by P. C. Cast
“Big enough? What does that mean?” Aphrodite asked.
“If Neferet’s stirring she’s going to be up to a lot more than an ill wish or two. She’s a killer. I just didn’t think it was big enough.”
“That makes sense. But, Zoeybird, what if you changed some of this spell and made it bigger. Would that work?”
“No.” I glanced through the spell again. “Yes.” I kept reading. “No.” I sighed. “Even if I change some of the wording, it still doesn’t feel right. None of these do.”
“Why?” Grandma prodded again.
Beginning to feel annoyed, I blurted, “Because they’re not mine! They’re just some random, generic spells created by vampyres who are probably dead, but even if they’re still alive they don’t know me. They don’t know my circle. They don’t know Neferet. They don’t even know Tulsa. These just won’t work.”
Grandma’s face split into a dazzling smile. “And there you have your answer!”
“Huh?”
“Your grandma’s right!” Damien cried, coming around the table to give Grandma a hug.
“I don’t get it,” Stevie Rae said. “But I’m real glad someone does.”
“Time to fill the rest of us in,” Shaunee said.
“It’s so simple I can’t believe we all overlooked it,” Damien said. “Zoey, you have to create the spell yourself.”
“Oh, but not by herself,” Grandma said. “In order to make it powerful, but keep it from linking only to our Zoeybird, her circle must help her create the spell. Then all of you will have a part in it.”
“And if it’s linked to anyone—it’ll be linked to all of us,” Damien said.
“Is—is that okay with all of you?” I asked.
“Yes,” Damien said.
“Of course, Z,” Stevie Rae said.
“Absolutely,” Shaunee said.
“One for all—all for one!” Shaylin grinned.
“And the Herd of Nerds rides again,” Aphrodite said.
“Yes, isn’t it glorious?” said my wonderful, wise grandma.
“If you mean Andolini’s Pizza, yep, it most definitely is glorious!” Stark shouted from behind the tower of pizza boxes he was carry as he, Darius, Rephaim, and Nicole poured into the room in a wave of cold air and warm pizza smells.
“Is it still snowing?” I asked.
“Yep, but no ice. So the roads shouldn’t get too bad,” Stark said.
“He says that like he’s unaware of how Oklahoma drivers lose every bit of their minds as soon as one flake of snow falls.” Shaunee shook her head in disgust. “They need to check out a Connecticut winter. I got some snow for them up there.”
“Hey there, Grandma Redbird!” Stark went to her and picked her up in a giant hug. “How’s my second-best girl?”
“Oh, tsi-ta-ga-a-s-ha-ya. Such a charmer.” She patted his cheek and gave him a grandma kiss. “Now put me down. We just figured out Zoey’s protection spell and if we work fast, she can cast the spell tonight.”
I almost choked on the piece of pizza I was shoving into my face. “Wait, tonight?”
“Seems perfectly timed. It’s snowing, which means the park will be deserted. And it’s still two hours before midnight. If you hurry, you could time the casting of the spell for midnight. Correct me if I’m wrong, Damien, but isn’t midnight the perfect timing for a protection spell?”
“It is, Grandma,” he said. “But, Z, can you be ready by then?”
I pushed aside my nerves. “Yeah, probably. If you guys help me. So, my intent is going to be specific. I’m going to protect against any tears in Aurox’s seal. It’s his sacrifice that’s keeping her in there. I figured it’d be smart to give him a boost.”
“Logical,” Damien said. “And what do you need from each of us?”
“Bring me something that symbolizes each of your elements. Something that means protection to you. I’ll write the items into the spell.”
“Ya mean like somethin’ you can touch?” Stevie Rae asked.
“Yes. Let’s be as literal as possible. It’ll make the spell simpler.”
“Z’s right. The simpler the spell is—the less chance of confusion,” Shaylin said. “Or at least that’s what I found out when I tried to cast a happy spell over the opening of the new House of Night in San Francisco. I used symbolism. It, um, didn’t turn out as I expected.”
