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Zoey

"Me? Z, you&039;re notany sense," Stark said

"I know, I know I&039; on you when I did it because you were sleeping, and I only did it because it was back when you were having trouble sleeping, and it was actuallyto you, and now it see up," I finished in a rush

"Zoey, I can listen in on your e through a stone at ht My sleep had been really jacked up I don&039;t bla me out with the stone Just tell me what you saw"

"I saw a shadow over you I rehost Warrior You opened your hand and the Guardian Sword appeared Then the ghost-shadow guy grabbed it and it turned into a spear I think it was bloody It scaredaway You woke up then and we uh" My face felt hot "Well, we ot about it"

"Z, I like to think I&039;ood in bed and all, but even so, how the hell could you forget about seeing a ghost guy with a spear hanging out over ht after that alked into what Stevie Rae called one hot ht I was busy" I crossed et about it I told Lenobia about the shadow guy"

"Great, so a professor knows but I didn&039;t know"

"You do now"

"Well, what did Lenobia say about it?"

"Basically she toldthrough the stone, which is what I did until last night when I saw Heath," I said

"Look through it at ain"

"Now?"

"Now"

"Fine" I lifted the Seer Stone, took a deep breath, and peeked through it at him

"Well? How do I look?"

"Gru"

"Nothing else?"

"Maybe kinda cute But only maybe" I put the stone back under my shirt "Totally just you I didn&039;t think I&039;d see anything The stone wasn&039;t hot"

"It gets hot?"

"Yep, soht about it "That&039;s actually why I looked through it at you the first tiot warh it at Aurox?" he asked

"No, but I knew I had to look through it It was like I was compelled to," I said "And it&039;d been warick It&039;s a pain in the ass," he said "You&039;d think there&039;d at least be a playbook that had the rules for it listed soiach I ick Maybe she&039;d be able to give ave a little snort "Didn&039;t you ask her for that on Skye?"

"Yeah," I said

"If I reive you any real answers"

"You reick left on this earth was on Skye"

"She rong," Stark said

"Yeah, definitely"

"You knohat I think?"

Stark ain and put his arainst his shoulder and slid my arm around his waist and said, "That I&039;rinned and kissed my forehead "You&039;re not Crazy Town You&039;re Crazy Metropolis Hell, Z, you&039;re Crazy Universe But I like me some crazy"

"Now you sound like Stevie Rae" We s back into the foundation of our relationship-our commitment to each other-our belief in each other "So, ere you going to say? What do you think?"

"I think that I&039; to do because of what other people say Especially adult other people who hand us mysteries, or drop us off in theus any real help," he said

"Yeah, I get that I&039;ve been feeling like that since Neferet lost her mind and I was the only one who knew it"

"Okay, so, let&039;s figure this old ick stuff out ourselves Z, you have an affinity for all five elements No one can even remember the last ti-a different kind of High Priestess You&039;re a young warrior queen, and I&039; we can&039;t take on" His cocky smile was back "We took on the Otherworld and won"

"Yeah, except for the part about you dying and all," I reminded him

"Just a small detail It turned out okay"

I squeezed hi side "It turned out better than okay" He kissed th froht Maybe there wasn&039;t anything we couldn&039;t take on together I sighed happily and snuggled against hio to the stables" Stark jerked his chin forward at the long building not far frouess we should I&039;ll bet Erin&039;s there Even froy"

"Actually, I haven&039;t seen Erin in a while" Stark shrugged "Maybe that&039;s because the stables are really better off than you&039;d think Most of the dae was fro and one stall"

"Persephone&039;s fine, right?" Twiningslowly toward the stables, letting our arainst each other

"She&039;s good All of the horses are good Well, except Bonnie She&039;s acting pretty nervous Lenobia put her in a turn-out with Mujaji to settle her down Apparently the two of thes said they saw Lenobia kissing Travis before the EMTs took hiiant "Seriously? I can&039;t wait till Aphrodite and Stevie Rae hear that!"

Stark chuckled "Stevie Rae already has-via Kra everybody" He bumped my shoulder with his "All that tiossip"

I looked up at him, confused "All that time? I was only there for, like, a minute"

Stark stopped "What tied "I dunno I&039;d have to look at ot to Thanatos&039;s room at seven-thirty We were probably there half an hour or less, so it couldn&039;t be any later than eight-thirty-ish"

"Zoey, it&039;s eleven-thirty We only have tion&039;s funeral pyre"

All of my insides went cold "Stark, I lost more than three hours!"

"Yeah, you did, and I don&039;t like it Give h that daain unless I&039;ue with hi youunless you&039;re with avethat can steal tiave the last tords special eood or bad, but I don&039;t care which one it is if it takes without asking"

"I know I know" We&039;d starting walking again, but I kept a tight hold on his hand "No wonder I felt like I was going to have a heart attack I&039;d been stuck standing there, staring at those disgusting, ss for hours" I shuddered

"It&039;s okay We&039;re going to figure out this oldhappen to you"