Chapter Two

Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order.

— Samuel Beckett

“Kathleen needs a nickname,” announced Melanie the next morning as the three of them sat on the steps together before school.

“Hmm.” Seven pondered this, looking over at the nymph in question. Her own nickname was Sparrow because her nagual (the type of animal she was naturally bound to) was a sparrow, and Melanie’s was Bubbles because her nagual was, oddly enough, goldfish. “Kathy, what’s your nagual?”

Kathleen looked confused.

“Your nagual,” Seven repeated. “You know, the kind of animal you’re spiritually linked to. All nymphs have them.”

Kathleen frowned. “I . . . I don’t think I know.”

“You don’t know?” echoed Melanie incredulously. “I mean, you have to know. All of us know what our nagual is.”

“If you don’t know, you’ll figure out,” Seven assured her. “All nymphs do eventually. It took me until I was ten to figure mine out.” She cast an amused glance over at her other friend. “Melanie only found hers out three years ago.”

Melanie made a face, but she refrained from saying anything mean for the time being. Instead, she asked Kathleen, trying to sound encouraging, “Is there any certain animal you’ve ever especially liked?”

Kathleen shrugged. “I don’t know. I had a snake once, but he only lived for, like, four days, I think.”

“That must mean it’s definitely not a snake,” Melanie reflected. “Any other pets?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Well . . .” Seven bit her lip, reconsidering what she was going to say, but she couldn’t help herself. “You know, circle dances can help to boost a nymph’s magic, even if only temporarily. Isn’t that right, Melanie?”

Melanie hesitated for a moment, and Seven looked at her expectantly. “Well, yeah,” Melanie finally said reluctantly. “But—”

“That might help,” Seven said to Kathleen, cutting Melanie off. Instantly, she could feel negative vibes coming off of her friend, no doubt directed to Kathleen. And she thinks I can’t feel that, thought Seven, almost amused.

“Well, I—”

“You know what?” Melanie interrupted, attempting at nonchalance and failing. “I think school’s gonna start any minute now, so we’d better get going!” She immediately hopped to her feet and started up the steps, and Seven felt an odd sense of déjà vu; two days in a row, one of them had used the beginning of school to get away from an uncomfortable conversation.

“Aren’t you going to that circle dance tonight, Seven?” The door creaked open, revealing Melanie’s heart-shaped face, expression anxious.

“God, yes, I’m getting ready now,” Seven assured her, irritated. “Go away!”

“Fine. You’d better hurry, though. Don’t wanna be late.” Melanie finally went away, but she left the door open, to Seven’s further annoyance.

Seven wondered again if she should just stay here as she went to close the door. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what Melanie was planning to do while she was gone. Why couldn’t the girl just grow up already?

Seven shook her head to herself. No. She wasn’t going to worry about Melanie. She was going to have fun tonight.

She opened her closet and frowned when she saw its contents. Most nymphs loved to dance and party as much as possibly, so naturally all of them had lots of dresses. As in, about twenty per nymph. Seven only had twelve, since she didn’t party quite as much as the others, but that still seemed like quite a lot to her.

How in the world was she supposed to choose just one of them?

It really shouldn’t have been that hard, actually. She wasn’t used to going to circle dances, though, and she wasn’t sure what sort of dress would be appropriate. Was this one supposed to be formal? Semiformal? Casual? She began sifting through all the different gowns—pink, purple, blue, red, gold—trying to find one that might work for any type of party. The black one, so short it might be more suitable as a shirt, was definitely out of the question. Diana had gotten her that one for her last birthday, she was pretty sure. Diana was one of the older nymphs, no husband and children. She was always nice to the other children in the bevy, but, truthfully, Seven didn’t think she was suited to have her own child, especially if that black dress was any indication of her parenting skills.

She finally settled on a gold, spaghetti-strap dress. It was made out of a dark gold, shimmery satin. Overall, Seven thought it would be classified as semiformal. Hopefully it would be appropriate for the circle dance.

She did her makeup in mostly light tones, with pink lip gloss and gold eye shadow. And then came the hair. She thought her hair was pretty enough, champagne blond and undulant, but with its wavy texture, there wasn’t much she could do with it. It looked too plain down, but it would look even worse in a ponytail. With a quick glance at the clock, she decided she would have enough time to try and put it in a bun.

It ended up looking sloppy, with a few little pieces of hair still loose around her face, but she knew it was the best she would be able to do, so she just put a simple butterfly barrette in it, and then slipped on a pair of pink wedges and a pink sweater and headed out the door.

