Текст книги "Stalked by Death"

Автор книги: Kelly Hashway

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

When he pulled away, everyone stared at me in horror, and there was nothing I could do to convince them of the truth.

Chapter 19

I was in serious trouble. Suddenly everyone was looking at Chase like he was the good guy. I was the girl who was out of control with power. Only I didn’t want the power. I wasn’t trying to use it. It was all Chase, but no one else could see that. Even Jared, who I’d hoped had seen a glimpse of Chase’s true colors, was looking at me like I was no better than him. I needed help. I needed Alex. But since Alex wasn’t here, I had to hope Medusa would be enough.

“I’m really drained. I need to go visit Medusa before lunch.” I tried not to sound as disgusted with Chase as I actually was.

“Sure, babe. No problem. I’ll go with you.” He didn’t let go of me. He clearly didn’t trust me and was only acting sweet to keep up appearances with the others.

“No, you missed training this morning. Stay. Finish up with the group. I’ll be fine.”

I looked to Tony for help, hoping he’d back me up the way he usually did. He clearly seemed upset and confused by my behavior, but he nodded. “I could use your help, Chase.”

Chase wrapped me in a hug and whispered in my ear. “Don’t do anything foolish, Jodi. I’ll find out if you do. I promise you that.” He kissed me, dosing me again with his power. He was seriously going to kill me.

I wobbled back, still feeling the effects of his touch. Why couldn’t anyone else see what he was doing to me? If Alex were here, he’d notice it. He’d put an end to it. I swallowed hard, fighting back the tears that came with thinking about Alex. I turned toward the school and walked inside. I hurried to Medusa and squeezed her hands.

“My child, what’s happened to you, now? Your power is all off balance.” Her expression was one of worry. “You need to release my left hand. You have too much poison in your blood right now. You need the blood from my right side.”

“But if I let go I won’t be able to talk to you, and I need to talk to you.”

“I can still appear to you. Go on and release my left hand.”

I did as she said, and the life-restoring power flowed through me, replenishing my energy. I sighed, relief washing over me. “Thank you. I needed that.”

“Now, tell me what’s happened.”

“Chase. He’s evil, Medusa. He’s trying to kill me. He keeps sending me waves of power, but somehow he’s only sending me power from the left side of his body.”

“I can tell. You are filled with it. Jodi, I must warn you that, if you allow this to continue, you will turn evil. You’ll become like Victoria and Troy. Only worse.”

“Worse?” I was practically screaming in my mind. “How is that possible? They were awful.”

“You must stay away from Chase.”

“How? He drove Alex away—or I did because my stupid blood was attracted to Chase’s power.” Attracted to his power. Did that mean I was evil? If I was craving the evil in Chase, that had to mean I was evil, too.

“No, Jodi,” Medusa said, reading my mind. “There is more going on here.”

Again she was keeping something from me. “What do you know? I keep getting the feeling that you’re hiding something. What aren’t you telling me, Medusa?”

She shook her head. “I see more than you think, but I’m bound to the deal the Ophi made with Hades when they rescued my spirit. I cannot reveal to you what’s truly happening. If I do, the deal will be broken, and Hades will claim my soul once more.”

I couldn’t let that happen, but if she knew what was happening to me, there had to be a way for me to find out. “Can you give me a clue? Anything?”

“All I can say is this: That which has the power to save, has the power to destroy.” She shook her head again. “I’ve said too much already, and you’ve had enough of my power for one evening. Be careful, my child, and good luck.” She vanished, and I let go of her hand.

That which has the power to save, has the power to destroy. What did that mean? All Ophi had the power to restore life or to kill. This wasn’t anything new to me. Ugh! A hand pressed against my back, and I knew it was Chase before he even transferred his power. I whipped around.

“Don’t. Please. I finally feel like myself again. Please, don’t do this.”

