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Feeling like a total butthead, Stevie Rae slaht She wasn&039;t really pissed at Zoey, or at the super-nice, if slightly delusional, nun
Actually, she wasn&039;t pissed at anyone but herself Dang it! I hate that I&039;m messin&039; this up! she yelled at herself She hadn&039;t s up royally, but it seeh a pile of shit that just kept getting deeper and deeper no matter how fast she shoveled Zoey wasn&039;t aThat was obvious, but how could Stevie Rae even start to tell her? There was just so much to explain He was just so much to explain And she&039;d never meant for any of it to happen Especially not the Raven Mocker part Dang it! Before she&039;d discovered hiht it was possible
Had sohed and said, Nope, that ain&039;t gonna happen! But it was possible because it had happened He had happened As Stevie Rae prowled around the silent abbey grounds looking for pain-in-the-butt Erik, who ht very well discover this last,tractor otten herself into such a gaful mess Why had she saved him? Why hadn&039;t she just hollered for Dallas and the rest of &039;em, and had them finish it? That had even been what he&039;d said he wanted before he passed out But he&039;d spoken
He&039;d sounded so human And she hadn&039;t been able to kill him Erik! Where the heck was he? Erik, come here! She paused her internal battle and called into the night Night? Stevie Rae squinted to the east and swore she could see the darkness there beginning to turn the ripe plum color of predawn Erik! Time to report in! Stevie Rae yelled for the third tirounds Stevie Rae&039;s gaze slid over to the green house that had been turned into a te had ridden in their escape froreen house that drew her gaze It was the innocent-looking equip at The shed appeared totally nor with no s The door hadn&039;t even been locked
She should know She&039;d been inside it not too long ago Hey, what&039;s wrong? Did you see so over there? Oh, shit! Stevie Rae ju so hard in her chest she alht outtanoise or somethin&039; before you bust up on so me Stevie Rae brushed a blond curl back behind her ear and tried to ignore the fact that her hand was shaking She was just seriously no good at this sneaking-around-and-hiding-things-from-your- friends stuff But she lifted her chin and forced her nerves to settle down, and the easiest way to do that was to take a chomp out of pain-in-the-butt Erik Stevie Rae narrowed her eyes at him Yeah, I was callin&039; you because you&039;re supposed to be inside with everyone else
What the heck are ya still doin&039; out here, anyway? You&039;re worrying Zoey--like she needs anyfor me? With an effort, Stevie Rae didn&039;t roll her eyes at Erik He was sooooo annoying He acted like Mr Perfect Boyfriend part of the tiant jerk She was gonna have to tell Z about him--that was if Z would still listen to her The two of them hadn&039;t exactly been very close lately Toosquarely between themStevie Rae! Pay attention Did you say Zoey was looking for me? Stevie Rae did roll her eyes then You&039;re supposed to be inside Heath and Dallas and the rest of the kids are Zoey knows that She wanted to knohere the heck you were and why you&039;re not where you&039;re supposed to be If she was that worried she could have come out here herself I didn&039;t say she orried! Stevie Rae snapped, exasperated with Erik&039;s self-absorption And Z has way too much on her plate to be out here babysittin&039; you I don&039;t need a daet you? I don&039;t knohy did you? I was on my way inside I just wanted to do one o over what Heath was supposed to check You know huht Johnny B isn&039;t a huo on inside Get so to eat and some dry clothes One of the nuns will tell you where you&039;re sleepin&039; I&039;ll take one rounds before the sun comes up, Stevie Rae said If the sun co up at the sky
Stevie Rae followed his gaze, and with a sense of ga-clueless-could-I-be, realized it was raining again, only the temperature was still on that line between freeze and non-freeze, so the sky was, once again, spitting ice This crappy weather is not e need, Stevie Rae muttered Well, at least it&039;ll help cover the blood froaze went quickly to Erik&039;s face Shit! She hadn&039;t even thought about the blood! Had they tracked blood into the shed? Talk about leaving a glaring path that screa her to say soht
Maybe I&039;ll try to kick around some ice and broken branches and stuff to cover up the blood from those three birds, she said with forced nonchalance Probably a good idea in case so the day Want some help? No, she answered too quickly, and thenWhat with my super red va deal Well, okay then Erik started to walk away, but hesitated Hey, you ive soe of the tree line by the condos next door and the road It was pretty nasty down there Okay, yeah, I know the place
She sure did Oh, and, where did you say Zoey was? Uh, Erik, I don&039;t believe I said Erik frowned, waited, and when Stevie Rae just continued to look at him, finally asked, Well? Where is she? Last tiela in the hall outside the baseuess is by now she&039;s checked on Stark and is in bed She looked tired as hell StarkErik ible after the kid&039;s name, and turned back toward the abbey Erik! Stevie Rae called while she silently cussed herself out &039;cause it was stupid for her to have mentioned Heath or Stark She waited until he looked over his shoulder at her and then said, As Z&039;s BFF, let h too much today to want to deal with boyfriend issues
If she&039;s with Heath it&039;s because she&039;ssure he&039;s okay--not because she&039;s all lovey-dovey with hioes for Stark And? Erik said, his face expressionless And that e your clothes, and take your butt to bed without trackin&039; her down and buggin&039; her She and I are together, Stevie Rae We&039;re going out So how could her boyfriend caring enough about her to want to be with her be considered buggin&039; her&039;? Stevie Rae suppressed a s to eat hio on about her day She shrugged Whatever I&039;ivin&039; ya a little advice, that&039;s all
Yeah, well, later Erik turned and stouy, he sure makes some stupid choices, Stevie Rae said softly as she watched his broad back disappear &039;Course me sayin&039; that about hi callin&039; a skunk stinky Sighing, Stevie Rae&039;s gazetrash bins half caed by their placement next to the nuns&039; carport She averted her eyes, not wanting to think about the terrible crumpled bodies that had been dumped there With the trash She said the words slowly, as if they each held their oeight Stevie Rae adht have been partially right in theirsession with her, but that didn&039;tOkay, sure, she&039;d overreacted, but the guys putting the bodies of the Raven Mockers in the trash had really jolted her, and not just because of him Her eyes slid over to the shed that sat silently beside the green house What they had done with the bodies of the Raven Mockers had bothered her because she didn&039;t believe in life being devalued--any kind of life It was a dangerous thing to think you were godlike and could decide orthy of life and asn&039;t