Revealed

Stark’s feelings and made him feel like shit.
    So, he lay down next to her and blew out the little flicking gas lamp, wishing with everything inside him that Zoey would curl up on his shoulder and put her arms around him and tell him he didn’t need to worry about her wanting to be with Aurox or Heath or
anyone except him.
    Instead, from the darkness, Zoey said, “Why was he out there?”
    Stark sighed. “He was running around the school wall. I didn’t really get why, and he was too wasted to explain it to me.”
    “Running shuts off his mind,” Zoey said.
    “How do you know?”
    There was a short silence, and he could almost hear her thinking, then she said, “It’s what Heath used to do when he had a problem. He’d run himself exhausted and it would shut off his mind.”
    “Oh,” Stark said, feeling shittier by the moment.
    “Where is he now?” she asked.
    “In the basement passed out,” Stark said.
    “I didn’t think he slept.”
    “He may not, but I can promise you he passes out.”
    “Did you turn him on his side so he won’t choke if he pukes?”
    “No, but feel free to go tuck him in yourself if you’re so damn worried about him.”
    “Stark, I was just—”
    “I know what you were
just.
I know the whole thing, Zoey. That’s the problem.”
    “You don’t need to get mad at me,” she said.
    “I’m not mad. I’m tired. The sun’s coming up and I gotta sleep. Good night.” Stark rolled on his side. His back to her, he curled in on himself, wishing that she’d put her arms around him and pull him to her and tell him everything was going to be okay—that they’d figure this thing out
together.
    Instead he heard her say a soft, “’Night.” He felt the bed shift as she rolled away from him.
    Stark had never been so glad to give himself over to the pull of the sun and the dreamless sleep dawn brought with it.
Stevie Rae
    It was always so dang hard to say bye to Rephaim. Stevie Rae rolled over, alone in her bed. She was exhausted—the sun had risen a few minutes ago, and every moment she fought the need to sleep it drained her. But she was really having a hard time shutting off her mind. She couldn’t stop thinking about how much she wished that Rephaim was there with her. She didn’t mean to be ungrateful, but after Erin’s funeral, Thanatos breaking with the High Council, Nicole swearing allegiance to her (
her!
), not to mention Neferet being who-the-heck-ever-knows-where, she would’ve really,
really
liked to snuggle up in Rephaim’s arms and feel safe and loved.
    Instead she’d said bye to him outside a little bit before sunrise and then come up to the room she was sharing with Shaunee. Stevie Rae had taken the bed nearest the big picture window, even though that wasn’t the smartest choice. Their room faced east and got full sunshine in the morning. If they didn’t have blackout drapes she’d be like bacon frying in a skillet.
    But they did have blackout drapes—big, thick dark ones. They were so heavy and so firmly tied together that even though Stevie Rae left the window open all day long while she slept, the strongest breeze didn’t cause them to move. That was a good thing, because she would always leave her window open. What if Rephaim needed to come to her? What if he got in some kind of trouble when he was a raven and needed a safe place to hide? She wanted to believe that something of the boy she loved remained deep within him, even when he was a beast.
    That’s why she wished he’d let her stay and watch him change into a raven. She’d thought a lot about it, and she might try to touch him—to tame him. “
After all,
” she’d told him the day after the Goddess had forgiven Rephaim and gifted him with the form of a human boy during the hours between sunset and sunrise, “
I tamed a beast once before. Maybe I can do it again!”
She’d expected Rephaim to smile and laugh, like he usually did—he seemed so happy around her. But he hadn’t. He’d gotten all serious and taken her hands in his and said, “
When I was a Raven Mocker I had some humanity within me. You have to remember I am different now. When I’m a boy, like now, I’m completely human. When I’m a raven, I’m nothing but a beast. I don’t know you. I don’t know me. I know only the sky and the need to ride the wind.”
    That had scared her. And she’d told him so. She didn’t hide stuff from Rephaim—they were too close for that.
    “But you always come back to me.