Awakened

with not one speck of clouds. No way Stark would be able to communicate decently with me for—I glanced at the clock—two and a half more hours. Well, at least that gave me time to pack and also to find the queen and break the news to her—that I was gonna leave this place that felt so right, so much like a home to me, this place that Sgiach had decided to bring back into the real world again, at least kinda sorta, because of what I’d brought back into her life. And now I was going to take off and leave it all behind because …
    My brain caught up with the babbling chaos of my thoughts and everything clicked into place.
    “Because this isn’t my home,” I whispered. “Home is Tulsa. It’s where I belong.” I smiled sadly at my sleeping Guardian. “It’s where we belong.” I felt the rightness of it even as I understood all that was waiting for me there—and all that I was losing leaving here.
    “It’s time I went home,” I said firmly.
    * * *

    “Say something. Anything. Please.” I’d just blurted my guts out to Sgiach and Seoras. Naturally, telling the story of Jack’s horrible death had made me bawl and snot. Again. And then I’d babbled about having to go home and be a proper High Priestess even though I wasn’t one hundred percent sure what that really meant, while both of them watched me silently with expressions that looked wise and unreadable at the same time.
    “The death of a friend is always difficult to bear. It is doubly difficult if it comes too soon—too young,” Sgiach said. “I am sorry for your loss.”
    “Thank you,” I said. “It doesn’t seem real yet.”
    “Aye, well, it will, lass,” Seoras said gently. “You should be rememberin’, though, that a queen puts aside grieving fur duty. You cannae have a clear head if ’tis filled with grief.”
    “I don’t think I’m old enough for all of this,” I said.
    “No one is, child,” Sgiach said. “I would have you consider something before you take your leave of us. When you asked if you could remain here on Skye I said that you should stay here until your conscience bade you leave. Is it your conscience talking to you now, telling you the time is right for you to leave, or is it the machination of others that is—”
    “Okay, stop,” I said. “Neferet probably believes she’s manipulating me into coming back, but the truth is that I have to go back to Tulsa because it’s my home.” I met Sgiach’s eyes as I continued speaking, hoping that she would understand. “I love it here. On lots of levels it feels right to be here—so right that it’d be easy for me to stay. But, like you’ve said, the path of the Goddess isn’t easy—doing right isn’t easy. If I stayed here and ignored my home I wouldn’t just be ignoring my conscience, I’d be turning my back on it.”
    Sgiach nodded, looking pleased. “So your return comes from a place of power, not one of manipulation, though Neferet will not know that. She will believe that it only took one simple death to make you do her bidding.”
    “Jack’s death isn’t a simple thing,” I said angrily.
    “No, ’tisnae simple for you, but a creature of Darkness kills quickly, easily, and with nae thought beside her own gain,” Seoras said.
    “And because of that Neferet will not understand that you return to Tulsa because it was your choice to follow the path of Light and Nyx. She will underestimate you because of that,” Sgiach said.
    “Thank you. I’ll remember that.” I met Sgiach’s clear, strong gaze. “You and Seoras and any of the rest of the Guardians who want to could come with me, you know. With you guys beside me there’s no way Neferet could win.”
    Sgiach’s response was instantaneous. “If I left my isle the consequences of that would ripple through the High Council. We have coexisted with them peacefully for centuries because I chose to absent myself from the politics and restrictions of vampyre society. Were I to join the modern world they would not be able to continue to pretend I do not exist.”
    “What if that’s a good thing? I mean, it seems to me it’s time the High Council was shaken up, and vamp society with it. They believe Neferet and let her get away with killing people—innocent people. ” My voice was strong and sharp and for a moment I thought I sounded almost like a real queen.
    “ ’Tis not our battle, lassie,” Seoras said.
    “Why not? Why isn’t fighting against evil your battle, too?” I