Hunter gave me an amused look over the edge of her cup.

"Pour some out and add water if you want, but I need it this strong to shake off that valerian spritz and get through the rest of this."

We were still sitting at the table with our Styrofoam cups when Lydia brought Maria in. "In fifteen minutes, the Elders will convene. The Eldrenne will reveal to you the final test." She let the door shut. Maria joined us and sank heavily into her chair. "You want some coffee?" I asked.

"Is it as strong as you made it this morning?"

"Stronger."

"Good."

I got up to get it for her; she called me a dear.

"So?" Hunter asked Maria, grinning.

"I can't believe I just went ignorantly into a fake murder scene and followed it by walking fully understanding into a fake round-table with real vampires." She fanned her face. "My heart can't take so much pressure all at once and my mind's still reeling."

I set a cup before her, and the creamer and sugar packs; she thanked me as she mixed up her brew. She stared into her cup as she stirred. "Lydia said these tests would reveal much to the Elders, ourselves, and each other. She was sooo right."

"What did you learn about yourself?" Hunter asked.

Maria made an unhappy face. "Faced with a real, violent threat to my life, I'm a chicken shit."

"What about you?" Hunter asked me.

Up to this point, I'd been enjoying the company. My high school friendships were nonexistent and, while my college friendship with Celia remained a meaningful one, I'd not had many opportunities to sit and talk with other witches, except Lydia. She was grandmotherly. This was different. Like co-workers chatting about the job. It felt very normal and good while it lasted. Now, I had the feeling that Hunter wanted to know how we did in both of these tests so she would have a better idea of where she stood. "I'd rather not say."

"You couldn't have done worse than me," Maria said. "I'm honestly surprised they are letting me go to the next round. I mean, technically, the three of us competed already. Amber wasn't an actual contestant."

That's right. One final round. What if I won this? Goddess, don't let me win.

"C'mon," Hunter goaded me.

Maria glanced over at me and said, "You've nothing to be ashamed of."

"I'm not ashamed." I sipped my coffee nonchalantly. "I just… I don't know."

"Well, I'll tell you what I think," Maria said. "I think that after seeing the cut on your knuckle, that swelling bruise on Holly's cheek makes more sense to me."

I put the cup down and hid my hand in my lap, not that it did me any good.

Hunter's brows shot up. "You fought?"

Trying to appear meek and mild to offset feeling like a brute, I asked, "What did you do?"

"I used psychology and talked her down." She relaxed against the backrest of her folding chair as if she'd just been told something serious. "Never occurred to me to take her on."

Maria cackled. "You didn't think of it? You jolted everyone who'd shake hands. And she was the one to think aggressively." She pointed at me without lowering her Styrofoam cup.

"As far as judging goes," I said to Hunter, "I'm sure your actions are perfectly aligned with what they're looking for in a high priestess." I hoped she'd forgive me for my earlier insults. I faced Maria. "And yours was probably more desirable a solution than mine. They're probably running a background check right now to see if I have a rap sheet."

"Do you?" Maria asked seriously.

"No!" I laughed, but the sound of it hung in the air maniacally and I wished I could take it back.

"How'd you decide to fight? 'Cause she's petite?"

"It just kind of happened." Great. We'd been having a nice moment, bonding. But even among my sister witches, I was a freak.

"What about the vampires?" Maria asked Hunter.

"They are all damn sexy. Especially Sever."

"What?" Maria exclaimed.

"Oh, not that I would ever do that—I'm not looking to be any fang-boy's sangria—but being alone in the room with the three of them was as wonderful as it was terrible." She lifted her cup. "Focus on the positive," she said, and giggled before sipping.

"I focused on their chests and not to gauge their pectorals," Maria said. "It was all business in there. I didn't dare let myself see their faces. Not even enough to see if they were handsome or not."

"Trust me, they are."

Silence. Even staring at the table, I felt them turn to me. Before either worked up the nerve to ask, I blurted, "No comment!"

They both cracked up.

Lydia pushed open the door. "Ladies."

The Covenstead Great Hall interior was now almost dark. It was nearly five in the morning and the tall pillar candles had burned down to glowing nubs on the high, flat candelabrum discs. The room felt quieter, and the regality of the dais had faded sleepily like a dream ending.

Lydia led us to the center of the room, gave us back our daggers, and took her position at the left of the dais. I glanced toward each of the other contestants. One of us would be the high priestess of Venefica Covenstead soon. One of us would have to start her time in that role by organizing a grand Witches Ball in a very short amount of time. I hoped it wasn't me.

The Elders sat like bowed and bent statues upon their thrones, tired old women who'd been up all night, their faces shielded from the meager light under wide brims.

The vampires now sat in stately chairs lined on an elegant area rug placed to the right of the dais. Sever perched on the end of his seat, elbows on knees and hands clasped. It seemed Freudian, as if he were indicating his eagerness to leave. Heldridge appeared uncomfortably rigid like an Egyptian hieroglyph, but seemed utterly bored. Between them, the epitome of relaxed patience, Menessos gazed at me the way full-bellied lions watch antelope: When my appetite beckons, I will devour that.

"There are three paths in Hecate's sight: past, present, and future," the Eldrenne said. Her raven cawed softly. "And now there are three of you."

She said no more, but tilted her head as if listening to something far away. She stamped her staff gently on the dais and the crystal orb began to glow. The light claimed her face slowly, glowing eerily on the blue film over her eyes. Her gnarled hand, shaking, lifted, aimed at us. It seemed the blind woman searched for a handhold to grasp… she was searching, yes, but not for steadiness to aid her as she left her seat. I felt the cold static of power reach through my clothes to my skin. I was aware of Maria giving in to an involuntary shiver next to me.

Light, if light can be thick and gray, began to form behind the Eldrenne, a mist swirling upward, each molecule glowing within. The light from her staff twinkled here and there on the mist, making it seem as if it were not mist at all, but deepest, blackest velvet rolling in the wind, with diamond dust glittering about the surface.

Suddenly, I could smell raisin and currant cakes.

Menessos sat straighter. His movement caught my attention and I glanced from him to the Eldrenne, then on to the magic behind her. It undulated once, like a dancer had taken position—a dancer hiding under a cloth kissed by ocean breezes.

A sound came to my ears, low and deep like the voice of Time.

The four Elders lowered their heads until all I could see was hat and brim.

The mist moved again, and it seemed a figure walking. Though it moved no closer, each step made the figure's details become more realized, and it grew in size until twenty feet tall, head topped with a conical hat, the tip of which neared the domed ceiling.

A beautiful, haggard face, kind but resolute, studied us.

"My call has been heard by many," a voice said. It was the voice of every Elder, of the Eldrenne, the voice of Time Eternal, the voice of the Depths of Nothing and Everything. It licked my bones and tasted my soul, my essence, and my stain. It swallowed my fear and my hope and left me standing there naked and exposed in its sight, a vessel as open and empty as when I lay sobbing in the row of the cornfield as a child.