An: Hey everyone! Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed this story and put it on alert. It means a lot that so many of you are reading and responding! This chapter is setting up and explaining how the girls have power. I'm afraid I might have let the story run away from me. HaHa. Hopefully this chapter makes enough sense to you, if you're confused let me know and I'll clarify! Thanks again for reading!

Disclaimer: I own only what you don't find familiar. I purposely am not taking any idea or plot from anyone with knowledge of it. If something seems that way, please let me know and I will give credit where credit is due. Thanks!

"Prudence. How are we supposed to help her if she doesn't even remember the meetings? Prudence? Prudence!" I shouted at the meditating woman, no, the lady in front of me.

"Do not raise your voice to me…child." She replied curtly, standing slowly from her position on the floor. "I am your teacher not your equal. I have nothing to explain."

"I am only asking because it involves us as well. Our destinies are intertwined; I should know what is going on." I said watching the Lady re-robe her body and ignore my request. "Fine be that way, mother."

"Do not use that filthy word. You are not my daughter, you are my charge. Making me angry is not going to help you get your way. You have no right to demand an explanation from me." She looked at me with a frown before continuing. "You know that we have to be careful with our timing. The Order will not recycle her soul if she fails again. It is the code of the Council that an expiration date falls. She has no way to come back if she fails. That is why we are here now, for her last attempt, we have been awakened to help restore the lines; our job now is to keep her from straying from the path."

Prudence was lighting candles and placing them upon the altar. "Alice, do you understand what I am saying? Nothing but her finding the key will save her blood from being spilt, and if that happens this time the Goddess within will not return and then there will be no balance to the magic and our gifts will be lost. Do you understand?"

"No." I mumbled regrettably.

"Why should I want to give you secrets to our Council if you are not prepared to remember them?" She said exasperated with my forgetfulness. "You know that in a case of an upcoming expiration it is only fair to let the Lady have the choice between her heart and her blood. Which is why you are here, why Leah is here, we chose the Goddess and she gave us the means to have you. Abigail chose a third unforeseeable option. That option gave us Miles so we could right the wrong and save the Goddess and break the curses."

"But we would have cured the curse. Isn't that what you are saying? Abigail should have saved us. She was the one from legends. Because of her our kind was banished from the Order and from having the Council. Abigail…"

"Child!" I heard and abruptly stopped speaking as Prudence's power engulfed the room. "You know nothing of Abigail and her choice. You know nothing about what it means to be a Goddess and know nothing of our reasons for being here and I'm beginning to see you have no true knowledge of our legends. Abigail made the choice she thought would save both her and us. She chose wrong."

"But how can she have made that choice? How could she have chosen a Son over her destiny? It is not a choice that should have been made. The protection of the Goddess should always be the right choice, until a cure is found."

I watched as Prudence frowned. I was crossing lines and soon she would refuse to answer my questions. "Alice. I'm growing tired of this speak. Do you not remember anything we have taught you? Was it all in vain? Are you never going to ready yourself for the mark of the Goddess? When she rises again and you are not ready you will not be there to continue the traditions. You are supposed to be in waiting, to be preparing for the return, not forgetting the legends and myths that are why we are here. How much Constance and I sacrificed so that we could ensure a return, a second chance. How ungrateful are you and Leah. You have no idea how important your births were."

"Prudence…I'm sorry I am so removed from our skills. Just tell me what I want to know and I will leave you to prepare for your prayer."

"Alice. I've told you everything that you deserve to know. You and Leah have much to learn if you think your blood is enough. Don't you remember why there are Goddesses to begin with? Why we keep getting recycled? Don't you understand our mission?"

"I know. I know this, but I'm still confused, because there are five of us with Miles being here." I replied quietly. "I am only here because I have questions. Unlike you, I didn't grow up knowing I was going to be a Lady. They shouldn't exist anymore. Leah and I are mistakes. Miles is the miracle child. There are three Ladies in every generation, isn't that the way it is? Isn't that the legend?"

