“So you believe me?”
I sighed. “Sadly, yes. You’re Imprinted with her. That means you’re close to her in a way no one else is. My Imprint with Heath has taught me that.”
“Okay, look. I do not want to do the nasty with Stevie Rae.”
I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t mean that, you dork. There are different kinds of Imprints. My bond with Heath is very physical, but I’ve been attracted to him for years. Uh, can I assume I’m right when I say you’ve never been attracted to Stevie Rae?”
“Hell yes, you can assume that,” Aphrodite said dryly.
“Both of you have psychic abilities. It’s only logical that your bond would be mental, not physical,” I said.
“Yeah, good. I’m glad you get that. And that’s how I know she was lying to you when she said the red fledglings she introduced us to are the only ones there are. There are more. She knows it, and she’s in touch with them.”
“And you’re absolutely sure of this?”
“Totally and absolutely,” she said.
“Well, I can’t worry about that right now, but that could definitely explain some of the darkness I sensed down there. It’s the same aura that used to surround Stevie Rae, but it’s going to have to wait until we get out of here,” I said, feeling miserable and upset that my BFF felt like she had to lie to me.
“I hate to be the one to clue you in, but Stevie Rae has more secrets than Paris Hilton has purses. On the bright side, I’m betting your lying bumpkin friend, the freaks, and your boyfriends make it past the bird boys.”
“I hope so.” I sighed and messed with my napkin.
“Hey,” she said softly. “Try not to let this thing with Stevie Rae freak you out. She’s keeping secrets, but I can also tell you that she cares about you—a lot. I also know she’s choosing good, no matter how hard it is for her sometimes.”
“I know that. I believe Stevie Rae must have a reason for not telling me things. I mean, it’s not like I’ve never kept secrets from my friends before.” Yeah, I added silently to myself. And you messed up big-time because of that, too.
“Okay, so it’s not just Stevie Rae that’s making you look like you need some pharmaceutical help to cheer up.” Then her brows raised as she continued to study me. “Oh, I get it. You’re having boyfriend issues. Or should I say boyfriends issues?”
“Sadly, the plural seems to be the correct form of the word,” I muttered.
“Erik and I used to have a thing, but you know that’s way over. You can talk to me if you need to.”
I looked at her and again thought how ironic it was that she was right. I really could talk to her.
“I’m not sure I want to be with Erik,” I blurted.
Her eyes got just a little wider, but her voice stayed nonchalant. “He’s pressuring you about sex?”
I shrugged. “Yes, no. Kinda. But it’s not just that.” I leaned forward and lowered my voice. “Aphrodite, did he ever get possessive and über-jealous with you?”
She curled her lip in a sarcastic sneer. “He tried. I don’t so much tolerate the jealous bullshit.” Then she paused and in a more serious tone added, “Neither should you, Z.”
“I know, and I’m not.” I sighed. “I have a lot to deal with when this mess is over.”
“Seriously. You have a mess to deal with when this mess is over.” She gobbled another forkful of spaghetti.
“Well, let’s try and get this particular mess over with then so I can go back to my ridiculous personal drama. Tell Darius to be ready for some bad stuff to go down tonight. Like he said, Kalona isn’t going to be happy when we get out of here.”
“No, he said Kalona isn’t going to be happy when you get out of here. He really has a thing for you.”
“I know, and I wish he’d just get over it,” I said.
“Hey, have you thought any more about that first poem Kramisha gave you before we left the tunnels? It sounded like it was a formula for getting rid of Kalona.”
“Well, if it’s a formula, I haven’t figured it out.” I didn’t want to admit to Aphrodite that I hadn’t thought at all about Kramisha’s poem—or at least not the one about Kalona. I’d been completely distracted by the second poem, and by the possibility of Stark’s humanity being returned to him. And that realization made my stomach clench. What if Stark was diverting me on purpose? What if he was putting on an act when the two of us were alone so that I would be too involved with him to figure out the other poem or anything else—like a way to get out of the House of Night?
“Okay, clearly, your issues are weighing on you. And I think we can sum up your problems in one word,” Aphrodite said.
I met her eyes and we said the one word together. “Boys.”
She snorted, and I gave a kinda hysterical little giggle. “Let’s just hope someday all of this goes away and your biggest problem is boy drama.” She hesitated and then added, “I hope you’re not still thinking about Stark.”
I shrugged and took a massive bite of spaghetti.
“Look, I did some asking around, and the boy is wrong. Period, the end. Just forget about him.”
I swallowed, chewed some more, and swallowed again. Aphrodite was still studying me.
“The poem might not have even been about him,” she said.
“I know,” I said.
“Do you? And, look, you need to focus on getting us the hell out of here, and getting rid of Kalona—or at least chasing him away from here. Figure that out now. Worry about Stark and Erik and Heath and even Stevie Rae later.”
“Yes, I know,” I said. “I’ll think about them all later.”
“Yeah, right. I still remember how you were the night Stark died. He got to you. But you have to remember the Stark that’s strutting around here, acting like he’s all that, and basically using girls and throwing them aside after he fucks with their minds even more than their bodies, is not the guy who died in your arms.”
“What if he is that guy, but he just needs to Change like Stevie Rae did?”
“Well, I can promise you I’m not giving up another piece of my humanity to save his ass. Shit, Zoey, Erik’s a better bet than Stark! Are you hearing me?”
“I’m hearing you.” I drew a deep breath. “Okay, I’m going to forget all guys right now and focus on getting us gone, and then getting Kalona gone, too.”
“Good. You can deal with boy issues later.”
“Okay,” I said.
“And you can deal with BFF issues later.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Okay,” she said.
We went back to eating. I’d meant what I’d said. I was going to deal with all my personal issues. Later. Really. Or at least that’s what I told myself…
CHAPTER 27
I was thinking that drama class wouldn’t be a big deal. One of the pod professors would probably substitute for Erik, who had taken over temporarily for Professor Nolan after she’d been killed. I sat in the desk behind Becca, feeling weirdly déjà vu-ish, and half expecting to see Erik’s pissed-off face calling me up in front of the class to try to seduce or humiliate me.
“Oh! My! God! He was not with me! Even though I sooooo wish he had been!”
Becca’s annoying exclamation marks snagged my attention from being disgruntled at Erik. She was talking in little gaspy starts and stops to the girl across the row from her who I recognized as a fifth-former named Cassie. I kinda knew her because she’d placed twenty-fifth in the National Shakespeare Monologue Contest Erik had won, and all the drama kids tended to hang out with each other. Today, though, she wasn’t acting like a Shakespearean heroine. She was acting like a pain-in-the-butt giggly girl.
“Well, he wasn’t with me, either. But I can tell you, since he bit me I’ve been dying to do a little biting and sucking of my own on him,” Cassie said, and then dissolved into giggles. Again.
“Who are you guys talking about?” I asked, even though I was pretty sure I already knew.