Page 50 of Lost

“Never tell me what I am or am not! All I want you to tell me is how to bring about the end of the Resistance. If you cannot do that, you are of less use to me than a rabid, newly Changed red vampyre. At least they fight for me. Remind me, my dear, what is ityoudo for me?”

“I am your Prophetess.”

“Really? Your visions have become nothing but muddled nonsense.”

“But I can only see what Nyx allows me to—”

“Perhaps you would do better if you groveled less to Nyx and spent more time serving your High Priestess!” Neferet interrupted.

“Neferet, I am a Prophetess of Nyx. My power comes from the Goddess. If I don’t, as you say,grovel, then I don’t get visions.”

“Then maybe you should look elsewhere for power, my dear. Or would you rather I send you out with the Red Army when they next engage our enemies? Better yet, a few of my generals have suggested I should be more visible to my red soldiers.” Neferet paused and Kevin watched her shudder in disgust. “But I simply cannot abide their scent and their stupidity. They’re really nothing but rabid animals. Maybeyouare my answer to the generals’ request. Perhaps you should move your things to the depot and becometheirProphetess. You could even go to war with them. Seeingrealdeath instead of your convoluted visions could be an enlightening experience for you! You might get used to it and start being able tothinkduring your visions.”

Kevin was appalled at Neferet’s words. The depot and the tunnels beneath were little more than holding cells for the Red Army and newly Marked red fledglings. It reeked down there—Kevin had even been disgusted by it. And it was filthy—truly disgusting, with the decomposing remains of humans the army fed on strewn about like giant, broken dolls. The red fledglings and vampyres housed there were not far removed from animals. Kevin hated to even imagine what being forced to live with them would do to Aphrodite.

“I’ll go wherever you send me, but I promise you that being surrounded by the Red Army will not help my visions.” Aphrodite tried to sound strong, as if she didn’t particularly care where Neferet sent her, but Kevin could hear her panic, thinly veiled by nonchalance.

“You need to figure out whatwillhelp your visions! If you don’t start giving me some information I can use, you’re going to lose your opulent chambers, your room service, and your bottomless supply of champagne and virile blue vampyres with which to dally. All that—all of this,” Neferet made an angry gesture that took in the serene garden, the school grounds, and the tidy little morgue, “will be replaced by damp, fetid tunnels and death, as I am beginning to believe that yourgiftsare only meaningful to the dead. So, the next we speak I will expect you to haverememberedmore details about your last vision—or pack your Louis Vuitton bag and get ready to move.” In a swirl of her long, silk gown, Neferet turned her back on Aphrodite and strode away, leaving her Prophetess standing alone in the moonlit sands of the meditation garden.

Kevin remained there, silently watching Aphrodite. As soon as Neferet was gone, the young Prophetess’ shoulders slumped. She rubbed the side of her face where she’d been struck, and Kevin was almost certain he heard her breath catch in a sob.

And then she did something Kevin absolutely did not expect. Aphrodite didn’t leave. She didn’t head back to the warmth and opulence of her chambers in the main House of Night building. Instead, she turned, and for an instant he thought she was heading to his alcove. His mind whirred, frantically testing and discarding lies he could say, excuses he could use for being there.

But she stopped and slumped on the bench she’d been sitting on before Neferet had interrupted her. With a sigh that sounded like it’d originated in the depths of her soul, she slipped off a sparkly, very uncomfortable-looking high-heeled shoe from her right foot and began drawing little designs in the sand with what he could clearly see were her toes painted a bright pink.

“Nyx, she’s so horrible!” Aphrodite said to the statue. “Maybe I should tell her she’s looking old. She’s not, of course—thebitch, but if I start asking if she’s getting enough sleep and mention crow’s feet and sagging boobs—just in general—notabout her specifically, she’s so fucking paranoid that she might focus more on her mirror than on me.” She blew out another long, defeated sigh. “I don’t want to tell her everything I see. I… I can’t bear knowing that I am the cause of more deaths. Lenobia and Travis and all those horses…” Aphrodite’s voice trailed away on a sob. Then she angrily wiped at her eyes and stared up at the Goddess. “Nyx, she’s your High Priestess, but I just don’t get it. She’sawful.I hate her more than I hate those horrible cheap department stores where everything’s on sale and the peasants who shop there have to paw through racks and racks of tacky crap without the benefit of dressing rooms with crystal chandeliers and flutes of champagne.” She shuddered delicately.

Caught completely off guard by the very bizarre, very Aphrodite-like comparison, Kevin snorted a laugh.

Aphrodite’s demeanor shifted instantly. Her spine went straight. She tossed back her hair. Her blue eyes narrowed as her gaze swept the meditation garden.

“Who the hell is here?”

Kevin froze. Then, remembering the sweatshirt G-ma had given him, he pulled the hoodie up over his head, and tugged and tugged—hoping like hell that it and the shadows would be enough to cover his red tattoo.

Aphrodite stood, slipping her arched foot back into her sparkly shoe. She took a few steps further into the meditation garden—directly toward Kevin’s alcove.

“I said, who the hell is here?”

“S-sorry. I didn’t really mean to disturb you,” he stuttered, thinking it was smarter to admit to his presence than it was to be discovered creeping in the shadows.

She marched to his meditation alcove and stopped in front of it, hands on hips.

“What? What the fuck do you want from me? To know the future? To know the Goddess? To knowme?” she scoffed, and her beautiful face twisted into something mean and spite-filled. “Well, you’re out of luck. I can’t help you with any of those things.”

“I-I’m not here because I want anything from you!” Kevin blurted honestly. His mind was speeding around like a bumper car at the Rooster Days Festival, smacking against ideas and bouncing off as he rejected them.

“Oh, sure you don’t.Everyonewants something from me.” Kevin saw a flash of raw emotion, bitter and pain-filled, cross her face. “How long have you been here?”

He opened his mouth to try to answer, but she didn’t give him a chance to speak.

“Are you one of hers? Did she put you here to spy on me? If so, listen and listen well—I do not give one solitary shit if you tell her what I said.I will lie. I will tell her I sat and prayed to Nyx andyouinterrupted me when I was just getting a response from the Goddess. She’ll believe me because no matter how much she likes to fuck men, Neferet doesn’t actuallylikemen. And she never, ever trusts them. So, whoever you are, if you tell on me to her, Neferet will end up believing me and loathing you, because she needs little excuse to loathe any man.”

Kevin was astounded by the depth of cruelty in her voice. The beautiful, sad Prophetess who had, just seconds ago, been sitting morosely on a rock talking to her Goddess, had turned into someone awful.

Slowly, distinctly, Kevin said, “Oh, I believe you. You obviously know what you’re talking about. You sound just like her.”

Aphrodite jerked back as if he’d struck her other cheek.