I drew in a shuddering breath, hearing his last words. “I am bonded to her.”

When I woke, I was in Kellan’s bed, in his arms. He had curled them around me and held me against his chest. The sheets had been pushed off to the floor, and our legs were entangled together, poking just over the end of the bed.

“I am bonded to her.”

I shivered as those words came back to me. He had looked at me, looking straight through me, claiming me when he said, “You’re mine, Shay.”

He seemed so angelic when he slept. His eyelashes were long, the tips resting on the skin underneath his eyes. Delicate. Then his cheekbones angled outward, drawing the eye to his lips.

I touched his lips and wondered what they would feel like.

Then I realized what I was doing—I was checking out my brother, no—he wasn’t. Clasping my eyes shut, I buried my head underneath the pillow and let out a silent groan. Too much had changed, and I no longer knew how I felt about anything, even Kellan who wasn’t really my brother, but something else entirely. It was too much, at least that early in the morning. Figuring I could sort through everything later, I knew a trip to the bathroom was more pertinent, so I slipped out from underneath his arm.

I took a moment to breathe once I had closed his bathroom door. So much had happened, too much. Looking up, I gasped when I saw my reflection. My hair had been black before, but it was a light-colored brown now. Streaks of blonde had appeared, and my mouth fell open when I fingered through the strands. Then I felt my cheeks. A blush seemed to have permanently appeared on my face. My skin tone had been pale before, and it was now a golden tan with a slight pink color over my cheekbones.

Suddenly, my arm started to burn, and I looked down to push up my sleeve. The silver line was still there, broken away from the other brown ones. I couldn’t believe that it had changed, too, or maybe that was why all these other changes had happened. I traced the tattoo slowly, wondering what other events had changed because the messenger broke free from me.

Then a different thought crossed my mind. Why hadn’t Kellan said anything—when had he noticed my appearance changes? I turned, intending to ask him, when I saw something else in the mirror. My eyes widened, and I sucked in my breath. My green eyes were no longer green. They had a smoky color to them now. The green was still there, but in the background. I shivered, feeling spooked.

How had I missed that the first time?

Shaking my head, not feeling good about any of it, I returned to the room, but found that Kellan had gone downstairs. Fine—I headed to my room instead. But when I got inside and changed into a white tank top and blue jean shorts, someone knocked on my door. It was a tentative knock, and I knew who that was. Opening my door and finding Gus on the other side, looking a little sheepish, I knew my guess had been right.

She hadn’t talked to me since yesterday at the lake. From the hesitant look on her face, how she had both of her hands wrapped in the white afghan shirt that hung on her, I was guessing she still didn’t want to talk to me.

“This is going to be good,” I mused, moving out and holding the door wider for her.

She came inside slowly and sat on the edge of my bed.

I turned and regarded her. “What’s up, Gus?”

Her eyes had been looking around my room, skirting around, but then she looked at me and gasped. “Your hair!” Bolting to her feet, she lifted some in her hand. Then she looked at my arm. “Your—what is this?”

I shook her off. “It’s nothing, just a tattoo. Why’d you come up here?”

“I…” Her eyes were transfixed on me now, but she closed her mouth and shook her head. “Oh. Okay. Uh… I was wondering what you think Kellan is going to do?”

“About what?”

“About the messengers coming and what happened with Dylan. Plus, with Kellan making everything how it was before.”

“Except for Leah. Her life is worse now.”

Gus shrugged. “At least she didn’t lose her parents.”

“At least she had parents before—”

“Who were horrible to her,” she whipped back at me, glaring. Gus stood, her shoulders rigid, and she took a deep breath. The anger clung to her, but she tried to control it. When she had, she asked further, “Do you know what Kellan is going to do when the messengers come?”

“I don’t know.” And I didn’t. “Have you ever dealt with a messenger before?”

She swallowed tightly and shook her head. “No. You?”

Yes. But I shook my head. “No.”

“I bet Kellan has. He’s the most powerful, except you, but do you think—?” She looked up, hopeful.

“I can’t control my powers.”

The hope vanished, and she hung her head again. “I suppose. Vespar’s worried. He doesn’t want to say anything, but I can tell. He doesn’t even want to go mess with some humans. I thought it’d be fun, maybe make him feel better. But he said it’d make things worse since Kellan warned us not to do anything.”

I nodded. “That’s a smart move.”

“I just…” She sighed, biting her lip and then crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself. “I don’t know what to do. I’m scared, and I’m worried about Vespar. You don’t think… Do you think we’ll survive this? Maybe we should run?”

“If Kellan thought we should run, he’d tell us. He hasn’t said anything about that, though.”