"Sorry, Z," Erin said.

"Yeah, the hag--I mean Aphrodite--is right. We shouldn't have freaked you out about your grandma," Shaunee said.

"Damn. Did the Dorkamese Twins just say I was right about something?" Aphrodite pressed the back of her hand against her forehead and pretended to be about to faint.

"If it makes you feel any better," Shaunee said.

"We still hate you," Erin finished.

"Uh, can we please remember that Duchess has been through a bunch of bullpoop in the past day?" Crouching in front of the big blond Lab, I took her face between my hands. Her eyes were calm and knowing, like she already understood way more than we ever would. "You're a better girl than all of us, aren't you?"

Duchess licked my face, and I smiled. She reminded me of Stark--the living, breathing, confident Stark--and I felt a rush of hope that maybe he would come back for his dog (and for me). Even though that would only add to the complexity of my life, it also somehow made me feel like maybe things weren't so scary as I'd thought they were. Then Damien shattered my illusion.

"Let me see the poem." Typical for Mr. Studious, he went right to the point, bypassing a good portion of the drama.

Feeling utterly relieved to have another brain trying to figure it out, I stood up and handed him the poem.

"First, you know calling it a poem is really a misnomer," Damien said.

"Grandma called it a song," I said.

"It's not actually that, either. Or at least in my opinion it's not."

I had some major respect for Damien's opinion, especially on anything vaguely academic, so I said, "If it's not a poem or a song, what is it, then?"

"It's a prophecy," he said.

"Well, shit! He's right," Aphrodite said. "Sadly, I have to agree," Shaunee said.

"Gloom and doom to come put in confusing what-the-fuck language. Yep, definitely a prophecy," Erin said.

"Prophecy, like in Lord of the Rings about the return of the king?" Jack said.

Damien smiled at him. "Yes, just like that."

Then they all looked my way. "Feels right to me," I said lamely.

"All right. Let's get to work deciphering it." Damien studied the prophecy. "Okay, so, it's written in an abab cdcd ee rhyme scheme, breaking it into three stanzas."

"Is that important?" I asked. "I mean, we're calling it a prophecy now instead of a poem, so do we care about that abab stuff?"

"Well, I'm not one hundred percent sure, but it is written in poetic form, so my best guess is that we should use poetic rules to decipher it."

"Okay, sounds logical," I said.

"Poetic stanzas are roughly synonymous to paragraphs in prose--each one being self-contained with its own subject, even though it has to fit together as a whole."

"That's my boy!" Jack said, grinning and hugging Duchess.

"Damn, the kid is smart," Shaunee said.

"Seriously a brainyack," Erin said.

"Just watching him gives me a headache," Aphrodite said.

"And it means we need to look at the stanzas separately at first," I said. "Right?"

"It can't hurt," Damien said.

"Read it out loud," Aphrodite said. "It was easier to understand when Zoey read it out loud."

He cleared his throat and read the first stanza in his excellent reading voice.

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

"Well, it's obvious that the ancient one it's referring to is Kalona," Damien said.

"And Aphrodite and I already decided that the earth bleeding could come from someone being killed, like Professor Nolan." I paused and swallowed. I should have added Loren, but I couldn't make myself say his name.

"When I found her, there was--there was so much blood all over the grass that it --it hadn't soaked in, so it really did look like the earth had been bleeding." Aphrodite's voice was shaky with the memory.

"Yeah, it definitely could have been described as the earth bleeding," I agreed. "And if the person or vamp who had been killed was powerful, that would fit with the reference to power."

"Okay, that works, especially when you add the next two lines. Obviously this Queen Tsi Sgili devises the whole thing." Damien stopped and squidged his forehead, then added, "You know, it could be a trick reference. Tsi Sgili devises, or brings about what happens, but it's her powerful blood that makes the earth bleed and washes him from his bed."