I'm back! I finally got my new computer, so I can write again! I am so excited to write the next chapter of this story. I have missed it so much. I am so sorry that it has taken me this long to get a computer and everything, but I'm a new college student and it's been really hard getting everything together for school and whatnot. Without further ado, the next chapter of A Single Light in an Eternity of Darkness!

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kalona asked me. It was about the hundredth time he'd asked. I loved him, but his overprotectiveness was starting to get really annoying.

I smiled anyway as I turned toward him. "Yes, sweetheart. I am more than ready to do this. It's what's right. I can't just keep leading Stark on, and everyone here has been worried about me from day one. I don't want that. I do feel a little bad because of the nursery they built me, but…I know that we're doing what's best. So, let's just get this over with."

He ran a finger down the side of my face, a sad smile on his face. I guess I had a huge question mark on my face because he took a deep breath and said, "I just want to make sure that this is what you want to do. That's my main concern. I was thinking last night, and –"

"When?" I interrupted.

"After you fell asleep, I tried to sleep, but couldn't. I went out for a fly and realized the reason why I couldn't sleep was that I something was bothering me. The way I've been acting. I realized that…I have been incredibly selfish lately. I just came in and took you, expecting that you wanted me and not Stark. I never stopped to actually ask you. And now I feel horrible because there's no way we can go back if that's what you had wanted." he explained.

I didn't say anything for a moment. I had to have a moment to think. What he was saying was…incredibly sweet, but I couldn't help wondering if maybe he was thinking about all of this because he missed A-ya. What if he had just jumped into this without thinking?

"I have no regrets." I told him. "You're right, though. You were completely selfish when you came in here and took me away from all my friends and Stark. I think the only reason why I haven't brought it up is because the spell was mended and I love you. But the important thing is that you realize your mistake." I took his hand in mine. "I want to be with you. Yeah, I love Stark. I will always love him, but…not in the way I love you. I think this was Nyx's plan; for you and I to be together."

He gave me a small smile. "I'd just like you to know that, even though you want this, I'm sorry for just taking you away before even asking you what you wanted. I love you, but that's not enough for us to be together. I have to think about you before myself, and I didn't do that. But I swear to you that I will do that from now on, Zoey Redbird."

I was about to tell him that I forgive him and that we should go into the tunnels, but a bright white light suddenly blinded me. I took a couple of involuntary steps back, totally disoriented. I couldn't see a thing other than the white light. I was scared. I didn't know where Kalona was; I didn't know where anything was!

"Kalona!" I yelled, but even I couldn't hear anything. I took another step backwards, and this time my foot met something. I was tipping backwards, levitating in the air for a moment. I closed my eyes, letting out a soundless scream as I felt myself start to fall…

…but a hand wrapped around my wrist before I could.

When I opened my eyes, the white light was gone. Everything was back to normal. Kalona had hold of my wrist and was pulling me toward him. As soon as I was close enough, he wrapped me in his arms. I was shaking from my near-fall, but Kalona stroked my hair and shushed me until I was almost back to normal.

"What was that?" I asked as I pulled away from him. But he didn't need to answer. As soon as I saw him, I realized what had happened.

Kalona's wings were white again!

My mouth fell open out of its own accord. Kalona's eyebrows furrowed. "What was what? And…why are you staring at me like that?"

He didn't even know what happened! "Your wings are white again!" I almost screamed.

Kalona unfurled his wings just a little bit in order to get a better look at them. We both had giant smiles on our faces. At the exact same time, we started laughing and hugged each other.

"Zoey!?"

Kalona and I broke apart, facing the direction Stark was coming from. When he saw us, he stopped dead in his tracks. My heart squeezed at the look on his face. As he came out of the depot, he had a huge smile on his face – probably thinking that I had come back to him. But as soon as he caught sight of us, his smile fell into the saddest expression I'd ever seen on anyone.

Stevie Rae, Aphrodite, and the rest of the gang came out a second later. None of them were happy about what they were seeing either, but it didn't even compare to the look on Stark's face. All of them looked unhappy, but most of them also looked confused.

"Stark…" I stepped forward, hoping I could defuse the situation. My heart sank into my stomach as he stepped backward, not wanting to be any closer to me than he already was.

