“No!” I jerked back from the couch, but Parker was still in, seeing everything. Panic floored me. The room spun around me. Parker let out a startled sound and pulled out all at once, but the room still spun. I felt sick, twisted.

“Ember? You okay?” Hayden said, coming to his feet. “What’s going on? Parker?”

“I’m gonna be sick,” I mumbled. I was too hot, too cold.

Hayden stood beside me, leaning down because I was bent over, grasping my knees. The dead aloe now looked like a skeleton to me. I stumbled back against Hayden, staring at Parker now.

His face constricted as he grabbed the side of his head, over his temple and winced. “She thinks she has no soul. It’s always in the back of her mind. She thinks she has no soul.”

The last thing I heard was Hayden yelling my name, and then nothingness closed over me.

* * *

Eventually I woke up. Shadows danced across the ceiling. My head felt fuzzy and sitting up didn’t help.

“Ember.”

The bed dipped beside me. Turning, I met Hayden’s eyes. I was kind of struck by their color. They were brown, not black. Warm. Rich. So deep, I could fall into them and never come back out. Then I remembered.

I swung out at him, catching him in the shoulder.

“Hey!” Hayden said. “Take it easy.”

I hit him in the chest, but it was like hitting a wall. “Damn you! You told me he’d be in and out! You said he wouldn’t dig around in my head.”

“He wasn’t supposed to. I don’t know what got into him.”

“Whatever.” I scrambled off the bed. “I want to go back to the house. Now.”

Hayden arched a brow. “You won’t go back through the woods without me, and I’m not leaving.”

“You wanna bet?” I spun around and headed for the door.

Hayden jumped off the bed. In an instant, he was in front of me. The look he shot me was a pure challenge. “Not until we talk about what Parker saw.”

Cursing, I looked around for another exit. There was a good chance I was being unreasonable, but I didn’t care. There were things people never needed to know. Things I’d never wanted Hayden to know.

Again, he moved fast, way too fast. He caught me by the shoulders and turned me around. “You’re not leaving.”

I glared at him. “You can’t make me stay here.”

“You don’t want to talk to me?”

“No! I don’t even want to see your face right now.”

He smiledactually freaking smiled. “You’re being a bit dramatic, don’t you think? No one hurt you.”

“Uh, I passed out! What do you call that?”