Chapter 3

I stare back at him,sadness overwhelming me. He looks so pale and confused. I have no doubt, I wore the same expression when my soul detached from its body more than a year ago. But unlike him, I didn't have someone here waiting for me. I'd been lost and alone. Adrift in a limbo I wasn't ready for. Frightened and stuck with no one to explain what had happened to me.

I give him a small smile. "I'm here. You're not alone."

He blinks, then scowls. "What the fuck is going on?"

"You know the answer to that."

"No." There's an edge to his voice. "I don't. So why don't you spell it out to me?"

"You're dead."

"Like fuck."

"Evan killed you. The same way he killed me."

"Shut up."

"No, you need to listen to me."

"I said, shut the fuck up!" He slaps his hands over his ears and turns away from me.

"Kell, you have to face it." I keep my voice soft. "If you don't, you'll end up stuck in a loop, reliving the time of your death forever."

"Bullshit." He twists around to glare at me "I'm not dead."

"Yes, you are."

"No."

"I'm high or drunk."

The red light from the stained-glass window splashes over the body spread out like a pagan sacrifice on top of the altar. Around us, the chapel seems to shudder and moan with a life of its own.

Someone is sobbing quietly—Miles. Kellan's gaze swings around to where his boyfriend is sitting, still bound and gagged, and the desperation on his face makes my heart ache.

He drags his fingers through his hair. "I was coming to meet Miles, and then …" His jaw clenches.

I tried so hard to stop this from happening, but nothing I did worked. I couldn't reach any of them.

"No." He shakes his head. "This isn't right."

I take a step forward. "I'm sorry. I know you don't want to hear it, but you"re dead."

"You're wrong. You're just a hallucination. I've lost too much blood, and I'm seeing things. Imagining you."

"I wish that was the truth."

He looks at the altar. At his body lying there. "This isn't happening."

"Let me help you."

He laughs. "I'm talking to a fucking hallucination."

I hold out my hand. "It's a lot to process. I was so scared when it happened to me, but I can help you, Kell. Please, let me help you."

A quiet groan interrupts whatever Kellan was about to say, and his gaze returns to his lover.

"Miles."

He strides over to where Miles is sitting and reaches for the ties binding his hands. His fingers go straight through. He curses and tries again.

"There's nothing you can do to help him. All we can do is watch."

"I have to go back." He spins and glares at me. "I need to warn Eli."

"I've tried. So many times. It's impossible."

"I don't believe that. There must be a way."

"There isn't."

"Zoey, you don't understand."

"I do. We have front-row seats to their lives, but we can't control what they do now."