Hidden (House of Night #10)(81)

"Not hungr-" I started, but Aphrodite cut me off.

"She'd love a bowl. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

"You never eat breakfast," I said, frowning at her.

Aphrodite raised her half-empty champagne flute and mock toasted me. "I choose to drink my breakfast, and I do that every day. Orange juice is brain food."

"And champagne is brain-cell killer," Shaylin said, through the mouthful of Lucky Charms.

"I like to think of it as a way the Goddess levels the playing field. Consider for a moment how ridiculously much smarter I would be than all of you if I didn't drink heavily."

"I think your logic is flawed," Damien said.

"And I think your hair is flawed. Is that early male pattern balding I see?"

Damien gasped.

I sighed.

"Don't be such a meanie pants," Stevie Rae told Aphrodite, and then she handed me a bowl of cereal.

"Speaking of pants, the waist of those bumpkin nightmare Roper jeans you have on today is so high it couldn't pass a drug test," Aphrodite quipped as she refilled her mimosa.

"I think Stevie Rae looks cute," Shaylin said.

"Of course you do. And tomorrow you'll probably be wearing two different shoes, because that's the kind of refined fashion taste you have."

I tried to eat while my friends bickered and Stark stayed close to me, resting his hand on my thigh and giving it a periodic, comforting squeeze.

My mind would not shut up. Okay, I understood why we had to wait until after sunset to go to the Mayo. Two of my five embodiments of the elements would burst into flames if they went outside in the sunlight. And that's not even counting Stark, who would also turn into a crispy critter. I even got that we had to go to school and our first hour, which was taught by Thanatos. She was going to put us into groups and assign us to different jobs, all focusing around getting the school ready for the open house on Saturday. Conveniently, the jobs that she gave to those of us who were going to rescue Grandma were going to be off campus. So, hopefully, Erin and Dallas and anyone else who might accidentally or on purpose come into contact with Neferet would have no clue what we were up to, or that we even knew Grandma was missing.

What was hard was the waiting, especially since the kids-those who weren't in on our plan-knew nothing about what was up, so they were meandering around and taking forever to get ready to load into the bus.

Aurox was crouched in a tower on the top of this building. Grandma was being held in a cage created by Darkness. It was hard to pretend like nothing was going on. I wanted to pace. I wanted to scream. Hell, I actually might have wanted to hit something. Or someone. Well, Neferet for sure. But I didn't want to burst into tears, and I thought that was a good sign.

As I was coming to the end of my cereal and my patience, Kramisha entered the kitchen like fireworks. Okay, well, maybe it was just her outfit that looked like fireworks with her butt-hugging yellow skirt, her purple sweater with her silver embroidered fifth former symbol of Nyx's golden chariot pulling a trail of stars blazing on her chest, and her bright red patent leather wedges that almost exactly matched the color of her scarlet bobbed wig.

"The bus is waitin'. An' fine as Darius is, he don't need to be kept sittin' out there wonderin' what's takin' everbody so damn long." She made a shooing motion with her hand at the fledglings. "Go on, scat!"

I could have kissed her. Then she skewered me with her dark eyes and said, "I got somethin' for you."

My stomach dropped when she reached into her giant Louis Vuitton bag and pulled out her purple notebook.

"I cannot tell you how much I hate poetry," Aphrodite said.

"Don't give me none of your attitude," Kramisha told her. "Have you had a vision today?"

"No. Today I'm having mimosas instead of visions, but thanks for asking," Aphrodite said.

"Looks like I be pickin' up your slack, Prophetess, so don't be hatin' on my poetry." Kramisha made a shooing motion at Aphrodite, too. "Go on. I said this is for Zoey."

"Good. Some people say f**k yoga. I say f**k figurative language. And no, I don't mean that figuratively." Aphrodite tossed her hair and twitched from the room.

"Do you need me to stay?" Stevie Rae asked.

I raised my brows questioningly at Kramisha.

"Nope," she said. Then she glanced at Damien and Shaylin and Stark. "You can go, too."

"Hey, I don't know if I'm cool with that," Stark said.

"You're gonna have to be. I got me a strong talk to Z alone vibe, and I'm followin' it." Still clutching what I was starting to think of as The Purple Folder of Doom, Kramisha crossed her arms, and tapped her foot at Stark.

"Go on," I said. "Kramisha's gut has been right way more often than it's been wrong."

"By 'way more often' she means every time," Kramisha said, sounding super impatient.

"Okay, but I don't like it. I'll be waiting in the bus." Stark kissed me, frowned at Kramisha, and left the room.

Kramisha shook her head. "I have three words for that boy: con-trol-ing."

"He's just trying to keep me safe, that's all," I said.

Kramisha snorted. "Yeah, that's what my auntie's second husband said before he backhanded her 'cross the room for lookin' at him wrong."