I took the stone from him and stared at it. As my brow tented in worry, I asked, "God, Dominic, are you okay? How did that stone get in your mouth?"

"I have no idea, Matt." He put his finger on the stone in my hand, then closed my fingers over it and kissed my knuckles. "It's pretty, at least." He winked at me. "I feel like I've given you something of myself, which makes me even more deliriously happy."

His outrageous behavior elicited a nervous laugh from me, which rose in a small icy plume as the air grew frigid. Each circular, brass firepit on each end of the balcony had its flames snuffed by a layer of ice. Frost crawled along the floor until it just reached our feet. We shuffled backward until we pressed against a wall. I tucked my arm around Dominic's and scooted closer because the cold was numbing my brain. Then he encircled my shoulders and drew me closer as we gazed at each other in surprise.

"Ahem!" a feminine voice sounded behind me. I stuffed the stone in my pocket and turned my head. Emerlee was in the doorway, blocking it, and she regarded us impassively. "I thought I might speak to you alone out here, Madeline, but I see you have one of your humans out here." She made a sniffing noise at Dominic.

I put myself in front of Dominic, who protested by laying his hands on me to pull me back. Next, my birds made an appearance and flew to my shoulders. She glanced at them with interest, then returned her focus to me. Her pupils were thin slits within dark orange eyes that had no eyelids. Scales surrounded them. She smiled, showing gleaming fangs, and I thought of Joseph's fangs. Finally, a shiver formed at the base of my spine and traveled up my back as I realized she meant to do more than talk.

"What can I do for you, Emerlee?" I tried to quell the rapid beating of my heart. All thoughts that I might have mistaken Emerlee's desire to assassinate me fled.

"I'm here to congratulate you since the priestess has refused my claim. I wonder what you said to her." With a hiss, she took one step forward.

"Look, Emerlee, none of this is my fault. I get you're angry, but get angry at the people that decided all this, not me." I folded my arms to conserve my warmth while Dominic tried to pull me behind him. After I elbowed him, our whispered, back-and-forth bickering about who would protect whom upset Emerlee. While we argued, two frills of scales on each side of her neck unfurled and her jaw unhinged. The inside of Emerlee's mouth was as orange as her eyes, and her tongue was forked and black. Dominic won the spot in front for the moment as I peeked around him.

She curled her lips into a sneer and re-hinged her jaw so she could speak. "You must have seduced my Luke somehow; that is why he broke our engagement. I mean to expose you for the harlot you are!"

"Harlot? How old are you, Emerlee? Like.. seventy?"

"Matt, where's your filter?" Dominic mumbled. "Mortal danger here!"

I smacked his leg in outrage. "No filter needed for a B--"

Emerlee cut me off by saying, "I despise you because you are rude, loud, and oafish. You're nothing but a commoner despite your parentage. Luke will have to see reason once the Goddess rejects you. I plan to petition her."

"Hey, if that happens, I'll throw a party. You're invited, of course." Then I laughed, feigning bravery. I wasn't a big fan of snakes. They're not as scary as dolls, but they come in high on my list of things I would not want to touch in the middle of the night. "Can you move? I need to get in line."

 I must have finally broken the last straw because this was the point where she spat at me. A section of the balcony floor melted away from her spit, so I cringed, and I was climbing up Dominic with a yelp to avoid the hole left behind. Before I could stop them, my birds darted towards her.

"Klick! Klack! No!"

She swiped her hand at them, and Klack smacked into the guardrail of the balcony. It fell into a crumpled heap of pom-poms on the floor. "Klack!" I screamed.

Dominic kept me from going over to my pets while Emerlee pealed with laughter. Before she could spit at us again, something surprising happened. Dominic put out his hand to shield us from the next acid blast that was about to hit us, and an actual shield formed out of blue light from his hand. The shield covered both of us and was transparent. My family's crest was on the front of it. Emerlee attempted to spit at us again despite the protection, but it landed on the shield and was neutralized.

"Impossible!" Emerlee's enraged snarl made us cower behind Dominic's shield.

After that, someone threw a silver net over her, and she crumpled to the ground. Two guards rushed forward onto the balcony and hauled Emerlee away while she screamed obscenities. Then Luke came out after them, looking pale.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he glanced at Emerlee.

I was running over to Klack to see if it was still "alive." Although it was a skeletal bird being reanimated by my power, I was panicked that she'd damaged him beyond repair. Klick was pulling on its pom-pom wing to rouse it, but the little bird remained still. I scooped up my injured pet and hugged it to my chest. "Oh, Klack!"

I lowered my hands to see what had happened. The impact had twisted its neck, and I wasn't sure if I could fix it.