I watched Prudence sigh and reach for the dagger on the Altar. "If I must explain this, we will hold a true meeting. You will be patient, I must summon the others."

"Others?" I asked confused as I felt the wind pull at the power that was in my blood. I closed my eyes as the room began to spin, whispers filling my head.

I call upon the ancient power. Oh hail the spirits of the Council I summon thee with my blood. Your guidance is needed please come oh fair ones.

"Alice." I opened my eyes to find Leah standing over me with concern etched into her face. "What have you done now?"

"Nothing. I just wanted some answers."

"Well, fuck, we have more than answers now. We've been summoned to full court."

"There hasn't been a full court since Abigail…oh fuck." I mumbled as I realized how I might have created a very large problem for Miles and in turn ourselves.

"Yeah Alice, you might have fucked up big time before but this, this is unforgivable. Besides making Prudence summon a full court so you could play, I was in the middle of something and now I have to summit to lectures and blood rituals. You are so fucking dead when this is over."

"Leah, I might die here." I said. My voice filled with panic as Leah pulled on her robe. No one ever summoned full court unless judgment was going to be given. I had forced a hand that should never be played. "I might die."

"Put on the fucking robe Alice and keep your mouth shut. Maybe Prudence will be lenient in your sacrifice."

I pulled on the pale colored robe and watched Leah pull open the stone doors. The room erupted in a mist that was filled with the sent of chamomile, sage and cedar. "Fuck me." I mumbled as we drew our hoods and stepped inside the ancient room. Before us the stone room was filled with whispered talk and chants. Silence fell as we made our way to the center of the circle. I chanced a look at the seats at the top of the altar.

The nine seats of the Council were empty except for four. The half circle of seats was looming, leaving the empty seats hard to ignore. The largest seat, the one in the middle sat empty as well as two seats to the right and left; empty but still feeding a sense of power. The bodies present were currently wrapped in robes of periwinkle, rose and gold. I looked at the robe Leah and I had and frowned at how plain they were in comparison to the beautiful silk in front of us.

"We are the Council of Nine." I heard and looked up at the stone seats. "We have been summoned. Why have we been removed from our eternal rest?" I stared at the nine seats, glancing at the women who filled them. It was hard to mistake who these woman were, they were the Ladies of Avalon, the female Covenant of power. Seated there was Nimue, the Lady of the Lake and Merlin's lover, next sat Marie, the scribe, and beside her was a large gap, five more empty spaces sat, one being the throne of the circle, the vast emptiness was stopped by Igraine the fallen queen and Vivianne, the original Lady to the Goddess.

I opened my mouth to apologize for my insolence but was cut off by a voice. "It was I who summoned you. We are in need of guidance and wisdom." The voice drew closer and a body dressed in a red robe bowed low in front of the altar. Hands extended, palms containing five apple seeds. I gasped as another body fell beside the original in the same fashion. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on when the hoods of the red robes fell back to reveal Constance and Prudence.

"We are in need of assistance to finish completing the return." Constance's voice finished hands extend the act of giving, a silver apple in her palms.

I felt a pull and Leah and I were kneeling low to the ground as well. "Wha..." I muttered and was quickly silenced by a ghost hand across my mouth. Silence my child. You risk all.

"I am stunned that you would summon a full court for help? Are you not aware of the Order's rules? The Council can no longer hold women, which means it no longer can exist in body. You are breaking Order, Covenant and Council rules by summoning us. Do you wish to be banished?"

"Hush Nimue." Vivianne's soft voice echoed. "Let us at least hear what is to be said. We are still waiting for the return of the others."

"We will be waiting for eternity. Some will never return. Some have strayed from the path of the Goddess." Nimue hissed looking to her left. The emptiness of the seat was leading a large sense of loss into the room. "Some have been sacrificed for our gifts."

"And some were in hiding Nimue, if you have such distain for this meeting why did you leave your slumber and return?" A new voice asked. The voice drawing so much power the hall broke out in whispers.

