My face flamed with embarrassment as I pushed myself out of Heath's arms, wiping my mouth and breathing hard. Stevie Rae was standing down the tunnel just a few yards from us. Tears still rained down her cheeks and her face was twisted in despair. "Kill me," she repeated on a sob.
"No." I shook my head and took a step toward her, but she backed away from me, putting up her hand as if she wanted to hold me off. I stopped and gulped some deep breaths, trying to get myself under control. "Come back to the House of Night with me. We'll figure out how this happened. It'll be okay, Stevie Rae, I promise. All that matters is that you're alive." Stevie Rae had started shaking her head as I'd begun talking. "I'm not really alive, and I can't go back there."
"Of course you're alive. You're walking and talking."
"I'm not me anymore. I did die, and part of me--the best part of me--is still dead, just like it is for the rest of them." She ges tured back at the cave-in. "You're not like they are," I said firmly. "I'm more like them than I am like you." Her gaze shifted from me to Heath, who was standing quietly beside me. "You wouldn't believe the awful things that go through my mind. I could kill him without a second thought. I would have already if his blood hadn't been changed by the Imprint with you."
"Maybe it wasn't just that, Stevie Rae. Maybe you didn't kill him because you really didn't want to," I said. Her eyes found mine again. "No. I wanted to kill him. I still do."
"The rest of them killed Brad and Chris," Heath said. "And that was my fault."
"Heath, now's not the time--" I started, but he cut me off. "No, you need to hear this, Zoey. Those things grabbed Brad and Chris because they were hanging around the House of Night, and that's my fault because I'd told them how hot you are." He gave me an apologetic look. "Sorry, Zo." Then his expression hardened and he said, "You should kill her. You should kill them all. As long as they're alive people will be in danger."
"He's right," Stevie Rae said. "And how will killing you and the rest of them solve this? Won't more of you happen?" I made my mind up and closed the space between Stevie Rae and me. She looked like she wanted to take off, but my words stopped her. "How did this happen? What made you like this?" Her face contorted with anguish. "I don't know how. I only know who."
"Then who did this?" She opened her mouth to answer me and then, with a move ment so fast her body blurred, she was suddenly cowering against the side of the tunnel. "She's coming!"
"What? Who?" I crouched beside her. "Get out of here! Fast. There's probably still time for you to get away." Then Stevie Rae reached out and took my hand in hers. Her flesh was cold, but her grip was strong. "She'll kill you if she sees you--you and him. You know too much. She may kill you anyway, but it'll be harder for her to do if you get back to the House of Night."
"Who are you talking about, Stevie Rae?"
"Neferet." The name blasted through me and even as I shook my head in denial I felt the truth of it deep within me. "Neferet did this to you, to all of you?"
"Yes. Now get out of here, Zoey!"
I could feel her terror and I knew she was right. If Heath and I didn't leave, we would die. "I'm not giving up on you, Stevie Rae. Use your element. You still have a connection with the earth, I can feel it. So use your el ement to stay strong. I'll come back for you, and somehow we'll figure this out--we'll make this okay. I promise." Then I hugged her hard, and after only a little hesitation, she hugged me back. "Let's go, Heath." I grabbed his hand so I could guide him quickly down the darkness of the tunnel. The light in my palm had gone out when I'd called earth to me, and no way was I going to take a chance on relighting it. It might guide her to us. As we ran down the tunnel I heard Stevie Rae's whispered "Please don't forget me ..." follow us. Heath and I ran. The surge of energy his blood had given me didn't last long, and by the time we came to the metal ladder that led up to the grate in the basement, I wanted to collapse and sleep for days. Heath was all for rushing up the ladder and into the basement, but I made him wait. Breathing heavily, I leaned against the side of the tunnel and fished my cell phone out of my pants pocket, along with Detective Marx's card. I flipped open the phone and I swear my heart didn't beat until the bars started to light up green. "Can ya hear me now?" Heath said, grinning at me. "Sssh!" I told him, but smiled back. Then I punched in the de tective's number. "This is Marx," the deep voice answered on the second ring. "Detective Marx, this is Zoey Redbird. I only have a second to talk, then I have to go. I've found Heath Luck. We're in the base ment of the Tulsa Depot, and we need help."
"Hang tight. I'll be right there!" A noise from above made me cut off the connection and switch the phone off. I pressed my finger to my lips when Heath started to speak. Heath put his arm around me, and we tried not to breathe. Then I heard the coo-coo of a pigeon and the flutter ing of wings. "I think it's just a bird," Heath whispered. "I'm going to go look." I was too tired to argue with him, plus Marx was on his way and I was sick of the damp, nasty tunnel. "Be careful," I whis pered back. Heath nodded and squeezed my shoulder, then climbed up the ladder. Slowly and carefully he lifted the metal grate, sticking his head up and peering around. Pretty soon he reached down and motioned for me to climb up and take his hand. "It's just a pi geon. Come on." Wearily, I climbed to him and let him pull me up into the basement. We sat in the corner by the grate for several long min utes, listening intently. Finally, I whispered, "Let's go outside and wait for Marx there." Heath had already started to shiver, but I re membered the blanket Aphrodite had made me bring. Plus, I'd rather take my chances with the weather than stay in the creepy basement. "I hate it in here, too. It's like a damn tomb," Heath said softly between chattering teeth. Hand in hand, we walked across the basement, passing through the slatted grayish light that reflected down from the world above. We were at the iron door when I heard the distant wail of a police siren. The terrible tension in my body had just begun to relax when Neferet's voice came from the shadows. "I should have known you would be here." Heath's body jerked in surprise and my hand tightened in warning on his. As I turned to face her, I was centering myself and could feel the power of the elements beginning to shimmer in the air around me. I drew a deep breath and carefully blanked my mind. "Oh, Neferet! I'm so glad to see you!" I squeezed Heath's hand one more time before I let go of him, trying to telegraph play along with whatever I say through touch. Then I ran, sobbing, into the High Priestess's arms. "How did you find me? Did Detec tive Marx call you?" I could see indecision in her eyes as Neferet smoothly disen tangled herself from my arms. "Detective Marx?"
"Yeah." I sniffed and wiped my nose on my sleeve, forcing my self to beam relief and trust to her. "That's him coming right now." The sound of the siren was very close, and I could hear that it had been joined by at least two other cars. "Thank you for find ing me!" I gushed. "It was so terrible. I thought that crazy street person was going to kill both of us." I moved back to Heath's side and took his hand again. He was staring at Neferet, looking a lot like he was in shock. I realized that he was probably remembering pieces of the only other time he'd seen the High Priestess--the night the vampyre ghosts had almost killed him--and imagined his mind was too freaked out for Neferet to make much sense of what was going on inside his head. Good thing, too. Then car doors were slamming and heavy feet were crunching through the snow. "Zoey, Heath ..." Neferet moved swiftly to us. She lifted her hands, which glowed with a weird, reddish light, suddenly re minding me of the undead things' eyes. Before I could run or scream or even take a breath, she grabbed our shoulders. I felt Heath go rigid as pain shot through my body. It blasted against my mind and my knees would have buckled had her hand not been like a vise, holding me up. "You will remember nothing!" The words echoed through my agony-filled mind, and then there was only darkness.