by Nicola Marsh
But I stood by my friends, feeling like I truly, finally belonged.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Crane treated us like lepers in class, but he couldn’t fault my work. I studied my ass off all week, blitzing every assignment and discovering a wealth of information in the process.
Amethysts were good, but a chevron amethyst, a beautiful deep mauve, was best for third eye stimulation, enhancing intuitive vision and out-of-body journeys. They could powerfully focus energy and repel negativity, as well as cleanse auras. And the biggie? They helped the user find positive answers to any problem.
I could use that right about now.
The other vital snippet of information I’d gleaned from my all-night reading sessions was that the shape of a crystal determined its powers. The one that snagged my attention was the gateway—or aperture—shape, a cup-shaped depression within a crystal large enough to hold liquid. Gazing into the liquid center provided a gateway to other worlds and enabled the user to travel through past, present, and future.
After Beltane, with Joss’s help, I’d use them all and get the answers I so desperately craved. So I had to play all nice and sucky with Crane, asking pointed questions about chevron amethysts and seer stones and trans-channeling crystals. Crane hated my guts, but he had to answer my questions, and surprisingly, he didn’t freak out when I asked if I could obtain three crystals, one an aperture amethyst, to practice.
In addition to busting my ass in divination, I also spent some serious time in the evenings training my third eye. Guided meditations, visualization techniques, you name it, I tried it. I didn’t spontaneously create any enlightening visions, but I developed a feel for journeying with my mind. It was like an out-of-body experience, a weird, light, floaty feeling that made everything around me sharper, clearer, and faded once I opened my eyes and found myself sitting on the floor in the middle of my dorm room.
It felt good to be doing something proactive, something that took me closer to gaining control when I traveled to Eiros.
When Dyfan had originally recited the tasks I’d have to master, they seemed impossible. But since I’d managed a decent scrying with Lia, had become one with the Arwen Triple Flame (however inadvertently), could teleport with the aid of a crystal and the sun, and was another step closer to gaining control over my visions, I was hopeful that maybe I could succeed on this ludicrous mission after all.
If I hadn’t been studying so hard, the days would’ve dragged toward Sunday. Of course, Beltane wasn’t the only reason I wanted to return.
I missed Joss. Big time.
It wasn’t just that he was so hot—I mean, he was, but I missed the reassurance he gave me just by being there. I felt truly safe with him, something I valued more and more the closer I got to discovering Arwen. Besides, it sucked not being able to confide in my friends, and he was the only other person I truly trusted; I was desperate to tell him what had been going on. He got me, really got me, and that kind of trust was what I really needed right now.
I was getting closer. I’d mulled my first amethyst-induced vision at length and knew that confronting Cadifor and my mom in that cave would be our final battle over Arwen.
Call it intuition, call it whatever you liked, I knew. Which made telling Joss and the Sorority about it all the more important.
So there I sat, Saturday night, alone in my room, cradling the trans-channeling crystal in my palm, desperate to see if I could communicate with Joss, yet terrified I might screw up and fry my brain.
I took a deep breath, rolled my shoulders, and stretched my neck like a boxer about to enter the ring. Holding up the crystal to the light, I rotated it slowly. How could something so small, so insignificant, hold so much power?
I lay on my bed, closed my eyes, and started meditating. Nothing too heavy, just a general relaxation technique, a simple visualization that had me chatting to Joss as if he were right beside me, making small talk, asking questions about school, that sort of thing.
I could see it so clearly in my mind. It had to work. Taking a slow, deep breath, I pressed the crystal to my forehead.
Hey, you out there. Warrior Boy. I’ve got news. Big news. It can’t wait.
Silence. A long, deafening, disappointing silence. I pressed the crystal so hard into my forehead I’d probably walk around with a weird indentation for a week.
So much for our bond. I need you. Now.
Where are you and why are you yelling?
I almost fainted at his response, his voice so clear in my head it was like he was sitting on the bed. A tempting thought … I resisted the urge to peek and make sure he wasn’t actually there.
I thought I told you to stay away from Eiros ’til Beltane? His tone held so much disapproval I could imagine his matching glower. Tell me where you are right this minute. I need to be there, damn it!
Chill. I’m at school.
What?
I still couldn’t quite believe this had worked. I’m using a trans-channeling crystal.
Your powers aren’t that advanced yet.
Wrong again, Warrior Boy. Oops, hadn’t meant for that to transfer across our neurons.
Warrior Boy?
I chuckled. Term of endearment.
Like Dream Boy?
A million miles away, I blushed. Isn’t this cool? We can talk anytime we like.
Yeah, cool. The edge to his voice was unmistakable.
What’s up?
I’d rather you were here.
My heart did a weird little jive and I almost dropped the crystal.
He clarified. So we could talk strategies.
Riiiight, strategies …
He cleared his throat. Had any visions?
Not a spontaneous vision, but I used an amethyst wand in divination class and I think I know where Arwen might be.
Where?
In an underground cave, where the sun comes through a small hole in the roof and moves along the floor to an altar covered in spiral symbols. Sound like the Cave of the Sun you described to me?
He paused. We thought it could be the place, but it seems too obvious.
