“But he’s dead!” Stevie Rae sobbed. “And Rephaim needs me now.”

“Stevie Rae, Thanatos is Death. Just like you’re Earth,” I said. “She asked us to cast this circle. Trust her to let us know when we can close it.”

Stevie Rae’s candle was trembling with her heaving shoulders, but she nodded and didn’t break the circle.

I turned my attention back to Thanatos. It looked like she was frozen with her outstretched hand. Her expressions changed, like she was having a psychic conversation with someone, but nothing else changed about her.

“Do you know what’s going on?” Detective Marx asked me. He looked pale and sad, and he was covered with Kalona’s blood.

I didn’t know for sure, but I took a chance and spoke from my heart. “Thanatos is helping Kalona’s soul. Remember, like in front of the Mayo.”

Marx squinted and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I don’t see any glowing lights.”

“Those were human souls. No matter what happened today, Kalona has been immortal for centuries and centuries. His soul probably looks way different.”

But I was wrong. Thanatos suddenly unfroze and threw up her arm as if she was slinging a Frisbee off into space, and a glowing silver orb—a whole lot like what she’d gathered in front of the Mayo—shot up into the thunderclouds of the predawn sky.

“Thanatos must have been right. We’re more alike than different,” Marx said.

“Ohmygoddess! Look up there!” Shaylin was pointing up.

We all looked, and the sky over the Arkansas River rippled and parted. Kalona was standing on a round space of red dirt in a place I remembered very well.

“It’s the entrance to the Otherworld and the hanging tree!” Stark said from his position just outside our circle.

“And Nyx’s Sacred Grove,” I added. My gaze met his and we shared a smile. We knew the place well. Stark had almost died there so that I could live.

“Son, turn your eyes from the shell that was your father and see what he has truly become,” Thanatos said, resting her hand on Rephaim’s shoulder.

He looked up in time to see Nyx step from her grove and approach Kalona. A winged immortal walked at her side. He looked almost exactly like Kalona except that his wings were gold and he seemed smaller, more delicately made.

“That has to be Erebus,” Damien said.

Then Kalona dropped to his knees and bowed his head, and we were too mesmerized by the scene unfolding to speak.

Nyx, I kneel before you and ask for your forgiveness. Kalona’s voice traveled easily between realms. I could even hear how vulnerable and unsure he sounded.

Do you truly ask her, or are you simply terrified that you might be forced to eternally wander the mortal realm? Erebus asked. He didn’t sound hateful. He sounded curious. But I could feel my hackles starting to rise. Why was he suddenly speaking for Nyx?

Kalona’s head remained bowed, as if he couldn’t bear to look at the Goddess, but he spoke again, this time with more confidence. Goddess, I am here only to ask for your forgiveness, and I fully accept whatever consequence I must face for the mistakes I have made.

As Erebus opened his mouth to say something else, Rephaim jumped to his feet, shouting, “Leave him alone! He’s not even talking to you!”

It didn’t seem like Kalona could hear him. But Erebus was silenced.

“That’s right!” Stevie Rae said with a little hiccup. “Leave Rephaim’s daddy alone. He’s asking for Nyx’s forgiveness, not yours.”

I held my breath as Nyx’s beautiful, loving eyes turned from Kalona to us. She stepped forward. I could see Kalona tremble as her gossamer robes brushed his arm. She raised her hand and swept the sky in front of her and suddenly they weren’t way up in the air anymore. They were right in front of us!

“Merry meet, beloveds,” the Goddess said.

Our answering “Merry meet” drifted around the circle that was now shining with such intensity that it was hard to look at.

Nyx approached Thanatos, who bowed deeply to her. “There is no need for such formalities between us,” Nyx said to her High Priestess, lifting her with a slight touch of her arm. “We have been acquainted too long for that.”

“Thank you, my Goddess,” Thanatos said.

“You are doing well here, Daughter,” Nyx told her. “The spell is difficult, but your intent is pure.”

“I will do my best to hold it firm,” Thanatos said.

Nyx smiled. “I would expect no less from my Priestess of Death.” Then she turned to Rephaim, who stood, sobbing, beside Kalona’s body. He was staring at his dad—well, the spirit version of his dad, who was still kneeling. He didn’t even seem to see Nyx, who reached across Kalona’s body to touch his shoulder, gently saying, “Your grief be soothed, my son.”

Rephaim jerked under her touch, and his focus shifted to the Goddess. Wide-eyed he said, “Thank you.” And his sobs slowed, and then stopped as he stared at Nyx.

And then she was turning to me. Today her hair was so light it was almost white, like a full moon, and her eyes were lavender. It was hard to look at her straight on for very long. There was something incomprehensible in her beauty.

“Zoey Redbird, of all the mortals here, Kalona has caused you the most pain. He has lied to you, seduced you, and tried to kill you. Through spite and anger and jealousy, he has murdered those dear to you. Within you, there rests the spark of the maiden created by the ancient Wise Women and breathed to life by the Great Earth Mother to keep him captive for the crimes he committed against your peoples. Do you acknowledge all of this, Zoey?”

I swallowed hard. “Yes, I do.”

“Then speak from your soul and tell me truly, Zoey Redbird, should I forgive Kalona?”

I was stunned silent by her question. Me? I’m supposed to judge him?

While I struggled with an answer, I felt Grandma’s hand slip into mine. “Consider wisely and speak only the truth, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya.”

I looked at Kalona. Nyx was right. He’d done terrible things—not just to me, but to people I loved, and to the Cherokee people. He’d created a whole breed of monsters, the Raven Mockers, who had terrorized the old and sick for centuries. My gaze went from him to Rephaim. He used to be one of those monsters, but love had saved him. Nyx had forgiven him, even when Rephaim could barely find a way to forgive himself.

And I knew the right answer to my Goddess’s question.

“Goddess, I believe you have already forgiven Kalona. You just wanted him to be worthy of your forgiveness.”

“And is he, young Priestess? Is he worthy? Can you forgive him?”

I squeezed Grandma’s hand. “Yes, and yes.” I said with certainty. “He’s earned his second chance.”

Kalona

From his knees, Kalona watched Nyx smile at Zoey, but instead of replying to her, the Goddess turned to Erebus. “It seems your duty has come to an end, my old friend.”

Erebus’s smile was a bright as summer sunshine. “It took him a long time, but I never doubted that he could do it.”

The Goddess raised one slender brow. “Never doubted?”

“Well, almost never. I will miss tormenting him.”

“You were not supposed to be tormenting him. You were supposed to be helping him to find his way back to us,” the Goddess said.

“Well, we both know how stubborn Kalona can be.” Erebus went to Kalona, who was staring at his brother, in shock. “Tell me, what would have happened if I had told you that during those uncountable years I was your greatest ally?”

“I would not have believed it,” Kalona blurted.

Erebus laughed heartily. “Exactly! And yet, from the day we both were created, I have wanted only one thing—and that is for our Goddess to be happy. You, my errant brother, used to make her very happy.”

Confused, Kalona shook his head. “But with me out of the way, you are her Consort!”