I'm really glad that there are some people out there enjoying my story. I am so loving writing it. Also, big thank you's to vampirelover18 and flowergirl for the reviews! I was wondering when I was going to get some of those. =] There's a lot that takes place in this chapter, so you'll have to pay special attention to it. I've tried to explain everything as best I could, but I would understand if some of you get a little confused. Let me know if I've left you lost anywhere in the story in a review or a PM and I will do my best to explain it to you. Some of the parts in this chapter need to be read between the lines. So, keep that in mind. Enjoy!

I had no idea where Stark had gone, and it kind of made me mad. I mean, I realized that what had happened was a lot to take in, but I was the one who was neck-deep in a pile of crap. He should've been there to comfort me and tell me that everything was going to be okay. Instead, he muttered something about not being able to protect me from "that thing" because it was inside of me.

I was in Aphrodite's room. She'd asked Darius to go sleep in my room because she and I needed to talk. He did as she asked, and even left her with a kiss. I reluctantly thought that that was how Stark should've treated me.

"Look," Aphrodite said, "you need to get some sleep. Try to stop thinking about this for the time being. We are going to figure something out. We already agreed that we would tell Stevie Rae and Rephaim after sunset. Maybe bird-boy will know what to do."

I simply nodded. We laid down on the bed and sat there in silence until I finally drifted into the dark…

Of course, Kalona was there the moment I appeared in the dream. I could tell that this time he had chosen the place we were at because he chose to be in Nyx's kingdom. He was wearing a white, button-down shirt with blue lining on the sleeves. His pants matched the shirt, and both went with his beautiful white wings. He wasn't wearing shoes, and I internally laughed at the fact that some things never change.

"Oh, thank the Goddess you are here, Zoey!" Kalona said, moving toward me.

I put up a hand to stop him. When he did, I said, "I think it would be best if we just keep our distance from each other. What's going on isn't right, and you know it."

He nodded slightly. "I understand." He looked down at my stomach, and then quickly away. That surprised me. "I am…so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

I failed my attempt at a small smile. "It's not completely your fault. I mean- Wait." I took two small steps toward him. "Do you know?"

Kalona looked as if he might shatter. I had never, ever seen this kind of emotion on his face before, not even when Rephaim had been hurt. I thought that that must have had something to do with the fact that I had never seen Kalona good before. When he was bad, it was really hard for him to feel anything except anger, lust, passion… Now, he felt bad for his actions.

"Zoeybird, I thought I knew what might have happened the last time I saw you. I wanted to be for sure, though." He sounded like he was grinding his teeth together.

I gasped. "Did you talk to Nyx? Did you find out what we can do to stop this?"

I hadn't realized that I had walked closer to him - yet again - until he grabbed my arms. "No. I haven't. I don't need to, either. I know what is going on." When I just tilted my head up at him, he said, "I love you, Zoey. I can feel it. But I can also feel that I love something else about you…"

When he said that he loved me, it took my breath away. I almost didn't hear what he said after that. I had wanted to take him in my arms and whisper sweet things to him. Instead, I made myself focus on what he was saying - which was harder than you would think - and I understood. "Th-the b-baby." I stuttered.

"Our baby." Kalona corrected me.

When he said that, my entire being was torn. Half of me loved what he said. It made me want to dance and laugh and be with him forever. The other half was full of terror. Not only did I not want to have a kid - come on! I was just a kid - but I also didn't want to have one with Kalona. If I had to pick anyone to be prego with, it would be Stark.

I seriously thought I was going to hyperventilate.

"No. Kalona, this can't happen. You know it can't happen." I told him, trying to get a grip on myself.

Suddenly, I was in his arms. He was rocking and soothing me, like I was a baby. I realized that in no time he would be rocking a real baby like this. A shudder passed through me with the thought.

"Oh, love. Do not be sad. Here, let me take you to my favorite place here. Once there, I will explain everything to you." Before I could say anything back to him, he unfolded his wings and lifted us into the air.

I couldn't see anything as we flew, not only because he had my head tucked safely under his chin, but also because we were going way too fast. Within a matter of minutes, we were on a giant hill that looked out over an ocean. We landed right next to a giant oak tree planted in the middle of the greenest grass I had ever seen.

Kalona put me down and walked over to the tree to sit. When he was comfortable, he turned back to me and put his hand out, motioning for me to join him. I did as he wanted, but I sat a couple of feet away from him. I did not want to get tempted yet again.

He laughed and, without much effort, slid me into the side of his body. I expected to want him, but was surprised. Instead, it felt…comfortable. I was snug, and he looked like he was, too.

