Kuri

Kuri closed her eyes and began the deep breathing that would help her clear her mind and prepare herself for calling the elements and casting the circle.

As always, Kuri was a ball of nerves until she started toward the circle and the music filled her. Tonight the soundtrack of Memoirs of a Geisha was haunting and beautiful. Kuri lifted her arms and let her body move gracefully to the orchestra. Then Jacob's voice joined with the music and the night, creating magic.

"Beneath the shining stars,

Beneath the gleaming moon,

When night has healed the scars

Of burning noon . . ."

The words of the poem caught her, carrying her on a tide of Jacob's voice. Kuri flung back her head and let her hair fall around her as she moved slowly into the circle, weaving words with music and dance and magic.

"And so, I say to you,

If hate possess your heart,

When day's hot strife is through

Bid hate depart . . ."

Kuri moved unerringly around the circle, loving the perfection of the poem Jacob was reciting. The poem he'd chosen was about forgiveness and healing, and though it would be nice to think he meant some of it for me, Kuri knew that his first thought had been what would be best for the tribe who were trying to heal from the attacks by the Raven Mockers.

"The disappointing day,

Whenever wrong, or how,

Is something passed away,

Is ended now.

Forget, forgive, the scars,

And sleep will find you soon

Beneath the shining stars,

The gleaming moon."

The poem ended as Kuri joined Jacob in the middle of the circle in front of Selene's table. Kuri looked up at him. He was tall and heart-stoppingly handsome dressed all in black, which complemented his dark hair and intensified his eyes.

He saluted her formally, bowing deeply with his right fist closed over his heart; then he turned to the table. When he came back to her, he was holding Selene's ornately decorated silver goblet in one hand, and a ceremonial knife in the other. It was sharp, wicked sharp, but it was also beautiful and had been carved with words and symbols that were sacred to Selene.

"You'll need this," he said, handing her the knife.

Kuri took it, disturbed by how the moonlight glinted off the blade, not having a clue what to do next. Thankfully, the music was still playing and the watching horde of people were swaying gently to the mesmerizing Geisha melody. In other words, they were watching them, but only with easy anticipation, and as long as we kept our voices low, they couldn't hear them. Kuri did glance at Damien, and he waggled his brows at her and winked. Kuri looked away fast.

"Kuri? You okay?" Jacob whispered. "You know it's not going to hurt me much at all."

"It's not?"

"You haven't done this before, have you?"

Kuri shook her head slightly.

He touched her cheek for just a second. "I keep forgetting how new you are to all of this. All right, it's easy. I'm going to hold my right hand out, palm up, over the goblet." He lifted the goblet, which he had already shifted to his left hand. Kuri could smell the red wine that almost filled it. "You lift the dagger over your head, salute all four directions with it, then slash my palm."

"Slash!" Kuri gulped.

He smiled. "Cut, slash, whatever. Just run the blade along the meaty part under my thumb. It's seriously sharp, so it'll do the work for you. I'll turn my hand and while you thank me in the name of Selene for my sacrifice to her, some of my blood will run into the wine. After a little while I'll close my fist, and that's when you take the goblet and walk to Damien so you can start casting the circle. Tonight you give each of the representatives of the elements a drink of the wine, ritualistically cleansing the elements before you do the big school cleansing part. Got it?"

"Yeah," Kuri said shakily.

"Better get going then. Don't worry. You'll do fine," he said.

Kuri nodded, and lifted the dagger over my head. "Wind! Fire! Water! Earth! I salute you!" Kuri said, turning the blade from east to south, west, and north as she called each element's name. Her nerves stated to fade as she could already feel the power of the elements building around her, eager to answer my coming summons. While she could still feel the echo of my salute, she brought the dagger down. She pressed the tip of it against the base of Jacob's thumb, which he held steadily for her, and then with one quick motion, sliced the deadly sharp blade across his palm, exactly where he'd told her to cut.

The scent of his blood hit her immediately. Transfixed, Kuri watched it bead, like ruby jewels, and then Jacob turned his hand so that they could fall into the waiting wine. Kuri looked up into his clear brown eyes.

"In Selene's name, I thank you for your sacrifice tonight and for your love and loyalty. You are blessed by Selene and beloved of her Priestess." And then Kuri bent and gently kissed the back of his bleeding hand.

