"Sorry. Must have been my overactive imagination making me hear things." The full moon candle was still burning, though it was definitely smaller than when I'd fallen asleep. I glanced at my clock and smiled. It was only two o'clock in the afternoon. I had several good sleeping hours left before I had to wake up. I lay back down and pulled my quilt up around my neck.

Muffled voices, this time accompanied by several soft knocks on my door were definitely not my imagination. Nala grumbled a sleepy mee-uf-ow, which I couldn't help but agree with.

"If it's the Twins wanting to sneak off to a shoe sale, I'm going to strangle them," I told my cat, who looked pleased at the prospect. Then I cleared the sleep out of my throat and called, "Yeah! Come on in."

When the door opened, I was surprised to see Shekinah standing there, along with Aphrodite and Neferet. And Aphrodite was crying. I sat bolt upright, brushing my crazy bedhead hair out of my face. "What's wrong?"

The three of them came into my room. Aphrodite walked over to me and sat on the bed beside me. I looked from her to Shekinah and finally to Neferet. I couldn't read anything but sadness in any of their eyes, but I continued to stare at Neferet, wishing I could see past her careful fa?ade--wishing everyone could.

"What's wrong?" I repeated.

"Child," Shekinah began in a sad, kind voice. "It's your grandmother."

"Grandma! Where is she?" My stomach clenched when no one said anything. I grabbed Aphrodite's hand. "Tell me!"

"She was in a car wreck. A bad one. She lost control as she was driving down Main Street because . . . because a big black bird flew into her window. Her car left the road and hit a light pole head-on." Tears were running down Aphrodite's face, but her voice was steady. "She's at St. John's Hospital in intensive care."

I couldn't say anything for a second. I just kept staring at Grandma's empty bed and the little lavender-filled pillow she'd placed there. Grandma always surrounded herself with the scent of lavender.

"She was going to the Chalkboard for lunch. She told me so last night just before --" I broke off, remembering how Grandma and I had been talking about her going to the Chalkboard for lunch just before I opened the curtains to find the horrible Raven Mocker. It had been listening to us, and it had known exactly where Grandma was going today. Then it had been there to run her off the road and cause her accident.

"Just before what?" To the uninformed observer, Neferet's voice would have seemed concerned--that of a friend and mentor. But when I looked up into her emerald eyes, I saw the cold calculation of an enemy.

"Just before we went to bed." I was trying hard not to show how much Neferet disgusted me--how truly vile and twisted I knew she was. "That's how I know what she was doing driving that way. She told me what she was going to be doing today while I slept." I looked away from Neferet and spoke to Shekinah instead. "I need to go to her."

"Of course you do, child," Shekinah said. "Darius is waiting with a car."

"May I go with her?" Aphrodite asked.

"You already missed all of your classes yesterday, and I don't--"

"Please," I interrupted Neferet, appealing directly to Shekinah. "I don't want to be alone."

"Don't you agree that family is more important than academics?" Shekinah said to Neferet. Neferet hesitated just for a second. "Yes, of course I do. I was just concerned about Aphrodite falling behind."

"I'll take my homework with me to the hospital. I won't fall behind." Aphrodite gave Neferet a big reassuring smile that was as fake as Pamela Anderson's boobs.

"Then it is decided. Aphrodite will accompany Zoey to the hospital, and Darius will look after the both of them. Take your time there, Zoey. And be sure to let me know if there is anything the school can do for your grandmother," Shekinah said kindly.

"Thank you."

I didn't so much as glance at Neferet as the two of them left my room.

"Fucking bitch!" Aphrodite said, glaring at my closed door. "Like she's ever been concerned about me falling behind in anything! She just hates it that the two of us are friends."

Okay . . . okay. I have to think. I have to go to Grandma, but I have to think and make sure everything is taken care of here, first. I have to remember my promise to Grandma.

I wiped tears from my face with the back of my hand and rushed over to my dresser, pulling out jeans and a sweatshirt. "Neferet hates that we're friends because she can't get inside our heads. But she can get inside Damien, Jack, and the Twins' heads, and I can promise you she'll be sniffing around them today."