Nicole giggled. “Yeah, she used our relationship as her symbol for happiness when she cast the spell, which was very sweet. But it also made every girl at the event suddenly have the hots for girls.”
Shaylin let out a long-suffering sigh. “Whether they were gay or not.”
Nicole’s giggles made her snort, but she managed to say, “Especially the girls who weren’t gay. It definitely turned into an interesting night.”
“And there was a lot of happiness. Just, um, not what I’d imagined.”
“Shaylin, that lotta happiness wasn’t what a whole bunch of those straight girls imagined,” Nicole said.
“Is it misogynistic to say that I wish I’d been there to witness that?” Erik asked, using all of his vast acting skills to sound and look innocent.
“Nah, boy. Doesn’t sound misogynistic. Sounds typical. And you know how I feel about typical,” Shaunee said, aiming a lazy, sexy smile at Erik.
“I hear and I obey. I don’t need a room full of pretend lesbians when I have my own Nubian Princess.” Erik bowed to Shaunee with a flourish and kissed her gracefully extended hand.
“How’d she do that?” Aphrodite whispered to me.
“No clue,” I said, watching Erik drool over Shaunee.
“Black girl magick,” Stevie Rae said. “I gotta get me some.”
“Ditto,” I said. Then I thought about the fact that I couldn’t even get a tan anymore, and decided to change the subject before it got depressing. “Okay, I’m going to start with air. Damien, as soon as you’ve figured out what you want to use to symbolize air, step into my office. Bring pizza.” I grabbed my notebook and headed for a table that wasn’t piled full with books, cookie remnants, pop cans, and pizza.
I didn’t have to wait long. I was still chewing the end of my pencil and trying to decide what the heck my spirit symbology would be when Damien and Aphrodite took seats across the table from me.
I raised my brow questioningly.
Damien looked at Aphrodite. She sighed. “Go ahead. You tell her. You’re better with words.”
“Correct, but you talk more,” Damien said.
“True. I’ll go. Okay, Damien and I got together on the air symbol. I came up with the idea of the athame. It’s often used to slice through the air during Ritual, and it’s a symbol of power, which I think is important,” Aphrodite said.
“And I thought of the rest of it, which is what you should do with the athame. What’s the most powerful symbol in the vampyre lexicon?” Damien said.
“Is this a test?” I asked, only half kidding.
“If it is, I hope you pass, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya.” Grandma took the seat beside me.
“Z’s a good test taker,” Stark said between bites of pizza as he sat at my other side.
“No pressure at all,” I muttered. Then I smiled. What was wrong with me? Of course I knew the answer to that question. “It’s a pentacle!”
“Correct,” Damien said. “After Aphrodite presents you with the symbol for air, I think it would be perfect if you used the athame to draw a protective pentacle within the circle.”
“That’s an excellent idea,” I said.
“Fantastic!” Damien said. “I’m going to go to Nyx’s Temple and choose an athame.”
“I’ll come with you. We might as well get the ritual candles while we’re there,” Aphrodite said.
I smiled as they hurried off. This might just be easier than I thought it was going to be.
“Okay, Shaunee, fire is up next.”
Shaunee was chewing pizza when she slid into the chair across from me. “Do you know what a tetrahedron is?”
“This is a test,” I grumped. “Sounds like something mathy. Which means I have no clue.”
“It’s a solid, four-sided pyramid,” Shaunee said.
“Yep. Definitely math,” I said.
“Geometry, actually,” Stark corrected.
“Yes,” Shaunee said. “A fire tetrahedron is a geometric representation of the four factors that are necessary to create fire: fuel, heat, oxygen, and an uninhibited chain reaction. Voilà! You have fire.”
“Makes sense. I think,” I said. “So, your symbol is?”
“Z, stay with me. My symbol is going to be a tetrahedron.”
I blinked blankly at her.
She sighed. “In other words, I’m going to make a pyramid for your spell. You can put it in the center of the circle. It’ll be a focus for fire protection.”
“Oh, like the pentacle I’m going to draw with Damien’s athame! Your pyramid thingie is just another focus for protection.”