Chase grinned at me. “Don’t you see? I’m trying to show you who you really are. Your true self is who you become with me.” He pulled me to him, hitting me with his life-restoring power, making my body tingle and crave his blood. I couldn’t fight it. I gave in, and before I knew what I was doing, I was kissing him.

The door opened behind us, and Lucas stumbled in. He was clutching his throat and choking. Not again!

I pulled away from Chase and reached Lucas as he fell to the floor. “Lucas?” I felt for a pulse, but there was none. He was dead.

“Chase, help me.” I couldn’t believe I was asking him for help, but no one else was around, and with the way my energy level had been roller coasting, I wasn’t sure I could raise Lucas alone.

Chase bent down next to Lucas while I mixed my blood and focused my power on bringing Lucas back to life. I reached for his soul. It was still in his body, so it should’ve been easy for me to bring him back, but his soul wouldn’t listen to me. Something must have happened when Chase and I connected. He’d affected my power somehow. I struggled, feeling my body shake. I reached out for Medusa’s hand, but Chase grabbed me instead.

“Chase, what are you doing? I need help. He’s fighting me. I can’t bring him back alone.”

Chase laced his fingers through mine, and I waited for the tingling feeling that came with Chase’s power. I didn’t feel it. He wasn’t helping.

“Chase! Please!”

“I’m trying, Jodi. I’m giving you everything I have. Why isn’t it working?” His voice was strange, as it had been in the cemetery when he was putting on a show for everyone.

“Oh, God!” McKenzie gasped.

My eyes were closed, focused on Lucas’s soul, but I knew the others were here now. They were watching. Chase was determined to have them see me fail. He was pretending to help, but really he was letting me fail. Letting Lucas die. He couldn’t get away with it.

“Chase, you jerk. You’re not helping me! You’re not giving me any of your power.”

He squeezed my hand, sending his poisonous blood to me in such a concentrated form I instantly crumbled under the strength of it. I fell to my knees as it burned through me. He was going to kill us both. I had no choice. I stopped focusing on Lucas, letting his soul leave. I concentrated on pulling free from Chase. I jerked my hand from his and fell to the floor sobbing.

“No!” McKenzie screamed. “Lucas!” She threw herself on his body and wept.

I pounded my fist against the floor before glaring at Chase. “Why? Why did you do that? You poisoned me! You let Lucas die! We could’ve saved him.”

Chase faked sadness. “Oh, Jodi. Don’t do this. Don’t look for someone to blame. We weren’t strong enough. You couldn’t save him. I don’t know why, but you couldn’t. No one blames you.” He bent down and reached for me, but I backed away.

“Don’t touch me!” Everyone was staring at me now. Looking at me like I’d lost my mind. Maybe I had. I’d lost Randy and Lucas. Alex had walked out on me. Chase was poisoning me, and no one would listen. It was driving me mad.

“Let me take you to your room.” Chase was still pretending to be the perfect boyfriend.

“Jodi,” Tony said, “maybe you should let Chase help you.” Oh God, Chase even had Tony fooled.

“No.” I turned to Arianna. She was my last hope. “Please, Arianna. Will you help me?”

She nodded and extended her hand to me, but Chase waved her off. “Lunch is ready, right? You all go eat. I’ll take care of Jodi.” Chase turned to Mason. “Uncle Mason, will you take care of Lucas’ body?”

“Of course,” Mason said. He looked at me and shook his head. “Jodi, I suggest you listen to Chase, before things get even more out of hand.”

They were all turning on me. All but Arianna, and Chase wouldn’t let her near me. How had this happened? Chase reached for me, giving me a small pleasurable dose of power. The one I couldn’t fight. Instantly, I became a different person. I knew I was angry with Chase, yet when he touched me like that I wanted nothing more than to be with him. Yes, I was definitely crazy. Arianna gave me a puzzled look, no doubt completely baffled by the change in my reaction to Chase.

