People were still burning and I still felt the weird agony stuff, but instead of doing the dirty with Kalona you stepped out of his arms. Not very far, though. And you said something to him. Whatever you said changed everything. How? You killed him and all the fire and such stopped. I killed Kalona! Yep. At least that's what it looked like to me. Well, what did I say to him that had the power to do that? She shrugged. Don't know. I couldn't hear you. I was experiencing the vision from the burning peoples' perspective and feeling stupid agony from wherever; I was just a tad bit busy being in unbearable pain to pay attention to every little syllable you uttered. Are you sure he died? He's not supposed to be able to die; he's immortal. It looked like it to me. Whatever you said made him disinte-grate. He disappeared? Actually, it was more like he exploded.

Kinda. It's hard to describe because, well, I was burning and also he got really, really bright, and it was hard to see exactly what happened to him. But I can tell you he more or less faded away, and when he did, all the fire stopped and I knew everything was going to be okay. Is that all that happened? No. You cried. Huh? Yeah, after you killed Kalona, you cried. Major snot and everything. Then the vision ended and I woke up with a horrendous headache and my eyes hurting like crazy. Oh, and you were screaming like you'd lost your damn mind. She gave me a long, considering look. Speaking of, why were you screaming? I had a bad dream. Kalona? I really don't want to talk about it. Too damn bad. You have to talk about it. Zoey, I saw the world burning while you and Kalona partied. That's not a good thing. That's not going to happen, I said.

Remember, you also saw me killing him. What happened in your dream? she asked insistently. He offered me the world. He said he's going to change things back to the ancient ways and he wants me to rule by his side, or some such bullpoopie. I said not no, but hell no. He said he'd burn-- Oh my Goddess! Wait, you said the people were burning in a field? Could it have been a wheat field? Aphrodite shrugged. I suppose. Fields pretty much all look the same to me. My chest felt tight and my stomach hurt. He said he was going to separate the chaff from the wheat, and burn the chaff up. What the hell is chaff? I don't know exactly, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with wheat. Okay, try to remember. The field they were burning in--did it have tall golden grassy stuff in it, or was it green, like hay or corn or something, well, not wheatlike? It was yellow. And tall. And grassy. I suppose it could have been wheat. So what Kalona threatened in my dream basically came true in your vision. Except in your dream you didn't give in and start a big make-out session with him. Or did you? No, I did not! I hurled myself off the top of a cliff, which is why I was screaming my brains out. Her red-tinged eyes widened. Seriously? You really jumped off a cliff? Well, I jumped off the top of a castle, and the castle was on the top of a cliff. That sounds really bad. It was the scariest thing I've ever done, but it wasn't as bad as staying there with him. I shivered, remembering his touch and the terrible, soul-deep longing he made me feel.

I had to get away from him. Yeah, well, you're going to need to rethink that in the future. Huh? Would you try to pay attention? I saw Kalona taking over the world. He was using fire to kill people, and by people I mean vamps and humans. And you stopped him. Honestly, I think my vision is telling us you're the only person alive who can stop him. So you can't run away from him. Zoey, you're going to have to figure out what you said that killed him and then you're going to have to go to him. No! I'm not going to him. Aphrodite gave me a look that was full of pity. You have to fight against this reincarnation thing and destroy Kalona once and for all." Ah, hell, was what I was thinking when someone's fist banged on the door.

Chapter Fourteen

Zoey! Are you in there? Let me in! In less than a breath I was off the bed and at the door. I wrenched it open to find Stark leaning heavily against the doorframe. Stark? What are you doing out of bed? He was wearing hospital scrub pants and no shirt. His chest was covered by a huge white gauze Band-Aid that wrapped all the way around his torso. His face was the color of bone, and a veil of sweat beaded his forehead. He was drawing short, ragged breaths and looked like he was going to fall over any second.

But in his right hand he clutched his bow, and it was notched with an arrow. Shit! Get him in here before he passes out. If he falls down, we'll never get him up again, and he's too damn big to drag around. I tried to grab Stark, but surprising me with his strength, he shook me off. No, I'm fine, he said, stalking into the room and looking around us like he expected someone to jump out of the closet. I'm not going to pass out, he spat out as he got his breathing under control. I stepped in front of him, calling his attention back to me. Stark, there's no one here. What are you doing here? You shouldn't even be out of bed, let alone climbing stairs. I felt you. You were terrified. So I came to you. I had a bad dream, that's all. I wasn't in any danger. Kalona? Was he in your dream again? Again? How long have you been dreaming about him? Aphrodite asked.