Betrayed Chapter 10

For once, PCK decides she can skip ahead just a little. We’re thankfully spared Zoey’s walk back to her dorm and the subsequent run in with her stupid cat. However, Zoey does have to recap what’s going on by talking it over with Damien.

Remember how they can’t go to Neferet? Yeah, that’s still a thing apparently. For some reason Zoey can’t go to Neferet and tell her about Aphrodite’s vision and then say that her intuition agrees and then Neferet will have to listen. Zoey says no, they can’t go to Neferet though because Aphrodite and her are having “some sort of weird fight”.

“It’s about time Neferet started seeing her as the bitch she is,” Stevie Rae said.

This is followed by everyone agreeing how Aphrodite is a “hateful cow” and a “hag from hell”. Which are all pretty weak insults to me but it begs a bigger question. What the hell does it matter if Aphrodite is a bitch or not? Someone’s attitude is not a reflection of their skill/competence in one way or the other. Personally, if Aphrodite saw the future and helped me out then she can afford to have a bad attitude.

Damien then suggests, as I did last recap, that Aphrodite was faking it and that’s why she doesn’t want Neferet involved. Zoey says she would have thought that too if she hadn’t seen it for herself. That is, if she hadn’t seen Aphrodite do things which Zoey is vaguely sure are part of having a psychic vision. She still didn’t actually see anything so she’s still going on the word of Aphrodtie.

Zoey says she’s sure that Aphrodite it telling the truth. Then Stevie, showing she’s much smarter than PCK wants her to be, asks if Aphrodite is telling the whole truth. Now that would be interesting, if Aphrodite were withholding some key information like grandma only dies because of Zoey. She wanders into traffic to keep people off the bridge which causes someone not paying attention to veer off into a rusting support that was slated for replacement, causing a domino effect that brings the whole thing down.

Zoey says no, they’re just going to have to trust her intuition on this one. I’m thinking that this book will be all about intuition. Which is damn convenient because then Zoey can just do random things that will happen to forward the plot and she won’t need a reason for it. Then Damien asks for clarification that it was a barge hitting it that caused it to collapse and Zoey nods. Damien then proposes that Zoey call pretending to be Neferet because people trust her and will listen.

‘Hello, is this the chief of police?’ ‘Yes, who is this?’ ‘This is Neferet, and I am totally a vampire priestess. I have valuable information regarding a bridge collapse.’ ‘I see. And what’s your address again?’ ‘It’s the vampire school in town. But hurry, you only have until three fifteen before a barge collides with it.’ ‘Oh, don’t worry. We’ll get right on this.’ Three hours later. ‘Hey Zoey, did you hear that Neferet got arrested?’

Of course Damien wants them to call whoever is in charge of the barge and not the police but Zoey says it won’t work because Aphrodite didn’t see the barge clear enough. They don’t even know if it was a barge and not some errant sea serpent. And Zoey doesn’t want to impersonate Neferet. So the only logical thing is to depose the high priestess and take over the school which will then be ruled with an iron fist. Oh wait, that would be saner that what they actually decide on.

“Bomb threat!” Stevie Rae said suddenly. We all looked at her. “Huh?” Erin asked.

Shaunee actually asks Stevie to explain, probably because there’s only half a brain between her and Erin. Yes, bomb threats scare people and usually causes a place to be evacuated and/or shut down. I really don’t think that’s the easiest and most effective way to stop the bridge collapse. Or rather, it will, but then there won’t be any evidence of Aphrodite’s visions being true.

See, if there were a bomb on a bridge, the police aren’t just going to close down the bridge and let river traffic continue on. Because if a bridge collapses, it can fall onto the boats below. And while bridges are known for many things, like spanning a river or being painted orange, they’re not known for being very light. With traffic stopped on the river, whatever conditions would lead to a boat crashing into it will probably correct itself and then you have an intact bridge. But does anyone want to bet that, in spite of road traffic being stopped, the boat will still hit it?

So now that they’ve decided to do threaten a bit of construction, now it’s time to make sure they can get away with it. Zoey wonders if they can trace her cell if she calls it in and Damien says of course, unless she uses a disposable cell phone. Been watching the Bourne trilogy PCK? Fun fact for you, law enforcement can still get records of what tower was accessed when a call came in. That along with the number is enough to track people down. Plus if that phone was paid for with a credit or debit card then there’s a paper trail.

But because PCK doesn’t want Zoey to get caught, she’ll use a pay as you go phone. Which Damien just happens to have on him. He apparently keeps one on him at all times just because but he’ll be glad to turn it over to Zoey and then destroy it for her once she’s done. Damien must have dollar bills where his brain should be if he’s so cavalier about  breaking his phone. ‘Sure, use it once to call in a threat. It’s only money.’

So then they work out the details like who to call, what they’re going to say and why they say they’re going to blow up a bridge. They go with Shaunee’s suggestion to complain about the government “interfering with the private sector’s lives”. She says her dad would be proud, though not about threatening to blow up a bridge. Oh, and they’re going to call it into the FBI. Again, it’s not like the FBI has the resources to find out where the call came from.

After Zoey says they’ll call at two so as to make them close down the bridge for a while, Neferet shows up escorting two men in suits. They want to speak with Zoey so they go into the library and Neferet assures Zoey it won’t take more than a moment. They address her as Mongomery before Neferet interjects that Zoey’s new name is Redbird which was legally changed when she was emancipated upon entering the school.

Interesting, so all the students are emancipated then, huh? And why in the world do the courts rule that way? Before a judge will legally emancipate a minor, there’s typically a hearing to determine that this is in the best interest of the minor and it’s rather difficult to prove. I’m sure loads of greasy vampire money are involved.

The two detectives have questions about the missing and dead boys. I may not be a detective but I do know that detectives don’t normally work in pairs. A department would usually find it more efficient to send individuals out to investigate. But because PCK only knows about police from TV, they’re partners. Oh and one of them is nice while the other asks questions fast and is mean.

Somehow, the questioning turns from knowing the two boys to Heath’s visit to Zoey from last book. They ask if she cut him and drank his blood which makes Neferet gets indignant and Zoey thinks she knows why they’re asking those questions. So she immediately says that Kayla, her old friend, saw them kissing and would say anything mean and nasty to get her in trouble though she does admit to scaring them off by saying she’d suck their blood.

They ask about the times she saw them and Zoey summarizes the second time Heath showed up. She says he was drunk but doesn’t mention the marihuana because she doesn’t want to get him in trouble. Then she’s says she hasn’t seen him since though he keeps pestering her. Then one of them pulls out a plastic bag with the pendant of Nyx, the one that looks like a Tie Fighter, and asks if she’s ever seen it before. Zoey tells us that the symbol represents the three aspects of the goddess and that it’s the necklace the leader of the DDs wore.

It would be a nice cliffhanger if it made any sense. For one, if vampires were common like they are in Zoey’s world then the police would either have some education or an expert they could turn to about cultural matters. Secondly, police don’t just take evidence around and show it to people. Especially not since it’s one of the only pieces of evidence in a murder. They might show her a picture or ask her to be fingerprinted if they’ve got enough cause to suspect her but they won’t just hand it over.

For once though, we close the chapter with a legitimate cliffhanger. Or it would be if we believed for a second that Zoey would get in trouble. My guess is the detectives will want to do their job by investigating and Neferet will stonewall them because she’s a high priestess and above the law.