Marked - Chapter 19 Sporking

[wolfgoddess77]

CHAPTER NINETEEN

My wrist was still tingling from Erik's totally unexpected kiss (and bite and lick),

Yeah, that’s still creepy.

and I wasn't sure I could speak yet, so I was relieved that there were only a few girls in the big entry room,

Because all of them would want to know every little detail about your evening, right? Tone down that ego a few hundred notches, would you?

and they did little more than glance at me before they went back to watching what sounded like America's Next Top Model.

Name Drop 62

 

I hurried into the kitchen and plunked Nala down on the floor, hoping she wouldn't run off while I made a sandwich. She didn't; actually she followed me around the room like a little orange dog, complaining at me in her weird non-meow.

Freakin’ abomination of a cat… Stop your bitching.

I kept telling her "I know" and "I understand" because I figured she was yelling at me about what a moron I'd been tonight, and, well, she was right. Sandwich made, I grabbed a bag of pretzels (Stevie Rae had been right, I couldn't find any decent junk food in any of the cabinets),

Okay, you seriously need to make up your mind. Are you too good to eat junk food, or are you like any other teenager and like eating it? Because when you were talking about the horrors of pot, you sure were eager to talk about how nasty junk food was. Now you’re actively looking for it?

some brown pop (I don't really care what kind, just so that it's brown and not diet—eesh), and my cat, and I slipped up the stairs.

"Zoey! I've been so worried about you! Tell me everything.”

Remember when I said last chapter that I honestly believed Zoey’s peons friends’ lives revolved around her? Yeah, I wasn’t joking.

Curled up in bed with a book, Stevie Rae was obviously waiting up for me.

Oh, obviously.

She was wearing her pajamas that had cowboy hats all over the drawstring cotton pants, and her short hair was sticking out on one side as if she'd fallen asleep on it. I swear she looked about twelve years old.

You Judgemental Bastards: 129

"Well," I said brightly. "Looks like we have a pet."

“You’re not allergic to cats, are you? If you are, too fucking bad.”

I turned so that Stevie Rae could see Nala squished against my hip. "Here, help me before I drop something. If it's the cat she'll probably never stop complaining.”

She never stops complaining either way.

"She's adorable!" Stevie Rae leaped up and rushed over to try to take Nala from me, but the cat clung to me as though someone would kill her if she let go, so Stevie Rae took my food instead and set it on my bedside table.

"Hey, that dress is amazing.”

Oh, not again… Haven’t we had enough fawning over Zoey already?

"Yeah, I changed before the ritual." Which reminded me that I was going to have to give it back to Aphrodite. Fine. I was not keeping the "gift," even though Erik had said I should. Anyway, returning it seemed like a good time to "thank" her for "forgetting" to clue me in about the blood. Hag bitch.

She wouldn’t have had to clue you in if you weren’t such a moron. You could have figured it out for yourself if that one brain cell of yours wasn’t working overtime just to keep you alive.

"So…how was it?”

I sat on my bed and gave Nala a pretzel,

Why would you give a cat a pretzel?

which she promptly started batting around (at least she'd stopped complaining),

Too bad you never do.

then I took a big bite of sandwich. Yes, I was hungry, but I was also buying time. I didn't know what I should tell Stevie Rae, and what I shouldn't. The blood thing was just so confusing—and so gross. Would she think I was awful? Would she be scared of me?

You two really suck at being friends, you know that? She doesn’t trust you not to dump her for Aphrodite, and you don’t trust her not to think of you as a monster.

I swallowed and decided to steer the conversation to a safer topic. "Erik Night walked me home.”

"Get out!" She bobbed up and down on the bed like a country jack-in-the-box.

There’s something distinctly demeaning about that phrase…

"Tell me everything.”

"He kissed me," I said, crinkling my eyebrows at her.

"You have got to be kidding! Where? How? Was it good?”

"He kissed my hand." I decided quickly to lie.

See what I mean? You can’t trust each other! You’re sitting there blatantly lying to her, when you have absolutely no reason to!

What’s more, this is proof positive of Zoey being an unreliable narrator. Even though we’re seeing things from her point of view, we see how things happen, it still makes me wonder how much of that is the truth. How can we trust that she’s not playing things up to make herself look better/more sympathetic?

