Betrayed (23 page)

We popped from the bottled-up crowd trying to exit the auditorium like three corks coming to the surface. And suddenly there Erik was, just entering the lobby from the side actors' entrance. Our eyes met and he instantly stopped talking to Cole and headed straight to me.

“Mmm, mmm, mmm. He is so totally
fiiiiine,
” Shaunee murmured.

“As usual, we're in complete agreement, Twin,” Erin sighed dreamily.

I couldn't do anything but stand there and smile like a moron as Erik reached us. With a very naughty sparkle in his eyes he took my hand, kissed it, and then made a sweeping bow and proclaimed in his actor's voice that carried all around the room, “Hello, my sweet Desdemona.”

I felt my cheeks getting really hot, and I actually giggled. He was just pulling me into a warm, but very proper-for-public-consumption hug when I heard a familiar hateful laugh. Aphrodite, looking amazing in a short black skirt, stiletto boots, and a slinky sweater, was laughing as she walked (actually, she twitched more than she walked—I mean, the girl could seriously shake her butt) past us. Over Erik's shoulder I met her eyes and, in a silky voice that would have sounded friendly had it not been coming from her mouth, said, “If he's calling you Desdemona, then I suggest you be careful. If it even looked like you're cheating on him he'll strangle you in your bed. But you'd never cheat on him, would you?” Then she flipped her long, blond, perfect hair and twitched away.

No one said anything for a second, then the Twins, at the same time, said, “Issues. She has issues,” and everyone laughed.

Everyone but me. All I could think about was the fact that she'd seen Loren and me in the media center, and that it definitely could have looked like I was cheating on Erik. Was she warning me that she was going to tell Erik? Okay, I wasn't worried about him strangling me in my bed, but would he believe her? Also, Aphrodite's all-too-perfect appearance reminded me that I was wearing wrinkled jeans and a hastily thrown-on sweater. My hair and makeup had definitely looked better. Actually, I think I still might have pillow marks on my cheek.

“Don't let her get to you,” Erik said gently.

I looked up at him. He was holding my hand and smiling down at me. I mentally shook myself. “Don't worry, she's not,” I said brightly. “Anyway, who cares about her? You won the competition! That's amazing, Erik. I'm so proud of you!” I hugged him again, loving his clean smell and how his height made me feel small and delicate. Then our little pocket of privacy was gone as more and more people poured out of the auditorium.

“Erik, it's so cool you won!” Erin said. “But it's not like we're surprised. You definitely kick ass onstage.”

“Totally. And so does boyfriend over there.” Shaunee jerked her chin in Cole's direction. “He is one fine Romeo.”

Erik grinned. “I'll tell him you said so.”

“You can also tell him that if he wants a little brown sugar in his Juliet he need look no farther than right here.” She pointed at herself and shimmied her hips.

“Twin, if Juliet had been black I do not believe things would have come to such a shitty end between her and Romeo. I mean, we would have shown more sense than drinking that sleeping potion crap and going through all that drama just because of some unfortunate parental issues.”

“Exactly,” Shaunee said.

None of us stated the obvious—that Erin, with her blond hair and blue eyes, was definitely NOT BLACK. We were too used to her and Shaunee being twinlike to question the weirdness of it.

“Erik, you were amazing!” Damien rushed up with Jack following close behind.

“Congratulations,” Jack said shyly, but with definite enthusiasm.

Erik smiled at them. “Thanks, guys. Hey, Jack. I was too nervous before the performance to say that I'm glad you're here. It'll be nice to have a roommate.”

Jack's cute face lit up, and I squeezed Erik's hand. This was one reason why I liked him so much. Besides being gorgeous and talented, Erik was an authentically nice guy. There were a lot of guys in his position (ridiculously popular) who would have either ignored this little third former roommate or, worse, been visibly pissed that they'd have to share a room with a “fag.” Erik wasn't like that at all, and I couldn't help but compare him to Heath, who would probably have been freaked that he had to room with a gay kid. Not that Heath was hateful or anything like that, but he was a typical teenage Okie boy, which tended to mean narrow-minded homophobe. Which made me realize that I'd never asked Erik where he was from. Jeesh, I was a crappy girlfriend.

