way to make it smack the living crap right outta you if you mess up True Blood for me.”

“Would you please relax? I’m already offa that. I got somethin’ else we gotta discuss before we go into what I know is go

“It’s part of what we gotta do. I’m a High Priestess. You’re a Poet Laureate. We have to go to the Council Meetings.” Stevie Rae let out a long puff of air and felt her shoulders slump. “Dang, I’ll be glad when Z gets back here tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get that. What I don’t get is what’s got you so messed up in the head you seem turned inside out.”

“My boyfriend has lost his dang mind and disappeared off the face of the earth. My best friend almost died in the Otherworld. The red fledglings—the other ones—are still out there somewhere doin’ Bubba-knows-what, which I’m pretty sure means eating people. And to top it all off I’m supposed to be a High Priestess, even though I’m not even sure what all that means. I think that’s enough to mess up anyone’s head.”