House Of Night - Untamed Part 4

I looked up at Aphrodite. "Two days ago. It was like Professor Nolan. Loren was beheaded and crucified and nailed to the front gate of the school with a note that quoted some terrible Bible verse about him being detestable staked through his heart." I spoke very fast, wanting to get the taste of the terrible words out of my mouth.

"Oh no!" Aphrodite turned a yucky shade of white and sat down heavily on Stevie Rae's old bed.

"Zoey, that's so awful," Stevie Rae said. I could hear the tears in her voice as she put her arm around me. "Y'all were like Romeo and Juliet."

"No!" Then because the word had come out more sharply than I'd intended, I turned to Stevie Rae and smiled. "No," I repeated in a saner voice. "He never loved me. Loren used me."

"For s.e.x? Ah, Z, that's c.r.a.ppy," Stevie Rae said.

"Sadly, no, even though I did utterly mess up and have s.e.x with him. Loren was using me for Neferet. She told him to come on to me. She was his real lover." I grimaced, remembering the heart-ripping scene I'd witnessed between Loren and Neferet.

They'd been laughing about me. I'd given Loren my heart and my body and, through our Imprint, a piece of my soul. And he'd laughed at me.

"Hang on. Go back. You said Neferet had Loren come on to you?" Aphrodite said. "Why would she do that if they were lovers?"

"Neferet wanted to get me alone." My heart froze as the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together.

"Huh? That doesn't make sense. Why would Loren acting like he was your boyfriend get you alone?" Stevie Rae asked.

"Simple," Aphrodite said. "Zoey had to sneak around to see Loren, being as he was a professor and all. My guess is she didn't tell any of the nerd herd she was playing bad little schoolgirl with Professor Blake. My guess is also that Neferet had something major to do with our boy Erik finding out Zoey was doing the dirty with someone who was definitely not him."

"Uh, I'm right here. You don't have to talk about me like I left the room."

Aphrodite snorted. "If my guesses are right, I'd say your good sense left the room."

"Your guesses are right," I admitted reluctantly. "Neferet made sure Erik walked in on me being with Loren."

"d.a.m.n! No wonder he acted so p.i.s.sed," Aphrodite said.

"What? When?" Stevie Rae said.

I sighed. "Erik caught me with Loren. He freaked. Then I found out that Loren was really with Neferet and he didn't care about me at all, even though we'd Imprinted."

"Imprinted! s.h.i.+t!" Aphrodite said.

"So then I freaked." I ignored Aphrodite. It was already awful enough. I definitely didn't want to dwell on the details. "I was bawling when Aphrodite, the Twins, Damien, Jack, and-"

"Oh, s.h.i.+t, and Erik. That's when we found you crying under the tree," Aphrodite interrupted.I sighed again, realizing I couldn't ignore her. "Yeah. And Erik announced the news about Loren and me to everyone."

"In what I would call a very mean way," Aphrodite said.

"Dang," Stevie Rae said. "It must have been really hateful for Aphrodite to say it was mean."

"It was. Hateful enough for her friends to feel like her sleeping around with Loren had been a slap in the face to them. So follow Erik's 'Zoey's a s.l.u.t' bomb with the 'Zoey's been keeping Stevie Rae's undeadness a secret, too' bomb, and you have a gaggle of totally p.i.s.sed nerds who won't want to trust Zoey again."

"Which means then Zoey is alone, just exactly as Neferet planned," I finished for her, finding it disturbing that it was so easy to fall into talking about myself in the third person.

"That's the second death I saw for you," Aphrodite said. "You're completely alone. There's no last glimpse of a cute boy and no nerd herd. Your isolation is the overriding image I got from the second vision."

"What kills me?"

"Well, that's when it gets confusing again. I get an image of Neferet as a threat to you, but the vision gets jumbled up all weird when you're actually attacked. I know this is going to sound bizarre, but at the last moment I saw something black floating around you."

"Like a ghost or something?" I swallowed hard.

"No. Not really. If Neferet's hair was black, I'd say it was her hair blowing around you in a big wind, like she's standing behind you. You're alone and you're really, really scared. You try to call for help, but no one answers you and you're so terrified you freeze and don't fight back. She, or whatever it is, reaches around and somehow, using something dark and hooked, slashes your throat. It is so sharp, it cuts through your neck and severs your head from your shoulders." Aphrodite shuddered and then added, "Which, in case you're wondering, bleeds. A lot."

"Gross, Aphrodite! Did ya have to go into detail?" Stevie Rae said, putting her arm back around me.

"No, it's okay," I said quickly. "Aphrodite has to give all the details she can remember-like she did when she saw visions of the deaths of you and Grandma and Heath. It's the only way we can figure out how to change things. So, what else did you see about my second death?" I asked Aphrodite.

"Just that you call for help, but nothing happens. Everyone ignores you," Aphrodite said.

"I was scared today when whatever it was came at me out of the night. So scared that for a second I just froze and didn't know what to do," I said, feeling shaky just remembering.

