Betrayed

'Erik, this is beautiful.' I sounded choked because I was trying really hard not to make a fool out of myself and burst into happy tears.

'I wanted you to have something special for your first ritual as leader of the Dark Daughters,' he said.

We hugged again before my friends and I had to rush out and head to the rec hall. I clutched the dress to my chest and tried not to think about the fact that while Erik was buying me an amaz­ingly cool present I had been either sucking Heath's blood or flirting with Loren. And while I tried not to think about that, I also tried to ignore the guilty voice inside my head that kept say­ing, over and over, You don't deserve him ... you don't deserve him … you don't deserve him ...

CHAPTER 20

'Shaunee, Erin, and Stevie Rae—you guys start lighting the white candles. Damien, if you place the colored candles for the ele­ments in their positions I'll be sure that everything's set for Nyx's table.'

'Easy—' Shaunee said.

'Peasy,' Erin chimed in.

'Japanesy,' Stevie Rae added, making the Twins give her mir­ror eye rolls.

'Are the element candles still in the supply room?' Damien asked.

'Yep,' I called as I headed to the kitchen. I was glad I'd already put together a big tray of fresh fruits, cheeses, and meats for Nyx's table. I just needed to retrieve it and the bottle of wine from the refrigerator, and arrange the bounty neatly on the table placed in the center of the large circle made of white candles. The table al­ ready had an ornate goblet on it, as well as a beautiful statue of the Goddess, a long, elegant lighter, and the purple candle that would represent spirit, the last element I would call to the circle. The table symbolized the richness of the blessings Nyx has given her children, vampyres and fledglings. I liked setting up the God­dess's table. It made me feel calm, something that I especially needed tonight. I arranged the food and wine, and went over and over in my mind the words of the ritual I was going to use in—I glanced at the clock and felt my stomach tighten—in fifteen min­utes. Fledglings were already starting to come into the rec hall, but they were being pretty subdued and hanging out in the cor­ners of the large room in clusters while they watched the Twins and Stevie Rae light the white candles that would form the cir­cumference of the circle. Maybe I wasn't the only one nervous about tonight. It was a big change to have me lead the Dark Daughters. Aphrodite had been leader for the past two years, and in that time the group had become a cliquish, snobby club where fledglings who weren't part of the 'in' crowd were used and made fun of.

Well, things were changing tonight.

I glanced at my friends. We'd all hurried to change our clothes before coming to the rec hall, and everyone had chosen to wear solid black to keep with the theme of the amazing dress Erik had given me. I glanced down at myself for the zillionth time. The dress was simple, but perfect. It had a round neckline that was low, but not as low as ho-ish Aphrodite's ritual dresses had been. It was long-sleeved and hugged my body to the waist, from there down it swirled gracefully to the floor. The silver specks that cov­ered it glimmered in the candlelight whenever I moved. What also glittered whenever I moved was the necklace that dangled from the silver chain around my neck. Each Dark Daughter and Son had a similar necklace, with two exceptions—my triple moons were encrusted with garnets, and mine was the only neck­lace that had been found with the body of a dead human teenager. Okay, it wasn't exactly my necklace that had been found. It was one like mine. Just like mine.

No. I wouldn't think about negative things tonight. I would only concentrate on positives, and on preparing myself to lead my first public circle-casting and ritual. Damien returned to the main room with a big tray on which he balanced the four candles that represented each element: yellow for air, red for fire, blue for water, and green for earth. I already had my purple spirit candle on Nyx's table. I smiled and thought how great my friends looked, dressed chicly in black with their silver Dark Daughters' neck­laces. Stevie Rae had already taken her place at the northernmost part of the circle where earth should be. Damien handed her the green candle. I just happened to be watching them, so there was no mistaking what I saw. As Stevie Rae touched the candle, her eyes widened and she let out a weird sound that was a cross be­tween a scream and a gasp. Damien had taken such a hasty step back that he had to clutch at the other candles to keep them from tumbling off the tray.

'Did you feel it?' Stevie Rae's voice sounded weird, hushed yet amplified.

Damien looked shaky, but he nodded and said, 'Yeah, and I smelled it, too.'

Then they both turned to look at me.

'Uh, Zoey, could you come here for a second?' Damien asked. He sounded normal again, and had I not been watching what had happened between the two of them I would have thought noth­ing more was going on than maybe they needed help with the candles.

But I had been watching, which is why I didn't yell from the center of the circle and ask what they wanted. Instead I hurried over to them and kept my voice low. 'What's going on?'

'Tell her,' Damien said to Stevie Rae.

Still looking wide-eyed, startled, and more than a little pale, Stevie Rae said, 'Can't you smell it?'

I frowned. 'Smell it? What are—' And then I did smell it—freshly cut hay, honeysuckle, and something else that I swear re­minded me of newly plowed dirt in my grandma's lavender fields.

'I do,' I said hesitantly, feeling thoroughly confused. 'But I didn't call earth into the circle.' My affinity, or power, given to me by Nyx was the ability to materialize the five elements. Even after a month, I wasn't exactly sure what all that power encompassed, but one thing I did know was that when I cast a circle and called each element to it, all of them manifested very physically. The wind whipped around me when I called air. Fire made my skin glow with heat (and, quite frankly, made me sweat). I could feel the coolness of the sea when I evoked water. And when I called earth to the circle I smelled earthy things and even felt grass under my feet (even when I was wearing shoes, which was truly weird).

But, as I'd said, I hadn't begun casting the circle, so I hadn't called any of the elements, yet Stevie Rae, Damien, and I were clearly smelling earth smells.

Then Damien sucked air and his face split into a huge grin. 'Stevie Rae has an affinity for earth!'

'Huh?' I said brilliantly.

'No way,' Stevie Rae said.

'Try this,' Damien went on, his excitement growing by the second. 'Close your eyes, Stevie Rae, and think about the earth.' He looked at me. 'Don't you think about it.'

''Kay,' I said quickly. His excitement was contagious. It would be fantastic if Stevie Rae had an earth affinity. Having an elemen­tal affinity was a powerful gift from Nyx, and I would definitely love it if my best friend had been blessed like that from our God­dess.

'Okay.' Stevie Rae sounded breathless, but she closed her eyes.

'What's happening?' Erin said.

'Why's she have her eyes closed?' Shaunee said. Then she sniffed the air. 'And why does it smell like hay over there? Stevie Rae, I swear if you're trying out some kind of bumpkin perfume I might have to smack you.'

'Shhh!' Damien put his finger to his lips and shushed her. 'We think Stevie Rae might have developed an earth affinity.'

Shaunee blinked. 'Nuh uh!'

'Huh,' Erin said.

'I can not concentrate with y'all talking,' Stevie Rae said, opening her eyes to glare at the Twins.

'Sorry,' they muttered.

'Try again,' I encouraged her.

She nodded. Then she closed her eyes and screwed her fore­head up in concentration while she thought about the earth. I did not think about it, which was actually pretty hard because within a couple of seconds the air was filled with the smells of freshly mowed grass, and flowers, and I could even hear birds chirping like crazy and—

'Ohmygod! Stevie Rae has an affinity for earth!' I blurted. Stevie Rae's eyes sprang open and she covered her mouth with both of her hands, looking shocked and thrilled.