“You don’t have to be jealous of Erik. Zo will never be with any guy very long who’s a possessive turd. Don’t let those kind of guys stress you.”

“If I get her back, whole and in her body, I’m not gonna ever let any other guy stress me again,” Stark said.

“When,” he said solemnly. Stark’s brow furrowed. Heath sighed and explained. “When you get her back, not if. I’m not gonna leave her if you can’t be sure about what you’re doing.”

Stark nodded. “Okay, you’re right. When I get her back. I am sure I’m doing the right thing; we’re doing the right thing. It’s just that I know no matter what, it’s gonna end up hurting Zoey.”

“Yeah, I know.” Heath’s chin jerked in Zoey’s direction. “But nothing’s as bad as what’s happening to her right now.” Heath bowed his head for a moment and then slapped each of his shoulders, like he was banging against his football uniform’s shoulder pads. He shook himself, blew out a long breath, and then raised his head to meet Stark’s eyes one last time. “Make sure she knows I don’t want her to be all snot crying and freaked about me. Remind her for me that she’s seriously unattractive when she’s like that.”

“I will.”

“Oh, speaking of, you’d better get used to carrying around Kleenex in your pockets, ’cause I’m not even exaggerating. Zo’s snot cry is nasty.”

“Okay, yeah, I’ll do it.”

Heath held out his hand to Stark. “Take care of her for me.”

Stark grasped his forearm. “Warrior to Warrior, I give you my Oath on it.”

“Good, ’cause I’m gonna hold you to your Oath next time I see you.”

Heath dropped Stark’s arm, drew another deep breath, and stepped away from their concealment. He tried not to think about what was going to happen.

Instead, he looked at Zoey and saw beyond the shadowlike thing she was becoming, and thought about the girl he’d loved since he was a kid. He could see the uneven bangs she’d cut for herself in fourth grade. He smiled, thinking of her tomboy time in middle school, when her knees had stayed bruised and scabby for months and months. Then there was the summer before her freshman year when he’d gone on vacation with his family for a month and left her gangly and awkward, but had come back to discover she’d turned into a young goddess. His young goddess.

“Hey, Zo,” he said as he caught up and fell into step with her restless, circular pacing.

“Heath! I was just wondering where you were. I, uh, stopped here so you could catch up with me. I missed you.”

“You’re fast, Zo. I caught you soon as I could.” He looped her arm though his. Her skin felt scarily cold. “How ya doin’, babe?”

“I don’t know. I feel kinda weird. Dizzy but heavy, too. Do you know what’s wrong with me, Heath?”

“Yeah, babe, I do.” He stopped walking, but kept her arm linked with his, so that she was forced to stop, too. “Your soul’s shattered, Zo. We’re in the Otherworld, remember?”

Her big dark eyes met his, and for an instant, she almost seemed like her old self. “Yeah, I remember now, and I’m telling you, it’s a big bunch of bullpoopie!”

Tears made his vision of her swim, but he blinked hard and smiled. “Damn right it is, but I know how to fix things.”

“You do? That’s great, but, uh, can you fix things while I walk ’cause this standing still stuff is just not working for me.”

Instead of letting her go, Heath put his hands firmly on her shoulders and forced her to stay there and look into his eyes.

“You gotta pull the pieces of your soul together and then get to your body back there in the real world. You gotta do it for your friends—for Stark—for your grandma. Zo, you even gotta do it for me.”

Zoey’s body twitched, but he could see she was making an effort to hold herself still.

“Not without you, Heath. I don’t want to go back to the real world without you.”

“I know, babe,” he said softly. “But sometimes you gotta do stuff you don’t want to do. Like me right now—I don’t want to leave you, but it’s time for me to move on.”

Her eyes widened, and her hands went up to cover his gripping her shoulders. “You can’t leave me, Heath! I’ll die if you leave me.”

“No, babe. You’ll do the opposite. You’ll pull yourself together, and you’ll live.”

“No, no, no! You can’t leave me.” Zoey started crying. “I can’t be here without you!”

“That’s what I’m trying to get you to see, Zo. If I’m not here, you’ll go back where you belong and stop being this pathetic, ghost thing you’re turning into.”

“Okay, no. No. I’ll pull myself together. Just stay here. Stay with me. It’ll be fine, you’ll see. I promise, Heath.”

He’d known she’d say something like that, so he was ready with his answer, but that didn’t make it break his heart any less. “It’s not just about you, Zo. It’s also about what’s right for me. It’s time I move on to another realm.”

“What do you mean? Heath, I don’t understand,” she sobbed.

“I know you don’t, babe. I don’t really understand it, but I can feel it,” he said truthfully. As he spoke, the right words came to him, and as they did, peace filled Heath, soothing his heartache and making him know beyond all else he really was doing the right thing. “I did die too soon. I want my life, Zo. I want my chance.”

“I-I’m sorry, Heath. It’s my fault, and I can’t give your life back to you.”

“No one can, Zo. But I can have another shot at life. Not if I stay here with you, though. If I stay here, I’ll never have lived, and neither will you.”

Zoey had stopped sobbing, but tears still leaked from her eyes, flooding her cheeks and dripping down her face as if she were standing outside during a rainy summer day.

“I can’t. I can’t go on without you.”

Heath shook her gently and made himself smile. “Yeah, you can. If I can do it, you can, too. ’Cause you know you’re smarter and stronger than I am, Zo. You always have been.”

“No, Heath,” Zoey whispered.

“I want you to remember something, Zo. It’s important, and it’ll make more sense when you have yourself together again. I’m gonna leave here and get another chance at life. You’re gonna be a big, famous vamp High Priestess. That means you’re gonna live like a gazillion years. I’ll find you again. Even if it takes a hundred of those years. I promise you, Zoey Redbird, we’ll be together again.” Heath pulled her into his arms and kissed her, trying through touch to show her that his love was never-ending. When he finally forced himself to let her go, he thought he saw understanding in her haunted, shocked gaze. “I’ll love you forever, Zo.”

Then Heath turned and walked away from his true love. The air before him opened, curtainlike, and he stepped from one realm to another and disappeared completely.

Utterly broken, Zoey staggered back to the cedar tree. Silent as a corpse, with tears leaking steadily down her face, she resumed her circular pacing.

Chapter 28

Kalona couldn’t tell how long he’d been in Nyx’s realm.

At first it’d been such a jolt to be wrenched from his body by the Darkness Neferet harnessed that, physically and spiritually, he’d been unaware of anything except the awe and fear of having returned to Her realm.

He hadn’t forgotten the beauty of the place—the pure wonder of the Otherworld and the magic it held for him. Especially for him.

He’d been different when he’d belonged there.

He’d been a force for Light, protecting Nyx against anything Darkness could conjure to attempt to sway the balance of the world toward the evil and pain and selfishness and despair on which it thrived.

For centuries uncountable, Kalona had protected his Goddess against everything except himself.

Ironic that it had been love that Darkness had used to bring him down.

Still more ironic that, after he’d fallen, Light had also used love to entrap him.