When Kuri met his eyes again, she saw that they were unusually bright, and she thought his face was tender, his expression intimate, but she couldn't tell if he was just acting the part of Selene's consort, or if he was really experiencing the feelings he was showing her. He fisted his hand and saluted her again saying, "I am now, and always will be, loyal to Selene and to her High Priestess."

There wasn't any more time for Kuri to wonder whether he was talking about her, or whether he was just acting out the rest of his part. She had a job to do. So she took her goblet of wine and walked over to stand in front of Damien. He lifted his yellow candle and smiled at me.

"Wind, you are as dear to me and familiar as the breath of life. Tonight I need your strength to cleanse the stagnant breath of death and fear from us. I ask that you come to me, wind!" This ritual was a little different, and Damien had obviously been more forewarned than Kuri had been, so he was ready with a lighter to touch it to his candle. The moment it lit, we were surrounded in a mini-tornado of exquisitely controlled wind. Damien and Kuri grinned at each other, and then Kuri held the goblet up so he could sip from it.

Kuri moved clockwise, or deosil, around the circle to Shaunee, who was already holding her red candle up and smiling eagerly.

"Fire, you warm and cleanse. Tonight we need your cleansing power to burn the darkness from our hearts. Come to me, fire!" As per usual, no one needed to touch Shaunee's candle with a lighter, the wick burst into glorious flame all by itself as we were filled with warmth and the light of a guiding hearth fire. Kuri lifted the goblet for Shaunee, and she took her drink.

From fire Kuri moved to water and Erin holding her blue candle.

"Water, we go to you dirty and rise from you clean. Tonight I ask that you wash us free of any lingering taint that might want to cling to us. Come to me, water!" Erin lit her candle, and Kuri could hear the rush of waves against a beach and feel the coolness of dew against my skin. Kuri lifted the goblet for Erin, and after drinking, she whispered, "Good luck, Kuri."

Kuri nodded and moved resolutely to Aphrodite, who was looking pale and tense as she held the green candle she knew would zap her if we tried to call earth. "Where is she?" Kuri whispered, without hardly moving my lips.

Aphrodite made a nervous little shrug.

Kuri closed my eyes and prayed. Goddess, I'm counting on you to make this work. Or at least if I make a fool out of myself, I'm hoping you'll somehow get me out of it. Again.

When Kuri opened my eyes, her mind was made up. It didn't really change things if Reiko didn't show. She was going to tell everyone anyway. Some would believe her without proof. Some wouldn't. She'd take my chances on how things came down. She knew she was telling the truth, and so did her friends.

So instead of beginning my invocation of earth, she winked at Aphrodite and whispered, "Well, here we go," and turned around to face the circle and the questioning crowd of watchers.

"I need to invoke earth next. We all know that. But there's a problem. You all saw that Selene gifted Aphrodite with an affinity for earth. And she did. But it turns out the gift was just a temporary one because Aphrodite was keeping the element safe for the one who really represented earth, Reiko."

As soon as Kuri said her name, there was a fluttering movement in the big oak and the night-darkened boughs that spread over our heads, and then Reiko dropped gracefully from the branch above us.

"Dang, Kuri, it took you long enough to get to me," she said. Then she walked over to Aphrodite and took the green candle from her. "Thanks for keeping my place warm."

"Glad you could make it," Aphrodite said, and stepped aside so that Reiko could move into her place.

Reiko took the earth position, turned, and shaking her curly red hair back from her face, grinned out at everyone while the intricate pattern of vines and birds and flowers that made up her scarlet tattoo blazed as brightly as her smile. "Okay, now you can invoke earth."

Naturally all hell broke loose then. The pack shouted and started forward toward our circle. Some were crying out in shock.

"Ah, oh," Kuri heard Reiko whisper. "Better fix this, Kuri."

Kuri whirled around to face Reiko. With no time for niceties she said, "Earth, come to me!" For a second Kuri wanted to freak because I didn't have a lighter and neither did Reiko, but Aphrodite, cool as ever, leaned over, flicked the lighter she still held, and lit the candle. The scents and sounds of a summer meadow instantly surrounded them. "Here, have a drink." Kuri lifted the goblet, and Reiko took a big gulp. Kuri frowned a little at her.

Kuri rolled her eyes at her and jogged back to the center of the circle, where Jacob was gawking at Reiko. Kuri raised one arm over her head. "Spirit! Come to me," Kuri said without any preamble. As her soul quickened within her, Kuri took the ceremonial lighter from Selene's table and lit the purple spirit candle that waited there. Then she too, took a big gulp of the wine.

