Текст книги "Face of Death"

Автор книги: Kelly Hashway

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

Chapter 19

Stay human? How could I? I’d be stuck like this forever, or at least until Hades killed my body and my Ophi soul with it. Then maybe I really would be free. But I’d be sacrificing all the Ophi to do it. Sacrificing Alex.

“Alex, I’m not leaving you here. I can’t.” My insides crumbled, and my legs weakened under my weight. I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to do this. To fight or to flee.

He pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. I feel so weak. It’s like I’m not really me without my powers, but at the same time, I feel normal.” I lowered my eyes. “I saw my mom. I told her everything—about you, the school, my dad, Hades. She understood. I couldn’t believe it, but she listened, and she accepted this is who I am. She’s letting Matt and me stay with her while I’m there. After I go, Matt will continue to live there for a while so he can be near his family. They’re going to tell everyone he’s my mom’s nephew.”

Alex’s body stiffened. “Your mom took him in? Just like that?”

“That’s my mom.”

“I thought she was overprotective when it came to you and guys.”

“She is. I’m sleeping in her room, and Matt gets mine.”

He smiled, obviously pleased with that arrangement. “She doesn’t trust Matt to stay on the couch all night, huh?”

“Don’t look so happy. She definitely wouldn’t trust you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He looked hurt.

“That I love you. If she saw us together, she’d know we wouldn’t stay apart for the whole night.”

His frown righted itself, and he leaned down to meet my lips. His hands cupped my face, pulling me closer to him. I clutched the sides of his shirt in my fists and pressed my chest against his.

“Now that’s torture,” Abby said, walking out of Tartarus. “If I have to watch any more of this, my eyes will burn for sure.”

I shot her a look. “What are you doing out here? I thought Hades kept you guys locked up tight.”

“What, Queen of the Ophi Jodi thinks she’s the only one to get time off?”

I really didn’t miss her. I’d tried to sympathize with why she was such a bitch. I mean, if my mom and sister shipped me off and didn’t return my calls or letters, I’d be majorly pissed at the world too, but Abby didn’t let you feel sorry for her. She cut you down and made you suffer with her.

“What do you want, Abby?” Alex glared at her like she was the most vile creature in the underworld.

She walked closer. Too close to Alex for my liking. “Hmm, what do I want?” She eyed him up and down.

“Back off, Abby.” I stepped around Alex, blocking her from him. Before I could say or do anything else, I felt myself slipping away. I turned my head toward Alex and collapsed in his arms.

The last thing I heard before I was back in Liz’s body was Abby saying, “Don’t worry, Jodi. I’ll take good care of our boy.”

Damn it! Why now? I wasn’t ready to leave, and Abby’s little comment meant she knew what was going on with me, too. Did the whole freakin’ underworld know what I was up to?

“Jodi?” Matt’s eyes darted back and forth between mine.

“Yeah. It’s over.” I tilted my head back, silently pleading with the tears that wanted to come rushing out. These quick visits with Alex weren’t enough.

“You were in something like a trance. I was talking to you, but you didn’t respond. You stared back at me, and you didn’t move at all. Does that happen to your body in the underworld, too? When you’re here, I mean.”

“No. I’m stronger in my body. I kind of move on autopilot, but apparently, it’s not very convincing because Hades knows what I’ve done.”

“What do you mean he knows? How?”

“Alex said he looked into my eyes a few times. Saw my soul was split or something.” I hopped down from the counter.

“He can tell that just by looking at you?”

“He’s the god of the underworld. Souls are kind of his thing.” I checked out my reflection in the mirror for a whole two seconds before I turned away. I couldn’t even bear to look at it. I wanted the next twenty-four hours to go away. I wanted to find out how to connect with Medusa and save Alex. The question was, how long would I feel this way? The longer I was in Liz’s body, tuned in to my human soul, the more I became human. I really was going psycho.

“What are you going to do? Or should I ask what Hades is going to do?” Matt looked genuinely scared for me.

“Hades is torturing us overtime until I return. He told Alex to tell me that. He’s using Alex to try to make me go back there.”

Matt grabbed my arm. “Then you can’t go.”

“You’re kidding, right? Did you hear what I said? He’s torturing my body, and worse, he’s torturing the others. If I don’t get back there soon, he’ll kill us all.”

“But you won’t really die. Just the Ophi half of you will.”

“Matt, technically, we’re both dead. These bodies are rentals.”

He let go of me and stared at himself in the mirror. “Then why’d you bring me back?”