"You have returned?" Marie cried as a woman in silver robes removed her hood and took her place in the center throne.

"Yes Ladies I have returned just as legend says, I have come out of hiding. I am answering the summons to help save our kind. Nimue, you no longer need to lead this court if you are so quick to banish our followers." Her voice was soft but commanded attention and respect. I stared up at the Lady, her long hair in tendrils of dark curls. I gasped as I realized who was seated in the throne; Morgan Le Fay had returned, the original Lady of Avalon.

"Our circle is not complete, we are missing Ladies." She turned to Constance and Prudence. "Why are you not seated on the Council? Why are there only two of you? Where is the third?"

Seated at the Council, missing a third? I was so confused; there were four of us standing before the Council; a Council that should no longer exist, in front of women older than life. The full court consisted of all the female power; the gifts from the Goddess of Avalon. I guess this meeting shouldn't exist either. I gazed over the empty seats of the Council before daring to look at Morgan; she had been slumbering for eons, leaving Nimue in charge of the Council until the banishment.

"The third was sacrificed Morgana. You have missed much while you slumbered." Igraine replied, "Abigail's soul has been removed from our world."

"Who deemed it so? Who could banish one of the original Shells of the Goddess?" Morgan seemed enraged at this news. "Why was I not summoned for her removal?"

"You were my lady. But you could not have changed our fates. Prudence for told a prophecy of the babe in her womb. Abigail sacrificed her soul for the chance to redeem us all."

"What of my prophecy? Of Abigail's destiny to join the Covenant and the Council, who foiled our greatest attempt yet?"

No one dared answer her. The room was silent and no one was breathing. I was getting itchy with nerves, the blood in my veins compelling me to speak. "She choose wrong."

All the eyes turned to me and Constance and Prudence stared shocked at my outburst.

"Who dares speak to Morgana? Who dares enter the Council without the markings?" Nimue voiced, rising from her seat, noticing Leah and I for the first time. "You have no voice in this court."

"They are ours." Constance and Prudence replied urgently.

"What do you mean by ours?" Morgan asked and returned her gaze on us. "Your charges have not been taught the ways of our court."

"Not charges Morgan, but our children." Prudence said bowing her head again. "Morgan, these children are of our blood. We were chosen to birth the protectors of the Council."

"Why would our Council need protecting?" She asked humbly. "We are strong."

A new voice rose through the court. "While you slumbered Morgan much has happened." The voice belonged to a woman dressed in a seafoam robe, her blond hair reaching past her shoulders. The essence surrounding her was strong. She held the markings of a Goddess on her arms. "Let me talk of Abigail first. She made the choice to bond, both heart and body with a Son. This was not the path she was meant to have by the Council or the Goddess's choosing. She bonded with that Son and by doing so she sacrificed herself and her power. The Council could only guarantee the safety of her child and the Order removed her heart. The Son's power was striped from his body and willed to another, his father."

"Guinevere." The Council again was in a roar as the body made her way to the center circle and bowed.

"My Lady, please do not assume we did not try to undo the wrong the Sons did to one of our Mothers. Her loss was a great blow to the Council. Not only did we lose Abigail, we lost our ability to mentor future sisters and our right to hold elective and physical positions within the Order. We were all forced to slumber and pray for your return to bring us to salvation."

"Sister." Morgan rose and embraced Guinevere. "We have lost another Goddess to these men and no one woke me to try and save her soul. Why did I remain in slumber? I have the power to recycle and save the gifts."

"We tried but could not awake you. They removed her heart as punishment so we removed the power from the Son. It was all we could do to save the child. Abigail must have known that she would not survive the Order's court. She took measures to set into motion your return; with Prudence's help they trapped part of her essence into the child. The child is half Abigail's power as well as the Covenant. But this child is in grave need of our help. She is on her last attempt to cure the curses and right the wrongs of our blood. We are here for more than questions I presume. Prudence, you gave the blood to awake us, why are you summoning us now, on this attempt when the previous have failed as well?"

