Zoey sat down at her desk, motioning me to pull up a chair. "How's your first day, Miri?"

I sat on the other side of her desk, nervously pulling at my hair. Um, it's okay… I just kind of… I had a dream where I saw Nyx."

Zoey was serious. "What did she say? And why didn't you share this with me initially? You weren't sleeping in class, were you?"

I got really shy again, and used that as an excuse to avoid the second question. "Um, well, she didn't really say much. Just that I had an affinity for some element or another."

"You don't remember which?" Zoey asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"N…no, not really. Actually, she didn't say which."

My mentor sat up. "Well, let's see. Your mother could manifest Earth for a while… maybe you inherited that. Do you remember how to cast a circle, Miri?"

It had been a long time, but I vaguely remembered a blond woman with red marks helping me blow out a pretty green candle. I wondered where that memory had come from? I knew I had lived at the House of Night until I was four, but I didn't remember anything about that before. "I dunno. Sort of."

Zoey stood up. "Follow me, Miri."

We walked down a long hallway, to a wooden door with the number 225 etched on it. Zoey knocked lightly, and it flew open almost immediately. "Red?" Zoey called out. "Are you available for a moment?"

A grown vampyre woman came to the door. "Yes, Zoey?"

"Can we borrow a few of your students? We need to cast a circle."

"Sure," the vampyre said. "Dresden, Isaac… how many students do you need, Zoey? Four?" Zoey nodded, and she named off two more students. "Bella, and Harmon. Go with Professor Redbird, please."

Dresden smiled at me as our strange group- three blue fledglings, a blue vampyre, two red fledglings- trampled outside.

Zoey led us to the tree we were at earlier, for Vamp Soc class. "Okay, guys… do you already have elements that you're supposed to represent?" The fledglings nodded. "Alright. Go to your places in the circle."

Almost by instinct, I knew that the place where Dresden stood represented Air. Zoey and I stood in the middle- that was Spirit, right? So the three students I didn't know must have Water, Fire, and Earth.

Hey, if I knew where air was, maybe that was my element? But no. People had that.

Zoey handed a candle to each student, including me, then pulled out a matchbook. "Okay, Miri- just follow me around the circle. And remember- if you want to say something, or do something inside the circle, do it. Okay?"

"Okay," I nodded.

Zoey and I walked over to Dresden, who gave me a small smile. I returned it, though I felt shaky and odd. The High Priestess began to speak. "The wind speaks to us, and the oxygen nourishes our body and our minds. With this in mind, I call Air to the circle!" She touched the match to the candle, and a flame flickered from one to the other. "Feel anything, Miri?" she asked in a whisper. I shook my head, almost disappointed, and we moved on.

"Flames have been used to cook food, to scare away evil, to provide warmth. With this in mind, I call Fire to the circle!" Zoey barely had to touch the match to the wick before the candle burst with a bright flame. "Anything?" she asked again.

"Nope," I whispered back.

Walking over to west, Zoey spoke once more. "Waves cool us, and provide something we need to live. With this in mind, I call Water to the circle!"

"Nothing yet," I whispered before Zoey had a chance to ask.

At the Earth station, Zoey smiled as she spoke. "This element provides our home. It is nature, it is a place to grow food, and frolic in the woods. With this in mind, I call Earth to the circle!" She glanced at me inquisitively, and I shook my head.

We headed back to the middle. "This is who we are. It tells us what to do, what to be, and what to do with what we have. With this in mind, I call Spirit to the circle!" The Spirit candle flared, and Zoey looked down on me. "That's all the elements- are you sure you didn't feel anything?"

No, this was wrong. She was wrong. That's wasn't the end. "There's another candle…" I said, not thinking. And on a whim, I glanced down into the grass.

Sitting there, like I knew there would be, was a pure white candle, the same style and height as the others. I picked it up, set it on the table that was in the middle of our circle, and took the matches from Zoey. "Let me try something," I whispered, half-afraid to even light the match.

But it felt right. Words sprung to my lips, and I repeated them, knowing that they could only have been given to me by Nyx herself. "If Spirit is who we are, then this is who we seem. It guides us through dark and troubled times. It gives us hope, lets us laugh when there is nothing to laugh about. It bonds people, and it destroys them. With this in mind, I call Love to the circle!"

I touched the match to the white candle and watched it burn. And as five people stared at me, golden smoke fanned out inside the circle.

"Holy crap, love?" one of the red fledglings- the one representing fire- muttered, watching the wisps of gold fly around. "Is that even an element?"

