“Stevie Rae! You still okay down there?” Erik’s voice called from above.

“Yeah, fine,” she yelled back.

“We’re putting up something like a tent over this crack and around the tree. Will that be good enough to get you out?”

“You just get a space covered for me. I can take care of the getting-out part.”

“Okay, I’ll let you know when we’re ready,” he said.

Stevie Rae turned back to Rephaim. “So here’s my point. The last trolley stop was at the Gilcrease Museum. It’s in north Tulsa. There’s a big ol’ house smack in the middle of it that’s totally unoccupied. They keep talking about renovating it, but they haven’t got the money together. You can hide there.”

“Won’t people see me?”

“Heck no! Not if you stay in the house during the day. It’s a mess—all boarded up and locked so tourists don’t stumble into it. And here’s the best part—it’s super-haunted! That’s why it was on the ghost tour. Apparently Mr. Gilcrease, his second wife, and even ghost kids hang out there regularly, so if someone sees or hears something weird—meaning you—they’ll freak and think it’s just more ghost stuff.”

“Spirits of the dead.”

Stevie Rae raised her brows. “You’re not scared of them, are you?”

“No. I understand them too well. I existed as a spirit for centuries.”

“Dang, I’m sorry. I forgot about—”

“Okay, Stevie Rae! We’re ready for you up here,” Lenobia called.

“’Kay, I’ll be right up. Stand back, though, so you don’t fall down here when I make the crack bigger.” She stood up and moved closer to the crack in the ground above them, which was no longer letting in much light. “I’ll get them out of here right away. Then you get yourself over the railroad tracks. You’ll see highway 244 east—follow it. It turns into OK 51. Go north until you see the Gilcrease Museum exit sign—it’s on your right. Then just follow that road and you’ll run smack into the museum. The hardest part will be over then, ’cause there’re lots of trees and stuff to hide in on that road. It’s the highway you’re gonna have trouble with. Just move as fast as you can and stay off to the side and in the ditch. If you hunker down anyone who gets a glimpse of you might think you’re just a giant bird.”

Rephaim made a disgusted sound, which Stevie Rae ignored. “The house is in the middle of the museum grounds. Hide there and I’ll bring food and stuff to you tomorrow night.”

He hesitated and then said, “It isn’t wise for you to see me again.”

“None of this has been very smart, if you get right down to it,” she said.

“Then I will probably see you tomorrow, as neither of us seems able to be smart where the other is concerned.”

“Well, then, bye until tomorrow.”

“Stay safe,” he said. “If you don’t, I–I believe I would, perhaps, feel your loss.” He hesitated over the words, like he didn’t quite know how to say them.

“Yeah, same right back at ya,” she said. Before she raised her arms to open the earth, she added, “Thank you for saving my life. Your debt is totally paid in full.”

“Odd how it doesn’t feel like I’m free of it,” he said softly.

“Yeah,” said Stevie Rae. “I know what you mean.”

And then, while Rephaim crouched within the earth, Stevie Rae called on her element, opened the ceiling of their chamber, and let Lenobia and Erik pull her free.

No one thought to look behind her. No one suspected. And no one saw a creature, half raven, half man, limping to the Gilcrease Museum to hide himself among the spirits of the past.

Zoey

“Stevie Rae! Are you really okay?” I gripped the cell phone, wishing I could beam myself to Tulsa and actually see with my own eyes that my BFF was alive and well.

“Z! You sound so worried. Don’t be! I’m okay. Promise. It was all a big, stupid accident. Goddess, I’m such a dork.”

“What happened?”

“Well, I was late leavin’ the House of Night. I’m so stupid. I should have just stayed there and waited till tomorrow to come back to the tunnels. But I went anyway. And then, get this—I thought I heard someone up on the roof! So I rushed up there ’cause it was almost dawn and I thought some red fledgling kid might be trapped. Goddess, I need to have my ears checked. It was a cat. A great big, fat, calico cat yowling on the roof. I started to leave and, like the totally uncoordinated noncheerleader type I am, I fell and bonked my head so hard I passed out. You would not believe all the blood. Totally scary.”

“You knocked yourself out on the roof? Right before dawn?” I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle her.

“Yeah, I know. Not the smartest thing I’ve ever done. Especially since I woke up with the sun shining on me.”

“Did you burn?” My stomach felt sick. “I mean, are you still, uh, messed up from it?”

“Well, yeah, I started to burn, and that’s probably what woke me up. And I’m still pretty toasty. It could’ve been a lot worse, though. Luckily, I had time to run to that tree that’s near the roof. Remember it?”

I knew the tree all too well. It had hidden something that had almost killed me. “Yeah, I remember it.”

“So I jumped on the tree, slid down it, and had the earth open up to make a little hidey-hole for me. Kinda like a tornado was comin’ and I was livin’ in a trailer park.”

“That’s where Lenobia found you?”

“Yeah, Lenobia and Erik. He was real nice, by the way. Not that you should be with him again, but I thought you’d like to know.”

“Okay, well, good. I’m glad you’re safe.” I paused, not sure how to say this next part. “Uh, Stevie Rae, it’s been bad for Aphrodite. What with the Imprint between the two of you being broken and all.”

“I’m real sorry if it hurt her.”

“Hurt her! Are you kidding? We thought she was going to die. She was burning with you, Stevie Rae.”

“Oh, my goodness! I didn’t know.”

“Stevie Rae, hang on a sec.” I turned my back on everyone who was trying to listen in to my conversation and made my way out into the amazingly beautiful hall. White spun-glass chandeliers, holding real candles, lent a warm flickering light to the creams and golds of the upholstery, making me feel like Alice in Wonderland talking through a rabbit hole to an entirely different world. “Okay, that’s better. Less ears out here,” I continued. “Aphrodite said you were trapped. She was sure of it.”

“Z, I tripped and hit my head. I’m sure Aphrodite picked up on my panic. I mean, when I woke up I was burning. Plus, I’d fallen over some metal trash on the roof, and I was all tangled up in it. I’m tellin’ you—it scared the bejesus outta me. She musta felt that.”

“So no one grabbed you? You weren’t caged in anywhere?”

“No, Z,” she laughed. “That’s just crazy. But it would make a better story than me trippin’ over my own feet.”

I shook my head, still not able to take it all in. “It was scary, Stevie Rae. For a while I thought I was gonna lose both of you.”

“Everything’s okay. You’re not losin’ me or pain-in-the-butt Aphrodite. Even though I can tell you I’m not sorry my Imprint with her is broken.”

“Okay, that’s another weird part. How did that happen? Your Imprint didn’t even break when Darius drank from her, and you know they have that thing between them.”

“Best I can figure is that I was closer to dying than I knew. That must have snapped our Imprint. And it wasn’t like we wanted to be together. Maybe her thing with Darius had weakened it.”

“It sure didn’t seem like the Imprint between you was weak,” I said.

“Well, it’s gone, so when it came down to it, our Imprint was pretty easy to break.”

“From where I was watching it didn’t seem easy,” I said.

“Well, from the perspective of the flaming kid in the sun, I can say it wasn’t easy here either,” she said.

Instantly I felt bad for the way I’d been firing questions at her. She’d almost died (for good), and here I was, grilling her about details. “Hey, I’m sorry. I was just so darn worried, that’s all. And it was awful to watch Aphrodite experiencing your pain.”