I didn't want to explain the whole wrist/pulse/blood/bite thing.

Because you never want to think about anything, ever. I’m starting to regret not counting all the instances she decided she just didn’t want to think about something, regardless of whether or not she actually had a decent reason for it. I’m willing to bet that count would get rather high by the end.

"It was when he said good night. We were right in front of the dorm. And, yes, it was good." I grinned at her around another mouthful of sandwich.

Ew. Have some manners and swallow your food first, will you?

"I'll bet Aphrodite shit puppies when you left the rec hall with him.”

"Well, actually, I left before him and he caught up with me. I'd, uh, gone for a walk along the wall, which is where I found Nala," I scratched the cat's head. She curled up next to me, closed her eyes, and started purring. "Actually, I think she found me. Anyway, I had climbed up on the wall because I thought she needed rescuing, and then—and you will not believe this—I saw something that looked like Elizabeth's ghost, and then my almost-ex-boyfriend from SIHS, Heath, and my ex–best friend showed up.”

*sighs* This is one thing I hate about these books. For some reason, PCK always makes the decision that we must have forgotten about what just happened, and so we must be reminded of every minute detail, because surely we need it.

HINT. WE DON’T.

"What? Who? Slow down. Start with Elizabeth's ghost.”

I shook my head and chewed. Through bites of sandwich I explained. "It was really creepy and really weird. I was sitting up there on the wall petting Nala, and something caught my attention. I looked down and there was this girl standing not too far away from me. She looked up at me, with red glowing eyes, and I swear it was Elizabeth.”

"No way! Were you totally freaked?”

"Totally. The second she saw me she gave this horrible shriek and then ran off.”

She saw you for the Mary Sue you were and decided to GTFO before you infected her. Smart girl.

"I would have been scared shitless.”

"I was, only I hardly had time to think about it when Heath and Kayla showed up.”

Not that you would have stopped to think about it had they not shown up. You would have firmly decided that clearly that wasn’t Elizabeth, and clearly you were imagining things, and shoved that idea right out of your empty little mind, never to be thought of again.

Tell me I’m wrong.

"What do you mean? How could they be here?”

Given how easy it apparently is to scale the walls around the campus, I’m surprised that people don’t get in all the time. It’s not exactly a heavily-fortified area.

"No, not here, they were outside the wall. They must have heard me trying to settle Nala down after she completely freaked at Elizabeth's ghost, because they came running up.”

…actually, now that I think about it, doesn’t this seem a little bit too convenient? Heath and Kayla just happened to be there on the same night and at the same time that Zoey just happened to be there, and they just happened to choose the correct section of wall.

What would have happened if Zoey hadn’t been there? Would they have scaled the wall and stormed the campus looking for her? Why are there no security measures in place to prevent this exact thing from happening? Or worse for that matter? We’ve already seen that there are quite a few people who hate vampires, yet here’s a school full of them, just ripe for the slaughter. If sneaking in and out is as simple as climbing over a wall, how has this place not been burned to the ground yet, with everyone inside?

"Nala saw her, too?” I nodded.

Stevie Rae shivered. "Then she must have really been there."

Because you didn’t believe Zoey, but you’ll believe a cat? You really don’t trust Zoey farther than you can throw her, do you?

"Are you sure she's dead?" My voice was almost a whisper. "There couldn't have been some mistake made and she's still alive but wandering around the school?" It sounded ridiculous, but not much more ridiculous than me seeing an actual ghost.

I love how Zoey just conveniently forgets that she saw her ancestors just a couple of days ago when she was tripping balls having her little out of body experience after going to try to find her grandmother. Ghosts and spirits clearly exist in this universe, and yet Zoey can’t seem to wrap her teeny-tiny little mind around that concept.

So…business as usual, then.

Stevie Rae swallowed hard. "She's dead. I saw her die. Everyone in class did.”

She looked like she was going to cry and the whole subject was creeping me out, so I shifted to a less scary topic.

AGAIN. DO YOU EVER TAKE THE TIME TO THINK ABOUT ANYTHING?! No wonder your brain is atrophying; you never give it the chance to actually exercise!

