Текст книги "Face of Death"

Автор книги: Kelly Hashway

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Chapter 9

Finally, I managed to stop gawking and waved them toward me. They didn’t look like the kind of people who’d end up in Tartarus—not that I thought Alex, Arianna, or the others deserved to be there, either.

The couple walked toward me, and the girl began to sob. “It’s okay. The judges won’t hurt you. They just want to evaluate your life and see which afterlife you belong in.” I put my hand on her shoulder and directed the two of them to the open space in front of the three thrones.

Once again, the judge in the middle leaned forward. “Elizabeth Roseman and Brian Gehris, you are here before us to be judged for your sins. We shall review your lives and decide how you will spend eternity. Await your judgments.”

Apparently, things were pretty scripted around here. Either that, or this guy had been giving the same speech for eternity, and he said the same thing every time without even thinking about it.

While the judges reviewed the lives of Liz—she looked more like a Liz than an Elizabeth to me—and Brian, I stared at them, trying to picture Matt and me in their bodies. I’d never visualized myself as a blonde before, and her hair was pin-straight. I was going to miss my waves. Brian was better than average in the looks department, but he had nothing on Matt. It was definitely going to be a step back for him, but I doubted he’d mind.

“It has been decided,” the middle judge said. “You both will spend your afterlives in the Fields of Asphodel. While your lives were not full of sin, they were not full of great deeds, either. Your existence in the underworld will be much the same.”

That was how they viewed it? I hardly called wandering around aimlessly neither good nor bad. It downright sucked. Still, I was glad I didn’t have to take them to Tartarus.

“Follow me,” I told them. As we left the palace, we passed Chase.

“Wow, he put up a fight.” He laughed, as if there was something funny about dooming a soul to eternal punishment.

“Go crawl in a hole,” I said, ushering the souls past him.

“You just can’t stop talking to me, can you, Jodi?” I really did try to ignore him, but something about Chase demanded attention. He was like a little child. The more you ignored him, the more he kicked and screamed.

Liz and Brian were silent the entire way to the Fields. At first, I wondered how I’d even find my way there, considering I’d only traveled by black cloud since I got here, but my body moved on autopilot. Another one of Hades’ tricks, I was sure. As we approached the gate, I saw Alex’s dirty-blond hair. My heart sped up at the sight of him. Now I knew where he was. I’d be able to see him before I raised my soul.

He was leaning over the gate and calling out Matt’s name. Crap! I’d forgotten Matt had wandered off while I was striking yet another deal with Hades. I couldn’t leave until I found him. I owed him that much. He wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for me.

“Alex.” He jumped down from the gate and whirled around at the sound of my voice.

“Jodi!” He rushed to me, scooping me in his arms. I squeezed him tightly, not wanting to ever let go.

“I thought Hades had sent you to guard the gates of Tartarus. I figured he’d send most of the guys there.” I leaned my head back to look at his beautiful face.

“I thought he was going to, too, but here I am.” He smiled at me and lowered his lips to mine.

As much as I didn’t want the kiss to end, I had a feeling Hades would show up and personally put an end to our reunion if we didn’t knock it off soon. “Alex.” His name was barely a whisper on my lips, proof that I didn’t really want to get his attention. I really wanted him to wrap me in his arms and…well, that would have to wait until we were out of the underworld.

He sighed, resting his forehead against mine. “Sometimes you make me forget we’re in Hell.”

Liz gasped at the word, obviously unfamiliar with the levels of the underworld.

I turned to her. “It’s okay. You aren’t going anyplace bad.” Well, not entirely bad at least. It definitely wasn’t good either. I wondered if Liz and Brian would even remember each other after they’d spent some time in the Fields of Asphodel.

Alex opened the gate and stepped aside for them to enter. They peered in, looking very unsure.

“It’s fields of flowers. They’re called asphodels. There’s nothing in there that will hurt you. I promise. It’s safe.” I left out the part about losing all sense of who you were.

As they entered the field, I whispered to Alex, “I heard you calling Matt. No luck finding him yet?”

