"So say it."

"You liked kissing me today. You liked it a lot."

His smile was mocking and very well rehea.r.s.ed. "Yeah, so? I never said I didn't like kissing you. The problem is too many guys have liked kissing you."

I felt my face go hot. "Don't you dare talk to me like that!"

"Why not? It's true. You were kissing your human boyfriend. You were kissing me. And you were kissing Blake. As far as I'm concerned, that's a lot of guys."

"Since when you do turn into such a jerk? You knew about Heath. I never tried to hide him from you. You knew it was hard for me being Imprinted with him and caring about you at the same time."

"Yeah, what about Blake? Explain that."

"Loren was a mistake!" I yelled, finally tipping over that line of self-control. I was tired of Erik judging me for something I'd beaten myself up about more times than I could count. ?You were right. He was using me. Only it wasn't for s.e.x-that was just the way he got me to believe he loved me. You overheard the scene between Neferet and me. You know there's more going on here than everyone thinks. Neferet sent Loren, her lover, to seduce me-to make me believe he loved me because I'm special." I paused, wiping angrily at the tears that were somehow falling out of my eyes. "But really he was after me so that I could p.i.s.s off all my friends and be alone and hurt and distracted so my powers didn't mean anything anymore. And it would have worked if Aphrodite hadn't stood by me. You sure as h.e.l.l didn't take one second to give me a chance to explain."

Erik ran his hand through his thick dark hair. "I saw him making love to you."

"You know what you saw, Erik? You saw him using me. You saw me making the biggest mistake of my life. At least so far.

That's what you saw."

"You hurt me," he said softly, all the anger and jerkness going out of his voice.

"I know and I'm sorry. But I guess we didn't have much together in the first place if we can't learn to forgive each other for this mess."

"You think you need to forgive me?"

He was starting to look like a jerk again. I'd definitely had enough of the jerk Erik. My eyes narrowed and I snapped, "Yeah! I need to forgive you. You said you cared about me, but you've called me a s.l.u.t. You've embarra.s.sed me in front of my friends. You've embarra.s.sed me in front of a cla.s.s of kids. And you did all of that because you had only part of the story, Erik! So, yeah, you're not totally spotless in this whole thing either!"

Erik blinked in surprise at my outburst. "I didn't know I had only part of the story."

"Maybe next time you should think before you vent without knowing the full story."

"So you hate me now?" he said.

"No. I don't hate you. I miss you."

We stared at each other, neither of us knowing where to go from there.

"I miss you, too," he finally said.

My heart made a little skip-beat.

"Maybe we could talk again," I said. "I mean, without the yelling part."

He looked at me for a long, long time. I tried to read his eyes, but they just reflected back at me my own confusion.

My phone rang, and I pulled it out of my pocket. It was Grandma. "Oh, sorry. It's my grandma," I told Erik. Then I flipped the cell open. "Hi, Grandma, are you here?" I nodded as she told me she'd just pulled into the parking lot. "Okay, I'll meet you there in just a few minutes. Can't wait to see you! Bye!"

"Your grandma's here?" Erik asked.

"Yeah." I was still smiling. "She's come to stay for a little while. You know, what with the whole winter break being cut short and all."

"Oh, yeah. That makes sense. Okay, well, I guess I'll see you around."

"Uh, want to walk with me to the parking lot? Grandma said she was going to pack a little something, which means she probably brought one ginormic bag or ten little ones, and she could definitely use a grown vamp to carry them for her, what with me being just a little fledgling."I held my breath, thinking I'd messed up (again) and gone too far too soon with him. And, sure enough, the guarded look was back in his eyes.

It was exactly then that a vamp in the Sons of Erebus uniform came out of the door behind me.

"Excuse me," Erik said to him. "This is Zoey Redbird. A guest of hers has just arrived. Are you available to help bring in her luggage?"

The warrior saluted me respectfully. "I am Stephan, and it is my pleasure to aid you, young Priestess."

I made myself smile and say thanks. Then I looked at Erik. "So, I'll see you later?" I said.

"Of course. You're taking my cla.s.s." He saluted me and then went into the building.

The parking lot was just a short way around the side of the main building. So, thankfully, I didn't have much walking with the warrior in uncomfortable silence to endure. Grandma waved to me from the middle of the very crowded parking lot. I waved back, and Stephan and I headed toward her.

"Wow, there are a ton of vamps here," I said, looking at all the unfamiliar cars.

"Many Sons of Erebus have been called to this House of Night," Stephan said.

I nodded thoughtfully.

I could feel his eyes on me. "Priestess, you need not fear for your safety," he said with quiet authority.

I smiled at him and thought, If only you knew, but I didn't say anything.

"Zoey! Oh, honey! Here you are." Grandma enveloped me in her arms, and I hugged her hard, breathing in the familiar scent of lavender and home.

"Grandma, I'm so glad you're here!"

"So am I, honey. So am I." She squeezed me tight.

Stephan bowed respectfully to Grandma before he gathered up her mound of luggage.

"Grandma, are you planning on staying a year?" I asked, throwing a laughing look over my shoulder at her bulging luggage.

