“Promise?” I whispered, needing the confirmation, needing to know that this wasn’t the start of something terrible.

“Promise.” He held me. “Remember, Trin. Forever.”

“I remember.” And I did. I would never forget.

Later, once Zayne had coaxed me back to bed and he’d fallen asleep, I did something I could count on one hand the number of times I’d done before. Closing my eyes, I cleared my mind of anything except my father. I called to him. I summoned him. I prayed to him, hoping he’d show up and undo what we’d done. Begged that he return Zayne to his former state. I even offered something that would break my heart into tiny jagged pieces that could never be repaired.

I’ll give him up, I silently pleaded. I’ll make him give me up. I’ll undo forever. Anything. I’ll do anything.

But like all the times before, there was no answer.

38

I was riding the nervous hot-mess express by the time Zayne and I met up with Roth and crew Saturday evening. My grace was on a hair trigger. If anyone so much as looked at Zayne the wrong way, I was prepared to do full bodily harm.

Human and nonhuman.

Except for animals. Zayne better be able to run fast if a dog tried to bite him or something.

His skin hadn’t returned to its stone-like quality, and I had to fight everything in me to not lock him in the closet or something. He was behaving as if this new state of things wasn’t utterly life changing. He seemed quite unaffected by it, and I couldn’t understand it.

I figured the first time he got clawed by a demon would change that real quick.

Thinking about that terrified me, because depending on where he was clawed, it could be serious or even fa—

“Trin.” Zayne pushed off the concrete wall. We were waiting in the same place as last time, on the corner of the street that led to the school. “You’re getting yourself worked up.”

I frowned in his general direction, since he was a blur in the absence of lights. “No, I’m not.”

“I can feel it.” He sighed. “Why does that seem like something you repeatedly forget?”

“Maybe because I’m trying to forget it.”

He laughed, moving closer. I caught the scent of wintermint, and then his hand was on my lower back. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

Yeah, he was going to be fine standing out here, at a safe, smart distance.

“Here they come,” he announced. “Roth, Layla and... Cayman.”

“I didn’t know he was coming.”

“I guess he missed us.”

I cracked a grin as I made out the vague shapes of three people heading toward us. They were dressed like burglars, but as they got closer, Layla’s hair stood out like a slice of moonlight until they stepped under the streetlamp.