“This conversation is interesting and everything, but shouldn’t we be focusing on the spell?” Stark said. “Isn’t anything else asking for problems?”

“Young Warrior, you are correct,” Thanatos said. “Let us begin. Sylvia, please lead us to the spot where you discovered your daughter’s body.”

“Very well.” Grandma only had to walk a few feet from where we were. The spot was super obvious. There, at the edge of the lavender field that flanked the north side of Grandma’s house, backing to her lawn, was a perfect circle of burned plants. The entire ground was blackened and dead and horrible. Even the plants that framed the circle looked blighted and dying.

“There is no blood,” Thanatos said, holding up her hand so that none of us actually entered the circle of destruction.

“That was one of the oddities the sheriff and his deputies could not explain,” Grandma said.

Thanatos moved so that she stood directly in front of Grandma. She rested a hand on her shoulder, and I saw Grandma take a deep, gasping breath, as if the High Priestess had infused her with energy through her touch.

“I understand this is difficult. But the question is necessary. Exactly what was the manner of your daughter’s death?”

Grandma drew another breath and then said in a clear, strong voice, “My daughter’s throat was slit.”

“Yet they found no blood on the earth surrounding her body?”

“No. None here. None on the porch. None in the house.”

“And in her body itself? Was there blood remaining in her body?”

“The coroner’s report said no. He also said it was impossible. That something more than just a neck slash happened to Linda, but all he had were questions and no answers. That’s all anyone has had.”

“Sylvia Redbird, we are here to get answers if you are strong enough to see them.”

Grandma lifted her chin. “I am.”

“Then so mote it be. All vampyre rituals begin with an altar to our Goddess at their center,” Thanatos told us. I was thinking that we all already knew that, and then her next words stopped the question in my mind. “Sylvia, I would ask that you form the altar at the heart of this ritual. Are you willing to do that?”

“I am.”

“Then so be it. You will enter the tainted ground at my side and show me exactly where you found your child. That will be the site of our altar and the center, the heart and spirit of our circle.” She glanced at the rest of us. “No one else come within. Nyx’s circle is not yet cast, but our intention is clearly set on this space. You will only cross its boundaries as each element is called.” She looked from Stark to Darius and Rephaim. “Warriors, form a triangle outside and surround the circle.” Thanatos pointed straight ahead of her. “Rephaim, that direction is north. Your place is there. Stark, take the position in the east. Darius, your place is west.”

“Where do you want me?” Aphrodite asked.

“Outside the circle protecting the only position that remains—to the south.”

“She is not a Warrior,” Darius said.

“No, she is something more powerful, a Prophetess of our Goddess. Do you doubt her strength?”

Aphrodite put her fists on her hips and raised a blond brow at him.

“No. I would never doubt her strength,” Darius said. And with a bow to Thanatos, he, Aphrodite, and the other Warriors moved to their places outside the circle.

Thanatos took Grandma’s hand and, carrying her spellwork basket, she said, “Are you ready, Sylvia?”

Grandma nodded and said yes in Cherokee. “Uh.”

Together they stepped into the circle of destruction. Grandma led Thanatos to a spot just a little south of the center. She pointed. “Here was my daughter.”

“Sit where your child once lay. Face north, the direction of the element earth, and represent the spirit of Nyx in this, a circle we would reclaim from destruction and through revealed truth make it our own.”

Grandma nodded solemnly. She sat with a grace that had her buckskin dress fluttering softly. She was facing north, with her back to us, but I could see her chin was lifted and her shoulders were square and proud.

At that moment I was so proud of her I thought my heart would burst.

Thanatos placed her basket beside Grandma. She opened it and took out a beautiful piece of velvet fabric made of the same material as her cloak. She shook out the square and placed it on the ground in front of Grandma. Then she pulled out the angelica wreaths we’d braided. I was surprised by how beautiful they looked all stacked together, with the white flowers almost glowing against the sapphire velvet. Next she lifted a black velvet bag that I was sure I’d seen Anastasia using in class. If I was right, it would be filled with salt. She placed it and the five candles that represented each of the elements on the cloth, too. All were within reach of Grandma.

Thanatos faced us. Her voice carried easily in the night as if even the bugs and birds around us had paused to listen.

“The casting of this circle will be unusual, as our ritual is really a spell within a ritual within a circle, though we will begin with air and end with spirit. When I call each of you, approach our altar. Give Sylvia the item that symbolizes the truth about yourself you wish to reveal. Speak your truth to her. In turn she will give you the proper candle. Then move to your spot around the circle.”

“Are you going to call the elements then?” I asked, not sure if I was leading the casting of the circle or not.

“You and I will both cast this circle, young Priestess,” she said. “I will incant the spell and bind it with salt. You will light the candles. My intent is that when spirit is called and the circle set, the next words I speak will, with the help of all the elements—especially earth—cast our spell and invoke Death.”

“Okay,” I said. I looked at my friends and they nodded. “We’re ready.”

“Damien, come to the altar and represent your element, air.”

I heard Damien take a deep breath before he stepped inside the circle of ruined lavender and approached Grandma.

“What is it you wish to reveal to spirit?” Thanatos asked.

Damien reached into the man purse he always had slung over his shoulder and pulled out a MAC pressed powder compact. He opened it and the moonlight caught it, showing a fragmented surface and a shattered reflection. As he gave it to Grandma he said, “I brought a broken mirror because even though I might look and act like I’m okay, I secretly wonder if Jack’s death has forever broken something inside me.”

Grandma placed the compact on the altar cloth and then gave Damien the yellow air candle. She touched his hand as she did and said, “I hear you, child.” Damien moved to Grandma’s right and took the eastern place at the edge of the circle.

“My turn,” Shaunee said softly, and then she went to Grandma. When she reached her she gave her a long white feather she’d been cupping in her hand. “This feather symbolizes that even though I’ve been afraid to be alone for a really long time, I want to be free of that fear.”

Grandma placed the feather beside Damien’s broken mirror and gave Shaunee her red candle. “I hear you, child,” she said, touching her hand gently, kindly, just as she had Damien.

Erin didn’t say anything. She walked quickly to Grandma and handed her the little insulated bag she’d brought on the bus. Grandma opened it, reached in, and pulled out an ice cube.

“This is me inside. I’m frozen, like I don’t really have any feelings.”

Grandma took the ice and added it to the other items on the altar cloth. She gave Erin her blue candle, touching her gently and saying, “I hear you, child.” Blank-faced, Erin moved to the western edge of the circle.

“Wish me luck,” Stevie Rae whispered.

“Luck,” I said softly.

She went to Grandma and smiled down at her. “Hi, Grandma.”

“Hello, child of the earth.” Grandma returned her smile. “What do you wish to reveal to me?”