"I don't pretend to understand Nyx. The Goddess's ways are mysterious and sometimes she asks really hard things of us. This is one of those hard things. Like it or not, Nyx has made it clear that Aphrodite should take Stevie Rae's place in our circle." I looked at Aphrodite. "I don't think she's exactly thrilled about it."

"Understatement," Aphrodite mumbled.

I continued. "But we have a choice. Nyx doesn't force our will. We need to be in agreement about letting Aphrodite in, or-" I hesitated, not knowing how to finish. We'd tried to cast the circle with someone else, and Erik hadn't been allowed to represent earth. Maybe it was just Erik the Goddess didn't want standing in the circle, but I found that hard to believe. Not only was Erik a good guy and already a member of our Council, but my gut was telling me that the problem wasn't that Nyx didn't want Erik. The problem was that Nyx specifically wanted Aphrodite. I sighed and blundered on. "Or I guess we can start trying a bunch of different kids and seeing if any of them are allowed to manifest earth." I looked outside the circle and met Erik's shadowed eyes. "But I don't think Erik's the issue." He smiled at me, but it was just a movement his mouth made; the smile didn't reach his eyes or touch his face.

"I think we have to do what Nyx wants us to do. Even if we don't like it," Damien said.

"Shaunee?" I turned to her. "What's your vote?"

Shaunee and Erin shared a look and I swear, weird as it sounds, I could almost see words pass in the air between them.

"We'll let the hag join the circle," Shaunee said.

"But only because Nyx wants it," Erin said.

"Yeah, but we want to go on the record as saying we totally do not understand what Nyx is up to," Shaunee added, while Erin nodded in agreement.

"Do they get to keep calling me a hag?" Aphrodite said.

"Are you breathing?" Shaunee asked.

"Then if you're breathing you're still a hag," Erin said.

"Which is what we call you," Shaunee finished.

"No," I said firmly. The Twins turned their glares on me. "You guys don't have to like her. You don't even have to like that Nyx wants her here. But if we accept Aphrodite, then we accept her. That means the name-calling has to stop." The Twins sucked air, obviously getting ready to argue with me, so I hurriedly added, "Look inside yourselves, especially right now when you have manifested your element. What is your conscience telling you?" Then I held my breath and waited.

The Twins paused.

"Yeah, okay," Erin said unhappily.

"We see your point. We just don't like it," Shaunee said.

"And what about her? So we stop calling her a hag and such, but she still gets to act like one?" Erin said.

"Now Erin has a point," Damien said.

I looked over at Aphrodite. By her expression she was bored, but I could see that she kept taking big gulps of air, like she couldn't get enough of smelling the meadow earth had manifested around her. Every once in a while I noticed that she trailed her fingers down around her as if she was letting them brush through tall, fragrant grasses. Clearly, she wasn't as unmoved by what had just happened as she pretended to be.

"Aphrodite's going to do the same thing the two of you just did. She's going to search her conscience and then do the right thing."

Aphrodite looked mockingly around like she was searching for something that might be hidden in the night. Then she shrugged. "Oops. Seems I don't have a conscience."

"Stop it!" I snapped, and the energy I'd evoked with the circle whipped between Aphrodite and me, snaking dangerously around her body. The power augmented my voice, making Aphrodite's blue eyes widen in surprise and fear. "Not here. Not in this circle. You will not lie and pretend. Decide now. You have a choice, too. I know you've ignored Nyx before. You can choose to ignore her again. But if you choose to stay and do the Goddess's will, you're not going to do it with lies and hate." I thought she'd break the circle and walk away. I almost wished she would. It'd be easier not to have anyone represent earth. I could just light the green candle myself and put in on the ground. Whatever. But Aphrodite surprised me, and it would only be the first of many surprises Nyx had in store for me.

"Fine. I'll stay."

"Fine," I said. I glanced around at my friends. "Fine?"

"Yeah, fine," they grumbled.

"Good. So we have our circle," I said.