He took me up to my room, holding my hand to keep me passive and under his control. He brought me to my bed and tucked me in.

“See, Jodi. It could be like this all the time. I don’t have to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you.”

I nodded. After using my power to try to save Lucas and getting a dose of poison from Chase in the process, I needed Chase’s life-restoring power. I didn’t want him to leave. I willingly held his hand.

“You understand now, don’t you?”

I did. He was stronger than me. If I didn’t give in to him, he’d kill me and the others. He’d proven that with Lucas. “I understand.”

“Good.” He kissed me. “I’ll go get you some food. We’ll eat up here. Just the two of us.”

I was torn. I wanted to get away from him, yet I didn’t want him to go. My body, my blood, was at odds with itself. “Hurry back.”

He smiled. “I knew you’d come around.” He kissed the back of my hand. “I’ll make you much happier than Alex did. I have so much more to offer you.”

He left, leaving me to think about Alex. Now that Chase wasn’t touching me, my head wasn’t cloudy anymore. Alex was the one I loved, not Chase. What was I doing? I couldn’t give in to him. I had to get out of here. Flinging the covers off me, I ran to the door, peeking out. The hallway was empty. Everyone was downstairs in the dining room. I doubted they were eating after what had happened to Lucas. They were probably discussing how to overthrow me. Maybe making plans to give me to Hades in exchange for their freedom.

I couldn’t think about it now. I had to run while I had the chance. I didn’t head toward the stairs. There was too much of a chance of running into Chase that way. Instead I turned right and went up to the third floor. I had to hide out. Make Chase think I’d run away from the school. Once he was out searching for me, I could come up with a plan. Lock him out or something until I could get help.

I went to the library, figuring it would be the last place Chase would look for me. Plus, no one ever came up here. Tony did on occasion, but maybe if I got him alone I could make him listen to reason. I went straight for the computers and logged in. I sent Alex an email, hoping he’d be online and respond. I needed to tell him what was going on. I didn’t dare explain in the email though. I didn’t want to leave anything Chase could trace. I simply told Alex I was in trouble. I waited ten minutes for a reply before logging out. Then, I logged in under Alex. I knew his password; I’d actually guessed it as a joke about a month back. “Macandcheese” was an obvious guess, so I never thought it would be right.

Alex had two recent emails, both opened and responded to. The first was from Arianna. She wanted to check up on him and make sure he was okay on his own. I checked his sent folder for his reply. He said he was fine, that he went to find Ethan and would be staying at Serpentarius. Not to worry.

Serpentarius wasn’t that far away. If I really could escape and get there, Alex could help me stop Chase from whatever evil he had planned. But the more I thought about it, the farther away Serpentarius seemed.

I noticed another sent email, more recent. It was to someone named Ethan. I opened it. It said, “We need to talk about Chase. I’ll be at your house tonight at nine.” I went back to the inbox. There was a response from Ethan.

“I’m out of town. Need to reschedule.” That was all it said.

Who was Ethan, and what did he know about Chase? I checked the sent messages one more time to see if Alex had responded to me. He hadn’t. I logged off. I heard a commotion coming from the second floor. Chase must have figured out I was missing. I ran to the back room and locked myself in. Chase didn’t have a key. Tony did, but I hoped Chase would assume the door was always locked and I couldn’t have gotten in. I ducked under the desk and stayed absolutely still, listening.

“Jodi?” Leticia called into the library.

“Oh, please,” Lexi said. “If she’s hiding in here, do you really think she’s going to answer you?”

“Ow!” Leticia said. Lexi must have pushed by her.

“Toughen up,” Lexi said. “I’ve never seen such a weak Ophi before. You make McKenzie and Lucas look like gladiators, and they’re pathetic.”

“Don’t talk about Lucas like that,” Leticia said. “He just died. Show a little respect.”

I smiled. Leticia was actually standing up to Lexi. Good for her.

