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Zoey

So, I hadn&039;t told Stark about Aurox and the tree li I mean, seriously, as the point? Like Stark needswell because he&039;s still having nightmares he refuses to tell me about but which I know about because I sleep next to hi happened fast No one was hurt It&039;s over with Period, the end

Well, except for one little part That part about h the seer stone at Aurox Okay, not this second I wasn&039;t going to I mean, Aurox wasn&039;t even here But I&039;d decided The second he&039;d touched me I&039;d decided

The second he&039;d touched me I wasn&039;t scared of hih

I was silently arguing with myself about whether or not I should let Stark know I&039;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 worklitz-Stevie Rae didn&039;t want anyone but our people to even coh) when the bus pulled up to the depot and Darius opened the door

"I&039;onna call Andolini&039;s for a major delivery," Stevie Rae said as she and Rephairee on so over to sit on Darius&039;s lap while the rest of us started to shuffle off the bus "Order me one of their Santino pizzas It&039;s totally worth the calories Plus, it goes perfectly with that bottle of Chianti I took fro fifth-"

It happened just like that Aphrodite was in theclass 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 froirl to someone who looked barely human Barely alive

Darius didn&039;t hesitate He picked up her stiff, bloody-eyed, unseeing body and carried her frood internal reaction and stood up, turning to the rest of the kids ere either gawking open- like they wanted to cry

"Aphrodite&039;s having a vision" My voice seemed to come from so onna be fine," I continued, clinging to Stark

"Actually, she&039;s gonna be super pissed and mean when she comes to &039;cause she really hates it when this happens to her in public," Stevie Rae said She&039;d climbed halfway up the bus stairs I noticed her eyes were kinda extra wide, but her voice also sounded totally calht," I said "So there&039;s no need todeal out of this-now or after she co like a moron, added, "Okay, I don&039;tdeal I just mean she won&039;t want to hear a bunch of &039;hey, are you okays&039; froo ahead and order the pizzas Do ya think Aphrodite&039;ll be hungry later?" Stevie Rae asked

I thought about the last time she&039;d had a vision and hoful she&039;d felt afterward I wanted to say what Aphrodite would really ould be a Xanax and a bottle of wine, but thought that would probably set a bad exaet her one and put it in the fridge We can nuke it later if she&039;s hungry Right now I&039;ll just go check on her She&039;ll ater and quiet for a while"

"Okie dokie" Stevie Rae s absolutely normal, told the rest of the bus, "I&039;m takin&039; pizza orders from up here Cell phone reception is crap in the tunnels So before y&039;all scatter for downstairs let et it right Speakin&039; of, Kramisha, could you write dohat everyone wants for lanced at Shaunee, as looking especially lost, and added, "Hey, do you think we could use your card for the order this tiet paid back" Shaunee frowned "Swear? Last tiot stuck with the Bill fro Salad Sandwiches are awesome, but not a couple hundred dollars&039; worth of awesome"

"I swear" Stevie Rae narrowed her eyes, skewering the rest of the bus with the stank eye "Y&039;all will pay her back"

"Yeah, okay, fine," chorused from the back of the bus

I could have kissed my BFF She&039;d totally distracted everyone from Aphrodite&039;s horrendous and unattractive vision, and she&039;don pizza and payback versus down in the tunnels gawking and talking about Aphrodite

Meanwhile I pulled Stark froe combo," he said as we passed Stevie Rae

"Pizza? Really?" I whispered to hi like he&039;d just said, "Let the that wo on back in the day

"I thought you wanted to act norhed Well, he was right So, I told Stevie Rae, "With extra cheese and olives" Then, under my breath I added, "And thanks"

"I&039;ll be in the kitchen when you&039;re ready to talk," she said just as quietly, then she very loudly and very nor, "So, how h the depot so we can grab some water bottles from the kitchen on the way to Aphrodite&039;s room," I told Stark when he automatically headed for the baseed direction, but still I explained (probably ), "She&039;ll be thirsty We&039;ll also need to grab some washcloths I&039;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 tietting worse and worse" I glanced at Stark "It looked bad, didn&039;t it?"

"She&039;ll be okay Darius is with her He won&039;t let anything happen to her" He squeezed h the old ticket booth entrance to the tunnels

"I don&039;t think even her Warrior can protect her against this kind of stuff"

He sured out a way to protect you in the Otherworld I think Darius can handle so 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 o horribly, awfully, terribly wrong

"Hey" Stark took litzy gold curtain that was the latest door to Aphrodite&039;s room "She needs you to be okay"

"I know, you&039;re right It&039;s just that the visions really hurt her, and that ift froht?"