It was quiet for a long time. We sat there, looking at the water, stealing occasion glances at each other. I couldn't help that everything but he and I disappeared from my mind. I was trying to decide if I wanted to kiss him or not when he let out a long sigh.

"After the Ghigua Women trapped me in the earth with A-ya, I heard them putting a spell on me. I wasn't paying much attention to it, being fully preoccupied with A-ya." He stopped, looking the opposite direction as me.

"Don't worry about that." I said. "Don't worry about me. Go on."

He looked a little relieved as he continued, "I did get that they were trying to keep me from doing the…horrible things I had done before. They didn't want any more of my children roaming the earth.

"I didn't think much of it then, and still didn't even after I was awakened by the Tsi Sgili. It just didn't make much sense that I would impregnate another Cherokee woman since they were all but gone. Or, at least, they weren't the only ones I was around anymore.

"The spell they put on me was a very strong one. It wouldn't have been possible for them to put it on me if it hadn't been for their numbers. They decided that if one of their women was ever to hold my child again, that I was to love her and treat her the way a mate is to be treated. They didn't think that any Cherokee woman would ever sleep with me willingly, so they decided to cast yet another spell.

"This one was made for the woman who held my child. She would fall in love with me, too. They wanted us to be together so that I wouldn't make more children with other women, and that our child would have both of its parents. Their idea was that we would be one big, happy family."

He took a deep breath, still looking out at the water, and kissed the top of my head. "I'm afraid that there is no way to break it, it is so strong. Many women placed this spell on me, and their daughters repeated it every ten years. It wasn't until their people had nearly forgotten me that they stopped."

I hadn't been looking at him while he spoke. I was too busy processing everything that he told me. Now, I did look up at him. "So, you're saying that we're doomed to love each other, but never able to be together?"

His eyes met mine. They looked so sad, it made me want to cry. "When did I say that we'll never be able to be together?"

My breathing hitched. Did he really think it was possible for us to be together? I knew that, deep down, there was a part of me that didn't love Kalona. It was the very same part that was in love with Stark; the very same part that wanted to be curled up with Stark at this very moment, in bed. But I could also feel the magic of my people's spell, forcing me to feel things for Kalona.

"You didn't. But we can't." He opened his mouth to protest, but I kept speaking. "Kalona, there is something I have to tell you. Aphrodite had a vision."

"About us?" His eyebrows lifted when he said it.

I nodded. "She said…that we do fall in love. You and I. But she also said that we can't be together because you will be in the Otherworld and I will be on earth. There's just no way we can be together."

I took a deep breath and kept going. "In her vision, you came back to earth to be with me."

"I fell again?" Kalona shuddered as he said it. I knew that the last time he fell, it hurt him. A lot. And not just physically, either. It also hurt his pride, and his feelings - although, being a man, he would never admit that.

"No!" I didn't like seeing him so scared. "You turned of your own free will from Nyx. You wanted to be with me more than you wanted to be in her kingdom. But, when you did, your wings turned black again. So, some of your light faded, and darkness took over again."

He nodded, looking out at the ocean. "I could see how that would happen. Soon, I will not be able to take being away from you. I will gladly trade being good to be with you."

"You can't!" I jumped, feeling that I needed to do something physical so that he would listen to me. He grabbed my waist to hold me where I was, so I decided I would just take his face in my hands. It made me so happy to be able to touch him like that, even though I knew it was wrong. "Aphrodite said that when you do, I have the baby, but somehow…"

"Somehow…?"

"I die." He took a sharp breath. So, trying to keep him from saying anything so that I could tell him the rest, I quickly explained. "You turn completely from the light then. I don't know what happens to our child. Aphrodite didn't say anything about it. But she did say that you team up with Neferet, and that you two destroy the world. Together."

"That…" he said, slowly, "will never happen. I will never, ever turn back to the Tsi Sgili."

"But it will. If you come down to be with me, it will. So, you see? We can't be together. No matter how much it pains us, we just can't. I have to be with Stark. I want to be with Stark."

A spasm went through Kalona when I said Stark's name. "No. I will not share you with him."

"There won't be any sharing going on." He relaxed when I said that. "I will be with Stark. You will be with A-ya. It's that simple."

He'd tensed up when I kept speaking, and now he pulled away from me to look directly at me. "Zoey, I don't think you fully understand what I explained to you."

I snorted. Again, I got the weird feeling in my stomach at how easy it was to be around him now. If you had told me when Kalona first came out of the ground that I would be sitting with him under a tree, talking about our future, I would've laughed in your face. I realized just how weird life could be.

