Hidden (House of Night #10)(27)

Stevie Rae sighed. "I know-I know. You're makin' sense. I'm not gonna trust him one hundred percent."

"Fine. But keep an eye on your birdboy, too. He trusts his dad one hundred percent, which means Kalona can use him. Again."

Stevie Rae's expression tightened, but she nodded. "Yeah, I will."

"Second"-Aphrodite shifted the bulk of her attention to me- "explain the weird shit that went through your mind when you called that f**king bull by Heath's name last night."

"What?" Stevie Rae blurted. "That's not true. Is it, Z?"

Okay, lying would be easy. I could just say that Aphrodite had obviously lost her mind and had been hearing things. I mean, there had been a crapload of Crazy happening all at once last night-not to mention all of the elements manifesting so powerfully that nothing was totally clear except my mom's murder by Neferet and the fact that she was the Consort of Darkness.

And I almost did lie.

Then I remembered what lying to my friends had cost me before-not just their trust for a while, but it had cost me respect for myself. I didn't feel good when I lied. I felt out of sync with the Goddess and the path I believe she wanted me to walk.

So, I drew a deep breath and told the truth in one burst of words: "I looked through the Seer Stone at Aurox and I saw Heath and it freaked me out and I called his name and Aurox turned and looked at me before he started changing back into that bull thing and that's why when he charged me I just stood there and told him he wouldn't hurt me. The end."

"You have lost your f**king mind. Shit, and I think I threw away my mom's shrink's number too soon. You need to medicate and evaluate."

"Well, I'm gonna be nicer than Aphrodite, but it just doesn't make any sense, Z. How could Heath be around Aurox?"

"I don't know! And he wasn't around him. It was like Heath glowed on Aurox. Or at least shadowed him with a moonstone shine." I wanted to scream my frustration at not being able to describe what I'd glimpsed.

"Was it like a ghost?" Stevie Rae asked.

"That might make a little bit of sense," Aphrodite said, nodding to Stevie Rae, as if the two of them were figuring through it. "We were in the middle of a ritual evoking Death. Heath's dead. Maybe we snagged his ghost."

"I don't think so," I said.

"But you don't know for sure, right?" Stevie Rae said.

"No, I don't know anything for sure except that the Seer Stone is old magick, and old magick is strong and unpredictable. Hell, it's not even supposed to be anywhere except the Isle of Skye, so I don't know what's going on with me seeing stuff through it here." I threw up my hands. "Maybe I imagined it. Maybe I didn't. This is weird, even for me. I thought I saw Heath, and then Aurox changed completely into that bull thing and ran off."

"Things were happenin' real fast," Stevie Rae said.

"Next time you see Aurox you need to look through that damn stone at him, that's for sure," Aphrodite said. "And don't be alone with him."

"I'm not planning on it! I don't even know where he is."

"Probably back with Neferet," Aphrodite said.

I should've kept my mouth shut, but I heard myself speak up. "He said he'd chosen differently."

"Yeah, right after he killed Dragon and almost killed Rephaim," Aphrodite said.

I sighed.

"What did Stark say about it?" Aphrodite asked. When I didn't answer she raised a blond brow. "Oh, I get it. You haven't told him, right?"

"Right."

"Well, I can't blame you for that, Z," Stevie Rae spoke gently.

"He's her Warrior-her Guardian," Aphrodite insisted. "However annoying and arrogant he can be, he needs to know that Zoey has a thing for Aurox."

"I do not!"

"Okay, not Aurox, but Heath and you think Heath might be Aurox." Aphrodite shook her head. "Do you see how Crazy Town that sounds?"

"My life is Crazy Town," I said.

"Stark needs to know that you might be vulnerable to Aurox," Aphrodite said firmly.

"I am not vulnerable to him!"

"Tell her, bumpkin."

Stevie Rae wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Stevie Rae?"

She sighed and finally looked at me. "If you think there's even a little chance that Heath is haunting Aurox or whatever, that means you're not gonna think clear 'bout him. I know. If I lost Rephaim and then thought I saw him around some other guy, even if it seemed crazy, that guy would be able to get to me. Here." She pointed to her heart. "And most of the time that overrules here." She pointed to her head.

"So tell Bow Boy what you think you saw," Aphrodite said.

I really hated it, but I knew they were right. "Fine. It's gonna suck, but fine. I'll tell him."

"And I'm telling Darius," said Aphrodite.

"Well, I'm tellin' Rephaim," Stevie Rae added.

"Why!" I wanted to explode.

"Because the Warriors around you need to know," Aphrodite said.

"Fine," I repeated through gritted teeth. "But that's it. I'm sick of people talking about me and my boy issues."