There’s something else.
He waited and I suppressed a shudder at the memory of Cadifor and my mom, their maliciousness in the vision hanging over me like a malignant cloud.
You and I were there. Cadifor and my mom too. I had to tell him the rest. It felt like a final confrontation. There was an explosion. I could smell …
What?
I shivered. Death.
We didn’t speak after that, gathering our thoughts. When he finally spoke, it didn’t reassure me. If we’re to succeed, you may have to initiate this confrontation.
And how do I do that? Find another crystal that lets me chat to bad dudes and say, “Hey, buttface, you down there, let’s meet.”
This isn’t going to be easy, Holly.
Don’t you think I know that? Why was it I ended up losing it with the only person I truly trusted every time this subject came up?
Here are the facts. Winter solstice is December twenty-second, when we celebrate the birth of the Unconquered Sun, a huge festival on a par with Beltane. It’s the day the sun enters the Cave of the Sun in the Eiros stone complex.
December? But that’s eight months away.
I think the confrontation will be sooner.
Oh, fabulous.
Summer solstice is June twenty-second, the festival of fire. That’s our day, because during winter solstice the sun hits the altar first, then travels toward the cave’s entrance. You described the opposite, so it has to be summer solstice.
Less than two months? While I wanted to find Arwen, find my mom and get this whole thing over with, confronting Cadifor so soon was seriously scary.
Why so soon?
Because things are escalating here.
What things?
Bad things.
I could imagine. I didn’t want to know what Cadifor was capable of, not when I had to confront him to end this thing. We need
to be prepared. I’ll confer with the Sorority and we’ll lay out the plan after Beltane tomorrow.
Okay.
But it wasn’t, none of this was. Fear clawed at my insides, dying to escape in a screeching scream.
It’s okay to be scared.
Freaking great. Even at a distance he could do the mind-reading thing.
Petrified, actually.
Fear is good. Fear keeps you alert and focused. His voice lowered to a whisper, a soothing caress for my frayed nerves. Fear is what will keep you alive.
My hand trembled and the crystal slipped. Quickly realigning it, I pulled myself together. Joss was right. Fear was normal, and if it kept me one step ahead of Cadifor, bring it on.
Holly? You’re doing brilliantly.
Glad one of us thought so.
Let’s concentrate on celebrating Beltane tomorrow and we’ll talk afterward, okay?
Yeah, sure.
See you in the morning.
’Night. I removed the crystal quickly, like ripping off a Band-Aid. Less painful that way. The crystal pulsed with a pale golden glow in my hand.
I should have been glad. The trans-channeling had worked and I hadn’t given myself brain damage in the process.
But I couldn’t forget what Joss had said.
Summer solstice, the festival of fire.
As long as Cadifor was the one burning in the eternal flames of hell and not me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Nothing could’ve prepared me for Beltane.
Not reading all the texts in the library at school, not a half-hour crash course from the Sorority, not all the vivid descriptions Joss had bombarded me with for the ten minutes we strolled toward the Temple of Grian in the soft darkness, awaiting the first streaks of dawn.
I mean, I’d heard about the ritual itself: always at sunrise so the candles lit from Bel’s fire are properly illuminated before dawn breaks, people wearing white robes made from cambric—a fine white linen—and crowns of their tree sign, bringing offerings of fresh produce to place at the altar.
The reality of my first glimpse of the temple, filled to capacity with what seemed like a million flickering candles casting a warm glow over the towering stones surrounding it in a protective circle, blew me away.
I stopped and sought Joss’s hand in the dark, overcome with a puzzling combination of emotions: awe, excitement, and fear.
He squeezed my hand. “Ready?”
I’d never believed in prayer, but impressed by the reverence of the situation, I closed my eyes and sent a silent plea to Bel. Please help me.
I had no idea if he was listening or my subconscious just needed a sign and produced one, but comforting warmth started at my head and seeped downward, spreading through my body like sinking into a bubble bath.
Opening my eyes, I nodded. “Let’s do it.”
Joss released my hand and we made our way down the spiral path single file to where Mack, Oscar, and Maeve already waited.
The faint tweeting of awakening birds mingled with the fading chirps of crickets. No one in the crowd spoke. When we reached the altar and took our place alongside the others, I could’ve sworn I heard a collective sigh of relief.
I hadn’t realized how badly my knees had been shaking until I stood still, the rustling of my robe no longer a dead giveaway. Sensing my nerves, the Sorority huddled closer, the five of us forming a strong bond around Bel’s fire.
On cue, Mack raised his right hand in the Eiros greeting. “Stay warm, my friends. We come together today on this first day of May to celebrate our founding father, Belenus, the Sun God.”
I half expected muted cheers, but no one uttered a sound.
“Today is a celebration of light, a pledge to our constant goal: to return to the peaceful existence of the golden age when Bel was among us.”
Peace sounded good to me. Wish the dark lord had taken a page out of Bel’s book.
“In a moment we will extinguish our flames as one. Following a minute’s contemplation, we invite each one of you to come and relight your candle from Bel’s fire.”