Filled with the exhilaration of wine and spirit, Kuri strode out. She couldn't have been prouder of her friends. They'd held steady to their places in the circle, lifting their candles and keeping control of their elements so that our circle stayed strong and unbreachable. Pacing around the circumference of the glistening thread of circle she'd just cast, she raised my voice and began to shout over the pandemonium that surrounded us.

"Quiluete tribe, listen to me!" Everyone fell silent when they heard the power of the Goddess magnifying her voice. Kuri almost fell silent, too, as shocked as she was by it. Instead she cleared her throat and began again, this time not having to Goddess-shout over a screaming horde. "Reiko did not die. She went through another kind of a Change. It was hard for her, and it almost cost Reiko her humanity, but she made it through, and now she is a new kind of Priestess." Kuri made my way slowly around the inside of the circle, trying to meet as many of the eyes as she could as she explained. "Selene never abandoned her, though. As you can see, she still has her affinity for earth, a gift given to her, and then given to her again by Selene."

"I do not understand. This child was a trainee who died and then was resurrected?" Sam had stepped forward and was standing near Reiko, staring hard at her.

Before Kuri could answer, Reiko spoke. "Yes. I did die. But then I came back, and when I did, I wasn't the same anymore. I'd lost myself, or at least most of myself, but Edward helped me to find myself again, and when I did, I also found I'd Changed into a different kind of Priestess." She pointed to her beautiful red tattoo.

Thousands of ravens crowded around the ancient oak. Instead of Kuri, there stood Sadako.

Jacob

She looked like an avenging goddess, and everyone was struck speechless at her raw beauty. Her smooth white shoulders were bared by an exquisite black silk dress that molded to her graceful body. Her thick black hair was free, tumbling in waves down around her slim waist. Her blue eyes flashed—her lips were the deep red of fresh blood

Sadako stood there her eyes focused on a small spot on the trunk. She raised Kiboken and stabbed through her own chest, eyes blissful and manic as the blood hit the trunk of the tree.

She closed her eyes and let her spirit leave her form, opening the final part of the seal.

Blood and soul…

"No!" screamed a heartbroken Jacob, falling on his knees in front of the tree. "Kuri!"

Slowly Kuri raised her head and looked at Jacob. Blood was pouring from her chest—more blood than he thought any one person could hold. It was soaking the ground around her, which was lumpy from the roots of the big oak. The blood mesmerized him. It looked like the earth at the base of the great oak was bleeding.

"No!" Jacob cried, and then the night exploded.

The ground beneath his feet, soaked through with Reiko's blood, began to shudder, rippling like it was no longer solid earth but had suddenly turned to water. Through panicked cries, Jacob heard Aphrodite's voice again, as calm as if she was only yelling at Damien and the Twins about their fashion choices.

"Move in to us, but don't break the circle!"

"Jake." Kuri gasped his name. She looked up at me with pain-filled eyes. "Listen to Aphrodite. Don't break the circle. No matter what!"

"But you're—"

"No! I'm not dying. I promise. She's just taken my blood, not my life. Don't break the circle." Jacob nodded, then stood up.

Stumbling over the shifting ground, Jacob staggered to Selene's table and caught Kuri's purple spirit candle just before it fell over and went out. Clutching it close to him, he turned my attention to Damien and the Twins. They were following Aphrodite's calm instructions and, in the midst of the screaming chaos that was outside our circle, they were walking slowly together, tightening the circumference of the silver thread toward Kuri, until we were all of us, Damien, the Twins, Aphrodite, and Jacob clustered together around Kuri.

"Start moving her away from the tree," Aphrodite said. "All of us, without breaking the circle. We need to head to the trapdoor in the wall. Now."

Jacob stared at Aphrodite, and she nodded solemnly. "I know what's going to happen next, and it's not going to be good."

"Then let's get out of here," Jacob said.

They started to move as a group, taking small steps over the bucking earth, having to be ultra-careful with Kuri and the candles and the circle that seemed so important to maintain. The pack should be in their way. At least Sam would have said something to them, but it seemed they existed in a weird little bubble of serenity amidst a world suddenly awash in blood and panic and chaos. They kept moving away from the tree, following the wall, slowly and carefully making progress. Jacob had noticed that the grass underneath their feet was smoother and completely dry of Kuri's blood.

