Chapter 2

'Carry on…' I said eagerly trying to hide my curiosity unsuccessfully.

'Well, since you have lost your marks, we think they must be somewhere as your soul was split up when you… well…' she nodded, as she did not particularly want to say those words.

'Since I went to see Heath.' I finished for her.

'You went where?' Stark choked as my friends gazed in astonishment at me when I noticed I had not told any of them this yet. Now it was their turns to glare at me.

'I was going to tell you but the Lenobia came in,' I started with my excuse, although not completely true or believable, I did not want to tell them at that time but now I guess I have no choice.

'I talked to Heath and he… he told me I didn't belong there with him. He wants me to be happy, to be with you Stark.' A tear escaped my eye. I could not contain the pain and the strain my heart and soul was going through. Stark walked calmly over to me; he put his arms around me and comforted me. I knew I was so lucky to have him but my soul felt incomplete without Heath; it felt as if a huge chunk had been ripped out leaving an empty hole to bleed through.

'Zoey babe, he was a nice guy and we all really liked him. I think he's right; be happy and he will be. He loved you and he still does but he wants you not to be in pain for the rest of your life over him. We'll remember him and we'll tell everyone of how he was brave and strong; how he stood by us, always.' He was right and I knew it.

'How about we give him a proper funeral when we get back to The Tulsa House Of Night and send his spirit properly to be looked after by Nyx. You know, even though she hasn't marked him, she counts him as her own; she will look after him and make sure he is safe. She loves him like she loves us. He sacrificed his life to help you and save you so that you could accomplish the damage Kalona caused. By achieving that, his soul will finally be at rest.' He finished. By this time, the tears had already drained his shirt and stopped running down my cheeks.

'Zo, you'd better get some sleep; we need to plan for what is to come. We all have a feeling that this isn't the end of Kalona; that he will come back for revenge, stronger and he will kill us without mercy. He failed once and he is very angry so this time if we make one mistake, we're done.' Darius informed me. He is a bright and caring man who was always on top of things; he planned ahead of time and I am happy for him to have Aphrodite and happy for her to have him.

I trusted his better judgements; I laid down and slowly drifted into sleep next to Stark; although I knew for sure that Kalona was gone and couldn't come into my dreams, I still doubted it but surely enough, Kalona did not invade my privacy of sleep… Nyx did. As I entered a beautiful realm of magic, I saw her as beautiful as always and still the air around her was still vibrating with power. I could feel it.

'My u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya, be brave and you can accomplish anything.'

'Nyx! You're here!' I had so many things I needed to ask her but I didn't know where to start. I decided it would be best to start with Lenobia's interpretation but before I started her eerie voice began.

'I know you want to know about your mark, but I don't think it is best for me to tell you. I think you are pretty clear of my ways; I let my children find out their own ways, choose their own paths. Now is a time for you to choose Zoey Redbird. You must choose wisely and I wish you luck.' She finished.

I was totally confused by what she had said but surely enough; she gave me that knowing smile before vanishing back into her kingdom. There were a couple of people half my soul could have gone into, but I had a pit feeling that it was someone that is close to me or will be close to me. I think that person could be Stevie Rae, Stark, someone I haven't thought of yet or most likely that one person I haven't met yet. The one I feel as if I know them and somehow, I trust them. Just as my thoughts got clearer, I entered back into what I knew as Earth, back into the arms of my soulmate and also the one I loved.

'Z? Back to earth for Miss Zoey Redbird now.' I let out a small giggle, as I knew that Stark had no idea that I wasn't actually on Earth just a few moments ago. Even though he said it for pure amusement, it was true.

'When you were out of it, we got a call from Stevie Rae. As you know, she is back in Tulsa. Someone new is going to come tomorrow and this someone is special. We are planning to get back there in around an hour to welcome this new fledging.' This curiosity was growing on me. Who could this mysterious stranger be and why were they going to the House of Night? I felt something going on and I was eager to know what.

'I promised I'd have you downstairs in… now as the gang wanted to talk to you. They missed you honey, you guys haven't properly talked in ages and they were anxious. How about we go down there and get all of you guys to catch up on each other for a bit, come back up here and start packing? That should give us plenty of time to get to the airport.'

I know I should have told him about my conversation with Nyx but as he didn't seem to notice anything, I'll keep it to myself until we get back home. Then I'll get Stevie Rae, Stark, whoever else that I think might hold half my soul and maybe this new person together and tell them about my guess on the destiny of my soul.