Zoey

So, Stark and I had done it.

"I don't feel any different," I told the nearest tree. "I mean, except for feeling closer to Stark and kinda sore in unmentionable places, that is." I walked over to a little stream that bubbled cheerily through the grove and peered down. The sun was in the process of setting, but it had been an unusually clear, cold day on the island and the sky still held enough of its dramatic coral and gold light that I could see my reflection. I studied myself. I looked like, well, me.

"Okay, so technically I'd done it once before, but that had been a whole different thing." I sighed. Loren Blake had been a giant mistake. James Stark was totally different, as was the commitment we'd made to each other. "So, shouldn't I look different now that I am in a Real Relationship?" I squinted at my reflection. Didn't I look older? More experienced? Wiser? Actually, no. The squint just made me look nearsighted. "And Aphrodite would probably say it'll give me wrinkles, too." A little pang went through me as I remembered saying bye to Aphrodite and Darius the night before.

She'd been predictably sarcastic, and more than a little bitchy about me not going back to Tulsa with her, but our hug had been tight and genuine, and I knew I'd miss her. I already missed her. I missed Stevie Rae and Damien, Jack and the Twins, too.

"And Nala," I told my reflection.

But did I miss them enough to go back to the real world? Enough to face everything from resuming school to possibly fighting Darkness and Neferet?

"No. No, you don't." Saying it made it even truer. I could feel some of the I miss them being diluted by the serenity of Sgiach's island. "It's magick here. If I could send for my cat, I swear I'd stay forever."

Sgiach's laughter was soft and musical. "Why is it we tend to miss our pets more than we miss people?" She was smiling as she joined me at the stream.

"I think it's 'cause we can't Skype them. I mean, I know I can go back to the castle and talk to Stevie Rae, but I've tried doing the computer video thing with Nala. She just looks confused and even more disgruntled than she usually does, which is pretty darn disgruntled."

"If cats understood technology and had opposable thumbs, they'd rule the world," said the queen.

I laughed. "Don't let Nala hear you say that. She does rule her world."

"You're right. Mab believes she rules her world, as well."

Mab was Sgiach's giant, long-haired black and white tuxedo cat who I was just getting to know. I think she was possibly, like, a thousand years old and mostly stayed only semi-conscious and barely moving on the end of the queen's bed. Stark and I had started calling her Dead Cat, but not within Sgiach's hearing. "By world you mean your bedroom?"

"Exactly," Sgiach said.

Both of us laughed, and then the queen walked over to a large moss-covered boulder not far from the stream. She sat gracefully and patted the chairsized area next to her. I joined her, wondering vaguely if my movements would ever be graceful and regal like hers--and doubting it.

"You could send for your Nala. Vampyre familiars fly as companion animals. It would only be a matter of showing her vaccination record to get her into Skye."

"Wow, seriously?"

"Seriously. Of course that means you would need to commit yourself to staying here for at least several months. Cats don't travel particularly well-- and moving them from one time zone to another, and then back again, really isn't good for them."

I looked into Sgiach's eyes and said exactly what I was thinking, "The longer I stay here the more I'm sure that I don't want to leave, but I know it's probably irresponsible of me to hide from the real world like that. I mean"--I hurried on when I saw the concern grow in her gaze--"it's not like Skye isn't real and all. And I know I've been through a bunch of bad stuff lately, so it's okay for me to take a break. But I am still in school. I suppose I do have to go back. Eventually."

"Would you feel that way if school came to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Since you've come into my life I've begun to reflect on the world--or rather on how disassociated I've become from it. Yes, I have the internet. Yes, I have satellite TV. But I don't have new followers. I don't have student Warriors and young Guardians. Or at least I didn't until you and Stark arrived. I find that I've missed the energy and input from young minds." Sgiach looked away from me and deeper into the grove. "Your arrival here has awakened something that was sleeping on my island. I feel a change coming in the world, greater than the 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 seethrough. 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 homage to me.

Absolutely engulfed in the wonder of the five elements, I took the Queen of Skye's hand, noticing that my blood had stopped running the instant she'd flung it around us. "Can I share this with other fledglings? If you allow them to come in, can I teach a new generation how to reach the old magick?"

She smiled at me through tears that I hoped were from happiness. "Yes, Zoey. Because if you can't bridge the gap between the ancient and the modern worlds, I don't know who can. But for now, take this moment. The reality your blood has created will soon fade. Dance with them, young queen. Let them know there is hope that today's world has not completely forgotten the past."

Her words worked on me like a goad and, in time to the sound of bells and pipes and cymbals that I suddenly heard, I began to dance with the creatures my blood had solidified.

Looking back on it, I should have paid more attention to the sharp profile of horns that I glimpsed as I twirled and jumped, arm in arm with the fey. I should have noticed the color of the bull's coat and the gleam in his eye. I should have mentioned his presence to Sgiach. A lot might have been avoided, or at least anticipated, had I known better. But that night I danced in innocence and the newness of ancient magick revealed, oblivious to any consequences more dire than me feeling tired and drained and needing a big dinner and a good eight hours of sleep.

