“Before we begin, we need to dress in robes the colors of our Elements. I asked Lannan’s people to help us and they found us some costumes that should work.” Luna smiled at us, and I suddenly realized she was firmly in her element. Her magic involved ritual and tradition and song and training, while mine was wild and untamed.
She handed out the robes, and they were indeed works of beauty. Whoever had sewn the velvet gowns had done an exquisite job. Mine was pale silver, Chatter wore a robe of forest green, Rhiannon was dressed in crimson, and Wrath in deep blue. Kaylin wore black, and Luna wore white. Zoey was wearing a brown robe. The vampires must have had one hell of a costume party because the gowns were all the same—unisex, flowing, and crushed velvet.
Zoey had scrounged up a copper doumbek with an elk-hide head. She knelt near the fireplace, letting the heat tune the drum. As she thumbed it, listening to the tone, she tightened the head.
I walked over to Luna, who had closed her eyes and was breathing deeply. “Am I interrupting?”
She smiled, then opened her eyes again. “No, I’m just grounding and centering. Preparing for ritual. We’ll be ready to start soon. I hope this works.” She glanced at Grieve, who lay naked on the table, his arms and legs tied down with long ropes that wrapped around the four legs.
“Is that really necessary?” I hated seeing him like that. It seemed so undignified.
“It’s the only way to be sure we’ll all be safe. If something goes wrong…he could do a lot of damage, Cicely. He could kill us all before we could react, especially if we’re in the middle of ritual. Remember, as much as you love him, he was turned by Myst. He is one of the Indigo Court, even though he defies her power.”
She placed a hand on my arm. “It’s always hard to see someone you love treated in such a fashion. Once, a demon tried to possess my mother and we had to tie her down in order to exorcise the creature. It had come in through a portal that was in a haunted mirror we’d inherited. But had she been free, we wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on doing what we needed to.”
“I understand.” And I did. I just hated seeing him like that. “So, in your private opinion, do you think this is going to work? Do you think we’ll be able to save him from his nature?”
She frowned. “I don’t know, to be honest. I wish I could give you a better answer than that, but I can’t. That he wants to be free of Myst’s power bodes well. But the ritual is ancient, and who knows if it’s been performed since it was first written down? With any rite this old, there is danger. There is also the danger that his blood will reject the attempt, regardless of his will. I think we should just hope for the best, and do whatever it takes in order to try to free him.”
At that point, Zoey stood. “We’re ready. Come, gather. Peyton, you may stay, but Rex should leave. We must not be interrupted.”
As Peyton helped Rex limp out of the room, then returned to take up a post by the door in order to keep unwelcome visitors out, the rest of us gathered around the table. It was time. And I prayed that we’d succeed and that Grieve would be set free of the bonds of ice that held on to his core.
Chapter 19
The room was dark because all of the windows were covered during the day in the Regent’s mansion. Heavy velvet drapes made it feel like night, even though it wasn’t. The scent of sage and cedar burned through the room, followed by an undertone of musk and heather.
Zoey rang a bell and we gathered around the table in our respective positions—I was in the east, Rhiannon in the south, Wrath in the west, and Chatter in the north. Luna stood at Grieve’s feet and Kaylin at his head. Zoey began by circling everyone with a ring of sea salt, swiped from the kitchen. We had salt in our components stash, but why use ours when we could plunder Lannan’s pantry? He didn’t eat, so he wouldn’t notice it was gone.
“Spirits of protection, come to this place and ring it with a circle of salt that nothing unwelcome may enter within.” She closed the ring of salt and put down the bowl with which she’d been pouring out the white grains, then picked up a bowl of crushed sulfur. This was from our stash—or rather, it had originally been Marta’s stash and was now mine.
“With a ring of sulfur, I do encircle this ritual, that nothing unwelcome may enter within. Let all negative spirits be kept at bay, and let nothing disrupt our rites and rituals.” She trickled the sulfur out in a fine line, atop the ring of salt, and the energy began to increase. The pressure of the air weighed down on my shoulders. Whatever else she might be capable of, Zoey could summon energy, that much was apparent.
