Prologue

The steady cackling of the fire, the roaring of some sort of engine, and the eerie silence of
everything else was overwhelming. Everything about me hurt, I was sore in places I didn’t even
know I had. And whatever the hell I was on top of was really hot.

I opened my eyes, not quite sure of what had happened, and the first thing I saw was the
clear blue sky. Not that weird, white, wispy kind of blue, but that deep blue you hardly ever see
during the year. For a second I lay there, outstretched and just watched the birds flying above
me. It wasn’t until a plume of smoke cut across my line of sight that I remembered what
happened.

Carefully, and against the will of every fiber of my body, I forced myself to my feet.
Looking around, I remembered everything that happened in flashes. Laughter mixed with music,
and someone’s terrible singing. An enormous shadow sending us into a random flash of
darkness. I remember looking out the window and seeing the terrified passengers in the planes
windows right above of John’s jeep.

But worst of all, I remembered the looks on everyone’s faces as they realized that
something was very wrong. When they realized the plane was coming down on us. That’s when I
realized that I was most certainly dead. There’s no way I could have survived that. No way any
of us could have lived. But as I looked now, our car was pretty far away from the initial crash…

Around me, my friends were stirring, looking around in confusion. I stood there, the wind
blowing sand, dust, and the desert heat at me. Suddenly Carson was right in front of me, talking
to me, waving his hand in front of my face. As he did, I noticed the light reflecting off of the ring
on his finger.

Erika’s mortified scream and outburst of sobs brought me back to reality, and in a swift,
sudden movement, Carson wasn’t at my side anymore. He was crouching over the limp shell of
one of our best friends, trying to bring them back to life with his abilities.

“No! No, you can’t be dead! You can’t be!” Her pleas were desperate, drowned in tears.
“Please!”

Even without Rayne taking Erika into her arms, tears forming in her eyes, and without
the helpless, dazed look on Carson’s face as he gave up, I knew it wasn’t going to work. No one
was coming back to us, back to life.