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  Venus glared back at me.

  “Okay, y’all have got to learn to get along. Are you remembering that the entire outside world might be against us, or at least filled with scary booger monsters?” Stevie Rae sounded tired but herself. She sat up, gingerly straightening her Dixie Chicks T-shirt and slowly leaning back against the pillows Darius had propped behind her. “So, like Tim Gunn on Project Runway would say, let’s make it work.”

  “Ooooh, I love that show,” Jack gushed.

  I heard a couple of the red fledglings mumble agreement and decided Stevie Rae might have had a point during one of our many trash TV arguments: Reality shows could make the world a better place and bring peace to all mankind.

  “Making it work sounds good to me.” Even though my internal alarm was still warning me that all was not sweetness and light with the red fledglings, I smiled at Stevie Rae, who dimpled back at me. Okay, she obviously believed we could figure out a way to get along. So maybe my alarm system was misfiring simply because Venus was a hateful bitch, and not because she and the rest of them were evil incarnate.

  “Good. So, first, could I please have a refill of that blood and wine? Heavy on the blood part.” She held her empty glass out toward the Twins, who gratefully moved closer to Stevie Rae’s bed and farther away from the group of red fledglings. I noticed Damien and Jack, with Duchess by his side, had also managed to make their way over to where I was standing. “Thanks,” she said when Erin took her glass. “And there’re some scissors in the drawer over there so you don’t have to rip it open with your teeth.” She gave me a little eye roll. While Erin and Shaunee were busy getting Stevie Rae more bloody wine, she studied the little group of red fledglings. “Look, we already talked about this. You know y’all are gonna have to make nice with Zoey and the rest of the kids.” She glanced up at Darius and smiled, “Well, kids and vamps, that is.”

  “Hey, excuse me, guys. I need to get through.”

  I’d bristled automatically as Erik pushed through the crowd at the door. If someone (Venus) tried to bite him, someone (me) was gonna kick her ass. Period.

  Ignoring the tension in the room, Darius said, “What does the radio report is happening in the world above?”

  Erik shook his head. “I can’t get anything in. I even went up into the basement. Nothing but static. Couldn’t get my cell phone to work, either. I did hear a bunch of thunder and could see flashings of massive lightning. It’s still raining, even though it’s getting colder, which means it’ll probably turn to ice. Plus, the wind’s kicked up like crazy. I couldn’t tell if the weather was natural, or if Kalona and those bird thi said, &~

  “Aphrodite saved her by letting Stevie Rae drink her blood,” Shaunee said, and then giggled.

  “Yeah, and now the two of them have Imprinted,” Erin finished in a rush, and then joined Shaunee’s laughter.

  “Wow, you’re kidding. Right?” he said, sounding totally shocked.

  “No, they are not kidding,” Venus said smoothly.

  “Huh. Well. That’s interesting.” I watched Erik’s lips twitch as he stared at Aphrodite. She totally ignored him and kept drinking straight from the wine bottle she clutched in her hand. He stifled a big laugh with a cough, and then his eyes lit on Venus. He nodded, his normal easygoing, popular self. “Hi again, Venus.”

  “Erik,” she said, with a feral smile that made me want to squash her like a bug.

  “Aphrodite was right to start introductions,” Stevie Rae said, and before Aphrodite could, she hurried on, “And, no, I’m not saying that because we’re Imprinted.”

  “I really wish you would all quit talking about it,” Aphrodite muttered.

  Stevie Rae continued as if she hadn’t heard her. “I think being polite is a real good idea, and introductions are always polite. Y’all already know Venus,” she said, and then moved on quickly. “So I’ll start with Elliott.”

  A redheaded kid stepped forward. Okay, dying and un-dying hadn’t improved this kid any. He was still pudgy and pale with a frizzy ball of carrot-colored, uncombed hair sticking up in odd places on his head. “I’m Elliott,” he said.

  Everyone nodded at him. “Next is Montoya,” Stevie Rae said.

