Loved (House of Night Other World #1)(76)

“Eww,” Shaunee said.

“Yeah, he was that little brother. But now he’s a killer red vampyre who can spread a zombie plague throughout Tulsa. I just … I just … I just have no words.”

“We’ll help, Z. Your Nerd Herd is all in one place again. We’ll handle this. You’ll handle this,” Stark said.

I had no clue why his vote of confidence made my stomach hurt.

“This is a lot of snow. I’m glad you put chains on these tires,” Shaunee said as she expertly steered us out of a nasty slide.

“Hey, you are good at snow driving,” I said.

“Yep. I learned in Connecticut. Twenty inches of snow in a winter is considered mild.”

“Slow down!” I said. “I think I saw something over there by the Brady Theater.”

Shaunee braked and made a left turn the wrong way down a one-way street which was, thankfully, deserted. The Escalade barely crawled as we circled around the Brady Theater block.

“No, it was just that banner from Mexicali Grill flapping all weird in the wind,” I said. “Maybe we should go inside the Brady, though, just in case.”

“No,” Stark said firmly. “Zoey, I’m your Warrior. You need to listen to me. It is not safe for the three of us to go into the Brady. Call Marx. Tell him you think you saw something. He’ll be here with backup to check it out.”

“You’re right. I know you’re right. It’s just so bizarre. It’s Kevin.”

“Yes. And Damien thought Other Jack was just Jack. If we hadn’t been looking out for him, what would have happened?” Stark said.

“Other Jack would have eaten him,” I said miserably. “Okay, I’m calling Marx. Keep driving, Shaunee. Circle around by the west edge of the railroad tracks. There are some overpasses there. They could be hiding under them.”

“Okie dokie,” Shaunee said.

I reached for the portable radio Marx had given us because the damn cell towers were still down—and my cell phone scared the crap out of me by exploding in vibrations and my “Eye of the Tiger” ringtone. I snatched it out of the side pocket of my coat.

“Hello.”

“Zoey—Marx. The fledglings are awake.”

“What? You mean fledglings at the House of Night?” Marx had agreed to escort the bus filled with the unconscious red fledglings to school, which is—sadly—where they had to be taken since the depot was still a crime zone, meaning the tunnels were off-limits.

“No. The ones in the bus. We’re not at the school yet. What the hell’s going on?” Marx said.

I looked at the face of my phone. It was 8:25 a.m. “I have no idea, but we’ll meet you at the House of Night. Be sure you keep those fledglings covered and pull into the entrance by the Field House—the one that’s covered. Cell service is obviously back, so I’ll call the school and be sure they know you’re coming in with red fledglings. Oh, and I might have seen something by the Brady Theater. Could you send some cops to check it out?”

“Will do.” He hung up without another word.

“Shaunee, we need to—”

“Already heading back,” she said. “Hang on.”

“What was that about?” Stark asked.

“The red fledglings are awake,” I said as I scrolled through my recent calls to find Lenobia’s number, but before I could punch it, my phone rang again. The caller ID said aphrodite. I stifled a sigh and answered. “Aphrodite, I don’t have time for this right now.”

“I’m sorry I was an awful bitch,” she said.

“Oh. That’s okay. Apology accepted.”

“No, it’s not okay, but I’m working on it. And you need to get back here.”

“You sound sober.”

“That’s because I am sober. And there’s something you need to see. Well, you need to know about it, too, but seeing it’s important. Or at least I think it is. It really is beautiful, though I don’t know why I’d expect anything less—what with Nyx doing it and all.”

“You’re babbling. Are you sure you’re sober?”

“Positive.”

“Okay, I’m on my way back. But Marx and a big TPD mobile prison van thing they call a bus is going to beat me there. It’s supposed to be filled with passed-out red fledglings from the other world, but—”

“But they’re awake,” she said.

“How did you know that?”

“Come home and see for yourself. I’ll tuck the fledglings in. Bye.”

“Bye,” I said, staring at the phone.

“Now what?” Stark asked.

“Aphrodite is sober. And she apologized to me for being a bitch.”

“Are you sure you weren’t talking to Other Aphrodite?” Shaunee said.

“I didn’t see any other Aphrodite come through the fountain thing,” I said.

“Well, neither did I, but apologizing for being a bitch doesn’t sound like our Aphrodite.”

“And yet she just did. She also knew the fledglings were awake. She said I need to see something. Or know about something. Or both, I guess. She’s confusing me. Hell, this entire day is confusing me.”

“Let’s get home,” Stark said, and Shaunee floored it.