“What do you mean? I wanted to give you a second chance. Make up for all you’ve been through because of me.”

“But you said it’s only temporary.”

“You don’t have to be. You can stay here for as long as you want.”

“This body…” Matt held a hand up, examining it like it was something completely foreign. “Will it decay on me?”

“No. It won’t change at all.”

“Ever?” His eyes widened.

I shook my head, seeing where he was going with this.

“So, while everyone else around me is growing old and dying, I’ll be in this never-aging eighteen-year-old body?”

I hadn’t thought about that. I was just so concerned with bringing him back, giving him more time. I looked away, ashamed of myself for not thinking ahead.

“I can’t stay here. You know that, right?”

I did now. “Matt, I’m so sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing for you. I’m still pretty new at all this necromancer stuff. I didn’t think this through.”

He sighed. “Let’s go home. I need something to eat, and then I’m calling it a night. We’ll figure things out in the morning after we’ve both had time to sleep on this.” I reached for him, but he shook his head. “Please, Jodi, let’s just go. I really don’t want to talk about it anymore tonight.”

What could I do? I followed him out of the bathroom. The line outside was about a mile long, and a bunch of drunk girls started cursing at us and making rude comments about why Matt and I had locked ourselves in there. On the outside, I ignored them, but inside I couldn’t help thinking how ironic it was that girls were thinking Matt and I had been hooking up in the girls’ bathroom, just like some random girl had thought about Alex and me in this very same bathroom months before.

Yeah, my life was a little confusing.

The drive home was completely silent. Matt didn’t say a word, and I was too upset to even put on the radio. I cracked my window, letting the coolness in the night air sting my damp cheeks. Up until then, I hadn’t even noticed I was crying. Human emotions were killer.

Mom opened the front door as we pulled up in the driveway. For the first time since I’d known him, Matt didn’t open my car door for me. He went straight to the house and to the kitchen.

I threw my arms around Mom and rested my head on her shoulder.

“Oh, baby.” She kissed my hair. “I take it you didn’t find out what you needed to?”

I pulled away, and she motioned to the couch. I sat down while she went to the kitchen, returning with two steaming cups of tea and handing one to me. “Here you go. Matt said he’s having a quick snack and heading to bed.” More like he was avoiding me.

“Mom, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, sweetie. What is it?”

“Is it better this way? Getting to spend a little more time with me, even if you know I can’t stay?”

She held her teacup in her lap and sighed. “I know it’s going to hurt like hell when you leave, but I wouldn’t trade these few days for anything. I get to see my baby girl again.” Her eyes filled with tears. “When you left, I had no idea if you were okay. All I wanted was to see you again. And then you sent me that email saying you were safe, but when I tried to reply, the email account had been closed. I was devastated. When Melodie told me she saw you, I kind of fell apart.”

Hearing her recount all the awful things I’d done made me lose it all over again.

She reached for my hand and squeezed it. “But now you’re here. I can see you’re okay. You’re stronger than I ever imagined you’d be.”

Funny, because I didn’t feel strong at all.

“Even if this is the last time I get to be with you, I’m grateful for it.”

I put my cup on the coffee table and curled up in a ball with my head on her lap. She moved her tea to the table as well and stroked my hair.

“Maybe now that you know about me, we could see each other sometimes. We’d have to be really careful, but we could do it.”

“Sweetie, I would love that. I’ll even promise not to touch you if I have to.”

“Then it’s settled. Even after I go back to my Ophi body and soul, we’ll still get together. We could do holidays.”

“I do make a mean turkey.” Mom laughed.

“Yes, you do. And I promise to stay away from any knives. I’ll strictly be the stirrer or flipper or whatever else you can do to food while it cooks.”

“Taste tester?” Mom asked.

“No. Too risky. My saliva is poisonous too. I’ll have to be in charge of loading the dishwasher, too. Oh, and taking out the garbage after I use the napkins.”

“Now, that I’m not going to argue with.” Even though I was facing the coffee table, I could hear the smile in Mom’s voice. She was doing her best to make me feel better. To prove we could still be a family even though I was an Ophi.

“You’re the best. You know that?” I tilted my head to see her face.

“Yeah, well, it’s a tough job and the pay sucks, but I love you, so what can I say?” She smiled, and it felt so much like old times.