“Did you hear me, Zoey?”

“Huh?” Damien's question shut off my inner babbling, but no, I hadn't heard him.

“Hello! Earth to Zoey! I asked if you realized what time it was. And are you remembering the Full Moon Ritual starts at midnight?”

I looked at the wall clock. “Ah, hell!” It was 11:05. I still needed to change my clothes and then get to the rec hall, light the circle candles, make sure the five candles for the elements were in place, and check on the Goddess's table. “Erik, I'm so sorry, but I have to leave. There are a million things to do before the ritual starts.” I made eye contact with each of my four friends. “You guys have to come with me.” They nodded like bobble-headed dolls. I turned back to Erik. “You're coming to the ritual, aren't you?”

“Yeah. And that reminds me. I got you something in New York. Hang on for just a sec, and I'll go get it.”

He hurried back through the actors' entrance to the auditorium.

“I swear he is too damn good to be true,” Erin said.

“Let's hope his friend is just like him,” Shaunee said, sending Cole a flirty smile from across the room, which I noticed he returned.

“Damien, did you get the eucalyptus and sage for me?” I was already feeling nervous. Hell! I should have eaten. My stomach was an empty cavern just waiting to clench up on me.

“Don't worry, Z. I got the eucalyptus and I even braided it together with the sage for you,” Damien said.

“Everything will be perfect, you'll see,” Stevie Rae said.

“Yeah, you don't need to be nervous,” Shaunee said.

“We'll be right there with you,” Erin finished.

I smiled at them, incredibly glad they were my friends. And then Erik was back. He handed me the big white box he was carrying. I hesitated before tearing into it and Shaunee said, “Z, if you don't open it I will.”

“Damn right,” Erin said.

Eagerly, I slid off the decorative string that held it shut, opened the lid, and gasped (along with everyone else who was standing close enough to see). Inside the box pooled the most beautiful dress I'd ever seen. It was black, but woven into the material were metallic specks of silver, so that wherever the light touched, it glittered and sparkled like shooting stars against the night sky.

“Erik, this is beautiful.” I sounded choked because I was trying really hard not to make a fool out of myself and burst into happy tears.

“I wanted you to have something special for your first ritual as leader of the Dark Daughters,” he said.

We hugged again before my friends and I had to rush out and head to the rec hall. I clutched the dress to my chest and tried not to think about the fact that while Erik was buying me an amazingly cool present I had been either sucking Heath's blood or flirting with Loren. And while I tried not to think about that, I also tried to ignore the guilty voice inside my head that kept saying, over and over,
You don't deserve him . . . you don't deserve him . . . you don't deserve him . .
.

“Shaunee, Erin, and Stevie Rae—you guys start lighting the white candles. Damien, if you place the colored candles for the elements in their positions I'll be sure that everything's set for Nyx's table.”

“Easy—” Shaunee said.

“Peasy,” Erin chimed in.

“Japanesy,” Stevie Rae added, making the Twins give her mirror eye rolls.

“Are the element candles still in the supply room?” Damien asked.

“Yep,” I called as I headed to the kitchen. I was glad I'd already put together a big tray of fresh fruits, cheeses, and meats for Nyx's table. I just needed to retrieve it and the bottle of wine from the refrigerator, and arrange the bounty neatly on the table placed in the center of the large circle made of white candles. The table already had an ornate goblet on it, as well as a beautiful statue of the Goddess, a long, elegant lighter, and the purple candle that would represent spirit, the last element I would call to the circle. The table symbolized the richness of the blessings Nyx has given her children, vampyres and fledglings. I liked setting up the Goddess's table. It made me feel calm, something that I especially needed tonight. I arranged the food and wine, and went over and over in my mind the words of the ritual I was going to use in—I glanced at the clock and felt my stomach tighten—in fifteen minutes. Fledglings were already starting to come into the rec hall, but they were being pretty subdued and hanging out in the corners of the large room in clusters while they watched the Twins and Stevie Rae light the white candles that would form the circumference of the circle. Maybe I wasn't the only one nervous about tonight. It was a big change to have me lead the Dark Daughters. Aphrodite had been leader for the past two years, and in that time the group had become a cliquish, snobby club where fledglings who weren't part of the “in” crowd were used and made fun of.

