Aurox

Aurox left the House of Night campus quickly, being sure he was well ahead of the school bus. It was, by human standards, very late and the roads were nearly empty. He was glad for the directions from the voice in his vehicle. Glad that he had time to drive and think without the worry of being discovered following an all too diligent Darius.

Neferet had ordered that he thwart the forthcoming ritual and the death spell Thanatos meant to cast, though she'd made it clear he wasn't to kill any of the Priestesses in doing so. Aurox was not surprised that he was grateful for that one small caveat. For a moment while Neferet had been speaking her commands to him he'd believed she was going to task him with murdering Zoey. The thought had made him feel sick, although according to Priestess he did not have the ability to feel anything. He was a vessel. The emotions of others fueled his strength, but once used, the feelings were meant to dissipate.

Then why, since the moment he'd been alone with Zoey when she'd been weeping about her mother's death, did he still feel sadness, a deep, pressing despair, guilt, and recently something else, something new? Aurox felt loneliness.

He could almost hear Priestess's mocking laughter.

"Yes, I feel!" he shouted, and his voice echoed within the speeding vehicle, as if he was alone in a cave-always alone. "I do feel, even though Priestess says I do not." He smashed his fist in the dashboard, not minding that his knuckles split and the leather dented. "I feel her sadness. I feel her fear. I feel her loneliness. Why? Why does Zoey Redbird make me feel?" We each decide what we are by the life choices we make. Thanatos's voice seemed to be there with him in the car. Our actions define us, and will keep defining us until even after death.

"I was created to serve Neferet." Could Thanatos be correct, even for a creature such as him?

More of the High Priestess's words came to him as if answering his question.

"... the future need not be dictated by the past."

The voice in the car spoke then, dissipating Thanatos's wisdom. It told him to turn right and within half a mile he was to arrive at his destination.

Aurox completed the turn, but then he steered the car through the ditch and did not stop it until he was sure it was parked well away from passing headlights and prying eyes. He got out of the car and, moving silently and quickly, Aurox paral eled the quaint gravel lane, which led to a modest home.

Aurox halted before he came to the home, and not just because he needed to use the concealment of the small orchard adjacent to the house and the large lavender field that framed it. He halted because of the sight of the scorched circle within the winter-sleeping herbs. He knew that burning. It was not from fire that the land was charred and the lavender destroyed. It was from a cold burn-a frigid destruction.

Darkness has been here. Aurox told himself. And then he understood. Neferet and the white bull did this deed. They killed Zoey Redbird's mother.

Something slipped inside him then, as if a wheel that had been stuck, struggling in the muck and the mud, had finally broken free. Aurox's legs felt weak, and he sat heavily with his back leaning against the rough bark of one of the trees, waiting ... watching ... but doing nothing.

Dragon

Looking up Zoey's home address had been quick and easy. Her grandmother's farm was only an hour or so away. He waited until the school bus left campus, and then followed slowly, being certain the ever-vigilant Darius did not notice him in the rearview mirror. Dragon didn't need to stay close to the bus. He knew where he was going. He knew what he must do.

Duty was everything.

His task was to keep the school and its students safe.

A dragon protects its own.

That's all he had left-the dragon.

"Your death has broken me

The dragon is all I have left to be."

His own words taunted him. "I was telling you the truth!" he shouted to the emptiness. "Anastasia, you're gone. I have nothing left except the dragon and my duty."

"If you are not my mate, kind and true,

how will I ever again find you?"

Anastasia's answer seemed to drift around him, bringing with it the fecund scent of the land bordering the mighty Mississippi River and a warm brush of humid, summer breezes where sunflowers nodded their heavy heads as if in approval.

"No!" he shouted, dispelling the memory. "That's all gone. You're gone. I have nothing left. I didn't make this choice, your Goddess did when she let you be taken from me because all those years ago I was merciful." He shook his head. "I will not make that same mistake again." Ignoring the emptiness inside him, Dragon Lankford drove on.

Zoey

As we got closer and closer to Grandma's house I got more and more nervous. My stomach was killing me. I had a headache. My angelica wreath was crap. Stark had to help me finish it. Seriously. Stark. And that boy is not what you'd call skilled at braiding.

My mom is the truth. That's all I know.

