Destined (32 page)

“Yeah, it was all psycho-windy,” Stevie Rae said, sitting beside Rephaim in the seat across the aisle from Damien. “But tellin’ you that would be like tryin’ to tell white about rice.”

“What in the for-shit’s-sake is that supposed to mean?” Aphrodite forced Z to scoot over and perched beside her as Darius did a quick head count and then got in the driver’s seat and started the bus up.

“It means, Hateful, that Damien already knows it was windy today ’cause his affinity
is
wind. Just like rice
is
white. I don’t even know what was hard about that analogy,” Stevie Rae said.

“Just. Don’t. Speak,” Aphrodite told Stevie Rae.

“Rice is brown, too,” Shaunee said.

Aphrodite raised a brow. “Did you just make a snarky comment without your Twin?”

“Yeah,” Shaunee said, meeting her gaze steadily.

Aphrodite snorted and looked away, first saying, “It’s about time.”

“About the wind,” Zoey said. “Yeah, it was kinda crazy tonight, and it even broke a branch from one of those old oaks.” She shrugged. “Like Damien said—it’s windy in Oklahoma. Hey, speaking of, Damien, did you know Thanatos had a little wind affinity?”

“Ohmygod! I’m not surprised! Did you see how uber-scary she got today when Dallas said that stupid stuff in class? I couldn’t believe…”

Shaunee let everyone’s words flow around her, but she kept watching Zoey, waiting for her to say something—anything—about what had really happened when the tree limb broke. She knew. She’d seen the whole thing.

As they bounced and bumped their way back to the depot, Shaunee realized Zoey wasn’t going to say anything.
Okay, well, maybe she just told Stark what had happened—how she would’ve been smashed under that tree limb if Aurox hadn’t saved her.
During the next lull in the conversation, which happened when they paused at a railroad crossing like Super Giant Short Bus Dorks, Shaunee blurted, “Does anyone think it’s weird that Aurox goes to one class and then does nothing but patrol the school all android-like for the rest of the time?”

“There’s a lot that’s super weird about that guy,” Aphrodite said. “But that’s no surprise. He’s Neferet’s boy toy.”

“I don’t think they’re having sex,” Zoey said.

Shaunee studied Z. “Why not?”

“I dunno,” Z said way too nonchalantly. “I guess because Neferet doesn’t act like it. She acts more like he’s her slave.”

Stark chuckled. “Neferet acts like the world’s her slave.”

“I’ll bet Dead Fish Eye Lady really hates it that we’ve all been pulled out of her class,” Aphrodite said.

“You know she does, ’specially ’cause Thanatos is a real good teacher,” Stevie Rae said. “And by the way, I do not appreciate you bein’ so hateful about our
very
short,
very
unsexual Imprint in class today. It happened to me, too, and I can tell you that it was no pit bull at a cat party fun time for me, either.”

“Please tell me you didn’t just use
another
white trash analogy,” Aphrodite said.

Shaunee stayed out of the argument that went on all the way from then until the moment they pulled up in front of the depot. Instead of joining in, she watched Zoey. She also watched Stark. By the time she’d exited the bus she believed two things. One was that Stark had no clue Aurox had saved Zoey’s life that night. The second was that she would have never known about Aurox or Zoey or Stark if she’d still been Twin. Twin would have been too wrapped up in being the other part of someone else to really pay attention to anything or anyone else.

She didn’t know what the hell was going on with Zoey and Aurox, but she knew she was going to keep her eyes and her mind open, and if she could figure it out she would. All on her own. All by herself. Which was suddenly not such a terrible thing. And for the first time since she quit completing Erin’s thoughts, Shaunee smiled.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Zoey

So, I hadn’t told Stark about Aurox and the tree limb thing. I mean, seriously, what was the point? Like Stark needs more stress in his life? He’s still not even sleeping well because he’s
still
having nightmares he refuses to tell me about but which I know about because I sleep next to him and
I’m not stupid
. Plus, the whole tree thing happened fast. No one was hurt. It’s over with. Period, the end.

Well, except for one little part. That part about me making the decision to look through the seer stone at Aurox. Okay, not this second I wasn’t going to. I mean, Aurox wasn’t even here. But I’d decided. The second he’d touched me I’d decided.

The second he’d touched me I wasn’t scared of him anymore.

I was still freaked, though.