The third bowl held a fine dust with a silvery sheen. Zoey trickled this out carefully, a few grains at a time, and when she spoke, I understood why she was being so frugal. “With this ring of silver shavings, I do encircle this ritual, that nothing unwelcome may enter within, and nothing within may escape outward.”
Shit. Silver. We’d better clean up thoroughly after we were done or Lannan would have our blood for sure. I made a mental note: Sweep and mop. Several times. Vampires hated silver. But for me, the energy of the metal made me feel jazzed, almost like I’d had a shot or two of caffeine or sugar. Speaking of food, after the fish incident, I’d been very cautious about accepting food and drink from the staff. Kaylin had made sure that the cooks preparing our breakfast had been careful, to avoid another nasty surprise.
Zoey put the dish down and then drew out a dagger. It was not silver—Lannan’s guards would have never allowed a stranger to bring silver weapons into the mansion—but hand-carved bone and antler, and it had what looked to be a wickedly sharp blade on it.
She held it outstretched in her left hand, and moving clockwise around the ring, she began to cast the circle. “Circle of art, circle of might, I call on the spirits to gather round, I cast this circle with salt and sulfur and silver and sound.”
Here, Luna began to intone a low note. Her voice sounded almost harmonic, as if a second person were singing with her. As Zoey encircled the room, Luna’s voice followed her, raising and lowering at odd intervals. After a moment, I realized that where the energy felt weakest, Luna’s voice would lower, creating a bridge. And where it was strong along the ring, her voice would flow upward, smoothing over the top. It was as if she were filling in the gaps with her song.
As I looked at her again, I could see what she was doing. Her eyes were closed and her arms raised, and she was weaving back and forth, swaying in time to the flow of magic. She was weaving a spell with her song, as sure as if she were using words instead of notes.
I closed my eyes and let myself flow into the melody. A blink, and I found myself on a high cliff, with the air rushing through my hair and the moon overhead. Below, I could see a forest stretching out, so far that I could not see the end of it, and the forest was covered with frost and snow, but it didn’t frighten me like Myst’s snow. It felt crystal clear, natural—winter that would come and go as it should. I stared up at the moon as the clouds boiled across it, but the moon was full and haunting and called to my owl self.
The wind whistled past, and I could sense Ulean dancing along the slipstream. I wanted to call up a gust, to transform and go winging into the forest because that was where I belonged, but instead I knew—instinctively—that I was to catch hold of the air, to slide into its nature and listen to the song it was singing.
As I sank into the energy of the wind, I felt the essence of clarity, of keen insight. I realized that my mind felt clearer than it had in weeks—perhaps years. By riding the wind, I could see far beyond my own little world, and a strange peace descended on me.
Slowly, the song began to die away and, my eyes fluttering, I found myself back in the room, as Zoey finished weaving the circle around us. Luna’s song faded away, vanishing with a soft hush.
A wave of sadness rushed over me. I wanted to go back to that place, to stay there, to embrace the energy that had flowed surely but steadily. As I glanced at Rhiannon and Chatter, I could see the same feeling written across their faces. Wrath’s expression remained impenetrable. Kaylin was just as unreadable. I let out a long breath, releasing the sense of loss, realizing that we had to be focused and clear for the ritual to work.
Zoey lit a green taper candle that was sitting on a small table near her, then turned to Chatter. “You may call upon the Element of Earth.”
Chatter cleared his throat and ducked his head. With arms outstretched and palms toward the floor, he let out a low vibration—not a song woven in sound like Luna had charmed but a guttural roar from the depths of his core. It was the moving of earth, the rumbling of mountains. It embodied the depths of caverns.
“You who are bone and stone and crystal. You who are branch and leaf and twig. You who are the Elemental forces of Earth, I call to you. You who are the bones of the world, I summon you. You who are foundation, and manifestation incarnate, I bid you come forth. You who are our body and bones, O Elemental force of Earth, I beseech you to walk this circle, to embody your essence into our rites.”