"Remember," Thanatos said as we turned down Grandma's familiar lane. "Intent is important. We are here to reveal the truth so that we might bring about justice for a life cut short. Nothing more. Nothing less." She looked at me. "You can do this. You do not lack courage."

"Are you sure?"

She smiled just a little. "Your soul was shattered. That should have been a death sentence, yet you lived and you returned to yourself, bringing your Warrior with you. That has never before been done. You do not lack courage," she repeated.

Stark squeezed my hand. I nodded my head like I was agreeing with her, but inside I was shrieking a different truth: If I'd been really courageous I would have been able to save Heath and my soul wouldn't have ever shattered and Stark wouldn't have needed rescuing!

Thankfully, before any of that could slip out of my mouth and mess up everything Thanatos was trying to help us do, Darius stopped the bus and opened the door.

We all just sat there. Finally, Thanatos said, "Zoey, you must touch the earth first. It is your mother who was killed here." I got up and, still clutching Stark's hand, climbed down the bus stairs.

We'd parked in front of Grandma's house. The bus looked weirdly out of place in the little gravel parking lot beside Grandma's Jeep.

I guess because I knew Grandma wasn't staying in her house during the seven-day cleansing ritual, I'd expected it to be dark and strange looking, but it was the opposite. Every room was lit. The place was so bright that I had to squint to look at it straight on. The windows twinkled like the glass had been newly polished. The big front porch was alight, too, showing comfy rocking chairs and little lemonade-ready tables.

And then Grandma was there, pulling me into her arms and filling my world with the scent of my childhood.

"Oh, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya, it does my heart great joy to see you!" she said after she and I finally were able to let loose of each other.

She was wearing her favorite buckskin dress. I knew it was so old that she and her mom had worked together on the purple and green beadwork that decorated the bodice. She'd often told me the story of how when she was a girl, she'd traded one of the Wise Women of her tribe a belt she'd spent all one winter beading for the shells and glass beads that she'd threaded into the fringe on the sleeves and hem. I remembered when the dress was so pure white that I thought it looked like the clouds, but now it had yellowed. That should have made it old and shabby, but it didn't. To my eyes it made it look well loved and valuable beyond any price tag in a store or an auction war on eBay.

I also couldn't help but notice Grandma had lost weight and there were dark shadows under her expressive eyes.

"How are you doing, Grandma?"

"Better now, my daughter. And after tonight's ritual, I believe I will be even better yet." Grandma fisted her hand over her heart and respectfully bowed to Thanatos. "Blessed be, High Priestess."

"Blessed be, Sylvia Redbird. It is a pleasure to meet you face-to-face. I only wish it could be under different circumstances."

"As do I. I would love to sit and chat with Death," Grandma said, with a hint of the old sparkle in her eyes.

"You honor me," Thanatos said. "Though I do not claim to be Death. I only have an affinity for her."

"Her?" Grandma asked.

"It is a mother who brings each of us into this world. Does it not stand to reason it would be a mother who calls us to pass from this world as well?"

"Huh. I'd never thought of it like that," Shaunee said.

"It makes it seem kinda nice," Stevie Rae said.

"That depends on your mother," Aphrodite said.

"No, Prophetess. It depends on the Mother," Thanatos corrected.

"Well, that's good news," Damien said. "My mom wasn't the nightmare Aphrodite's was, but she wasn't exactly nurturing, either."

"This conversation is interesting and everything, but shouldn't we be focusing on the spell?" Stark said. "Isn't anything else asking for problems?"

"Young Warrior, you are correct," Thanatos said. "Let us begin. Sylvia, please lead us to the spot where you discovered your daughter's body."

"Very well." Grandma only had to walk a few feet from where we were. The spot was super obvious. There, at the edge of the lavender field that flanked the north side of Grandma's house, backing to her lawn, was a perfect circle of burned plants. The entire ground was blackened and dead and horrible. Even the plants that framed the circle looked blighted and dying.

"There is no blood," Thanatos said, holding up her hand so that none of us actually entered the circle of destruction.

"That was one of the oddities the sheriff and his deputies could not explain," Grandma said.

Thanatos moved so that she stood directly in front of Grandma. She rested a hand on her shoulder, and I saw Grandma take a deep, gasping breath, as if the High Priestess had infused her with energy through her touch.

