Awakened (House of Night #8)(47)

"We are the last bastion of the old ways. It has been my charge for centuries to protect the ancient magicks. The land here is still sacred. By revering the black bull, and respecting his counterpart, the white bull, the old balance is maintained and there is one small place left in this world that remembers."

"Remembers?"

"Aye, remembers a time when honor meant more than self, and loyalty wasnae an option or an afterthought," Seoras said solemnly.

"But I see some of that in Tulsa. There's honor and loyalty there, too, and many of my grandma's people, the Cherokee, still respect the land."

"To some extent that might be true, but think of the grove--how you felt within it. Think of how this land speaks to you," Sgiach said. "I know you hear it. I see it in you. Have you felt anything truly like that outside my isle?"

"Yes," I said before actually thinking. "The grove in the Otherworld feels a lot like the grove across the street from the castle." Then I realized what I was saying, and Sgiach all of a sudden made sense.

"That's it, isn't it? You literally have a piece of Nyx's magick here."

"In a way. What I really have is even older than the Goddess. You see, Zoey, Nyx hasn't been lost to the world. Yet. Her masculine balance has, and I'm afraid because of that the balance between good and evil, Light and Darkness, has been lost, too." "Aye, we know it has been," Seoras corrected her gently.

"Kalona. He's part of this out-of-balance thing," I said. "It's true that he used to be Nyx's Warrior. Somehow that got out of whack, along with a bunch of other stuff when he turned up in our world, 'cause that's not where he belongs." Knowing it didn't make me feel sorry for him, or bad for him, but it did make me begin to understand the air of desperation I'd sensed so many times around him. And it was knowledge. With knowledge came power.

"So you see why it's important that I not leave my isle," Sgiach said.

"I do," I said reluctantly. "But I still think you could be wrong about there being no old magick left in the outside world. The black bull did materialize in Tulsa, remember?"

"Aye, but not until after the white bull appeared first," Seoras said.

"Zoey, I would very much like to believe that the outside world hasn't entirely destroyed the magick of old, and because of that there's something I want you to have."

Sgiach reached up and untwined a long length of silver from the mass of twinkling necklaces that dangled from around her neck. She lifted the delicate chain over her head and held it up at my eye level. Hanging from the silver was a perfectly round milk-colored stone that was smooth and soft and reminded me of a coconut-flavor Life Saver. The torches that the Warriors had begun to light flickered against the stone's surface, making it glisten, and I recognized the rock.

"It's a piece of Skye marble," I said.

"It is--a special piece of Skye marble called a seer stone. It was found more than five centuries ago by a Warrior on his Shamanic quest as he ran the Cuillin Ridge on this very island," Sgiach said.

"A Warrior on a Shamanic quest? That doesn't happen very often," I said. Sgiach smiled and her gaze went from the piece of dangling marble to Seoras. "About once every five hundred years it does."

"Aye, that's about right," Seoras said, returning her smile with an intimacy that made me feel like I should look away.

"In my opinion, once every five hundred years is more than enough for some poor Warrior dude to do the Shaman thing."

My stomach give a silly little flip-flop of pleasure at the sound of his voice and I looked from the queen and her Guardian to see Stark standing in the shadows behind the arched doorway, rumpled and squinting at what was left of the fading light in the picture window. He was wearing jeans and a T- shirt, and he looked so much like his old self that a pang of homesickness-- the first real one I'd felt since I'd returned to myself--speared through me. I'm going home. The thought had me smiling as I hurried toward Stark. Sgiach made a gesture with her hand.

The heavy drapes were drawn over the last of the sunlight, allowing Stark to step from the shadows and take me into his arms.

"Hey, I didn't think you'd be up for an hour or so," I said, hugging him tightly.

"You were upset, and that woke me up," he whispered into my ear. "Plus, I was having some majorly weird dreams."

I pulled back so I could look into his eyes. "Jack's dead."

Stark started to shake his head in denial, and then stopped, touched my cheek, and blew out a long breath. "That's what I felt. Your sadness. Z, I'm so sorry. What the hell happened?"

"Officially an accident. Really it was Neferet, but no one can prove it," I said.

"When do we leave for Tulsa?"

I smiled my thanks at him as Sgiach said, "Tonight. We can arrange for you to leave as soon as you have your bags packed and ready." "So, what's with this stone?" Stark asked, taking my hand.

Sgiach lifted it again. I was thinking how pretty it looked when it twisted gently on the chain and my gaze was pulled to the perfect circle in the center. The world narrowed and faded away around me as my entire being became focused on the hole in the stone because for an instant I caught a glimpse of the room through the hole.