"Right again," I said

His grin turned cocky "I like it when you say I&039;et too used to it You&039;re a guy You have a lihts&039;"-I air quoted-"allotted to you"

"Hey, I&039;ll take what I can get," he said Then he went back to serious face "Just reh Priestess now, and not her friend"

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

Okay, Aphrodite&039;s roo more and more like Kim Kardashian meets Conan the Barbarian every tiold chaise lounge No, I had no clue where she got it or how she&039;d gotten it down here On the rough ce part of Darius&039;s throwing knife collection as decoration She&039;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 acat bed that sat beside hers Only at this moment Maleficent wasn&039;t in her bed She was curled protectively on Aphrodite&039;s lap Aphrodite was propped in thescarily 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, whichwent away as I approached the bed and the horrid cat started to yowl at me

"Who is it?" Aphrodite&039;s voice sounded weak and uncharacteristically frightened

Darius touched her face "It&039;s Zoey and Stark, my beauty You knoouldn&039;t allow anyone else within" Stark squeezed o I sent a quick, silent pray up to Nyx, please help h Priestess Aphrodite needs, and then I stepped into the role that still felt too big a job for ht so to the side of the bed and daonna change this paper towel"

"Okay," she said

Her eyes did stay closed But they were still weeping blood The scent of it caod-yummy-I-want-to-eat-that reaction I didn&039;t

Aphrodite didn&039;t smell like a human I tried to remember how her blood had smelled last time she&039;d had a vision, and I drew a blank-which meant it probably hadn&039;t been nore 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&039;re at it That helps, too" Darius didn&039;t move He just looked at me

"Uh, Aphrodite, how about you choose between the Xanax and wine? Both together just don&039;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&039;ll stick ine I Am Not My Mother"

"You&039;re definitely not your an to open the wine "Okay, so, while youryour wine breathe I want you to drink some of this water"

Her lips curled up in as al wine breathe? You don&039;t even drink"

"I watch TV Jeesh, everyone with half a brain knoine needs to breathe," I said, guiding her hands to the open bottle of water and helping her drink it "Hoas it this time? As bad as the last?"

When it was obvious she wasn&039;t going to answer, Darius did for her "Worse," he said "Maybe you should come back after she&039;s rested" The Zoey as Aphrodite&039;s friend totally agreed with hi, knew better "She&039;ll be drunk and exhausted for the rest of tonight and probably into tomorrow I need to hear about this vision before she&039;s too out of it to talk"

"Z&039;s right," Aphrodite said before Darius could protest "And anyway, this one was short" I was glad to see she&039;d drained the water bottle, but she reached out a blind hand and said, "Water&039;s gone Where&039;s lass that looked super simple, just crystal and a pretty shape, but it had a little Riedel mark written on the bottom, so I kneas nice stemware from Williams-Sonoma I knew that because Aphrodite had lectured o

(Like I care?) Anyway, Darius helped Aphrodite take a very long drink frolass Then she exhaled slowly "Get another bottle ready I&039;ll need lance at me for confirmation; he just looked defeated "And tell Stark to quit lusting after your knives He&039;s bowboy, not knifeboy"

"Are they super heroes now?" I asked, trying (probably unsuccessfully) to be funny

Her lips turned up in satisfaction, and for a second she looked way too much like her cat for comfort "Well, mine&039;s a super hero in lots of ways

You&039;ll have to decide about yours on your own"

"Vision," Stark mouthed toout the ornamental knives

"Okay, so tell me what it was about this time," I said

"It was one of those da killed"

"Guy?" I felt a little bubble of panic build Was it Stark?

"Relax, it wasn&039;t your guy or mine It was Rephaim I was inside hi another long drink of wine "Birdboy has some weird shit in his head"

"Give ossipy part later," I said

"Well, as per usual when I&039;htered, the vision was confusing," she said, pressing her hand over the washcloth and gri with pain

"Just tell me what you remember," I prompted "How did he die?"

"Sword alh his head didn&039;t come off like yours did in that other vision"

"Well, that&039;s nice for hi serious or sarcastic "Who did the cutting in half?"

"That&039;s where the confusion kicks in I&039;on is there"

"Dragon kills hih That&039;s awful"