"Madeline, My Lady, I'm so sorry," Luke said. He reached out to stroke my hair, but I jerked away. 

I sniffled back my tears and shrugged, not willing to look at him.  Maybe it was unfair, but I blamed him for Emerlee being there. I tucked Klack's broken body into my robe's left pocket while Klick dived into my other pocket.

Dominic was staring at his hands until I nudged him and took his hand. With a glance at my pocket, he pulled his hand out of my grasp and put it around my shoulders.

"Can I help you fix it?" He rubbed my arm with his thumb.

I still couldn't speak, so I shook my head.  Ignoring Luke's outstretched hand, I walked past him. His hand curled into a fist that he laid against his chest.

Luis was close to the door, and he rushed past Luke to speak to me. "What happened?"

"Emerlee tried to kill us," Dominic replied.

"What was she doing here?" Luis growled as he pulled me from Dominic and began to check me for damage.

"She was invited!" A bitter smile garnished my mumbled response. 

"Elect Madeline and her court! Please assemble for the ritual!" Valenia stared at us from the dais.

"Madeline, I'm—" Luke put his hand out to touch my arm, but Luis batted it away.

"Don't touch her."

Adrian glanced at me as Valenia shouted at us again. "We still going to do this?"

I looked at Regina, who was twisting her lips in triumph. Of course, she'd be happy about us quitting because she would win. Marisol would step out of the way, for sure.

Ciaran smiled at me, seeming the least worried. He already knew what my answer would be. If I wanted to see where these new powers and events would lead me, I couldn't turn back now. I nodded at Adrian, who gave me a high-five, surprisingly. He didn't seem as unhappy about this as he was a few hours ago. What changed?

"All right then," Adrian said.

Finally, the six of us assembled at the back of the line to wait for our turn to "Become." Regina was first, but she walked back toward me to check on me.

"How awful that there was an attempt on your life! Are you okay?"

"I'm uninjured." I raised a brow at her.

Regina put her fingertips against her lips to hide her disappointment that I wasn't more damaged. Ah, so that was why. She'd hoped that Emerlee would have taken me out. "So awful. I'm glad you are okay," she said with insincere sympathy.

I never said I was okay, but I smiled anyway.

The high priestess was standing on the dais impatiently until we'd all moved back to our places. Around her, she had set three torches. Once the crowd had quieted down, she lifted her hands to the sky. "Great Mother of the Garden, Mother Oak, Mistress of all, we beseech you!"

Chimes sounded. She lit the first torch, and it flamed purple.

"These Elect are here to show their worthiness to be your avatar and rule the land in purity as the Brigid, the Principi, the Queen of Summer, and all that is good. Each shall try to prove her worth with the knife, the cup, and the devotion of her court." Valenia's eyes met mine as she lit the second torch, and it flamed green. I sneered.

With a sharp look, she continued. "The Elect shall try to avail against the trials of the physical, mental, and spiritual. At the last trial, she shall place the stones of her worth into the holy crown, stones that she will receive from her court and reign for one thousand years." She lit the final torch, and it flamed golden. "Holy Mother, appear before us!"

As her words echoed out, sparkling lights flickered above each throne. First, on the left throne, was a man with dark purple hair who wore a crown of clustered lavender berries on his head. His hair was a tousled mess beneath the crown, and he wore a pair of gold glasses whose lenses were shaped like half-moons, also tinted purple. As with most of the men I'd encountered in this world, he was pointlessly handsome. His face was small and rather feminine and was it not for the fact that he was shirtless, I would have mistaken him for a girl. His face was heart-shaped, and his lips were two perfect cupid bows. He was wearing a pair of purple pants with black pinstripes.

Next, the man on the right was wearing a crown of Hawthorn blooms. His hair was light green and pulled back into a straight ponytail. He was just as pointlessly handsome as the first, with dark green eyebrows that stood out against a deep olive complexion. The eyebrows were thick and straight and hung low over magenta-colored eyes. He had a straight nose and a firm jaw that was covered with dark green stubble. He wore a full double-breasted suit in canary yellow and held a golden cane with a dog decorating the top. His shoes were an impeccable golden brown. He reminded me of a kingpin, and I expected him to ask for his little friend.

Finally, in the last chair sat a compact figure with gray hair in an oversized sweatsuit of red velour. Straight, steel-gray brows beetled over small, dark brown eyes. She was mumbling in Greek as she knitted a sweater that looked like reindeers being set on fire. She was thin and frail, with so many wrinkles that they'd doubled up. I knew this face. I'd spent the last four years being yelled at by it. What was that face doing here on a goddess who was known to be pure? How could a woman that saved margarine tubs and shampoo bottles because she might need them to be anything but the stingy old woman I'd always known?

How could Aisa be here??