House Of Night Chosen | Page 7

the credit for that goes to Aphrodite.

Plus, recently I'd found out that Neferet, our High Priestess

— my mentor, the vamp most looked up to at the school—was also
not what she appeared to be. Actually, I was coming to believe that
Neferet was probably as evil as she was powerful.
Darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does
not always bring good. The words that Nyx had said to me the day I
was Marked flitted through my mind, summarizing the problem
with Neferet. She wasn't what she appeared to be.

And I couldn't tell anyone—or at least not anyone who was
alive (which left me with my undead best friend who I hadn't
managed to talk to during the entire past month). Thankfully, I also
hadn't talked to Neferet for the past month. She'd left for a winter
retreat in Europe and wasn't scheduled to be back until the New
Year. I figured I'd come up with a plan about how to deal with her

when she returned. So far my plan consisted of just that: coming up
with a plan. Which was no plan at all. Crap.

"Hey, what's in the package?" Jack said, pulling me out of
my mental nightmare back to my birthmas party nightmare.

We all looked at the brown paper package I was still
holding.

"I dunno," I said. Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)

"I'll bet it's another birthday present!" Jack cried. "Open it!"

"Oh, boy…" I said. But when my friends gave me confused
looks I got real busy unwrapping the box. Inside the generic brown
wrapper was another box, this one wrapped in beautiful lavender
paper.

"It is another birthday present!" Jack squealed.

"Wonder who it's from?" Damien asked.

I was just wondering the same thing, and thinking that the
paper reminded me of my grandma, who lived on an awesome
lavender farm. But why would she send my present through the
mail when I was meeting her later tonight?

I uncovered a smooth, white box, which I opened. Inside
was another, much smaller white box fitted snuggly inside a bunch
of lavender tissue paper. Curiosity completely killing me, I lifted the
little box from its lavender tissue nest. Several pieces of the paper
clung all static-electricified to the bottom of the newly freed box,
and I brushed them off before opening it. As they floated to the
table I peeked inside the box and sucked in a shocked breath. Lying
on a bed of white cotton was the most beautiful sliver bracelet I'd
ever seen. I picked it up, oohing and ahing at the twinkling charms.
There were starfish and seashells and seahorses, and each of them
was separated by adorable little silver hearts.

"It's absolutely perfect!" I said, fastening it to my wrist. "I
wonder who could have sent it to me?" Laughing, I turned my wrist
this way and that, letting the gaslights that were so easy on our
sensitive fledgling eyes catch the polished silver and make it glisten
like faceted jewels. "It must be my grandma, but that's weird
because we're meeting in just…," and I realized everyone was
totally, absolutely, uncomfortably silent.

I looked from my wrist to my friends. Their expressions
ranged from shock (Damien) to annoyance (the Twins) to anger
(Erik).

"What?"

"Here," Erik said, handing me a card that must have slipped
out of the box with the clinging tissue paper.

"Oh," I said, instantly recognizing the scrawling
handwriting. Oh, hell! It was from Heath. Better known as
boyfriend no. 2. As I read the short note I felt my face getting hot
and knew I was turning a totally unattractive shade of bright red.

Zo—HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I know how much you hate those
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lame birthmas presents that try to mush your b-day with Christmas,
so I sent you something I know you'll like. Hey! It doesn't have
anything

to do with Christmas! Duh! I'm hating the stupid Cayman
Islands and this boring vacation with my parents and I'm counting
the days till I can be with you again. See you on the 26th! I heart
you! Heath

"Oh," I repeated like a