"Jeesh, how do you think? With his finger. He traced the pat tern." I swear I could still feel the heat of that touch. "He recited a love poem to you, touched your Mark, and then wrote a poem for you ..." She sighed dreamily. "It's like you're Romeo and Juliet with the whole forbidden lovers thing." In the middle of fanning herself dramatically she stopped and sat straight up again. "Ah oh, what about Erik?"

"What do you mean, what about Erik?"

"He's your boyfriend, Zoey."

"Not officially," I said sheepishly. "Well, shoot, what does the kid have to do to make it `official'? Get down on one knee? It's been pretty obvious this past month that y'all are dating."

"I know," I said miserably. "So do you like Loren more than you like Erik?"

"No! Yes. Oh, hell, I don't know. It's like Loren's in a whole other world. And it's not like he and I can really date, or what ever." But I wasn't so sure about the whatever. Could Loren and I see each other secretly? Did I want to? As if she could read my thoughts Stevie Rae said, "You could sneak around and see Loren."

"This is ridiculous. He probably doesn't even feel like that about me." But even as I said the words I remembered the heat of his body and the desire in his dark eyes. "What if he does, Z?" Stevie Rae was studying me carefully. "You know, you're different than the rest of us. No one has ever been Marked like you before. No one has ever had an affinity for each of the five elements. Maybe the same rules don't apply to you.

My gut clenched. Since I'd arrived at the House of Night I had been struggling to fit in. All I really wanted was to make this new place my home--to have friends I considered family. I didn't want to be different and I didn't want to play by different rules. I shook my head and said through clenched teeth, "I don't want it to be like this, Stevie Rae. I just want to be normal."

"I know," Stevie Rae said softly. "But you are different. Every one knows that. Plus, don't you want Loren to like you?" I sighed. "I'm not sure what I want, except that I know I don't want anyone to find out about Loren and me."

"My lips are sealed." Stevie Rae, little Okie dork that she is, pantomimed zipping her lips closed and throwing the key away over her shoulder. "No one's gonna get a word from me," she mumbled through half-sealed lips. "Hell! That reminds me, Aphrodite saw Loren touching me."

"That hag followed you out to the wall!" Stevie Rae squeaked. "No no no. No one saw us out there. Aphrodite walked into the media center when he was touching my face."

"Ah, crap."

"Ah, crap, is right. And there's more. Remember when I missed part of Spanish 'cause I wanted to talk to Neferet? I didn't talk to her. I got to her class and the door was cracked, so I could over hear what was going on inside. Aphrodite was in there."

"That bitch was telling on you!"

"I'm not sure. I only heard a little of what they were saying."

"I'll bet you were totally freaked when Neferet pulled you out of the dining hall to eat with her."

"Totally," I agreed. "No wonder you looked so sick. Jeesh, it all makes sense now." Then her eyes got even bigger. "Did Aphrodite get you in trouble with Neferet?"

"No. When Neferet talked to me tonight she said that Aphrodite's visions are false because Nyx has withdrawn her gift. So whatever Aphrodite told her, Neferet didn't believe."

"Good." Stevie Rae looked like she'd like to break Aphrodite in half. "No, not good. Neferet's reaction was too harsh. She made Aphrodite sob. Seriously, Stevie Rae, Aphrodite was destroyed by what Neferet said to her. Plus, Neferet didn't even sound like her self."

"Zoey, I cannot believe we're going over this again. You've got to quit feeling sorry for Aphrodite."

"Stevie Rae, you're not getting the point. This isn't about Aphrodite, it's about Neferet. She was cruel. Even if Aphrodite was ratting me out and exaggerating what she saw, Neferet's re sponse was wrong. And I'm getting a bad feeling about it."

"You're getting a bad feeling about Neferet?"

"Yes ... no ... I don't know. It's not just Neferet. It's like it's a mixture of stuff--everything coming down at once. Chris .. . Loren ... Aphrodite ... Neferet ... something's off, Stevie Rae." She looked confused, and I realized she needed an Okie analogy to get it. "You know how it feels right before a tornado hits? I mean when the sky's still clear, but the wind's starting to cool off and change direction. You know something's coming, but you don't always know what. That's how things feel to me right now."