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Zoey

"Is everything okay, Z?" Stark spoke low next to athered near the entrance to the school lobby Thanatos had asked us to wait for her to finish speaking with the professors and Warriors, and then she&039;d join us for the press conference

"I&039;on," I whispered back to him

"I didn&039;t mean that" He kept his voice soft, so that I was the only one who could hear hi okay with the stone? I saw you touch it during the funeral"

"I thought I felt it heat up for a little while, but then it went away It was probably just because ere standing so close to the pyre Speaking of"-I raised ood job with the fire part of Dragon&039;s funeral I know it&039;s not easy to keep lighting funeral pyres, but you help You et over with faster"

"Thanks Yeah, we&039;re all sick of funerals At least before this one we got to watch Dragon enter the Otherworld, but seeing the cats up there on the pyre with him made it especially sad" She wiped her eyes and I wondered how she (or anyone) could bawl and still look pretty "Actually, that re so she faced Erin, as hanging at the tail end of our group, gawking at the kids still by the pyre like she was looking for someone "Erin, is it cool with you if I move Beelzebub&039;s litter box and stuff tothere ed, and said, "Yeah, whatever That litter box smells like shit anyway"

"Erin, cats don&039;t like to use a dirty litter box You have to clean it every day," Daave a sarcastic little snort "Not any out the other kids

I noticed she wasn&039;t crying I thought about it and realized she hadn&039;t cried once during the entire funeral At first this whole Twin breakup had seemed to freak Shaunee out theto notice that Erin was not acting like herself Although, I suppose that&039;s nor just like Shaunee, as now acting a lot more mature and nicer I made a mental note to find time to talk to Erin, to , I wish Thanatos hadn&039;t told Rephaim to ith the rest of the kids on the bus He was super upset at the funeral I hate leaving hi up beside me

"He&039;s not alone He&039;s with all the other red fledglings I watched the to hi a way to vent emotions"

"Kramisha will baffle birdboy with her poetry crap Blahblahrhy iambic blah," Aphrodite said "Plus, even you have to understand that letting the human public know about his little &039;bird issue&039;"-she air quoted-"isn&039;t a good idea"

"Hey there, uh, sorry to interrupt, but I&039;roup, we turned and gawked at the hu toward us down the sidewalk that led fro a ca over his shoulder and a long grayover his head

Predictably, Daether I eniality for the Tulsa House of Night

"You are absolutely at the correct spot Well done, you, for finding us!" Damien&039;s smile was so warm that I watched the tense set of the human&039;s shoulders relax Then he actually held out his hand and said, "Excellent I&039;m Adam Paluka, from Tulsa&039;s Fox News 23 I&039;, some of you as well"

"Nice tohis hand Then he giggled a little and added, "Oooh, strong grip!"

The reporter grinned "I aim to please And call ain Adaed me and we shared a Look Ada ood teeth, really good shoes, and a ether Our eyes telegraphed to each other potential boyfriend for Damien!

"Hi there, Adam, I&039;m Stevie Rae" She stuck out her hand As he took it she said, "You don&039;t have a girlfriend, do ya?"

His straight-toothed smile faltered, but only a little "No I don&039;t, uirlfriend" Then his eyes took in Stevie Rae&039;s red tattoo Mark "So, you&039;re one of the new kind of va about"

Stevie Rae gave hih Priestess Cool, isn&039;t it?"

"Your tattoo is certainly pretty," Ada more curious than uncoushed "This here&039;s James Stark He&039;s the first Red Vampyre Warrior His tattoo is awesome, too"

Stark put his hand out "Nice to meet ya And you don&039;t have to tell me my tattoo is pretty"

Adam&039;s face lost some of its color, but he shook Stark&039;s hand His senuine

"Hi," I chi his hand "I&039;aze quickly shifted from the full tattoo on li across my collarbone, down to ree tattoo "I didn&039;t know va done Is your artist here in Tulsa?"

I grinned "Yeah, sometimes But mostly she&039;s in the Otherworld" I could see he was trying to process what I&039;d just said, so I took the opportunity to blurt, "Hey, you said you don&039;t have a girlfriend, but how about a boyfriend?"

"Um, no, I don&039;t have a boyfriend, either At least not currently" Adaaze

Success! hat I was thinking when Aphrodite snorted and said, "Oh, for shit&039;s sake, this isn&039;t The Bachelorette I&039;m Aphrodite LaFont Yes, the -do" She wrapped her arh Darius&039;s "And this is my Warrior, Darius"

Adam&039;s cute broent up as he took in Aphrodite&039;s school sweater, with the sixth fornia of the three Fates sewn over her left breast pocket "Are huht?"

"Aphrodite is a Prophetess of Nyx, a fact proven by the bond she has with Darius, who is a Son of Erebus Warrior and Oath Sworn as her protector" Thanatos was speaking froht her ti was excellent, as was her entrance She looked tall and powerful, ageless and classically beautiful Her voice was pleasant and informative, as if she lectured hus of our society are not coe, but I believe most humans are aware that a Warrior cannot bond to a human with an oath of protection"

"Actually, even though this interview is last eneral research, and that is one fact I did uncover"

"That Aphrodite is a Prophetess of Nyx, and is attending school here, as are several red fledglings and vah it appears that interview has already begun" Thanatos e toward the ca up the cah none of us had been paying any attention to hih Priestess of the Tulsa House of Night Merry meet, Adam Paluka You are welcome at our school"

"M-merry meet" Adam only bobbled a little "I didn&039;tearly"

Thanatos smiled "You did not offend us We invited you here I aun without formalities Shall we reht sky, and continue?"

"Sure," Adahts are actually good lighting If you give us a sec, we can use a booroup on tape as you&039;d like"

"That sounds lovely Zoey, Aphrodite, Stevie Rae, Stark, and Damien, please stay for the interview Darius, would you, Shaunee and Erin, be sure the gathered fledglings have returned to their dorht has been a difficult one for our school" Darius bowed to Aphrodite and Thanatos, then he and Shaunee walked off together Erin headed in the opposite direction

"You said tonight has been difficult for your school What do you mean by that?"

"With your pulse on the news, I am sure you are ae recently had a fire on caet that report at Fox So about your stables?" he proh not entirely surprising accident" Thanatos gestured at the large copper laht and candlelight are kinder on our eyes than electric bulbs As you already observed, it has a lovely a flame and sometimes volatile A lantern was left lit and unattended in the barn It was a windy evening A gust blew the lantern over on a hay bale, setting the stables afire"

"I hope no one was hurt" I thought Adam looked authentically concerned

"Our Horse Mistress and a fledgling had soe, and the huer suffered burns, mostly on his hands He will recover fully I must tell you for the record that our Travis Foster is so of a hero He made sure all of the horses escaped"