Marked

chest and glared at the Twins.
    I smiled my thanks to Stevie Rae. "Well, I kinda have an idea."
    "Good. Tell us and we'll brainstorm," said Stevie Rae. Everyone looked expectantly at me. I sighed. "Well. Um…,”
    I started hesitantly, afraid I was sounding like a moron, and then I decided I might as well tell them what had been on my mind since I talked to Grandma, so I finished in a rush. "I thought I'd perform an ancient purification prayer based on Cherokee ritual and ask Nyx to help me come up with a plan.”
    The silence at the table seemed to last forever. Then Damien finally said, "Asking for Nyx's help isn't a bad idea.”
    "Are you Cherokee?" Shaunee asked.
    "You look Cherokee," Erin said.
    "Hello! Her last name is Redbird. She's Cherokee," Stevie Rae said with finality.
    "Well, that's good," Shaunee said, but she looked doubtful.
    "I just think that Nyx might actually hear me and―maybe―give me some kind of clue as to what I should do about horrid Aphrodite." I looked at each of my friends. "Something inside me says it's just wrong to let her get away with all the crap she's getting away with.”
    "Let me tell them!" Stevie Rae suddenly said. "They won't tell anyone. Really. And it'd help if they knew.”
    "What the F?" Erin said.
    "Okay, now you have no choice," Shaunee said, pointing at Stevie Rae with her fork. "She knew if she said that we would pester the crap outta you till you told us whatever it is she's talking about.”
    I frowned at Stevie Rae, who shrugged her shoulders sheepishly and said, "Sorry.”
    Reluctantly, I lowered my voice and leaned forward. "Promise you won't tell anyone.”
    "Promise," they said.
    "I think I can feel the five elements when a circle is cast." Silence. They just stared. Three of them shocked, Stevie Rae smug.
    "So, you still think she can't take down Aphrodite?" Stevie Rae said.
    "I knew there was more to your Mark than falling down and hitting your head!" Shaunee said.
    "Wow," Erin said. "Talk about good gossip.”
    "No one can know!" I said quickly.
    "Please," Shaunee said. "We're just sayin' that someday this is gonna be great gossip.”
    "We know how to wait for great gossip," Erin said.
    Damien ignored both of them. "I don't think there's a record of any High Priestess who has had an affinity with all five elements.” Damien's voice got more excited as he spoke. "Do you know what that means?" He didn't give me a chance to respond. "It means you could potentially be the most puissant High Priestess the vampyres have ever known.”
    "Huh?" I said. Puissant?
    "Strong―powerful," he said impatiently. "You might actually be able to take out Aphrodite!”
    "Now, that's some seriously good news," Erin said, as Shaunee nodded in enthusiastic agreement.
    "So when and where are we doing the purification thingy?" Stevie Rae said.
    "We?" I said.
    "You're not in this alone, Zoey," she said.
    I opened my mouth to protest―I mean, I wasn't even sure what I was going to do. I didn't want to get my friends mixed up in something that might be―actually, would probably be―a total mess. But Damien didn't give me time to tell them no.
    "You need us," he said simply. "Even the most puissant High Priestess needs her circle.”
    "Well, I hadn't really thought about casting a circle. I was just gonna do a kind of purification prayer thing.”
    "Can't you cast a circle and then pray the prayer and ask for Nyx's help?" Stevie Rae asked.
    "Seems logical," Shaunee said.
    "Plus, if you really do have an affinity for the five elements, I'll bet we'll be able to sense it when you cast your own circle. Right, Damien?" Stevie Rae said. Everyone looked at the gay scholar of our group.
    "Sounds like good logic to me," he said.
    I was still going to argue, even though everything inside of me felt relieved and happy and grateful that my friends would be there with me, that they wouldn't let me face all of this uncertainty alone.
    Value them; they are pearls of great price.
    The familiar voice floated through my mind, and I realized that I shouldn't question the new instinct within me that seemed to have been born when Nyx kissed my forehead and permanently changed my Mark and my life.
    "Okay, I'm going to need a smudge stick." They looked at me blankly, and I went on to explain. "It's for the purification part of the ritual because I don't have any running water handy. Or do I?”
    "You mean like a stream or a river or something like that?" Stevie Rae asked.
    "Yeah.”
    "Well, there's a