"Oh, I understand. Look, when I'm not around you, I don't feel anything for you. We just have to stay away from each other. It will be easy." I explained.

I could see the frustration in his face as he got up and started pacing. "No, it will not be easy. Have you forgotten that you are holding my child in your stomach as we speak? That it is growing inside you?" He stopped pacing and came over to me to put his hand on my stomach. "Will your warrior help you raise a child that is not his?"

"I-I… I don't know." I whispered.

"But that is the least of your worries. The spell that has been put on us, it will grow stronger with time. The longer our child grows inside you, the more we will feel for each other. Soon, we won't let anything get in the way of each other. You will be all that I can think about, just as I will be all you can think about.

"Your warrior may stay with you while you still have control over yourself, but he will never stay with you once the spell is completed and you are infatuated with me. Just as my A-ya will not stay with me." he explained.

While he had been speaking, tears had started to form in my eyes. Just thinking about Stark leaving me made me want to curl up in a ball and stay like that for the rest of my life. Worse than that, though, was the fact that my intuition was telling me that everything he was saying was true, and that made me want to cry even more.

I'd thought the tears were going to pool over as he spoke, but his last sentence stopped them in their tracks. Hearing him say "my A-ya" had started a fire inside me, one made of nothing but jealousy. I was suddenly angry with him. I knew it was wrong. After all, I had just told him that I wanted to be with Stark, but picturing him with her… It ripped my heart out.

"Get off me!" I yelled, flinging his hand off my stomach. I didn't think I'd actually be able to get him off, but I didn't even have to try. As soon as I said it, he stood back up and took three steps backward. As he did, I stood up and brushed myself off, feeling the anger inside me grow.

"Don't you dare ever speak to me like that again." I'd thought the words would sound very mean and powerful. Instead, they came out soft and airy, as if it was hard for me to speak. I realized that the fire that was burning in me was no longer one of jealousy and anger, but of sadness and hurt.

Kalona made no move toward me. He didn't even look at me. Instead, staring at the ground, he whispered, "You see? It's already happening."

This time, I did burst into tears. I put my face in my hands and cried harder than I ever had before. I said a few things, but I didn't pay much attention to them. I was vaguely aware that Kalona had come to me and wrapped his arms around me, trying to comfort me.

"T-this is g-g-going to des-stroy us-s." I stuttered.

He didn't say anything for a very long time. He just stood there, holding me as I cried like a big baby. There was a part of me that wanted to hold on to him forever, but I pushed it down, telling myself that I could fight this.

Finally, he said, "Yes. It will. But at least we will be destroyed together."

I wasn't used to hearing things so bad put so bluntly. I expected to hear him say something close to what Aphrodite had said earlier, that we would get through this. That it would all be okay. Hearing him say the truth made me sob harder. My knees started to feel like jelly, and just when I thought I would fall down, Kalona picked me up like he had earlier.

He carried me over to the tree and sat so that he was leaned up against it, still holding me in his arms. We stayed like that for a while. I cried while he held my head to his chest, stroking my hair and rocking me back and forth. At times, I would feel like I had done enough crying, but I would wind up thinking about our situation again and start crying harder.

Finally, Kalona lifted my head up to look at him. I was suddenly self-conscious, knowing that my eyes were puffy, my face was red, and I had tears and snot running down my face. It shouldn't have surprised me that he pulled a tissue out of his pants pocket - because we were in a dream - but it did. I took it and blew my nose while he wiped my tears away with his index finger.

Suddenly, Kalona stiffened. He looked around like he was trying to find something. As he did, he pulled me into his chest, this time in a protective gesture.

"What?" I whispered. "What is it?"

"I do not know." he whispered right back. "I feel a…presence. One that should not be here."

Brilliantly, I said, "What do you mean?"

This time Kalona brought my face up to his. He was doing it so slowly that when his nose almost touched my nose, I thought he was going to kiss me(was it bad that I wanted him to?). Instead, he turned at the last moment so that he could whisper in my ear, "Someone - or something - that should not be allowed to be here, is. Or, rather-" He paused, sitting straight up and looking around. When he put his mouth next to my ear again, he finished, "was here."

"It's gone now?" I asked. Man, I was just full of questions.

He nodded. "Forget that for now. Zoey…" He stopped, shaking his head a little while he looked at the ground.

"Yes?" I bent so that my face was in the way of him looking at the ground. He gave a small smile and cupped my face in his hands.

He looked back and forth from each of my eyes a few times, his smile slowly disappearing as he did. I imagine my face scrunched up seeing his smile falter. "Zoey, you aren't going to do something…you'd regret, are you?"

