"Seriously, Shaunee, you can't stay here."

Neferet's lip lifted in a sneer as she opened her eyes and looked down through her window to the sidewalk below. Zoey had caught the black girl by her arm and was obviously trying to stop her from going out to the parking lot.

"Look, I gave it a try, but today was hell. Really hell. So I'm gonna go get the bag I packed from the depot and left on the short bus, and I'm gonna move into my old dorm room."

"Please don't," Zoey said.

"I have to. Erin keeps hurting my feelings over and over." Neferet thought the girl was very near tears. Her weakness disgusted the Tsi Sgili. "And anyway, why does it matter?"

"It matters 'cause you're one of us!" Neferet hated the honest warmth in Zoey's voice. "You can be pissed at Erin. You can even stop being BFFs, but you can't let your whole life explode because of it."

"It's not me who's exploding. It's her," Shaunee said.

"Then be a better person. Be your own person, and maybe by doing that you can show Erin how to be your friend again."

"But not my Twin." Shaunee spoke so softly Neferet almost couldn't hear her. "I don't want to be anyone's Twin again. I just want to be myself." Zoey smiled. "That's all you need to be. Go to sixth hour, and I promise I'll talk to Erin. You're both still part of our circle, and that has to count for something."

Shaunee nodded slowly. "'Kay. But only if you talk to her."

"I will."

Neferet sneered again as Zoey hugged the black girl who started to retrace her path toward the main school building. She expected Zoey to walk with her, but she didn't. Instead the girl's shoulders slumped and she rubbed her forehead as if it ached. If the little bitch stayed out of the business of her betters, she wouldn't have any worries, Neferet thought as she watched Zoey leave the sidewalk and kick rather noisily at a tin can that the yard maintenance humans had, no doubt, left behind them. Knowing what their discarded rubbish would do to the fastidious Gaea made Neferet smile.

Zoey's can rolled to a stop against an exposed root of one of the ancient oaks that dotted the school grounds. The winter bare branches waved in another strong gust of warm wind, almost obscuring Zoey from her view-almost as if they were reaching around to protect her as the child bent to pick up the can.

Protect her ...

Neferet's eyes widened. What if Zoey did need protecting? The trees certainly wouldn't do it-not without the annoying child calling on earth. And Zoey wouldn't know she needed to call the element if a sudden gust of wind-a sudden accident-caused a limb to break and fall on her.

Zoey wouldn't know what was happening until it was too late.

Without flinching, Neferet stuck her fingernail into the pink slashes that had not yet healed. She held her hand up, cupping the blood, and saying:

"Drink and obey

The limb must do more than sway

Rip it-break it-to the earth it should hurl

Crush her-hurt her-kill the Zoey girl."

Neferet braced herself for the pain that feeding Darkness brought with it, and was surprised when she felt nothing. She glanced from the tree to her palm. The sticky tendrils of Darkness quivered and writhed around her, but they did not feed.

What you ask tempts Fate

For that the sacrifice must be great.

The singsong words drifted through Neferet's mind, and she recognized the echo of her power Consort in them.

"What is it you need from me?

What sacrifice must it be?"

The answer rumbled in Neferet's mind.

Her life force does demand

the sacrifice be equal to your command.

Irritation filled Neferet. Zoey always caused her problems! With a mighty effort, Neferet tempered her tone so that her words would not offend her Consort.

"I change my request

not killing her would be best.

Frighten her-bruise her

but leave her lifeline unbroken and pure."

With painful abandon, the threads of Darkness descended upon the blood pooled in Neferet's hand. She did not flinch. She did not cry out.

Neferet smiled and pointed at the tree.

"My blood from me to thee

by command-so mote it be!"

Darkness spewed from Neferet's window. Mimicking the wind, it whirled around the mighty oak's branches. Utterly captivated, Neferet watched.

Zoey had picked up the can and was walking slowly away from the tree and toward the sidewalk.

But the old oak was huge and the girl was still under its canopy.

Like a whip, the tendrils of Darkness wrapped around the lowest hanging tree limb. There was a terrible, wonderful crack! The limb broke and hurtled down as Zoey was staring up in wide-eyed, open-mouthed shock.