***SPOILER ALERT!*** 
 Zoey has lost not one but all three of her boyfriends (and one in a particularly gruesome way), and her friends are hacked off because she's been keeping secrets from them, regardless if it was for their own good. But Zoey's strong, and she decides to face her issues head on: she plunks herself among her friends and get them to see her motives and even gets them to begin to accept the not-quite-so-hateful Aphrodite. But there's still plenty of angst to go around as Zoey must decide what to do about evil High Priestess Neferet and the red fledglings, one of whom is her undead best friend, Stevie Rae. 
 After Aphrodite shares her visions that show Zoey dying and Zoey is attacked in the night by unseen forces, the group moves forward in trying to discover what Neferet is planning and how the red fledglings will fit into it. The arrival of High Priestess Shakinah brings Zoey some sense of comfort because Neferet has someone to answer to, but soon things become even more tense with the death of yet another fledgling and the arrival of Erik as a teacher at the House of Night. When Zoey's Grandma becomes a target of the darkness, Zoey brings her to stay at the House of Night as both a help and a comfort. While all of this takes place, Zoey also discovers help from a most unusual place: a Benedictine nun named Sister Mary Angela becomes not only a source of comfort but a strong ally against the coming Evil.