He turned so fast he startled me. “Goddamn it, are you even listening? I’m not saying forget Savannah, and I’m not saying start up again with me. I’m saying start living a life. Any life. I thought—” He swallowed. “I thought with this Nix thing, maybe you were finally moving on, finding a place for yourself here, but then I see you in there, talking about Savannah and poltergeist lessons and that amulet, and I can see in your face that you haven’t moved on at all. When you’re done, you’ll go right back to where you were, living in your own limbo, no better than one of those damned earth-spooks.” He paused, voice lowering. “And I’m not sure how much longer I can stand to watch you do it.”

His eyes met mine. For a minute, we just looked at each other. Then his lips moved in a few silent words, and he disappeared.

I stood there, feet rooted to the ground, my brain whirring, refusing to think, afraid that if I started thinking about it, I wouldn’t be able to stop. Was I really losing him? My gut went cold at the thought. I’d fix this. I would…soon.

For now, I headed back inside to ask Ross about the amulet.

It was only when I returned to Ross, and saw his smug smile of triumph, that I realized my mistake. I know; it should have been obvious to me long before that. One second I’m worrying about losing Kristof’s friendship, the next I’m plowing forward with the very action that brought things to a head in the first place. Typical—barreling toward my own destruction even as the warning signs flew up around me.

As long as I was there, though, it wouldn’t hurt to know about the amulet. If Kristof was right, and it was only a myth, then it didn’t matter. I knew his objection was not to me hearing about the amulet, but to the relentless obsession it symbolized. But…well, I could think about that later.

I told myself I’d only stay long enough to hear what this amulet did, but as soon as I heard that, I needed to know everything Ross could tell me about it. This amulet, if it existed, could solve my quest to help Savannah…with none of those pesky angelic responsibilities. According to Ross, the necklace, known as Dantalian’s Amulet, together with the incantation inscribed on it, would grant the wearer the ability to possess a living person. The only catch? The wearer had to have demon blood. It was almost too good to be true.