He turned to Stevie Rae. "Give me your phone." She pulled it out automatically and gave it to him. He punched in some numbers and started walking away. "Watch them." he told the rest of the gang.

"This is ridiculous!" I yelled.

"Is it?" Aphrodite asked, stepping forward. "You know what happens if this continues, Zoey. My visions don't lie."

I scoffed. "And do you see black wings on Kalona?" I nodded toward him. Aphrodite looked at him for the first time, her eyes widening. "See? He's not with Darkness."

"Aphrodite, give them a chance to explain things to us. Kalona can change, just like Rephaim did. Just like me and all the other red fledglings did." Stevie Rae added.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "Listen bumpkin, you might be okay with this, but I am not gonna play with fate. He could change back at any moment!"

"I love him." I whispered.

I could tell that Stevie Rae heard me because her eyes went wide and round, but I forgot that Aphrodite was only human, so her hearing wasn't as strong as ours. "What was that?" Aphrodite asked.

"I love him." I said, this time out loud. Kalona took my hand and gave them a small smile.

Rephaim and Stark stepped out from behind a dumpster in front of the depot. "And you?" Stark asked, looking at Kalona. "Do you love her? Really love her? Because, from what I saw, she didn't look like she wanted to go with you the last time you were here."

Kalona looked at me, his eyebrows drawn together. I could tell that he still felt bad about taking me without even asking first. In fact, he looked like he felt even worse about it now than he had earlier. I smiled at him, trying to let him know that it was okay without words. "Yes." he said, still looking at me. He then turned to them and said, "I do love her, with my entire being. And I love our daughter as well."

Stark's entire body jerked. I wanted to cry when I saw that, because I did still love him. There was even a part of me that felt like I was supposed to be with him. But that didn't change the way I felt about Kalona. I realized that I hadn't actually fallen in love with Kalona until last night, when our baby almost died. Up until then, I had only been in lust with him. But at this very moment, I knew that I did love Kalona, and I was sure that I was supposed to be with him.

"Yeah, well, love doesn't change everything. It may feel like it does, but it doesn't." Aphrodite said. She walked over to us and took my hand. "Zoey, this isn't the way it's supposed to be. I can feel it in my bones."

I was torn. I loved Kalona, but I loved Stark, too. I felt like this was the way things were supposed to be, but Aphrodite didn't, and she is the prophetess. I wanted my baby to have her father around, but just because Stark isn't her biological father, doesn't mean that he can't raise her that way.

"I…I…"

"You son of a bitch!" Stark yelled. I looked up and only saw a blur before hearing a loud crack. Kalona's hand pulled out of mine. There were three more loud cracks before I was off my feet and flying into the depot faster than I'd ever gone before. Three seconds later, I was being dropped on my bed.

My head was spinning from how fast I'd been going, so the room was spinning, too. I had no idea what had just happened.

"Zoey…" Stark started to say. "Ugh! Goddess, I'm sorry, but I just couldn't take it anymore! I'm so tired of all of this!" He walked over to me and took my face in his hands. "I love you, Z. I love you more than I've ever loved anything in my entire life." I'd finally regained my vision and saw that Stark was starting to tear up. "You can't stay with him, sweetheart. You just can't. I need you, Zoey."

I'd never felt like my heart was ripping in two more than I did at that moment. Maybe Kalona was right: coming here was a bad idea. "Stark… I think that…" And that was when it hit me. It wasn't just that my heart was breaking that I felt this crappy. It was something else. I didn't know why, but I was about to pass out. I was suddenly gasping for air, finding it harder and harder to breathe. The corners of my vision were dissipating, a black void filling its place.

My last thought before I passed out had nothing to do with either Kalona or Stark; the only thing I was thinking of was my child.

[BREAK; STEVIE RAE'S POV]

"How much longer does she have to stay like this?" Stevie Rae asked Thanatos, who was checking all the wires and machines attached to Zoey.

"I'd say about another six days. We'll wake her up a day before she goes into labor, just so that she can be prepared. I'll have the drugs ready to put her back out after labor, just in case." she answered.

Stevie Rae nodded, looking at Zoey and hating that this was how it had to be. It had been a week since Zoey had shown up at the depot with Kalona. Thanatos had concluded that Zoey had passed out because of all the stress that she had to deal with. Stark had been kicking himself the entire week for putting her through everything, even though everyone kept telling him that it wasn't his fault. Stevie Rae didn't agree with what Stark did, but she didn't think it was his fault that Zoey was in a coma, either.

