Page 107 of Lost

Rephaim smiled at Grandma Redbird. “It is a long story, but I will be happy to share it with you during our drive.”

“Excellent! Now, Zoey, I imagine you know enough about my kitchen to find the Tupperware so we can take the rest of those cookies with us. Correct?”

“Yes, Grandma.” I got up and started for the strangely familiar kitchen.

“Good. We leave in five minutes.” But before she climbed the stairs she came to me and took my face between her age-weathered hands. “To see you again before I join my Zoeybird in the spirit world is truly the greatest gift of my lifetime.” She kissed me softly, and I hugged her again before she hurried up the stairs, taking them two at a time like a woman decades younger.

“Same Grandma—different world,” Rephaim said.

“It’s pretty cool.” Stevie Rae nodded and wiped away happy tears.

“Same Grandma—same love,” I agreed. And, feeling more confident than I had since I’d told Stark my plan, I began looking through kitchen drawers. And Grandma was right, as usual. It took me no time at all to find her Tupperware.

* * *

It was crazy how the weather changed when we got to the Sapulpa ridge. The night had been cold but clear—not so as we got farther and farther down a windy road called Lone Star, which wasn’t nearly as strange as the convoy of military vehicles that pulled off Lone Star as we turned onto it.

“Stay down in the back!” Grandma told Rephaim and Stevie Rae. “Turn your head away, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya! I don’t want them to glimpse your Marks.”

I did as she said, pretending to be very interested in the scenery as I let my long, dark hair fall over most of my face. After the column of transport trucks went past us, Grandma kept nervously checking her rearview mirror for several long, silent minutes.

Finally, she breathed a relieved sigh. “It looks like they’re in too much of a hurry to bother with us.”

“Is that normal?” I asked Grandma.

“To pass a military convoy? Yes. Out here? Not particularly, though there were red vampyres under Stark’s command searching the ridge the night I brought Kevin to meet the Resistance.”

“Bet that didn’t go well for poor Other Kev,” Stevie Rae said from the rear of the van.

“At first, no. But when it was Kevin who called the sprites, and Kevin who convinced them to veil the ridge and protect the Resistance from Neferet’s armies, well, then Dragon was more receptive to believing he was on the side of Light.”

“I’d forgotten that Kevin said Dragon and Anastasia are alive in this world! OhmygoodnessI can’t wait to see them again,” said Stevie Rae. Then her expression changed. “Oh, no. Dragon!”

“And Anastasia,” added Rephaim, looking pale and sad.

“What is it? Why would Dragon and Anastasia upset you?” asked Grandma, glancing in the rearview mirror at Stevie Rae and Rephaim.

When they didn’t answer, but turned to look at me instead, I told Grandma the truth, even though I seriously didn’t want to. “When Rephaim was a Raven Mocker, before he knew Stevie Rae and was still under the influence of Darkness, he killed Anastasia. Dragon knew that. He had a hard time forgiving Rephaim, even after Nyx forgave him.”

“I never blamed him for that,” Rephaim spoke up quickly. “He is stronger than me. I don’t believe I could ever forgive if someone killed my Stevie Rae.”

Stevie Rae touched his cheek. “Course you could. You’d know I’d want you to, and so would Nyx.”

“I do not believe telling this story to this world’s Anastasia and Dragon would benefit any of us,” said Grandma firmly.

“I agree with Grandma,” I said.

“Is it not being dishonest to keep this from them?” Rephaim asked.

“No. It happened in another world, and you weren’t evenyouwhen you attacked the House of Night and killed Anastasia,” I reminded him.

“Z’s right,” said Stevie Rae. “There’s no point in upsetting Anastasia or Dragon in this world. They’re alive and well—and you’re going to be their friend and ally.”

“Rephaim, you cannot undo what you did in another world—at another time. All you can do is to move forward in love and Light,” said Grandma Redbird.

Rephaim bowed his head, looking sad but not defeated. “Then that is what I will do. And I will protect this world’s Anastasia with my life.”

That settled, my mind was still whirring because of another name. “Grandma, you said Stark led the red vampyres who were searching the ridge the night Kevin got here. So, he really is a big deal in the army?”