Loved (House of Night Other World #1)(29)

I didn’t have to wait long. I was still chewing the end of my pencil and trying to decide what the heck my spirit symbology would be when Damien and Aphrodite took seats across the table from me.

I raised my brow questioningly.

Damien looked at Aphrodite. She sighed. “Go ahead. You tell her. You’re better with words.”

“Correct, but you talk more,” Damien said.

“True. I’ll go. Okay, Damien and I got together on the air symbol. I came up with the idea of the athame. It’s often used to slice through the air during Ritual, and it’s a symbol of power, which I think is important,” Aphrodite said.

“And I thought of the rest of it, which is what you should do with the athame. What’s the most powerful symbol in the vampyre lexicon?” Damien said.

“Is this a test?” I asked, only half kidding.

“If it is, I hope you pass, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya.” Grandma took the seat beside me.

“Z’s a good test taker,” Stark said between bites of pizza as he sat at my other side.

“No pressure at all,” I muttered. Then I smiled. What was wrong with me? Of course I knew the answer to that question. “It’s a pentacle!”

“Correct,” Damien said. “After Aphrodite presents you with the symbol for air, I think it would be perfect if you used the athame to draw a protective pentacle within the circle.”

“That’s an excellent idea,” I said.

“Fantastic!” Damien said. “I’m going to go to Nyx’s Temple and choose an athame.”

“I’ll come with you. We might as well get the ritual candles while we’re there,” Aphrodite said.

I smiled as they hurried off. This might just be easier than I thought it was going to be. “Okay, Shaunee, fire is up next.”

Shaunee was chewing pizza when she slid into the chair across from me. “Do you know what a tetrahedron is?”

“This is a test,” I grumped. “Sounds like something mathy. Which means I have no clue.”

“It’s a solid, four-sided pyramid,” Shaunee said.

“Yep. Definitely math,” I said.

“Geometry, actually,” Stark corrected.

“Yes,” Shaunee said. “A fire tetrahedron is a geometric representation of the four factors that are necessary to create fire: fuel, heat, oxygen, and an uninhibited chain reaction. Voilà! You have fire.”

“Makes sense. I think,” I said. “So, your symbol is?”

“Z, stay with me. My symbol is going to be a tetrahedron.”

I blinked blankly at her.

She sighed. “In other words, I’m going to make a pyramid for your spell. You can put it in the center of the circle. It’ll be a focus for fire protection.”

“Oh, like the pentacle I’m going to draw with Damien’s athame! Your pyramid thingie is just another focus for protection.”

“Exactly. And now I’m gonna search this room for something cool to make the tetrahedron out of. It’s a school, right? We should have construction paper, scissors, and some glue.”

“Well, yeah, but the scissors might have those obnoxious rounded ends,” I said.

“Let’s hope not,” Shaunee said with a sad shake of her head.

“Water! Your turn,” I called.

Shaylin came to my table, reached into her purse, and pulled out a rock. She put it down on the table in front of me. “This is my symbol. It’s weird, but I’ve been carrying it around in my purse since I found it when Nicole and I were taking a walk in Golden Gate Park. It was in the water feature by the Japanese pagoda. It’s perfect.”

I picked up the rock. It was nothing special. About fist-sized, made of some kind of brown stone. It had an indentation on the top side of it that was kinda wavy. I gave her a question-mark look. “Sorry, I don’t get it.”

“Oh, here. It’s easier to see from this direction.” Shaylin spun the stone so that I was looking at the indented design from the opposite angle.

“It’s a heart!” I said.

“Guess what made it?”

I traced the wavy indentation that had made an almost perfect heart, and suddenly got it. I grinned up at Shaylin. “Water!”

“Yep! Water is so powerful that it can even change stone. I think that’s powerful protection energy.”

“I think you’re right,” I said.

“Oh, and your aura is looking very bright and shiny,” Shaylin said. “So’s yours and yours,” she told Stark and Grandma. Then she lowered her voice. “But Damien’s is looking sad. I think he might be depressed. And Aphrodite’s is definitely stressed.”

“I’m not surprised,” I said.

“What about mine?” Stevie Rae asked as she joined the table.

Shaylin studied her. “Your aura is muted. Not as badly as Damien’s, but you’re not 100 percent.”

“Does it look homesick to you?” she asked.

“Definitely.”

“Which we’re going to fix,” I said. “Thanks, Shaylin. I agree with you. Your rock is perfect. Ready, earth?”

“Yepper!” Stevie Rae said, plopping into the seat across from me. “I know exactly what my symbol is, but I’m not sure where we’re gonna get one at this time of night.”