Burned

“I need to use my element to think. It seems there’s somethin’ that I’m missing, but the understanding of it is just outside my reach. I’m gonna use earth to help me make that reach.”
    “Can’t you do that from here? There’s lots of nice earth all over the school.”
    Stevie Rae made herself smile at him. She hated lying to Dallas, but then again, she wasn’t really lying. She was really going to see if she could figure out a way to help Z, and she couldn’t do that at the House of Night. “There’re too many distractions here.”
    “Okay, look, I know I can’t stop you from going, but I need you to promise me something, or I’m gonna make an ass outta myself by actually tryin’ to stop you.”
    Stevie Rae’s eyes widened, and this time she didn’t have to force her smile. “You’re gonna try to kick my butt, Dallas?”
    “Well, you and I both know it’d just be me
tryin’
, but not succeeding, which is where the ‘make an ass outta myself’ part comes in.”
    Still grinning at him, she said, “What do you want me to promise?”
    “That you won’t go back to the depot right now. They almost killed you, and you look all recovered and stuff, but
they almost killed you
. Yesterday. So I need you to promise you’re not going back down there to face them tonight.”
    “I promise,” she said earnestly. “I’m not goin’ down there. I told you—I want to try to figure out how to help Z, and fightin’ with those kids definitely won’t help her.”
    “Swear?”
    “Swear.”
    He let loose a relieved sigh. “Good. Now what am I supposed to tell those vamps about where you’ve gone?”
    “Just what I told you—that I gotta get surrounded by the earth and left alone. That I’m tryin’ to figure out something, and I can’t do it here.”
    “All right. I’ll tell ’em. They’re gonna be pissed.”
    “Yeah, well, I’ll be back soon,” she said, getting in Zoey’s car. “And don’t worry. I’ll be careful.” The engine had just turned over when Dallas rapped on the window. Suppressing an annoyed sigh, she cracked it.
    “Almost forgot to tell ya—I overheard some of the kids talking while I was waitin’ for you. It’s all over the Internet that Z isn’t the only shattered soul in Venice.”
    “What the heck does that mean, Dallas?”
    “Word is that Neferet dumped Kalona on the High Council—literally. His body is there, but his soul is gone.”
    “Thanks, Dallas. I gotta go!” Without waiting for him to reply, Stevie Rae shoved the Bug into gear and drove out of the parking lot and off the school grounds. Taking a quick right on Utica Street, she headed downtown and to the northeast, toward the rolling land on the outskirts of Tulsa that held the Gilcrease Museum.
    Kalona’s soul was missing, too.
    Stevie Rae didn’t for an instant believe that he’d been so wracked with grief that the immortal’s soul had ripped apart.
    “Not likely,” she muttered to herself as she navigated the dark, silent streets of Tulsa. “He’s after her.” As soon as Stevie Rae said the words aloud, she knew she was right.
    So what could she do about it?
    She didn’t have a clue. She didn’t know anything about immortals or shattered souls or the spirit world. Sure, she’d died, but she’d also un-died. And she didn’t remember her soul going anywhere.
Trapped . . . It’d been black and cold and soundless, and I’d wanted to scream and scream and . . .
Stevie Rae shuddered, clamping down on her thoughts. She didn’t remember much of that terrible, dead time—she didn’t want to. But she did know someone who understood a lot about immortals, especially Kalona, and the spirit world. According to Z’s grandma, Rephaim hadn’t been anything but a spirit until Neferet had set loose his gross daddy.
    “Rephaim will know somethin’. And what he knows, I’m gonna know,” she said resolutely, her fingers tightening on the steering wheel.
    If she had to, Stevie Rae would use the power of their Imprint, the power of her element, and every bit of power inside her body to get information from him. Ignoring the sick, terrible,
guilty
way it made her feel to think of fighting Rephaim, she gave the Bug more gas and turned down Gilcrease Road.
    Stevie Rae
    She didn’t have to wonder where she’d find him. Stevie Rae just knew. The front door to the old mansion had already been forced open, and she slipped inside the dark, cold house, following his invisibletrail up and up.