"Well, honey, one must always be prepared for all contingencies." Grandma Redbird wrapped her arm though mine, and we started back toward the sidewalk that would lead to the girls' dorm, with Stephan following behind us.

Soon she tilted her head close to mine and whispered, "The school is completely surrounded."

I felt a sizzle of fear. "By what?"

"Ravens." She said the word as if it left a nasty taste in her mouth. "They're all around the grounds, but none are actually inside the boundary of the school's wall."

"That's because I blew them out of here," I said.

"Did you?" she whispered. "Well done, Zoeybird!"

"They scare me, Grandma," I whispered back. "I think they're getting their bodies back."

"I know, honey. I know."

Shivering, we held tightly to each other as we hurried to my room. The night seemed to watch us go.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Not surprisingly, everydangbody was crammed into my dorm room.

"Grandma Redbird!" Damien cried, and hurled himself into her arms. Then there was a big flurry of him introducing Jack to her, the Twins saying their h.e.l.los, and finally, Aphrodite, looking uncomfortable but pleased, getting a very tight, very heartfelt hug from Grandma. During the commotion, Damien and the Twins cornered me.

"Z, are you okay?" Damien asked in a low voice.

"Yeah, we were worried," Shaunee said.

"Some scary c.r.a.p is going on," Erin said.

"I'm fine." I threw a furtive look to where Jack was babbling something at Grandma about how much he liked lavender.

"Because of your help, I'm fine."

"We're here for you, Z. You're not in this alone," Damien said.

"Ditto," said the Twins together.

"Zoey? Is that a dog?" Grandma had just noticed that the lump of blond fur stretched out on the end of my bed actually moved and caused every cat in the room to hiss at the same instant.

"Yep, Grandma. It's a dog. And it's a long story.""Who does she belong to?" Grandma asked, giving d.u.c.h.ess a tentative head rub.

"Well, kinda me. At least temporarily," Jack said.

"Maybe this would be a good time to explain to your grandma about Stevie Rae and everyone," Aphrodite said.

"Stevie Rae? Oh, honey. Are you still grieving her loss?"

"Not exactly, Grandma," I said slowly. "There's really a lot to explain."

"Then you should get started. Something tells me we're getting ready to run out of the luxury of time," Grandma said.

"First, you should know that I haven't told you all of this, because Neferet is involved in it-in a bad way. And she's majorly psychic. So whatever I tell you, she may be able to pick out of your brain, and that's not good," I said.

Grandma thought about that while she pulled the chair away from my desk and made herself comfortable. "Jack, sweetheart," she said. "I would really like a gla.s.s of cold water. Do you think you could scare up one for me?"

"I have Fiji in the fridge in my room," Aphrodite said.

"That would be lovely," Grandma said.

"Go ahead and get it for her. But don't touch anything else," Aphrodite said.

"Not even your-"

"Not even."

Jack pouted, but he hurried out to get the water for Grandma.

"So, I'm guessing all the rest of you are up to date about the things Zoey is getting ready to tell me?" Grandma asked the group in general when Jack returned.

They all nodded, looking round-eyed and baby birdlike.

"And how are you all keeping Neferet from picking your brains?"

"Well, it's just theory right now, but we figure if we focus on thinking about shallow, silly, teenage things," Damien said.

"Like shoe sales and whatnot," Erin explained.

"Yeah, the whatnot being cute guys or homework stress," Shaunee added.

"Then she won't think to look any deeper," I finished. "But Neferet underestimates us. I don't think she'd make the same mistake with you, Grandma. She already knows you follow the Cherokee ways-that you're in touch with the spirit of the land.

She might look deeper into you no matter what is buzzing around in the front of your mind."

"Then I will have to clear my mind and practice the meditation skills I have been using since I was a girl." Grandma's smile was confident. "She cannot force herself into my mind, not if I block her first."

"What if she's Queen of the Tsi Sgili?"

Grandma's smile faltered. "You truly believe that might be so, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya?"

"We think she might be," I said.

"Then we are all in the gravest of dangers. You must tell me everything."

And so I did-with the help of Aphrodite, Damien, the Twins, and Jack, we caught Grandma up on everything, even though I will admit to glossing over the part about Stevie Rae not being totally herself. Aphrodite shot me a look during that part, but she didn't say anything.

As she heard all of it, Grandma's weather-lined face got grimmer and grimmer. I also gave everyone details about the latest Raven Mocker attack. Finally I concluded with explaining to her how Stark's death might not be permanent, and how Stevie Rae and Aphrodite and I had decided that, as morbid and disturbing as it sounded, we needed to keep an eye on his, well, corpse.

"And so Jack was supposed to have installed the nanny cam in the morgue," I said. "Did you, Jack? I saw some of your diversionary tactics." I gave d.u.c.h.ess a grin and ruffled her ears. She woofed softly and licked my face. Maleficent and Beleezebub, who were curled up together near the door (seems hateful cats attract each other-who knew?) lifted their heads and hissed in unison. Nala, who was sleeping on my pillow, barely opened her eyes.