hey guys well here's the next chapter I hope you like it. I tried to get it out ASAP.

Chapter 11

Puzzlement and Disappointment

I looked at her in surprise. My face must have been a question mark because she gave me a look that clearly meant that she thought I was being totally slow. She looked around the circle of her best friends only to find that they all wore the same confused expression as me. I looked back to see her reaction. She sighed and rolled her eyes at their oblivious faces before turning and gesturing pointedly at a group of candles. Distinct looks came onto their faces simultaneously. I couldn't tell if I wanted to scream and be pissed or try to figure out this stupid mystery. I was still debating when the four of them turned back to me. I looked towards the candles. There was nothing special about them, they were just different colors. That was the only individuality that each held. Otherwise it didn't look like any of them had been lit before, so why were they still staring at me like that?

I looked to Damien trying to get some answers because usually his face gave something away if he were trying to keep a secret from me. He didn't look happy. He just looked surprised and anxious.

"What is it with you guys? Do I have something in my teeth or are you trying to bore holes into my forehead?" I knew that something big was going on because Shaunee and Erin looked like they were about to explode. Like she suddenly couldn't hold it in anymore Zoey burst;

"Your affinity! You have to have one. Nyx had to give you something! She must have put you here because of Stevie Rae." As soon as she said that her excited expression dropped right off her face like she had been slapped. I looked at Damien questioningly. He just shook his head, clearly telling me that he would explain to me later because this was NOT the time. By the time I was focused on Zoey again she had pulled herself together.

"What are you talking about affinity? I can't do anything special if that's what you're talking about." I was still just as confused as when she had dragged me across campus. She shook her head at me.

"That's because you haven't tried yet. You haven't even touched a candle."

"A candle? Is that what this is all about? A candle. Are you kidding me?"

"Lela, all of us have affinities and they're all connected to the Goddess…" Damien had put on his lecture tone and I knew I was about to learn the history of everything. He started explaining to me that the Goddess had five distinct elements that she was connected to. The candle represented those elements when they were called into a Full Moon Ritual. Yellow for Air, Red for Fire, Blue for Water, Green for Earth, and Purple for Spirit. He went on to tell me that each of the four friends had been gifted with an Element from Nyx and that Zoey had been gifted with all five (which I already knew). By the end of his little tirade he had given me a huge headache and then to add to all my stress he told me that Stevie Rae, Zoey's best friend who had been gifted with the element of Earth, hadn't made it through the Change and that she had died about a month and a half ago during the Full Moon Ritual. Zoey looked like she was about to cry so I decided to change the subject.

"So how do I tie into all of this? I mean, what do you expect me to do. I was just thrown into this mess. I don't even know half of the stuff that's going on around here." I don't think that Zoey was ready to talk yet so I looked to Damien instead.

"We think that maybe Nyx put you here to take Stevie Rae's place as the element of Earth." Zoey said softly. She startled me, a) Because I thought she wouldn't be able to speak and b) because I wasn't ready to take on an element yet, much less a whole new life, and I didn't want to take someone else's place even though I didn't know them. It seemed wrong and just flat out rude.

"That's insane. Why would Nyx do that. I mean someone else, heck ANYONE else could do this. I just started the whole fledgling for life thing there are plenty of other more skilled fledglings that could take her place." I was getting more confused by the second.

"Yes but no one" Shaunee exclaimed.

"And we do mean no one" Chimed in Erin.

"Has ever had a Mark like Zoey's…"
"Or well, sorta different from Zoey's, and that's saying something." I was starting to understand why Zoey and Damien called Shaunee and Erin 'Twins' and no one had even explained it to me yet. I guess that it wasn't really that hard to figure out, maybe they just shared a brain or something. I mean they finished each others every thought.

"Either way the Twins are right. You are different Lela and it might be in a good way, but we have to see what type of power you have now."

"Zoey, Nyx has clearly Chosen Lela as one of her True Daughters. She must be different. I don't believe that Nyx would Mark her so specially just to give her Stevie Rae's position." Damien, true to his good student gayness (and I do mean that in a kind way) was still the scholar of whatever group he was in and therefore chose to look at this situation logically. Zoey looked like she hadn't thought of that yet. Well, actually she just looked surprised that it was now definitely a possibility that Stevie Rae wasn't going to be replaced. I'm not saying that she was looking forward to replacing her but there was probably still an empty void where her friend was and she just wanted to get it over with and replace her as painlessly as possible. I can only guess but this is kinda what I felt like when Damien was gone. The first few months were the hardest. Unlike our clueless parents, tons of people at school could see that Damien was gay, I mean it wasn't like he tried to hide it.