And I’m not even going to be kind and say that Zoey was only changing the subject because she saw it was upsetting Stevie Rae, because she’s not. Look at the rest of that sentence.

“and the whole subject was creeping me out”. She’s not going to talk or think about it anymore because it’s creeping her out; screw what Stevie Rae thinks or feels.

What a selfish bitch.

"Well, I could be wrong. Maybe it was just some kid with weird eyes who looked like her. It was dark,

You can see in the dark, you moron.

and then Heath and Kayla were suddenly there.”

"What was that all about?”

Forget about the obvious dead girl wandering around campus with scary glowing red eyes, LET’S GOSSIP!

"Heath said they came to 'bust me out’," I rolled my eyes. "Can you imagine?”

"Are they stupid?”

You Judgemental Bastards: 130

"Apparently.

Fuck you.

You Judgemental Bastards: 131

Oh, and then Kayla, my ex-best friend, made it obvious that she's after Heath!”

Which you have no right to protest over, because you were never going out with him in the first place!

Stevie Rae gasped. "Slut!”

You Judgemental Bastards: 132

"No kidding.

FUCK YOU.

You Judgemental Bastards: 133

Anyway, I told them to leave and not come back, and then I got upset, which is when Erik found me.”

"Aww! Was he sweet and romantic?”

"Yeah, he was, kinda. And he called me Z.”

"Oooh, a nickname is a seriously good sign.”

No, it’s a seriously creepy sign. That was his first real conversation with her. He should not be giving her any kind of nickname!

"That's what I thought.”

Well, aren’t we humble?

"So then he walked you back to the dorm?”

"Yeah, he said that he'd take me to get something to eat, but the only thing that was still open was the rec hall, and I didn't want to go back there." Ah, crap. I knew right away that I shouldn't have said that much.

Aren’t these two just the best of friends, guys? It’s so sweet, how they trust each other and tell each other everything.

"Were the Dark Daughters awful?”

No, they were actually quite friendly and welcoming. Let’s see how Zoey spins that to make them look absolutely terrible, while looking down her nose at them the whole time.

I looked at Stevie Rae with her big deer-like eyes, and knew I couldn't tell her about drinking blood. Not yet. "Well, you know how Neferet was sexy and beautiful and classy?”

Here it comes.

Stevie Rae nodded.

"Aphrodite did basically what Neferet did, but she looked like a ho.”

You Judgemental Bastards: 134

Funny how you still couldn’t seem to take your eyes off of her. Very telling, that.

"I've always thought that she was really nasty," Stevie Rae said, shaking her head in disgust.

You Judgemental Bastards: 135

No, you don’t! You’re so terrified of her you practically piss yourself every time she gets close to you!

"Tell me about it."

You Judgemental Bastards 136

Jesus, it never stops…

I looked at Stevie Rae and blurted, "Yesterday, right before Neferet took me here to the dorm I saw Aphrodite trying to give Erik a blow job.”

"No way! Jeesh, she's disgusting. Wait, you said she was trying to do it. What's up with that?”

"He was telling her no and pushing her away. He said he didn't want her anymore.”

And yet you said that you were still thinking about judging him for that, even though he was clearly the victim. Fucking bitch.

Stevie Rae giggled. "I'll bet that made her lose what little of her mind she has left.”

You Judgemental Bastards: 137

Says the girl practically humping the leg of someone so ridiculously stupid she has to have things explained to her in words of one syllable or less, and still doesn’t seem able to grasp the concept most of the time.

I remembered how she'd been all over him, even when he was clearly telling her no. "Actually, I would have felt sorry for her if she hadn't been so…so…" I struggled to put it into words.

Oh, bullshit. Don’t even try that! You haven’t felt sympathy for anyone in your life, unless you’re wallowing in your own self-pity.

"Hag from hell–like?" Stevie Rae offered helpfully.

You Judgemental Bastards: 138

"Yeah, I guess that's it. She has this attitude, like it's her right to be as mean and nasty as she wants to be, and we should all just bow down and accept her.”

The lack of self-awareness here is mind-boggling. Zoey, LOOK IN A MIRROR. YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF.

Stevie Rae nodded. "That's how her friends are, too."