  A short, Hispanic guy who looked seriously thuggish with his sagging pants and his multiple piercings nodded his head, sending his thick dark hair waving around his face. “Hi,” he said with just a touch of an accent and a surprisingly cute, warm smile. “And that’s Shannon Compton.” Stevie Rae ran her first and last name together, so that it sounded like Shannoncompton.

  “Shannoncompton? Hey, didn’t you read the spotlight piece in The Vagina Monologues last year at the school performance?” Damien asked.

  Her pretty face brightened. “Yeah, that was me.”

  “I remember because I just love The Vagina Monologues. They’re so empowering,” Damien said. “And then right after the show you…um…” His voice trailed off and he fidgeted.

  “I died?” Shannoncompton added helpfully.

  “Yeah, exactly,” Damien said.

  “Oh, gosh, that’s too bad,” Jack said.

  Aphrodite sighed. “She’s not dead anymore, morons.”

  “And this is Sophie.” Stevie Rae said quickly, frowning at Aphrodite, who was already sounding tipsy. A tall brunette stepped a little forward and gave us a tentative friendly smile. “Hi,” she said.

  We waved and muttered hellos. I was actually feeling better about the red fledglings now that they were becoming individuals—and not individuals who were trying to chomp on us. Or at least at that moment they weren’t.

  “Dallas is next.” Stevie Rae pointed to a kid standing behind Venus. At the sound of his name he kinda slouched around her and mumbled what sounded like a version of hi. He would have been totally unremarkable looking if it hadn’t been for the quick intelligence in his eyes and the kinda flirty smile he threw Stevie Rae. Hm, I thought, wonder if something’s going on there? “Dallas was born in Houston, which we all think is odd and confusing,” Stevie Rae was saying.

  The kid shrugged. “It’s a gross story my dad tells about him and my mom making me in Dallas. I never wanted the details.”

  “Ugh, parent sex,” Shaunee said.

  “Completely disgusting,” Erin agreed.

  I could see a little laugh ripple through the group of red fledglings at the Twins’ comments, making the tension that had been hanging between our two groups begin to really loosen up.

  “Next is Anthony, who everyone calls Ant.”

  Ant waved awkwardly at us and said hi. Well, it was obvious why everyone called him Ant. He was one of those little kids. You know, the ones that look, like, ten when they’re really fourteen and supposed to have gone through puberty already. Then, as if to provide the biggest contrast possible, Stevie Rae moved on to the next kid. “This is Johnny B.”

  Johnny B was tall and built. He reminded me of Heath with his athletic body and the easy confidence with which he held himself. “Hey,” he said, flashing white teeth and obviously checking out the Twins, who raised their brows at him and checked him out right back.

  “Next is Gerarty. She’s the best artist I’ve ever known. She’s started to decorate parts of the tunnels. It’s gonna look majorly cool when she gets done.” Stevie Rae beamed at yet another blonde, only Gerarty wasn’t all tall and Barbie-like. She was pretty, but her blond hair was more dishwater than platinum, and cut in a seventies shag. She nodded at us and looked uncomfortable.

  “And last but not least is Kramisha.”

  A black girl twitched out of the group. It was a testament to how distracted I’d been with Venus and Aphrodite and Stevie Rae that I hadn’t noticed her before then. She had on a form-fitting bright yellow shirt cut low to show the top of her black lace bra and a pair of high-waisted, skintight cropped jeans that were cinched up with a wide leather belt that matched her chunky gold shoes. Her hair was cut geometrically into a short poof on her head, and half of it was dyed bright orange.

 
“Let’s get it straight right now that I’m not sharin’ my bed with no one,” Kramisha said, weaving her head around and looking bored and pissed off at the same time.

  “Kramisha, I told you about a zillion times, don’t make an issue outta somethin’ that isn’t one,” Stevie Rae said.

  “I just want to be clear about myself,” Kramisha said.

  “Fine. You’re clear.” Stevie Rae paused and looked up at me expectantly. “Okay, that’s my group.”

