P.C. Cast - Awakened

“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.

The room was gone!

Fighting a wave of nauseating vertigo, I stared through the seer stone at what had looked like an undersea world. Figures floated and flitted around, all in hues of turquoise and topaz, crystal and sapphire. I thought I saw wings and fins and long, swirling cascades of drifting hair. Mermaids? Or are they sea monkeys? I have utterly lost my mind, was my last thought before I lost my battle with dizziness and ended up flat on my back on the floor.

“Zoey! Look at me! Say something!”

Stark, looking completely freaked, was bent over me. He’d grabbed me by the shoulders and was currently shaking the bejeezus outta me.

“Hey, stop,” I said weakly, trying unsuccessfully to shove him away.

“Just let her breathe. She’ll be fine in a moment,” came Sgiach’s uber-calm voice.

“She fainted. That’s not normal,” Stark said. He was still gripping my shoulders, but he had stopped rattling my brains around.

“I’m conscious and I’m right here,” I said. “Help me sit up.”

Stark’s frown said he’d rather not, but he did as I asked.

“Drink this,” Sgiach held a goblet of wine under my nose that I could smell was laced heavily with blood. I grabbed it and drank deeply while she said, “And it is normal for a High Priestess to faint the first time she uses the power of a seer stone, especially if she is unprepared for it.”

Feeling much better after the bloody wine (eesh, but yum), I raised my brows at her and stood up. “Couldn’t you have prepared me for it?”

“Aye, but then a seer stone only works for some High Priestesses, and if it hadnae worked for yu, yu’d have had yer feelins hurt, now wouldn’t ya?” Seoras said.

I rubbed my backside. “I think I’d rather have risked the hurt feelings instead of the hurt butt. Okay, what the heck did I see?”

“What did it look like?” Sgiach asked.

“A weird undersea fishbowl through that little hole.” I pointed in the direction of the stone, but was careful not to look at it.

Sgiach smiled. “Yes, and where have you seen beings like that before?”

I blinked in understanding, “The grove! They’re water sprites.”

“Indeed,” Sgiach nodded.

“So it’s like a magick finder?” Stark asked, giving the stone a sideways glance.

“It is, when used by a High Priestess with the right kind of power.” Sgiach lifted the chain and placed it around my neck. The seer stone settled between my breasts, feeling warm like it was alive.

“This really finds magick?” I put my hand reverently over the stone.

“Only one kind,” Sgiach said.

“Water magick?” I asked, confused.

“It isnea the element that matters. ’Tis the magick itself,” Seoras said.

Before I could say the huh that was obviously all over my face, Sgiach explained, “A seer stone is in tune with only the most ancient of magicks: the kind I protect on my isle. I am gifting you with it so that you might, indeed, recognize the Old Ones if any still exist in the outside world.”