Well, things were changing tonight.

I glanced at my friends. We'd all hurried to change our clothes before coming to the rec hall, and everyone had chosen to wear solid black to keep with the theme of the amazing dress Erik had given me. I glanced down at myself for the zillionth time. The dress was simple, but perfect. It had a round neckline that was low, but not as low as ho-ish Aphrodite's ritual dresses had been. It was long-sleeved and hugged my body to the waist, from there down it swirled gracefully to the floor. The silver specks that covered it glimmered in the candlelight whenever I moved. What also glittered whenever I moved was the necklace that dangled from the silver chain around my neck. Each Dark Daughter and Son had a similar necklace, with two exceptions—my triple moons were encrusted with garnets, and mine was the only necklace that had been found with the body of a dead human teenager. Okay, it wasn't exactly
my
necklace that had been found. It was one like mine. Just like mine.

No
. I wouldn't think about negative things tonight. I would only concentrate on positives, and on preparing myself to lead my first public circle-casting and ritual. Damien returned to the main room with a big tray on which he balanced the four candles that represented each element: yellow for air, red for fire, blue for water, and green for earth. I already had my purple spirit candle on Nyx's table. I smiled and thought how great my friends looked, dressed chicly in black with their silver Dark Daughters' necklaces. Stevie Rae had already taken her place at the northernmost part of the circle where earth should be. Damien handed her the green candle. I just happened to be watching them, so there was no mistaking what I saw. As Stevie Rae touched the candle, her eyes widened and she let out a weird sound that was a cross between a scream and a gasp. Damien had taken such a hasty step back that he had to clutch at the other candles to keep them from tumbling off the tray.

“Did you feel it?” Stevie Rae's voice sounded weird, hushed yet amplified.

Damien looked shaky, but he nodded and said, “Yeah, and I smelled it, too.”

Then they both turned to look at me.

“Uh, Zoey, could you come here for a second?” Damien asked. He sounded normal again, and had I not been watching what had happened between the two of them I would have thought nothing more was going on than maybe they needed help with the candles.

But I had been watching, which is why I didn't yell from the center of the circle and ask what they wanted. Instead I hurried over to them and kept my voice low. “What's going on?”

“Tell her,” Damien said to Stevie Rae.

Still looking wide-eyed, startled, and more than a little pale, Stevie Rae said, “Can't you smell it?”

I frowned. “Smell it? What are—” And then I did smell it—freshly cut hay, honeysuckle, and something else that I swear reminded me of newly plowed dirt in my grandma's lavender fields. “I do,” I said hesitantly, feeling thoroughly confused. “But I didn't call earth into the circle.” My affinity, or power, given to me by Nyx was the ability to materialize the five elements. Even after a month, I wasn't exactly sure what all that power encompassed, but one thing I did know was that when I cast a circle and called each element to it, all of them manifested very physically. The wind whipped around me when I called air. Fire made my skin glow with heat (and, quite frankly, made me sweat). I could feel the coolness of the sea when I evoked water. And when I called earth to the circle I smelled earthy things and even felt grass under my feet (even when I was wearing shoes, which was truly weird).

But, as I'd said, I hadn't begun casting the circle, so I hadn't called any of the elements, yet Stevie Rae, Damien, and I were clearly smelling earth smells.

Then Damien sucked air and his face split into a huge grin. “Stevie Rae has an affinity for earth!”

“Huh?” I said brilliantly.

“No way,” Stevie Rae said.

“Try this,” Damien went on, his excitement growing by the second. “Close your eyes, Stevie Rae, and think about the earth.” He looked at me. “Don't
you
think about it.”

“ 'Kay,” I said quickly. His excitement was contagious. It would be fantastic if Stevie Rae had an earth affinity. Having an elemental affinity was a powerful gift from Nyx, and I would definitely love it if my best friend had been blessed like that from our Goddess.