Chosen (House of Night #3)(27)

"She can't read your mind, either?"

Aphrodite's smile was self-satisfied and more than a little hateful. "She never has been able to. How do you think I got away with so much crap for so long?"

"Lovely." I remembered distinctly what a terrible bitch Aphrodite had been as leader of the Dark Daughters. Actually, since the moment I'd met Aphrodite she'd been selfish and mean and downright hateful. Yes, her visions had helped me save my grandma and Heath, but she'd made it clear that she hadn't really cared about saving either of them, and had helped only because she got something out of it. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Okay, you're going to have to explain why you're bothering to tell me all this stuff. What's in it for you?" Aphrodite widened her eyes in mock innocence and put on a ridiculous Southern Belle accent, "Why, what ever do you mean? I'm helping you because you and your friends have always been so sweet to me."

"Cut the crap, Aphrodite."

Her expression flattened and her voice returned to normal. "Let's just say I have a lot to make up for."

"To Stevie Rae?"

"To Nyx." She looked away from me. "You probably won't get this, being all-powerful with new gifts from Nyx and basically Miss Perfect, but once you've had your gifts for a while, you might find out that it's not always easy to do the right thing. Other things-people-get in the way. You'll make mistakes." Aphrodite scoffed. "Well, maybe you won't. But I did. I might not particularly give a shit about you or Stevie Rae or maybe anyone here at school, but I do care about Nyx." Her voice faltered. "I know what it's like to believe the goddess has turned from me and I don't ever want to feel like that again." I reached out and touched her arm. "But Nyx didn't turn from you. Those were just lies Neferet told so that no one would believe your visions. You know Neferet's behind what Stevie Rae's turned into, don't you?"

"I've known since the vision, when I saw Heath dying." She forced a little laugh. "Good thing she can't read our minds. I don't know what she'd do to a fledgling who knows how awful she is."

"She knows I know."

"You've got to be kidding!"

"Well, she knows I'm on to her." I hesitated, and then figured, what the hell. Weirdly enough, it was turning out that Aphrodite (a.k.a., the hag from hell) was the one person on this earth I could really talk to. "Neferet tried to erase my memory of the night I saved Heath from those undead dead kids. It worked for a while, but I knew right away something was wrong. I used the power of the elements to heal my memory, and, well, I kinda let Neferet know that I remembered what had happened."

"You kinda let her know?"

I fidgeted. "Well, she threatened me. Said no one would believe me if I said anything about her. And, uh, it made me mad. So I told her that it didn't matter if no vamp or fledgling believed me, because Nyx does." Aphrodite smiled. "I'll bet that pissed her off."

"Yeah, I suppose it did." Actually it made me a little sick to think about just how pissed Neferet probably was.

"But she left right after that for winter break. I haven't seen her since."

"She'll be back soon."

"I know."

"Are you scared?" Aphrodite asked.

"Totally," I said.

"I don't blame you there. Okay, here's what I know for sure from my visions. We have to get Stevie Rae some place safe and away from the rest of those things. And we have to do it now. Before Neferet comes back. There's some connection between the two of them. I don't understand it, but I know it's there, and I know it's wrong." Aphrodite made a face like she'd just tasted something nasty. "Actually the whole undead-dead monster thing is all wrong. Talk about disgusting creatures."

"Stevie Rae's different than the rest of them."

Aphrodite gave me a look that said she definitely didn't believe me.

"Think about it. Why would Nyx have given a fledgling such a powerful gift as an affinity for earth and then let her die. And then un-die." I paused, struggling with how to make her understand. "I think her connection to earth is the reason Stevie Rae has kept some of her humanity, and I really believe that if I-I mean we, if we can help her she'll find the rest of her humanity. Or maybe we'll find a way to heal her. To turn her back into a fledgling or maybe even a grown-up vamp. And maybe if Stevie Rae is fixed, that means there's a chance for the rest of them, too."

"So do you have a clue how we're going to fix her?"

"Nope. Not one clue." Then I grinned. "But now I have a powerful fledgling with visions and an earth affinity helping me."

"Great. That makes me feel so much better."

I didn't want to admit it to Aphrodite, but the truth was that being able to talk to her about Stevie Rae and having her help figuring out what we were supposed to do did make me feel better. Much better.

"Anyway," Aphrodite was saying, "how are we going to find Stevie Rae?" She curled her lip. "Do not tell me you expect me to crawl around nasty tunnels with you."

"Actually, Stevie Rae said she'd meet me at the Philbrook gazebo tonight at about three o'clock."

"Is she going to show?"