Carly, admittedly, had to deal with everyone who thought she’d run away from home with some random guy and had now come crawling back. She was understandably confused, but couldn’t account for the missing time. Therefore, she decided that that’s exactly what must have happened. She’d had a romantic adventure and then—she figured—hit her head and got temporary amnesia.

If she believed such a fantastical explanation, I wasn’t going to try to convince her otherwise. Bottom line, I was just happy beyond words to have my best friend back.

And speaking of friends, I now counted Jordan Fitzpatrick, my former nemesis and tormenter, among them, as crazy as that sounded. But I guess it didn’t sound all that crazy. What we’d experienced together...well, it changed us forever. Both of us.

Jordan knew things about me that nobody else knew. And if she tried to tell anybody, they’d think she was nuts. For the foundation of a new friendship, that was about as solid as it got. She could still be a total bitch from hell, though. Now I preferred to think of it as part of her charm.

She was still seeing Stephen. Even if he didn’t remember the bad stuff that had happened, she remembered the good stuff—that even when he’d been turned into a super-gray, he still loved her. They were kind of meant for each other if you asked me.

My mother returned from Hawaii with a fantastic tan and a digital camera full of pictures. She was as relaxed and happy as I ever remembered her being. And, total bonus, she’d met a man while away, one who lived in a city only a couple hours’ drive from Trinity.

She didn’t understand why I was being extra nice to her, more talkative, more interested in what she was doing. I just told her I’d missed her. And I said the same thing in an email to my father in England. I missed him, and I hoped he’d visit me again soon.

He replied only a half hour later telling me that he’d be here for Christmas and was so happy to hear from me it had brought tears to his eyes. And that he loved me very much.

The email made me cry, too. Happy tears. All this time, I thought he was the one ignoring me, but it was actually the other way around.

I went to school every day. No sick days permitted for someone who died one night and came literally a breath away from death the next.

Colin had happily transferred his current crush to someone else, someone who was able to completely return it. Someone who didn’t give him mixed signals due to hungers, which were now an unpleasant memory.

It was his ability to deal with only a partial soul that had made me realize Carly and Stephen could survive with the same. It was a hypothesis. Luckily, one that had worked.

So, yeah, I was still a nexus. Still one that would forever hunger for supernatural energy, but all in all, I was doing pretty darn good, thank you very much.

Even though I thought about him every day. Every night. Every moment in between.

He’d given everything he had left to save my life and I’d failed to return the favor.

“I’d like to introduce a new student,” Mr. Saunders announced at the beginning of English class on Friday. I scribbled in my binder randomly, a sketch of wings in black ink that covered the entire page of a previously graded test. “If you could all help him catch up this late in the semester, that would be much appreciated. Please introduce yourself, young man.”

“My name’s Adam. Adam Bishop.”

My pen froze and my gaze shot up from the page.

Bishop stood at the front of the classroom.

“Where do you hail from, Adam?” Mr. Saunders asked.

“All over the place. But I’ll be staying in Trinity for a while.”

“Well, welcome. Please take a seat.”

He took an empty seat near the door at the front of class without looking at me.

Bishop was here.

Here in my English class.

What was going on?

Seven days had passed. Seven horrible days since the whole team had disappeared, leaving no trace except for the scorch marks that I’d visited three more times since. I’d hoped they might come back—all of them, any of them.

Now Bishop had just strolled into class like he was any other transfer student starting school in a new city.

It was impossible to pay attention to a single thing Mr. Saunders said as I counted down the minutes until the end of class. When the bell rang, Bishop stood up and was one of the first out of the room. I threaded my way through the crowd, keeping him locked in my sights. I trailed after him through the halls, past my locker and out the exit, practically tripping down the stairs in my effort to keep up with his long legs.

“Bishop!” I shouted after him when he reached the pathway leading toward the parking lot.

He stopped and turned to glance back at me.

I’d had time to figure this out. An hour to work over every possibility in my head.

He was dead, lost to me. He’d given his last bit of energy to heal me.

If he’d somehow been resurrected by Heaven, I would bet that, just like Carly and Stephen, he now had no clue who I was. He had amnesia!

However, he was alive.

I could work with amnesia.

“I know this is going to sound crazy...” My words tripped over each other in their race to leave my mouth. “But you already know me. I’m Samantha. You were here before and some bad things happened. I—I thought you were dead! You were dead, but I guess you’re not anymore. You’re here. And you must be here for a reason. Bishop, this is wonderful. You have to remember me, we went through so much together. You have to!”