"Oh, please, g*y boy. Don't get your panties all in a big bunch over me taking your dorkish place beside Zoey. It's simple why she tells me stuff. Vamps can't read my mind."

Damien blinked in surprise. Then, eyes widening in understanding, he looked at me. "They can't read your mind either, can they?"

"No, they can't," I said.

"Oh, shit!" Shaunee said. "You mean you think telling us things is like telling everyone?"

"It can't be that easy for the vamps to read fledglings, Z," Erin said. "If it was, then a bunch of kids would be in trouble all the time."

"Wait, they overlook things like fledglings sneaking off campus or PDA," Damien said slowly, as if he were putting two and two together as he spoke. "The vamps don't really care enough about a little broken rule here and there just as long as it's only typical teenage stuff, so they don't 'listen in' or whatever you want to call their psychic eavesdropping all the time."

"But what if they thought something was going on that was more than a little broken rule or two, and they had an idea about a certain group of fledglings who might know something," I said.

"They'd focus their thoughts on that group of fledglings," Damien concluded for me. "You really can't tell us certain things!"

"Damn," Shaunee said.

"Sucks royally," Erin said.

"Took you guys long enough," Aphrodite said.

Damien ignored her. "This has something to do with Stevie Rae, doesn't it?"

I nodded.

"Hey, speaking of," Shaunee said.

"What happened to her?" Erin asked.

"Didn't shit happen to her," Aphrodite said. "She found me. I un-freaked when I finally got my Mark back, and then I came back here."

"And she went where?" Damien asked.

"Do I look like a damn babysitter? How the hell am I supposed to know where your bumpkin friend went? All she said was she had to go because she had issues. Like that was a big shock." "You're gonna have issues with my fist in your face if you start talking shit about Stevie Rae," Shaunee said.

"I'll hold her skinny ass for you, Twin," Erin said.

"Do you two share a brain?" Aphrodite said.

"Oh. My. God! Enough!" I yelled. "I might die. Twice. Some weird ghostly thing messed with me today, and now I'm feeling scared crapless about it. I'm not sure what the hell's going on with Stevie Rae, and Neferet has called a Council Meeting probably to go over her plans for war--a war that is totally not the right thing to do. And you guys can't stop bickering! You're giving me a headache and pissing me off."

"You better listen to her. I counted two real cuss words and one almost cuss in that little speech. She's serious," Aphrodite said.

I saw the Twins actually have to stifle smiles. Jeesh. Why is my not liking to cuss such a big deal?

"Okay. We'll try to get along," Damien said.

"For Zoey," Jack said, giving me a sweet smile.

"For Zoey," the Twins said together.

My heart squeezed as I looked at each of my friends. They had my back. No matter what--they would still stand beside me.

"Thanks, guys," I said, blinking back tears.

"Group hug!" Jack said.

"Ah, hell no," Aphrodite said.

"That's one thing we can agree with Aphrodite on," Erin said.

"Yeah, time to go," Shaunee said.

"Ah oh, Damien, we gotta go, too. You told Stark we'd check to be sure he was settled in before the meeting," Jack said.

"Oh, that's right," Damien said. "Bye, Z. See ya soon."

He and Jack followed the Twins out of my room. Calling goodbye to me, they filed down the hall, then went on chattering about the hottiness of Stark, leaving me with Aphrodite.

"So, my friends aren't so bad, huh?" I said.

Aphrodite turned her cool blue gaze on me. "Your friends are dorks," she said.

I grinned and butted my shoulder into her. "Then that makes you a dork."

"That's what I'm afraid of," she said. "Speaking of me being in hell--come to my room. There's something you have to help me figure out before we go to the Council Meeting."

I shrugged. "Okay by me." Actually, I was feeling pretty good about myself. My friends were speaking to me again, and it seemed that everyone might actually have a chance of getting along. "Hey," I said as we walked down the hall to Aphrodite's room. "Did you notice that the Twins said something nice to you before they left?"