We hung out and talked about everything—Alex, the school, Alex, the underworld, Alex—until midnight. By then, we were both exhausted, and we dragged ourselves upstairs to bed. Mom took the side of the bed closest to the door. Even after all that talk about Alex, she was still worried about me and Matt. He’d gone to bed hours ago. It was strange to think about him sleeping in my bed. No guy had ever been in my bed before, and a week ago, I would’ve thought the only guy to occupy my bed would be Alex. But somehow, I was being magically transported back through time, to months ago when it was Matt who appeared in all my dreams.

I still wasn’t sure what to do about Matt, and because he wasn’t speaking to me right now, I had no idea if he even wanted to stay here anymore. If he asked me to release his soul and let him return to his afterlife, it might destroy me. I’d already sent him there twice, and each time it got worse. First he was in Heaven. Then he was in the Fields of Asphodel, totally oblivious to every emotion. If I sent him back to Hades a third time, would he end up in Tartarus?

That thought haunted me as my eyes finally closed, and it stuck with me all night—mostly because I was back in the underworld delivering another soul. My body suddenly stopped moving on autopilot as my focus came crashing back to my Ophi soul. I staggered for a moment before I felt the searing heat of the Phlegethon, the river of fire that surrounded Tartarus. Somehow, Hades had made it so we could pass through it. Of course that was only when we were delivering souls. If we tried to escape during torture time, we’d be burned alive.

My eyes came into focus as I got my bearings.

“Are you okay? You look like you freaked out for a second.” I knew that voice. But, no. That was impossible. It couldn’t be. I must not have adjusted from the switch, from returning to my Ophi soul.

I turned to face the soul I was escorting.

Amber! Matt’s sister. Immediately I knew what was going on. Hades had sent Alex to try to reason with me earlier. He’d even increased the torture for me and the group. When both of those didn’t get immediate results, he’d decided to play really dirty. He’d gone after Matt’s sister.

Chapter 20

I couldn’t breathe as I stared at Amber’s innocent face. First Matt, and now Amber. Hades was avoiding me, not confronting me about what I’d done. He was making me suffer, forcing me to return to save the people I cared about.

Amber cocked her head to the side and stared into my eyes. “Jodi? Can you hear me now? You were so spacey before. I tried to talk to you, but you didn’t answer me. Where are you taking me? Is Matt here? Will I see him? Are you dead, too?”

Each one of her questions was like a stab in the heart. She had no idea what was going on. She thought she was going to see her brother again. That I was taking her to him.

I opened my mouth, but my throat closed up, only allowing a squeak to escape. This couldn’t be happening. I willed my blood to mix, to give me strength. I had to put an end to this now. Matt couldn’t lose Amber—and to Tartarus, of all places. Amber was a sweetheart. No way did she deserve this. The only reason she was here was because of me. My skin rippled as my power surged through my veins.

Amber stepped back, her eyes widening at the sight of my flesh moving as if snakes were crawling under it. “What’s happening to you?”

I found my strength and screamed at the top of my lungs, “Hades!” I yelled his name over and over, refusing to stop until he came. Until he undid what he’d done. Until he brought Amber back to life, and not as a zombie.

A swirl of black smoke approached from above. I stopped yelling and focused all my energy, my anger, into making my blood boil. If he didn’t listen, I’d start raising every soul in this place until he stopped me. That meant I was most likely going to die in a matter of minutes, but I didn’t care.

Hades appeared out of the smoke and smiled at me. Smiled. Of all things. He was enjoying my misery. “Nice to see you again, Jodi Marshall. You’ve been away for so long.”

How long had it been? I felt like the last slip into my Ophi soul hadn’t been long ago at all.

“Enough with the small talk. We both know what I’ve been doing, and I just discovered what you’ve been doing.” I motioned to Amber. “I’m not taking her to Tartarus.” I kept my voice firm, steady, masking my fear with the power in my blood.

“Oh, no?” He smiled again, looking amused.

“No. You’re going to bring her back to life. She didn’t deserve to die. You only took her to punish me. You knew it would destroy Matt, and that I’d come back here to stop you.”

Hades shrugged, playing innocent. “How do you know it wasn’t simply her time to die?”

“Don’t play games with me. We both know you’re trying whatever you can to get me back here, fully back. You’re desperate. You thought having Alex talk to me would be enough.”

Hades laughed. “It would’ve been if you weren’t so focused on your human side. Have you noticed your emotions have changed? Old feelings returning to you?”

Crap! He could read me like a freakin’ book.

“Matt seems to be very important to you again. I thought maybe taking his sister would get your attention, and here you are.”

“I didn’t know you took her. This just happens when I fall asleep. My mind strays back to my Ophi soul.”