“No. My guess is he’s doing his pattern again. He’ll find the gate eventually, but…” He looked at Liz and Brian. “I’m guessing you want to use their bodies.”

“Yeah. They’re kind of perfect.”

“They’re a couple, you know.” Of course he’d notice that.

“I know, but that doesn’t really matter. They won’t be themselves. They’ll be Matt and me.”

“Right.” Was he really still jealous of Matt? “And did you notice the engagement ring on the girl’s hand?”

Engagement ring? No, I hadn’t.

“You’re not really going to pretend to be his fiancée, are you?”

That would be way more than Alex could handle. “No.” I doubted Liz would be buried with the ring anyway. At least she wouldn’t have it on in the morgue when I took over her body.

It wasn’t the best time to bring up Matt again, but we were kind of crunched for minutes here. “We have to find Matt. Like, right now.”

Alex sighed. “Seriously, I want major brownie points for this. I’m talking watching the movies I want to watch, eating the food I want to eat…” His mouth curved in a devilish grin. I knew where he was going with this.

“Yeah, yeah, but you know, you lose points when you try to tell me you deserve…certain things.” I couldn’t bring myself to say the word “sex.”

He held his hands up in defense. “I wasn’t going to say that. I was simply going to say all the alone time with you I want.” He raised an eyebrow. “But it’s interesting to see where your mind is.”

“Ha ha.” I laced my fingers through his, and we both became completely serious again. This was goodbye, and we both knew it. Even if it was only for now, neither of us wanted to be apart.

“Hey,” Alex called out to Liz and Brian, waving them back to the gate. They looked nervous as they approached us. Did they really think we were the bad guys? “Can you two look for a guy walking in a weird spiral kind of pattern? He’s tall with dark hair, and his name is Matt, but he might not respond to it. We need to talk to him. Think you can find him and bring him here?”

Liz stared at Alex like he’d just described a puppy getting hit by a car. She was horrified. “Wh-why wouldn’t he respond to his own name? And why is he wandering around?” Her eyes met mine, and she reached for my hands.

Alex put his arm up to block her. “Sorry, but once you’re inside, I can’t let you out. Not even your hands.”

Tears fell from her eyes. I wished there was something I could do for her.

“You’ll be okay. Matt’s been through a lot. He didn’t die under normal circumstances.”

“We died in a car crash,” Brian said. “Trauma to our heads, I think. Will we forget who we are, too?”

Car crash. I hoped their bodies weren’t too badly banged up. I didn’t want to put Matt and me in busted-up and broken shells. Putting our souls into the bodies would heal them to a certain extent, but not completely.

“You’ll be okay.” God, couldn’t I think of anything better to say? “Will you find Matt for us? Please?”

Liz nodded. Brian took her hand, and they disappeared into the asphodels.

I stared in the direction they’d gone. “What if they can’t find their way back? I’m afraid if I use my powers to call out to Matt’s soul, Hades will sense me doing it and stop me.” And that would be the end of our deal.

Alex didn’t answer. He just put his hand on my shoulder.

“Hey, who’s guarding this place with you?”

“Arianna.”

I looked around. “Where is she?”

“Hades said he needed to see her. Something about Abby.”

Hades wasn’t the type to reunite families, so what was the deal? “What’s wrong with Abby, and why would Hades need help from Arianna?”

“Abby did something wrong. Didn’t follow orders specifically. Hades is punishing her extra.”

No, he was making Arianna punish Abby. “That’s torture for Arianna! Abby’s her daughter. No matter how bad Abby is, Arianna still loves her.”

Alex wrapped me in a hug. “I know. Hopefully, she’ll be back soon.” He stroked my hair, trying to keep me calm, but I was like a bomb ready to explode. We had to find Matt so I could get out of here and figure out a way to put an end to all of this.

The faint scent of smoke made me pull away from Alex. A swirling cloud of black was coming our way. I prayed it was Arianna being transported here by Hades, but my history of stellar bad luck told me differently.

Hades dropped down next to us. “Well, what do we have here?”

“I was escorting two souls to the Fields,” I said, trying to stand my ground.