“The weak should die.” I got what Lexi was hinting at, and I was sure Leticia got it, too. Too bad Chase wasn’t interested in Lexi. They seemed like the perfect match. Thinking that made me hate myself more for giving in to the power of his touch.

“Anything?” Tony asked. He must have just come into the room.

“No,” Leticia said. She actually sounded happy. Did she not want to find me because she thought they were better off without me?

Tony cleared his throat. “All right. I’ll tell the others. You two head to class.”

“Class?” Lexi spoke as if Tony had cursed at her.

“Yes. I don’t think we should let Jodi’s disappearing act disrupt our training. I’m sure she’ll show up soon.” I was glad Tony was getting them out of here, but sending them to class meant they’d be directly across the hall from the library, and I’d be stuck under this desk until dinner.

I waited until the library door closed before I peeked out. The office had windows, so coming completely out of hiding wasn’t an option. I doubted Chase would go to class. He was determined to find me. I made sure no one was in the hallway and reached for the laptop sitting on the desk. Pulling it into my lap, I logged in under Alex again. I figured the school might have some way to keep record of us logging in, and since it would be my name they’d search for, I wanted to avoid leaving a trail. I went to Alex’s sent messages, and this time there was a reply to me.

I opened the message and two words stared back at me. “Got it.” What did that mean? He understood I was in trouble? He got my message? What? I took a risk and sent him another message—from his own email account. I thought maybe seeing the desperate measures I was taking might make this all sink in and get a better response than “Got it.” My fingers flew across the keys.

Alex, don’t email me on my account. Reply to this message—if you are going to reply. I need help. You were right about Chase. He’s evil, and he’s hurting me. He’s found a way to control me with his powers. I’m helpless against him. I need you, Alex. Please. I’m so sorry about what happened. I love you. ~J

I knew it was his personal email account, but I still couldn’t convince myself to type my whole name. He’d know it was me. I didn’t mention going into hiding. If Alex showed up, I’d come out. I’d risk everything to be with him.

I had hours to kill before dinner. I peeked out again and saw Tony had the lights off in his classroom. Must be another thrilling PowerPoint presentation on the history of the Ophi. I couldn’t say I was sorry I was missing it. Still, I was bored out of my mind under this desk. I decided to do a little digging, see if there was anything on the Internet about Chase. I pulled up a search engine and typed his name. Nothing. Not a single match. Like he didn’t exist. That was strange. I typed in Alex’s name out of curiosity. Nothing. I tried mine. Nothing that actually pertained to me. There were other Jodi Marshalls, but all my old records and stuff were gone. Deleted.

The only conclusion I could come to was that the Ophi didn’t want records on themselves. They’d practically deleted my identity. There was one problem with that plan. They couldn’t erase my mom or my friends. They knew I existed, which meant there was still some imprint of me on the human world. I spent over an hour searching Melodie and my mom. I stared at their images on the screen and read Mel’s blog. She raved about the Valentine’s Day dance. The one I would’ve gone to with Matt if I hadn’t come into my powers. She didn’t mention her car being stolen by her former best friend, though. That was odd. Although, there was a picture of a different car in her profile picture. Nothing fancy, but definitely newer than the clunker I’d stolen. I was so wrapped up in Melodie’s life without me that I barely heard the key turn in the lock.

“No, problem, Tony.” Chase came into the room.

Oh, please no! If he walked around the desk, I was done for.

Chapter 20

I didn’t move. The laptop was still in my lap, and my knees were sticking out from under the desk. Chase was going to find me and kill me. Or worse, he’d use his power on me to turn me into his slave again. If I’d had the choice, I’d pick death.

He moved to the bookshelf on the wall. I tensed up when his legs came into view. No way was I getting out of this. I thought about hitting him over the head with the laptop and making a run for it, but I figured he’d hear me and catch me before I could do any damage to him, so I stayed like a sitting duck.