She was only in a coma because Thanatos was forcing her to be in one. We had to wait until the baby was born before we could address anything else, especially the love triangle between Zoey, Stark, and Kalona. The more stress Zoey was in, the more likely it would hurt the baby.

"Are you okay?" Rephaim asked, taking Stevie Rae's hand.

She gave him a small smile. "Yeah, I'm alright. Just worried about Z."

"She will be okay. She's very strong." Rephaim assured her.

Stevie Rae smiled. "Oh, I know that. I meant that I'm worried about what she's going to do to me when she wakes up. She's not going to be happy about what I did to your daddy."

Rephaim laughed. "No, she will not. But it had to be done. Not only so that he would stay out of the way, but for his own protection, too. Kalona is my father and I am okay with what you have done. If I can understand why you did it, I am sure that Zoey will, too. With some explaining, of course."

"Yeah, I guess so." Stevie Rae agreed.

"Do not worry so much, sweet. Everything will be okay." He kissed her on the cheek. "But…speaking of my father…?"

Stevie Rae smiled. "I'll take you to him."

No one was allowed to go see Kalona unless Stevie Rae was with them. Kalona had a habit of trying to break free whenever someone came to see him. Sometimes he would even try without anyone being there, but it was futile. There was no way he would be able to get out of the prison Stevie Rae had formed for him out of the earth. They were lucky that Stark had not only knocked Kalona out but had injured him pretty badly, too. If he had been conscious, there was no way they would've been able to get him down here. Damien had even had to use air to help them carry him because he was so big.

As they walked to the very end of the tunnel, Stevie Rae thought about Stark. He'd been so worried about Zoey that he wouldn't leave her side for anything, not even to eat or use the bathroom. It was to the point that as soon as they got him to go grab something to eat, Stevie Rae had to form a door out of earth for Zoey's room. Damien, Shaunee, and Erin had bought a padlock for the door before they went through with their plan, and they put it on the door immediately. When Stark came back from the kitchen – blood, food, and drink in hand because he had planned on eating in Zoey's room – he went crazy. He tried everything he could to get the door open, but nothing worked.

Everyone got together and held him down so that Thanatos could give him a sedative shot. Once he was asleep, they put him in a room that wasn't being used and hooked up his own machine to him. It kept him in a coma also. Stevie Rae thought about how crazy it was that Zoey always got men who would do anything for her. It was true that Rephaim probably would've done the same thing, but he was only one guy. Zoey had been with a handful of guys who were desperately in love with her. It was crazy.

"You ready?" Stevie Rae asked Rephaim as soon as they had made it to Kalona's jail cell. When he nodded, Stevie Rae used earth to make a small opening in the earth – one that only they could slip into. She quickly closed it back up once they were inside. The light from the oil lamp they had put in here was becoming very dim. She would have to come back later with some more oil for it.

"Ah, my warden returns." Kalona said, his back to them. "Did you bring the yellow-headed wench again so that she can tell me to stay away from my love?" He was sitting on the ground, reading something. He turned his head slightly around in order to see who had come to visit him. As soon as he caught sight of Rephaim, he stood up and raced over to him.

"Son, how is Zoey? Is she okay? How is the child? Why won't they let me see her?" he asked.

Stevie Rae noticed that Rephaim looked slightly disappointed that his father was only asking about Zoey. She knew that Rephaim still loved his father, especially now that he was on the good side. Kalona must have noticed because he continued, "Oh, son, I am sorry. I'm just so worried about them. How have you been? I have missed you very much."

Rephaim leaned into the hand that Kalona put on his cheek. "I've missed you, too, father. I am doing…" Rephaim looked at Stevie Rae with the most love she'd ever seen. "…very, very well."

Kalona looked between the two of them. Stevie Rae's heart squeezed at the look on his face. He really did love Zoey. She knew that, she just didn't want it to be true. And right now he was going through so much pain. In the back of her mind, Stevie Rae thought that it might not be the worst pain that he has to go through. Zoey might choose to be with Stark once the baby comes, and if that happens, she didn't know what Kalona might do. Could he even go back to the Otherworld?

