Stevie Rae watched her march down the hall before she reluctantly turned to Dallas.

“Can we go in there?” he asked, pointing to the deserted media center.

“Sure, but I do gotta get goin’.”

Without saying anything, Dallas opened the door for her, and they stepped into the cool, dim room that smelled like books and lemon furniture polish.

“You and me, we don’t have to be together anymore,” Dallas said, all in a rush.

“Huh? Don’t have to be together? What do you mean?”

Dallas crossed his arms over his chest and looked super uncomfortable. “I mean we were goin’ out. You were my girlfriend. You don’t want to be anymore, and I get it. You were right, I couldn’t do shit to protect you from that bird thing. And I just want you to know I’m not gonna turn into an asshole about you and me. I’ll still be here for you when you need me, girl, ’cause you’re gonna always be my High Priestess.”

“I don’t want to break up!” she blurted.

“You don’t?”

“No,” and she didn’t. At that instant, Dallas was all she could see, and his heart and his goodness were so obvious that Stevie Rae felt like losing him would be like getting punched in her gut. “Dallas, I’m so sorry for what I said before. I was hurt and mad, and I didn’t mean it. I couldn’t even get out of the circle, and I cast the dang thing. There’s no way you, or anyone else, not even a Warrior, could’ve gotten in there to me.”

Dallas met her gaze. “That Raven Mocker got in there.”

“Well, like you said yourself, he’s on the side of Darkness,” she said, even though his bringing up Rephaim was like throwing cold water in her face.

“There’s a lot on the side of Darkness out there,” Dallas said. “And a bunch of it seems to be runnin’ into you. So, be careful, will ya, girl?” He reached out and brushed a springy blond curl from her face. “I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you.” He let his hand rest on her shoulder. His thumb gently caressed the line of her neck.

“I’ll be careful,” she said softly.

“You really don’t want to break up?”

She shook her head.

“I’m glad, ’cause I don’t want to either.”

Dallas leaned down as he pulled her into his arms. His lips met Stevie Rae’s in a hesitant kiss. She told herself to relax and melted into him. He was a good kisser—he always had been. And she liked that he was taller than her, but not crazy tall. He tasted good, too. He knew that she liked her back rubbed, so as he slipped his arms around her his hands went under her shirt—not to try to maul her boobs, like most guys would have. Instead, Dallas started to rub soft, warm circles over her lower back, pressing her closer to him and deepening their kiss.

Stevie Rae kissed him back. It felt good to be with him . . . to block out everything . . . to forget for even a little while about Rephaim and all that stuff . . . especially about the debt she’d willingly paid that made her—

Stevie Rae pulled away from Dallas. They were both more than a little breathless.

“I, uh, I do have to go. Remember?” Stevie Rae smiled at him, trying not to sound as awkward as she felt.

“Actually, I’d kinda forgotten,” Dallas said, smiling sweetly at her and brushing that stubborn curl out of her eyes again. “But I know you hafta go. Come on. I’ll walkya to the Bug.”

Feeling part traitor, part liar, and part doomed prisoner, Stevie Rae let him take her hand and lead her to Zoey’s car, just like they really, truly could be boyfriend and girlfriend again.

Chapter 17

“That boy’s gone on you,” Kramisha said, as Stevie Rae pulled out of the school’s parking lot, leaving behind Dallas, who was looking more than kinda pitiful. “You know what you gonna do ’bout that other kid?”

Stevie Rae braked the car in the middle of the blacktop that led to Utica Street. “I’m too stressed-out to deal with guy stuff right now. So if all you wanna do is talk about that, you can stay here.”

“Not dealing with guy stuff just causes more stress.”

“Bye, Kramisha.”

“If you gonna act all crazy, then I won’t say nothin’ about it. Right now. Anyway, I got other more important stuff that you need to deal with.”

Stevie Rae put the Bug into gear and kept driving off campus though she wished Kramisha would press her about the guy stuff so she’d have an excuse to leave her behind, too.

“Remember when you told me to think harder ’bout my poems and such to try to get somethin’ that might help Zoey?”

“Of course I remember.”

“Well, I did. And I got somethin’.” She dug around in her huge bag until she brought out a well-worn notebook with pages that were her signature purple color. “I think everbody, including me until I focused myself, is forgetting ’bout this.” She opened the notebook and waved a page with her cursive print at Stevie Rae.

“Kramisha, you know I can’t read that while I’m drivin’. Just tell me what you remembered.”

“The poem I wrote right before Zoey and the rest of the kids took off for Venice. The one that sounds like it’s from Kalona to Zoey. Here, I’ll read it to ya:

“Ohmygoodness! I had totally forgotten ’bout that! Okay, okay, read it again, only slower.” Stevie Rae listened closely while Kramisha read the poem again. “It has to be from Kalona, doesn’t it? That part about being trapped by the earth makes it definitely from him.”

“I’m practically sure it’s from him to her.”

“It must be, even though that’s kinda scary, what with the whole double-edged sword beginning, but the end seems like a real good thing.”

“It says, ‘then we shall both be free,’ ” Kramisha quoted.

“Sounds to me like Z’s gonna get free from the Otherworld.”

“And so will Kalona,” Kramisha added.

“We’ll deal with that when it happens. Gettin’ Z free is what’s most important. Hang on! I think some of it’s already come true! What was the part about water?”

“It says: ‘Find me on water.’ ”

“And she did. San Clemente Island is definitely on water.”

“It also says that Zoey has to ‘follow truth.’ What do you think that means?”

“I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I might have an idea. The last time I talked to Z, I told her to follow her heart, no matter that it might seem to everyone else in the world that she was messin’ up royally, just follow what everything inside her said was the right thing to do.” Stevie Rae paused, blinking hard against the sudden urge to bawl. “I-I’ve felt real guilty about sayin’ that, though, ’cause of what happened to her right afterward.”

“But maybe you was right. Maybe what’s happenin’ to Z is supposed to happen, ’cause I’m thinkin’ to follow your heart and to hold on to what you believe is right, even when everbody else says you’re dead-assed wrong, is a powerful kind of truth.”

Stevie Rae felt a flutter of excitement. “And if she keeps doin’ that, keeps holdin’ to the truth she has in her heart, the end of the poem will happen, and she’ll be free.”