“Ah.” He stroked his chin. For a brief moment, I was mesmerized by him. The guy was seriously hot. Not that it overrode the fact that he was a complete jackass. “I take it the souls are inside the gate now?”

“Yes.” I hoped they wouldn’t return with Matt while Hades was still here.

“Then you have somewhere else to be, Jodi Marshall.” Hades’ glare zeroed in on me. “Don’t make me have Arianna torture another person she loves today. You’re like another daughter to her, you know.”

I glanced at Alex quickly, communicating a silent goodbye for now, but said aloud, “I’m going.” Without even looking at Hades, I turned and walked away.

Chase was coming out of the palace with a young girl in tow. “Hey, Jodi. What do you think? Can I make this good girl go bad on the way to the Elysian Fields?” He laughed.

“Don’t you ever get tired of hearing yourself talk?” I glared at him before reaching for the girl’s hand. “I’ll take you there. Trust me, you don’t want to be anywhere near this guy.” The girl was more than happy to go with me and get away from Chase.

“Be sure to tell her all about our history together on the way. Start with how you couldn’t keep your hands off me!” Chase yelled after us.

I stopped. I knew I should ignore him, but I couldn’t. “Your mom would be so proud.” My voice was laced with sarcasm. His mom was his weakness.

His jaw clenched, and for once, he didn’t have a snappy comeback. Satisfied, I smiled at the girl and walked her to the Elysian Fields.

The gate to Heaven was beyond words. It glowed a brilliant shade of yellow, with a hint of pure white mixed in. The warmth that came from beyond the gate was intense, but in a completely peaceful way. Happiness. That’s what awaited this girl. She was one of the lucky ones.

I was so in awe of the Elysian Fields that I didn’t even notice Carol and Jared standing next to us.

“Hey, Jodi.” Jared smiled at me. “Thanks for working this out for us. It sure beats those asphodels and, of course, Tartarus.”

I nodded. Couldn’t argue with that.

Carol gently put her arm around the girl and walked her to the gate, which opened immediately for her. “Go ahead in.” The girl smiled as she disappeared inside and the gate closed behind her. Yup, she was lucky.

I motioned for Jared and Carol to come closer so I could whisper. “I found the two souls I’ll be using. They’re in the Fields of Asphodel looking for Matt right now. I’m going to sneak over there before I head back to the palace. If they’ve found Matt and brought him to Alex, then I’m going to try to raise our souls.”

“So, this is goodbye?” Jared reached his hand out to me.

“You want to shake? Really?”

“I didn’t think I should hug you. I mean, you’re Alex’s girl, but you used to be with Matt, and even though he and I aren’t cousins by blood, I appreciate you looking out for him.”

Jared and Matt had been close. I’d always envied the Serpentarius Ophi and how they seemed to have such control over their powers. They were around humans a lot more than the rest of us. “See you soon, Jared.” I gave him a quick hug.

“Just so you know, I’m telling Alex you hugged me.”

I smiled. “Got it.”

Carol hugged me, too, and I started back toward Alex and, hopefully, Matt. I still didn’t really know how to raise my human soul. I figured it would be pretty much like raising any soul, except I’d be feeling broken in two after I did it. That was the part I was worried about.

As I got closer, I saw that Arianna was back. I couldn’t help it. I ran to her and threw my arms around her. “Are you okay?” I asked, my head buried in her hair.

“I’m okay.” Her voice was still shaky. She was trying to put on a strong face, but she was shattered inside. She pulled away from me. “Someone’s here to see you.”

I looked up to see Liz and Brian, and my shoulders sank. They must not have found Matt.

Liz fidgeted with her hands. “We wanted to say thank you for being so nice to us.”

Brian nodded. “And we wanted to let you know we found Matt. Well, actually he found us. He was on his way back here, and he bumped into us. He’s walking kind of funny, but he should be here any minute.”

They’d found Matt! This was it. We could leave. I could save Matt. I could save Alex and Arianna and everyone.

Tears spilled from my eyes. I waved to Liz and Brian as they walked off into the Fields.

“Jodi?” Alex gently took my arm.

“I’m going to miss you.” I could barely say the words. Alex and I had been through so much in the past few months. It seemed wrong to leave him behind.