I watched as my 'mother' frowned. I was able to tell that she didn't want to answer for her actions of awakening a slumbering council; a council that was banished from holding courts for eternity. When the Order found out we were going to be in the middle of a war.

"The measures Constance and I set were above the Order's understanding. Miles, Abigail's daughter has been recycled 102 times not just the Council's allotted 100. She is on her 103 recycle because we acted upon the prophecy you made for the Covenant before the beginning of our curse. The one Abigail acted upon, the one that shows of a successful bonding between Son and Lady. She has failed with three Sons of this time; she still has one more to choose. But I fear that something is amiss in our calculations. The Covenant deems a disturbance and a guardian has been placed with the child. I think they are trying to keep the bond from forming."

"I do not understand but I will in time. Ladies, take your seat at my side and we will convey full court when Morgause arrives." The Ladies of the court frowned at Morgan's request.

"She will not be returning my Lady. She has been removed from the Council, her magic no longer pure but dark." Prudence said quietly, "She is why you were not awakened."

Morgan only nodded as the truth washed over her. "Much has changed. Where do we begin?"

The door burst open and wind rushed the Council, causing a voice to scream out in pain. The members stared wide eyed as the wind enclosed Igraine's body. "They want her to mate with the bastard son of Pope."

I watched as Morgan screamed; the power in her blood raising her off the ground, forcing the power to erupt inside the blood of the whole Council. "We must work to stop this forced contamination. Full court is now in session."

The doors to the court shut as Leah and I made our way to the altar. This was going to be a long meeting; everyone but one present for the first time in eons.

Morgan reached her hand in the air and chanted out to the Goddess. The wind in the air thickened and the flames bounced rapidly off the candles. Morgan turned towards the figure that was gripping her seat in agony. "Prudence!" She screamed as my mother's voice filled the air.

"A bond forged by the last pure decedent of the Goddess and the Original family will lead to the birth of one that will cure the curses set upon the blood and bring peace to all magic. She will only succeed if the temptation doesn't sway her to sin. There is one she must denounce in order to cleanse. One she must claim. The choice is hers and hers alone. She will have a hundred tries to find the secret and reclaim her title. Her failure will result in the expulsion of her blood from the world and the inability for the Goddess to return…

I watched as Prudence spouted off the legend she had cast so many times before. This time Morgan present to hear the words meant to save the Council. "I must meet the girl. And fast, she has much to learn if she wants to survive."

"She can not be summoned to us; her memories have been locked by the Order. We have given her the Mark of Protection but she has yet to uncover her true self. Alice has accepted the role as her companion. But until she is ready, we can only guide her."

"Why has her memory been locked?" Morgan asked, summoning a book from thin air.

"She held the knowledge of the whole Council, her memories plus Abigail's attempts. But her last failure caused her much heart break. She wanted to live her last life on a path much like Abigail's final journey, solely on heart. She requested that all knowledge of her previous attempts be removed until she could uncover them on her own. We have yet to determine what she does recall. We can not continue to interfere without the Covenant finding out, or worse the Order."

"But she has the book?" Morgan asked as the Council nodded. "Then we are one step closer to getting into her head. This book is an exact replica of the one the Order gave her, we can add what we deem important here and when she is ready she will appear before us."

"Alice, you must continue to get her to trust you; you are her companion and if you are anything like your mother I know you will not fail." Morgan said with a faint smile. "When we succeed you will be given a reward for your heart."

"Leah, you must continue to protect the Sons. I fear with the new Sons' awakening there will be much danger. We must be hasty in our mission, this is our last chance."

"Morgan, I would like to bless the children." Viviane said sweetly. "They do not hold any markings except the ones of blood. There is much danger on the horizon, they need protection as well."

Morgan agreed and each Lady rose and chanted a blessing at Leah and me. The warming sense of power engulfed us and we faded to black. Be safe my children. You are our greatest hope.