Part 2 (1/2)

His gaze had s.h.i.+fted to Nala, who was the only cat left close to d.u.c.h.ess. Nala hadn't started growling again, but she was perched on my lap, staring unblinkingly at the dog, and I could feel the tension in her body.

”Nala will be good,” I said, hoping she would. I really had no control over my cat. h.e.l.l, who actually had control over any cat?

”All right, then.” He gave me a quick nod before telling the dog, ”d.u.c.h.ess, stay!” Sure enough, when he followed Damien over to the main line, d.u.c.h.ess stayed.

”You know, dogs are a lot louder than cats,” Jack said, studying d.u.c.h.ess like she was a science experiment.

”It's all that panting they do,” Erin said.

”And they're more flatulent than cats, Twin,” Shaunee said. ”My mom has those ginormic standard poodles, and they are some gaseous creatures.”

”Okay, well, this has really been not fun,” Aphrodite said. ”I'm out of here.”

”Don't you want to stay around and make eyes at the new guy?” Shaunee asked in a too-nice voice.

”Yeah, and he seemed to like you so much,” Erin said sweetly.

”I'll leave the new guy to you two, which is only right, being as he likes dogs so much. Zoey, come by my room when you're done with your nerd herd. I want to talk to you about something before the Council Meeting.” And with a hair fling and a sneer for the Twins, she left the cafeteria.

”She's not actually as bad as she pretends to be,” I told the Twins. They gave me disbelieving looks and I shrugged. ”It's just that she pretends to be bad a lot.”

”Well, we say please, just please, to her c.r.a.ppy att.i.tude,” Erin said.

”Aphrodite makes us understand why women have drowned their babies,” Shaunee said.

”Just try to give Aphrodite a chance,” I said. ”She's started letting me in past that hateful c.r.a.p she puts up. You'll see. She can be nice sometimes.”

The Twins didn't say anything for a couple of seconds, then they looked at each other, and at the same time they shook their heads and rolled their eyes. I sighed again.

”But on to a much more important topic,” Erin said.

”Yeah, the new hottie,” Shaunee said.

”Check out his b.u.t.t,” Erin said.

”I wish he'd sag them jeans a little so I could get a better look,” Shaunee said.

”Twin, sagging is seriously lame. It's so cliched gang-wannabe circa 1990s. Hotties should just say no to it,” Erin said.

”I'd still like to see his b.u.t.t, Twin,” Shaunee said. Then she glanced over at me and smiled. It was a reserved version of her old, friendly grin, but at least it wasn't the sarcastic wariness she'd been treating me with for the past couple days. ”So, what do you think? Is he Christian Bale hot, or just Tobey Maguire hot?”

I wanted to burst into happy tears and yell, Yea! You guys are starting to talk to me again! Instead I acted like I had some sense and joined the Twins in checking out the new kid.

Okay, so they were right. Stark was cute. He was medium tall, not quarterback tall like my human ex-boyfriend, Heath, or abnormally gorgeous Superman tall like my fledgling-turned-vampyre ex-boyfriend, Erik. But he wasn't short, either. Actually, he was about Damien's height. He was kinda on the thin side, but I could see muscles through his old T-s.h.i.+rt, and his arms were definitely yummy. He had cute, messy guy hair, that sandy color between blond and brown. His face was okay, too, with a strong chin, straight nose, big brown eyes, and nice lips. So, dissected into separate parts, Stark was an okay-looking kid. As I watched him, I realized that what took him from meh to hot was his intensity and his confidence. He moved like everything he did was deliberate, but that the deliberateness was tinged with sarcasm. It was like he was a part of the world, and at the same time he was flipping it off.

And, yes, it was weird that I got that about him so quickly.

”I think he's definitely cute,” I said.

”OhmiG.o.d! I just realized who he is!” Jack gasped.

”Do tell,” Shaunee said.

”He's James Stark!” Jack said.

”No s.h.i.+t,” Erin said, rolling her eyes. ”Jacky, we already know that.”

”No, no, no. You don't get it. He's the James Stark who is the best archer in the whole world! Don't you remember reading about him online? He kicked b.u.t.t in the track and field Summer Games this past year. Guys, he competed against grown vamps, actual Sons of Erebus, and he beat them all. He's a star . . .” Jack ended on a dreamy sigh.

”Well, s.h.i.+t! Slap me and call me impaired, Twin. Jacky's right!” Erin said.

”I knew his hotness was of major proportions,” Shaunee said.

”Wow,” I said.

”Twin, I'm gonna try to like his dog,” Erin said.

”Of course we are, Twin,” Shaunee said.

Naturally, all four of us were staring at Stark like total morons when he and Damien came back to the table.

”What?” he said, mouth filled with a bite of sandwich. He glanced from us down to d.u.c.h.ess. ”Did she do something while I was gone? She kinda likes to lick toes.”

”Eesh, that's-,” Erin began, but shut up when Shaunee kicked her under the table.

”No, d.u.c.h.ess was a perfect lady whilst you were gone,” Shaunee said, giving Stark a very, very friendly grin.

”Good,” Stark said. When everyone continued to stare at him, he s.h.i.+fted uncomfortably in his seat. As if on cue, d.u.c.h.ess moved so that she could lean against his leg and gaze up at him lovingly. I watched him relax as he automatically reached a hand down and ruffled her ears.

”I remember hearing about you beating all of those vamps in archery!” Jack blurted; then he squeezed his lips shut and blushed bright pink.

Stark didn't look up from his plate. He just shrugged his shoulders. ”Yeah, I'm good at archery.”

”You're that fledgling?” Damien said, just now getting it. ”Good at archery? You're amazing at archery!”

Stark looked up. ”Whatever. It's just something I've been good at ever since I've been Marked.” His eyes went from Damien to me. ”Speaking of famous fledglings, I see the rumor about your extra Marks is true.”

”It's true.” I really hated these first meetings. It made me uncomfortable as h.e.l.l when I met someone and all they could see about me was the uber-fledgling and not the real Zoey.

Then I got it. What I was feeling was probably a lot like what Stark was feeling.

I asked the first thing I could think of to get the subject away from how ”special” he and I both were. ”Do you like horses?”

”Horses?” The sarcastic smile was back.