“She didn’t eat them, did she?” Stevie Rae asked, crossing her fingers behind her back.

“No, but she didn’t pay them, either,” Aphrodite said. “She just made them do her bidding and then leave and forget all of it. I think I’m taking her with me to New York City next time Yoana Baraschi has a trunk show.”

“No,” Zoey said. “Just no.” Then she looked at Stevie Rae. “Are you really awake? Stark and all the red fledglings, including Miss Kramisha Make-Them-Do-My-Bidding are sound asleep.”

Stevie Rae grabbed a Mountain Dew and joined them at the table, sitting heavily and yawning. “Yeah, barely. It’s easier to stay awake during the day down here, but I gotta tell ya, I’m pretty dang tired. Stark’s asleep already?”

“Yeah.” Stevie Rae thought Z looked worried. “He’s been having problems sleeping since, well, you know—he came back from the Otherworld. So when he passes out I just let him alone.”

“It’ll take a while, but he’ll be back to normal soon,” Stevie Rae said.

“I hope so,” Zoey said and chewed at her lip.

“Speaking of boyfriends, is yours a bird?” Aphrodite asked her.

“Yes.” Stevie Rae gave her a narrowed-eye look. “And I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“But we do need to know exactly why the Raven Mockers were at the school today,” Darius said, not unkindly, “And since Rephaim is unable to answer our questions we’re hoping you can.”

“I thought this meeting was about the True Sight stuff,” Stevie Rae said, feeling immediately defensive of Rephaim.

“It is, but it’s also a catch-up meeting,” Damien said. “I think we need one, don’t you?”

There was just no way to argue with Damien, especially when he had that sweet, concerned look on his face. Stevie Rae met his eyes. “Yeah, I think we do. So, to start with, how are you holdin’ up?”

Damien blinked several times, like he was surprised by the question, which made Stevie Rae feel like crap. Had everydangbody forgotten Damien had lost his boyfriend just days ago?

“It was better being at school today. It felt like a step toward normal.” Damien spoke slowly and carefully, as if he had to think about each word. “But I missed Jack a lot. Actually, and I know this might sound crazy, but I kept expecting to see him around every corner in the hallway.”

“That’s not crazy,” Zoey said. “I keep expecting to see Heath, too. It’s hard and just plain wrong when someone dies too soon.” Everyone watched the different expressions play across Z’s face, and then she added, “My mom, too. I know I’ve been at the House of Night since last year, and even before that she and I hadn’t been close for a while, but it’s hard to really get that she’s dead. So I understand what you mean about Jack.”

“That makes it better, too,” Damien said. “The fact that you guys understand what it’s like to lose someone close to you.” He smiled at Stevie Rae. “So, my answer to your question is that I’m holding up as well as can be expected.”

“Good. Next question, or actually back to the original question,” Aphrodite said. “What were the birdboys doing at the House of Night?”

“Kalona sent ’em. They were supposed to tell Rephaim that his daddy will take him back as soon as he admits he made a mistake choosing me and the Goddess.” Stevie Rae shook her head. “Sometimes I think Kalona’s just plain dumb.”

“What do you mean?” Z asked.

“Heck, Rephaim hasn’t even been my official boyfriend for a month. You’d think his daddy’d at least give us a chance to have our first fight before he was all ‘oooh, you’ve made a mistake.’”

“What exactly was Rephaim’s response?” Darius asked.

“Well, what do you think it was? Jeeze Louise, he’s still here.” Stevie Rae felt her anger build. “He told them to tell Kalona that he hadn’t made a mistake and he wasn’t comin’ back. Period. The end.”

“Yeah, but is it?” Aphrodite said.

“Is it what?” she asked.

“Is it the end? Isn’t Kalona going to keep hanging around, trying to get Rephaim to see the light or whatever?”

“So what if he does? Rephaim isn’t on his team anymore. He hasn’t been for a long time.”

“So you say.”

“So he says!” Stevie Rae felt like she was going to explode. “So his dad says. So his brothers say. So even Nyx says! The dang Goddess herself showed up and forgave him. What the hell does Rephaim have to do to prove to you guys he’s changed?”

“Hey, no one’s saying Rephaim has to prove anything,” Zoey said, sending Aphrodite a you’re not helping look. “But we do need to know if something is up with Kalona and the Raven Mockers.”

“Z, nothin’s up with them. Well, except that it really hurt Rephaim that that dang bull kid killed one of ’em. Seriously, guys, his brothers weren’t doin’ anything except talkin’ to him. Dragon showed up, pissed of course, but we all get that because of Anastasia. Still, the Raven Mockers were just defendin’ themselves. Aurox is the one we should be askin’ questions about.”

“Yeah, except that we don’t have Aurox answers here—and we should have Rephaim answers,” Aphrodite said.

“I gave you his answers.” Even as weak and tired as she felt because it was past sunrise, Stevie Rae automatically began pulling power from the earth. Not that she’d really hurt Aphrodite, but the girl definitely needed a good smack.

“Hey, you’re glowing green,” Z said.

“Well, I’m pissed!” Stevie Rae saw Darius move closer to Aphrodite, which really annoyed her. “You know what, Darius, you need to check yourself. We’re all on the same side here, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get pissed at each other once in a while.”

“I think we can all understand that. Isn’t that right, Darius?” Damien said in his calmest, most soothing voice.

“Yes, of course,” Darius said.

Aphrodite snorted.

“So, basically, Rephaim said no to Kalona and the Raven Mockers were just the messengers,” Z said. “Right?”

“Totally right,” Stevie Rae said.

“Okay, let’s move on to True Sight.” Zoey looked at Damien. “Want to summarize what you’ve found out?”

“Yeah, but it’s not much. There’s only a short reference to it in the advanced handbook. Basically, it’s rare and it hasn’t happened for a long time. Like as in more than a couple hundred years. It’s frustrating because there isn’t a lot of documentation about it, but from what I could find it seems that a fledgling or vampyre gifted with True Sight—and they’re usually vampyres, by the way—has the ability to see the truth about people.”

“That’s a handy little gift,” Aphrodite said.

“You’d think so, but the problem is that the ‘seeing’ is only as accurate as the person with the gift,” Damien said.

“Huh?” Zoey said.

“Okay, it’s like this: Shaylin has to be good at using her gift. She has to understand what she’s seeing and interpret it accurately,” Damien said.

“And if she doesn’t, it’s just a bunch of colors?” Zoey said.

“Worse,” Damien said. “Because with True Sight it’s never just a bunch of colors. We all know she’s seeing inside someone’s soul.” He shook his head. “In the handbook there were excerpts of stories about how True Sight has been misunderstood and misused. It can be bad, really bad.”

“How about guidelines or rules or whatnot?” Z asked.

“None. It’s different for everyone who has the Sight,” Damien said.

“So we’re just shootin’ in the dark,” Stevie Rae said, feeling totally overwhelmed. “Again.”

“I think that depends entirely on what kind of person Shaylin is,” Damien said.

“She’s buddied up to Erik, which isn’t a great sign,” Aphrodite said.

“Hey, some of us who used to be buddied up with Erik have turned out okay,” Zoey said. “And plus, a girl who can see his true colors could be really good for him.”

Aphrodite snorted. “If she can actually translate them correctly—or whatever you want to call it.”

“I want to believe that she can,” Damien said.

“Yeah, me too,” Stevie Rae said, but who she was really thinking about was Rephaim and Kalona. Please, Nyx, let Rephaim be able to see the truth. As she sent up the fervent but silent prayer, her eyes lifted and she met her BFF’s gaze.