She took several big gulps from the Fiji bottle like she was dying of thirst, then put the cold, wet washcloth over her eyes and leaned back against her mound of designer pillows with an exhausted sigh. Maleficent watched me with mean, slitted cat eyes, which I ignored.

"Have your eyes ever done that before?"

"You mean hurt like hell?"

I hesitated and decided to just tell her. It wasn't like Aphrodite avoided mirrors. She'd see for herself soon enough. "I mean turn bright, blood red."

I saw the little jerk of surprise her body gave, and she started to reach for the washcloth, but her hand stopped and plopped back down on the bed and her shoulders slumped. "No wonder Darius freaked and ran for you like the hounds of f-ing hell were after him."

"I'm sure it'll go away. You should probably just keep your eyes closed for a while."

She sighed dramatically. "It's really going to piss me off if these damn visions start making me ugly."

"Aphrodite," I said, trying to keep my smile out of my voice. "You're too pretty to ever be ugly. Or at least that's what you've told all of us about a zillion times."

"You're right. Even with red eyes, I'm better looking than everyone else. Thanks for reminding me. It just shows how stressed this vision bullshit is making me that I'd even consider worrying about it."

"Speaking of the vision bullpoopy. You want to fill me in on this one?"

"You know, you really wouldn't melt or anything if you'd cuss a little. My Goddess, bullpoopy is unbelievably lame."

"Could you please stay on the subject?" "Fine. But don't blame me when people tell you that you sound lame and annoying. Over there on my desk there's a piece of paper with a poem written on it. Do you see it?"

I went over to her pricey vanity/desk, and sure enough, there was a single sheet of paper lying alone against the glistening wood. I picked it up. "I see it," I said.

"Good. You're supposed to read it, and I hope you understand what the hell it means. I never can figure out poetry. It's all boring bullshit."

She emphasized the shit part of the word. I ignored her and focused on the poem. As soon as I got a good look at it, my skin started to tingle and gooseflesh lifted on my arms as if a cold wind had just blown over me.

"Did you write this?"

"Oh, yeah, right. I didn't even like Dr. Seuss when I was a kid. No damn way I wrote that poem."

"I didn't mean did you compose it. I meant did you physically write it down?"

"Are you getting stupider? Yes, Zoey. I wrote down the poem that I saw in my horrid and way-too-painful vision. No, I didn't compose it. I copied it. Satisfied?"

I looked at her reclining back on her pillows in the middle of her expensive four- poster canopy bed with the gold-embroidered washcloth over her face and one hand petting her awful cat and shook my head in irritation. She looked one hundred gazillion percent pa bitch. "You know, I could smother you with your pillow and no one would miss you. By the time they found you, that hateful cat would have eaten you and all the evidence of my crime."

"Maleficent wouldn't eat me. She'd eat you if you tried any crap. Plus, Darius would miss me. Just read the damn poem and tell me what it means."

"You're Vision Girl. You're supposed to know what things mean." I turned my attention back to the poem. What was it about the writing that was making me feel so weird?

"That's right, I vision. I don't interpret. I'm just the very attractive oracle. You're the High Priestess in training, remember? So figure it out."

"All right--all right. Let me read it out loud. Sometimes it helps make poems understandable when you can hear them."

"Whatever. Just get to the figuring out part."

I cleared my throat and started reading.

Ancient one sleeping, waiting to arise When earth's power bleeds sacred red The mark strikes true; Queen Tsi Sgili will devise He shall be washed from his entombing bed

Through the hand of the dead he is free Terrible beauty, monstrous sight Ruled again they shall be Women shall kneel to his dark might Kalona's song sounds sweet As we slaughter with cold heat

When I was finished I paused, trying to understand what it meant and trying to figure out why it made me feel so freaked out.

"It's scary, isn't it?" Aphrodite said. "I mean, it's definitely not love and roses and happily ever after."

"It's definitely not that. Okay, let's see. What's earth's power, and when does it bleed red?"