Marked

loving how the Cherokee word for daughter sounded―so magical and special, like it was a Goddess-given title. Goddess-given…
    "Grandma, there's something else.”
    "Tell me, Little Bird.”
    "I think I feel the five elements when a circle is cast.”
    "If that is the truth, you have been given great power, Zoey. And you know that with great power comes great responsibility. Our family has a rich history of Tribal Elders, Medicine Men, and Wise Women. Have a care, Little Bird, to think before you act. The Goddess would not have granted you special powers on a whim. Use them carefully, and make Nyx, as well as your ancestors, look down and smile on you.”
    "I'll try my best, Grandma.”
    "That's all I would ever ask of you, Zoeybird.”
    "There's a girl here who also has special powers, too, but she's awful. She's a bully and she lies. Grandma, I think…I think…" I took a deep breath and said what had been brewing in my mind all morning. "I think I'm stronger than she is and I think that maybe Nyx Marked me so that I can get her out of the position she's in. But―but that would mean that I have to take her place, and I don't know if I'm ready for that, not now. Maybe not ever.”
    "Follow what your spirit tells you, Zoeybird." She hesitated, then said, "Honey, do you remember the purification prayer of our people?”
    I thought about it. I couldn't count the times I'd gone with her to the little stream behind Grandma's house and watched her bathe ritualistically in the running water and speak the purification prayer. Sometimes I stepped into the stream with her and said the prayer, too. The prayer had been entwined throughout my childhood, spoken at the change of seasons, in thanks for the lavender harvest, or in preparation for the coming winter, as well as whenever Grandma was faced with hard decisions. Sometimes I didn't know why she purified herself and spoke the prayer. It simply had always been.
    "Yes," I said. "I remember it.”
    "Is there running water inside the school grounds?”
    "I don't know, Grandma.”
    "Well, if there isn't then get something to use as a smudge stick. Sage and lavender mixed together are best, but you can even use fresh pine if you have no other choice. Do you know what to do, Zoeybird?”
    "Smudge myself, starting at my feet and working my way up my body, front and back," I recited, as if I was a small child again and Grandma was drilling me in the ways of our people. "And then face the east and speak the purification prayer.”
    "Good, you do remember. Ask for the Goddess's help, Zoey. I believe that she will hear you. Can you do this before sunrise tomorrow?”
    "I think so.”
    "I will perform the prayer, too, and add a grandmother's voice to ask the Goddess to guide you.”
    And suddenly I felt better. Grandma was never wrong about these sorts of things. If she believed it would be okay, then it really would be okay.
    "I'll speak the purification prayer before dawn. I promise.”
    "Good, Little Bird. Now this old woman had better let you go. You are in the middle of a school day right now, aren't you?”
    "Yeah, I'm on my way to Drama class. And, Grandma, you'll never be old.”
    "Not as long as I can hear your young voice, Little Bird. I love you, U-we-tsi a-ge-hu-tsa.”
    "I love you, too, Grandma.”
    Talking to Grandma had lifted a terrible weight from my heart. I was still scared and freaked out about the future, and I wasn't wild about the thought of bringing down Aphrodite. Not to mention that I really didn't have a clue how to go about it. But I did have a plan. Okay, maybe it wasn't a "plan," but at least it was something to do. I'd complete the purification prayer, and then…well…then I'd figure out what to do after that.
    Yeah, that would work. Or at least that's what I kept telling myself through my morning classes. By lunch I'd decided on the place for my ritual―under the tree by the wall where I'd found Nala. I thought about it while I made my way through the salad bar behind the Twins. Trees, especially oaks, were sacred to the Cherokee people, so that seemed to be a good choice. Plus, it was secluded and easy to get to. Sure, Heath and Kayla had found me over there, but I wasn't planning on sitting on top of the wall again, and I couldn't imagine Heath showing up at dawn two days in a row, whether he had been Imprinted or not. I mean, this was the guy who slept till two in the afternoon in the summer, every day. It took two alarm clocks and his mother