No, they’re not. Apart from there at the end when they were sneering at Elliott, they were perfectly pleasant. Zoey clearly isn’t the only unreliable narrator here.

"Yeah, I met the awful triplets.”

"You mean Warlike, Terrible, and Wasp?”

"Exactly. What were they thinking when they took those horrid names?" I said, popping pretzels in my mouth.

You Judgemental Bastards: 139

I…I just… Words. I have none.

"They were thinking exactly what that entire group of hers thinks—that they are better than everyone else and untouchable because nasty Aphrodite is going to be the next High Priestess.”

Says the peon of Zoey, who thinks she is better than everyone else and untouchable, not necessarily because she’s going to be the High Priestess (even though everyone already knows that’s where this is going) but just because she believes herself to be that awesome.

Also, how does choosing a name you like mean you think you’re better than everyone else? Your accusations are not adding up here, genius.

I spoke the next words as they whispered through my mind. "I don't think Nyx will allow that.”

Only Zoey gets to be all high and mighty, dammit! And again, Nyx playing puppet master and literally putting words in Zoey’s mouth is starting to get creepy. It’s starting to border on mind control.

"What do you mean? They are already the 'in' group, and Aphrodite has been leader of the Dark Daughters since her affinity became obvious during her fifth former year.”

"What's her affinity?”

"She gets visions, like of future tragedies," Stevie Rae scowled.

That’s…not what ‘affinity’ means.

"Do you think she fakes them?”

"Oh, heck no! She's amazingly accurate. What I think, and Damien and the Twins agree with me, is that she only tells about the visions if she has one when she's around people outside her little group.”

"Wait, are you saying she knows about bad things that are going to happen in time to stop them, but she doesn't do anything about it?”

Or maybe she has visions of things that can’t be stopped. Just because you see something that’s about to happen doesn’t mean you can necessarily do anything about it. In fact, that’s one of the biggest conceits of visions or predictions of the future—is it something that can be changed, or is the future an inevitability? Sure, you can see what’s going to happen, but it’s entirely likely that you’re powerless to do anything about it. Maybe you see it too late, and by the time you get into a position where you potentially could stop it, it’s already happened. Or maybe it’s something completely out of your control, like a tornado ripping through the middle of a city. Sure, you could maybe warn people before it hits, telling them to get into shelter, but there’s nothing you can do to actually stop the tornado itself. And even if you did warn them, what guarantee is there that they would believe you?

"Yep. Last week she had a vision during lunch, but the hags closed ranks around her and started leading her out of the dining hall. If Damien hadn't run right into them because he was late and hurrying in to lunch, making them scatter so that he could see that Aphrodite was in the middle of a vision, no one would ever have known. And a whole plane full of people would probably be dead.”

If they were leading her out of the dining hall—probably to take her somewhere private, so people wouldn’t gawk at her—how do you know they weren’t going to tell anyone about what she saw? You don’t. You’re just assuming that she wouldn’t, because you’re determined to paint her as the evilest person ever.

I choked on a pretzel. Between coughs I sputtered, "A plane full of people! What the hell?”

"Yeah, Damien could tell Aphrodite was having a vision, so he got Neferet. Aphrodite had to tell her the vision, which was seeing a jet crash just after takeoff. Her visions are so clear that she could describe the airport and read the numbers on the tail of the plane. Neferet took that info and contacted the Denver airport. They double-checked the plane and found some problem that they hadn't noticed before, and said that if they hadn't fixed it the plane would have crashed immediately after takeoff. But I know darn well Aphrodite wouldn't have said a word if she hadn't been caught, even though she made up a big lie about her friends leading her from the dining hall because they knew she'd want to be taken to Neferet right away. Total b.s.”

I don’t believe a word of what you’re saying. You’re just as much of an unreliable narrator as Zoey is! We didn’t see any of this happen, so how do we know you’re not just making every bit of this up? You clearly don’t like Aphrodite, and it’s not at all out of the realm of possibility that you would twist the truth, or even flat-out lie to make her look bad.

I started to say that I couldn't believe that even Aphrodite and her hags would purposefully allow the death of hundreds of people, but then I remembered the hateful stuff they'd said that night— Human men suck…They should all die—and I realized they hadn't just been talking; they'd been serious.

