Mildred turned the corner, heading into the darkened maze of the hospital. I steeled myself against the sudden chill and rushed to catch up. I didn't want to risk getting lost in this creepy place. When we got to the next set of doors, Mildred raised one finger to her lips. She took the keychain out of her pocket, put a key in the lock, and slowly turned it. The door squeaked a bit as she opened it, and I held my breath.

What'll happen if they find me traipsing around in the middle of the night? I wasn't sure, but I was betting the penalty would be something worse than a shot of knockout drugs.

We crept along the next hallway until Mildred stopped at an open door. She peered in, and I looked over her shoulder. An orderly in a white uniform had his feet up on the desk. He leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed, snoring load enough to wake the dead.

She smiled and motioned for me to follow. I hustled as quickly as possible while trying to keep quiet. Mildred, on the other hand, just strode through like she thought she was invisible. The orderly's snores faded away behind us as we made several quick turns.

I was already lost. Eerily silent at night, the building was a warren of confused spaces, and every time I looked back at the way we had come, I had trouble recognizing any landmarks. It was as if the building subtly changed whenever I looked away. It must have been a product of my still partially drugged mind.

I wondered at my own sanity, following some old woman through a spooky hospital. Where is she leading me? Is she violent? Is this some kind of ruse to get me off on my own so she can bludgeon me to death?

I was starting to seriously regret following Mildred, thinking up excuses for heading back to my room. But before I could say anything, she walked over to the closest door and opened it. "I told you I would bring her."

I followed her in to find Dean. The catatonic guy sat in the middle of the room in a wheelchair. But he was no longer comatose—his expression wasn't slack. His eyes glowed when he saw me. He slowly lifted himself out of the chair and took a wobbly step forward.

He reached out. "Colina, I've been so worried about you. Thank the Goddess you're here, and you're safe."

His voice... It was the one haunting my dreams!

I took a step closer. Those eyes staring at me were no longer blue. They were dark gray and full of emotion. Something inside of me responded to him. Looking into his eyes, hearing him call my name... Suddenly, the fog in my head lifted, and I remembered.

I remembered everything.

Memories flooded back. The three horrifying trials I had to endure to become a death dealer. First, the awakening: Luke's hands strangling me, and then, with his help, coming back from death. Then, the possession: the night Luke tied me to a chair and Wanda's spirit possessed me. And then...Anna's death.

I had taken the life of a young girl on her deathbed.

I flinched away from that memory. The rational part of me knew it wasn't murder. Killing her had been a mercy. Helping a sick girl in so much pain to the other side at her parent's request. But the shredded remnants of the healer I had once been quelled in horror at the memory of taking another's life.

But that wasn't the only life I'd taken. I'd brutally killed one of Macaven's men, and I'd been responsible for the deaths of countless others.

I had found the men responsible for my family's death. I made them pay for what they did, but my revenge had come with a price. I'd released a demon into the world. A demon that killed without remorse and had escaped to do who knew what. And Luke—he'd died. I'd seen his body crushed under the weight of a stone altar. He'd been dead. Yet, now he lived.

I remembered. I'd successfully performed the spell that helped Luke possess Dean's body, and now he walked this earth again by my side.

As Dean.

* * *

Memories continued to rush over me, a flow of lost time trying to force itself into my mind all at once and almost drowning me in its intensity. My temples throbbed with the strain of so much information. I struggled for a long moment against the painful rush of recollection, but then I stopped struggling and just let myself drift with the flow.

It hadn't been easy trying to find someone to teach me. I couldn't walk right up to another guild or stumble into a magic shop and ask the proprietor for help. I went to the only person I could think of—the traveler who'd helped Luke when he'd been stabbed.

When I stumbled into her shop, she hadn't been surprised to see me. She stood in the middle of that little room, between the zebra rug and striped chair, which still gave the shop its old world feel. She still wore a wide skirt and a bohemian blouse, but this time her outfit was all blue, except for the vivid green scarf sweeping up her dark hair. When she saw me, she gestured for me to follow her through a doorway that was covered, not with a door, but a curtain of beads.

I felt an odd sort of déjà vu, as if I was both drowning in a memory and experiencing it for the first time. It was the second time I'd gone looking for a teacher in order to learn something that I was better off not knowing.

But I couldn't—wouldn't—let Luke go, no matter the cost.

The memories continued to rush in.

The living space sat on the other side of the beaded curtain. A small living room and kitchen made up the room. In the middle was a wooden table with two place settings. The traveler gave me a knowing smile and pointed to the nearest chair. "Sit. We'll eat. You're hungry, tired." Her eyes filled with something I hadn't seen a lot of lately—empathy.

I ate the stew she put in front of me. It was full of meat and potatoes. I wasn't hungry, but I forced myself to eat, one spoonful at a time. I tried to will away my anxiety with little success. This woman had powers I didn't understand. She was obviously some kind of seer. She had foreseen the awakening, had tried to warn me about the darkness that would consume me. I'd faced her before, but I had Luke's strength and confidence to draw on then. This time I was all alone. Except...

