"Shaunee, Erin, and Stevie Rae--you guys start lighting the white candles. Damien, if you place the colored candles for the ele ments 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 mir ror 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 God dess'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 min utes. Fledglings were already starting to come into the rec hall, but they were being pretty subdued and hanging out in the cor ners of the large room in clusters while they watched the Twins and Stevie Rae light the white candles that would form the cir cumference 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 cov ered 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 neck lace 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' neck laces. 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 be tween 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 noth ing 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 re minded 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 elemen tal affinity was a powerful gift from Nyx, and I would definitely love it if my best friend had been blessed like that from our God dess. "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 fore head 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. "Stevie Rae, that's amazing!" Damien said, and in seconds all of us were congratulating and hugging her while she giggled through happy tears. Then it happened. I had one of my feelings. And this time it was (thankfully) a good one. "Damien, Shaunee, Erin--I want you guys to take your places in the circle." They gave me questioning looks, but must have rec ognized the tone of my voice because they instantly did what I told them to do. I wasn't exactly the boss of them, but my friends respected that I was in training to someday be their High Priest ess, so they obediently walked to the place in the circle that I had assigned to each of them weeks ago when it had only been the five of us, and I was casting a circle to try to figure out if I really had a Goddess-given affinity, or if I just had very little sense and an overactive imagination. As they took their places I looked around at the kids who were already in the rec hall. I definitely needed outside help. Then Erik walked into the room with Jack, and I grinned and motioned them over to me. "What's up, Z? You look like you're going to explode," Erik said, and then he lowered his voice, and for my ears alone added, "And you look as hot in that dress as I thought you would."

"Thanks, I love it!" I did a quick little twirl that was partially flirting with Erik, and partially pure happiness at what I was al most sure was getting ready to happen. "Jack, would you please go over to Damien and get the tray of candles he's holding and bring them back here to the middle of the circle?"

"Yep," Jack said and scampered off to do as I asked. Okay, he didn't actually scamper, but he was very perky. "What's going on?" Erik asked. "You'll see." I grinned, barely able to suppress my excitement. When Jack was back with the candles I put the tray on Nyx's table. I concentrated for a second, and decided my instincts were telling me fire would be the right choice. Then I picked up the red candle and handed it to Erik. "Okay, I need you to take this candle over to Shaunee." Erik wrinkled his forehead. "Just take it over to her?"

"Yeah. Hand it to her and then pay attention."

"To what?"

"I'd rather not say." He shrugged and gave me a look that said that even though he might think I was hot he also might think that I had lost my mind, but he did as I asked and walked over to where Shaunee was standing in the southernmost part of the circle--the area from which I called the element fire. He stopped in front of her. Shaunee looked around him at me. "Take the candle from him," I called across the circle to her, concentrating on how cute Erik looked so that I wouldn't be thinking about fire at all. Shaunee shrugged. "Okay," she said. She took the red candle from Erik. I was watching her closely, but I hadn't needed to. What happened was so obvious that sev eral of the kids standing around the outside of the circle gasped along with Shaunee. The instant her hand touched the candle there was a whoosh noise. Her long, black hair began to lift and crackle as if it was filled with static electricity, and her beautiful chocolate skin glowed as if she had been lit from within.

"I knew it!" I cried, practically jumping up and down with ex citement. Shaunee looked up from her glowing body to meet my eyes. "I'm doing this, aren't I?"

"You are!"

"I have an affinity for fire!"

"Yes, you do!" I yelled happily. I heard lots of oohs and ahhs from the ever-increasing crowd, but I didn't have time for them right now. Following my gut feel ing I motioned for Erik to come back to the center of the circle, which he did with a huge grin on his face. "That may be the coolest thing I've ever seen," he said. "Just wait. If I'm right, and I think I am, there's more." I gave him the blue candle. "Now take this one to Erin."