I was silently arguing with myself about whether or not I should let Stark know I’d decided to peek at Aurox through the stone, and sorta half listening to Aphrodite and Stevie Rae arguing over tunnel renovation details (Aphrodite wanted lots of workmen and lots of glitz—Stevie Rae didn’t want anyone but
our people
to even come down to the tunnels. Sigh.) when the bus pulled up to the depot and Darius opened the door.

“I’m gonna call Andolini’s for a major delivery,” Stevie Rae said as she and Rephaim left the bus.

“For once we can agree on something,” Aphrodite said, moving over to sit on Darius’s lap while the rest of us started to shuffle off the bus. “Order me one of their Santino pizzas. It’s totally worth the calories. Plus, it goes perfectly with that bottle of Chianti I took from the cafeteria when I was cutting fifth—”

It happened just like that. Aphrodite was in the middle of talking about something as totally normal as cutting class and her whole body seized up. She got rigid. Her eyes rolled back in her head and
she started to cry tears of blood.
It was like she went from gorgeous, perfect girl to someone who looked barely human. Barely alive.

Darius didn’t hesitate. He picked up her stiff, bloody-eyed, unseeing body and carried her from the bus. I put aside my
ohmygod
internal reaction and stood up, turning to the rest of the kids who were either gawking open-mouthed, or covering their eyes looking like they wanted to cry.

“Aphrodite’s having a vision.” My voice seemed to come from someone else. Someone who was calm. Stark took my hand, lending me strength. “She’s gonna be fine,” I continued, clinging to Stark.

“Actually, she’s gonna be super pissed and mean when she comes to ’cause she really hates it when this happens to her in public,” Stevie Rae said. She’d climbed halfway up the bus stairs. I noticed her eyes were kinda extra wide, but her voice also sounded totally calm and cool.

“Yeah, Stevie Rae’s right,” I said. “So there’s no need to make a big deal out of this—now or after she comes to.” I paused and, feeling like a moron, added, “Okay, I don’t mean her visions aren’t a big deal. I just mean she won’t want to hear a bunch of ‘hey, are you okays’ from everyone.”

“I’ll go ahead and order the pizzas. Do ya think Aphrodite’ll be hungry later?” Stevie Rae asked.

I thought about the last time she’d had a vision and how awful she’d felt afterward. I wanted to say what Aphrodite would really want would be a Xanax and a bottle of wine, but thought that would probably set a bad example. So I settled for, “Uh, why don’t you get her one and put it in the fridge. We can nuke it later if she’s hungry. Right now I’ll just go check on her. She’ll want water and quiet for a while.”

“Okie dokie.” Stevie Rae smiled and, acting absolutely normal, told the rest of the bus, “I’m takin’ pizza orders from up here. Cell phone reception is crap in the tunnels. So before y’all scatter for downstairs let me know what you want, and ya better hang around so that I get it right. Speakin’ of, Kramisha, could you write down what everyone wants for me, please? That’d help.” She glanced at Shaunee, who was looking especially lost, and added, “Hey, do you think we could use your card for the order this time? Z and I’ll be sure you get paid back.”

Shaunee frowned. “Swear? Last time I totally got stuck with the bill from Queenies. Those Ultimate Egg Salad Sandwiches are awesome, but not a couple hundred dollars’ worth of awesome.”

“I swear.” Stevie Rae narrowed her eyes, skewering the rest of the bus with the stank eye. “Y’all will pay her back.”

“Yeah, okay, fine,” chorused from the back of the bus.

I could have kissed my BFF. She’d totally distracted everyone from Aphrodite’s horrendous and unattractive vision,
and
she’d made sure they’d be up here deciding on pizza and payback versus down in the tunnels gawking and talking about Aphrodite.

Meanwhile I pulled Stark from the bus. “We’ll take a large combo,” he said as we passed Stevie Rae.

“Pizza? Really?” I whispered to him, feeling like he’d just said, “Let them eat cake!” or whatever super inconsiderate thing that woman said to the masses when really important stuff was going on back in the day.

“I thought you wanted to act normal,” he whispered back.

I sighed. Well, he was right. So, I told Stevie Rae, “With extra cheese and olives.” Then, under my breath I added, “And thanks.”

“I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re ready to talk,” she said just as quietly, then she very loudly and very normally starting asking, “So, how many pepperonis?”

