"Hell! This connection suc eight="0% xks so much!" I paced a short path of frustration while I tried to call her back. Nothing. I had ser vice, but the screen kept saying that it was a lost call. I tried several more times before I saw that, not only was I not getting her back, but my phone was getting ready to die. "Hell!" I repeated.

"What did she say?" Erik had come up behind me.

"Not much, 'cause I lost the connection and can't get it back. But I did manage to hear her say that she's okay and Grandma's okay. I even think she's finally conscious."

"That's really good news! Don't worry; everything's going to be fine. The nuns have your grandma safe underground, right?"

I nodded, feeling stupidly close to tears that were really more because of frustration than fear for Grandma. I completely trusted Sister Mary Angela, so if she said Grandma was okay, then I believed her. "It's hard not knowing what's going on. Not just with Grandma, but with everything out there." I jerked my thumb up at the outside world.

Erik stepped up beside me and his warm hand closed over mine. He turned me so that I was facing him, and then with his thumb he gently traced the new tattoos that covered my palm. "Hey, we'll get through this. Nyx is at work here, remember? Just look at your hands to see proof of her favor. Yeah, our group is small, but we're strong and we know we're on the right side."

Just then my phone made the little chime that said I had a text message. "Oh, good. Maybe this is Sister Mary Angela." I flipped open the phone and stared at the message, not really getting it.

All fledglings and vampyres are to return

to the House of Night immediately.

"What the hell?" I said, still staring at my phone's screen.

"Let me see," Erik said. I flipped the phone so he could read it. He nodded slowly, as if the text confirmed something he'd already thought about. "It's Neferet. And even though it's sounding like one of those schoolwide text broadcasts, I'd bet she's talking directly to us."

"Are you sure it's her?"

"Yeah, I recognize her number."

"She gave you her phone number?" I tried not to sound as annoyed as that made me feel, but I doubt I was very successful.

Erik shrugged. "Yeah, she gave it to me before I left for Europe. Said if I ever needed anything I could call her."

I snorted.

Erik smiled. "Are you jealous?"

"No!" I lied. "She's just such a manipulative bitch that it makes me mad."

"Well, she's definitely into some bad shit with Kalona."

"Yeah, that's for sure, and we're not going back to the House of Night. At least not right now."

"I think you're right about that. We need to find out more about what's happened above before we make our next move. Plus, if your instincts are telling you we need to stay clear of the school, then that's what we should do."

I looked up at him. He smiled reassuringly down at me and brushed a strand of my hair back from my face. His eyes were warm and kind, not sex crazed and possessive. Jeesh, I had to get a grip on myself. Erik made me feel safe. He believed what he was saying. He believed in me.

"Thank you," I said. "Thanks for still believing in me."

"I'll always believe in you, Zoey," he said. "Always." Erik wrapped me in his arms and kissed me.

The door to the outside was wrenched open, letting in the murky light of a stormy afternoon and a blast of frigid air. Erik whirled, pushing me behind him. I felt a heart-thundering rush of pure fear.

"Get below! Get Darius!" Erik shouted as he moved forward to face the figure silhouetted against the gray upper world.

I had started to run back to the basement ladder when Heath's voice stopped me.

"Hey, is that you, Zo?"

Chapter Ten

"Heath!" I hurried toward him, practically shouting my relief that it was him and not a terrifying Raven Mocker or worse, an ancient immortal with eyes like the night sky and a voice like a forbidden secret.

"Heath?" Erik didn't sound nearly as pleased. He grabbed my arm so I couldn't run past him. He frowned, still managing to stay protectively in front of me. "You mean your human boyfriend?"

"Ex-boyfriend," Heath and I said at the same time.

"Hey, aren't you that Erik guy? Zo's fledgling ex-boyfriend?" Heath said. He ignored the three stairs that emptied into the basement and jumped lightly down, looking every inch (and I do mean at least six feet tall with kinda curly, sandy, blond-brown hair and the cutest eyes and guy dimples you have every seen) the star quarterback he was. Yes, I'll admit it freely, my high school boyfriend was a clich?, but at least he was an adorable one.