Zoey's Marks made her eyes, widened in curiosity, seem absolutely huge. "I don't… well, if it's here, yeah, I guess it is." She examined my face, as if I was going to get chicken pox or something any second. Huh.

I shrugged. "But what can you do with Love? I mean, with Air, you can blow things away, with Fire you can blow things up… Water can do some pretty neat crap, and so can Earth… even Spirit can make you brave. What can Love do?"

Dresden shrugged. "Well, Love can… maybe you can make people fall in love?"

"Oh joy," I muttered darkly. "I'm the world's first vampyre cupid. Aphrodite's child, indeed."

"I'm sure that Nyx has a plan for you and your gift. If you look inside yourself, maybe the plan will become apparent," Zoey said, switching from ultra-confused woman who looked barely older than me (let alone, my mother's age) to insanely wise High Priestess of Nyx.

Truth be told, I was starting to get an idea. I mean, Darius, my father, he was somewhere in Tulsa. And my mother would be here for a few days- until Monday. Maybe Dresden was on to something.

Maybe Nyx wanted me to get my mom and dad back together.

But it wasn't that my parents hadn't loved each other. They had- their love was all I remember of my father. I remembered the love they shared, and the excuse my mother gave me when I was only four.

"We aren't divorcing in that sense, Miri," Mommy said when I asked her. "It's just… Aunt Zoey has to be protected. Neferet…"

"Is that the big bad scary woman, Mommy?" I asked.

"Yes, Miribird, that's the big bad scary woman. She may not actually be gone like we thought, so your Aunt Zoey needs Daddy to help her. Okay?"

"But why do we have to go all the way to Oreo?"

"Ohio, Miribird. It's Ohio."

"But why?" I whined, stamping my little foot.

I could see a tear on Mommy's face. "It's… it's for the best," she whispered.

Remembering that, after going so long without even thinking of my childhood days at the House of Night, sent a stabbing pain through my head. In a sense, I could easily blame my parent's divorce on Zoey. Maybe I should. Who knows, it could be some parental cover-up for an affair…

Nah, I knew Zoey and my mother wouldn't get along so well if that was the case.

"Omigoddess! Miri, it's like… like…"

"What?" I shot, a bit annoyed.

Zoey supplied a comforting smile. "I was wondering if that would happen. Look at your Mark."

She handed me a compact mirror, and I gaped. My Mark had been added to. Not like Zoey's. It had been doubled, with one of the crescents mirrored, and turned gold. It made…

"A golden heart," Zoey said, "for Love. The first holder in a millennium or two if I'm right."

"No," I said, remembering Nyx's words from the dream. "Someone has it. They just don't know it, I guess,"

Zoey nodded. "We'll talk more in a moment," she promised, "But this is still an open circle. Miri- will you release the elements?"

I didn't exactly feel up to it, what with the burning in my forehead and the fact that I had just been given an affinity for an element nobody knew existed until about three minutes ago. But I knew I had to do it." "Thank you, Love, you may depart." I blew out the white candle.

Going over to Zoey, I blew out her the purple. "Thank you, Spirit, you may depart."

I released the other four elements in a hurry. As aforementioned… wasn't in the mood.

But Zoey wasn't going to realize that. She hurried over to me. "An unusual Mark," she said, smiling, "and an affinity on your first day here. Miri, I think I was right to ask to be your mentor. You are going to be a truly unusual fledgling."

"I don't really want to be unusual," I groaned. "I want to go to bed and wake up normal. If normal comes in the form of a blue crescent moon… so be it. But normal people do not have golden heart tattoos in the middle of their foreheads. That just doesn't happen to normal people."

Zoey smiled and took off her sweater. I was immediately stunned into silence- I had only seen Zoey's face, and although it had more Marks than any other vamp's, I was sure that was it.

I was wrong. She was wearing a tank top, and on her shoulders, back, and arms I could see an ancient lace pattern with some sort of ancient runes weaved in between them. She pulled off the gloves she wore- wait, didn't vamps not get cold? The gloves should have been suspicious, I realized- and I saw that even her hands were coated in the blue lacework. The effect was both intimidating and gorgeous. She must have done something truly amazing to get those, I realized.

But I was getting tattoos unlike any other vampyre or fledgling too, I realized. And I was just plain old Mirabelle LaFont.

"You see," she said, "I know exactly how it is. Yes, it's different. Yes, it's hard to handle. But no, it is not necessarily bad."

Our group trudged back to the school building. I almost believed Zoey's words. Then, I noticed everyone except Dresden, who walked beside me, watching. Even Zoey was trying to catch another glimpse of my forehead.

Oh, Goddess. I was officially a freak.