The timbers creaked, the bones of the mansion echoed a long, dark cry, as bone and root and leaf took hold. The energy worked its way into the room, encircling us, hovering over Grieve, a thick vapor of brown and green that enveloped the room, weighing us down. I felt like I’d gained twenty pounds as the forces of gravity rooted me firmly to the floor, and in another moment, a flash of energy—gnarled and strong as oak—worked its way into my feet, spreading through my body. The vapor settled into the ring of salt and sulfur and silver. And then—everything seemed back to normal. Chatter lowered his arms, a faint smile on his face.
Lighting a white candle, Zoey pointed to me. “Summon the winds. And do not become them.”
I would have glared at her, but I realized that she was serious, not being snide. She was right. This was no place to let loose the powers of the fan—apparently now my powers. I gave her a short nod and sucked in a deep breath. I’d never done this formally before, though I’d been playing with the winds since my childhood.
I focused, recalling the mountaintop to which Luna’s song had taken me. That was the feeling of the wind I wanted to invoke. I wasn’t a singer, couldn’t keep on key if you tried me, but I sought for the pitch that represented that feeling. When I thought I found it, I let out one long, clear note and held it for a moment, then let it fade.
“Spirits of the Wind, spirits of Air, I summon you. You who are the fresh breezes of spring, come to me. You who are the warm winds of summer’s evening, hear me. You who are the chill gusts of autumn and the boreal winds of winter, come to this place. You who are the breath of our body, the air that keeps us alive, be with us.” I wasn’t sure of the wording, but I let the words flow on their own, as they would. “You who are communication and thought, you who are clear sight and intuition, come to this circle and join our rites. You who are the Elemental forces of Air, I summon you to be with us in this circle, to infuse our rites with your powers.”
I stopped as a rush of wind raced around the circle. Where the earth had brought vapors weighing us down, the wind threatened to carry us aloft, to sweep us into the fray. I found myself laughing and realized the others were, too, in the whirl and swirl of this crazy dance we were on. But then as quickly as they had come, the winds departed, leaving everything with a crystal clarity that made me want to weep. Nothing seemed muddy now, nothing seemed static or stagnant.
Zoey smiled then and gave me a long nod. I wondered what Ysandra would make of this woman from the Akazzani, but before my thoughts could run musing in that direction, she lit the red candle and pointed to Rhiannon.
Rhia invoked the Elemental forces of Fire, and the room warmed considerably, as sparkling light danced around the circle, and then my father summoned the Elemental forces of Water, and a wash of autumn melancholy swept through me, as the sorrows and joys of the past weeks tumbled in on my shoulders, then were washed clean.
When all the Elemental forces had been summoned, Kaylin stepped forward and held up his hands. He dropped his head back and for a moment, I saw the shadow of a batlike creature raise up to tower above him. He let out one pure note that felt like it was shooting directly through the top of my head.
“Spirit of Spirit, I summon you. Elemental forces of magic, Elemental forces of the will and of purest energy, come forth. We seek your realm, seek to harness your strength, to bend our will against your power. Come, O Spirit of Magic, be with us, crackle through us, wield us even as we wield you. We are your instruments, we are your bodies, we are your manifestations within this world.”
As he spoke, a crackle ran around the room and everything began to spin. The force of magic, the force of the fifth Element—Spirit—took over and my hands became charged, energy flowing from them—intensifying the Elemental force of Air. I glanced at the others—I could see sparks flying from Rhiannon, one look at Wrath and I could see a wave rising up behind him, and Chatter had ghostly vines emanating from his palms. I looked down at my own hands and could see a wavering breeze waft forth.
I stretched out my arms, palms facing sideways, and the others did the same. Earth met Air and blended, growing stronger. And Air merged with Fire and the force grew even more. Fire kissed the Water and the circle felt like it was becoming a sphere. And then, when Water connected with Earth, we were solid and impenetrable—the Elemental guardians holding us strong in their embrace.
We held the energy while Luna and Kaylin moved to the center, standing on either end of Grieve. From just outside the circle, Zoey drummed a rhythmic, hypnotic beat. Kaylin took hold of Grieve’s head in his hands, leaning over him so close it almost looked like they were kissing.