"Could Neferet have had something to do with whatever happened to you earlier?" Stevie Rae asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. There was nothing for me to see but some creepy blackness."

"Creepy blackness is what I saw, too. As much as I hate to say it, you've got to make sure the nerd herd isn't p.i.s.sed off at you anymore, because you being friendless is not a good thing," Aphrodite said.

"Easier said than done," I said.

"I don't see why," Stevie Rae said. "Just tell them the truth about Neferet being behind Loren and you, and tell them that you couldn't say anything about me being undead when I was dead because Neferet would . . ." Stevie Rae's words trailed off as she realized what she was saying.

"Yeah, that's brilliant. Tell them that Neferet is an evil b.i.t.c.h who's behind making a bunch of undead dead kids and the first time any of the nerd herd members get within the distance of a thought of Neferet, all s.h.i.+t will break loose. Which means our evil b.i.t.c.h of a High Priestess will not only know what we know, but she'll probably do something majorly nasty to your little buddies."

Aphrodite paused and tapped her chin. "Hum, on second thought, some of that scenario doesn't sound too bad."

"Hey," Stevie Rae said. "Damien and the Twins and Jack already know something that is going to get them in major trouble with Neferet. They know about me."

"Ah, h.e.l.l," I said.

"Well, s.h.i.+t," Aphrodite said. "I totally forgot about the 'Stevie Rae isn't dead' detail. Wonder why Neferet hasn't plucked that out of one of your friends' wee little brains and freaked about that already?"

"She's been too busy plotting war," I said. When Aphrodite and Stevie Rae blinked in confusion at me, I realized that Loren wasn't the only news they hadn't heard. "When Neferet was told about Loren's murder, she declared war against humans.

Not an outright war, of course. She wants it to be a nasty, terrorist-style guerrilla war. G.o.d, she's so slimy. I just don't get why everyone can't see it."

"Blood and guts with the humans? Huh. That's interesting. Guess the buildup of the Sons of Erebus is supposed to be our weapon of ma.s.s destruction," Aphrodite said. "Yum, talk about a silver lining to a s.h.i.+tty situation."

"How can you be so whatever about this?" Stevie Rae said, exploding off the bed.

"First of all, I really don't like humans much." Aphrodite put up a hand to stop Stevie Rae's tirade. "Okay, yeah, I know. I am a human now. Which makes me say ugh. Second, Zoey's alive and well, so I'm not particularly worried about this scary little war."

"What in the h.e.l.l are you talking about, Aphrodite?" I said.Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "Would you please keep up with me? h.e.l.lo-it makes perfect sense now. My vision was all about war between humans and vamps and some creepy booger-monster things. Actually, they're probably what attacked you and could very well be minions of Neferet we don't know about." She paused, looking temporarily confused, and then shrugged and continued, "But, whatever. Hopefully we won't have to find out what they are, because the war only happened after you'd been killed. Tragically and grotesquely, I might add. Anyway, I figure we keep you alive, we keep the war from happening."

Stevie Rae let out a big, long breath. "You have a point, Aphrodite." She turned to me. "We gotta keep you alive, Zoey.

Not just 'cause we love you more than white bread, but 'cause you have to save the world."

"Oh, great. I'm supposed to save the world?" All I could think was, And I used to stress about geometry.

Ah, h.e.l.l.

CHAPTER SIX

"Yep, you have to save the world, Z, but we'll be right there with you," Stevie Rae said, plunking herself back down on the bed beside me.

"No, dork. I'm going to be right here with her. You have to get out of here until we figure out what to tell the rest of the nerd herd about you and your hygiene-challenged friends," Aphrodite said.

Stevie Rae frowned at Aphrodite.

"Huh? Friends?" I said.

"They've been through a lot, Aphrodite. And I'll have you know bathing and decorating isn't that dang important when you're dead. Or even undead," Stevie Rae said. "Plus, you know they're better now and they're actually using the stuff you bought them."

"Okay, you guys are gonna have to back up. What friends are you-?" And then my words broke off as I realized who they must be talking about. "Stevie Rae, do not tell me you're still hanging out with those gross kids from the tunnels."

"You don't understand, Zoey."

"Translation: Yes, Zoey, I am still hangin' out with the gross tunnel rejects," Aphrodite said, mimicking Stevie Rae's Okie accent.

"Stop it," I told Aphrodite automatically before turning to Stevie Rae. "No, I don't understand. So make me understand."

Stevie Rae drew a deep breath. "Well, I think that this"-she pointed at her scarlet tattoos-"means that I need to be around the rest of the kids with the red tattoos so I can help them make the Change, too."

"The rest of those undead kids have red tattoos like yours?"

She shrugged and looked uncomfortable. "Well, sorta. I'm the only one with a finished tattoo, which I'm guessin' means I've Changed. But the outlines of the blue crescent moon on their foreheads have now all turned to red. They're still fledglings. They're just, well, a different kind of fledgling."

