I turned to her with surprise, my eyes stinging. But before I could say anything, the demon surged forward until he was right in front of her.

“If I wanted your opinion, I’d ask.” Nathan backhanded her and she went flying through the air and slammed down against the pavement fifteen feet away.

It had happened so fast, all I could do was look at him in shock and fury.

Out of the darkness, another figure now approached. Fast. It was Stephen, a furious expression on his face.

“I’m going to kill you for that,” he snarled.

Nathan sighed. “More teenage romantic drama. Never ends well, boy. Consider this a lesson for you.”

As Stephen’s fist was about to make contact with Nathan’s jaw, the demon grabbed it, twisting. I heard Stephen’s wrist break and he gasped in pain.

Nathan held on tight and Stephen made a wheezing sound, as if he couldn’t get any air into his lungs. The demon was feeding on more life energy, draining Stephen of his life right before my eyes.

“Stop it,” I yelled. “Stop it now! If you want me to help you, don’t do this!”

Nathan let go of Stephen and the gray crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

I stood there facing my demonic birth father with three unconscious bodies surrounding us as if this was a battlefield.

“You’ll help me?” he asked.

I’d quickly found myself cornered with no chance to run, no opportunity for escape. Natalie may have lied shamelessly to me in order to attempt to get me to do what she wanted. But with Nathan—I had no doubt he’d been telling the truth.

Unless I took away some of the energy that was currently trying to shatter him into countless pieces and which would then destroy everything in their paths, everyone and everything was doomed.

This definitely wasn’t a multiple-choice quiz with the possibility of full marks.

“I’ll help you,” I said finally, my chest tight. “But I need you to do something for me first.”

“What?”

“Bring Carly back.”

“Your little blonde friend.”

“She was taken still alive. And I know you can release people like that. You did it for Natalie. Do it for Carly, too.”

He cocked his head. “Always trying to help others. You must get that from your mother’s genes.”

Nathan’s eyes began to glow red and a moment later, the Hollow opened up behind him. Just like that. One moment there was nothing there, the next, a swirling black vortex, eight feet in diameter, hung in the air. The sound was as thunderous and ear-splitting as always.

The vortex disappeared a moment later, but there was someone left standing in its place with her back to us. Someone very familiar.

It was Carly.

Chapter 36

She scanned the area and slowly swiveled around to face me, her face even paler than her light blond hair. “Sam?”

“Carly! You’re here!” I jerkily moved toward her, grabbing her shoulders so I could inspect her for injury. She looked fine—unhurt, undamaged, healthy—and she wore the same clothes as the last time I’d seen her: a cute dress that hugged her curves she’d worn the night I’d confronted Natalie at Crave.

She blinked hard. “What the hell just happened? I shoved that knife in Natalie and—that black thing grabbed me and...and suddenly I’m here.” She glanced around. “In the middle of freaking nowhere. With that weird homeless guy and...oh, my God. Is that Jordan Fitzpatrick? Can I suck out her soul? Please?”

She didn’t remember anything about the Hollow. But she was still a gray.

I’d wanted to save her from the Hollow. Mission accomplished. But now, before I could allow myself a measure of relief that she’d be okay, I had the chance to save her from being a gray.

Stephen was waking up and I left my best friend to run back toward him, frantic. “I need Carly’s soul. I need it now, Stephen. She can still be saved.”

He’d crawled over toward Jordan to check on her, but she was still unconscious. He cradled her head in his lap.

“Stephen!” I yelled, punching him hard in his shoulder. “I need it now.”

He just shook his head. “It’s gone.”

That imaginary hand that had been around my throat now clutched my heart. “It can’t be gone. You saved mine, you said you saved hers, too.”

His expression was grim. “Natalie wanted me to, but it’s different. It was different from yours. Yours was stronger, it survived the transfer. Carly’s was... It fell apart when I was trying to encase it. I lied so she wouldn’t be mad. Carly’s soul is gone, just like mine is, Samantha. I’m sorry.”

I went cold inside, so cold that I couldn’t even get angry. I couldn’t yell or scream at him. The promise that I could make Carly the way she used to be was gone.

Now that she was back, soon she’d go through stasis. And knowing how the other grays had fared, she likely wouldn’t survive it.

“Sam, what the hell is going on?” Carly’s words now twisted with panic.

The tremor that shook the ground brought my attention back to Nathan. His face was covered in black lines now and he convulsed, bending over as if he couldn’t stand the pain a moment longer. “No time,” he gasped. “You must do it now or everything ends.”

A demon who had caused so much pain now experienced it himself.

I should be happy about that. I wasn’t.

My vision was about become a reality if I didn’t do something to stop it.