"Did ya call 'em?" she whispered.
"Yeah, and you don't have to whisper. It's just you and me." Nala yawned and made a grumpy mee-uf-ow at me from the middle of Stevie Rae's pillow. "And Nala."
"What happened? Did they say anything?"
"Not after the 'hello FBI' part. Damien said I shouldn't give them a chance to talk, remember?"
"Did you tell them that we're Nature's Jihad?"
"Stevie Rae. We're not Nature's Jihad. We're just pretending to be."
"Well, I heard you yelling the down with the government and pollution thing, so I thought … maybe … actually I dunno what I thought. I guess I just got caught up in the moment."
I rolled my eyes. "Stevie Rae, I was just acting. The news lady asked me who I was and I guess I kinda freaked. And, yes, I told them everything we said I should. I just hope it works." I pulled off my hoodie and hung it on the back of a chair to dry.
Stevie Rae suddenly registered that my hair was wet and my Mark was covered, something I'd totally forgotten about in my hurry to make the phone calls. Hell.
"Did you go somewhere?"
"Yeah," I said reluctantly. "I couldn't sleep, so I went to the American Eagle at Utica and bought a new sweater." I pointed at the soggy American Eagle bag I'd tossed in the corner.
"You should have woken me up. I would have gone with you."
If she hadn't sounded so hurt I would have had more time to think about just exactly how much I was going to tell her about Heath before I blurted, "I ran into my ex-boyfriend."
"Ohmygoodness! Tell me everything." She plopped down on her bed, eyes shining. Nala grumbled and jumped from her pillow to mine. I got a towel and started to dry my hair.
"I was at Starbucks. He was taping up flyers with Brad's picture on them."
"And? What happened when he saw you?"
"We talked."
She rolled her eyes. "Come on—what else?"
"He's quit drinking and getting high."
"Wow, that's major. Isn't his drinking and smoking why you quit seeing him to begin with?"
"Yeah."
"Hey, what about Stank Kayla and him?"
"Heath says he's not seeing her because of the crap she's talking about vampyres."
"See! We were right about her being the reason those cops were here asking stuff about you," Stevie Rae said.
"Seems like it."
Stevie Rae was watching me way too closely. "You still like him, don't you?"
"It's not that simple."
"Well, actually, part of it is that simple. I mean, if you don't like him, that's pretty much it. You won't see him again. Simple," Stevie Rae said logically.
"I still like him," I admitted.
"I knew it!" She did a little bed bounce. "Man, you have like a zillion guys, Z. What are you gonna do?"
"I have not got one clue," I said miserably.
"Erik comes back from the Shakespeare competition tomorrow.
"I know. Neferet said that Loren went to support Erik and the rest of the kids from here, so that means he'll be back with them tomorrow, too. And I told Heath I'd go out with him Friday after the game."
"Are you going to tell Erik about him?"
"I dunno."
"Do you like Heath more than Erik?"
"I dunno."
"What about Loren?"
"Stevie Rae, I do not know." I rubbed at the headache that seemed to have firmly attached itself to me. "Can we just not talk about it for a while—at least until I get a little of this figured out."
"Okay. Let's go." She grabbed my arm.
"Where?" I blinked at her, totally confused. She'd gone from Heath to Erik to Loren and then to let's go way too fast.
"You need your Count Chocula fix, and I need my Lucky Charms. And we both need to watch CNN and the local news."
I started to shuffle to the door. Nala stretched, meowed grumpily, and then reluctantly followed me. Stevie Rae shook her head at both of us.
"Come on you two. Everything will seem better after you've had your Count Chocula."
"And brown pop," I said.
Stevie Rae screwed up her face like she just sucked a lemon. "For breakfast?"
"I have a feeling it's a brown-pop-for-breakfast kind of day."
CHAPTER 14
Thankfully, we didn't have to wait long before we heard something. Stevie Rae, the Twins, and I were watching The Dr. Phil Show and at exactly 3:10 (Stevie Rae and I were on our second bowls of cereal and I was on my third brown pop) Fox News broke into the program with a Special Report.
"This is Chera Kimiko with breaking news. We have learned that shortly after two thirty this afternoon the Oklahoma branch of the FBI received a bomb threat from a terrorist group calling themselves Nature's Jihad. Fox News has discovered that the group claimed to have planted a bomb on the I-40 Arkansas River bridge not far from Webber's Falls. Let's go live to Hannah Downs for an update."
The four of us sat very still as we watched the camera shot take in the young reporter who was standing in front of a normal-looking highway bridge. Well, it was normal-looking except for the hordes of uniformed men who were swarming around it. I breathed a relieved sigh. The bridge was definitely closed.
"Thank you, Chera. As you can see the entire bridge has been closed by the FBI and local police, including Tulsa's ATF team. They're doing a thorough search for the alleged bomb."
"Hannah, have they found anything yet?" Chera asked.
"It's too early to tell, Chera. They just launched the FBI boats."
"Thank you, Hannah." The camera went back to the newsroom. "We'll keep you updated on this breaking story when we have more information on the alleged bomb, or on this new terrorist group. Until then, Fox returns you to …"
"A bomb threat. That was smart."
The words were spoken so softly and I was so focused on the TV that it took a second for Aphrodite's voice to register with me. When it did I looked up quickly. She was standing to my right, just a little behind the couch Stevie Rae and I were sitting on. I expected her face to be settled in its usual haughty sneer, so I was surprised when she nodded slightly, almost respectfully, at me.
"What do you want?" Stevie Rae's voice was uncharacteristically sharp, and I noticed that several girls who had been busy in their own little TV-watching groups up until then stopped what they were doing to look our way. By Aphrodite's instant change in expression, she noticed it, too.
"From an ex-refrigerator? Nothing!" she sneered.
I felt Stevie Rae stiffen beside me at the slur. I knew she hated the reminder that she had allowed Aphrodite and her inner group of Dark Daughters to use her blood in the ritual that had gone so totally wrong last month. Being used as a "refrigerator" was not a good thing—and being called one was an insult.
"Hey, hag bitch from hell," Shaunee said in a sweet, friendly tone. "That reminds us, seems the new Dark Daughters inner group—
"Which would so be us and not you and your skanky friends," Erin inserted.
"… Has an opening for a new refrigerator for the ritual tomorrow," Shaunee continued smoothly.
"Yeah, and since you're not shit anymore, the only way you'll get into the ritual is as that night's snack," Erin said. "Are you here to apply for the job?"
"If you are, sorry. There's no telling where you've been and we don't like nasty," Shaunee said.
"Bite me, bitch," Aphrodite snapped.
"Not even if you begged," Shaunee said.
"Ya ho," Erin finished.
Stevie Rae just sat there, looking pale and upset. I wanted to knock all their heads together.
"Okay, stop." They all shut up. I looked at Aphrodite. "Don't ever call Stevie Rae a refrigerator again." Then I turned to the Twins. "Fledglings being used during our rituals is one of the things I'm doing away with, so we won't need a kid to act as our sacrifice. Which means no one is going to be a snack." Okay, I hadn't actually yelled at the Twins, but they gave me identical looks of hurt and shock. I sighed. "We're all on the same side here," I said quietly, making sure my voice didn't carry to the obviously listening kids in the room. "So it would be nice if we could lose some of the bickering."