Much later we walked slowly back to the castle. Our fingers were threaded together, our sides brushed intimately. We'd just crossed the moat bridge, and I'd been so wrapped up in Stark that I hadn't even noticed the staked heads. Actually, I hadn't noticed much of anything until Aphrodite's voice intruded.

"Oh, for shit's sake. Could you two be more obvious?"

I lifted my head dreamily from Stark's shoulder and saw Aphrodite standing in a pool of torchlight at the entrance to the castle, toe tapping in annoyance.

"My beauty, leave them be. They've earned their piece of happiness." Darius's deep voice came from the shadows beside her.

One fine blond eyebrow lifted mockingly. "I don't think happiness is the piece she just gave Stark."

"Seriously, even your crudeness can't bother me right now," I told her.

"It can bother me, though," Stark said. "Shouldn't you be pulling the wings off seagulls or the claws off crabs?"

Aphrodite acted like Stark hadn't spoken and walked up to me. "Is it true?"

"Is what true? That you're a pain in the butt?" I said.

Stark snorted. "That's definitely true."

"If it's true, then you're gonna have to tell him. I'm not listening to him blubber." Aphrodite waved her iPhone around, using it to punctuate her words.

"Jeesh, you're acting super crazy, even for you," I said. "Do you need shopping therapy intervention? Is. What. True?" I spoke slowly, pretending she was an English-as-a-second-language-learner. "Is it true what the Queen of Every Damn Thing Skye just told me--that you're not leaving with us tomorrow? That you're staying here?"

"Oh." I shuffled my feet, wondering why I should feel guilty. "Yeah, that's true."

"Great. Just great. Then, like I said before, you tell him."

"Who him?"

"Jack. Here. He's gonna burst into snotty tears and ruin his makeup, which will make him boo-hoo even more. And I want nothing to do with g*y snot. At all." Aphrodite punched the screen of her phone. It was ringing when she handed it to me.

Jack sounded sweet but defensive when he answered. "Aphrodite, if you're going to say something else mean about the Ritual, then I think you should just say nothing at all. Plus, I'm not going to listen to you because I'm busy defying gravity. So there."

"Uh, hi, Jack," I said.

I could almost see his smile blaze through the phone. "Zoey! Hi! Oooh, it's so cool that you're not dead, or even dead-like. Oh, oh, did Aphrodite tell you what we're planning for tomorrow after you get back? Ohmigoddess, it's going to be so totally cool!"

"No, Jack. Aphrodite didn't tell me 'cause--"

"Goodie! I get to tell you. So, we're going to have a special Dark Daughters and Sons Ritual of Celebration, like with proper nouns and such, because you being un-shattered is a big deal."

"Jack, I have to--"

"No, no, no, you don't have to do anything. I have it all handled. I even have the food planned, well, with Damien's help, of course. I mean..."

I sighed and waited for him to take a breath. "See, told ya," Aphrodite said under her breath while Jack gushed. "He's going to bawl when you burst his little pink bubble."

"... and my favorite part is when you come into the circle I'm going to be singing `Defying Gravity.' You know, like Kurt did on Glee, except I'm going to actually hit that high note. So what do you think?"

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "I think you're a really good friend."

"Oooh! Thank you!"

"But let's postpone the Ritual."

"Postpone? How come?" His voice already sounded trembly.

"Because..." I hesitated. Crap. Aphrodite was right. He probably was going to cry.

Stark pried the phone gently from my hand and tapped the speaker button.

"Hey there, Jack," he said.

"Hi, Stark!"

"Could you do me a favor?"

"Ohmigoddess! Of course!"

"Well, I'm still kinda out of it from the Otherworld thing and all. Aphrodite and Darius are coming back tomorrow, but Zoey is going to stay here on Skye with me while I get stronger. So could you let everyone know that we won't be back in Tulsa for a couple more weeks or so? Just pass the word for me and smooth everything over?"

I held my breath, waiting for the tears, but instead Jack sounded totally grown and mature. "Absolutely. Don't worry about anything, Stark. I'll let Lenobia and Damien and everyone know. And Z, no problem. We can definitely postpone. It'll just give me more time to practice my song and figure out how to make origami swords for decorations. I thought I'd hang them with fishing line, that see-through stuff, so it would look like, you know, they're defying gravity."