P.C. Cast - Untamed

"I have Fiji in the fridge in my room," Aphrodite said.

"That would be lovely," Grandma said.

"Go ahead and get it for her. But don't touch anything else," Aphrodite said.

"Not even your—"

"Not even."

Jack pouted, but he hurried out to get the water for Grandma.

"So, I'm guessing all the rest of you are up to date about the things Zoey is getting ready to tell me?" Grandma asked the group in general when Jack returned.

They all nodded, looking round-eyed and baby bird–like.

"And how are you all keeping Neferet from picking your brains?"

"Well, it's just theory right now, but we figure if we focus on thinking about shallow, silly, teenage things," Damien said.

"Like shoe sales and whatnot," Erin explained.

"Yeah, the whatnot being cute guys or homework stress," Shaunee added.

"Then she won't think to look any deeper," I finished. "But Neferet underestimates us. I don't think she'd make the same mistake with you, Grandma. She already knows you follow the Cherokee ways—that you're in touch with the spirit of the land. She might look deeper into you no matter what is buzzing around in the front of your mind."

"Then I will have to clear my mind and practice the meditation skills I have been using since I was a girl." Grandma's smile was confident. "She cannot force herself into my mind, not if I block her first."

"What if she's Queen of the Tsi Sgili?"

Grandma's smile faltered. "You truly believe that might be so, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya ?"

"We think she might be," I said.

"Then we are all in the gravest of dangers. You must tell me everything."

And so I did—with the help of Aphrodite, Damien, the Twins, and Jack, we caught Grandma up on everything, even though I will admit to glossing over the part about Stevie Rae not being totally herself. Aphrodite shot me a look during that part, but she didn't say anything.

As she heard all of it, Grandma's weather-lined face got grimmer and grimmer. I also gave everyone details about the latest Raven Mocker attack. Finally I concluded with explaining to her how Stark's death might not be permanent, and how Stevie Rae and Aphrodite and I had decided that, as morbid and disturbing as it sounded, we needed to keep an eye on his, well, corpse.

"And so Jack was supposed to have installed the nanny cam in the morgue," I said. "Did you, Jack? I saw some of your diversionary tactics." I gave Duchess a grin and ruffled her ears. She woofed softly and licked my face. Maleficent and Beleezebub, who were curled up together near the door (seems hateful cats attract each other—who knew?) lifted their heads and hissed in unison. Nala, who was sleeping on my pillow, barely opened her eyes.

"Oh, yeah, in all the excitement I almost forgot!" Jack jumped up and went over to where he'd laid his man purse—or "satchel," as he liked to call it—on the floor by the door. He carried it back to me and then pulled out a weird, mini TV-screen thing. He played with some knobs and then, with a grin of victory, handed it to me. "Voilà! Thus you can view the—hopefully—sleeping guy."

Everyone crowded around, peeking over my shoulder. Bracing myself, I pressed the ON button. Sure enough, the little screen showed a black-and-white picture of a small room with a big oven-looking thing at one end, a bunch of metal shelves lining all the visible walls, and a single metal table (body-sized), on which lay a human form covered in a sheet.

"Icky," the Twins said.

"Not pleasant," Aphrodite said.

"Maybe we should turn it off while the d-o-g is in here," Jack said.

I was all for that and turned the knob to OFF, not liking the feeling of spying on the dead.

"That's the boy's body?" Grandma asked, looking kinda pale.

Jack nodded. "Yep. I had to look under the sheet to be sure." His eyes turned sad, and he began petting Duchess a little frantically. The big Lab lay her head on his lap and sighed, which seemed to settle him down because Jack sighed, too, and hugged the dog before saying, "I just, you know, pretended he was sleeping."

"Did he look dead?" I had to ask.

Jack nodded again. He pressed his lips together and didn't say anything.

"You're doing the right thing," Grandma proclaimed firmly. "Neferet's power has a lot to do with secrecy. She is perceived as being a powerful priestess of Nyx—a mighty force for good. She's hidden behind that façade for quite a while, and it has allowed her the freedom to commit acts that, if you're right about the extent of them, are atrocious."

"So you agree that bringing Stevie Rae and the red fledglings out in the open tomorrow is what we should do?" I asked.

"I do. If secrecy is evil's ally, then let's break their allegiance."

"Okay!" I said.

"Okay!" everyone else chimed in.

And then Jack yawned. "Oopsie! Sorry. I'm not bored or anything," he said.

"Of course you're not, but it's almost dawn. You've had an exhausting day," Grandma said. "Perhaps we should all get some sleep? Besides, isn't it past curfew for boys to be in the girls' dormitory?"

"Uh-oh! We totally forgot about that. Like we need detention crap to worry about right now on top of everything else!" Jack said. Then, looking chagrined, he added, "Sorry, Grandma. I didn't mean to say crap. "

Grandma smiled at him and patted his cheek. "No harm done, honey. Now, off to bed with you."

Not surprisingly, we all responded instantly to Grandma's mothering. Jack and Damien shuffled off with Duchess in tow.

"Hey," I called before they were out the door. "Duchess didn't get in any real trouble for being the central part of that diversion, did she?"

Damien shook his head. "Nope. We blamed it on Maleficent, and as insane as that cat was acting, no one batted an eye at Duchess."

"My cat is not insane," Aphrodite said. "She's just a really good actress."

The Twins headed out next, hugging Grandma and then picking up a sleepy Beelzebub. "See you at breakfast," they called.

That left Grandma and me alone with Aphrodite, Maleficent, and a totally asleep Nala.

"Well, I guess I should go, too," Aphrodite said. "Tomorrow's going to be major."

"Maybe you should sleep in here tonight," I said.

Aphrodite raised a perfect blond eyebrow and gave my twin beds a disdainful look.

I rolled my eyes. "You're so spoiled. You can sleep in my bed. I'll use a sleeping bag."

"Has Aphrodite ever stayed in your room before tonight?" Grandma asked.

Aphrodite snorted. "Not hardly. Grandma, if you saw my room, you'd know why I prefer to stay there."

"Plus, Aphrodite has a reputation for being a hateful hag. She doesn't do sleepovers." I failed to mention that she might do guy sleepovers—that would definitely be TMI for Grandma.

"Thank you," Aphrodite said.

"If she stays in your room, especially since I would guess that by now Shekinah has told Neferet I'm here, wouldn't it seem very unusual behavior for her?"

"Yes," I admitted reluctantly.

"It would be more than unusual—it would be utterly bizarre," Aphrodite said.

"Then you must return to your room so that we give Neferet no reason to look more closely at us than she already has," Grandma said. "But, you will not sleep unprotected." Grandma got up a little stiffly and went over to her pile of bags. She started digging through the pretty blue carry-on she liked to call her "overnight bag."

First she pulled out a beautiful dream catcher. It was a leatherwrapped circle with lavender-colored string webbed inside, and caught within the center of the web was a smooth turquoise stone, the breathtaking blue of a summer sky. The feathers that hung in three tiers from the sides and the bottom were the pearl gray of a dove. Grandma handed the dream catcher to Aphrodite.