Burned

Heath sighed. Sometimes he felt like he didn’t belong here, either. Not that this wasn’t a cool place. Okay, sure, Zo was a mess, and they couldn’t leave the grove without Kalona or whothehellever pouncing on them and probably fucking killing him again. If that was possible. Take away that stuff, and it would be fine here.

But only fine.

It was like his spirit was searching for something else—something it couldn’t find here.

“You died too soon. That’s what it is.”

Heath jumped in surprise. Zoey was standing in front of him, rocking back and forth, from one foot to another, staring at him with eyes that looked haunted by sadness.

“Zo, babe, you’re kinda spooky when you do that pop-up-in-front-of-me thing.” He made himself laugh. “It’s like you’re the ghost, not me.”

“Sorry . . . sorry . . .” she muttered, and started walking a circle around him. “It’s just that they told me that you’re not happy here because you died too soon.”

Heath stood still but turned with her as she paced around him. “Who’s ‘they’?”

Zoey waved her hand in a vague gesture at the grove. “The ones that are kinda like me.”

Heath stepped closer to her so that he walked right beside her as she continued her relentless movements. “Babe, don’t you remember we talked about them? They’re pieces of you. It’s why you’re feeling so messed up right now. The next time they talk to you, I want you to ask them to come back inside you. It’ll make things lots better.”

Her eyes were big and lost when she looked at him. “No, I can’t.”

“Why not, babe?”

Zoey burst into tears. “I can’t, Heath. It’s gone on too long. I can’t bring my soul together. I can’t remember things—I can’t focus—the only thing I know for sure is that I deserve this.”

“You do not deserve this!” Heath stepped close to Zoey and was lifting his hands to plant them squarely on her shoulders and make her listen to him, once and for all, when a golden ribbon caught the edge of his vision, drawing his attention momentarily away from her.

A moment was all Zoey’s restlessness needed, and with a miserable cry she said, “I have to go! I have to keep going, Heath. That’s all I can seem to do.” Before he could stop her, she went away from him with a strange, almost floating motion that carried her pale body like a feather in a strong wind, quickly, erratically, and farther into the grove.

“Well, shit. This is so not working for me.” He started to follow Zoey. He had to make her hear him. He had to help her. Then he faltered, slowing to a stop. The problem was, he didn’t know how to help her. “I don’t know what to do!” he shouted as he slammed his fist into the side of one of the grove’s moss-covered trees. “I don’t know what to do!” Heath hit the tree again, ignoring the pain in his hand. “I. Do. Not. Know. What. To. Fucking. Do!” he punctuated each word with his fist until his knuckles split open, and the scent of his own blood lifted to linger around him.

That was when the shadow covered the sun. Wiping his throbbing hand on the moss, he looked up.

Darkness. Wings. Blotting out the Goddess’s light.

Heart thundering, Heath crouched, fisting his bleeding hands defensively, but the attack didn’t come.

What came instead was revelation in the form of whispered thoughts that seemed to seep from the shadows above and sink through the blood scent into his veins.

She would stay here with you, forever, but she must be whole.

Heath blinked in surprise. “Huh? Who’s there?”

Use your mind, insignificant mortal!

“Yeah, okay,” Heath said, squinting up at the hovering shadows. Was it Kalona? He couldn’t get a good look at the thing.

You must make her call the pieces of her soul together, then she will be able to rest here, in the sacred grove, with you.

“I get that. I just don’t get how to get her to do it. If that makes sense.”

The answer is in your bond with her.

“My bond with her, but I don’t know—” and then Heath realized he did know how to use their bond. All he had to do was make Zo listen to him, and he’d always been able to do that, even when he’d been acting like an asshole and drinking and messing up in school, and she’d tried to dump him. He’d always been able to bring them back together—to keep them together.

Then Heath gri

With new determination, Heath jogged after Zoey, when a whispered “Heath!” brought him up short.

“What the hell?”

“Back here!”

Heath turned around, where the golden thread had snagged in the branches of a rowan tree and blinked in total surprise when a guy stepped from behind the tree.

“Stark? What the—”

“Ssh! Do not let Zoey know I’m here.”

Heath walked over to the tree. “What the hell are you doing here?” But he didn’t give Stark a chance to answer. “Ah, fuck! Are you dead, too? Zo’s never go

“Keep your damn voice down. No, I’m not dead. I’m here to protect Zoey so that she can get back to her body where she belongs.” Stark paused, and then added, “You do know you’re dead, right?”

“Dude, no shit? I’m dead?” Heath said sarcastically. “Glad you’re here to enlighten me. Don’t know what the fuck I’d do without you.”

“Well how ’bout this: do you know Zoey’s soul’s shattered?”

Before Heath could say anything, both guys saw Zoey and Stark jumped back behind the tree, crouching in its shadow. Heath moved quickly to intercept her, blocking her view of Stark.

“You didn’t come after me. You always come after me.” Her body rocked back and forth as she tried to stay in one place.

“I’m coming, Zo. You know I’ll never leave you. It’s just that you’re faster than I am right now.”

“So you’re not leaving me?”

Heath touched her cheek, hating that she looked so weak and unsure, and totally un-Zoey-like. “No. I’m not leaving you. Go on ahead of me. I’ll catch up.” When she hesitated, and it was obvious she was going to start that freaky circle pacing around him again, which would take her too damn close to Stark’s hiding place, he added, “Hey, maybe it’d make you feel better to move real fast. Why don’t you kinda run, or float, or whatever it is you do for a while, and then come back here. If it’s okay with you, I’ll hang out here for a second. I need to rest a little.”

“Sorry . . . sorry . . . I forgot you need to rest . . . forgot . . .”

She started to float away, and Heath called after her, “Don’t go too far, though! And don’t forget to circle back here.”

“I won’t forget . . . can’t forget you,” she said. Without looking at him, she disappeared into the shadows.

Stark stepped away from the tree. His voice was rough with shock, “Oh, shit! It’s way worse than I thought.”

Heath nodded grimly. “Yeah. I know. The shattered-soul thing’s totally messed her up. She can’t rest, so she can’t think, and that’s doing something to her—something really, really bad.”

Still staring after Zoey, Stark said, “The High Council said this would happen. She’s turning into a Caoinic Shi’. She’s not dead and not alive, and she’s here in a realm of spirits without her own soul. It makes her like this, and it’ll get worse. She’ll never be able to rest—ever.”

“Then we gotta get her to pull herself together. I think I might be able to do it, too. And, dude, I’m not trying to be an asshole, but this isn’t something you can help with. If you want to give me a hand, go out there and kick the ass of the scary shit that’s kept us trapped in here. You handle that. I’ll handle Zo.”