*** "You were right. It didn't last very long," I said, breathing heavily as I plopped down next to Sgiach on her moss boulder. "Can't we do something to make them stay longer? They seemed so happy to be real."

"The fey are elusive beings. They only owe allegiance to their element, or those who wield it."

I blinked in surprise. "You mean they're loyal to me?"

"I believe they are, though I cannot tell you for certain as I have no true affinity to an element, though I am an ally to water and wind, as I am protector and queen of this island."

"Huh. So, can I call them to me, even if I leave Skye?"

Sgiach smiled. "And why would you ever want to do that?"

I laughed with her, at that moment not understanding why in the world I would ever want to leave this magickal, mystical island.

"Aye, if I followed the sound of wummen's chattering, I knew I'd be finding yous two."

Sgiach's smile grew and turned warm. Seoras joined us in the grove, moving to his queen's side. She touched him just for a moment on his strong forearm, but that touch was filled with several lifetimes of love and trust and intimacy.

"Hello, my Guardian. Did you bring the bow and arrows for her?"

Seoras's lips twisted. "Aye, of course I did." The old Warrior turned and I could see that he held an intricately carved bow made of dark wood. The matching leather quiver filled with red-feathered arrows was slung across his shoulder.

"Good." She smiled appreciation at him before turning her gaze to me. "Zoey, you've learned much today. Your Guardian needs a lesson in believing in magick and Goddess-given gifts, too." Sgiach took the bow and arrows from Seoras and held them out to me. "Take these to Stark. He has too long been without them." "You really think that's a good idea?" I asked Sgiach, glancing askance at the bow and arrows.

"What I think is that your Stark will not be complete unless he accepts his Goddess-given gifts."

"He had a claymore in the Otherworld. Couldn't that be his weapon here, too?"

Sgiach just looked at me, the shadow of the magick we'd both just experienced still reflected in her green eyes. I sighed. And, reluctantly, held out my hand to take the bow and quiver of arrows from her.

"He's not really comfortable with this," I said.

"Aye, but he should be," Seoras said.

"You wouldn't say that if you knew everything that went along with this thing," I said.

"If it's that he cannae miss his mark that yur meanin', then, aye, I know that, as well as the guilt he carries about the death of his mentor," Seoras said.

"He told you all about it."

"He did."

"And you still think he should get back into using his bow?"

"It's not so much Seoras thinking it as the fact that he knows, from centuries of experience, what happens when a Guardian's Goddess-given gifts are ignored," Sgiach said.

"What happens?"

"The same thing as happens if a High Priestess tries to turn from the path her Goddess has paved before her," Seoras said.

"Like Neferet," I whispered. "Aye," he said. "Like the fallen High Priestess who tainted yur House of Night and caused the death of yur Consort."

"Though in all truthfulness you should know that it's not necessarily such a dire choice between good and evil when a Guardian, or a Warrior, ignores his gifts from his Goddess and turns from her appointed path. Sometimes that simply means a life unfulfilled and as mundane as is possible for a vampyre," Sgiach explained.

"But if 'tis a Warrior whose gifts are powerful, or one who has faced Darkness, been touched by the fight against evil--well, that Warrior cannae fade so easily into obscurity," Seoras said.

"And Stark is both," I said.

"He is indeed. Continue to trust me, Zoey. It is better for your Guardian to walk the path meant for him than to slink around and, perhaps, get caught in the shadows," Sgiach said.

"I see your point, but getting him to use his bow again isn't going to be easy."

"Ach, well, yu have the magick of the ancients to call upon while yur here on our isle, don't you now?"

I looked from Seoras to Sgiach. They were right. I felt it in my gut. Stark couldn't hide from the gifts Nyx had given him any more than I could deny my connection to the five elements. "Okay, I'll convince him. Where is he anyway?"

"The laddie is restless," Seoras said. "I saw him walkin' by the shore side of the castle."

My heart squeezed. We'd just decided the day before that we were going to stay here on Skye, indefinitely. And after what had just happened with Sgiach and me, I could hardly bear thinking about leaving. "But he seemed fine with staying," I spoke my thoughts aloud. "What's wrong with him isna so much where he is, but who he is," Seoras said.

"Huh?" I said brilliantly.

"Zoey, what Seoras means is that you'll find your Guardian's restlessness much improved when he is a whole Warrior again," Sgiach said.

"And a whole Warrior uses all of his gifts," Seoras said with finality.

"Go to him and help him become whole again," Sgiach said.

"How?" I asked.

"Ach, wumman, use yur Goddess-given brains and figure that oot for yurself."

With a gentle push and a shooing motion, the queen and her Guardian sent me from the grove. I sighed, mentally scratched my head, and started toward the shoreline wondering just what the heck kind of word ach was.