But, then again, Zoey could choose to be Kalona. What happened then? They would have to stay here because of the child, the savior. But what would happen to Stark? Stevie Rae couldn't answer any of these questions, so she just stopped thinking about them.

"As for Zoey, she is – "

Stevie Rae coughed loudly, cutting Rephaim off. She hoped that he would get the message. They had all agreed that they wouldn't say anything about Zoey to Kalona for fear that it would drive him to escape even more. He definitely wouldn't like it that Zoey was in a coma, but he would like it even less if he found out that they had put her in one on purpose.

Rephaim and Kalona both looked at Stevie Rae. Rephaim looked confused at first and then he got it. Kalona also looked confused, but that was all…for a moment.

"Sorry, frog in my throat." Stevie Rae explained with a small smile.

She should've known better. Kalona wasn't stupid. Stevie Rae knew the instant the light bulb turned on over his head. He put his hands on Rephaim's shoulders and asked again, "How is Zoey, my son? Please, do not lie to me. I will know if you are or not."

Rephaim looked between Stevie Rae and Kalona, not wanting to betray Stevie Rae, but also knowing that he couldn't lie to his father. Stevie Rae could tell that he was afraid of what might happen if he lied to him, but Stevie Rae was more concerned about what would happen if he told him the truth.

"Father, Zoey is fine. There's nothing wrong with her, but…" Rephaim trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"But…?" Kalona asked, his eyes wide, his face full of fear.

Rephaim's face relaxed. "She is okay, father. Please do not worry. We had to put her to sleep – "

"What?! Like a dog?!" Kalona bellowed.

Stevie Rae – although flinching from Kalona's roar – couldn't help but giggle. She automatically knew it was a mistake, though, because Kalona's gaze turned on her, and it wasn't a friendly one.

"No, father, not like a dog. We didn't kill her. She is asleep. She has been asleep since she got here. We have machines attached to her that tell us how she and the baby are doing. She is only like this because she needs to get away from all the stress she has been under. Stress can hurt the baby and make her go into labor early." Rephaim explained.

Kalona let go of his son's shoulders as his face relaxed. He nodded, not looking entirely relieved, but not as upset as he was before either. "I see. I am sorry, son, but I wish to be alone. I love you. Come see me again soon."

Rephaim looked like he was about to grab for Kalona, but Stevie Rae stopped him and shook her head. "Yes, father, I will come again soon. I love you." Rephaim was obviously upset, but Stevie Rae was already making plans to do something that would cheer him up in her head.

She took Rephaim's hand as he turned toward the wall that she would make the opening in. Stevie Rae took a deep breath and as she let it out, the wall opened with, again, just enough space for them to make it through.

"It'll be alright, Reph – " Stevie Rae was interrupted by Rephaim pulling her down. She felt air going really fast over her head. She didn't know for sure what it was, but she had a bad feeling about it.

She got up as fast as she could and turned toward Kalona's jail cell…

…which was empty.

[BREAK; NEFERET'S POV]

Neferet was sitting on her living room floor, the white bull across the room. The both of them had been coming up with different ideas on who the sacrifice should be. The red fledglings had gotten in touch with Neferet to tell her that Thanatos had suddenly started keeping all the Sons of Erebus as her guards, which Neferet knew meant that Thanatos knew they were thinking about using her as the sacrifice.

The white bull had informed her that the spell was doing its work. He could feel the child's raw energy turning Dark. The best thing about the entire plan is that no one would know – in Zoey's group, that is – what happened. Neferet found herself laughing internally.

Neferet was surprised when the white bull suddenly nudged her.

My lovely one, I have decided who our sacrifice will be…

Neferet smiled as she stood, loving the fact that their plan would be in motion in only a week! "And who would that be, Consort?"

It was strange that Neferet could now tell when the white bull was smiling and when he was not. It wasn't like there was an actual physical change on the bull, but rather a telepathic one. She could just sense that he was smiling, just as he was at that very moment.

I assure you, you will be surprised…

And once he said the name of their sacrifice, he proved to be right.

So, let me know what you think with a review right below this! I really hope you like it because I absolutely loved writing it! I haven't written in so long, it feels amazing to be back. And believe me, you won't have to wait long for another update. Yes, I am in college right now, but we've just started, so it's nothing hard yet. So, I am going to try to update a lot before we start getting into the difficult stuff in school! Thanks so much for reading my story!