my mind. I kept my eyes tightly closed and blocked out the throbbing ache that had re turned to my temples. "Fire, I call you to me and ask that you burn from my mind any darkness that has touched it." Heat filled my head, only it wasn't like the hot spear that I'd felt earlier. Instead it was a nice warmth, like a heating pad on a pulled muscle. "Water, I call you to me and ask that you wash from my mind the dark ness that has touched it." Coolness flooded through the warmth, soothing what had been overheated and bringing incredible relief. "Earth, I call you to me and ask that your nurturing strength take from my mind the darkness that has touched it." From the bot toms of my feet, where I was connected firmly to the earth, it was as if a faucet had opened and I imagined putrid darkness running down and out of my body to be consumed by the strength and goodness of the earth. "And, spirit, I ask that you heal what dark ness has destroyed in my mind, and restore my memory!" Some thing snapped within me and a white-hot familiar sensation shot down my back, dropping me heavily to my knees. "Zoey! Zoey! My God, are you okay?" Once again Detective Marx's strong hands were shaking my shoulders and he was helping me to my feet. This time my eyes opened easily and I smiled into his kind face.
"I'm more than okay. I remember everything."
Chapter Thirty-Two
"You're sure this is how it has to be?" Detective Marx asked for what seemed like the zillionth time. "Yep." I nodded wearily. "It has to be like this." I was so damn tired I thought I could fall asleep right there in the cop's ginormic monster truck. But I knew I couldn't. The night wasn't over yet. My job wasn't over yet. The detective sighed, and I smiled at him. "You're just gonna have to trust me," I said, sounding a lot like he had earlier that day. "I don't like it," he said. "I know, and I'm sorry. But I've told you everything I can."
"That some homeless kook is responsible for Heath and the other two boys?" He shook his head. "Feels wrong to me."
"Are you sure you're not a little bit psychic?" I smiled tiredly at him. "If I was, I'd be able to figure out what feels wrong." He shook his head again. "Explain this--what happened to your memory?" I'd already thought about my answer for this one. "It was the trauma of tonight. It made me block what happened. And then my affinity for the five elements helped me to overcome the block and remember."
"That's why you had all that pain?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess so. It's gone now anyway."
"Look, Zoey, I'm pretty sure that there's more going on here than what you're telling me. I want you to know that you really can trust me," he said. "I know that." I believed him, but I also knew that there were some secrets I couldn't share. Not with this really nice detective. Not with anyone. "You don't have to deal with whatever it is on your own. I can help you. You're just a kid--just a teenager." He sounded totally exasperated. I met his eyes steadily. "No, I'm a fledgling who is leader of the Dark Daughters and a High Priestess in training. Believe me, that's a lot more than just a teenager. I've given you my oath, and you know from your sister that my oath binds me. I promise I've told you everything I can, and if any more kids disappear, I be lieve I can find them for you." What I didn't say was that I wasn't one hundred percent sure how I was going to do that, but the promise felt right, and so I knew Nyx would help me keep it. Not that that would be easy. But I couldn't betray Stevie Rae's pres ence, which meant no one could know about the creatures, or at least not until Stevie Rae was safe. Marx sighed again, and I could see that he was muttering to himself as he stomped around to help me down from his truck. But just before he opened the door to the main school building Marx (annoyingly) ruffled my hair and said, "All right, we'll do this your way. Of course, it's not like I have a choice."