Hades clasped his hands in front of him. “No. That’s not quite how it works. You come back here for a reason. Your Ophi soul calls you because it feels there’s something you need to see.”

Was that true? Was I trying to warn myself? “You’re saying I brought my focus back here because I wanted to save Amber?”

“Exactly.”

“Fine. Then that’s what I’m going to do. Now bring her back, and not as a zombie. I want her back the way she was.”

He smirked. “It’s so cute how you think you can make demands of me.” His eyes narrowed. “No, wait. It’s just annoying.” He stepped forward so his face was only inches from mine. The heat radiating off him burned my skin. I tried to back away, but my feet were planted firmly on the ground. He was holding me there. “Return your human soul to your body or Amber spends eternity in Tartarus. There will be no deal this time. If you don’t do as I say, she will burn, over and over and over again.” He stood up tall again, and the searing pain stopped. “Your decision, of course.” He brushed his sleeve as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

What was I supposed to do? If I saved Amber, I’d be sacrificing the Ophi. Alex’s face popped into my head. Arianna, Leticia, Tony, Jared, Carol, McKenzie, Lexi—even Ethan. I couldn’t let them all be trapped here until Hades decided to kill them. I’d given up on Chase. He belonged with Hades. But the others… And trying to raise all the souls in the underworld wasn’t going to work. Hades would kill me before I succeeded.

I turned to Amber. “I’m so sorry. You don’t deserve this, and if I could save you, I would.”

“You can save her.” Hades moved closer to Amber. “She has the power to save your soul. She’s just choosing not to. She wants you to suffer.”

“That’s not true!” I focused on Amber, pleading with her with my eyes. “Listen to me. He wants you to hate me, to think this is my fault, but he did this. If I save you, I’d be killing eight other people. I can’t do that. It’s awful, but losing one soul is better than losing eight.”

“Come now. Don’t lie to the poor girl. The people you are choosing to save aren’t really people at all. They’re monsters.”

“No, they’re not.” I faced him head-on. “I’m not. You can call us monsters, but what we do is nothing compared to what you do. You’re torturing Amber to get what you want.” I turned back to her. “That’s the truth, Amber. He’s doing this to you.”

Her eyes filled with tears as she stared at the gate to Tartarus. “Is it going to hurt?”

Hades smiled. “More than you could imagine.”

Amber began to sob. “But why? I’m not a bad person.”

I gently touched her arm. “No, you’re not.” I glared at Hades. “He is.” I hugged Amber and whispered in her ear, “I’ll try everything I can to get you out of here. I promise. Try to hold on. Try to shut off your mind until I can figure this out.”

“Matt…he isn’t in there too, is he?”

“No.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her he was alive again. That would only make things worse.

“Good.” Her body shook as she took a deep breath and tried to regain her composure.

“I’m so sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say.

“So, I guess you’ll be escorting her inside?” Hades asked.

I didn’t respond, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of admitting defeat.

Amber looked at me and reached for my hand. My eyes shut, futilely trying to hold back the tears.

“I don’t blame you, Jodi.”

Well, that did it. It was like a dam breaking. I stepped forward, leading Amber to the afterlife she didn’t deserve as Hades’ laughter bellowed behind us. Part of me wished I’d return to my human soul so I didn’t have to endure this. It was almost as much torture for me as it was for her, especially since I knew how painful the punishments were in this place.

Tony stepped toward me from the gates of Tartarus and wrapped me in a hug. Somehow he seemed to know that, no matter how strong I was supposed to be, I needed support. I smiled up at him as I pulled back and wiped my tears. He knew me well enough to know I didn’t want to discuss what had just happened, so he motioned for Ethan to step aside and let Amber and me pass.

I held her hand as I escorted her to Bristol, one of the Ophi from the school who had chosen to follow Victoria and Troy’s evil plan and landed herself in here.

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I approached her. “I want you to know that Hades is torturing this girl—Amber—because he is trying to hurt me. She didn’t do anything wrong. She’s innocent.”

Bristol stared at me completely unfeeling for a moment, but then her eyes flickered to Amber, who was trying to keep a brave face but was failing miserably.

“Bristol, please, I’m begging you to go easy on her. She doesn’t deserve this.”

“Oh, and I deserved this?” She held her arms out wide, gesturing to her own imprisonment. An imprisonment I’d doomed her to.

“You came after me. You chose to follow Victoria. What was I supposed to do? She was going to kill me, and you volunteered to help.”

