"Oh, for shit's sake, I was just asking. She doesn't need to be so sensitive about it."

"How would you feel if Darius turned into a bird every day?" I asked her, trying (futilely) to get her to empathize with Stevie Rae.

"Annoyed," she said. "I like to cuddle." Aphrodite seemed to be considering something, and then she added, "You know, she might try sticking him in a really, really big cage just before dawn. Maybe she could tame him." We all gawked at her.

"What? It's an idea."

"One best kept to yourself," Damien said.

"So that means I should or shouldn't add it to the long shopping list I'm making for home improvements this weekend?"

"I say add it if you let me in on making the rest of the list," Kramisha said.

"I'm gonna go talk to my BFF," I said. "You two shop, but don't shop mean."

"Hey, if it's okay I'm going to bed," Stark said. "I can feel the sun dragging me down." I forced a smile on my face and kissed him. "Sure, I'll be there in just a little while."

"Take your time. Be sure Stevie Rae's okay." With barely a glance at me he waved at the rest of the kids and walked heavily from the room.

He'd be asleep when I got to our bed. It made me feel weird, like I was suddenly having a relationship with an old man who couldn't stay awake.

But I shook off the feeling, said bye to the group, and hurried to Stevie Rae's neat little room.

She was sitting on the bed bawling her eyes out and hugging Nala.

"Hey, baby girl," I said, sitting beside them and petting Nala. "Are ya takin' care of Stevie Rae?" That made my BFF smile through her tears. "Yeah, she was in here already. She pretended to be all super grumpy, but she jumped right up on my lap and after she sneezed on me she put her paws on my chest and her face next to mine and started purrin'."

"Nal's good at her job," I said.

"Job?" Stevie Rae sniffed and grabbed a tissue from the box by the bed.

"Cat Therapist. When she's in her professional mode I like to think of her as Doctor Nal."

"Does she charge by the hour?" she asked, petting Nala who had definitely turned her purr machine on high.

"Yep. She works for catnip. Lots of it."

Stevie Rae smiled and wiped her eyes. "I'll be sure to get me a bunch."

"Wanna call your mom? Would that make you feel better?"

"Nah, she's busy getting breakfast for my brothers. I'm fine."

I gave her A Look.

"Okay, well, I'll be fine. I'm just so worried about Rephaim. I know y'all can't forget that he's a Raven Mocker, but I wish you could understand that he's really not evil anymore. Since Nyx changed him, he's just a regular boy during the sunset hours. And he doesn't know much about being a boy.

Z, I'm afraid Kalona is gonna to do something that will make him mess up, and then he'll have his humanity taken away from him." She burst into noisy tears.

I pulled her into a big hug, complaining Nala and all. "No, honey! That's not gonna happen. Once the Goddess gives a gift she doesn't take it away, even if free will makes someone totally mess things up. I mean, Neferet is the perfect example. She's seriously, totally messed up and still has a bunch of Goddess-given powers. Rephaim is gonna stay a boy at night. What you have to do is decide whether you can live with the weakness that his being human brings with it."

"But love isn't a weakness," she said.

"Loving the wrong person is," I said.

Her eyes got big and round and more tears spilled over them. "Do you think it's wrong that I love him?"

"No, honey. I think it's wrong that he loves Kalona-and that makes him weak." I paused and in a small voice admitted, "I know about that. I've been there. You know I thought I loved Kalona and that made me believe he was changing."

"Yeah, I figured that."

"It took him killing Heath to wake me up," I said.

"What if it takes something terrible like that to get Rephaim to quit believing he will change?" I sighed. "Maybe it's not so much that Rephaim thinks Kalona will change, but more that he hopes he will."

"Is there a difference between the two?"

"Yeah, I think there's a big difference between believing something will happen and just hoping for it," I said. "Give Rephaim a chance to deal with this. It's a hard thing, and like you said, it's all new to him. Just love him for a while and see what happens. I do believe he'd never hurt you on purpose," I said.