That night, I decided to try something out.

Nyx had hinted several times that I was powerful, and I knew that I had Spirit, but I didn't know what that meant. I knew it meant I could concentrate hard and hear people's thoughts, but I learned that it tired me out.

I thought of Happy Will as I went to sleep, not allowing the image of her frozen in my mind to escape. Long curly brown hair, brown eyes, average height, which was Happy Will. I kept the picture in my mind, solid and steady.

My refusal to let go of the picture meant my mind was awake, though my body was tired. I then imagined myself, silver hair halfway down my thighs, dark almond eyes, and light skin. I didn't want to appear in my pajamas, so I changed the image of me's clothes to a navy blue long sleeved shirt and dark jeans and black flats.

I had an image of myself, Happy Will's face, and I slowly visualized a background, following my instinct. Personally, I preferred spacious, cool areas, but something told me Happy Will preferred cozy, warm places. I tried to think of a compromise, and came up with a beautiful garden. The grass was a lovely minty green, and the sky a deep blue, the night air chill, but the flowers were the color of sunset, and I allowed a bright orange fire to burn for warmth when Happy Will came.

I drifted off, the image stuck in my mind. Then I was actually in the garden; I shivered in the cool night air, thankful for my long sleeve. In the sky was a silver moon, the same color as my hair.

Across from me was Happy Will. She was close to the fire, in a pink tee shirt and purple sweatpants and orange slippers. I giggled at what Joan and Summer would've said to her, and she looked up. "Who are you?"

Nyx had told me that Happy Will was my ally. "I'm your ally." When I saw that she wasn't satisfied with that answer, I continued with, "You can call me Ivory. Ivory Labastria."

"Am I dreaming? How did I get here? Where am I? Are you really here? Why are you dressed and I'm not? Why are we in a garden?" I held up my hand to stem her flow of questions.

"To answer what you've asked," I began, and started running through, answering each in order. "You are dreaming, but so am I. We can see each other. I brought you here. We are in a garden I created. I'm as here as you are. I'm dressed 'cause I wanted to be dressed. We're in a garden 'cause I like gardens."

Instead of answering her questions, like I had hoped, my response seemed to make her have even more. "How did you bring me here? How did you make a garden? How come I can't be dressed? Why did you get to pick where we are?"

I took a deep breath for patience. "I brought you here with my mind. I made a garden with my mind. You're not dressed because your subconscious decided not to dress you. I got to pick because I did the work of creating this." When Happy Will opened her mouth to ask more questions, I held up my hand again. "No more questions for now. We're running out of time."

Happy Will looked confused but stayed silent. I stared into the fire, suddenly uncertain. I only had about an hour. My mind couldn't keep it up long. Finally, I started, "Your name is Happy Will."

"Yeah."

"Your mother and father threw you out of the house when they found out you had been marked and were a fledgling vampyre. You're disowned now."

"Step-mother. My stepmother threw me out, and my father enforced her. He never argues with her. They both hate vampyres. Yeah. I'm no longer a Benit." Happy Will sounded sad, but there was a hint of anger beneath it that I think not even she noticed.

"You're a golden fledgling." Happy Will started, and I realized she didn't know. Nyx hadn't told Happy Will that. Only me. For a minute I felt triumph, that Nyx trusted me more than Happy Will, that I was special after all, then guilt. The flowers were beginning to fuzz. My mind was tiring. "Never mind," I said quickly. "We're running out of time. I'll explain later. I'll be back. Think of some better questions, because we only have about an hour to talk. I have an affinity for—"

Then the whole garden, plus Happy Will, plus me, disappeared into darkness. I was with Nyx again. There was something wrong with Nyx now, though. She was still flawless, she was still goddess-like, but her hair appeared browner than black, and it was tangled. She looked exhausted, sitting on the blue velvet couch with her knees drawn to her chest.

