Revealed

spun around and started to walk away.
    “Hang on! I was just kidding. Come back.” When Shaylin didn’t stop walking, Aphrodite sighed and added, “Please.”
    Shaylin immediately came back to her. “Please was all you needed to say. Next time try it first.”
    “Fine. Fine. Whatever.”
    Aphrodite looked at Shaylin. Shaylin stared back at her. Aphrodite flipped her hair. Shaylin’s eyes widened. “Are you nervous?”
    “I never get nervous.”
    “You’re fidgeting with your hair.”
    “I’m
flipping
my hair.”
    “You need something from me.” Shaylin smiled.
    “No.
I
don’t need anything from you.
Aphrodite, Prophetess of Nyx,
needs something from you.”
    “If you start talking about yourself in the third person I’m going to get very creeped out.”
    “Just shut it and listen: I had a vision, and it had to do with Zoey losing control of her temper, and bad stuff happening because of it.”
    Shaylin’s smile disappeared. “Did you tell Z?”
    “I don’t think I should. Or at least I don’t think I should right now.”
    “Have you prayed about it and really listened for an answer from Nyx?”
    “Yes, moron. Of course I have. The answer I got is why I’m standing here talking to you and not Zoey.”
    “Don’t call me a moron,” Shaylin said.
    “Then don’t sound like one. You already know something’s up with Z.”
    Shaylin chewed her lip.
    “Well?” Aphrodite pressed.
    “I’m not comfortable talking about this with you.”
    “Forget you’re talking to me. Pretend like we’re one Prophetess talking to another Prophetess about our High Priestess, because that’s actually what we are.” Aphrodite met her gaze. “This isn’t gossip. This isn’t mean. This is us doing our jobs.”
    “Her colors are getting weirder and weirder,” Shaylin said quietly.
    “Weird
er
? Like it’s
been
happening?”
    “Yeah, I talked to her about it in the tunnels. I noticed her colors were getting murky, swirling together, and I told her that it seemed to me that she was confused about something.”
    “And then what?”
    “She said I was kinda right, and basically, that I shouldn’t blab her business around to everyone.”
    “Yeah, I can understand why she’d say that,” Aphrodite said.
    “And now I’ve blabbed and I feel crappy about it.”
    “I’m not going to say anything to anyone—not even Zoey. Shaylin, are Zoey’s colors still murky?”
    “Very, and they’re swirling, almost like the beginning of a whirlpool or the tip of a tornado.”
    “What the hell does that mean?”
    “Anger. Confusion. Frustration. Basically, not good stuff. Okay, here’s an example: Dallas’s colors are
always
swirling.”
    “Shit! Are Zoey’s always swirling?”
    “No, that just started, and it doesn’t keep going. She was swirly when she first came up to the circle tonight, but as Thanatos talked and prayed, she got more and more still and clear. By the time Shaunee lit the pyre she was back to her normal purple with silver flecks. Sorry, I know it’s super confusing,” Shaylin said, shaking her head.
    “Actually, I think you’re doing a good job of describing it.” When Shaylin blinked at her in surprise Aphrodite added, “I told you she’s Aphrodite, Prophetess of Nyx, right now.”
    “Third person—creepy.”
    “Get used to it. Here’s what
the Prophetess
wants you to do—keep watching Zoey and tell me whenever she starts to swirl.”
    “Like, right away?”
    “Yes, moron. Right away.”
    “You’re sounding a lot more like Aphrodite than
the Prophetess
right now,” Shaylin said.
    “That’s because she and I have mind melded. Just do what we say and no one gets hurt,” Aphrodite said.
    “You’re so damn strange,” Shaylin said.
    “Normal is overrated. Do we have a deal?”
    “Do you promise not to tell anyone except Zoey and Nyx what I tell you?”
    Aphrodite hesitated, then nodded. “I promise. You have my oath on it. I wouldn’t gossip about Zoey.”
    Shaylin studied her. “I believe you. Both of you.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN
Aurox
    Aurox wondered if funerals ever got easier. Would it be less sad if he had lived decades of life first? If he had friends he could talk with afterward?
    He walked away from the main group, heading nowhere in particular. No one spoke to him. No one noticed him. But Aurox noticed everything and everyone.
    Shaunee remained beside the burning pyre, crying softly, though the heat of the flames dried her tears almost instantly. Thanatos