This time the crowd rustled, shifted. The murmurs were quickly quashed when Mack picked up his candle, imprinted with an elaborate gold sunburst, and held it up to the heavens.
The expectant hush roused goosebumps on my arms. I clenched my candle so tight I left a thumbprint. The first strains of a harp so ethereal, so poignant, added to the surrealism, and my throat clogged. A soft pan flute joined in with a haunting melody that evoked images of rolling green meadows and swaying sunflowers and perfect summer days. Freshness and growth and light filled me with joy and uplifted my soul to a place I wanted to be: happy, carefree, and loved.
The final note resonated, hung in the emotion-charged air, and finally faded. We extinguished our candles as one.
The immediate darkness should’ve been frightening, but the peace from the evocative song lingered, binding us, lending Bel’s followers strength.
This is what we needed to defeat Cadifor. Unity. Trust. Safety in numbers.
In the minute’s silence, my eyes adjusted to the darkness in time to see the first fingers of dawn flexing across the horizon.
The beat of a drum, low and rhythmic, slowly built to a crescendo and signaled the end of our silence. Mack, the direct descendant of Bel, lit his candle from Bel’s fire, a lone flame in a sea of darkness. He held it aloft, the wan light casting shadows across his proud face.
“Bel, father of light, behold our promise to you.”
The Sorority relit candles as one, our efforts perfectly synchronized. This time, when I held my candle up I didn’t shake.
We stepped back, allowing the crowd to make their way toward the altar single file. No one spoke, but I could see the smiles, the occasional flash of white teeth in the dimness. Standing alongside the Sorority, feeling like I was one of them, made me wish I could do this forever.
I might have found friends in Quinn and Raven, but the Sorority was my destiny.
Corny? Maybe, but after the last person had lit their candle and headed back to their groves so the celebration could commence, I knew that what was about to happen would cement my place in Eiros history.
“You ready, Holly?”
I nodded at Mack, a tingle of excitement at my pending initiation running through me.
“Step forward.”
Laying our candles on the altar, we stepped forward as one, joining hands.
Mack tilted his head back toward the heavens. “Bel, your ancient wisdom tells us the elements represent energy around us. Earth, from the north; the trees and plants we honor in your name, symbolize stability, security. Air; blowing on the hilltops surrounding us, carries your inspiration from the east. Water; in the lakes to the west, cleanses, enhancing our healing and psychic abilities.”
Mack, who held Oscar and Maeve’s hands, brought our hands up to rest on the altar, forming a protective circle around the candles.
“And most importantly fire, bringing energy, power, and passion to all that we do.”
He bowed his head and we copied him.
“On this day of Beltane, your sacred celebration, we invoke these elements to welcome a true member of the Sorority.”
He paused, raised his head, and looked at me. “Holly Burton, descendant of Bel, welcome to the Sorority of the Sun.”
For the first time since I’d been here, the constant grayness was erased as dawn broke in a blaze of gold, crimson, and mauve, bathing everything in a new light and filling me with belief.
This was right.
This was meant to be.
Joss and Maeve released my hands and I stepped forward, knelt on one knee, and pressed my forehead against the altar in honor of my new status.
That’s when all Hell broke loose.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
A high-pitched wailing filled the air, piercing and horrific, leaving my eardrums on the verge of exploding. I clapped my hands over my ears, but that did nothing to dim the ghas
tly shrieking. I whipped around, trying to see where it was coming from and whether this appalling noise was a prelude to one of Cadifor’s tricks.
Maeve screamed. Mack paled. I became the middle of Oscar and Joss’s human sandwich as they wedged me between them. The gruesome screeching shot bolts of terror through me and I recoiled, petrified.
“Don’t look,” Joss hissed, trying to protect me from seeing whatever was making that god-awful noise. The fear in his voice clued me in to the fact that this thing was more horrendous than anything I could possibly imagine.
Oscar glared at Joss in disbelief. “Are you crazy? She invoked the banshee, she has to get rid of it.”
“What the hell’s a banshee?” I said, remembering in a frightening flash I had to face and banish one.
A thing materialized less than five feet in front of me, hovering in the air like one of those lame ghosts in the haunted house at Wolfebane’s annual fair. But this was no fake fiend. No, this banshee was the real deal, from the top of its streaming flame hair to the bottom of its ragged gray robes. Bloodred eyes glowed in gaping holes. Its mouth was a wide black canyon emitting the ear-piercing wail, and its deathly pallor was highlighted by nondescript tattered robes hanging from its lifeless body. And then I realized something that had to be a trick, an illusion.
The banshee looked like my mom.
I was transfixed, desperate to look away but horribly drawn to its ugliness. Shudders racked my body, rolling over me in sickening waves. I clutched at Joss to stop from crumbling to the ground.
“You need to do this,” he said, his calmness belied by the anguish darkening his eyes to midnight.
“Tell me how to get rid of it!” While my ears bled, the banshee kept coming, closing the distance between us. The closer it drifted, the harder I shook, pain shredding my insides like I’d swallowed a pack of razors. “Freaking tell me or I swear—”
“You need to find the answer within.”
I swayed, increasingly dizzy and faint, as Joss held me upright.