"Ivory," she said, her voice still silken and lovely but stretched thin. I noticed that Nyx was no longer slender but skinny, her purple dress hanging loose on her. "Oh, Ivory, darling."

"Nyx!" I exclaimed, rushing to her. "I just talked to Happy Will." I summarized our conversation, Nyx listening carefully, a frown on her face.

"That's good, child," she said softly. "You must practice. Do you hear me, Ivory?" Her tone became more urgent as she spoke. "You must practice your powers. Not all of them are from Spirit. Some are golden fledgling powers. You have to separate them. I have to…you and your friends. You have to save us."

"Us?" I asked, fear evident in my tone. Nyx seemed almost transparent in the light, and she winced when I spoke so loudly. I repeated, quieter, "Us?"

"Vampyres, fledglings, humans," Nyx clarified. "And anything else. Animals. Plants." I stared at her, aghast, and she said, quietly, "The world as we know it."

And then Nyx, the vampyre goddess, disappeared. The most powerful entity in the world just faded out. The room didn't. The blue velvet couch was still there. But it was empty.

"Nyx?" I called out, afraid. "Goddess, are you there?" There was no answer. I froze, not sure what to do.

I crossed the room, glancing around the silver walls and blue chaise. It was cool and almost delicate. There were two doors opposite the sofa, both the silvery white paint. One doorframe was made of silver, snakes twining up it. The other was gold, lace patterns swirling up into a crescent moon.

Between the two doors was a white silk curtain hanging from a bronze rod. I opened it, and there was a narrow cave-like construction with four dresses hanging. There was the purple silk one that came to Nyx's knees in front, and trailed down in the back like a wedding gown, a purple silk dress exactly like the gown, but that came to the knees all around, a white cotton dress, the skirt creased, and a silver top with six semi transparent silver silk skirts layered on top of each other.

I slipped the curtain closed again. The two doors on the side of it were neatly closed, perfectly fitting in the frames. I figured out that they were rooms—my room and Nyx's room. My room, obviously, would be the golden moon one, and Nyx's would be the one with the snakes. I remembered somebody telling me snakes were the vampyre goddess' sacred animal.

I reached for the golden doorknob to my room, and the door silently opened, smoothly. There was only one piece of furniture there: a bed. Silver. The color of Spirit. The color of my hair. Silver. I tentatively lay on the bed, and drifted off to sleep easily.

In the morning, I woke up, refreshed. I told Brooke that I had landed the part of a girl dancing. I had changed my mind last minute and decided I didn't want to be named.

"Cool," Brooke said. "I got Rosalyn. That's who I was trying out for, so I'm happy. I wonder if Summer got Juliet."

"Probably," I said speculatively, gathering all my hair to my shoulder and combing it, the comb breaking through knots easily. I braided it back and pinned it up. I felt a surge of jealousy when I realized that it meant she was going to be kissing Leo.

Then I remembered Summer was dating a guy called Eddie, and felt better. Then I felt guilty.

Brooke and I went to breakfast, linking arms and humming. I wasn't sure why we were in such a good mood. Zara greeted us with a wave. All seven girls were clustered around her. Brooke and I joined them, Brooke asking, "What's up?"

"Dark Daughters meeting tonight," Zara explained. "We're planning for that. Plus, we have to organize the Spring Formal. And, of course, we have to initiate Iv in."

I choked on my sip of juice (water, flavored with bits of coconuts). "You don't have to," I said, hastily. "It's okay."

"Don't be ridiculous," said Alissa dismissively. "You have to join the Dark Daughters. Isis specifically was talking to Zara about that. The High Priestess wants you to join, you'll join."

They were all smiling at me. "It's an honor," Anna said in her quiet but strong voice, looking at me as though I had won something. "There are only twelve girls in the Dark Daughters."

A group of girls passed us, then, glaring at me and Zara. "That's who you're replacing," Zara said apologetically. "I'm afraid she won't like you much."

