I expected her to gasp or freak, but all she said was a calm, "Okay, I understand."

I continued quickly. "There's a good chance the bird things will grab you if you come out of the tunnels anywhere they're expecting you to surface, so you're going to have to be really, really careful."

"Don't worry about it, Z. I've been doin' a little secret reconnoitering of my own since you passed me that note. I think I can get everyone there without being seen."

"Call Sister Mary Angela first and tell her you're coming. Tell her I'm coming, too, ASAP. But don't tell the red fledglings where you're going for as long as you can keep it from them. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Give Grandma a hug for me."

"Will do," she said. "And I won't let anyone tell her about your acc Kry Angelaqident. It'll just stress her."

"Thanks," I said. "Is Heath okay?" "Totally. I told ya don't worry about him. Both of your boyfriends are fine."

I sighed, wishing I could correct her and tell her I only had one boyfriend. "Good, I'm glad they're safe. Oh, Aphrodite's safe, too," I added, feeling a little strange about it, but thinking that since I'd checked on my Imprinted human, maybe Stevie Rae would like to check on hers, too.

Her laugh was happy and familiar. "Oh, Z, I know Aphrodite's okay. I'd be able to tell right away if something happened to her. It's weird, but it's true."

"Okay, good. I guess. Hey, I gotta go. And you do, too."

"You want me to get everyone outta here to night?"

"Now," I said firmly.

"Got it," she said. "See you soon, Z."

"Please be very, very careful."

"Don't worry about me. I got a few tricks up my sleeve."

"You'll need them. See ya," I said, and cut off the tinny connection. It was a relief to know Stevie Rae was going to move all the red fledglings to the basement beneath the Benedictine Sisters Abbey. I had to believe that the darkness I'd begun to see hovering around the tunnels wouldn't do so well in the basement of a bunch of nuns. I also had to believe Stevie Rae could get all the kids there without being captured by the Raven Mockers. If only the rest of us were that lucky, we could meet and regroup and figure out what the hell we could do about Kalona and Neferet. And I would ask Stevie Rae about the creepy dark shadow stuff. Sadly, I had a feeling she would know way more than me about it.

I entered the common room. Normally, after school it would have been crazy busy with fledglings hanging out, watching one of the several flat-screen TVs. Comfortable chairs and loveseats were clustered around the room, and kids should have filled them up as they relaxed after a long school day.

Today there weren't many fledglings, and those who were sitting around were unusually subdued. Part of that might be because the cable had been knocked out by the storm, but the House of Night had some major backup generators, and kids should have been watching DVDs--I mean, hello! Almost everyone had Netflix. But the few kids who were present were crouched together, speaking barely above a whisper.

Automatically I looked over at the area where my friends and I liked to gather and was relieved to see Damien and the Twins. They had Becca in the middle of them, and I assumed they were comforting the girl and keeping her from bursting into hysterical tears. When I got closer, I understood that I was very wrong.

"Really, I'm fine. It's no big deal," Becca was insisting in a voice that wasn't shaky and scared anymore, but had suddenly changed to sounding incredibly annoyed.

"No big deal!" Shaunee said. "Of course it was a big deal."

"The guy attacked you," Erin said. B Q Ht wasn&rs

"It wasn't exactly like that," Becca said, waving her hands dismissively. "We were just messing around. Plus, Stark really is hot."

Erin snorted. "Yeah, I usually find ra**sts majorly hot."

Becca's eyes narrowed and she looked cold and mean. "Stark is hot, and you're just jealous that he didn't want you." "Didn't want me?" Erin said incredulously. "Don't you mean, didn't want to molest me? Why are you making excuses for him?"

"What the hell's wrong with you, Becca?" Shaunee said. "No guy should ever get away with--"

"Hang on," Damien spoke up. "You know, Becca's right. Stark is one hot guy." The Twins stared at him in shock, and he hurried on. "If Becca says they were just messing around, who are we to judge?"