"Crap. Then she really can't go out in the sunlight," I said.
"You didn't already know that?" Aphrodite said.
"Stevie Rae hasn't been exactly easy to talk to since she, well, died."
"But you have seen her and talked to her?"
I stopped walking and stood in front of Aphrodite so that she had to face me. "Look, you can't tell anyone about Stevie Rae."
"No kidding? I thought I'd put it in the school paper."
"I'm serious, Aphrodite."
"Don't treat me like I'm a moron. If anyone besides us knows about Stevie Rae, Neferet will know. She's bound to since she can practically read everyone's mind. Well, except us that is."
"She can't read your mind, either?"
Aphrodite's smile was self-satisfied and more than a little hateful. "She never has been able to. How do you think I got away with so much crap for so long?"
"Lovely." I remembered distinctly what a terrible bitch Aphrodite had been as leader of the Dark Daughters. Actually, since the moment I'd met Aphrodite she'd been selfish and mean and downright hateful. Yes, her visions had helped me save my grandma and Heath, but she'd made it clear that she hadn't really cared about saving either of them, and had helped only because she got something out of it. I narrowed my eyes at her.
"Okay, you're going to have to explain why you're bothering to tell me all this stuff. What's in it for you?" Aphrodite widened her eyes in mock innocence and put on a ridiculous Southern Belle accent, "Why, what ever do you mean? I'm helping you because you and your friends have always been so sweet to me."
"Cut the crap, Aphrodite."
Her expression flattened and her voice returned to normal. "Let's just say I have a lot to make up for."
"To Stevie Rae?"
"To Nyx." She looked away from me. "You probably won't get this, being all-powerful with new gifts from Nyx and basically Miss Perfect, but once you've had your gifts for a while, you might find out that it's not always easy to do the right thing. Other things-people-get in the way. You'll make mistakes." Aphrodite scoffed. "Well, maybe you won't. But I did. I might not particularly give a shit about you or Stevie Rae or maybe anyone here at school, but I do care about Nyx." Her voice faltered. "I know what it's like to believe the goddess has turned from me and I don't ever want to feel like that again." I reached out and touched her arm. "But Nyx didn't turn from you. Those were just lies Neferet told so that no one would believe your visions. You know Neferet's behind what Stevie Rae's turned into, don't you?"
"I've known since the vision, when I saw Heath dying." She forced a little laugh. "Good thing she can't read our minds. I don't know what she'd do to a fledgling who knows how awful she is."
"She knows I know."
"You've got to be kidding!"
"Well, she knows I'm on to her." I hesitated, and then figured, what the hell. Weirdly enough, it was turning out that Aphrodite (a.k.a., the hag from hell) was the one person on this earth I could really talk to. "Neferet tried to erase my memory of the night I saved Heath from those undead dead kids. It worked for a while, but I knew right away something was wrong. I used the power of the elements to heal my memory, and, well, I kinda let Neferet know that I remembered what had happened."
"You kinda let her know?"
I fidgeted. "Well, she threatened me. Said no one would believe me if I said anything about her. And, uh, it made me mad. So I told her that it didn't matter if no vamp or fledgling believed me, because Nyx does." Aphrodite smiled. "I'll bet that pissed her off."
"Yeah, I suppose it did." Actually it made me a little sick to think about just how pissed Neferet probably was.
"But she left right after that for winter break. I haven't seen her since."
"She'll be back soon."
"I know."
"Are you scared?" Aphrodite asked.
"Totally," I said.
"I don't blame you there. Okay, here's what I know for sure from my visions. We have to get Stevie Rae some place safe and away from the rest of those things. And we have to do it now. Before Neferet comes back. There's some connection between the two of them. I don't understand it, but I know it's there, and I know it's wrong." Aphrodite made a face like she'd just tasted something nasty. "Actually the whole undead-dead monster thing is all wrong. Talk about disgusting creatures."
"Stevie Rae's different than the rest of them."
Aphrodite gave me a look that said she definitely didn't believe me.
"Think about it. Why would Nyx have given a fledgling such a powerful gift as an affinity for earth and then let her die. And then un-die." I paused, struggling with how to make her understand. "I think her connection to earth is the reason Stevie Rae has kept some of her humanity, and I really believe that if I-I mean we, if we can help her she'll find the rest of her humanity. Or maybe we'll find a way to heal her. To turn her back into a fledgling or maybe even a grown-up vamp. And maybe if Stevie Rae is fixed, that means there's a chance for the rest of them, too."
"So do you have a clue how we're going to fix her?"
"Nope. Not one clue." Then I grinned. "But now I have a powerful fledgling with visions and an earth affinity helping me."
"Great. That makes me feel so much better."
I didn't want to admit it to Aphrodite, but the truth was that being able to talk to her about Stevie Rae and having her help figuring out what we were supposed to do did make me feel better. Much better.
"Anyway," Aphrodite was saying, "how are we going to find Stevie Rae?" She curled her lip. "Do not tell me you expect me to crawl around nasty tunnels with you."
"Actually, Stevie Rae said she'd meet me at the Philbrook gazebo tonight at about three o'clock."
"Is she going to show?"
I chewed my lip. "I bribed her with country clothes, so I think so." Aphrodite shook her head. "So she dies, un-dies, and still has a shitty fashion sense."
"Apparently."
"Now that's really sad."
"Yeah." I sighed. I loved Stevie Rae, but even I had to admit she liked to dress like a hick.