“Did you find them?” Tony came into the office. He walked right over to the desk, and his eyes fell on me.

“No. Didn’t you say they were on the shelf under the severed hand?” Chase laughed. “By the way, it’s awesome that you use a severed hand for a paperweight.”

Tony continued to stare at me. I mouthed the word “please,” hoping he would understand. Chase’s little charade had done a good job of fooling Tony, but maybe seeing how desperate I was now would make Tony understand that I wasn’t losing my mind. That Chase was doing something horrible to me.

“You know, I just remembered I never made the copies,” Tony said.

Chase turned around, and Tony stepped toward him, blocking me with his legs. “I’ll make the copies,” Chase said.

“No, that’s okay. Why don’t you go back to class and tell everyone to study the image on slide twenty-six? It’s fascinating. I think you’ll all get a kick out of it. I’ll be back in a second.”

Chase left, and I finally could breathe again.

“He’s gone,” Tony said. “Now, do you want to tell me why you’re under the desk with my laptop?”

I handed him the computer. “Sorry. I needed to look up something.”

“From under there?”

“I didn’t want anyone to see me.”

“By ‘anyone,’ are you referring to Chase?” Tony put the laptop back on his desk.

“Yes.”

“Because…” His face softened. Maybe he did suspect Chase was up to something.

I wanted to blurt out everything. Tell him how awful Chase really was. That Chase was making me look like the bad guy to everyone else, but really he was to blame. So why wasn’t I?

“Does this have anything to do with Alex?” He put his hands up in defense. “I don’t like to pry, but you and Alex were awfully close, and now all of a sudden you and Chase are inseparable.”

Yeah, because Chase wouldn’t let me out of arm’s reach. I looked down, avoiding Tony’s eyes.

“You don’t have to tell me,” he said. “Maybe you should go for a walk to clear your head. I bet you’ll feel better by dinnertime.”

A walk. Like into town? I could go find Alex. I couldn’t just let Tony go on believing Chase was the good guy, yet something was telling me this wasn’t the time to tell Tony everything. Chase could walk back in.

“Thanks, Tony. I think I will, but please don’t tell Chase you saw me. He’s not what he seems to be. He knows his power is affecting me, hurting me—”

“Hurting you?” Worry spread across Tony’s face. “Jodi, we have to do something if—”

“I’m not sure what to do about it yet. I have to think this through. I think Chase is up to something, but I don’t know what it is. Please, just don’t say or do anything yet. Let me figure it out first.”

Tony nodded, but I could tell he didn’t like this at all. “You’re the boss, Jodi, but be careful. And might I suggest you take the back way out?”

“Back way?” I’d been sitting here this whole time when there was another way out?

“Right there.” He pointed to a door next to the copier.

“I thought that was a closet.”

“No. It leads to the storage room, which has another exit.”

“The one in the hallway.” Boy, did I feel like an idiot. “Thanks.”

I made sure no one was watching before I ducked into the storage room. It was pitch black. I’d never come in here before. No one but the adults ever did. That kind of made it the perfect hiding place. I’d have to remember that for next time, although I hoped there wouldn’t be a next time.

I felt my way along the walls to the other exit. It was in the same hall as the classrooms but farther down. As long as no one was in the hallway, I’d be able to get away unnoticed. I put my ear to the door, listening for footsteps or any other sounds. All quiet. I opened the door a crack. The hall was clear. I stepped out and ran for the stairs. I took the back way out of the school and headed straight for the woods. As long as Chase wasn’t at the classroom window, I was sure I’d made it undetected. I had to stop a few times, too drained to run the whole way, but I made it to Melodie’s car. The road wasn’t much farther, and this time I was going to make it.

I was so close, and I wasn’t going to let anything surprise me this time. I got to the road and ran into the center of the street. I’d make someone stop for me. Breaks squealed and a big gray car came skidding to a stop. My heart pounded, not because I’d almost been creamed, but because it was Alex.