  “And these are the extent of the red fledglings?” Darius asked before I could launch into my introductions.

  Stevie Rae chewed the inside of her cheek and didn’t meet Darius’s eyes. “Yeah, these are all of my red fledglings.”

  Ah oh, that’s her I’m-not-telling-the-whole-truth look. I knew it, but when she met my eyes, hers so clearly begged me not to say anything that I decided to keep my mouth shut and get the whole story when we weren’t the focus of everybody’s attention.

  But me putting off questioning Stevie Rae didn’t put off the feeling that had come back, alarm bells ringing inside my head, loud and clear, at her evasion. There was definitely something going on with the red fledglings, and I didn’t think that something was going to be good.

  I cleared my throat. “Well, I’m Zoey Redbird.” I tried to sound polite and normal in a situation that didn’t feel either.

  “I’ve told y’all about Zoey. She has an affinity for all five elements, and it’s through her powers that I was able to Change and we were all given our humanity back,” Stevie Rae said. I noticed she was looking directly at Venus.

  “Well, it wasn’t just through me that happened. My friends had a lot to do with it, too.” I nodded at Aphrodite, who was still drinking directly from the bottle of wine. “You guys obviously know Aphrodite. She’s a human now, but let’s just say she’s not normal,” I said, completely avoiding the subject of her fresh Imprint with Stevie Rae.

  Aphrodite snorted, but didn’t say anything.

  “This is Erin and Shaunee, the Twins. Erin has an affinity for water, Shaunee’s affinity is fire.” The Twins nodded and said hi.

  “Damien and Jack are a couple,” I said. “Damien’s affinity is air. Jack is our audiovisual guy.”

  “Hi,” Damien said.

  “Hey there,” Jack said. He lifted the bag he was still carrying. “I made sandwiches. Anyone hungry?”

  “Can someone explain why that dog’s in here?” Venus said, totally ignoring Jack’s friendly overture.

  “She’s here ’cause she’s mine,” Jack said. “She stays with me.” He reached down and petted Duchess’s soft ears.

  “Duchess stays with Jack,” I said firmly, giving Venus a hard look and thinking that I could happily strangle her with Duchess’s leash before I continued with the intros. “And this is Erik Night.”

  “I remember you from drama class,” Shannoncompton said, her cheeks turning pink. “You’re really famous.”

  “Hi, Shannon.” Erik smiled easily at her. “Nice to see you again.”

  “I remember you, too. You were with Aphrodite,” Venus said.

  “Not anymore,” Aphrodite said quickly, giving Darius a look.

  “Obviously. You’re not a fledgling anymore,” Venus said in a silky voice that sounded way too interested. “When did you Change?”

  “Just a few days ago,” he said. “I was on my way to the Europe an acting academy when Shekinah asked that I take Professor Nolan’s place temporarily at the House of Night.”

  “Wow, I knew that High Priestess looked familiar. That was actually Shekinah!” Shannoncompton said. “I saw her just before she started toward that winged guy and—” She stopped talking and picked at her lip worriedly.

  “And she was killed by Neferet,” I bluntly finished for her.

  “Was she? Do you know that for certain?” Darius asked.

  “She’s dead and I saw Neferet do it. I think she killed her with her mind,” I said.

  “Queen Tsi Sgili,” Damien murmured. “It’s true then.”

  “I need all of this explained to me,” Darius said curtly.

  “And this is our Son of Erebus warrior, Darius,” I said.

  “He’s right,” Stevie Rae said. “We need what happened tonight explained to us.”

  “Not just tonight’s happenings,” Darius said. His gaze rested on the group of unusual fledglings. “I need information if I am to protect you. I must know everything that has been going on.”

  “Agreed,” I said, glad beyond words that we had an experienced Son of Erebus in our group.

  “We could eat and talk,” Jack said. When I looked at him, he gave me a big smile. “It always helps to eat with each other. A meal makes things better.”

