Chapter 1 Zoey POV

"Zoey, it's not me who doesn't belong here, it's you."

And then my memory came back, and I froze as the realization hit me. Heath was dead. And then I collapsed in his arms, and cried.

Heath hugged me, and I cried for a long time. But it didn't matter how long. We were both in the otherworld, which meant we were probably both dead.

As if he read my thoughts, Heath pulled my chin up and said, "You're not dead, Zoey."

I was confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean what I mean, Zo. You're still alive. Your soul shattered when I died, and it came here with me."

I tried to take in his words, but I couldn't. It was too much. Shaunee, Erin, Damien, Jack, Aphrodite, and Darius, they were all probably crying, thinking I was dead. And then I thought of Stark. He was probably devastated. He probably thought he failed protecting me.

"You have to get out of here," he said, interrupting my thoughts about the people I loved. It was a statement, not a question.

"How?"

"He's coming." I froze with fear, and a chill went down my back. I knew who he meant.

"When?" I asked.

"Now." Heath's face was firm.

I looked at Heath. He was standing there with a sad expression on his face. He waved good-bye at me, and next thing I knew, something snatched me and I was moving backward in the air. I looked up and I saw Kalona's beautiful face looking down at me. He cradled me against his chest, as he flew away, out of the otherworld. I myself was afraid of heights, so when I saw how high up we were, I fainted.

I was in a meadow that was a somehow very eerily comforting. I looked down and I saw that I was wearing a Cherokee dress, the same one that I saw my grandmother wearing in one of her rituals a long time ago. The long grass swayed, and somehow it made my spirits lift so I had to move with it. I lifted my arms and closed my eyes and swayed side to side along with the grass. It was so magical, it seemed unreal.

And then it hit me. Hard.

I snapped my eyes open and put down my arms. I surveyed the meadow. I realized I recognized this place. It was the meadow in a previous dream of mine where Kalona came and tried to sabotage me. So this is a dream, I thought.

And then, as if on cue, somewhere five feet away, the grass started to rustle. I got into a protective stance, ready to wake up at a moment's notice. I stared at the grass, expecting Kalona or a Raven Mocker to come out and jump out at me. But what did come out was the last thing I expected out of all those things.

It was Stark.