House of Night 09 - Destined

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.
    “I want to believe, too,” Zoey said softly as if she could read Stevie Rae’s mind.
    “Well, I want to believe that when I step out of this room and down the hall I’m going to be instantly transported to a suite at the Ritz-Carlton on Grand Cayman Island. I understand the rest of you are sun challenged, but I could use a little shake and bake.” Aphrodite paused and gave Darius a sexy grin. “I’ll take care of the baking part if you can handle the shaking.”
    Stevie Rae stood up and yawned. “Okay, before y’all get totally gross I’m gonna go pass out. I’ll see everybody at dusk.”
    “Ugh, school and no Ritz. Double ugh, reality,” Aphrodite said. “Goddess, I’m glad tomorrow is Friday.” She raised a blond brow at Zoey. “I can promise you I’m doing some serious shop and redecorate this weekend. Battling evil, Darkness, or whatever is just gonna have to wait.”
    “Hey, speaking of rooms, does anyone know where Erik put Shaylin?” Stevie Rae asked around another huge yawn.
    “Elizabeth No Last Name’s room,” Damien said.
    “Kinda creepy,” Stevie Rae said.
    “It’s not like she’s using it,” Aphrodite said.
    “I’m going to bed,” Z said. “’Night guys.”
    Everyone called “night” to her, but Stevie Rae watched her walk slowly away down toward Dallas’s old room that she and Stark were making their own. Her steps were slow and her shoulders were