I stumbled. Strong hands pulled me up and we barreled through the inky blackness. It was like trying to walk through a wall of jello-wet and thick. It had some kind of spell. I just didn't know how long it would last. My sides started to burn and my lungs struggled to take in air when we broke free of the mire. It seemed like we'd been running forever, but it was only about ten minutes or so. I recognized where we were. Just north of the clearing. They had to be right behind us.

"Dammit!" Jeff growled. "It was supposed to last longer than that. We have to leave, CJ, now."

"Give me...a second. I need to...catch...my breath."

He growled and glared at my shoes. "Take those heels off. You'll run faster."

"Not a chance. I run faster in heels than you can in your track shoes."

"Fine, but let's go!"

I stared at him. He'd saved me. I thought he'd lied to me, betrayed me. "Thank you," I whispered.

He glanced behind us, the worry plain on his face. "I told you I'd do what it took to keep you safe, CJ, even if that meant pretending to go along with the rest of them."

He grabbed my hand and pulled me back into a dead run.

"I thought..." I gasped, trying to catch my breath.

"I know what you thought," he cut in. "It killed me to see your face when I said what I did. I swear to the Fates, I didn't mean it. I love you, CJ. I have since that first day of kindergarten when I stole your toy and Kay kicked the shit out of me."

He really loved me. Why had I never seen that before?

"CJ, move!" he yelled when I slowed down. "They can use their tracking spells now. We don't have much time. My jeep is just up ahead at the end of the trail. Hurry!"

I hadn't thought about tracking spells. "Won't they be able to find us anyway?"

"It'll be harder once we're in the air."

"In the air?"

He growled. I knew it was hard to talk while running, but I needed the distraction so I could focus on anything except the building panic.

"I purchased two tickets for us. The plane leaves in about an hour. It'll take us almost that long to get to Charlotte. It's going to be okay, CJ, I promise."

"I wouldn't make promises I couldn't keep, Jeffrey," Ethan's voice lashed at the already raw wounds on my soul. "She's mine."

He stood there leaning against the Jeep. He really did look like some dark angel.

"No, she's not." Jeff pushed me behind him. "You want to kill her."

"You have no idea what I want, Jeff." He held out his hand to me. "Cassie, come here."

I wanted so much to take that hand. I wanted to believe him.

"Trust me," he whispered. "Please."

But how could I trust him? He'd lied to me about everything. He'd brought me here. I wanted so badly to believe him. I loved him.

I looked up into Jeff's eyes. They glowed with anger and a fierce protectiveness. He was the one person who'd stood beside me, the one person who'd stood up to them and helped me. I took Jeff's hand instead.

"No, Ethan."

His eyes flashed with hurt. I faltered. Then I saw the hunting party behind him.

"You found them." Mr. Martin stopped beside of him.

"Why?" I whispered. "Why, Ethan?"

"He has more reason than the rest of us to see this through." Mr. Martin told me. "Didn't your book tell you who he is?"

"Matthew." Ethan flinched when I said the name.

Mr. Martin's eyes narrowed. "Yes, but do you know exactly who he is and why he's determined to see you burn?"

"No."

"His name is Matthew Ethan Warren. His fiancé was Sara Bishop. He died trying to save her, CJ. He laid there on the ground, bleeding to death from a sword through the gut and watched her burn until she died."

"Then how are you here?" I asked. I'd seen him in my dream. I'd only caught a vague glimpse of a man through a haze of smoke, but I remembered the look of rage and pain on Sara's face. She'd seen them strike down the man she'd loved. She'd seen them kill him. What had she done?

"Pain and anger can do many things, Cassie Jayne," he said. "I was determined to see my own vengeance. The strength of my need for vengeance was strong enough that I became a part of the curse as they cast it. I have kept watch over the Coven since, waiting for the birth of the thirteenth daughter."

"Are you a...ghost?"

"That's as good an explanation as any," he shrugged. "But I am flesh and blood as well. I was given a corporeal body when I came back to see to it that what needs to be done is done. Jonas is right about why I'm here. I'm here because of what they did to Sara that night. I crawled as close as I could get to her. No one stopped me. Why would they? I was dying. I heard her screams, watched her skin blacken and swell. The smoke killed her first, but I saw her turn to ash," he said softly.

His eyes were full of remembered pain and horror. They held the same emotion I'd seen in them that first day in the cemetery. I never asked him how he'd understood my pain so completely. Now I knew. He watched the woman he loved die the most horrible death imaginable. And he hadn't been able to save her.

"And you're going to let them do that to me?" I asked, the tears falling down my face. "You said you loved me, Ethan. Do you want revenge so much, you'll let them burn me the same way they did Sara? You couldn't save her, but you can help me, Ethan. Please."

Ethan flinched with each word I fired at him.

"Enough, CJ," Mr. Martin snapped. "You won't change his mind. This is why he's here." He jerked me away from Jeff. "I'm done playing games."

"Stop it." Jeff tried to get to me, but he was pulled backwards. Mr. Corey and Deputy Sims held him at bay.

"You will tell me, CJ," Mr. Martin promised in a tone full of menace. "If you don't, you'll cost your father his life. I'll make you watch him die."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, yes, I would."

"Did you kill Emily?" He'd alluded to it before, but I wanted to hear him say it.

"She was going to take you and Makayla away. I couldn't let her do that."

"How did you do it?"

"She ran from the house and drove away in her mother's car. The brakes weren't very good. I simply forced her to speed up to a point she couldn't stop. When she hit the brakes going down the hill, they gave out. She went over the mountainside."

"Bastard," I snarled and swung my fist straight into his nose. I heard the break. Blood spurted and I smiled.

"You little bitch," he ground out and slammed his fist into my face. I would have fallen if he hadn't had a death grip on my arm. My head spun for a second. My stomach heaved. I heard a scuffle and blinked. Jeff had broken free and was wrestling with Deputy Sims.

"Tom, deal with that boy!" Mr. Martin barked.

I saw the flash of metal, heard the shot rang out, smelled the acrid scent of gunfire, but still couldn't believe it. Even when I saw the red blossom across Jeff's chest, saw the surprised look on his face, I refused to believe it. It wasn't until I heard his gurgle of pain and saw him crumple to the ground that it hit me.

They'd shot him.

"NO!" I cried and tried to yank my arm away from Mr. Martin.

Mr. Martin's hands inadvertently touched my dress and I heard the sizzle of burning flesh. He cursed and threw me at Ethan, holding his hand to his chest. I saw the smoke rising from it.

"Let's go." Mr. Martin turned and headed back towards the clearing.

Ethan didn't say a word. He simply hauled me up, gripped my forearm in one hand and pulled me along the path. He didn't look back, but I did.

They left Jeff there, lying on the cold ground.

Bleeding to death.

Or already dead.