As I was coming to the end of my cereal and my patience, Kramisha entered the kitchen like fireworks. Okay, well, maybe it was just her outfit that looked like fireworks with her butt-hugging yellow skirt, her purple sweater with her silver embroidered fifth former symbol of Nyx's golden chariot pulling a trail of stars blazing on her chest, and her bright red patent leather wedges that almost exactly matched the color of her scarlet bobbed wig.

"The bus is waitin'. An' fine as Darius is, he don't need to be kept sittin' out there wonderin' what's takin' everbody so damn long." She made a shooing motion with her hand at the fledglings. "Go on, scat!"

I could have kissed her. Then she skewered me with her dark eyes and said, "I got somethin' for you."

My stomach dropped when she reached into her giant Louis Vuitton bag and pulled out her purple notebook.

"I cannot tell you how much I hate poetry," Aphrodite said.

"Don't give me none of your attitude," Kramisha told her. "Have you had a vision today?"

"No. Today I'm having mimosas instead of visions, but thanks for asking," Aphrodite said.

"Looks like I be pickin' up your slack, Prophetess, so don't be hatin' on my poetry." Kramisha made a shooing motion at Aphrodite, too. "Go on. I said this is for Zoey."

"Good. Some people say f**k yoga. I say f**k figurative language. And no, I don't mean that figuratively." Aphrodite tossed her hair and twitched from the room.

"Do you need me to stay?" Stevie Rae asked.

I raised my brows questioningly at Kramisha.

"Nope," she said. Then she glanced at Damien and Shaylin and Stark. "You can go, too."

"Hey, I don't know if I'm cool with that," Stark said.

"You're gonna have to be. I got me a strong talk to Z alone vibe, and I'm followin' it." Still clutching what I was starting to think of as The Purple Folder of Doom, Kramisha crossed her arms, and tapped her foot at Stark.

"Go on," I said. "Kramisha's gut has been right way more often than it's been wrong."

"By 'way more often' she means every time," Kramisha said, sounding super impatient.

"Okay, but I don't like it. I'll be waiting in the bus." Stark kissed me, frowned at Kramisha, and left the room.

Kramisha shook her head. "I have three words for that boy: con-trol-ing."

"He's just trying to keep me safe, that's all," I said.

Kramisha snorted. "Yeah, that's what my auntie's second husband said before he backhanded her 'cross the room for lookin' at him wrong."

"Stark is not going to hit me, Kramisha!"

"I'm just sayin'. Anyway, this is for you. Alone. Don't know why I got this strong feelin' that you gotta hear it, think 'bout it, and keep it to yourself, but I do. You the High Priestess and all, so you can do what you want. But I gotta be honest and tell you every bit of the Juju I get."

"Okay, yeah, I get it. So, let me read it." I reached for the notebook.

"Nope," Kramisha surprised me by saying. "Don't know why, but this is an out-loud thing. All you got to do is listen." When she started reading her voice changed. It didn't get louder, but there was power in the way she spoke, the way she enunciated the words, that made it become more chant than simple rhyming poem.

"Ancient mirror

Magick mirror

Shades of gray

Hidden

Forbidden

Within, away

Part the mist

Magick kissed

Call the fey

Reveal the past

The spell is cast

I save the day!"

She came to the end, and the room seemed very silent.

"Well, that was some weird shit," she said, sounding like herself again. "Did it mean anything to you?"

"I don't know. It sounded powerful, like it was more than a poem," I said. "I like it that it's saying you're going to save the day."

"It wasn't meant for me, Z. It's yours. I don't even know for sure what it is 'cause it don't feel like none of my other poems. It feels more like a spell than a prophecy."

"A spell?" I looked around us. Nothing was different. Nothing had happened. "Are you sure?"

"No, I ain't. Take it." She tore out the page and handed it to me. "I know they's somethin' goin' on with you and your circle. I know you'd tell me if you could." She held up her hand to stop what was going to be my non-explanation explanation. "I don't need no explanation. You're my High Priestess. I trust you. I just needed to give you this an' tell you you're gonna need it. When you do, speak it like I just did. There's power in them words."