  “Unless you’re the meal,” I heard Aphrodite mutter.

  “Jack’s right,” Stevie Rae said. “Why don’t y’all go grab some of the egg crates we have in the kitchen and some bags of chips and whatnot. Let’s eat while we talk.”

  “Would the whatnot be more blood?” Venus said.

  “Yes, it would,” Stevie Rae said matter-of-factly, clearly not wanting to make a big deal out of the blood issue.

  “Fine. I’ll go get some more,” Venus said.

  “Hey, while you’re getting blood, grab me another bottle of wine,” Aphrodite said.

  “You know I’m not into charity, so you’ll be paying me back,” Venus said.

  “I remember,” Aphrodite said. “And you should remember that I pay my debts.”

  “Yeah, that’s how you used to be, but seems you’ve made a change,” she said.

  “No shit? You mean you just now noticed I turned human?”

  “Not what I was talking about. So just replace the wine,” she added before leaving the room.

  “Hey, weren’t y’all roomies?” Stevie Rae asked Aphrodite.

  Aphrodite ignored Stevie Rae and I had the urge to shake her and yell, Not talking to her or looking at her is not going to break your Imprint with her.

  “Yes, they were,” Erik said into the dead air, reminding me that because he and Aphrodite used to be together, he would know her roommate, maybe too well.

  “Yeah, well, things change.” Aphrodite found her voice.

  “People change,” I said, pulling my gaze from Erik.

  Aphrodite met my eyes. Her lips curled up in a sad, sarcastic smile. “And that is too damn true,” she said.

  CHAPTER 5

  “So we have p.b. and j., bologna, and processed American cheese slices.” Jack said the “processed American cheese slices” part like he was reluctantly offering us worms and mud. “And my personal gourmet Top Chef concoction: mayonnaise, peanut butter, and lettuce on wheat bread.”

  “Okay, Jack. Nasty,” Shaunee said.

  “Have you lost your damn mind?” Erin said.

  “Gay white boy is weird,” Kramisha said, snagging one of the bologna and cheese sandwiches.

  The Twins nodded and made “yep” noises as Kramisha joined them on a nearby egg crate.

  Jack looked mortally offended. “I think they’re good, and you guys should try things before you disrespect them.”

  “I’ll try one of them,” said Shannoncompton sweetly.

  “Thanks.” Jack grinned and handed her a sandwich wrapped in a paper towel.

  There was the rustling of a lot of paper as all of us crowded into Stevie Rae’s room, grabbed sandwiches, and passed bags of chips around. I was surprised to see the amount of food and chips and brown pop (yea for brown pop!). It made a weird, surreal mixture with the bottles of red wine and bags of blood that were being shared. I sat on the bed with Aphrodite and Darius and Stevie Rae, who was looking better and better. For a second, with the normal sounds of kids eating and talking, it was easy to imagine that we were just in a kind of ratty building at the House of Night and forget that we were in a tunnel under the city and that all of our lives were in the process of never being the same. For a second, we were nothing but a group of kids, some friends, som
e not, and we were just hanging out together.

  “Tell me what you know of the creature that rose from the earth and the bird beings that followed him.” Darius’s words made the whole just-hanging-out façade crumple like a house of cards.? Jcrate.

  “Sadly, we don’t know as much about him as I wish we did, and what we do know comes from my grandma.” I swallowed down the tightness in my throat that mentioning her caused. “Grandma’s in a coma, so she can’t help us right now.”

  “Oh, Z! I’m so sorry! What happened?” Stevie Rae cried, touching my arm.

  “The official version is she was in a car accident. The truth is that the accident was caused by the Raven Mockers because she knew too much about them,” I said.

  “Raven Mockers—those are the beings that came out of the earth after the winged man appeared?” Darius said.

  I nodded. “They’re his children—what happened after he raped the women of my grandma’s people more than a thousand years ago. When Kalona broke out of the ground their bodies were returned to them.”

  “And you know these things because they are creatures from Cherokee legend?” Darius said.