Page 38 of Lost

“Aphrodite, you know Damien could help you increase your vocabulary so that you don’t have to use words like—” Stevie Rae began a new admonishment when the second wave of feeling hit me.

I gasped and hugged myself, wrapping my arms around my torso while Stark held me close.

“It’s okay, Z. It’s okay. We’re okay. This’ll pass.” Stark murmured reassurances.

“What is it? What’s happening?” Aphrodite moved closer to me, shoulder to shoulder with Damien.

“Are you in pain?” Damien asked.

“N-no,” I said in a voice that wavered. “Just feels like… like…”

“Like someone just walked over her grave,” Stark finished for me.

“S-someone who uses Old Magick,” I added, and Stark nodded in agreement. As my Oathbound Warrior, Stark shared my feelings. The High Priestess–Warrior bond was set up that way so that our protectors would always know when we needed them, but there were times, like now, that I wished I could flip a switch and not put him through the strangeness that was too often me.

“It’s fading,” Stark said.

I breathed a long, relieved sigh. “Yeah. It’s gone.”

“Z, where’s it comin’ from?” asked Stevie Rae.

“I have no clue,” I said. “Stark, could you tell anything?”

He shook his head. “No, I don’t think I’m getting the actual feeling, but just an echo of what you’re experiencing.”

“Well, it’s attached to you,” Damien said. “Whether that means the magick itself, or the person wielding it.”

“What if Sgiach has called Old Magick? Is that what you could be feeling? You two got pretty close,” said Stevie Rae.

“I don’t think that’s it,” I said. “Queen Sgiach is the guardian of Old Magick, and I know it stirs on her island pretty often, but unless I’m there with her, I’ve never felt it.”

“She used it in the battle against the White Bull the night we entombed Neferet,” Damien said. “You didn’t feel it then, did you?”

I shook my head. “Nope.”

“Shit! Could it be Neferet?” Aphrodite said.

I suddenly felt chilled. “I don’t know.”

“Well, find out!” Aphrodite said.

I frowned at her. “You’re the prophetess. How aboutyoufind out?”

She shook back her long, blond hair. “It doesn’t work that way and you know it.”

“Plus, you don’t need no prophetess. You just need you a High Priestess who can invoke Old Magick. Know anyone like that, Z?” Kramisha asked, sending me a pointed look.

I metaphorically slapped myself on my forehead. “I may be a moron.”

“Z!” Stevie Rae sucked air.

I waved away what was probably going to be a lecture on political correctness while Aphrodite snort-laughed. “Sorry. I was just kidding. Mostly. I’m the High Priestess that Kramisha’s talking about.”

“I don’t like you messing with Old Magick,” Stark said.

“I’m not going to mess with it,” I said. “I’m just going to give it a quick call, that’s all.”

“That’sneverall where Old Magick is concerned,” Stark said darkly.