Chapter 2

I don't knowhow much time passes. I keep my eyes on Miles. I think I'm smiling, but I can't say for sure because I can't feel anything and he's crying, so maybe I'm not. I can't move my hands to check. I can't move anything.

I want to tell Miles that everything will be okay. That Eli won't be far away. He always shows up when he's needed. He has some weird sixth sense for knowing when I'm in trouble. But Eli thinks we're in Red Creek, not still at Churchill Bradley. He's not going to come looking for us. Not until tomorrow when we don't go back to the dorm.

"Kell? Oh my gosh, Kellan? Is it really you?"

The voice is faint, but distinctly female and one hundred percent familiar. I try to drag my gaze away from Miles, but it seems my eyes aren't working either.

"Oh no. He got you, too." A shape forms in front of me, blocking my view of Miles, and the figure leans closer, a painfully familiar face filling my vision.

Fingers stroke my face. "Kellan. You need to let go. If you stay there, you'll be stuck."

Let go? Am I holding something?

Her hands drift down over my shoulder, and out of view, and then something cold fills me.

What the fuck is that?

"Stop holding on so tight. You need to let go."

There's a tightening around my heart, like someone has a grip on it, and then a sharp pain. Disorientation makes me dizzy, nausea rises up my throat and then …

"What the fuck?"

I'm staring down at myself.

Am I having an out of body experience?

I reach out to touch the body lying across the altar and my hand passes straight through it. I snatch it away, and take a step back.

"What the actual fuck?"

"Kellan."

There's movement on my left. I don't want to turn. Don't want to look. If I look and see what I think is there, then I have to acknowledge that this isn't an out of body experience at all. That my body really is lying on top of the altar, lifeless. That I'm—

"I tried so hard to warn you. I left my diary where Arabella could find it. But she didn't give it to you. And by the time she told you about it, it was too late. You have to believe me. I didn't want this to happen."

I fight against it, but my head turns in the direction of the voice.

Her face fills my vision, and I can no longer avoid acknowledging her presence.

We stare at each other for a long moment.

I lick my lips.

"Zoey."