"Sure. That's why you've been busy shoving me away."

"No, I've just been busy. Sorry if I've come across as mean," she said.

He turned to her. "Not mean. Just not caring anymore."

"I care!" she said quickly, and stepped into his arms, hugging him back as tightly as he was hugging her.

Dallas spoke softly into her ear. "Then let me come with you."

Stevie Rae pulled back so she could look at him, and the "no, you can't" she'd been ready to say died on her lips. It was like she could see his heart through his eyes, and it was clear that she was breaking it - breaking him. What the hell was she doing hurting this kid because of Rephaim? She'd saved the Raven Mocker. She wasn't sorry about that. She was sorry that it was affecting the people around her.

Well, that's it, then. I'm not hurtin' the folks I care about most.

"Okay, yeah, you can come with me," she told him.

His eyes instantly brightened. "You mean it?"

" 'Course I mean it. I do need that earth candle, though. Well, and the sweetgrass, too. And it's still not a stupid errand."

"Hell, I'll get you a whole bag of candles and all the grass you want!" Dallas laughed, kissed her, and then, yelling that he'd be right back, sprinted away.

Slowly, Stevie Rae got back into the Bug. She gripped the steering wheel and stared straight ahead, reciting her mental to-do list aloud like a mantra. "Conjure earth with Dallas. Find out what I can about the cows. Bring Dallas back to the school. Make an excuse. A good excuse to leave again, only this time alone. Go to the Gilcrease and check on Rephaim. See if he knows anything else that might help Stark and Z. Come back here. Don't hurt your friends by shoving them away. Check on the red fledglings.

Clue in Lenobia and the rest of 'em 'bout what's going on with Z. Call Aphrodite back. Figure out what the heck to do 'bout the bad fledglings at the depot. And then try, real hard, not to hurl yourself off the top of the nearest tall building . . ." Feeling like she was drowning in a big ol' stinkin', stagnant, Okie pond of stress, Stevie Rae lowered her head until her forehead pressed against the steering wheel.

How in the world did Z deal with all of this bullshit and stress?

She didn't, the thought came unbidden to her mind, it shattered her.

Chapter Twelve

Stevie Rae

"Wow! It looks like one of those super tornados cut its way through Tulsa," Dallas said. He was gawking as Stevie Rae maneuvered the Bug carefully around yet another pile of fallen tree limbs. The entry road to the park was blocked by a Bradford pear tree that had been split almost perfectly in half, so Stevie Rae ended up stopping beside it.

"At least some of the power is comin' back on." She gestured at the streetlights that ringed the park, illuminating what was a total mess of ice-damaged trees and flattened azalea bushes.

"Not for those folks, though." Dallas jerked his chin at the neat little houses near the park. Here and there a light shone bravely through a window, proving that some people had had the foresight to buy propane generators before the storm hit, but mostly the surrounding area remained dark and cold and silent.

"It sucks for them, but makes my life easier tonight," Stevie Rae said, getting out of the car. Carrying a tall green ritual candle, a braided length of dried sweetgrass, and a box of long matches, Dallas joined her. "Everyone's all hunkered down and won't be paying any attention to what I'm doin'."

"You're definitely right about that, girl." Dallas draped his arm familiarly over Stevie Rae's shoulders.

"Aw, you know I like it when you tell me I'm right." She threaded her arm around his waist, sticking her hand in the back pocket of his jeans like she used to do. He squeezed her shoulder and kissed the top of her head.

"Then I'll tell ya you're right more often," he said.

Stevie Rae grinned up at him. "You tryin' to soften me up for somethin'?"

"I dunno. Is it workin'?"

"Maybe."

"Good."

They both laughed. She bumped him with her hip. "Let's go over there to the big oak. That looks like a good place."

"Whatever you say, girl."

They made their way slowly to the center of the park, walking around shattered tree limbs and sloughing through the cold, wet muck that was left from the storm, trying not to slip on the patches of ice that had begun to refreeze in the chill of the night. She'd been right to let Dallas come with her. Maybe part of her confusion about Rephaim had happened because she'd gotten kinda isolated from her friends and was focusing too hard on the weirdness of their Imprint. Heck, the Imprint with Aphrodite had seemed totally bizarre at first, too. Maybe she just needed some time - and space - to deal with the newness of it.