After Damien was gone I was known as the girl who hung out with lesbos and gay nerds and stuff like that. I started getting over it and soon I didn't really mind what people said about it because I just stopped caring. Seriously, it wasn't their business anyway. That's when I met Dylan Rusmore. He was my best friend after Damien left. He knew exactly how I felt because he had a friend, Owen, who was Marked and sent away too. We could talk about anything for hours. Nothing ever got awkward between us because we always had something to say to each other. Now that I thought about it I couldn't ever actually blame Damien for finding more friends because that was exactly what I had done.

I looked at Zoey but her face gave nothing away. I turned back to the twins they looked stunned by what Damien had said. To make it even harder for them to comprehend Damien kept going.

"Zoey when you first came we knew there was something special about you because of your Mark. Now Lela is here and she is definitely special so there has to be something different about her as well. She must be equally powerful if not MORE." I didn't want to be more powerful then Zoey. The thought scared me and it definitely got my attention. But even thought I was scared shitless I was also intrigued. What if I was more powerful than Zoey? What did that mean for my future as a Vampyre- unless I don't complete the change, I shuddered and shook myself mentally. I really shouldn't be negative or paranoid about this stuff. It won't help me at all it will just get me more stressed out, and I seriously didn't need the stress. I looked at the Twins because I didn't really want to see Zoey's reaction. I hadn't known her that long which meant that I didn't know if she would be pissed, surprised, or happy. (Yeah right happy at the thought of someone being more powerful than you, phff. The Twins looked more surprised than anything else. I turned slowly to look at Zoey because I wasn't sure exactly what I would see. She surprised me though. She looked scared, which was not at all like I expected. Why would she be scared? The others noticed her expression as well. Damien looked between mine and Zoey's faces.

"The unknown is always something to be scared of, Lela." Damien explained.

"I take it that you aren't afraid of this new life yet." Zoey whispered. Good grief did she think that courage was an affinity now too? Hell yes I was afraid and anxious and freaked out beyond my imagination. It was hard and they were throwing all of this I my face! I had to keep my cool because it wouldn't help the situation if I started screaming at her. I kept my face neutral. I was calm which amazed me. The rising turmoil in my head had calmed. As if she hadn't made me furious already she kept going;

"You'll find in time that things you aren't sure of become terrifying. Blood will become a horror that you don't want to deal with and your trust in professo- people will be tested." I was sure that she had been about to say professors, but that made no sense whatsoever. The teachers were the few people in this new world that we could trust, right? Then suddenly it all clicked into place, why Zoey acted coldly towards Neferet and why Neferet retaliated with rude comments and gestures. They either loathed each other's guts or they were afraid of each other's power. I suddenly felt dog-tired. I was gonna pass out soon. I could just tell, and thankfully Damien could still read me well enough to know too.

"Zoey could we do this tomorrow? Lela is going to fall asleep while you're doing your little tests." He got right to the point and Zoey seemed to realize that he was right.

"I guess but this seriously sucks." She looked towards me again. " Your timing isn't that great. It's too bad that you came at the beginning of the week. The vamps treat new students the same as everyone else. Your gonna get the same amount of homework which is probably gonna put us behind." Sheesh it sounded like she already had a schedule planned out.

We walked back to the dorms and Damien stopped me before heading to the boys' dorm rooms.

"Don't be afraid Lela. Everything's gonna be fine. Zoey, Shaunee, and Erin are gonna help you and I heard that you're gonna be rooming with Zoey so everything should settle down." He gave me a comforting look. "Just try to get some sleep, kay." I nodded. He hugged me and then headed for his room. I walked up to the rooms and I didn't really see anything, it was all blurry. I walked into our room with Zoey leading. The only detail I noticed was that all of the stuff from my room back at home was now in the dorm. I flopped onto my bed and fell into a not-to-peaceful oblivion.

Sorry to leave you guys hanging like that but i promise that i'll reveal the power later. This is more of a filler chapter. Trying to explain some things. I hoped you like it!

PLEASE R&R

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