Page 139 of Lost

“Of course she does. She needs those claws for climbing and mouse catching, don’t you, pretty girl?” She cooed to Nala, who stopped complaining and arched her back as Aphrodite used the corner of the towel like a brush, rubbing it gently down her body.

“Hey, she likes that!” Kevin said.

“Yeah, she does. Maybe she just needed to get her hair done. Is that it, Nala? I know all about needing a day of beauty.”

Nala looked up at Aphrodite and sneezed into her face.

Kevin held his breath, waiting for Aphrodite to freak out, but she didn’t.She laughed.Musically, joyously, she giggled and wiped her face with the other end of the towel as she baby-talked Nala. “Did you catch a cold out there looking for your Kevin? Poor girl. We’ll keep you warm and dry now. You don’t need to worry.”

Nala revved up her purr engine, and she made three little circles before curling up on Kevin’s lap and closing her eyes while Aphrodite finished drying her.

“I thought you said cats don’t like you.”

“No, I said theyusuallydon’t like me. Nala is obviously smarter than most cats and has better taste.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” They smiled into each other’s eyes, and Kevin felt his heartbeat throughout his body. She was so close! And so, so beautiful.

“Well, she seems pretty dry now,” Aphrodite said. “She also seems like she’s asleep.”

“You tamed the wild beast!”

“She’s hardly wild. She’s sweet.” Aphrodite looked around the room. “So, they put you across from me. Better you than Stevie Rae and Rephaim. I walked past their room on the way back from the bathroom and all I can say is Rephaim is a screamer and I swear I heard the bumpkin yell ‘Yee-haw.’ ”

Kevin snorted a laugh. “I could’ve gone my entire life without knowing that.”

“That makes two of us.”

The soundtrack to the silence between them was Nala’s purr quickly dissolving into a snore, which had Kevin and Aphrodite grinning at each other.

“I’m going to move her over there to the little cat bed Anastasia gave me,” Kevin whispered. “Don’t breathe.” He carefully carried her to the donut-shaped bed, depositing her in the middle of it. Then he came back to sit beside Aphrodite. “I think you lulled her into a cat coma. She’s still snoring.”

“It’s nice that she likes me. That’s never happened to me before. My mother, who is horrible, by the by, refused to let me have any pets. She said they were all soulless creatures who wasted oxygen.” Aphrodite snorted. “I used to think she was describing herself.” She leaned back against the side of the cave and gave Kevin a contemplative look. “Did you meet my mom when you were in your sister’s world?”

“Nope. But I do know she was a nightmare over there too.”

“Well, at least she’s consistent. She’d like knowing that, and she doesn’t like much.” Aphrodite paused and then said, “Kevin, would you tell me the truth—no matter what I asked you?”

“That’s the deal we made.”

“You’re right, it is. I like that I can trust that with you—that we’ll tell each other the truth. It hasn’t happened much in my life.”

“I’d like to change that,” he said.

“You already have.” Then she hurried on. “So, am I a lot different in that other world?”

Kevin took his time answering. He was determined to tell her the truth, but he also knew that she was letting her guard down around him, and he wanted that—wanted intimacy with her, so he was determined not to say something stupid that would mess it up.

“It’s weird. You’re alike, but different. I’m pretty sure you both had awful childhoods. You’re both Prophetesses. You’re both beautiful and kinda bitchy.”

She raised her brows at him.

“It’s a compliment,” he said.

“Whether it is or not, it’s the truth. Go on.”

“But Zoey’s Aphrodite is part of a big, close family.”

“I thought you said she has the same awful parents I do. Uh, I do not have any siblings. My mother refused to be pregnant twice. She said it made her body too unattractive for too little return.”