I ran to the passenger side and got in. He pulled away quickly without saying a word. His tires screeched around the turn, and I struggled to get my seatbelt on before I was thrown through a window. I looked at him, but his eyes stayed focused on the road. I didn’t know if I should say something or wait for him to talk, but I’m not that patient.

“How did you know I’d be here? I just emailed you about an hour ago.” I held onto the door for support as Alex launched the car around another bend in the road.

“I answered your email from my phone. I knew if you tried to get away you’d head for home. You’re really predictable, Jodi. You’re lucky I got to you before he did.”

I could tell he was avoiding Chase’s name. “You’re right. The first time I ran away, he caught me. That was this morning. This day has been one unending nightmare. He’s pure evil, Alex. I should’ve listened to you.”

He still didn’t look at me. “You smell like his cologne. How do I know this isn’t a trick? That you didn’t lure me out here so he can come out of nowhere and—”

I reached for his hand on the steering wheel. “Because you know me.” I smiled, trying to ease the tension. “And because we’re in a car doing 85 on a windy road. He’d never catch us.”

Alex slowed down, but he didn’t face me. I let go of his hand.

“If you think he’s evil, why are you getting close enough to him to smell like him?”

I had to tell him everything. The way Chase really made me feel. The way I was defenseless against the connection we had. I took his hand again, hoping that, by touching him, he’d know I how I felt about him. Know how difficult this was for me to say and how much I didn’t want to hurt him.

“When Chase touches me, he transfers power to me. It’s not like anything I’ve ever felt. It’s—”

“You can tell me, Jodi. I can handle it. I need to know everything if we are going to fight him.”

“Fight him? What do you mean? He’s one of us.” As I said it, I felt my blood mixing. The whole Alex/Chase situation was screwing me up again. Making me unsure of everything.

“He’s evil, Jodi. You said so yourself.”

“I did?” What was happening to me? “My blood is acting strange. I feel so confused.” I rubbed my forehead.

“I think it has to do with this connection you’re trying to tell me about. I don’t blame you. I want to protect you from it.” Finally, he looked at me. He pulled into an abandoned warehouse and parked. He cut the engine and turned to face me. “We have to get rid of him.”

“Alex, I really do think we need Chase. The power between us is so strong. Maybe strong enough to fight off Hades. If that’s true, we can’t lose him. No matter what.” I looked down at my feet. I wished I could send Chase away. Things would’ve been simpler, but I was the leader of the Ophi. I had to do what was best for the group, not what was best for Alex and me.

Alex sighed. “Tell me everything. Don’t leave anything out. No matter how much you think it’s going to tear me up inside. Got it?” His features were hard, serious.

I nodded. I told him about the way Chase’s touch sent me into an almost euphoric state when he dosed me with the power in the right side of his body. How it made me feel better than alive. I also told him about the kiss. The way Chase had surprised me the day Alex had left.

“I wasn’t planning on kissing him. All I cared about was you leaving. Trying to convince you to stay.” I squeezed his hand, not wanting to let him go.

“I know.” He looked away. “I saw it. I saw him grab you and kiss you. I also saw you kiss him back. It wasn’t one-sided.”

“I’m not going to deny it or try to lie my way out of this, Alex. I did kiss Chase. I gave in to his power. It filled me up so much I was overwhelmed by it. I loved it.” I was embarrassed to admit I loved the power, but Alex needed to know. “I probably sound like a drug addict, don’t I?”

“Kind of.” He looked at me and brushed the hair from my forehead. “Why does he get to you like this? Make you lose control?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why does he make you feel so alive and…” He paused, but I knew what was coming next. “I can’t?”

“I don’t want you to make me feel like that, Alex. I’m scared of Chase. I’m scared of what I become when I’m with him. I lose control, and bad things happen. Everyone died when Chase kissed me. My powers went crazy, and I killed all the Ophi in the school. Medusa helped me bring them back.” I swallowed hard. “All but one.”

