“I told you that I’ll be fine. There is no way the sun can shine through this mess, and I have this.” He lifted his hoodie and winked at me. “I won’t fry. Promise.”
“I’ll be real pissed if you do,” I said. “Not to mention if I see your skin even starting to look a little red, I’ll drag your butt back to this very heavily tinted SUV, throw you in the back seat, and cover you with blankets while I floor this thing to the school.”
“You driving in a blizzard? Now I am scared,” Stark said.
Shaunee snorted.
“Hey, that’s not funny,” I said.
“It is, Z,” Shaunee said. “Everyone knows you’re a shitty driver.”
“No, everyone knows I can’t parallel park. Hardly anyone can parallel park. That doesn’t make me a bad driver.” I turned to look at Shaunee before we left campus. “Hey, are you sure you don’t want to stay here? This weather is awful.”
“I heard Marx telling you they have flamethrowers ready. No damn way I’m going to miss that.”
“It is a good idea to have fire with us,” Stark said.
“Okay, yeah, I get it. I just haven’t been able to stop worrying since Kalona showed up in my dream and mentioned the N word.”
“Z, get real. You haven’t stopped worrying since you were Marked,” Stark said.
I sighed. “You’re probably right. I just, I dunno. I just keep feeling like something is going to happen. Something really awful.”
“You mean something more awful than the zombie apocalypse?” Shaunee said.
“Sadly, yes,” I said. We’d come to the gate that opened to Utica. I glanced down what I expected to be a totally empty street to see …
“Hey, that’s not Aphrodite staggering down the middle of Utica, is it?” Stark said.
“Ah, hell, it is. Hang on. I’ll get her.”
Stark’s hand on my shoulder stopped me. “Not without me you won’t. You don’t know why she’s staggering.”
“Are you being serious?” Shaunee said. “If Aphrodite’s stumbling we all know why. She’s either drunk or high.”
I sighed and added, “Or both.”
“Normally, I’d agree. But right now we have zombie vampyres loose in Tulsa, so I’m not taking any chances.” He grabbed his bow and notched an arrow. “Shaunee, slide up here. If any of those creatures show up—run them over.”
“Totally doable,” Shaunee said.
Stark and I got out of the SUV, braced ourselves against the wind and snow, and plowed our way to Aphrodite.
“What happened? Are you okay?” I hurried to her side while Stark stood guard, his keen eyes scanning around us looking for danger.
“Zoey! Stark!” Aphrodite stumbled and fell against me. “Two of my fave peoples!”
I caught her and got a huge whiff of her boozy breath as I helped her get upright. “You’re drunk.”
“And super high! Took two, no wait, three Xanax. Xanaxes? Xanaxie? Ah, whatever.” She lifted the sliver flask she was holding loosely and turned it upside down, shaking it. Nothing came out. “Well, shit. And looks like I’m out of single malt. Again.”
“You gotta stop mixing drugs and alcohol,” I said, catching her as she swayed drunkenly. “You’re going to kill yourself someday.”
She snorted. “Again I say, ‘Whatever.’”
“Did you see your mom?” I asked.
“Yes, I abso-fucking-lutely did. Do you know she’s a monster? Literally?” She proceeded to giggle hysterically as she tried to suck nonexistent scotch from her flask.
Something inside me snapped. I grabbed her flask from her and threw it into the ditch.
“Hey! That was expensive!”
“Enough!” I got in her face. “You have to stop this. It’s self-destructive. And it’s not the way adults act, especially adults who are in the service of Nyx.”
“Maybe I don’t want to be in anyone’s service! Maybe I don’t deserve to be in anyone’s service! Maybe that’s what my vision was really about. I’m not human. I’m not vampyre. I’m nothing except an idiot who isn’t even good enough for her mother to love.”
I grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her. Hard. “Snap the hell out of it! Your mom is awful. She’s always been awful. So stop letting her fuck with your head.”
“Ooooo, you said hell and fuck. It really must be the zombie apocalypse.” She giggled some more.
“It’s not funny.” I let her go so abruptly that she almost fell. “And I’m serious. What if I needed you right now? What if we all needed you right now? You’re a Prophetess of Nyx. We’re in a time of crisis. And what did you choose to do? Get so messed up that you can hardly walk. That’s total bullpoopie, Aphrodite, and as your High Priestess I’m telling you—no, I’m commanding you—to sober up.”
“Hey, my monster of a mom is dying. Then I’ll be an orphan. I have the right to get messed up.”
“No, you don’t. What you have is an obligation to yourself and to the people who care about you to deal with the issues in your life! You’re acting like you’re the only one of us who ever lost a parent. Or who ever had a crappy parent. Bingo and bingo for me and for a bunch of us. Grow the hell up, Aphrodite, and realize you have a problem.”
Aphrodite narrowed her eyes at me, switching from giggly drunk to mean drunk in an instant. “What problem are you talking about?”
“Get real, Aphrodite.” Stark spoke without taking his eyes from the street around us. “Everyone knows you have a major alcohol and prescription drug problem.”
Aphrodite stopped swaying. Her face flushed bright red. “Fuck you, James Stark! And fuck you, too, Zoey Redbird! Fuck all of you. You peasants don’t know who the hell you’re dealing with. Command me? Command me? I didn’t ask for any of this, and you, High Priestess,” she sneered, “don’t have the brains or experience to command the correct spell to enter a circle, let alone command me. I quit!” She shoved past me, bumping me so hard she almost knocked me on my butt and repeating, “I fucking quit!” Over her shoulder she continued to spew anger. “Tell Darius we’re out of here as soon as the airport opens. Queen Damien hates New York? Well, I love it, so mark him off and pencil me in. I’ll do a better job than he’s been doing anyway—all he’s been doing is boohooing. Yeah, New York City. That’s where I’m going. As soon as possible.”
I started to follow her, but Stark caught my wrist.
“Let her go.”
“But she’s—”
“She’s drunk, full of pills, and mean. And she’s currently walking onto campus. She’ll be fine.”
“Walking? Don’t you mean stumbling?”
“No.” He pointed at her. “Look. She’s not stumbling at all now. And she’s already through the gate. Let’s get back in the car.”
We fought against the wind to the car.
“Let me guess—she was majorly fucked up,” Shaunee said as she climbed into the back seat and Stark took her place.
“Totally,” I said.
“You know, the amount of drugs and alcohol she ingests on a regular basis would kill a normal person,” said Shaunee. “And I don’t think she ever eats anymore. I mean, I haven’t been around for a while, but I’ve only seen her drink her meals since I’ve been back.”