"Like the Tsi Sgili," Erin said.

"Especially their queen," Shaunee said.

"Ah, crap," I said.

Chapter Twenty-four

"Okay, let's go on to the next stanza," Damien said. Then he read:

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

"Then, of course, the couplet at the end concludes it." Damien finished it by reading:

Kalona's song sounds sweet As we slaughter with cold heat

"Sadly, most of the rest of it isn't too tough to figure out," Erin said. We all gawked at her. "Okay, I'll admit--under duress--that I actually learned something last semester in Poetry class. So sue me. Anyway, except for the first line, it's just saying that he's gonna start raping and pillaging women again when he's free."

"But it's how he's set free that's described in the first line," Damien said. "Through the hand of the dead, and if we're keeping the first stanza in mind, that hand is going to cause something so bloody and nasty, it'll make the ground bleed."

"Yeah, and in the first stanza it sounds like the person who's gonna cause the ground to bleed is the Queen Tsi Sgili. If she's who we think it is, that doesn't fit here. She's not dead," I said.

"Couldn't it be just symbolism? 'Cause how does something that's already dead cause anything to bleed? It just doesn't make sense, which is yet another reason why I've never liked poetry," Aphrodite said. "Plus, let's say it's all jumbled up into one person and this Tsi Sgili is dead and she bleeds--dead people don't bleed. Or at least not for long after they're dead they don't."

"Oh! Oh, no!" I suddenly knew what the prophecy had to mean, and I sat down on the bed hard as my knees buckled.

"Zoey? What is it?" Damien asked, fanning me with the slip of paper.

"If you puke on my bed, I'm going to kill you," Aphrodite said.

I ignored Aphrodite and grabbed Damien's arm. "It's Stevie Rae--she was dead, and now she's undead. She bleeds. She bleeds a lot. Plus she has psychic powers, along with other major earth powers. What if she's the queen?"

"And she has a red tattoo. Just like in the story about the hot chick the Ghigua women made for Kalona," Erin said. "That's definitely a connection," Shaunee said.

"Stevie Rae! Ohmigod! Stevie Rae!" Jack said, looking even paler than I did.

"I know, honey, I know. It's a lot to take in," Damien said.

Aphrodite met my eyes. "I gotta agree with the theory that it might be Stevie Rae."

"But no. Stevie Rae was horrid when she was losing her humanity," Damien said slowly, thinking it out. "But she Changed, and now she's back to her old self. I don't think she could be the queen Tsi Sgili, because Stevie Rae is definitely not evil."

Aphrodite gave me a hard look, then said, "Look, Stevie Rae isn't the same as she used to be."

"Which is only logical because she's been through a lot," I said quickly. No matter what, I wasn't willing to believe that Stevie Rae was bad. Different, yes. But bad, no way. Then I had another thought. "You know, it really makes more sense that one of those other gross kids could be the Tsi Sgili. I mean, you even said they were still--" I stopped, finally realizing that Aphrodite was making a small Cut! gesture while Damien and the Twins stared openmouthed at me.

"Uh, yeah. Are you remembering not everyone knows about the other kids?" Aphrodite said. Then she rolled her eyes at the dumfounded looks on my friends' faces. "Well, oopsie. Hey, I'll just let Zoey handle this one. Go ahead, explain the freaks to the geeks, Z."

Ah, crap. I forgot they don't know about the red fledglings.

I decided to be firm. Just tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth and get it over with. And if all else failed, I would burst into tears.

"Okay. Remember all those other dead kids?"

They nodded kinda woodenly at me.

"Nasty Elliot and Elizabeth No Last Name and, well, some other kids, too?"

They nodded again.

"They didn't die. They did what Stevie Rae did--only, well, different. It's really kinda awkward to explain." I hesitated, trying to find the right words. "But basically they're still alive, and their blue crescents have changed to red crescents and they live in the tunnels with Stevie Rae."

Weirdly enough, it was sweet Jack who saved me. "You mean this is more stuff you couldn't tell us 'cause you didn't want us accidentally thinking about it and having Neferet, who really isn't one of the good guys, listening in to our minds and finding out that you knew?"