Mom was downstairs already, waiting. She was dressed in a wide, aqua blue skirt that went a little past her knees, plain white tank, and a shrug that matched the skirt, accessorized with gold bangles, gold hoop earrings, and a gold cross necklace.

When Seven came down, her mom immediately looked her entire outfit. She didn’t look completely approving about it, but she didn’t say anything at least. Instead, she suggested, “Seven, why don’t you go back and see if anyone else wants to come with us?”

“I already know Melanie and Kathleen aren’t coming.” And Grayson will only come if Hell freezes over, she thought, but, of course, she didn’t say that out loud.

“Well, you still need to ask the rest of them,” Mom told her. “Go on.”

Seven sighed in exasperation and turned around to go back up the stairs. When she got to the hall, she took her shoes off, knowing she’d never make it through the night if she walked up two sets of stairs in those wedges before even getting to the circle dance.

When she knocked on the first door in the hall on the second floor, where Melanie’s parents stayed, Mrs. Yarrow was there in seconds. “Oh, you look so nice!” she gushed when she saw Seven. “Going to the circle dance tonight?”

Seven nodded, feeling her face heat up a little. She imagined it was turning pale shade of pink, and she was glad she never blushed too hard, like Melanie always did. “Yeah,” she answered. “I just wanted to know if you’re coming, too?”

“Uh . . . Hold on a minute, I’ll see if Joe wants to go.” Mrs. Yarrow turned around and asked into the room, “Joe, do you wanna go to the circle dance tonight?”

Seven couldn’t make out the reply, but it must have been negative since Melanie’s mom said, when she turned back, “Sorry, not tonight. I don’t think Melanie wanted to go, anyway. Maybe another time.”

Seven nodded. “Okay, I’ll go see if Diana wants to come.”

“You do that.” Mrs. Yarrow was never particularly fond of Diana.

Seven headed to the room across the hall and knocked on it. “Coming!” Diana’s muffled voice came from inside, and soon she was at the door, wearing lacy, midnight blue dress and strappy heels.

“You going to the circle dance tonight?” Seven asked.

“Yeah, but only for a little while,” Diana answered. Of course she was going to be off to some nightclub later on.

“You want a ride?” Seven knew that would mean they’d have to drive her to wherever she was going after the circle dance, but Mom had told her to go and ask all of them if they wanted to come.

“Oh, sure, that’d be great,” Diana said, smiling. “Thanks.”

Seven had to go back over the list of all the people who lived in the house to make sure she’d gotten to them all. Melanie, her parents, Kathleen, Grayson—all weren’t coming. Then there was herself, Mom, and Diana, who were coming. Who ever thought of having eight people, all not even related, live in one house? she wondered, a little irritated. How much easier life would be if it was only her and her mom.

The weather was still warm outside, the sky dark and clear. Perfect for a circle dance. The part Seven didn’t like about these parties, though, was the hike; after getting as far as they could go in the car, they’d have to get out and walk the rest of the way through the woods. Wedges so were not suited for hiking, but at least nymphs were naturally better at it than humans.

Well, with the exception of Melanie.

The drive was fairly short, with Mom and Diana keeping up the conversation most of the way. Seven just mostly looked out the window, at the forest. Of course, there were lots of little sparrows up in the trees chirping at her, knowing she was family. She thought of Kathleen again, not even knowing what a nagual was. What kind of life for a wood nymph was that, anyway, just one family living in the house and no one knowing hardly anything about their own species?

A human’s life, answered a little voice inside her head, and Seven shuddered at the thought. That was exactly it, though. Kathleen had been living like a human. Seven wondered if it was better for her now to be living in a bevy, learning so much more about wood nymphs. Maybe living like a human would be better.

No—living like a human would definitely be better, Seven thought, remembering all the troubles being a wood nymph and living in a group had brought her. It wasn’t like that for everyone, though. Just her.

“Seven,” her mom’s voice broke her train of thought, “come on, honey, we gotta get out. Time to hike.” She didn’t sound too thrilled by the thought.

Seven forced a smile and got out of the car. She looked at Diana, in her little dress and high heels, and felt sorry for her. This was going to be quite an interesting journey.

As expected, it didn’t take long for Diana to start complaining. “God, these shoes are going to be ruined,” she muttered, but at least she wasn’t one to go on grumbling and griping the entire time. Her shoes looked fine to Seven, anyway. One of the wonders of wood nymphs magic.

