Loved (House of Night Other World #1)(102)

“They’ll be fine, just like we were fine. Who’s not fine is Zoey.”

“What in the Sam Hell are you talkin’ about?”

“Have you seen her lately?” Stark fired the question at her.

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “I saw her for just a sec a little while ago. She was headin’ to the depot to try to keep Kramisha and Aphrodite from killing each other over the restaurant renovations.”

“That’s where she said she was going. But she only stopped by for about ten minutes and then made a lame excuse to take off. She’s been doing that lately. As in almost every day. Do you know what the hell is wrong with her?”

“No! I didn’t know anything was wrong. Ah, oh. Is it Other Kevin?” Stevie Rae’s blue-eyed gaze swept the schoolyard. “Is he back?” She squinted, half expecting him to materialize from one of the dusky shadows.

“No, he’s not. But yes. I think it has something to do with her brother and that Other World. And I do not think she’s okay.”

“You’re gonna have to give me more to go on than that. Since Rephaim and I moved back to T-Town I’ve been super crazy busy getting settled and figurin’ out lesson plans for this dang Spells and Rituals class I was moronic enough to volunteer to teach. Jeesh, who knew teaching was so hard?”

“Every real teacher in the world knows that, but that’s not the point. Stevie Rae, you need to listen to me—I do not think Z is okay.”

Stevie Rae motioned for Stark to join her on an ornately carved iron bench perfectly situated near the goddess statue.

“Now, tell me what’s stuck in your craw about Z.”

Stark blew out a long breath as he sat beside her. “She’s going to Heath’s grave. Every day. And she’s lying about it.”

Stevie Rae hiked her shoulders. “That’s not real bad. I mean, Z misses him. We all know that, and maybe she’s not telling the truth because she doesn’t want you to feel bad. And if she’s lying how do you know where she’s going?”

“I followed her. And before you give me crap about that let me say that I only did it because I’m worried. Real worried.”

Stevie Rae held up her hands in surrender. “Hey, I’m not judging. And if you say there’s something to be real worried about, you have my full attention.”

Stark ran his fingers through his thick hair and sighed again. “So, I followed her,” he repeated. “And watched her. She sits there. On his grave. And talks to him. A lot.”

“She talks to his gravestone?”

Stark shook his head. “No. She leans against his gravestone, but she stares to the side of it, like he’s sitting there—beside her—somewhere close. And by close I don’t mean Nyx’s Grove.”

“Well, okay, so it’s weird and sad, but maybe that’s how Z deals with her grief. You know it took a long time for her to even go to his grave. Maybe this is actually a good sign. How’s she been acting otherwise? And let me say sorry that I’ve been so dang busy moving here that I can’t answer that question myself, which as her bestie is something I should be able to do.”

Stark waved away her apology. “This isn’t on you. It’s on all of us. I think we’ve left her alone too much since Kevin went back to the Other World.”

“But we were givin’ her space. And she’s been seeing a lot of her brother. The one who isn’t a red vampyre. I thought that was helping her deal with Other Kevin not being here.” Stevie Rae chewed her bottom lip. “I haven’t asked her hardly anything about how she’s been feelin’. Like Kramisha always says, it’s not cool to be all up in Z’s business.”

“Yeah, well, space time is over. Since she’s starting ‘talking,’” he air quoted, “to Heath, she’s stopped actually talking to me. And, obviously, you.”

“Z’s not talkin’ to Damien or Aphrodite, either?” Stevie Rae asked.

“Oh, sure. Z talks to Damien and Aphrodite, me and you. But she never says how she’s feeling. She never says anything that isn’t just surface crap. Stevie Rae, she’s pulling away from me. And from you, Aphrodite, and Damien. She’s only really talking to dead Heath.”

“You seriously don’t think this is just Z dealing with her grief?”

“No, because this dead Heath talking crap didn’t start until after Other Kevin came from the Other World and—”

“And told her about Heath being alive over there,” Stevie Rae finished for him, eyes widening with understanding.

“Exactly,” Stark nodded.

Stevie Rae sucked in a huge breath. “Ohmygoodness, Z’s gonna go to the Other World!”

“Exactly!” Stark repeated.

“Ah, hell!”



Zoey

I pulled my bug off Seventy-First Street onto Aspen, and took the immediate left to enter through the somber gates of Floral Haven Cemetery. It wasn’t long after dusk, but I’d timed it perfectly so that I could slip into the cemetery after most visitors had left, but before the gates were officially closed.

“I guess practice does make perfect,” I muttered.

As if it knew the way without me steering, my little aqua-colored bug wound around the curving roadways to what had become a familiar section of the graveyard. I stopped where I always did—by the big juniper tree that marked the beginning of the path I followed almost daily.