"I understand this is difficult. But the question is necessary. Exactly what was the manner of your daughter's death?" Grandma drew another breath and then said in a clear, strong voice, "My daughter's throat was slit."

"Yet they found no blood on the earth surrounding her body?"

"No. None here. None on the porch. None in the house."

"And in her body itself? Was there blood remaining in her body?"

"The coroner's report said no. He also said it was impossible. That something more than just a neck slash happened to Linda, but all he had were questions and no answers. That's all anyone has had."

"Sylvia Redbird, we are here to get answers if you are strong enough to see them." Grandma lifted her chin. "I am."

"Then so mote it be. All vampyre rituals begin with an altar to our Goddess at their center," Thanatos told us. I was thinking that we all already knew that, and then her next words stopped the question in my mind. "Sylvia, I would ask that you form the altar at the heart of this ritual. Are you willing to do that?"

"I am."

"Then so be it. You will enter the tainted ground at my side and show me exactly where you found your child. That will be the site of our altar and the center, the heart and spirit of our circle." She glanced at the rest of us. "No one else come within. Nyx's circle is not yet cast, but our intention is clearly set on this space. You will only cross its boundaries as each element is called." She looked from Stark to Darius and Rephaim. "Warriors, form a triangle outside and surround the circle." Thanatos pointed straight ahead of her. "Rephaim, that direction is north. Your place is there. Stark, take the position in the east. Darius, your place is west."

"Where do you want me?" Aphrodite asked.

"Outside the circle protecting the only position that remains-to the south."

"She is not a Warrior," Darius said.

"No, she is something more powerful, a Prophetess of our Goddess. Do you doubt her strength?" Aphrodite put her fists on her hips and raised a blond brow at him.

"No. I would never doubt her strength," Darius said. And with a bow to Thanatos, he, Aphrodite, and the other Warriors moved to their places outside the circle.

Thanatos took Grandma's hand and, carrying her spell work basket, she said, "Are you ready, Sylvia?" Grandma nodded and said yes in Cherokee. "Uh. "

Together they stepped into the circle of destruction. Grandma led Thanatos to a spot just a little south of the center. She pointed. "Here was my daughter."

"Sit where your child once lay. Face north, the direction of the element earth, and represent the spirit of Nyx in this, a circle we would reclaim from destruction and through revealed truth make it our own."

Grandma nodded solemnly. She sat with a grace that had her buckskin dress fluttering softly. She was facing north, with her back to us, but I could see her chin was lifted and her shoulders were square and proud.

At that moment I was so proud of her I thought my heart would burst.

Thanatos placed her basket beside Grandma. She opened it and took out a beautiful piece of velvet fabric made of the same material as her cloak. She shook out the square and placed it on the ground in front of Grandma. Then she pulled out the angelica wreaths we'd braided. I was surprised by how beautiful they looked all stacked together, with the white flowers almost glowing against the sapphire velvet. Next she lifted a black velvet bag that I was sure I'd seen Anastasia using in class. If I was right, it would be filled with salt. She placed it and the five candles that represented each of the elements on the cloth, too. All were within reach of Grandma.

Thanatos faced us. Her voice carried easily in the night as if even the bugs and birds around us had paused to listen.

"The casting of this circle will be unusual, as our ritual is really a spell within a ritual within a circle, though we will begin with air and end with spirit.

When I call each of you, approach our altar. Give Sylvia the item that symbolizes the truth about yourself you wish to reveal. Speak your truth to her.

In turn she will give you the proper candle. Then move to your spot around the circle."

"Are you going to call the elements then?" I asked, not sure if I was leading the casting of the circle or not.

"You and I will both cast this circle, young Priestess," she said. "I will incant the spell and bind it with salt. You will light the candles. My intent is that when spirit is called and the circle set, the next words I speak will, with the help of all the elements-especially earth-cast our spell and invoke Death."

"Okay," I said. I looked at my friends and they nodded. "We're ready."

"Damien, come to the altar and represent your element, air."

I heard Damien take a deep breath before he stepped inside the circle of ruined lavender and approached Grandma.

"What is it you wish to reveal to spirit?" Thanatos asked.