The oak, with a horrible ripping sound, tore apart. Jacob had been walking backwards, helping to prop Kuri up from the front, so he had a clear view of the tree when it split. From underneath the middle of the destroyed oak a creature rose. At first all he saw were huge black wings that completely enfolded something. Then he stepped from the destroyed oak, straightening his mighty body and unfurling his night-colored wings.

Raphael's skin was smooth and completely unmarred, and was gilded with what looked like the kiss of the sun's loving rays. His hair was as black as his wings, and fell loose and thick around his shoulders, making him look like an ancient warrior. His face—was like a sculpture come to life, and it made even the most handsome mortal or god, look like a sickly, unsuccessful attempt at imitation of his glory. His eyes were the color of amber, so perfect, they were almost golden.

Jacob had stumbled to a stop, and he would have broken the circle right then, had Raphael not raised his arms and called in a voice that was deep and rich and full of power, "Arise with me, children!"

Raven Mockers burst from the hole in the ground and filled the sky, and it was the fear that filled Jacob at the sight of their terribly familiar misshapen bodies that broke the spell Raphael had cast on me. They shrieked and circled their father, who laughed and held his arms up higher so that their wings could caress him.

"We have to get out of here!" Aphrodite hissed.

"Yes, now! Hurry," Jacob said, totally himself again. The ground was no longer shaking, so they were able to increase our pace.

"I am Raphael, come to earth finally!" Raphael proclaimed. "Bow to Selene's consort, and your new Lord on earth."

"We're there!" Aphrodite said. "Get that damn door open now!"

"It is already open," said a familiar voice. Jacob glanced behind me at the wall to see Edward standing beside a cracked trapdoor that seemed to appear magically in the bricks and rock, eyes on Reiko.

"If you're with us, you have to be against them," Jacob told him, jerking his chin back toward the pack who filled the clearing and who were not making one move against Raphael.

"I've made my choice," said Edward.

"Can we please get out of here? She's looking at us!" Darius said.

"Kuri! You've got to buy us some time," Aphrodite said. "Use the elements—all of them. Shield us."

Kuri nodded and closed my eyes, centering herself. Vaguely in the back of her mind she knew Aphrodite was ordering around Jacob's pack and telling them to stay close, stay inside our circle, even if it was mushed and not really circle-shaped anymore as they crammed ourselves through the trees. But Kuri was only partly there. The rest of her was commanding wind, fire, water, earth, and spirit to cover them, protect them, to blot us from Raphael's view. As they hurried to obey her, Kuri felt a drain on my strength like I'd never known before. Of course she'd never tried to command all five of the elements at once to do such powerful work for me—it felt as if her mind, her will, was trying to sprint a marathon.

Kuri gritted her teeth and held on. The elements swarmed above and around them. She could hear the wind and smell the salt of ocean as a strong breeze swirled a thick mist around us. Then thunder rolled in the suddenly cloudy sky and with a crack! a shard of lightning sizzled down, hitting a tree a few yards in front of us. The tree seemed to expand as earth magnified it, so that she opened my eyes as Seth was guiding her backwards and through the trapdoor to see our little group completely shielded by the fury of the elements.

Kuri got one last glimpse of Raphael as he looked wildly around, clearly not wanting to believe that they had somehow escaped him. And then they exited the forest, sealing them out of the horrible scene.

"Okay, reform up the circle. Tighten it up. Twins! You're too close together. You're making it lopsided." Aphrodite was calling orders like a drill sergeant.

The Raven Mockers were everywhere. It was just after midnight New Year's Eve, and the creatures had their pickings of tipsy, celebrating humans who poured out of clubs and restaurants and beautiful old oil mansions because they'd heard the crackle and pop of the creatures' inhuman fire and, thinking the city had set off fireworks, rushed out to watch the show. Kuri wondered with oddly detached horror how many of them looked up at the sky only to have their last sight be terrible red eyes of men looking out at them from monstrous faces.

Before they'd reached the halfway point near Cincinnati and Thirteenth Kuri started hearing police and fire sirens, along with gunshots. Kuri wondered if modern weapons would make any difference to creatures born of magic and myth, and knew she wouldn't have to wonder long. Soon they'd all find out.

Within a block of the abandoned shrine, it began to rain a cold, miserable misty wetness that chilled us to the bone, but it did help to hide our little group even more from probing eyes—whether they were human or beast.

They hurried into the basement of the shrine, gaining entrance easily by swinging open a metal grate that looked deceptively well barred. As soon as the darkness of the basement swallowed them, they gave a group sigh of relief.