“Let’s go through the depot so we can grab some water bottles from the kitchen on the way to Aphrodite’s room,” I told Stark when he automatically headed for the basement entrance to the tunnels. He changed direction, but still I explained (probably more to hear my calm-sounding voice than anything), “She’ll be thirsty. We’ll also need to grab some washcloths. I’ll soak them in water and put them over her eyes.”

“Do they always bleed like that?”

“Yeah, ever since she lost her Mark. Last time she had a vision she told me the pain and the blood keep getting worse and worse.” I glanced at Stark. “It looked bad, didn’t it?”

“She’ll be okay. Darius is with her. He won’t let anything happen to her.” He squeezed my hand before letting me climb down ahead of him through the old ticket booth entrance to the tunnels.

“I don’t think even her Warrior can protect her against this kind of stuff.”

He smiled at me. “I figured out a way to protect you in the Otherworld. I think Darius can handle some visions and a little blood.”

I didn’t say anything else as we hurried through the kitchen, grabbing water and washcloths.

I wanted Stark to be right. I really,
really
wanted Stark to be right, but I had a bad feeling, and I hated it when that happened. It always meant something was going to go horribly, awfully, terribly wrong.

“Hey.” Stark took my arm and gently tugged me to a halt just outside the glitzy gold curtain that was the latest door to Aphrodite’s room. “She needs you to be okay.”

“I know, you’re right. It’s just that the visions really hurt her, and that makes me worry.”

“But they’re also a gift from Nyx, and they’re information we need, right?”

“Right again,” I said.

His grin turned cocky. “I like it when you say I’m right.”

“Don’t get too used to it. You’re a guy. You have a limited number of ‘I’m rights’”—I air quoted—“allotted to you.”

“Hey, I’ll take what I can get,” he said. Then he went back to serious face. “Just remember, you need to be her High Priestess now, and not her friend.”

I nodded, drew a deep breath, and ducked under the gold curtain.

Okay, Aphrodite’s room kept changing and getting more and more like Kim Kardashian meets Conan the Barbarian every time I went in it. This time she’d added a gold chaise lounge. No, I had no clue where she got it or how she’d gotten it down here. On the rough cement tunnel wall behind the chaise she’d hung part of Darius’s throwing knife collection as decoration. She’d also hung gold beaded tassels from each of the knife hilts. Seriously. Her bed was big. Really big. Tonight the duvet was purple velvet with gold flowers stitched into it. She had millions of fluffy pillows. And her terrible Persian cat, Maleficent, had a matching cat bed that sat beside hers. Only at this moment Maleficent wasn’t in her bed. She was curled protectively on Aphrodite’s lap. Aphrodite was propped in the middle of her millions of pillows looking scarily pale. Darius had put a folded wet paper towel over her eyes, and it was already pink. I felt a little better when I saw that she was petting Maleficent, which meant she was conscious. But my better feeling went away as I approached the bed and the horrid cat started to yowl at me.

“Who is it?” Aphrodite’s voice sounded weak and uncharacteristically frightened.

Darius touched her face. “It’s Zoey and Stark, my beauty. You know I wouldn’t allow anyone else within.”

Stark squeezed my hand, then let go. I sent a quick, silent pray up to Nyx,
please help me be the High Priestess Aphrodite needs,
and then I stepped into the role that still felt too big a job for me to fill. “I brought some washcloths and cool water,” I said briskly, moving to the side of the bed and dampening one of the cloths. “Keep your eyes closed. I’m gonna change this paper towel.”

“Okay,” she said.

Her eyes did stay closed. But they were still weeping blood. The scent of it came to me, and for a moment I thought I was gonna have an
ohmygod-yummy-I-want-to-eat-that
reaction. I didn’t.

Aphrodite didn’t smell like a human. I tried to remember how her blood had smelled last time she’d had a vision, and I drew a blank—which meant it probably hadn’t been normal then, either.

I pushed that knowledge aside and sat on the bed next to her.

“I brought a bottle of water, too. Do you want a drink yet?”

“Yes. Wine. Red. Darius has it.”

“My beauty, please drink water first.”

“Darius, the wine helps the pain. And bring me a Xanax out of my purse while you’re at it. That helps, too.”

Darius didn’t move. He just looked at me.

“Uh, Aphrodite, how about you choose between the Xanax and wine? Both together just don’t seem healthy,” I said.

“My mom does them both all the time,” she snapped. Then her lips pressed into a line. Aphrodite drew a deep breath and said. “Point made. I’ll stick with wine. I. Am. Not. My. Mother.”