"We didn't want to be alone," Shaunee said. "Yeah, and we thought you might not want to be alone, either," Erin finished. "You're right. I don't." I swallowed back more tears. "Come on in. They shuffled in and, with only a little hesitation, piled onto Stevie Rae's bed. Their long-haired silver-gray cat, Beelzebub, hopped up between them. Nala raised her head from my pillow to glance at him, and then, as if he were beneath her queenly no tice, she curled back up and went promptly to sleep. I was just drifting off to sleep when another soft knock came on the door. This time it didn't open, so I called, "Who is it?"
"Me." Shaunee, Erin, and I blinked at each other. Then I hurried over to the door and opened it to find Damien standing in the hall wearing flannel pj's with pink bow-tied bears all over them. He looked kinda damp, and unmelted snowflakes were caught in his hair. He was carrying a sleeping bag and a pillow. I grabbed his arm and pulled him quickly into the room. His chubby tabby cat, Cameron, padded in with him. "What are you doing, Damien? You know you're gonna get in a buttload of trouble if you get caught in here."
"Yeah, it's way past curfew," Erin said. "You might be here getting ready to defile us virgins," Shaunee said. Then she and Erin looked at each other and burst out laugh ing, which made me smile. It was weird to have a happy feeling in the middle of such sadness, which is probably why the Twins' laughter and my smile faded quickly. "Stevie Rae wouldn't want us to quit being happy," Damien said into the uncomfortable silence. Then he walked to the middle of the room and spread out his sleeping bag on the floor between the two beds. "And I'm here because we need to stick to gether. Not because I want to defile any of you, even if all of you were still virgins, although I do appreciate your use of vocabu lary." Erin and Shaunee snorted, but looked more amused than of fended, and I made a mental note to ask them sex questions later. "Well, I'm glad you came, but we're gonna have one heck of a time sneaking you out of here when everyone's eating breakfast and rushing around before school," I said, trying out escape plans in my head. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that. The vamps are post ing that the school's closed today due to snow. No one'll be rush ing anywhere. I'll just walk out with y'all whenever."
"Posting? You mean we'd have to wake up, get dressed, and go downstairs before we found out there wasn't any school? That sucks," I said. I could hear the smile in Damien's voice. "They announce it on the local radio stations like normal schools do. But do you and Stevie Rae listen to the news while you get ..." Damien trailed off, and I realized that he'd started phrasing the question as if Ste vie Rae were still alive. "No," I said quickly, trying to cover his awkwardness. "We used to listen to country music. It always made me hurry up and get ready quicker so I could escape from it." My friends laughed softly. I waited until everyone was quiet again, and then I said, "I'm not going to forget her, and I'm not going to pretend like her death doesn't mean anything to me."
"Neither am I," Damien said. "Me either," Shaunee said. "Ditto, Twin," Erin said. After a while I said, "I didn't think it could happen to a fledg ling who had been given an affinity by Nyx. I--I just didn't think it could happen."
"No one's guaranteed to make it through the Change, not even those gifted by the Goddess," Damien said quietly. "That just means we have to stick together," Erin said. "It's the only way we can get through this," Shaunee said. "That's what we'll do then--stick together," I said with finality. "And promise that if the worst happens, and some of the rest of us don't make it through, the others won't let them be forgotten."
"Promise," my three friends said solemnly. We all settled down then. The room didn't feel so lonely any more, and just before I drifted off to sleep I whispered, "Thanks for not letting me be alone ..." and wasn't sure if I was thanking my friends, my Goddess, or Stevie Rae.
Chapter