“Exactly. And now I’m gonna search this room for something cool to make the tetrahedron out of. It’s a school, right? We should have construction paper, scissors, and some glue.”
“Well, yeah, but the scissors might have those obnoxious rounded ends,” I said.
“Let’s hope not,” Shaunee said with a sad shake of her head.
“Water! Your turn,” I called.
Shaylin came to my table, reached into her purse, and pulled out a rock. She put it down on the table in front of me. “This is my symbol. It’s weird, but I’ve been carrying it around in my purse since I found it when Nicole and I were taking a walk in Golden Gate Park. It was in the water feature by the Japanese pagoda. It’s perfect.”
I picked up the rock. It was nothing special. About fist-sized, made of some kind of brown stone. It had an indentation on the top side of it that was kinda wavy. I gave her a question-mark look. “Sorry, I don’t get it.”
“Oh, here. It’s easier to see from this direction.” Shaylin spun the stone so that I was looking at the indented design from the opposite angle.
“It’s a heart!” I said.
“Guess what made it?”
I traced the wavy indentation that had made an almost perfect heart, and suddenly got it. I grinned up at Shaylin. “Water!”
“Yep! Water is so powerful that it can even change stone. I think that’s powerful protection energy.”
“I think you’re right,” I said.
“Oh, and your aura is looking very bright and shiny,” Shaylin said. “So’s yours and yours,” she told Stark and Grandma. Then she lowered her voice. “But Damien’s is looking sad. I think he might be depressed. And Aphrodite’s is definitely stressed.”
“I’m not surprised,” I said.
“What about mine?” Stevie Rae asked as she joined the table.
Shaylin studied her. “Your aura is muted. Not as badly as Damien’s, but you’re not 100 percent.”
“Does it look homesick to you?” she asked.
“Definitely.”
“Which we’re going to fix,” I said. “Thanks, Shaylin. I agree with you. Your rock is perfect. Ready, earth?”
“Yepper!” Stevie Rae said, plopping into the seat across from me. “I know exactly what my symbol is, but I’m not sure where we’re gonna get one at this time of night.”
“What is it?” I asked, intrigued.
“Well, the most powerful earth protection comes in the form of trees. And the rowan tree has special powers. It rules communication between the worlds. It’s known as the Quickening Tree because it can quicken your psychic abilities. I think it’s the perfect symbol for earth protection, but I don’t have one.”
“Stevie Rae, do you need an actual sapling, or would just a part of the tree work?” Grandma asked.
“Any part of the tree would work just fine. I can make it grow. Do ya have a rowan twig or somethin’, Grandma Redbird?”
“I do not, but I’m sure a rowan wand wouldn’t be difficult to find here at the House of Night,” Grandma said.
“There are tons of wands and such in the Spells and Rituals classroom, back in the supplies cupboard,” I said.
“That’ll work!” Stevie Rae said. “I’ll go find something rowan.”
“Four down, one to go,” Stark said. “So, what’s gonna be your spirit symbol?”
“I have no clue,” I said.
“Then it is good that you have your Grandma here with you, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya.” Grandma went to her picnic basket and reached into its mysterious, fragrant depths to pull out a single red feather. She brought it to the table and handed it to me. “This is your symbol, Zoeybird, and the symbol of the spirit of your people.”
“Oh, Grandma! It’s perfect. Thank you.”
“That’s it then. You have all the elements of your spell,” Stark said.
“I do. What time is it?”
He checked his phone. “Ten thirty. Looks like we’re going to make the midnight deadline.”
“Looks like it,” I said.
“That’s gotta be a good sign,” Shaylin said.
“Yep. Okay, give me a few minutes to put all of this together in a spell form. By that time, Aphrodite and Damien should be back with the athame and candles, Shaunee will have made her fire-pyramid thing, and Stevie Rae will have found a rowan wand. Then we go to Woodward Park.”
“How are you feeling about the spell overall, Zoeybird?” Grandma asked when Stark went to fetch us some more pizza.
