When I headed back to the center of the circle to invoke spirit, I was filled with purpose at the sight of the silver thread that tied the four elements together.
My match was still lit, and I held it to my purple candle. “Spirit is the fifth and final element of our circle. It is what unites us and binds the other four elements to us. Without spirit we would be empty shells. It is the element of transformation. Come to me, spirit!”
All across my skin I felt the familiar prickle of spirit as it surged into the circle and turned the silver binding thread of light to a soft violet. I put my candle on the ground at my feet and picked up the velvet bag of salt as I unwound the sweetgrass from around my wrist.
“Earth, please smudge our circle and then join me in the center.” My voice had changed. I no longer sounded like a young woman who was barely eighteen. I spoke with the power and confidence of a High Priestess, blessed by Nyx. My words carried across the park, filled with the power of the five elements.
Stevie Rae placed her candle on the ground and, careful to remain within the confines of the sparkling purple thread, she lit the fat smudge stick and walked clockwise around the inside of the circle as she wafted the sage around us. White smoke rolled in waves creating the shapes of flowers and trees above her, and as she passed Damien, then Aphrodite and Kacie, the smoke changed form. At Damien it became playful little cyclones, skipping around him. When she reached Aphrodite the funnels became flames, and at Kacie the flames changed to waves. Finally, Stevie Rae joined me, and all the shapes came together to form a beautiful set of wings.
Stevie Rae placed the stick on the ground, and the earth instantly extinguished it. I held out the rope of braided sweetgrass and said, “Let’s go to fire.”
Together, earth and spirit walked to where Aphrodite stood before the wall of Neferet’s grotto. I used the red fire candle to light the strand of sweetgrass, then I lifted it and began tracing the pattern of a five-pointed star—representing each of the elements—as I said, “Just as sage cleanses, sweetgrass calls to the spirit realm. Tonight, I beseech the protective spirits of this earth to come to this place. I call not only with the power of this circle and our Goddess of Night, Nyx, but I also beckon with the rich heritage of my Cherokee blood. My ancestors lived with the land—not on it. They cherished it and were its protectors. But even though I am the only vampyre here who carries the Tsalagi blood, we five acknowledge that the earth is not ours to own and pillage. It is instead our responsibility to care for it and keep it for generations to come.”
Though I still traced the pentagram, I called to each of the elements saying, “Air, what is your role in protecting the earth?”
“I love it!” Damien said.
“Fire, what is your role in protecting the earth?”
“I cleanse it!” Aphrodite said.
“Water, what is your role in protecting the earth?”
“I nurture it!” Kacie said.
Stevie Rae didn’t hesitate. “I am earth—strengthened by the other four elements!”
“And spirit indwells it!” I said.
I dropped what was left of the sweetgrass at my feet and loosened the drawstring of the velvet bag. With her left hand, Stevie Rae held the open bag for me. Her right hand gripped my left as I dipped my free hand into the tiny white crystals sparkling like diamond chips in the light of Aphrodite’s candle. I inhaled deeply and said:
“Come, spirits of the earth.
I call on you this hour.
Repel those made vampyre through rebirth;
Henceforth they cannot cross this white line of power!”
As I spoke the spell, I threw handfuls of salt all around the tomb in front of me while I envisioned a barrier of white that encircled the grotto, much like the glistening purple light that bound our circle.
It worked perfectly—incredibly—magickally. The salt didn’t simply fly through the air to scatter by the tomb. Directed by spirit and called by earth, the salt formed a thick white circle around the grotto. Within the barrier of that circle, the spirits of huge beasts lifted from the earth. I grinned as I recognized them and greeted them as my grandma would.
“Osiyo, yanasi!”
“Ohmygoodness! Bison!” Stevie Rae said.
I couldn’t stop smiling. The giant beasts, iridescent and magnificent, materialized all around the tomb.
“May I look?” asked Aphrodite, sounding like a little girl asking for candy.
“Sure,” I said.
Careful not to step outside our glowing thread, Aphrodite turned. “They’re incredible! Will everyone be able to see them?”
“No, after we close the circle they’ll be invisible unless a vampyre doesn’t heed the repel spell. Then they’ll probably be visible to that vamp as they push him or her away.”
“That’s something I’d like to see,” she said.
“See, maybe,” I said. “Experience—no way. Bison are nothing to mess around with.”
Like they heard me, several of the spirit beasts snorted and translucent smoke billowed from their wide nostrils.
“They’re not playing,” said Stevie Rae. “I can feel their power radiatin’ from the earth. The Sons of Erebus Warriors are gonna have to stay way back from the tomb when they guard it.”
“Why do we need them to guard it at all now?” Aphrodite asked as she stared at the creatures.
“You have a point,” I said. “I’ll talk to Stark about it, but I don’t see why we’d need more than one
