Awakened

influence of modern science or technology. I can ignore it and let my island go back to sleep, perhaps to become completely separate from the world and its problems, perhaps even to be lost to the mists of time—like Avalon and the Amazons. Or I can open myself to it, meeting the challenges it might bring.” The queen met my gaze again. “I choose to allow my island to awaken. It is time Skye’s House of Night accepted new blood.”

“You’re going to take down the protective spell?”

Her smile was wry. “No, as long as I live and, hopefully, as long as my successor and, eventually her successors, live, Skye will remain protected and separate from the modern world. But I did think I would put out a Warrior’s Call. At one time Skye trained the best and brightest of the Sons of Erebus.”

“But then you broke from the Vampyre High Council, right?”

“Correct. Perhaps I could begin, slowly, to mend that break, especially if I had a young High Priestess as one of my trainees.”

I felt a stirring of excitement. “Me? You mean me?”

“I do, indeed. You and your Guardian have a connection to this Isle. I’d like to see where that connection takes us.”

“Wow, I’m seriously honored. Thank you so much.” My mind was whirring! If Skye became an active House of Night it wouldn’t be like I’d be hiding from everyone here. It would be more like I’d transferred to another school. I thought about Damien and the rest of the gang and wondered if they’d think about coming to Skye, too.

“Would there be a place here for fledglings who aren’t Warriors in training?” I asked.

“We could discuss that.” Sgiach paused, seemed to come to a decision, and added, “You do know, don’t you, that this island is rich in magickal tradition that encompasses more than just Warrior training and my Guardians?”

“No. I mean, yes. Like it’s obvious that you’re magick, and you’re basically this island.”

“I’ve been here so long that many do see me as the island, but I am more the caretaker of its magick than the possessor of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Find out for yourself, young queen. You have an affinity for each of the elements. Reach out and see what the island has to teach you.”

When uncertainty had me hesitating, Sgiach coaxed, “Try the first element, air. Simply call it to you and observe.”

“Okay. Well, here goes.” I stood up and moved a couple of feet from Sgiach, into a mossy area that was kinda clear of rocks. I took three deep, cleansing breaths, settling into the familiar feeling of being centered. Instinctively, I turned my face to the east and called: “Air, please come to me.”

I was used to the element responding. I was used to it stirring the breeze around me like an eager puppy, but all of my experience with my affinities didn’t prepare me for what happened next. Air didn’t just respond—it engulfed me. It swirled around me powerfully, feeling strangely tangible, which should have really been crazy because air isn’t tangible. It’s unseen yet everywhere. And then I gasped because I realized air had become tangible! Wafting around me, in the midst of the blustering wind that had sprung to me at my call, were the forms of beautiful beings. They were bright and ethereal, a little see-through. As I gawked at them they changed form—sometimes looking like lovely women, sometimes looking like butterflies, and then they’d change and look more like gorgeous fall leaves drifting in a wind of their own.

“What are they?” I asked in a hushed voice. Of its own accord, I lifted my hand and watched the leaves change to brilliantly colored hummingbirds, which settled on my outstretched palm.

“Air sprites. They used to be everywhere, but they’ve left the modern world. They prefer the ancient groves and the old ways. And this island has both.” Sgiach smiled and opened her own hand to a sprite that took on the form of a tiny woman with dragonfly wings and danced, weaving in and out of her fingers. “It’s good to see them come to you. There are rarely so many of them in one place, even here in the grove. Try another element.”

This time she didn’t need to coax me further. I turned to the south and called, “Fire, please come to me!”

Like brilliant fireworks, sprites burst into being all around me, tickling my body with the controlled warmth of their flames and making me giggle. “They remind me of Fourth of July sparklers!”

Sgiach’s smile matched mine. “I rarely see the flame sprites. I’m much closer to water and air—flame almost never shows itself to me.”

“Shame on you,” I scolded. “You guys should let Sgiach see you—she’s one of the good guys!”

Instantly the sprites around me started to flutter crazily. I could feel the distress radiating from them.

“Oh, no! Tell them you’re teasing them. Flame is terribly sensitive and volatile. I don’t want them to cause an accident,” Sgiach said.

“Hey, guys, sorry! I was just kidding. Everything’s fine, really.” I breathed a sigh of relief as the flame sprites settled back into less frantic flickering and fluttering. I glanced at Sgiach. “Is it safe to call the other elements?”

“Of course, just be careful what you say. Your affinity is powerful, even without being in a place rich in old magick like this grove.”

“Will do.” I drew three more cleansing breaths and was sure I recentered myself. Then I turned clockwise to face the west. “Water, please come to me.” And found myself washed in the element. Cool, slick sprites brushed against my skin, shimmering with aqua iridescence. They frolicked around, making me think of mermaids and dolphins, jellyfish and seahorses. “This is seriously super cool!”

“Water sprites are especially strong on Skye,” Sgiach said, caressing a little starfish-shaped creature that swam around her.

I turned to the north. “Earth, come to me!” The grove came alive. The trees glowed with glee, and from their gnarled, ancient trunks emerged woodland beings that reminded me of things that should be in Rivendell with Tolkien’s elves—or maybe even Avatar’s 3-D jungle.

I pulled my attention to the center of my impromptu circle and called the final element, “Spirit, please come to me, too.”

This time Sgiach gasped. “I have never seen all five groups of sprites together like this. It is magnificent.”

“Ohmygoddess! It’s incredible!”

The air around me, already alive with gossamer beings, was filled with such radiance that it suddenly brought Nyx to mind, and the brilliance of her smile.

“Do you want to experience more?” Sgiach asked me.

“Of course,” I said without hesitation.

“Come here, then. Give me your hand.” Surrounded by the ancient sprites that personified the elements, I approached Sgiach and held my hand out to her.

She took my right hand in her left and turned it so that my palm faced up. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes. I trust you,” I said.

“Good. It will only hurt for a moment.”

With a blindingly fast motion, she slashed the hard, sharp nail of her right pointer finger across the meaty pad of my palm. I didn’t flinch. Didn’t move. But I did suck in a bunch of air. Though she was right—it hurt only for a moment.

Sgiach turned my palm over and the blood began dripping from my hand, but before it could touch the mossy ground beneath us, the queen caught the scarlet drops. Cupping them in her own palm, she let them pool and then, speaking words that I felt more than heard but did not understand at all, she flung the blood, scattering it in a circle around us.

Then something truly amazing happened.

Each sprite that my blood drops touched, for an instant, became flesh. They were no longer ethereal elementals, only wisps and trails of air, fire, water, earth, and spirit. What my blood touched became reality—living, breathing birds and fairies, merfolk and forest nymphs.

And they danced and celebrated. Their laughter painted the darkening sky with joy and magick.

“It is the ancient magick. You’ve touched things here that have been sleeping for ages. None other has awakened the fey. None other had the ability,” Sgiach spoke and then slowly, majestically, she bowed her head in