Or maybe they were just teenagers being dramatic. I’m not saying that kind of viewpoint is a good one, but that’s how they think sometimes. Need further proof? Look at Zoey herself, Miss I-Hope-My-Whole-Family-Drowns. Either way you slice it, it doesn’t look good for Zoey. Either she was being dramatic, in which case she has no right to assume that Aphrodite’s girls were serious, or she did mean it, which makes her just as foul as they are.

"So why didn't Aphrodite lie to Neferet? You know, tell her a different airport or switch the numbers of the plane around or something?”

Because she’s really not as horrible as you’re so desperately trying to make her out to be.

"Vamps are almost impossible to lie to, especially when they ask you a direct question. And, remember, Aphrodite wants to be a High Priestess more than anything. If Neferet believed she was as twisted as she is, it would seriously hurt her future plans.”

Neferet doesn’t give a damn about Aphrodite. She thinks Aphrodite deserves every bad thing that happens to her. And no, that’s not me being facetious. That’s fact.

"Aphrodite has no business being a High Priestess. She's selfish and hateful, and so are her friends.”

So is Zoey, and so are you.

"Yeah, well, Neferet doesn't think so, and she was her mentor.”

I blinked in surprise. "You've got to be kidding! And she doesn't see through Aphrodite's crap?" That couldn't be right; Neferet is way smarter than that.

Uh, hello, present tense?

Stevie Rae shrugged. "She acts different around Neferet."

"But still…”

"And she does have a powerful affinity, which has to mean that Nyx has special plans for her.”

No, it just means she gets to be everyone’s whipping girl, even though she’s the most sympathetic character in the entire series.

"Or she's a demon from hell, and she gets her power from the dark side. Hello! Has no one seen Star Wars? It was hard to believe Anakin Skywalker would turn, and look what happened there.”

Name Drop: 63

"Uh, Zoey. That's like total fiction.”

"Still, I think it makes a good point.”

"Well, try telling that to Neferet.”

I chewed my sandwich and thought about it.

How have you not finished that thing yet? That has to be the biggest sandwich ever made! Is it one of those ten-foot-long subs or something?

Maybe I should. Neferet did seem way too smart to fall for Aphrodite's games. She probably already knew something was up with the hags.

You Judgemental Bastards: 140

Maybe all she needed was someone to stand up and say something to her.

Yes, Zoey, because Neferet knows you and Aphrodite don’t like each other, but she would totally believe you if you came to her and tried to crucify Aphrodite.

…except how she absolutely would, because Zoey can do no wrong. I hate this series, and I hate these characters.

"So, has anyone ever tried to tell Neferet about Aphrodite?" I asked.

"Not that I know of.”

"Why not?”

Maybe because you have no proof of any of this!

Stevie Rae looked uncomfortable. "Well, I think it seems kinda tattletale-like. Anyway, what would we tell Neferet? That we think Aphrodite might hide her visions, but that the only proof we have is that she's a hateful bitch.”

No, Zoey is a hateful bitch, and you’re well on your way to becoming one yourself.

Stevie Rae shook her head. "No, I can't see that going over very well with Neferet. Plus, if by some miracle she believed us, what would Neferet do? It's not like she's going to kick her out of the school so she can cough herself to death on the streets. She'd still be here with her pack of hags and all those guys who would do anything for her if she snapped her little clawed fingers at them.

You Judgemental Bastards: 141

I guess it's just not worth it.”

Stevie Rae had a point, but I didn't like it. I really, really didn't like it.

And god forbid anyone dares to inconvenience Zoey.

Things might be different if a more powerful fledgling took Aphrodite's place as leader of the Dark Daughters.

Jesus, that didn’t sound distinctly villainous or anything…

I jumped guiltily, and covered it by taking a big gulp of pop. What was I thinking? I wasn't power hungry.

Yes, you are.

I didn't want to be a High Priestess or get caught up in a pain-in-the-ass battle with Aphrodite and half the school (the more attractive half, at that).

Wait, what? Half the school? Where did you get that from? I thought there were only about twenty fledglings at Aphrodite’s ritual. Now it’s suddenly half the school?

And don’t even ask me what that ‘the more attractive half’ addition was supposed to be. I don’t know.