Whether they looked fine or not, though, Seven’s wedges were becoming seriously painful. At one point, she considered taking them off. It would feel wonderful to just start running through the woods barefoot—one of those stupid wood nymph things. Part of her was still worried about ticks and mosquitoes, even though she knew bugs and animals wouldn’t dare try to bother a wood nymph, family.

At one point, Seven closed her eyes and pictured the forest in her mind, how it would look from above, and located all the different glades and meadows she’d memorized the site of. And then she could see the spot where Diana, her, and her mom were—heading towards the wrong glade.

She stopped abruptly, opening her eyes. “Mom,” she said, “we’re going the wrong way.”

Diana and Mom stopped, too. “What?” Diana said. “We’ve come all this way already, and we’re not even going the right way?”

Mom concentrated for a moment, then said, “She’s right. We’re headed to Trillare Glade. It’s a good thing you figured that out, at least. Come on, this way . . .” She began leading them in the other direction, which would hopefully be the right one this time.

Once again, Seven felt the weight of having to act as a leader with everyone in the bevy (even the adults!) fall heavily upon her. She tried to shake it off and hoped they would make it the circle dance soon. Dancing was one of the few things that could make her just let loose and have fun, without thinking about taking care of anyone else.

She knew they were getting close when she could feel the magic in the air. That meant there were a lot of nymphs there, from nearby bevies. She could sense magic of all kinds, all different naguals, all different plants, all different cultures and locations. Something about this circle dance was special, she realized. Chicago. She sensed a whisper of the town, which meant someone had traveled two hours to get here. Wow. This must have been really special. This didn’t very often.

“Mom?” she asked aloud. “What day is it, again?”

“Mmm, the twenty-eighth, I believe,” Mom answered absently.

August 28th . . . Two days before the new moon, she realized. Oh, wonderful. That meant there would be circle dances three days in a row, from now until Thursday. They always did that for new moons, although it was only this big on special moons. This was the Sturgeon Moon, though. Why in the world would sturgeon be so special?

Then she remembered that sturgeon was the nagual of the leader of the Chicago bevy (only the really big bevies had leaders), however bizarre it may be. Seven had met Zuri Fedha before, and she wasn’t her favorite person to be around. She wasn’t particularly mean, just . . . cold. She was always stern and indifferent, with a cool kind of politeness. Seven hoped she wouldn’t have to meet Zuri tonight, if she was right about the Chicago alpha being here.

“Wow, it’s sure crowded tonight, isn’t it?” Mom said as they entered the glade. “They’re probably trampling all the wildflowers . . .”

Seven resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She didn’t mind crowds so much—at least, not when they were all nymphs. Humans were another matter completely. She was surprised at how glad she was to be away from them now.

“Oh, Zuri! Hi!” Diana exclaimed, turning to face someone who was approaching them, and Seven had the sudden, childish impulse to hide behind her mother. She looked to meet the hard, deep brown gaze of Zuri Fedha and instantly looked away. What was it about that woman that intimidated her so badly? Authoritative figures usually did make her nervous. For some reason, she always felt guilty around Zuri.

Before Zuri could get the chance to get a good look at her, Seven slipped away into the crowd to join the gradually forming circle. Usually, the actual circle dancing didn’t last long; they would all soon begin dancing on their own in no particular formation. That was the most fun part of it.

“Seven!”

Seven turned around, and a smile broke across her face. It was Rhian, a girl from Granger, a city right next to South Bend, who Seven had befriended at a few other dance circles they’d both been to. Rhian was a therianthrope, but she could only shift into one kind of creature—a cat. Seven had never seen her in cat form before, but Rhian said she always changed into a gray one, no matter what color she wanted to be.

“Hey, Rhian! You haven’t been to any circle dances around here lately,” Seven observed.

“I know, I know,” said Rhian. “Mom hasn’t wanted me to go out for a while—since, you know, there’ve been rumors about some sort of new creature around here, but nobody knows what it is. Supposed to be dangerous.”

“Really?” Seven asked, frowning. “I haven’t heard anything about that.”

“Well, I’m sure news will make it here soon, especially after tonight,” Rhian commented. “This is going to be an interesting meeting, I’m sure.”

Seven nodded in agreement, and then, abruptly, Rhian’s mood brightened. “Come on, the circles are starting!” she exclaimed. “Let’s go dance!” Rhian took off immediately, and Seven hurried to keep up. They ended up in different parts of the circle, though. Seven began to feel lost; Rhian was several people away from her in the circle, and she couldn’t even spot Mom or Diana. They were probably in another one of the circles.