"Haters will be haters," Opal said in her high, clear voice. "There's nothing to do about it. Even if Zara replaced you with her again, they'd still be making fun of you and whatever. Too late."

I groaned, and Summer looked at me sympathetically. "I'll walk you to class. What do you have?"

I checked my schedule. "Equestrian Studies…" Summer frowned, obviously trying to figure out how to get me there and to her own class in time.

"I've got that too," Leila said. "I can walk you there." I nodded, gratefully. "Weird how they put you in sixth former class."

I shrugged, and we started walking. "My classes are crazy. I'm in fourth year classes because I got Marked late. You're supposed to be Marked at sixteen, right? I'm seventeen. So I'm kinda third and a half former. But they're throwing me into crazy classes."

"Horseback riding with nineteen year olds," Leila said. I glanced at her. She wasn't smiling. I didn't think I had ever seen her smile. I tried to focus on her thoughts but couldn't. I caught my breath.

The teacher, Prof. Victoria, had long brown hair and dark eyes. She glanced at me, taking in my mark and my hair, then flicked across the rest of the room. "Well?" she snapped. "You know what horse you work with! Bring them to the arena! Labastria, stay behind."

I waited while the rest of the class filed out, sneaking looks at me. I did my best to stand tall. These people were only two years older than me. I couldn't let them intimidate me.

Prof. Victoria walked after them, pausing in the doorway to look at me, a clear indication I should follow written on her face. I followed her down a hall, to a row of horses that the rest of the class wasn't working with. There were six, three on each side of the corridor.

Prof. Victoria closed the door and turned to me. "Labastria. Your mentor is Egypt. I trust you have met Isis, the High Priestess." Prof. Victoria said everything in a cool, expressionless tone. "She has had a vision, sent by Nyx. There is danger ahead, and you will have to face it. She wants you to be prepared. This includes advanced riding. We've put you in the most advanced class there is. Leila Fox is a star pupil here. We think she has a gift for riding. She will be teaching you. Fox!"

Leila appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and Prof. Victoria said, "Help Labastria choose a horse. She'll be riding one of these." Prof. Victoria gestured at the six horses, and Leila nodded, silently, but I thought I saw an impressed look flash across her face. Prof Victoria said, "You'll be teaching Labastria the ropes," and then left.

Leila looked at me. She opened a door to one of the horse's rooms. "This is Sun." The horse was golden, with long, magnificent hair. He was huge. I backed away, not really a fan of horses. "Guess not," Leila said, and continued to the next candidate.

Leila introduced each horse to me, skipping only one stall, and then got to the last stall. I crossed my fingers that we would be right for each other. After all, what if it didn't like me? What would Prof. Victoria think of me then? What would Nyx think of the fledgling she'd blessed, if her first Golden Fledgling was afraid of horses and couldn't ride? I swallowed as Leila opened the door.

Inside was the most beautiful horse I'd ever seen. She was a pure, shining white, her mane and tail almost silver. Her eyes, instead of being just a plain brown, seemed to be gold. I forgot my fear of horses and started forward. The horse went on her back legs, staring at me, evidently curious.

Leila seemed to be thinking. Apparently there was something she couldn't grasp. "Um," she said, a change from her cool and confident self. "Wait right here. Let me ask Professor Victoria something." She walked out of the stall, and the horse and I just stood there, sizing each other up, until Leila returned.

"Okay, this is your horse," Leila said. She walked forward, stroking the horse's mane, and I felt a flash of jealousy. Why didn't the horse like me? Leila noticed and I thought I saw the corners of her mouth twitch. "My horse is a couple of stalls down, I just get along with all the horses. Actually, it's her reaction to you that makes it weird. She normally ignores everyone. Her name is Empress."

Leila turned to leave, and I panicked. I was stuck in a small room with a horse that didn't like me. "Wait! Leila!" I exclaimed. "What do I do?"

Leila turned back, an eyebrow raised, and I felt stupid. "Try to gain her trust."