"So, where are you taking her after you give her the clothes?" I didn't think I should mention that I'd like to take her straight to a bathtub. "I don't know. I haven't thought much past getting her clothes and, uh, blood."
"Blood!"
"She has to have it. Human blood. Or she goes crazy."
"Isn't she already pretty much crazy?"
"No! She's just dealing with issues."
"Issues?"
"Lots of issues," I said firmly.
"Okay. Whatever. You've gotta decide where you're going to take her. She can't stay with the rest of those things. That won't help her," Aphrodite said.
"I was going to try to talk her into coming back here. I figured I could hide her pretty easily while most the vamps are gone."
"You can't bring her back here." Aphrodite had gone pale. "This is where I saw her die. Again."
"Crap! Then I don't know what the hell I'm going to do," I admitted.
"I suppose you could take her to my old place," Aphrodite said.
"Yeah, right. Your parents are so understanding and all. That sounds like a great idea, Aphrodite." She rolled her eyes. "My parents are gone. They left early this morning for three weeks skiing in Breckenridge. Plus, she won't be staying inside the house. My parents live in one of those old oil mansions right down the street from the Philbrook. They have a garage apartment that used to be a servants' quarters back in the day. It's not used anymore except when my grandma comes to visit, and my mom just stuck her in one of those high-class, high-security, high-dollar nursing homes, so you don't need to worry about that. Still, everything in the apartment should work-you know, electricity and water and such."
"You think she'd be okay there?"
Aphrodite shrugged. "She'd be safer there than here."
"All right. That's where she goes then."
"Is she gonna be okay with that?"
"Yeah," I lied. "I'll tell her the fridge is filled with blood." I sighed. "Even though I don't know how the hell I'm going to get her a glass of blood, let alone a fridge full of it."
"It's in the kitchen."
"At your house?" Now I was totally confused.
"No, jeesh, stay with me. They have blood here. In a big stainless steel cooler in the kitchen. For the vamps. Fresh shipments come in all the time from human donors. All the upperclassmen know about it. We get to use it sometimes in rituals."
"That'll work, especially since there's hardly anyone around right now. I should be able to get into the kitchen and grab some blood without being caught." I frowned. "Please tell me it's not just sitting in a Tupperware pitcher or something equally disturbing." Okay, even though I really, really liked to drink blood, I was still completely grossed out at the idea of actually drinking blood. I know, I need therapy. Again.
"It's in pouches, like at the hospital. Nothing to stress about."
By this time we'd made an automatic turn to the right and were meandering back toward the dorm.
"You have to go with me," I said abruptly.
"To the kitchen?"
"No, I mean to Stevie Rae. You'll have to show us your house and how to get in the apartment and everything."
"She's not going to want to see me," Aphrodite said.
"I know, but she'll have to get over it. She knows your vision saved my grandma. When I tell her you've had a vision about her, she's just gonna have to believe it." I was glad I sounded so sure. I definitely didn't feel sure.
"But it might be best if you hide and wait until I've talked to her for a while before she sees you."
"Look, I'm trying to do the right thing here, but I'm not going to hide from a kid I used to use as a refrigerator."
"Don't call her that!" I snapped. "Did you ever think that a big part of your problem and why so many bad things have happened to you isn't Neferet and all the bullpoop she's up to, but it's the fact that you have such a bitchy, crappy, attitude?"
Aphrodite's brows went up and she cocked her head to the side, which made her look like a blond bird. "Yeah, I've thought about that, but I'm not like you. I'm not all positive and Miss Goodie-Two-Shoes. Tell me something. You think people are basically good, don't you?"
Her question surprised me, but I shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Not me. I think most people, and I'm talking vamp or human, are shitty. They put on an act. They pretend to be all nicey-nice, but are really just one step away from showing their true asshole-ness."
"That's a depressing way to go through life," I said.
"You call it depressing. I call it realistic."
"How do you ever trust anyone?"
Aphrodite looked away from me. "I don't. It's easier that way. You'll find out." She met my eyes again and I couldn't read the weird expression in them. "Power changes people."
"I'm not going to change." I was going to say more, but then I thought about the fact that just a few months ago if someone had told me that I'd be making out with a grown-ass man while I had not one but two boyfriends I would have said no f-ing way. So didn't that mean I'd changed?
Aphrodite smiled like she could read my mind. "I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about the people around you."
"Oh," I said. "Aphrodite, not to be mean or anything, but I think I pick my friends better than you."
"We'll see. Speaking of-Shouldn't you be heading to the movies to meet your friends right now?"
I sighed. "Yeah, but no way can I go. I've got to get the blood for Stevie Rae, get her clothes together, and I also want to stop by Wal-Mart and grab one of those GoPhones. I figured it would be a good idea to give it to Stevie Rae so that she could call me."
"Fine. Why don't you pick me up outside the trapdoor in the east wall at about two thirty? That gives us plenty of time to get to Philbrook before Stevie Rae."
"Sounds good. I just need to run up to my room, grab some of Stevie Rae's clothes and my purse, then I'll be out of here."
"Okay, I'll go into the dorm first."
"Huh?" I said.
Aphrodite gave me a look that said she thought I was a retard. "You don't want people to see me with you. They'll think we're friends or something ridiculous like that."
"Aphrodite, I do not care what people think."
She rolled her eyes. "I do." Then she hurried ahead of me to the dorm.
"Hey!" I called. She looked over her shoulder. "Thanks for helping me." Aphrodite frowned. "Don't mention it. And I mean it. Don't. Mention. It. Jeesh." Shaking her head, she hurried into the dorm.
