Kramisha gave her a narrowed-eye look. "Too bad you ain't just one person."

"What in the Sam Hill do you mean? 'Course I'm one person. Jeeze Louise, I wish there was more than one of me. Then I could keep an eye on Damien, be sure Dragon doesn't go totally postal, pick up Zoey from the dang airport on time and figure out what's goin' on with her, get some dang thing to eat, and start to deal with the fact that Neferet is up to something of massive cat- herding proportions tonight at Jack's funeral. Oh, and maybe one of the me's could take a long bubble bath and listen to my Kenny Chesney while I read the end of A Night to Remember."

"A Night to Remember? You mean that Titanic story I read last year in Lit class?"

"Yeah. We'd just started it when I died and undied, so I never got to finish it. I kinda liked it." "Here. I'll help ya out. THE SHIP SINKS. THEY DIE. The end. Now can we please move on to somethin' more important?" She lifted the piece of purple paper again.

"Yes, hateful, I do know what happens, but that doesn't mean it's not a good story." Stevie Rae tucked an annoying blond curl behind her ear. "You say I don't tell good lies? Okay, here's the truth. My mama would say I got too dang much on my plate right now to get even one more forkful of chickenfried stress, so let's lay off the poem stuff for a while."

Totally surprising Stevie Rae, Kramisha took a big step into her personal space, and then grabbed her by the shoulders. Looking straight into her eyes, she said, "You ain't just one person. You a High Priestess. A red High Priestess. The only one they is. That means you gotta deal with stress. Lots of it. 'Specially right now when Neferet is creatin' all kindsof crazy messes."

"I know that, but--"

Kramisha squeezed her shoulders hard, and cut in saying, "Jack is dead. They's no tellin' who's next."

Then the Poet Laureate blinked a couple of times, her smooth brown brow furrowing, leaned forward, and took a giant noisy sniff of the air right next to Stevie Rae's face.

Stevie Rae pulled out of her vise grip and stepped backward. "Are you sniffing me?"

"Yes. You smell weird. I noticed it before. When you was in the hospital."

"So?"

Kramisha studied her. "So, it reminds me of somethin'."

"Your mom?" Stevie Rae said with forced nonchalance.

"Don't even go there. And while I'm thinkin' a' it, where is you goin'?" "I'm supposed to be helping Aphrodite get stuff to feed Damien's cat and Duchess. Then I have to pick up Z from the airport and let her know that Neferet has decided to step aside and let her light Jack's funeral pyre. Tonight."

"Yeah, we all heard 'bout that. It don't seem right to me."

"Zoey lighting Jack's fire?"

"No, Neferet lettin' her." Kramisha scratched her head and her yellow wig moved from side to side. "So, here's the thing: let Aphrodite take care of the Damien stuff right now. You need to go out there"--she paused and waved one long, gold- fingernailed hand vaguely at the trees that ringed the House of Night campus--"and do that communing-with-theearth-green-glowy-thing you do. Again."

"Kramisha, I don't have time to do that."

"I ain't done yet. You need to recharge your business before all hell breaks loose. See, I'm not real sure Zoey is gonna be up for what might be happenin' tonight."

Instead of brushing Kramisha and her bossy self aside, Stevie Rae hesitated and thought about what she was saying. "You could be right," she said slowly.

"She don't want to come back. You know that, right?" Kramisha said.

Stevie Rae hitched her shoulders. "Well, would you? She's been through a lot."

"I don't think I would, that's why I'm sayin' this to you, 'cause I do understand. But Zoey ain't the only one of us who's been through a lot lately. Some of us is still goin' through a lot. We all have to learn to take care of our business and deal."

"Hey, she's comin' back--she is dealing," Stevie Rae said. "I ain't just talkin' 'bout Zoey." Kramisha folded the purple piece of notebook paper in half and handed it to Stevie Rae, who took it reluctantly; when she sighed and started to unfold it, Kramisha shook her head. "You don't need to read it in front a' me."

Stevie Rae looked up at the Poet Laureate with a question mark on her face. "Look, right now I'm gonna talk to you like a Poet Laureate to her High Priestess, so you need to listen up. Take this poem and go out to the trees. Read it there. Think about it real good. Whatever it is you have goin' on, you need to make a change. This is the third serious warnin' I've got 'bout you. Stop ignorin' the truth, Stevie Rae, 'cause what you do don't just affect yourself. Are you hearin' me?"