"I'm here," a ghostly voice whispered in my ear, and I felt a soft touch graze against my hand. His presence gave me strength, and I squared my shoulders.

She let out a long sigh. "So, it's true. The boy's spirit still lingers. You won't let him cross over."

She had felt his presence. Like Darla, she was blaming me for not allowing him to walk into the light, to go to the other side.

My face grew hot, and there were tears in my eyes when I answered, "I'm not forcing him to stay."

"But you are. Your heart and mind are filled to the brim with your love for him. That love shining in you is like a light cast in a dark room. It draws him to you. It keeps him from moving on."

I pushed the bowl away and got up from the table. Despair filled me. I had come looking for help, but if the traveler had decided what I was doing was wrong, then asking for her help was pointless. "If you won't help me, I'll find someone who will. I won't give up on him."

She reached out and grasped my arm, far stronger than she looked. "And where are you planning to go?"

I looked into her eyes, expecting to see contempt, but there was only sadness and pity. I didn't bother to brush away the tears sliding down my cheeks. I had nowhere else to turn, and she knew it. "I need your help."

She let go of me and leaned back in her chair.

"I can pay." I pulled a small bag of gold coins from my pocket and pushed it toward her. Freddy had lent me the money.

Freddy, the non-mage-born boy raised with Luke, and whom Luke considered a brother. He was Luke's confidante, his closest friend... Freddy was the only one I could go to—the only one I could speak to—after Luke's funeral. Darla, Luke's sister, had found me on the hilltop overlooking the funeral. She blamed me for her brother's death. She swore to see me dead for what I'd done.

If Freddy thought my request for coins was odd, he hadn't shown it. He'd given the money to me without hesitation, even though I never told him what it was really for. I figured he thought I needed it because I wanted to make a getaway. He knew Luke's guild was hunting me.

The real reason I needed gold coins was because traveler's tradition demanded that payments be made in gold or silver. My mama taught me that it was a tradition passed through traveler's history. When their nomadic groups frequently crossed over international boundaries, often banks had not welcomed their business. Gold and silver were the only truly universal currency.

The woman's eyes bore into me. She sat there, staring at me silently for a long moment before she sighed again and finally spoke. "It's foolish, what you're planning."

I didn't ask how she knew what I was thinking, and I didn't bother to defend myself.

She shook her head. "I know I can't talk you out of it. You're going to try and do it no matter what I say." She grabbed a glass bottle filled with amber liquid, poured it into a glass, and then drank all of it down. When she was finished, she looked at me again and asked, "What is it you need from me?"

It surprised me that she didn't know. She'd known I was coming; she knew what I was planning... She couldn't put all the pieces together? I was going to try and find a body to put Luke's spirit in.

Bring Luke back.

It was a thought that never left me. A thought that consumed my days and nights. I would not rest until I saved Luke.

"I need someone who can teach me a spell to put his spirit into a new body," I whispered.

"Even though the boy's guild hunts you." It wasn't a question.

"They blame me for his death. They want their revenge." What I didn't say out loud was, They are right. It's my fault that Luke is dead. If I'd been less full of rage and the need for vengeance... If I hadn't acted so rashly...

She lowered her voice and leaned in. "Do you know they almost found you twice? Even now they are making their way here."

I pushed away from the table. My head swerved toward the door. Panic filled me. Any minute the Phoenix Guild could burst in, capture me, and ruin all my plans.

"There is time, child." She walked over to a small wooden desk pushed against a wall. She opened a drawer, pulled out a piece of paper, and held it out for me to take.

I reached for it, but she pulled the paper back before I could touch it. "Are you sure this is the path you wish to take? There will be consequences for your actions." Her eyes were kind but sad, as if she already knew how I would answer the question.

I was already living with the consequences of what I'd done. I'd raised a demon. I'd let an evil creature loose on the world. I'd foolishly rushed in and took on Macaven and because of it, Luke was dead, his spirit floating in the in-between. But how long would he be able to hold onto the shreds of his spirit and remain there? How long until the light called to him, and he passed over? I had to find a way to bring him back before that happened.

"I know what I'm doing." Even as I said the words, I knew I didn't believe them.

She gave me a long look and then handed me the paper. On it was a name and address. I looked into her eyes, trying to find the words to thank her, but they froze on my lips. Her expression was one of resignation and disapproval. She was helping me, but she didn't approve of what I wanted to do. So why did you help me at all? I wondered, looking into the old woman's face. She could have turned me away. She was risking a lot to help me, more than the few coins I paid her could justify. I was still no closer to understanding the woman.

Without another word, I turned and walked out of the room. She didn't try to stop me, and there were no last-minute words of warning or advice like the last time I'd rushed out of her shop.

Outside, I wiped away a tear sliding down my cheek and looked up into the clear blue sky. The sun was shining, and people walked up and down the streets, frequenting shops. Life was going on. Before this moment, my life had been on hold.

Now it had purpose again.

I was so close to getting what I wanted most in the world. I looked down at the paper I held tightly between my fingers. This piece of paper was the key to bringing Luke back.

***