I just wanted to find a place for myself in this new life, a place that felt like home—a place where I fit in and was like the rest of the kids.

Don’t even pretend to be humble, Zoey. Don’t. Even. You don’t want to be like everyone else, you want to be worshiped like the goddess you think you are.

Speshul Snowflake: 144

Then I remembered the electric jolts I'd felt during the casting of both circles, and how the elements had seemed to sizzle through my body, and also how I had had to force myself to stay in the circle and not join Aphrodite in the casting.

Speshul Snowflake: 145

I thought Aphrodite was behaving like a ho. I guess it’s only ho-like behavior if Aphrodite does it. When Zoey does it, it’s perfectly acceptable.

"Stevie Rae, when a circle's being cast, do you feel anything?" I asked abruptly.

“Enough about Aphrodite, let’s get back to praising me.”

Speshul Snowflake: 146

"What do you mean?”

"Well, like when fire's called to the circle. Do you ever feel hot?”

Speshul Snowflake: 147

"Nah. I mean, I really like the circle stuff, and sometimes when Neferet is praying I feel a zap of energy traveling through the circle itself, but that's it.”

"So you've never felt a breeze when wind's called, or smelled rain with water, or felt grass under your feet with earth?”

Speshul Snowflake: 148

"No way. Only a High Priestess with a major affinity for the elements would—" She broke off suddenly and her eyes got huge. "Are you saying that you felt that stuff? Any of that stuff?”

Speshul Snowflake: 149

I squirmed. "Maybe.”

"Maybe!" she squeaked. "Zoey! Do you have any idea what this could mean?” I shook my head.

Oh god, here it comes.

Speshul Snowflake: 150

"Just last week in Soc class we were studying about the most famous vamp High Priestesses in history. There hasn't been a priestess with an affinity for all four of the elements for hundreds of years.”

Speshul Snowflake: 151

"Five," I said miserably.

Oh, don’t pretend you’re not loving this, you whore.

"All five! You felt something with spirit, too!”

"Yeah, I think so.”

Speshul Snowflake: 152

"Zoey! This is amazing.

Speshul Snowflake: 153

I don't think there's ever been a High Priestess who felt all five of the elements."

Speshul Snowflake: 154

She nodded at my Mark. "It's that. It means you're different, and you really are.”

Speshul Snowflake: 155

*sobs* …I hate everything right now. Everything.

"Stevie Rae, can we just keep this between us for a while? I mean, not even tell Damien or the Twins? I just—I just want to try to figure this out on my own a little. I feel like everything's happening too fast.”

“The very idea of having even more people fawning over me and telling me how amazing and awesome and special I am! Oh, however will I bear up under the strain!”

"But Zoey, I—”

"And I might be wrong," I interrupted quickly.

You’re not. Even in terms of speshul snowflakes, you’re speshul.

…and I think I just hurt myself saying that.

"What if I was just excited and nervous because I'd never been in a ritual before? Do you know how embarrassed I'd be if I told people 'hey, I'm the only fledgling ever to have an affinity for all the elements' and it turned out to be nerves?”

Except we all know it’s the truth, so don’t even try.

Speshul Snowflake: 156

Stevie Rae chewed her cheek. "I dunno, I still think you should tell someone.”

"Yeah, then Aphrodite and her herd could be right there to gloat if it turned out that I was imagining things.”

Uh, no, she said you should tell someone. Not that you should tell everyone. Like, oh, say, your mentor, perhaps?

Stevie Rae paled. "Oh, man. You're totally right. That would be really awful. I won't say anything till you're ready. Promise.”

Her reaction reminded me. "Hey, what is it Aphrodite did to you?”

Mind your own business, you nosy bitch.

Stevie Rae looked down at her lap, clasped her hands together, and hunched her shoulders as if she suddenly felt a chill. "She invited me to a ritual. I hadn't been here very long, only about a month or so, and I was kinda excited that the 'in' group wanted me.” She shook her head, still not looking at me. "It was stupid of me, but I didn't really know anyone very well yet, and I thought maybe they would be my friends. So I went. But they didn't want me to be one of them. They wanted me to be a—a—blood donor for their ritual. They even called me 'refrigerator: like I wasn't good for anything except holding blood for them.

