Shadow People (The Forbidden Darkness Chronicles, #2)

Twenty-Four: Hayden Williams

When Heather called and said she wanted to come over, I knew I'd need to delay the conversation with my Dad. I was a little worried, because while saving lives is a great idea, Heather was risking her life. And hell, I needed her right now with everything going on.

The adventure just kept deciding to continue. Was this how my life was going to be forever?

"I think it's starting to work," Heather said about twenty minutes later. "I feel tired." She lied down on the bed, resting her head on my pillow. Heather laughed. "The bed smells like you."

I laughed back. "Yeah, it is my bed."

That was when I heard the knock on my door. Of course it wasn't going to be that easy. Heather was already falling asleep. I headed downstairs to answer the door. Philip and Kristen stood in the doorway.

"Where's Heather?" Philip asked.

I looked out and noticed that she brought her Mom's car here. Way to go, Heather, I thought. Just tell them you're not here? Thanks for making that difficult.

"She doesn't want to see you two right now," I said. When I went to close the door, Philip put his hand in the way.

"Hayden, wait," Philip said. He looked me right in my eyes. "We're worried about her. You do know that we're her friends, right? Hurting her is the last thing we wanted to do."

"Look, I just know she wants to do all of this herself. I told her I'd keep you away, so I will. I recommend just leaving."

"Please," Kristen said. "She's making a huge mistake. This is going to be dangerous. She at least needs us to be here to wake her up if anything goes wrong."

I couldn't decide what to do. Heather was my friend, and I knew how much she wanted to help the souls in Majlis al Jinn. But I also knew that these were her friends, and their intentions were never to make her run off and do this all by herself. She needed friends by her side. Her own kind.

I groaned. Heather was so going to be pissed at me for this. "Fine, you can come in. But you cannot try to stop her. We need to let her do this."

Kristen nodded. "We know. She needs to be the hero this time around."