Wow! I sat there, speechless, trying to take in the ramifications of what Stevie Rae was saying. It was utterly amazing that there was now a whole new type of fledgling, which, of course, meant there was a whole new type of adult vampyre, and for a moment it excited me. What if it also meant that everyone who got Marked would make some type of Change, so no more fledglings would have to die! Or at least not permanently. They'd just turn into red fledglings. Whatever that meant.

Then I remembered how awful those other kids had been. They'd killed teenagers. Horribly. They'd tried to kill Heath. I was the only thing that had saved him. h.e.l.l, they would have killed me if I hadn't used my affinity with the five elements to save both of us.

I also remembered the flash of red I'd seen in Stevie Rae's eyes earlier and the meanness that had looked so out of place on her face, but seeing her now, sounding and acting like herself, it was easy to convince myself I'd been wrong-that I'd imagined or exaggerated what I'd seen.

I mentally shook myself and said, "But Stevie Rae, those other kids were awful."

Aphrodite snorted. "They're still awful and living in an awful disgusting place. And, yes, they're still awful rude, too."

"They're not out of control like they used to be, but they're also not what you'd call normal, either," Stevie Rae said.

"They're disgusting throwaway kids, that's what they are," Aphrodite said. "Like redheaded stepchildren."

"Yeah, some of them have problems and aren't exactly the most popular kids ever, but so what?"

"I'm just saying that it would be easier to figure out what we're going to do about you if we only had you to deal with."

"It's not always about what's easiest. I don't care what we have to do, or what I have to do. I'm not gonna let Neferet use those other kids," Stevie Rae told her firmly.

And what Stevie Rae said clicked. I s.h.i.+vered in horror as my gut told me my terrible new thought was right. "Oh my G.o.d!

That's why Neferet did whatever she did to make the dying kids come back as undead dead kids. She wants to use them in the war she's declared against humans."

"But, Z, kids have been undying for a while now, and Professor Nolan and Loren were only just killed, so Neferet has only just declared the whole guerrilla war thing," Stevie Rae said.

I didn't say anything. I couldn't. What I was thinking was too awful to speak out loud. I was afraid that the syllables of the words would turn into separate little weapons, and if I put them together, they would join to destroy all of us.

"What is it?" Aphrodite was watching me too closely.

"Nothing." I s.h.i.+fted the words in my mind so that they became something bearable. "It's just that this whole thing makes me think that Neferet has been hoping there would be a reason to fight the humans for a long time. I really wouldn't be surprised if she did create the undead dead kids to be her private army. I saw her with Elliott not long after he was supposed to have died. It was disgusting how much control she had over him." I s.h.i.+vered, remembering only too clearly how Neferet had ordered Elliott around and how he had bowed and sc.r.a.ped in front of her, and then lapped up the offering of her blood in a disgusting and way-too- s.e.xual manner. Watching it had been entirely nasty.

"That's why I have to go back to them," Stevie Rae said. "They need me to care about them and show them that they can Change, too. When Neferet finds out about the difference in their Marks, she'll still try to control them and keep them-well, let's just say, not so nice. I think they can be okay again, like I'm okay again."

"What about the ones who were never okay? Remember the Elliott kid Zoey was just talking about? He was a loser alive and he's a loser undead. He'll still be a loser if he manages to Change into a red whatever." Aphrodite gave an exaggerated, long- suffering sigh when Stevie Rae glared at her. "The point I'm trying to make is that they weren't normal to begin with. Maybe there's nothing for you to save about them."

"Aphrodite, you don't get to pick who's worth saving and who's not. I may have been a pretty normal kid before I died, but I'm not exactly normal now," Stevie Rae said. "And I was worth saving!"

"Nyx," I said, making both of them turn to look at me with question marks on their faces. "Nyx gets to pick who's worth saving. Not me, not Stevie Rae, and not even you, Aphrodite."

"Guess I forgot about Nyx," Aphrodite said, turning her face away from us to hide the pain in her eyes. "It's not like the G.o.ddess wants much to do with a human kid anyway."

"That's not true," I said. "Nyx's hand is still on you, Aphrodite. The G.o.ddess is majorly at work here. If she didn't care about you, she would have taken away your visions when she took away your Mark." As I spoke, I got that feeling I often get when I absolutely know I'm saying the right thing. Aphrodite was a pain in the a.s.s, but for some reason, she was important to our G.o.ddess.

Aphrodite's eyes met mine. "Are you guessing about that, or do you know?"

"I know." I continued to meet her eyes steadily.

"Promise?" she said.

"Promise."

"Well, that's nice and all, Aphrodite," Stevie Rae said, "but you should keep in mind that you're not exactly normal, either."

"But I am attractive, properly bathed, and I do not scuttle around in really yucky old tunnels snarling and snapping my teeth at visitors."

"Which brings up another point. Why were you down in the tunnels?" I asked Aphrodite.