Untamed (House of Night #4)(12)

"I think some of it might already be happening," I said. My lips felt cold and stiff, and my stomach hurt.

"You're not gonna die!" Stevie Rae cried, looking upset and totally like my best friend again.

I slipped my arm through Stevie Rae's. "Go ahead, Aphrodite. Tell me."

"It was a strong vision, filled with powerful images, but it was totally confusing. Maybe because I was feeling it and seeing it from your point of view." Aphrodite paused, swallowing hard. "I saw you die two ways. Once you drowned. The water was cold and dark. Oh, and it smelled bad."

"Smelled bad? Like one of those nasty Oklahoma ponds?" I said, curious despite the horror of talking about my own death.

Aphrodite shook her head. "No, I'm almost one hundred percent sure it wasn't in Oklahoma. There was too much water for that. It's hard to explain how I can be so sure, but it just felt too big and deep to be something like a lake." Aphrodite paused again, thinking. Then her eyes widened. "I remember another thing about the vision. There was something close by the water that looked like a real palace on an island all its own, which means tasteful old money, probably European, and not some tacky upper middle class version of oooh-I-have-money-let's-go-buy-an-RV."

"You're seriously a snob, Aphrodite," Stevie Rae said.

"Thank you," Aphrodite said.

"Okay, so you saw me drown near a real palace on a real island maybe in Europe. Did you see anything else that might be in the least bit helpful?" I asked.

"Well, besides the fact that you felt isolated--I mean really alone in both of the visions, I saw a guy's face. He was with you not long before you died. Someone I've never seen before. At least not till today."

"What? Who?"

"I saw that Stark kid."

"He killed me?" I felt like I was going to throw up.

"Who's Stark?" Stevie Rae asked, taking hold of my hand.

"New kid who just transferred here today from the Chicago House of Night," I said. "He killed me?" I repeated the question to Aphrodite.

"I don't think so. I didn't get a good look at him, and it was dark. But it seemed like, even in the last glimpse you had of him, that you felt safe with him." She raised her brow at me. "Looks like you'll get over that whole Erik/Heath/Loren mess."

"I'm sorry 'bout all of that. Aphrodite told me what happened," Stevie Rae said.

I opened my mouth to say thanks to Stevie Rae, and then I realized that she and Aphrodite didn't know the depth of the Erik/Heath/Loren mess. They'd been away from the school, and the human media hadn't reported anything at all on Loren Blake's death. I took a deep breath. I'd almost rather hear about my deaths than talk about this.

"Loren's dead," I blurted.

"What?"

"How?"

I looked up at Aphrodite. "Two days ago. It was like Professor Nolan. Loren was beheaded and crucified and nailed to the front gate of the school with a note that quoted some terrible Bible verse about him being detestable staked through his heart." I spoke very fast, wanting to get the taste of the terrible words out of my mouth.

"Oh no!" Aphrodite turned a yucky shade of white and sat down heavily on Stevie Rae's old bed.

"Zoey, that's so awful," Stevie Rae said. I could hear the tears in her voice as she put her arm around me. "Y'all were like Romeo and Juliet."

"No!" Then because the word had come out more sharply than I'd intended, I turned to Stevie Rae and smiled. "No," I repeated in a saner voice. "He never loved me. Loren used me."

"For sex? Ah, Z, that's crappy," Stevie Rae said.

"Sadly, no, even though I did utterly mess up and have sex with him. Loren was using me for Neferet. She told him to come on to me. She was his real lover." I grimaced, remembering the heart-ripping scene I'd witnessed between Loren and Neferet. They'd been laughing about me. I'd given Loren my heart and my body and, through our Imprint, a piece of my soul. And he'd laughed at me.

"Hang on. Go back. You said Neferet had Loren come on to you?" Aphrodite said. "Why would she do that if they were lovers?"

"Neferet wanted to get me alone." My heart froze as the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together.

"Huh? That doesn't make sense. Why would Loren acting like he was your boyfriend get you alone?" Stevie Rae asked.

"Simple," Aphrodite said. "Zoey had to sneak around to see Loren, being as he was a professor and all. My guess is she didn't tell any of the nerd herd she was playing bad little schoolgirl with Professor Blake. My guess is also that Neferet had something major to do with our boy Erik finding out Zoey was doing the dirty with someone who was definitely not him."

"Uh, I'm right here. You don't have to talk about me like I left the room."

Aphrodite snorted. "If my guesses are right, I'd say your good sense left the room."

"Your guesses are right," I admitted reluctantly. "Neferet made sure Erik walked in on me being with Loren."

"Damn! No wonder he acted so pissed," Aphrodite said.

"What? When?" Stevie Rae said.

I sighed. "Erik caught me with Loren. He freaked. Then I found out that Loren was really with Neferet and he didn't care about me at all, even though we'd Imprinted."