High Priestess for real…I wondered briefly whether it was a good or bad thing that those words made me feel as if I might need to puke. Again. Sighing, I lit the purple candle. 'Ready?' I asked the four of them.
'Ready!' they said together.
'Okay, pick up your candles.'
Without hesitating (which meant I also wasn't giving myself time to chicken out), I carried the candle over to Damien. I wasn't experienced and brilliant like Neferet, or seductive and confident like Aphrodite. I was just me. Just Zoey—that familiar stranger who had gone from being an almost normal high school kid to a truly unusual vampyre fledgling. I took a deep breath. As my grandma would say, all I could do was try my best.
'Air is everywhere, so it only makes sense that it is the first element to be called into the circle. I ask that you hear me, air, and I summon you to this circle.' I lit Damien's yellow candle with my purple one and instantly the flame began to flicker crazily. I watched Damien's eyes get big and round and startled-looking as wind suddenly whipped in a mini-whirlwind around our bodies, lifting our hair and brushing softly against our skin.
'It's true,' he whispered, staring at me. 'You can actually manifest the elements.'
'Well,' I whispered back, feeling lightheaded, 'one of them at least. Let's try for two.'
I walked over to Shaunee. She raised her candle eagerly and made me smile when she said, 'I'm ready for fire—bring it on!'
'Fire reminds me of cold winter nights and the warmth and safety of the fireplace that heats my grandma's cabin. I ask that you hear me, fire, and I summon you to this circle.' I lit the red candle and the flame blazed, much brighter than should have been possible for an ordinary votive. The air around Shaunee and me was suddenly filled with the rich, woody scent and homey warmth of a roaring fireplace.
'Wow!' Shaunee exclaimed, her dark eyes dancing with the reflection of the candle's shimmering flame. 'Now, that's cool!'
'That's two,' I heard Damien say.
Erin was grinning when I took my place in front of her. 'I'm ready for water,' she said quickly.
'Water is relief on a hot Oklahoma summer day. It's the amazing ocean that I really would like to see someday, and it's the rain that makes the lavender grow. I ask that you hear me, water, and I summon you to this circle.'
I lit the blue candle and felt instant coolness against my skin, as well as smelled a clean, salty scent that could only be the ocean I'd never seen.
'Awesome. Really, really awesome,' Erin said, drawing in a deep breath of ocean air.
'That's three,' Damien said.
'I'm not scared anymore,' Stevie Rae said when I stood in front of her.
'Good,' I said. Then I focused my mind on the fourth element, earth. 'Earth supports and surrounds us. We wouldn't be anything without her. I ask that you hear me, earth, and I summon you to this circle.' The green candle lit easily, and suddenly Stevie Rae and I were overwhelmed with the sweet scent of freshly cut grass. I heard the rustle of the oak's leaves and we looked up to see the great oak literally bowing its branches over us as though it would shield us from all harm.
'Totally amazing,' Stevie Rae breathed.
'Four,' Damien said, his voice filled with excitement.
I walked quickly to the center of the circle and lifted my purple candle.
'The last element is one that fills everything and everyone. It makes us unique and it breathes life into all things. I ask that you hear me, spirit, and I summon you to this circle.'
Incredibly, it seemed that I was suddenly surrounded by the four elements, that I was in the middle of a whirlpool made up of air and fire, water and earth. But it wasn't scary, not at all. It filled me with peace, and at the same time I felt a surge of white-hot power and had to press my lips tightly together to keep from laughing with pure joy.
'Look! Look at the circle!' Damien shouted.
I blinked my vision clear and instantly felt the elements settle down, as if they were playful kittens who were sitting around me, waiting happily for me to call them to bat at string and whatnot. I was smiling at the comparison when I saw the glowing light that wrapped around the circumference of the circle, joining Damien, Shaunee, Erin, and Stevie Rae. It was bright and clear, and the luminous silver of a full moon.
'And that makes five,' Damien said.
'Holy crap!' I blurted, very un-High Priestess-like, and the four of them laughed, filling the night with the sounds of happiness. And I understood, for the first time, why Neferet and Aphrodite had danced during the rituals. I wanted to dance and laugh and shout with happiness. Another time, I told myself. Tonight there was more serious work to be done.
'Okay, I'm going to speak the purification prayer,' I told my four friends. 'And while I say the prayer I'm going to face each of the elements, one at a time.'
'What do you want us to do?' Stevie Rae asked.
'Focus on the prayer. Concentrate. Believe that the elements will carry it to Nyx, and that the Goddess will answer it by helping me to know what I should do,' I said with way more certainty than I felt.
Once again I faced east. Damien smiled encouragement to me. And I began to recite the ancient purification prayer I'd said so many times with my grandma—with just a few changes I'd decided on earlier.
Great Goddess of Night, whose voice I hear in the wind, who breathes the breath of life to Her children. Hear me; I need your strength and wisdom.
I paused briefly as I turned to the south.
Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset that comes before the beauty of your night. Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught your people.
I turned again to the right, and my voice felt stronger as I fell into the rhythm of the prayer.
Help me to remain calm and strong in the face of all that comes toward me. Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. Help me seek pure thoughts and act with the intention of helping others. Help me find compassion without empathy overwhelming me.
I faced Stevie Rae, whose eyes were squeezed shut as though she was concentrating with all of her might.
I seek strength, not to be greater than others, but to fight my greatest enemy, the doubts within myself
I walked back to the center of the circle and finished the prayer, and for the first time in my life, I felt a flush of sensation as the power of the ancient words rushed from me to what I hoped with all my heart and soul was my listening Goddess.
Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes. So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.
Technically, that was the conclusion of the Cherokee prayer my grandma had taught me, but I felt the need to add: 'And Nyx, I don't understand why you Marked me and why you have given me the gift of an affinity for the elements. I don't even have to know. What I want to ask is that you help me know the right thing to do, and then give me the courage to do it.' And I finished the prayer the way I remembered Neferet completed her ritual: 'Blessed be!'
CHAPTER 24
'That was truly the most prodigious circle-casting I've ever experienced!' Damien gushed after the circle had been closed and we were gathering up the candles and smudge stick.
'I thought 'prodigious' meant 'big,' ' Shaunee said.
'It also can show exciting wonder and can refer to something stupendous and monumental,' Damien said.
'For once I'm not going to argue with you,' Shaunee said, surprising everyone except Erin.
'Yeah, the circle was prodigious,' Erin said.
'Do you know I actually could feel earth when Zoey called it?' Stevie Rae said. 'It was like I was suddenly
