After awaking from both dreams, or should I say nightmares, I blinked one at toward the window and saw sun still beaming through the window. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep more, so I sat up and threw both feet to the floor. I flipped open my phone and began to text my group.
Keep Ur elements near 2day. I need U.
I knew such a cryptic message would not only annoy but also induce a calling frenzy, but I sent it anyway. I searched my spirit. Nyx didn't tell me I was doing the wrong thing. I knew for once this was my battle. Sure, Kalona was whom I was fighting, but really I was battling myself. I could feel my phone vibrate with one, two, three and finally the last message. They were anything but inconsistent.
Damien: Of course Z! I wish you would tell me what's going on so I could help!
Shaunee: U got it gurl. U got a prob?
Erin: YAH! What's the ish?
Stevie Rae: Z! Somethings wrong. Tell me what's wrong.
I typed a mass text and added Aphrodite's name to the reply, as exhaustion washed over me once again.
Say a prayer for Nyx to guide me. Please.
And with that it felt like fifty books had fallen onto my body. Not the small, paperback kind that you can carry in your purse, but the heavy coffee table, leather bound books. Sleep seemed to drop on me like an unexpected rain and my eyelids closed as I pressed send.
I was following the ribbon again, but this time it was a pale purple lace ribbon, the color of lavender. I smiled, thinking of my grandma and kept chasing the wind ribbon. Every now and again the ribbon would tickle my fingers but I followed faithfully, never loosing heart when the ribbon flew from my grasp. Finally the ribbon wrapped around my wrist and up my arm and when I looked down the ribbon was no longer around my arm but in it, laced on my skin.
"Zoey," The kind voice wafted around me and lingered like a kiss upon my cheek.
"Nyx!" I cried and ran to my goddess as she sat upon a stone bench beneath a tree.
"Oh, my daughter! You have grown so much!" She cried as I placed my hands upon her knees, kneeling before her.
"Have I? I only saw you a few months ago." I replied, trying to account for the growth she was speaking of.
Her fingers traced my tattoos around my eyes and down my neck and now up my arm to my shoulder. "Yes, you have."
"Oh," I blushed as she continued smiling at my marks. "You should know, they're your doing."
"Of course!" She answered laughing softly. "But it's always nice to see my handiwork up close. I'm sorry to drag you here this evening, I know you have much work to do."
"Don't be sorry! I love seeing you!"
"Oh thank you." She answered smiling at me so warmly she reminded me of a afternoon sun, just after the rain. "I love seeing you, seeing me! But I must tell you something quickly and then you must go just as quickly."
I could feel my smile falter and I waited for her to continue.
"My Zoey, you have much to do, so I will be fastidious." Nyx paused as she grabbed my hands, gaining every ounce of my attention. "There comes a time where you will face a fox and a prince and by doing so you must also face the wheel and the caterpillar. Be sure that the wheel does not succumb to the prince and that the prince is not ensnared by the fox. But the greatest fear is that the caterpillar stops the wheel from turning or the wheel destroys the caterpillar. Extremes will end all that is right, my daughter. Remember all of this."
Of all the cryptic rhymes, poems, dreams, and riddles, this one takes the cake. How in the world am I to remember that? Wheels? Caterpillars? Princes and foxes? Are you kidding me? I have no idea what she is talking about. "Nyx… I—I—I don't know what you want me to do. Just tell me, please."
She smiled at me sweetly and stroked my cheek. "You are already turning, but you are not completely grown. Do not be deceived by yourself or anything they offer. You are loyal to what is right. Keep this path."
I started away as fingers played at my cheekbones. "Zoey," Stark's voice whispered softly.
"James Lothario Stark, I will kill you if you ever sneak into my bedroom again." I pushed his hand away and rubbed at my eyes, thankful that I still had all my clothes on and I hadn't stripped down during my sleep.
"Lothario? What the hell Z? You say some weird crap in your sleep."
"Lothario means womanizer, Chuck Bass, man-whore, slut, and so forth. That's not weird, it's smart."
"Zoey, I don't mean that. You were obviously awake and in your most beautiful, bubbly morning… or evening state when you said that." Stark paused as he worked his way entirely upon my bed, leaning back against the wall comfortably. "You were murmuring about princes and wheels and bugs. Oh! And a fox. So, what's up Aesop? Care for some coffee?"
All of the above came from my dream with Nyx, but I still wasn't sure of the meaning. "I was dreaming of Nyx. She told me some weird riddle about all of that stuff."
"Dang, do you have any idea what all of that means?"
"Yes, Stark. That's why my mood is resolutely sunny." I feigned a beaming smile and it shifted into a grimace. "Where's that coffee? Please tell me you weren't just BS-ing me."