The shadows slithered from her and Neferet, content, called for her assistant to bring her a glass of wine laced with blood.

"Find some virgin's blood this time," she snapped when the young vampyre answered her summons. "The other is simply too common, and I have a feeling a celebration will soon be in order."

"Yes, Priestess, as you command." The assistant bowed and scurried out.

"That is right." Neferet spoke aloud to the listening shadows. "All will be as I command. And someday soon they will not call me Priestess, but Goddess. Someday very soon..."

Neferet laughed.

Zoey

So, I was nervous about first hour and what Thanatos was gonna say about losing a parent-specifically my mom-but the day was starting out really well. For the first time in a really long time Stark was awake before me, and so I got woken up with kisses and him calling me Sleeping Beauty. He wolfed down the most ginormic bowl full of Cap'n Crunch I'd ever seen, and in the parking lot outside the depot he was messing around with Darius, doing a little mock boxing match while kids were filling up the short bus.

I was already on the bus watching him out the window with what I'm sure was a goofy happy smile on my face when Aphrodite emerged from the depot. I was surprised to see her 'cause I figured she'd be so hungover and exhausted that she would definitely not be going to school today. She squinted and then put on sunglasses, even though it was 7:30 P.M. and there was no sun at all.

"She don't look good," Kramisha said from her seat behind me.

"How can you tell from this far away?"

"She got flats on and her hair's in a ponytail. That girl never wears flats and her hair usually looks like Barbie," Kramisha said. "I mean regular Barbie and not none of those weird dolls like Tennis Barbie or Go to the Gym Barbie."

"Everyone knows Barbie doesn't have to work out to keep her kick-ass body," Shaunee said.

"Bull truth," Stevie Rae said.

"Huh?" I said, totally befuddled.

"Just trust us. Aphrodite don't look good," Kramisha repeated.

"She doesn't even have any lip gloss on. Bad sign," Erin said.

"If she doesn't have on any eye makeup, Hell has officially frozen over," Shaunee said, which was interesting because that's as close as she'd gotten to a Twin comment in days.

I glanced at Shaunee, who was sitting in the front seat of the bus, as far away from Erin's place in the back as she could get. Shaunee was digging in her purse like she'd misplaced a tube of one of MAC's seasonal lipsticks that you buy and fall in love with AND THEN THEY

DISCONTINUE IT BECAUSE THEY REALLY HATE US AND WANT US TO BE CRAZY.

Anyway, I was sure Shaunee's cheeks looked pink. So, was she embarrassed about the kinda accidental Twin comment she had made, or excited about it? I didn't have much time to consider which it could be because Aphrodite climbed into the bus and sat heavily in the first seat behind the driver's chair, which was directly in front of me.

"Coffee," she croaked. "I told Darius we have to swing the short bus through Starbucks at Utica on the way. I'm going to die if I don't get an uber-sweet caramel double espresso coffee drink and a giant slab of their blueberry coffee cake."

"Them's a lot of calories," Kramisha told her.

"If you try to stop me I will kill you dead," Aphrodite said.

"I think your hair looks good like that," Shaunee told her.

"For shit's sake, I don't need the pity of half a brain-sharer. I do not feel that damn bad." Shaunee skewered her with a look. "I'm not half of anything and I'm not giving you any pity. I was just sayin' I like your hair 'cause you usually don't wear it like that, but if you're too much of a bitch to accept a compliment then you can f**k yourself." The entire bus inhaled a giant breath. The silence was total and frightening. I wasn't sure whether I should summon elements or run. Then Aphrodite pulled her sunglasses down her nose and looked over their rims at Shaunee. Her eyes were pink-tinged and bruised and just all-around horrendously unattractive, but they were shining with humor. "I think I like you using a brain of your own."

"Yeah, well, I haven't decided if I like you at all, but your hair still looks good."

"Huh," Aphrodite said.

"Huh," Shaunee said.

We all breathed a long sigh of relief.

And that's pretty much how the day proceeded. Stark was back to his old, charming, sexy, totally fabulous self. When I asked what the heck had gotten into him he said, "Z, I slept like a log and I feel like Superman today!" Seriously. Superman. And, apparently, he meant it 'cause he was zooming around everywhere, laughing and being a total guy.