"Your wish is my command," he said with an old-time flour ish. If anyone else bowed like that in public they would have looked like an utter dork. Erik looked like an utter hottie--part gentleman, part bad boy pirate. I was thinking about how yummy Erik was when Erin and Shaunee let out twin squeals of happiness at almost the same instant. "Look at the floor!" Erin was pointing to the tile floor of the rec hall. In a circular area around her the tile floor was rippling and it appeared to be lapping against feet, even though nothing was actually getting wet, making it seem that Erin was standing in the middle of the ghost of an ocean shore. Then she looked up at me with shimmering blue eyes. "Oh, Z! Water is my affinity!" I grinned at her. "Yes, it is!" Erik hurried back to me. This time I didn't have to prompt him to pick up the yellow candle. "Damien, right?" he said. "Totally right." He headed to Damien, who was fidgeting at the easternmost part of the circle where the element air should manifest. Erik of fered the yellow candle to Damien. Damien didn't touch it. In stead, he peered around Erik to me. The boy looked scared to death. "It's okay, go ahead and take it," I told him. "Are you sure it's going to be okay?" He glanced nervously around at what was now a large crowd of fledglings watching him expectantly. I knew what was wrong. Damien was afraid he would fail, that he would be left out of the magic that was happening to the girls. In Soc class I'd learned that it was unusual for a gift as strong as an affinity for an element to be given to a male. Nyx gifted men with exceptional strength, and their affinities usually had to do with the physical, like Dragon, our fencing instructor, had been gifted with exceptional quickness and visual accuracy. Air was definitely a female affinity, and it would be nothing short of in credible for Nyx to gift Damien with an air affinity. But I had a calm, happy feeling deep inside me. I nodded at Damien and tried to telegraph confidence to him. "I'm sure. Go on. I'll be busy thinking about how cute Erik is while you're calling air to you," I said. As Erik grinned over his shoulder at me Damien drew a deep breath, and looking a lot like he thought he was grabbing on to a live bomb, he took the candle from Erik. "Superb! Glorious! Wondrous!" Damien made use of his large vocabulary while his brown hair lifted and his clothes flapped crazily in the sudden wind that surrounded him. When he looked at me again happy tears were running down his cheeks. "Nyx has given me a gift. Me," he enunciated carefully, and I knew what he was saying in that one word--that he realized Nyx found him worthy even though his parents didn't, and even though much of his life people had made fun of him because he liked guys. I had to blink hard to keep from bawling like a baby. "Yes, you," I said firmly. "Your friends are spectacular, Zoey." Neferet's voice carried above the excited noise of the kids who were now converging on the four newly discovered talents. The High Priestess was standing just inside the entrance to the rec hall, and I wondered how long she'd been there. I could see that there were a few professors with her, but they were in the shadow of the doorway and it was difficult to make out exactly who they were. Okay. You can do this. You can face her. I swal lowed hard and forced my thoughts to focus on my friends and the miracles that had just happened to them. "Yes, my friends are spectacular!" I agreed enthusiastically. Neferet nodded. "It is only right that Nyx, in her wisdom, has thought to gift you, a fledgling who has such unusual powers, with a group of friends who are also blessed with impressive powers of their own." She dramatically swept out her arms. "I prophesy that this group of fledglings will make history. Never before has so much been given to so many at the same time and place." Her smile included all of us and she truly looked like a loving mother. I would have been as taken in as everyone else by her warmth and beauty if it hadn't been for the glimpse I got of the thin red line of a newly healing cut that marred her forearm. I shivered and forced my eyes and my thoughts from the evidence that what I'd witnessed had definitely not been a figment of my imagination. Good thing, too, because Neferet had turned her attention to me. "Zoey, I believe this is the perfect time to announce your blue print for the new Dark Daughters and Sons." I opened my mouth to start explaining what I had in mind (even though I hadn't planned on announcing the changes I wanted to make until after I'd cast the ritualistic circle and given the "old" membership some tangible proof that I actually had been gifted by Nyx), but no one paid any attention to me. Everyone's attention was riveted on Neferet as she strode out into the room and stood not far from Shaunee so that my friend's manifestation of fire lit up the High Priestess like a spotlight made of flame. In the same powerful, al luring voice she used during rituals, Neferet spoke. Only this time she was using my words--my ideas. "It is time the Dark Daughters had a foundation. It has been decided that Zoey Redbird will begin an era and a new tradition with her leadership. She will form a Prefect Council, made up of seven fledglings, of which she will be Head Prefect. The other members of the Council will be Shaunee Cole, Erin Bates, Stevie Rae Johnson, Damien Maslin, and Erik Night. There will be one more Prefect chosen from Aphrodite's old Inner Circle to repre sent my wish for unity among the fledglings." Her wish? I ground my teeth together and tried to find my happy place while Neferet paused to let the general sounds of cel ebration die (which included the Twins, Stevie Rae, Damien, Erik, and Jack, cheering their brains out). Jeesh. She was making it seem like she was responsible for ideas I'd sweated over for weeks! "The Prefect Council will be responsible for the workings of the new Dark Daughters and Sons, which includes being certain that from this day forth all members exemplify the following ideas: they should be authentic for air; they should be faithful for fire; they should be wise for water; they should be empathetic for earth; and they should be sincere for spirit. If a Dark Daughter or Son fails to uphold these new ideals, it will be the job of the Pre fect Council to decide upon a penalty, which could include ex pulsion from the group." She paused again, and I observed how serious and attentive everyone was, which was the exact reaction I had hoped for when I made this announcement during the ac tual Full Moon Ritual. "I have also decided that it would behoove our fledglings to become more involved with the surrounding community. After all, ignorance breeds fear and hatred. So I want the Dark Daughters and Sons to begin working with a local char ity. After much consideration I decided that the perfect organiza tion would be Street Cats, the rescue charity for homeless cats." There was good-humored laughter at this, which was the reac tion Neferet had had when I'd told her my decision to have the Dark Daughters involved in that particular charity. I could not believe Neferet was taking credit for everything that I had told her that night at dinner. "I will leave you now. This is Zoey's ritual, and I am simply here to show my heartfelt support for my talented fledgling." She gave me a kind smile, which I made myself return. "But first I have a gift for the new Prefect Council." She clapped her hands together and five male vampyres I'd never seen before emerged from the shadows of the entryway. They were each carrying what looked like thick, rectangular tiles that must have been about a foot square and a couple of inches thick. They placed them at the floor by her feet and they disappeared back out the door. I stared at the things. They were a creamy color and looked like they might be wet. I had no clue what they were. Neferet's laughter bubbled around us, making me grind my teeth together. Did no one else think she sounded totally patronizing? "Zoey, I'm shocked you don't recognize your own idea!"

"I--no. I don't know what they are," I said. "They're squares of wet cement. I remembered that you told me you wanted each of the members of the Prefect Council to have an imprint of his or her handprints made so that the fledg ling's handprint will be preserved forever. Tonight six of the seven members of the new Council can do that." I blinked at her. Great. She was finally giving me credit for something, and it was Damien's idea. "Thank you for the pres ent," I said, and then added quickly, "And it was Damien's idea to make handprints, not mine." Her smile was blinding, and when she turned it on Damien I didn't have to look at him to know that he practically wriggled with pleasure. "And what a lovely idea it was, too, Damien." Then she addressed the entire room again. "I am pleased that Nyx has gifted this group so fully. And I say blessed be to all of you, good night!" She dropped to the floor in a graceful curtsy. Then, to the cheers of the fledglings, she rose and made a skirt-flowing, mag nificent exit. Which left me standing in the middle of an un-cast circle feel ing like I was all dressed up with nowhere to go.