"So you're not punishing me?" Aphrodite said.

"No, daughter. You punish yourself enough without any addition from me," Nyx said gently.

"And you don't hate me?" Aphrodite whispered.

Nyx's smile was radiant and sad. "As I have already said, I love you, Aphrodite. I always will."

This time I knew the tears that washed down Aphrodite's face were tears of joy.

"You both have a long road before you. Much of it you will travel together. Depend upon one another. Listen to your instincts. Trust the still, small voice within each of you."

The Goddess turned to me. "U-we-tsi-a-ge-ya, there is great danger ahead."

"I know. You can't want this war."

"I don't, daughter. Though that is not the danger of which I speak."

"But if you don't want the war, why don't you just stop it? Neferet has to listen to you! She has to do what you command!" I said, not sure why I was suddenly feeling so frantic, especially when the Goddess was gazing at me serenely.

Instead of answering me, Nyx asked a question of her own. "Do you know what it is that is the greatest gift I have ever given my children?"

I thought hard, but my mind seemed to be a jumble of crossword puzzle thoughts and fragments of the truth.

Aphrodite's voice sounded strong and clear: "Free will."

Nyx smiled. "Exactly correct, daughter. And once I give a gift, I never take it away. The gift becomes the person, and were I to step in and command obedience, especially in the form of extracting affinities, I would destroy the person."

"But maybe Neferet would listen to you if you spoke to her like you're speaking to us now. She's your High Priestess," I said. "She's supposed to listen to you."

"It grieves me, but Neferet has chosen to no longer hear me. This is the danger of which I wish to warn you. Neferet has her mind tuned to another voice, one that has been whispering to her for a very long time. I hoped her love for me would drown out the other, but it has not. Zoey, Aphrodite is clever about many things. When she said that power changes, she was right. Power always changes the bearer of it and those who are closest to her, though people who believe it always corrupts think too simplistically."

As she'd been talking, I noticed waves of brightness had begun to shiver through Nyx's body, like moon-kissed mist rising from a field, and her image was getting harder and harder to see.

"Wait! Don't go yet," I cried. "I have so many questions."

"Life will reveal to you the choices you must make to answer them," she said. "But you say that Neferet has been listening to someone else's voice. Does that mean she isn't your High Priestess anymore?"

"Neferet has left my path and has chosen chaos instead." The Goddess's image wavered. "But remember, what I have given I never take away. So do not underestimate Neferet's power. The hatred she is attempting to awaken is a dangerous force."

"This scares me, Nyx. I--I'm always screwing up," I stammered. "Especially lately."

The Goddess smiled again. "Your imperfection is part of your power. Look to the earth for strength, and the stories of your grandmother's people for answers."

"It'd be a lot safer if you just told me what I need to know and what I should do," I said.

"As with all my children, you must find your own path, and through that discovery, you will decide what each earth child must ultimately decide--whether she chooses chaos or love."

"Sometimes chaos and love seem like the same thing," Aphrodite said. I could see that she was trying to be respectful, but there was a clear amount of exasperation in her voice.

Nyx didn't seem to mind her comment. The Goddess simply nodded and said, "Indeed, but when you look deeper, you will see that though chaos and love are both powerful and alluring, they are also as different as moonlight is from sunlight. Remember . . . I am never far from your hearts, my precious daughters . . ."

With a final flash of shimmering silver light, the Goddess disappeared.

Chapter Nine

"Well, crap. Chaos and love are the same, but not. Neferet still has her powers, but she's not listening to Nyx anymore. Oh, and she's trying to wake up something dangerous. What does that mean? Is it an abstract wake up, like 'waking up' danger in the form of a war with humans, or is she literally trying to wake up some horrible, scary thingie that could eat us all? Like that creepy thing that scratched me earlier, which I didn't even get a chance to ask her about. Crap again!" I babbled as Aphrodite and I hurried from the girls' dorm. Sadly, it appeared we were going to be late for the Council Meeting.