“Why are you doing this? Why do you sound like this? You’re not really this guy!” I shouted at him, trying to yell down the terrible, wonderful way his words were making me feel.

“It happened when you fell. I saw myself falling again, and in that vision I also saw my heart breaking again. I couldn’t bear it. I swore to myself that if I could draw you to me one more time I would show you the truth.”

“If this is really true, then you have to know that you’ve become the evil you used to fight.”

He looked away from me, but not before I saw shame in his eyes. “Yes. I know.”

“I’ve chosen a different path. I can’t love evil. And that is the truth,” I said.

His eyes came instantly back to me. “And if I choose to reject evil? What then?”

His questions threw me totally off guard, so I blurted the first thing that came to my mind. “You can’t reject evil, not while you’re with Neferet.”

“What if I’m only evil with Neferet? What if the truth is that if I were with you, I could choose good?”

“Impossible.” I was shaking my head back and forth, back and forth.

“Why do you call it impossible? It has happened before. You know because you caused the choice for good. The warrior who is bound to you is proof of it.”

“No. This version of you isn’t real. You’re not Stark. You’re a fallen immortal, Neferet’s lover. You’ve raped women—made people your slaves—killed people. Your sons almost killed my grandma. One of them did kill Professor Anastasia!” I grabbed on to all the negatives I could and hurled them at him. “The fledglings and professors at the House of Night started to question Nyx because of you. They’re still acting wrong. Whether it’s their choice or not, they’re filled with fear and hate and jealousy, just like you were with Nyx!”

He acted like I wasn’t standing there shrieking at him. He simply said, “You saved Stark. Can’t you save me, too?”

“No!” I screamed.

And sat straight up in bed.

“Zo, it’s okay. I got ya.” Heath was there, wiping sleep from his eyes with one hand and rubbing my back with the other.

“Oh, Goddess,” I said, blowing out a long, trembling breath.

“What’s wrong? Bad dream?”

“Yeah, yeah. Weird, bad dream.” I glanced at the bed across the room. Stevie Rae hadn’t moved. Nala was curled by her shoulder. My cat sneezed at me. “Traitor,” I told her, trying to force myself to sound normal again.

“Well, then, go back to sleep. This switching up days and nights is finally working for me and I want to stay in practice,” Heath said, holding his arms open for me to slide back into.

“Okay, yeah, sorry.” I lay back, curling into a ball that was frighteningly similar to a fetal position.

“Go back to sleep,” Heath repeated around a huge yawn. “Everything’s okay.”

I lay awake for a long time wishing desperately that it was true.

Zoey

When we woke up near dusk I couldn’t bear to think about Kalona and the dream, so I pounced on Heath. “Okay, time to call your mom and dad so they can tell you to come home.”

“Are you okay, Z?” Stevie Rae asked while she towel-dried her hair. She and I had stuffed things in my book bag while Heath showered, then we’d taken turns getting ready. Her question made me realize that in all that time I hadn’t done much more than mumble monosyllabic responses to anything she or Heath said.

“Yep. I’m okay. I’m just going to miss Heath, that’s all,” I lied. Okay, well, it wasn’t actually a lie, because I would miss Heath while we were in Italy, but that’s not why I hadn’t felt like talking.

Kalona was why I hadn’t felt like talking. I was afraid that if I said too much last night’s dream would start to babble from my mouth and I’d tell Stevie Rae everything, and I didn’t want to do that in front of Heath. No, there was more to it than that. I didn’t want to tell anyone about the new version of Kalona I’d seen.

I didn’t want to hear them tell me it was all smoke and mirrors.

Heath’s hug made me jump. “Aw, that’s sweet, Zo,” he said, oblivious to the terrible deception going on inside my head. “But you’re not going to have to miss me. I have a good feeling about this phone call.”

I shook my head at him. “No way is your mommy going to let you take off to Italy with me.”

“Not with you, maybe. But with your school—that’s another thing.”

Before I could say anything he punched his phone, and his end of the conversation began:

“Hey, Ma, it’s me.”

“Yep, I’m okay.”

“Yep, I’m still with Zoey.” Here he paused and then looked at me and said, “Mom says to say hi.”

“Tell her ‘hi’ for me.” Then I whispered: “Get to it!”

He nodded. “Hey Ma, speaking of Zo, she and some of the House of Night kids are going to Italy. Venice actually, well more like that island that’s by Venice. You know, San Cle-something. Where the vamp High Council meets and stuff. I want to know if I can go with them.”

I could hear his mom’s voice rising and I had to suppress a smile. I’d known his mom would freak.

Of course I hadn’t known the card Heath had up his fibbing sleeve.

“Hang on, Mom. It’s really no big deal. It’s like that trip I wanted to take with the Spanish teacher last summer, but couldn’t go ’cause of football practice starting. Remember?” He nodded to whatever his mom was saying. “Yeah, it’s a school thing. We’ll be gone eight days, just like the Spanish trip. Actually, I bet I can use my Spanish ’cause Italian is, like, a cousin.” He paused again and then said, “Okay, yeah, that’s cool.”

“She says I have to ask Dad,” he whispered, covering the phone with his hand.

Then I heard a deeper voice get on the line, and Heath said, “Hey, Dad. Yeah, I’m good.” He waited while his dad talked, and then continued, “Yeah, that’s basically the deal. It’s a school trip. I can do my homework online.” Heath smiled in response to what his dad was saying. “Really? They’re calling off school for all of next week ’cause of power outages in the neighborhoods?” He waggled his eyebrows at me. “Wow, that makes this trip super-convenient. And, get this Dad, since we’re flying on the House of Night’s private jet, and staying at the vamp’s island, it’s not gonna cost me anything.”

I ground my teeth together. I could not believe he was working his parents so easily. Of course, it was true that even though Nancy and Steve Luck were nice people and pretty good parents, they were absolutely clueless about teenage stuff. Seriously. Heath had been drinking for years and they never noticed, not even when he came home smelling like puke and beer. Ugh.

“Great, Dad! Thanks a bunch!” Heath’s exuberance had me blinking and refocusing on him and not my mind babble. “Yeah, I’ll call you guys every day.” He paused while his dad said something else. “Oh, I almost forgot that. Okay, well, while Zo and the rest of the kids are getting ready, I’ll run home and grab my passport and some clothes. Tell Mom we’re only supposed to take one book bag of stuff each, though, so not to go all crazy on the packing. Okay, I’ll see you in a few! Bye!” Grinning like he was back in grade school and had just been given an extra carton of chocolate milk during snacktime, he hung up.

“That was slick,” Stevie Rae said.

“I’d forgotten all about that Spanish trip,” I said.

“I hadn’t. So it looks like I need to get home quick and grab my passport and stuff. I’ll meet ya at the airport. Don’t leave without me!” He kissed me quickly, grabbed his coat, and rushed out of the room like he wanted to escape before I could tell him once and for all, no matter what his clueless parents said, he was so not going.

“You’re really lettin’ him go with y’all?” Stevie Rae said.

“Yeah,” I said apathetically. “I guess I am.”

“Well, I’m glad. Not to be mean or anything, but I think it’s a good idea because of the whole blood thing.”