Chosen

with how strong my voice suddenly sounded. "And I never laughed at you two, I promise," I told the Twins.
    "Yeah, and your word is something they can really trust," Erik said. "She's a lying slut. She used all of you just like she used me."
    "All right, time for you to shut up now," Aphrodite said.
    Erik laughed, "Oh, that's perfect. One slut standing up for another."
    Aphrodite's eyes narrowed and she lifted her right hand. The branches of the oak closest to Erik's head swayed down toward him and I heard the warning sounding cracking of wood. "You do not want to piss me off anymore," she said. "You claim to care so much for Zoey, but you've turned on her like a mangy-ass dog because she hurt your little ego. And I can verify for the masses that it is little. You did what you came here for, and now it's time for you to leave."
    Erik's brilliant blue eyes flicked back to me, and for a second I thought I saw the old Erik in them—the great guy who had been falling in love with me—but then the pain in his expression drowned out the last of his gentleness. "Fine with me. I'm outta here," he said before walking off.
    I looked at Aphrodite. "Thanks," I said.
    "No problem. I know what it's like to fuck up big time and have people hold it against you forever."
    "You've really been with Professor Blake?" Damien asked.
    I nodded.
    "Holy," Shaunee said.
    "Shit," Erin said.
    "He's really, really handsome," Jack said.
    I took another deep breath and blurted, "Loren Blake is the biggest fucking asshole I've ever known."
    "Wow. You cussed," Aphrodite said.
    "So he was just using you for sex?" Damien said. He was back to patting my shoulder again.
    "Not exactly." I paused and wiped a hand across my face like I could make myself magically say the right thing. It was time to tell them about Stevie Rae. I wished I'd had a chance to practice what I was going to say. I glanced up to see Aphrodite watching me, and felt ridiculously glad she was there. At least she could back me up and maybe help Damien and the Twins understand.
    Then a weird sound came from somewhere on the wall behind me. I wasn't sure I'd actually heard anything at all until Damien looked over my shoulder and said, "What was that?"
    "It's the trapdoor," Aphrodite said. "It's opening."
    A terrible premonition shivered down my spine. I was standing up, making Nala complain loudly and the Twins give me crinkled-forehead looks of confusion when Stevie Rae's voice came from the other side of the opening door.
    "Zoey? It's me."
    I sprinted for the trapdoor, yelling, "No, Stevie Rae! Stay on—"
    And, frowning at me, Stevie Rae walked through the trapdoor in the wall that surrounded the school. "Zoey? I—" she started to say, then she noticed everyone who was standing behind me, and she froze.
    On the ground beside me Nala yowled, and with a wickedly arched back she started to hurl herself at Stevie Rae, hissing and spitting like psycho cat. Thankfully, my fledgling reflexes allowed me to grab her before she got past me. "Nala, no! It's just Stevie Rae," I said, struggling with the freaked-out cat and trying not to get scratched or bit. Stevie Rae had lunged back and was crouching defensively in the shadow of the wall. All I could clearly see of her was the glowing red of her eyes.
    "Stevie Rae?" Damien sounded strangled.
    With a command to "Be good, Nala!" I tossed my cat away so I could focus on my friends, but before I turned to face them I walked over to Stevie Rae. She didn't run away from me, but she definitely looked like she could bolt at any second. And she looked like crap, too. Her face was too thin and pale. She hadn't combed her curly blond hair and it looked matted and dull. Actually, the only thing shiny and healthy about her was her creepily glowing red eyes—and I already knew that wasn't a good sign.
    "How are you?" I asked in a calm, quiet voice.
    "Not good," she said. Her eyes darted over my shoulder, and she cringed. "It's hard to see them again, especially when I feel like I'm losing it."
    "You're not going to lose it," I said firmly. "Brace yourself. They don't know about you."
    "You didn't tell them?" Stevie Rae looked like I'd just slapped her.
    "Long story," I said quickly. "Hey, why are you here?"
    Her brow wrinkled. " 'Cause you texted me and told me to meet you here."
    I closed my eyes against a new wave of pain. Loren. He'd taken my phone. He'd text messaged Stevie Rae. Or more accurately, Neferet had probably done the actual texting. She