Chapter 41

BOOK TWO: KEEP

Zane

My palms slid against the guitar, slick with sweat, I tried to wipe them across my jeans, but it was no use. The noise was deafening. I had to remind myself why I was up there. "Saint! Saint! Saint!" Stomping ensued while I knelt down and made the sign of a cross in the air in front of me. "We want Saint! We want Saint!" With a muffled curse, I stood, then reached into my tight jeans to pull out a smashed marshmallow.

I popped it in my mouth and closed my eyes, allowing myself to be transported back to a simpler time, a time when things were easy, when decisions weren't all on me. When life was about making mud pies and carrying around miniature marshmallows in a measuring cup.

"You don't have to save the world," she whispered. "You know that, right?"

"Right." I furrowed my brow. "But why is it wrong to try?"

"Oh, Zane," My grandma leaned down to eye level. "Just because your parents were taken from you, doesn't make it your job to make sure everyone and e