"Holy shit."

"Exactly what I thought."

"Naturally you said you'd be happy to inspire him."

"Naturally," I said.

"And ..." Stevie Rae prompted eagerly.

"And he asked to see my Mark. The one on my shoulders and back."

"He did not."

"He did."

"Man, I would have peeled off my shirt faster than you can say Bubba loves trucks!"

I laughed. "Well, I didn't take my shirt off, but I slid my jacket down. Actually, he helped me."

"Are you telling me Loren Blake, Vampyre Poet Laureate and hottest f-ing male on two feet, helped you off with your jacket like an old-time gentleman?"

"Yeah. Like this." I demonstrated by pushing my jacket down around my elbows. "And then I don't exactly know what came over me, but all of a sudden I wasn't all nervous and stupid-acting. I took the strap of my tank off for him. Like this." I pushed my tank strap down, exposing my back and shoulder and a good part of my breast (relieved all over again that I had on my good black bra). "That's when he touched me. Again."

"Where?"

"He traced the pattern of my Mark on my back and shoulder. He told me that I look like an ancient vampyre queen and recited the poem to me."

"Holy shit," Stevie Rae said again.

I plopped down on my bed facing her and sighed, pulling the strap of my tank back up. "Yeah, it was amazing for a little while. I was sure we connected. Really connected. I think he almost kissed me. Actually, I know he wanted to. And then, out of nowhere, he changed. He got all polite and formal and thanked me for showing him my Mark and then he walked away."

"Well, that's no big surprise."

"It sure as hell was to me. I mean, one second he was staring into my eyes and sending major signals that he wanted me and the next—nothing."

"Zoey, you're a student. He's a teacher. This is a vamp school and a whole different world from life at a normal high school, but some things don't change. Students are off-limits to teachers."

I chewed at my lip. "He's only a part-time, temporary teacher."

Stevie Rae rolled her eyes. "As if that matters."

"That's not all that happened. I just found this poem in my locker." I handed her the piece of paper with the haiku on it.

Stevie Rae sucked air. "Ohmygoodness. This is so romantic I could die. How? How did he touch the Mark on your back?"

"Jeesh, how do you think? With his finger. He traced the pat­tern." I swear I could still feel the heat of that touch.

"He recited a love poem to you, touched your Mark, and then wrote a poem for you …" She sighed dreamily. "It's like you're Romeo and Juliet with the whole forbidden lovers thing." In the middle of fanning herself dramatically she stopped and sat straight up again. "Ah oh, what about Erik?"

"What do you mean, what about Erik?"

"He's your boyfriend, Zoey."

"Not officially," I said sheepishly.

"Well, shoot, what does the kid have to do to make it 'official'? Get down on one knee? It's been pretty obvious this past month that y'all are dating."

"I know," I said miserably.

"So do you like Loren more than you like Erik?"

"No! Yes. Oh, hell, I don't know. It's like Loren's in a whole other world. And it's not like he and I can really date, or what­ever." But I wasn't so sure about the whatever. Could Loren and I see each other secretly? Did I want to?

As if she could read my thoughts Stevie Rae said, "You could sneak around and see Loren."

"This is ridiculous. He probably doesn't even feel like that about me." But even as I said the words I remembered the heat of his body and the desire in his dark eyes.

"What if he does, Z?" Stevie Rae was studying me carefully. "You know, you're different than the rest of us. No one has ever been Marked like you before. No one has ever had an affinity for each of the five elements. Maybe the same rules don't apply to you.

My gut clenched. Since I'd arrived at the House of Night I had been struggling to fit in. All I really wanted was to make this new place my home—to have friends I considered family. I didn't want to be different and I didn't want to play by different rules. I shook my head and said through clenched teeth, "I don't want it to be like this, Stevie Rae. I just want to be normal."

"I know," Stevie Rae said softly. "But you are different. Every­one knows that. Plus, don't you want Loren to like you?"

I sighed. "I'm not sure what I want, except that I know I don't want anyone to find out about Loren and me."

"My lips are sealed." Stevie Rae, little Okie dork that she is, pantomimed zipping her lips closed and throwing the key away over her shoulder. "No one's gonna get a word from me," she mumbled through half-sealed lips.

"Hell! That reminds me, Aphrodite saw Loren touching me."

"That hag followed you out to the wall!" Stevie Rae squeaked.

"No no no. No one saw us out there. Aphrodite walked into the media center when he was touching my face."

"Ah, crap."

"Ah, crap, is right. And there's more. Remember when I missed part of Spanish 'cause I wanted to talk to Neferet? I didn't talk to her. I got to her class and the door was cracked, so I could over­hear what was going on inside. Aphrodite was in there."

"That bitch was telling on you!"

"I'm not sure. I only heard a little of what they were saying."

"I'll bet you were totally freaked when Neferet pulled you out of the dining hall to eat with her."

"Totally," I agreed.

"No wonder you looked so sick. Jeesh, it all makes sense now." Then hereyes goteven bigger. "Did Aphrodite get you in trouble with Neferet?"

"No. When Neferet talked to me tonight she said that Aphrodite's visions are false because Nyx has withdrawn her gift. So whatever Aphrodite told her, Neferet didn't believe."

"Good." Stevie Rae looked like she'd like to break Aphrodite in half.

"No, not good. Neferet's reaction was too harsh. She made Aphrodite sob. Seriously, Stevie Rae, Aphrodite was destroyed by what Neferet said to her. Plus, Neferet didn't even sound like her­self."

"Zoey, I cannot believe we're going over this again. You've got to quit feeling sorry for Aphrodite."

"Stevie Rae, you're not getting the point. This isn't about Aphrodite, it's about Neferet. She was cruel. Even if Aphrodite was ratting me out and exaggerating what she saw, Neferet's re­sponse was wrong. And I'm getting a bad feeling about it."

"You're getting a bad feeling about Neferet?"

"Yes … no ... I don't know. It's not just Neferet. It's like it's a mixture of stuff—everything coming down at once. Chris ... Loren … Aphrodite … Neferet … something's off, Stevie Rae."

She looked confused, and I realized she needed an Okie analogy to get it. "You know how it feels right before a tornado hits? I mean when the sky's still clear, but the wind's starting to cool off and change direction. You know something's coming, but you don't always know what. That's how things feel to me right now."

"Like a storm's comin'?"

"Yep. A big one."

"So you want me to...?"

"Help me be a storm watcher."

"I can do that."

"Thanks."

"But first can we be movie watchers? Damien just ordered Moulin Rouge from Netflix. He's bringing it over, and the Twins managed to get their hands on some honest-to-God real chips and non-fat-free dips' She glanced at her Elvis clock. "They're probably downstairs right now pissed because they've been wait­ing for us."

I loved the fact that I could unload what felt like earth-shattering stuff to Stevie Rae and one second she could be "ohmygoodness-ing" and the next talking about something as simple as movies and chips. She made me feel normal and grounded and like everything wasn't so overwhelming and con­fusing. I smiled at her. "Moulin Rouge? Doesn't that have Ewan McGregor in it?"