I didn't get what he was talking about. My face must have been a giant question mark because he whispered, "You wouldn't…try to do something to yourself…"

I still didn't get it for a second. Well, more like a fraction of a second. Oh boy, did I get what he was saying. I just didn't want to believe I had heard him correctly. "You think I'd try to kill myself?"

I'd pulled away from him while I said it and he grabbed my arms to keep me in his lap. "No! Well, I suppose…" I was about to yell at him, but he saw my mouth open and he put his fingers to my lips. "I just mean that, well, the way you were crying along with Aphrodite's vision, it made me think that you might try to do something to yourself or the baby."

"The baby? How would I do something to the baby?" I asked.

His face suddenly became extremely grim. "Some of the women that became pregnant with my children did things. They knew what my children looked like. Half human, half raven. They didn't want to have children like that. They did all sorts of things. Some fasted, thinking that if they didn't get any nutrients, the baby wouldn't either and would die. Some actually tried to extract the baby, which, for those times, was fatal."

"What happened?" I asked, morbidly curious.

"They died. All of them. My children are very strong. The only thing that killed them, if they were still in the womb, was when their mother would die."

I thought about this for a minute. I had never even thought of trying anything like that. In fact, I was pro-life when it came to abortion. From the moment I realized I was pregnant, I hadn't even realized that I could do something like that to get rid of it. I just assumed that I was stuck with the baby. I'm not going to lie, after he explained to me what some of the mothers tried to do, I did think about trying it for a second. Of course, the next second I thought about how wrong it was to end a life like that.

I looked Kalona straight in the face. "I would never do anything like that. The only way I would even try would be if the baby threatened my life." As soon as I said it, it dawned on me. Aphrodite's vision hadn't shown her how I died, just that I did die. What if I died giving birth to the baby?

I must have made a sound when I thought about that because Kalona grabbed my arms again and started talking to me. I wasn't listening to what he said. I was too horrified thinking about the fact that I was going to die. No matter what I did, I would die. If I tried to kill the baby inside me, I would die. If I had the baby, I would die. I couldn't win.

"I'm going to die…" I whispered. It was like I was by myself, like Kalona wasn't there anymore even though he was screaming at me and trying to get me to look at him. "The mothers of your children had a very hard time giving birth. It's going to kill me."

"No!" With that, Kalona kissed me. It wasn't sweet or soft, not at all. It was rough and passionate. It was filled with hunger, hunger for me and my body. I didn't really mean to kiss him back; it just happened. My body just took over my mind. My tongue snaked out and licked his lip, causing a giant shudder to go through him.

He lifted me up and set me on the ground, setting himself on top of me. He kissed me some more, trying to take his clothes off as he did. I joined him, trying to take my own clothes off. Just as I was reaching for the hook of my bra, he screamed out, "No! Not yet!"

My eyes popped open. Kalona wasn't on top of me anymore, and I was fully clothed. Someone was shaking me. I looked over to see Aphrodite next to me, a look of annoyance on her face.

"Goddess, you sleep like the dead. I've been trying to get you up for the past five minutes." she said, now rubbing her temples. "I've got a killer hangover."

I frowned. My insides were still shaking from what had just happened with Kalona. I forced myself to sit up. "Do you have some medicine you could take?"

She got off the bed - fully dressed and with make up on, so I assumed she'd been up for a while - and grabbed her purse. "Yeah, but I can't take it now. I don't have anything to drink. I'll take it when we get to the kitchen."

"Huh?" I asked. That made sense since I usually went to get breakfast each morning when I woke up, but the dream I'd had had me wanting to take a cold shower.

Aphrodite waved her hand at me and made an exasperated sigh. "Do I have to explain everything to you? Why can't you just do something without having to know everything?"

"Oh, sorry. I don't need to know everything around here. I'm just the High Priestess." I gave her a long, narrow-eyed look.

She sighed. "Just come on. I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I figured some stuff out. We have to explain to Stevie Rae everything that is going on. Darius, too. Don't ask me why. You'll find out soon enough. They're waiting in the kitchen as we speak and we don't have much time. We have to be at the school in an hour for Dragon's memorial and some people still need to get ready."

Ah, hell.

Okay, I realized after re-reading this chapter that I hadn't mentioned something pretty important. Just to let you know, Zoey does realize that her baby is probably going to be a Raven Mocker. Right now, she's just in denial. I needed to let you guys know that so that when it comes up in the next chapter you won't be confused.

So, leave me some reviews and let me know how you felt about this chapter. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. Thanks =]