Tempted

feelings. He’d been a possessive jerk! And what a damn hypocrite. He’d called me a ho, but it’d taken him less than a day to hook up with someone else. Jeesh.
    “Wait, Erik’s with Venus?” Jack’s voice caught my attention.
    “We broke up last night,” I said, nonchalantly forking pancakes onto my plate and waving at Erin to pass me the platter of bacon.
    “Yeah, that’s what Aphrodite told us. But now he’s with
Venus
? Just like that?” Jack repeated, staring at Erik and the aforementioned Venus, who was spider monkeying all over him so much that I was shocked that he could eat. “I thought he was a nice guy.” Jack sounded totally young and disillusioned, like Erik had just burst his perfect-guy bubble.
    I shrugged. “It’s okay, Jack. Erik’s not really a bad guy. We’re justbad
together
,” I said, hating how upset Jack looked. Wanting to change the subject, I announced, “Aphrodite had another vision.”
    “What did you see?” Damien asked her.
    Aphrodite glanced at me, and I nodded almost imperceptibly. “Kalona burning up vamps and people.”
    “
Burning
them?” Shaunee spoke right up. “Sounds like something I should be able to discourage. I am Miss Fire.”
    “Right you are, Twin,” Erin said.
    “Brain sharers—
you
weren’t in the vision.” Aphrodite jabbed her syrupy fork at the Twins. “Fire and blood and horror and whatnot were. You two were probably shopping.”
    Shaunee and Erin narrowed their eyes at Aphrodite.
    “Where was Zoey?” Damien asked.
    Aphrodite’s gaze found mine as she answered. “Zoey was there. In one of my visions that was a good thing. In the other, not so good.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” Jack asked.
    “The vision was confusing. Seemed like what I saw was a double-edged sword.”
    To me it was obvious that she was stalling, and I was just opening my mouth to tell her to go ahead and tell them everything when Kramisha, who was sitting down the table to my right, raised her arm and waved around the piece of paper she was holding.
    “I know what it means,” she said. “Or I know part a what it means. I wrote this before I went to bed last night.” She smiled at Sister Mary Angela. “After we finished watching that nun movie.”
    “I’m glad you liked it, dear,” Sister Mary Angela said.
    “I did, but I still think them kids was bad.”
    “What are you flailing around?” Aphrodite asked.
    “You could be a little patient,” Kramisha said. “And show some manners. It’s for Zoey anyway. Here, pass it down to her.”
    The piece of paper was passed from person to person till it got to me. As everyone had probably suspected, it was one of Kramisha’s poems. I stifled a sigh.
    As if reading my mind, Aphrodite said, “Please tell me it’s not another one of those prophetic poems. Goddess, they give me a headache.”
    “Better stock up on Tylenol,” I said. I read the first line to myself, blinked, and then looked up at Aphrodite. “What did you say just a second ago? Something about a sword?”
    “She said you bein’ there with Kalona was a double-edged sword. That’s what made me give you the poem now, ’stead of waitin’ for a more private time.” Kramisha’s sharp gaze found Erik, then she added, “I have more sense than some people ’bout puttin’ my business all out in public.”
    “That’s the first line of this poem, ‘A double-edged sword,’” I said.
    “That’s spooky,” said Stevie Rae.
    “Yep,” I said, staring at the poem. “Spooky is a good word for it.”
    “What do you want to do about it?” Damien asked me.
    “I want to take the poem and, with the help of my friends, figure it out. But I want to do it at home,” I said simply.
    Damien smiled and nodded. “Home. That sounds good.”
    I looked at Aphrodite. “What do you think?”
    “I think I miss the Vichy shower in my room,” she said.
    “Darius?” I asked.
    “We have to go back before we can focus on going forward.”
    “Shaunee and Erin?”
    They glanced at each other, and then Erin said, “Home. Definitely.”
    “Stevie Rae?”
    “Well, I have somethin’ to tell y’all before you make any big decisions.”
    “Okay, go ahead,” I said.
    I watched Stevie Rae suck in a big, long breath and then blow it out through her pursed lips, like she was taking an asthma test. Her words followed her breath and she spoke quickly and clearly, letting what she said carry throughout the room.
    “There’re more red