STILL A STUPID NAME. I WILL NEVER LET THAT GO.

They made me cry and when I said no they laughed at me and kicked me out. That's how I met Damien, and then Erin and Shaunee. They were hanging out together and they saw me run out of the rec hall, so they followed me and told me not to worry about it. They've been my friends ever since." She finally looked up at me. "I'm sorry. I would have said something to you before, except I knew they wouldn't try that with you. You're too strong, and Aphrodite is too curious about your Mark.

Speshul Snowflake: 157

Plus, you're beautiful enough to be one of them.”

Speshul Snowflake: 158

"Hey, so are you!" I felt sick to my stomach thinking about Stevie Rae being slumped in the chair like Elliott…about drinking Stevie Rae's blood.

So again, imagining Stevie Rae in what is objectively a horrifying situation is once again…all about Zoey. “Oh, Stevie Rae might have been used as a juice box, but more importantly, I might have had to drink her blood! Woe is me!”

"No, I'm just kinda cute. I'm not them.”

"I'm not them, either!" I yelled, causing Nala to wake up and mutter restlessly at me.

Shut up, you mangy hairball.

"I know you're not. That's not what I meant. I just meant that I knew they would want you in their group, so they wouldn't try to use you like that.”

Speshul Snowflake: 159

No, they managed to trick me and tried their best to freak me out.

They only ‘tricked’ you because you’re too goddamn stupid to figure out the obvious!

 But why? Wait! I knew what they'd been up to. Erik said that the first time he drank blood he'd hated it, and had run out puking. I'd been here only two days. They'd wanted to do something that would disgust me so badly that I'd be scared away from them and their ritual forever.

Personally, I don’t get why they didn’t just go full Carrie at the prom with the pig’s blood, but that’s just me. Would have worked just as well, and we would have gotten the awesome visual of Zoey being taken down a notch or ten while being covered in disgusting blood. At least poor Carrie was sympathetic and a complete victim; Zoey would have totally deserved it.

They didn't want me to be part of the Dark Daughters, but they also didn't want to tell Neferet they didn't want me. Instead, they wanted me to refuse to join them. For whatever twisted reason, bully Aphrodite wanted to keep me out of the Dark Daughters. Bullies have always pissed me off, which meant, unfortunately, I knew what I had to do.

Says the most judgemental bitch on the planet. I’m serious; look at that count!

Ah, crap. I was going to join the Dark Daughters.

Or you could just be the bigger, more mature person and have nothing to do with them.

"Zoey, you're not mad at me, are you?" Stevie Rae said in a small voice. I blinked, trying to clear my thoughts. "Of course not! You were right; Aphrodite didn't try to get me to do anything like giving blood." I popped the last bite of sandwich into my mouth, chewing fast. "Hey, I'm really beat. Do you think you could help me find a litter box for Nala so that I can get some sleep?”

“I know she’s supposed to be my cat, but go do all of my chores and preparations, minion! I need my beauty sleep!”

Stevie Rae instantly brightened, and hopped off the bed with her usual perkiness. "Check this out." She practically skipped to the side of the room and held up a big green bag that had FELICIA'S SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE STORE, 2616 S. HARVARD,TULSA printed in bold white letters across it.

Name Drop: 64

Because that really wasn’t necessary. We didn’t need to know the name of the store, or the details of where it’s located.

From it she dumped onto the floor a litter box, food and water dishes, a box of Friskies cat food (with extra hairball protection),

Name Drop: 65

Could have just said a box of cat food.

and a sack of kitty litter.

How big is that fucking bag?!

"How did you know?”

"I didn't. It was sitting in front of our door when I got back from dinner.” She reached into the bottom of the bag and pulled out an envelope and an adorable pink leather collar that had miniature silver spikes all around it. "Here, this is for you.”

You know, typically it’s dogs that wear spiky leather collars, not cats.

She handed me the envelope, which I could now see had my name printed on it, while she coaxed Nala into her collar. Inside, written in a beautiful, flowing script on expensive bone-colored stationary was one line.

Skylar told me she was coming. It was signed with a single letter: N.

 

Speshul Snowflake: 159
Name Drop: 65
You Judgemental Bastards: 141