She lowered her head. “I thought Victoria was right. I thought we had to wage a war against Hades to avoid something like this.” She raised her eyes to mine. “Not all of us could be the Chosen One and instinctively know the right thing to do. I chose wrong.”

“Is that really how you feel?”

She glanced at Victoria about twenty feet away, torturing a soul and smiling wickedly. “I hate her. She’s pure evil.” Her gaze returned to me. “I’m sorry for trying to hurt you.”

I nodded. “I’ll make a deal with you.” Apparently, all I did anymore was make deals. “If you take care of Amber as best as you can without letting Hades get too suspicious, I’ll find a way to take you with me when I free my friends.”

She raised her brows. “You’d do that? Even after I—”

I held up my hand to stop her. “Consider it done. Just promise me you’ll take care of Amber for me.”

“I promise.” She fidgeted with her hands. “Should we shake on it or something?”

“No, that would look too suspicious. We can’t let anyone know we’re working together. It would be bad for both of us.”

“Got it. I’ll pretend I still hate you.”

“Good.”

“But, Jodi?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t, and I really appreciate what you said. Even if you fail, and we don’t get out of here, the fact that you’re willing to forgive me and save me from this…well, it means a lot.”

I nodded, not wanting to smile since Bristol and I weren’t supposed to be friendly to each other. I turned to Amber and squeezed her hand. “You’ll be okay. Stick by Bristol.”

She managed to raise one corner of her mouth a fraction of an inch. I hugged her one last time and left Tartarus. I should’ve headed back to the palace and waited for my next soul, but instead I went straight for the Fields of Asphodel.

Alex and Arianna were at the gate. My mouth curved into a smile the second their faces came into focus. I rushed for them, and they wrapped me into a group hug.

“God, I missed you guys.”

Arianna kissed the side of my head. “Sweetheart, you have no idea.”

I stepped out of their arms and took them in from head to toe. They both looked worn out, and Arianna had several bruises and burn marks on her arms.

“Ari, what happened?” I gently took her hand to get a closer look.

“Don’t you worry about that. I can handle myself just fine. You have enough going on, so don’t give it another thought.”

I looked to Alex for an explanation. He sighed. “Hades has been going harder on some of us lately.”

“Because of me.” I let go of Arianna’s hand and inhaled as deeply as I could to stop myself from screaming my head off. If I alerted Hades to my whereabouts, he’d be here and forcing me back to the palace. He wouldn’t approve of my visits with Alex or any of the others.

Arianna gave Alex a reprimanding look. “Don’t you go listening to him. I mean it, Jodi. He had no right to tell you that. We’re fine.”

She was wrong about so many things. They weren’t fine, and Alex had to tell me that because I needed to know.

“Hades was really angry when he found out his plan to have me bring you back didn’t work.”

“I know.” I closed my eyes, trying to erase the image of Amber looking helpless and scared from my brain. “He killed Matt’s sister and had me escort her to Tartarus. That’s why I’m here. My Ophi soul called me back to save Amber.”

“Did you?” Alex asked.

“No, but I made a deal with Bristol.”

“Bristol?” Alex shook his head. “I don’t know if you can trust her. She—”

“I think she really feels like she made a mistake helping Victoria and Troy. She wants to get out of here just as much as we do, and she apologized for trying to hurt me.”

“You believe her?” Alex wasn’t buying it.

“I have to. She’s agreed to take care of Amber until I can find a way to get her out of here.”

“Jodi, if Hades took her, then all you can hope for is to raise her soul. She’d be—”

“Maybe not. If I can figure out how to stop Hades from messing with us for good, then maybe I can convince him to bring Amber back—human.”

Alex put his hands on his hips. “That’s asking for a lot.”

“I know.” I was resting all our hope on Medusa knowing the answer, knowing how to defeat Hades. If she didn’t…

Alex moved toward me and took both my hands. “There’s something else you need to know.”

Not more bad news. I couldn’t handle anything else.

“Hades is still trying to use me to get to you, so take this however you want, but I have to tell you.”

This was going to be awful. No, devastating.

“Tell me.”

“He told me where he’s been going.”

“Is he hunting down other Ophi?” That was what I’d assumed.

“He’s hunting you. He wants to kill you in human form. It’s his back-up plan since his other scare tactics to bring you back here aren’t working. The only problem is, he doesn’t know what body you’ve chosen to occupy.” He closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed before continuing. “But, Jodi, he said that, if he doesn’t find you in the next two days, he’s going to take your mom.”