Damien reached into the man purse he always had slung over his shoulder and pulled out a MAC pressed powder compact. He opened it and the moonlight caught it, showing a fragmented surface and a shattered reflection. As he gave it to Grandma he said, "I brought a broken mirror because even though I might look and act like I'm okay, I secretly wonder if Jack's death has forever broken something inside me." Grandma placed the compact on the altar cloth and then gave Damien the yellow air candle. She touched his hand as she did and said, "I hear you, child." Damien moved to Grandma's right and took the eastern place at the edge of the circle.

"My turn," Shaunee said softly, and then she went to Grandma. When she reached her she gave her a long white feather she'd been cupping in her hand. "This feather symbolizes that even though I've been afraid to be alone for a really long time, I want to be free of that fear." Grandma placed the feather beside Damien's broken mirror and gave Shaunee her red candle. "I hear you, child," she said, touching her hand gently, kindly, just as she had Damien.

Erin didn't say anything. She walked quickly to Grandma and handed her the little insulated bag she'd brought on the bus. Grandma opened it, reached in, and pulled out an ice cube.

"This is me inside. I'm frozen, like I don't really have any feelings."

Grandma took the ice and added it to the other items on the altar cloth. She gave Erin her blue candle, touching her gently and saying, "I hear you, child." Blank-faced, Erin moved to the western edge of the circle.

"Wish me luck," Stevie Rae whispered.

"Luck," I said softly.

She went to Grandma and smiled down at her. "Hi, Grandma."

"hello, child of the earth." Grandma returned her smile. "What do you wish to reveal to me?" Stevie Rae took a piece of paper out of her jeans pocket. It was black, like the construction paper we used to get in grade school to cut stuff out of during art class. She gave it to Grandma saying, "This paper is like my fear of losing Rephaim to something dark and scary that I don't really understand."

Grandma unfolded the black paper and smoothed it onto the altar cloth. She gave Stevie Rae the green candle, a soft touch, and said, "I hear you, child."

Before Stevie Rae took her place in the north, Thanatos picked up the braided circles of angelica and placed them on Stevie Rae's head. "The truth reveal from earth through thee. So we shal ask, and so mote it be."

"Thank you. I'll do my best," Stevie Rae said solemnly, and then she took her place in the circle.

It was my turn. Nyx, please help me be strong enough to handle what I see tonight. I went to Grandma. She smiled and said, "What is it you have to reveal to me, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya?"

I'd left my purse on the bus, but first I'd taken my symbol thing out of it. From my jeans pocket I brought out a hair tie. It was one of those wrapped rubber bands that weren't supposed to pull out your hair when you used them, but they never really worked. I handed it to Grandma. "Almost all the time now I feel like I'm being pulled in a bunch of different directions by a bunch of different people. I think sometimes I'm going to snap like a rubber band and shatter all over again. This time forever."

Grandma slowly placed my hair tie on the altar cloth. When she gave me my purple candle she cupped my hands with both of hers. Her voice shook only a little when she said, "I hear you, child."

I stepped behind Grandma then, staying in the center of the circle, and looked to Thanatos for my next move.

From the spell work basket the High Priestess took a long box of wooden matches. She lifted the bag of salt and told me, "You may leave your candle on the altar. Your grandmother serves as keeper of the spirit until you evoke your element." I put the candle in the middle of the little circle Grandma had made of the things we'd each given her. I bent and kissed her soft cheek. "No matter what we see tonight, remember that I love you and that we still have each other," I said.

Grandma hugged me and I thought she was going to kiss my cheek. Instead she whispered, "U-we-tsi-a-ge-ya, beware. I feel eyes watching from the shadows."

Before I could say anything, Thanatos was giving me the matches as well as my final instructions. "I will stay to your left so that you lead the physical casting of the circle, but as we approach each element I will call it. The reveal spell is woven within the elemental call. As we move around the circle I will bind the spell with salt and, if she listens, invoke Death." Thanatos raised her voice, directing her words to my waiting friends. "With a circle this strong I would expect quite a tangible response to my invocation. Prepare yourselves, and remember, this ritual is not something done to you, but rather done with you." Then she lifted her hands and intoned, "Let us begin as we intend to end-we seek the truth so that this land, these people, can mend."

Together Thanatos and I walked to Damien who was clutching his yellow candle with both hands and looking as nervous as I felt.

All right, here we go, I thought. Please help me, Nyx. I can't do this without you.