"Okay, now we can close the circle." Jacob said.

"Thank you spirit, you may depart," Kuri began. Kuri turned to Reiko. "I am grateful to you, earth, you may depart." Erin was on my left, and Kuri smiled through the darkness to her. "Water, you did well tonight. You may depart." Still turning to her left, Kuri found Shaunee. "Fire, thank you, please depart." Then Kuri closed the circle with the element that opened it. "Wind, you have my gratitude as always. You may depart." And with a little pop and sizzle, the silver thread that had bound them and saved them, disappeared.

Kuri gritted her teeth against the exhaustion that threatened to overwhelm me, and Kuri would have fallen had Jacob not grabbed her arm to steady her wobbly knees.

"Let's get down there. We're still not completely safe," Aphrodite said.

They all moved toward the rear of the basement to the drainage entrance Kuri knew hid a wide system of tunnels. Reentering these tunnels was as surreal an experience as the night had become.

Kuri's friends were waiting for her near the entrance. Kuri saw lights begin to flicker on down the tunnel that stretched, dark and intimidating, in front of them.

"I sent the pack ahead to get the lights on and stuff," Aphrodite said, then she glanced at Reiko. "The 'and stuff' being hustling to get some blankets and dry clothes."

"Good. That's good." Kuri forced herself to think through my exhaustion. The pack had already lit a few oil lanterns, the old-fashioned kind that could be carried around by swinging handles, and put them on hooks at about eye level, so it was easy to see the expression on Kuri friends' faces when they looked up at her. The same thing was on all their faces, even Aphrodite's. They were afraid.

Please Selene, Kuri sent up one fervent, silent prayer, give me strength and help me to say this right because how we begin here is going to set the tone for how we live here. Please don't let me mess up.

Kuri didn't get a wordy answer, but she did get a rush of warmth and love and confidence that made her heart take a little stutter beat and filled her with a burst of strength.

"Yeah, it's bad," Kuri began. "There's no denying that. We're young. We're alone. We're hurt. Raphael is powerful and, as far as we know, he might have Grubb's pack on his side. But we have something they'll never have. We have love and truth and each other. We also have Selene. She's Chosen each of us, too. There has never been a group like us—we're completely new." Kuri paused, trying to meet everyone's eyes and smile confidence to them. Into her pause, Jacob spoke.

"Priestess, this evil is like nothing I've felt before," he said. "Nothing I've even heard of before. It is an untamed thing seething with hatred. When it burst forth from the earth, I felt as if evil had been reborn."

"But you recognized it, Jake. And lots of the others didn't. I watched their reactions to it. They didn't grab their weapons or get the hell out of there, like you did."

"Perhaps it would have been braver to stay," he said.

"Bullshit!" Aphrodite said. "A stupider wolf would have stayed. You're here with us, and now you have a chance to fight it. For all we know those other wolves were either mowed down by those damn bird things, or are under some weird spell like the rest of the wolves."

"Yeah," said Reiko. "We're here because there's something different about us."

"Something special," Damien said.

"Damn special," Shaunee said.

"I'm with you on that one, Twin," Erin said.

"All right. So what do we do next?" Jacob said.

They all looked at Kuri. She looked at them.

"Well, uh, we make up a Plan," Kuri said.

"A Plan?" Jacob said. "That's it?"

"Nope. We make up a Plan, and then we figure out how to take our pack back. Together." I stuck my hand out in the middle of them, like I was a softball-playing dork. "Are you guys with me?"

Aphrodite rolled her eyes, but hers was the first hand to cover mine. "Yeah, I'm in," she said.

"And me," said Damien.

"Me, too," said Jack.

"Ditto," said both of the Twins together.

"I'm in, too," said Reiko.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," said Jacob, putting his hand on the top of the pile and smiling into Kuri's eyes.

"All right, then," Kuri said. "Let's go get 'em!" And as they all yelled dorkishly after her, Kuri felt an awesome tingle spread down her legs to her feet and from her shoulders to the front and palms of her hands, and knew when she pulled them out of the hand pile she'd find brand-new intricate tattoos decorating each of my palms, like she was an exotic ancient priestess who had been henna-Marked as special by her Goddess. So, even in the midst of craziness and exhaustion and life-changing chaos, Kuri was filled with peace and the sweet knowledge that she was walking the path my Goddess wanted her on.

Not that that path was smooth and pothole free. But still, it was her path, and like her, it was bound to be unique.