“And you trust this Stevie Rae vampyre?”

Aphrodite hesitated. “Most of the time.”

Stark expected at least one of the kids to jump in and correct Aphrodite, but they all stayed quiet until Damien said, “Why do you ask about trusting Stevie Rae?”

“Because of the few things I know about the ancient beliefs of Light and Darkness symbolized in the bulls, one is that they always exact a price for their favors. Always. Answering Stevie Rae’s question was a favor from Darkness.”

“But she called up the good bull and it kicked the bad bull’s butt. That kept Stevie Rae from paying a price to him,” Jack said.

“So she then owed payment to the black bull,” Thanatos said.

Aphrodite’s eyes narrowed. “That’s what she was talking about when she said she wouldn’t ever evoke either of the bulls again because the price was too high.”

“I think you should look to your friend and discover what payment she rendered the black bull,” Thanatos said.

“And why she wouldn’t tell me about it,” Aphrodite added.

Thanatos’s eyes looked old and sad as she said, “Just remember, there are consequences for everything, whether good or bad.”

“Can we stop looking back at what has happened with Stevie Rae?” Stark said. “I need to move forward. To Skye and a bridge of blood. So let’s get going.”

“Whoa, big boy,” Aphrodite told him. “Settle for a second. You can’t just show up on the Isle of Women and bumble around looking for a bloody bridge. Sgiach’s protective spell will kick your butt—as in kill you dead.”

“I don’t think Stark’s supposed to be looking for something literal,” said Damien, studying Aphrodite’s note again. “It says to look to your blood to discover the bridge, not look for a blood bridge.”

“Ugh, metaphor. Just one more reason I seriously hate poetry,” Aphrodite said.

“I’m good at metaphors,” Jack said. “Let me see.” Damien handed him the paper. Jack chewed his lip while he read the line again. “Hmm, if you were Imprinted with someone, I’d say it meant that we should talk to whoever that is, and maybe they’d know something.”

“I’m not Imprinted with anyone,” Stark said, starting to pace again.

“So that might mean that we need to look at who you are—that there’s something about you that’s a key to getting onto Sgiach’s island,” Damien said.

“I don’t know anything! That’s the problem!”

“Okay—okay, how about we look at the notes we made about Sgiach to see if there’s something there that rings a bell with you,” Jack said, making consolatory motions at Stark.

“Yeah, chill out,” Shaunee said.

“Take a seat and have a sandwich.” Erin gestured to the end of their bench with the sandwich she’d begun munching on.

“Eat,” Thanatos said, taking a sandwich and sitting beside Jack. “Focus on life.”

Stark suppressed a frustrated growl, grabbed a sandwich, and sat.

“Oh, pull out that chart we made,” Jack said, peeking over Damien’s shoulder as he flipped through the notes he’d made. “Some of this stuff gets confusing, and visual aids always help.”

“Good idea—here it is.” Damien ripped out a piece of paper from the yellow legal pad he’d almost filled with notes. At the top of it he’d drawn a big, open umbrella. On one side of the umbrella he’d written LIGHT and on the opposite side, DARKNESS.

“The umbrella of Light and Darkness is a good image,” Thanatos said. “It shows that the two forces are all-encompassing.”

“That was my idea,” Jack said, turning a little pink.

Damien smiled at him. “Well done, you.” Then he pointed at the column beneath Light. “So under the force of Light I’ve listed: good, the black bull, Nyx, Zoey, and us.” He paused, and everyone nodded. “And under Darkness I have: evil, the white bull, Neferet/Tsi Sgili, Kalona, and Raven Mockers.”

“I see you have Sgiach placed in the middle,” Thanatos said.

“Yeah, along with onion rings, Hostess Ding Dongs, and my name,” Aphrodite said. “Just what the hell does that mean?”

“Well, I don’t think we’ve decided if Sgiach is a force for Light or Darkness,” Damien said.

“I added the onion rings and Ding Dongs,” Jack said. When everyone just stared at him, he shrugged and explained, “Onion rings are deep-fried and fattening, but an onion is a vegetable. So aren’t they good for you? Maybe? And, well, Ding Dongs are chocolate, but they have cream in the middle. Isn’t that dairy and healthy?”

“I think you’re brain-damaged,” Aphrodite said.

“We added your name,” Erin said.

“Yeah, ’cause we think you’re like Rachel on Glee,” Shaunee said. “Super annoying, but she has to be in the show ’cause sometimes she comes up with good stuff and kinda sorta saves the day.”

“But we think she’s still a hag from hell. Like you,” Erin finished, giving Aphrodite a sugary smile.”

“Anyway”—Damien quickly erased onion rings, Ding Dongs, and Aphrodite’s name, put the chart in the middle of the table, and then went back to the yellow pad—“here’s some info we found about Sgiach,” Damien said, scanning through the notes he’d made. “She is considered a queen of Warriors. Lots of Warriors used to train on her island, so a bunch of Sons of Erebus came and went, but the Warriors who stayed with her, the ones sworn to her service—”

“Hang on, Sgiach had more than one Oath Sworn Warrior?” Stark interrupted.

Damien nodded. “Apparently she had a whole Clan of them. Only they didn’t call themselves Sons of Erebus. Their title was . . .” Damien paused, flipping pages. “Here it is. They were called Guardians of the Ace.”

“Why Ace?” Stark asked.

“It’s a metaphor,” Aphrodite said, rolling her eyes. “Another one. It’s what they called Sgiach. It symbolizes queen to their Clan.”

“I think the Scottish clan stuff is cool,” Jack said.

“Of course you do,” Aphrodite said. “Guys in skirts is your wet dream.”

“Kilt, not skirt,” Stark said. “Or plaid. If you’re talking about the really old, big one you call it a philamore.”

Aphrodite raised a blond brow at him. “And you know this because you like to wear them?”

He shrugged. “Not me, but my grandpa used to.”

“You’re Scottish?” Damien’s voice was incredulous. “And you’re just now telling us?”

Stark shrugged again. “What does my human family have to do with anything? I haven’t even talked to them in almost four years.”

“It’s not just a family,” Damien’s voice rose with excitement as he started ruffling through the pages of his notes again.

“Oh, for crap’s sake. Your family is your blood, you moron,” Aphrodite said. “What was your grandfather’s last name?”

Stark frowned at Aphrodite.

“MacUallis,” Stark and Damien said together.

“How did you know that?” Stark asked.

“It was the Clan MacUallis who were the Guardians of the Ace.” Damien grinned victoriously, holding up the page of his notes that held the words: CLAN MACUALLIS = GUARDIANS OF THE ACE for everyone to see.

“Looks like we found our blood bridge,” Jack said, hugging Damien.

Chapter 16

Heath stirred and muttered something about skipping football practice and sleeping in. I watched him and held my breath as I paced my circle around where he slept.

I mean, would you want to wake him up and tell him he was dead as dirt and wouldn’t ever be playing football again?

Hell no.

I tried to be as quiet as I could, but I couldn’t hold still. This time I hadn’t even pretended to lie down next to him. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t stop myself. I had to keep moving.

We were in the middle of the same dense grove we’d run inside of before. When before? I couldn’t really remember, but the short, gnarled trees and lots of old rocks looked cool. And the moss. Especially the moss. It was everywhere—thick and soft and cushy.