And then she realized that Zuri Fedha was only two spaces away from her. Was it just her imagination, or was Zuri staring at her? She shuddered and attempted to divert her attention, instead trying to identify the people next her. On her left was a girl in a black dress and tights with black and red argyle going up the sides, with deep red lipstick and thick black eyeliner. Seven didn’t recognize her. She wondered why so many nymphs seemed to be Gothic. Or maybe it was just that a lot of people overall were Gothic.

To her right was a boy, maybe a year older than her, with dyed-blue hair. And that was another thing—a lot of them dyed their hair insane colors. At least that one had a fairly reasonable explanation, though; nymphs always liked bright colors. But then again, if they liked bright colors, why did so many want to dress in black? It hurt Seven’s head to think about it, so she tried to stop.

It didn’t take her long to let loose, as she’d hoped she would. It wasn’t hard; the feeling of such strong magic all around her was always intoxicating.

The circles soon split up, and Seven found herself dancing with random different people, not even caring who they were. Some part of her, that little voice in her head, was about to have a nervous breakdown. Fun is not good, it was saying, as always. Fun makes you irresponsible, and—

She didn’t want to listen tonight.

But then her mother found her. “Seven!” she said. “I’ve been looking all over for you! Where have you been?”

“I’ve just been dancing, talking to Rhian,” Seven answered. “It’s all right, Mom, it’s not like I’m lost or anything.”

“You didn’t even meet Zuri. Why’d you run away like that?”

Seven gnawed at her lower lip for a moment. She didn’t particularly want to describe to her mom how nervous and guilty Zuri Fedha always made her feel, so she just shrugged, as if that explained it.

“You’ll have to meet her later, but, my God, it’s getting so wild here, it’s a wonder I even found you at all!”

Seven forced a smile to cover the sudden anxiety she was feeling. She felt childish for not wanting to face Zuri, though. What was wrong with her? Zuri was just another nymph. Sure, she was about a half a foot taller than Seven (which is saying a lot), she had that dark, piercing gaze, she—

Okay, better not think about that now. It was inevitable for her to meet Zuri now, anyway. She might as well try to brave about it.

She couldn’t help thinking about how quickly her good mood had been snuffed out, which only made her even glummer. That was going to make meeting Zuri even worse. She’d probably think Seven was some broody teenager . . .

“Come on, Seven,” Mom said, completely oblivious to her daughter’s sudden bad mood, “let’s go find her.”

Seven quietly followed her mother as she tried awkwardly to move through the dancing crowd. They probably wouldn’t be able to find Zuri, anyway, she thought. Like Mom had said, it was a wonder she could have even found one person.

But then Mom said, “Oh, there you are, Zuri. Have you met Seven yet?”

“Oh, yes, I believe so, sometime a few years ago,” Zuri answered. She smiled, but it didn’t seem to reach her eyes. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Seven.” And then, like any adult would, she added, “My, you’ve grown! How old are you now, dear?”

When Zuri addressed her directly, a switch seemed to flip on in her head, and suddenly Seven was much more amiable. “I’m sixteen now, Ms. Fedha,” she replied politely.

“She’s getting closer,” Zuri observed in a lower voice, speaking to Seven’s mom now. “What do you plan to do with her then, Edaline?”

“Ms. Fedha, I really don’t think this is the time to talk about that,” Mom said in an equally low voice. Suddenly, she didn’t seem so happy, as if she and Seven had switched roles.

Zuri looked at Seven in a sort of superior way, and Seven swallowed, struggling to keep her polite front on. She had no clue what the two of them were talking about, and she didn’t like it. She wasn’t going to say anything now, though.

“Very well,” Zuri said at last, but her mood only brightened marginally. “I should be going now, then. I’ll be speaking to you later, Edaline.”

“Yes,” Mom said. It seemed like she was trying to be more amiable, but she wasn’t doing a very good job at it. “Goodbye, Zuri.”

“Bye.” Seven tried to sound polite, too, but there was suddenly a tense, awkward atmosphere around the three. It seemed to lighten a little, at least, when Zuri left.

Seven turned to her mom and hissed, “Mom, what was she talking about, asking what you were going to do with me?”

“Nothing, dear,” Mom assured her, smiling with a cheerfulness that Seven suspected was still fake. “Nothing at all. Come on, why don’t we dance some more?”

So they did. Seven decided it wasn’t worth ruining the mood to interrogate her mother about it more, and Mom obviously wasn’t going to tell her willingly. Besides, she had plenty of other things to busy her mind with now.