Damien said, “Okay. What can we do now?”
“I have no idea.” Kellan struck again.
The black mist dodged but then stopped and turned. I felt its attention, and it shrieked in all of our heads. “YOU!”
“Oh, fuck.” Damien mumbled.
The black mist lunged for me, zipping in a flash.
I stepped back as Kellan roared, “NO!”
From there, three things happened at once.
There was a giant BOOM.
Kellan lunged forward, toward himself.
And I threw up my hands, not knowing what to do.
Blinding light erupted from me.
I felt it leaving my body—soul, hands, arms, and every inch of me. I closed my eyes as it happened.
Then there was silence.
Sweet, blissful silence, and I cracked an eye open…not seeing anything at first. Blinding white light spread all around. I felt like I was inside a cloud.
“Kellan?”
Silence.
“Damien?”
Silence.
Oh no.
“Welcome.”
I didn’t know who said that, but I felt a strange sense of familiarity. Out of the white mist, a form came forward.
I frowned.
It was, well, a he-she. He was male, but he was also female, and they smiled at me.
“I am you, Shay.”
“Me?”
They nodded, such kindness coming from them. “We are you. We are your messenger spirit. You have extracted us to defend yourself against a part of your soulmate’s darkness.
“It’ll be fine. We are stronger than your soulmate’s darkness—at least this one that got loose from him. As we are speaking, he is binding his darkness back to himself. You are helping him. We are helping him, because he didn’t know this could happen. We are instructing him.
I felt a pinch in my chest.
“That’s the binding. It is coming into your soul bond. There’s no other way.”
“What’s happening exactly?” I asked.