Chosen (House of Night #3)(43)

Chapter Sixteen

I knew the second Heath got back in town because he interrupted my dream. I had been lying out in the sun (see, clearly a dream) on a big, heart-shaped floatie in the middle of a lake made of Sprite (who knows?), when all of a sudden everything disappeared and Heath's familiar voice burst into my skull.

"Zo!"

My eyes fluttered open. Nala was staring at me with grumpy green cat eyes.

"Nala? Did you hear something?"

The cat "mee-uf-owed," sneezed, stood up long enough to pad around and around in a circle several times, then she plopped down and went right back to sleep.

"You're really no help at all," I said.

She ignored me.

I looked at the clock and groaned. It was seven o'clock, p.m. Jeesh, I'd slept for about eight hours but my eyelids were like sandpaper. Ugh. What did I have to do today?

Then I remembered Professor Nolan and the conversation with my mom and my stomach clenched. Should I tell someone about my suspicions? As Loren had said, the People of Faith had already been implicated in the murder by the awful note that was left behind. So, did I really need to say anything about the fact that I wouldn't be surprised if the step-loser was involved? Mom had made it clear to me that he'd been home all last night, and this morning. At least, that's what she was saying. Could she be lying?

A shiver went through my body. Of course she could be. She'd do anything for that disgusting man. She'd already proven that by turning her back on me. But if she was lying, and I told on her, then I'd be responsible for what happened to her. I hated John Heffer, but did I hate him enough to cause my mom to go down with him?

I felt like puking.

"If the step-loser is tied up in the murder, the police will figure it out. If that happens, nothing that comes of it will be my fault." I said the words out loud, letting my voice calm me. "I'll wait and see what happens." I couldn't do it. I just couldn't. She was awful, but she was my mom, and I still remembered when she used to love me.

So I wasn't going to do anything except try and put my mom and the step-loser out of my mind. Period. I mean it.

While I was attempting to continue to convince myself I'd made the right choice, I remembered what else was going on today. The Dark Daughters' Full Moon Ritual. My heart sank into my clenching stomach. Normally, I'd be excited and a little nervous. Today I was just stressed. On top of everything else, having Aphrodite join our circle wasn't going to be a popular move. Whatever. My friends were just going to have to deal with it. I sighed. My life seriously sucked. Plus, I was probably depressed. Didn't depressed people sleep for, like, ever?

I closed my bristly eyes, giving in to my self-diagnosis and was almost asleep when "Zoey baby!" screamed through my mind just as my alarm started bleating. Alarm? It was the weekend. I hadn't set my alarm. My cell phone was chiming with the little noise it made when I had a text message. Groggily, I flipped open the phone. Instead of finding one text message I found four.

Zo! Im bak!

Zoey I have to see u

Still luv you Zo

Zo? Call me.

"Heath." I sighed and sat back on my bed. "Crap. This just keeps getting worse and worse." What in the hell was I going to do about him?

He and I had Imprinted more than a month ago. He'd also been snatched by Stevie Rae's gross undead-dead kids' gang and almost killed. I'd played like I was the cavalry (or at the very least Storm from X-Men) and rescued him, but before we could get totally away Neferet had showed up and zapped our memories. Because of my gifts from Nyx, I'd regained my memories. I didn't have a clue if Heath remembered anything at all. Okay, clearly he remembered that we Imprinted. Or that we're still dating. Although we really weren't. I sighed again. How did I feel about Heath? He'd been my on-again, off-again boyfriend since I was in third grade and he was a fourth-grader. Truthfully, we'd mostly been on-again until he decided to have a deep and meaningful relationship with Budweiser. I so don't want my young lad to be a drunk, so I dumped him, even though he hadn't really seemed to understand he'd been dumped. Not even my being Marked and moving to the House of Night had made him understand we were through.

I guess my sucking his blood and making out with him probably hadn't helped him realize we were supposed to be broken up, either.

Jeesh, I was turning into such a ho.

For about the zillionth time I wished I had someone I could talk to about all of my boy issues. Actually, counting Loren I should call them my boy-man issues. I rubbed my forehead and then tried to smooth my hair back into place.

Okay, I really needed to make a decision and get some of myself straightened out. 1. I liked Heath. I might actually love him. And the bloodlust thing with him was majorly hot, even though I'm not supposed to be drinking his blood. Did I want to break up with him? No.Should I break up with him?

Definitely.

2. I liked Erik. I liked him a lot. He's smart and funny and an honestly nice guy. His being the cutest, most popular fledgling at school didn't hurt, either. And, like he'd reminded me more than once, he and I had a lot in common. Did I want to break up with him? No. Should I break up with him? Well, only if I kept cheating on him with guy number one and man number three.

3. I liked Loren. He existed in a whole other universe than Erik and Heath. He. Was. A. Man. An adult vampyre, with all the power and wealth and position that came along with it. He knew stuff that I was only beginning to guess at. He made me feel like no one had ever made me feel before; he made me feel like a real woman. Did I want to break up with him? No. Should I break up with him. Not just yes, but hell yes. So it was obvious what I should do. I needed to break up with Heath (for real this time), keep dating Erik, and (like I had some sense) never, ever be alone with Loren Blake again.