Betrayed (24 page)

“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 forehead 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 recognized 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 Priestess, 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 almost 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 several 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 excitement.

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 feeling 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 flourish. 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 offered the yellow candle to Damien. Damien didn't touch it. Instead, 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 incredible 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 swallowed 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 blueprint 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, alluring 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 represent 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 celebration 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 Prefect Council to decide upon a penalty, which could include expulsion 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 actual 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 charity. After much consideration I decided that the perfect organization would be Street Cats, the rescue charity for homeless cats.”

There was good-humored laughter at this, which was the reaction 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 fledgling'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 present,” 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, magnificent exit.