“Pretty good,” I said. “I mean, it’s really a simple spell. There’s not much that can go wrong.”
I saw a shadow pass over Grandma’s expression, but before I could ask her anything she brightened. “Exactly, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya. Let’s go put an end to Neferet’s nonsense. Again.”
10
Zoey
Winter in Oklahoma is a mixture of anticipation and expectation—you know the ice and snow are coming. You just don’t know when, where, or how much. I should have been sick of winter weather, what with the icepocalypse that had shut the city down for weeks last winter, but as we walked through deserted Woodward Park with fat flakes of snow drifting lazily down from an ominously clouded sky I couldn’t help but feel the same sense of wonder and excitement I’d felt every school day of my life when the weather report hinted at snow. Seriously. What’s more awesome than a snow day? (Okay, yes, I hear you. Summer vacation. But I’m talking about surprise days off from school.)
Mature or immature, the snow had all of us in a positive mood. And there, tromping through leaves salted with shimmering white flakes, surrounded by the people I loved most in this world, I was filled with optimism. Neferet and Darkness felt like a half-remembered bad dream. The kind that you wake from crying, but as soon as you’re fully aware it fades into vague remembrances and forgotten fears.
“I like the replanting,” Stevie Rae said. She was walking beside me, gazing around at the snow-silent park. “It’s gonna be weird in the spring and summer—without most of the ginormous oaks and those huge azalea bushes everyone likes to take pictures in front of—but I can already see that it’s gonna be real pretty once everything grows up. Maybe even prettier than it used to be.”
“That’s what we’re hoping for. The House of Night poured a bunch of money into the renovation, and it was one of our landscape architects that created the new planting grids. She even added a gorgeous water feature over there by the Peoria side of the park, which we filled with koi.”
Stevie Rae shot me a look. “I hope I’m here to see it.”
I snagged her hand and made her slow with me until we lagged a little behind the others. “You’ll be here to see it if you want to be here. Stevie Rae, I didn’t know you
’ve been unhappy. I’m really sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Sure it is. I’m the one who set up our new High Council and had the semibrilliant idea of sending everyone scattered out like that.”
“It’s a good idea, Z. I just miss home. Too much I think. My heart’s here.” She glanced at where Rephaim walked beside Stark and added, “So’s his.”
“So’s Damien’s,” I said softly, glancing to where he was walking beside Aphrodite.
“Yeah, I don’t see Adam anywhere. What’s up with that?” she asked.
“They broke up. Damien’s not over Jack,” I said.
“Oh, man, that sucks. But I’m not surprised. Maybe being home will help him put Jack to rest.”
“I hope so. I am a little weirded out by Aphrodite’s vision, though. Jack featuring predominately in it is pretty crazy, and feels more than coincidental what with Damien being so homesick and sad.”
“Maybe that part’s not supposed to be literal. Maybe Nyx decided we do need some extra protection on the grotto, and she took the opportunity to make a point about not letting go of the past.”
“Meaning that it’ll eat you alive if you can’t make peace with it.” I nodded. “I can see that. But then there’s Kramisha’s poem. No clue how that works into it.”
“Well, there’s a snow metaphor throughout it, with a reference to snowflakes joining by finding themselves again. That could play into Aphrodite’s vision, too. It could be for Damien, symbolizing that he really needs to heal so that he can love again. You did say he and Adam broke up, right?”
“Right.”
“I’m guessin’ the breakup had more to do with Damien than Adam?”
“Right again,” I said. “But I should let Damien tell the rest of it.”
“No worries, Z. I don’t want to be all in his business. But it does seem like a bunch of this could be about Damien moving on.” She lowered her voice. “He looks rough. And Damien never looks rough.”
“Yeah, he needs to be home. I wish I’d known—about him as well as you. Hey, make me a deal. Promise you’ll never keep things from me like that again.”
“Z, you’re so busy with the new Council and integrating the North American Houses of Night. I didn’t want to bother you. I’ll bet Damien felt like that, too.”