Alex narrowed his eyes. “Who?”

“Randy. He’s gone. His body couldn’t hold his soul in place. That zombie took a huge chunk from his shoulder and nicked a small artery. We couldn’t stop the bleeding. When I brought him back, he died all over again.”

Alex pulled me to him and hugged me tightly against his chest. I couldn’t believe it. I thought he’d hate me for everything I’d done. For kissing Chase, for giving in to the power, for killing Randy. But he was comforting me. As much as I didn’t want him to let go, I had to finish explaining what had happened.

“There’s more.” I pulled my head back to look at him. “When I ran away, he caught me and tortured me with his power. He can send the poisoned part of his blood to me in concentrated doses. It feels like I’m burning in a hellfire. Like when Hades stared at me. Chase can control me, Alex. He makes me hate him and crave him at the same time.” I was crying now. Admitting all this to anyone was hard enough, but saying it to Alex was heartbreaking. “I’m so sorry.”

“How does he control you? You have to tell me.”

“I don’t want to. You’ll hate me. I couldn’t handle it if you hated me.” I squeezed him to me, afraid I was losing him again.

“I won’t hate you. I’m going to hate Chase even more. I can tell. But I won’t hate you.”

I sniffled and looked at him. “Like I said, he can control what kind of power he transfers to me. When he sends me the life-restoring power, he can make me do anything he wants me to. My blood responds to him. I wish it didn’t, but I can’t stop it. When he touches me like that, I don’t want him to stop.”

The disgusted look on Alex’s face tore me apart. He was wrong. This was going to make him hate me. I tried changing the subject. “Chase also stopped me from saving Lucas, one of the Ophi from Serpentarius.”

“He died? How?”

So much for the topic change. “Chase kissed me again. Lucas was near us, and the connection reached out to him and killed him. It’s this weird thing that happens sometimes when Chase and I are together.”

“How many times have you kissed him?” Alex’s face was bright red with rage.

I shook my head and sobbed. “I don’t know. I swear I’m not doing it because I want to. He’s making me. When I tried to bring Lucas back, Chase pretended to help me because the others were watching, but instead of transferring life-restoring power to me, he dosed me with poison. He was killing me, too. I had to break the connection and let Lucas go.”

Alex punched the steering wheel. “I’m going to kill him! My God, Jodi, what he’s doing to you, it’s worse than—”

“Stop. Please, don’t say it.” I didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

Alex took a few deep breaths, getting himself under control. “I found out something while I was gone.”

“Where were you? Where did you go?”

“I went to see an old friend. Mason’s brother, Ethan.”

Ethan, the guy from the email. “Mason’s brother? That would make him—”

“Chase’s father. Yeah.”

I’d never stopped to think about it before, but Chase called Mason Uncle Mason. That meant his father was Mason’s brother, and since the only way an Ophi could have a sibling was to be a twin, it meant Mason was a twin.

“Jodi, there’s something you need to know.” He pulled away, just far enough to look me in the eyes. “It wasn’t Ethan. It was Mason.”

I shook my head. “Mason’s at the school.”

“No. Ethan is at the school. He’s pretending to be Mason.”

My head was spinning. Things were falling into place. “No wonder Chase was able to convince Mason to come here after I’d spent months begging him. He wasn’t convincing his uncle. He was convincing his dad.”

Alex nodded. “Mason told me everything. He said Chase and Ethan planned the whole thing. They made sure no one knew that Ethan would be taking Mason’s place. They were going to pretend Chase had convinced him to come with the rest of the Ophi because things were going so well at the school.”

“Wait, when Mason—I mean Ethan—practically demanded that Chase and I show him how our combined power worked—”

“That was part of the plan to get you and Chase together. I’m sure of it. They staged everything.”

“How could I be so stupid? I fell for all of it. They used me. Manipulated me!” I was yelling now.