He pulled me to him and kissed me. To hell with Hades. I had to say goodbye to Alex. When he pulled away, Alex turned to Matt, who was now at the gate. “Take care of her, or I’ll send you to Tartarus myself.”

Matt stared back at him, not comprehending a thing.

“So,” I said, “I guess now I rip my soul apart.”

Chapter 10

My hands shook as I willed my blood to mix in my veins. This was going to be painful. Maybe so painful I wouldn’t be able to go through with it. No, I wouldn’t think like that. I’d find the strength to do this. No matter what.

Arianna touched my arm. “You must raise Matt’s soul first, Jodi. Once you raise your human soul, you won’t have the power to raise Matt.”

She was right. How stupid of me. My fear was taking over and clouding my judgment.

“And another thing.” Arianna looked around, making sure there was no sign of Hades. He could show up at any moment, and that would be the end of our plan. We’d be right back in Tartarus. No more time off for good behavior. We’d be done.

“Hurry, Arianna. We don’t have much time.”

“I know, but you have to locate the bodies of the souls you are reaching out to first. Find them with your blood.”

“That’s, like, the opposite of what I’m used to doing.”

“I know. It won’t be easy, but you need to figure it out fast.”

Alex took my hands in his. “You can do this. Take some of my power if you need to.”

I’d never taken power from anyone but Chase. “It’s too risky. I may hurt you or leave you completely defenseless. I have to do this on my own.”

“Too bad Chase isn’t around. You could drain his power.” Alex’s face hardened. Chase had that effect on him.

“I don’t need Chase for anything. Trust me.” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I willed my blood to mix again, and I searched for Liz and Brian’s bodies. Knowing their names and how they’d died helped. My blood had a purpose, targets to seek out. Images flashed through my mind so fast I couldn’t make out a single one. But then I saw the hospital morgue. The bodies.

“I got it.” I opened my eyes. I didn’t need to see the bodies anymore. My blood knew where they were. That was enough. “Where’s Matt?”

Alex reached for the gate, but Arianna stopped him. “If Matt steps across that gateway, Hades will be alerted. He’ll think Matt is trying to break out of the Fields. Jodi has to raise him from where he is.”

That was too close. We’d almost ruined everything. I walked to the gate and stared at Matt. He was looking at me with a vague sense of recognition. “I’ll see you soon,” I said, and I willed my blood to raise Matt’s soul. To put him inside Brian’s body. I had to work quickly and hope Hades was too busy to notice a soul leaving. With any luck, Matt’s soul would blend in with the ones the Ophi still left on Earth were raising. It should’ve been more difficult, but some part of Matt must have understood I was helping him, because his soul didn’t fight me. He floated away, and as soon as he was in Brian’s body, I turned to Alex and Arianna. “My turn.”

Alex pulled me to him and pressed his lips against mine. Before he let go, he whispered, “Don’t forget about me when you’re human. Please.”

My body shook with a combination of my blood wanting to finish what it had started and with the heartache of leaving Alex. “Never. I love you.” I was already pushing my Gorgon blood and soul away to free my human soul.

The last thing I saw was Alex mouthing the words “I love you” in return. His actual words were drowned out by the screaming in my head. My blood was raising my human soul. I felt like I was being ripped in half—because I was. My former strength and power were replaced with pain and weakness. My human soul floated from the underworld and through the ground. I smelled the dirt and worms as I searched for my new body. It felt like someone was pulling me through concrete. The pain was worse than what I’d gone through in Tartarus. When Hades made us relive the raisings of our victims, it wasn’t as torturous as the real thing. Not by a long shot.

Even the air felt like it was crushing me from every angle. My soul twisted and writhed in torment. Just when I thought I couldn’t handle it anymore, my soul found Liz’s body. I was slammed into it with such force I felt like I’d shatter. Only I wasn’t whole. Not yet. I bounced around inside Liz’s body, instinctively looking for a way out. This wasn’t home. This wasn’t me.

I felt her skull sealing back up and her skin pulling itself together where she’d been cut in the car accident. The body burned and itched; it wasn’t as painful as hellfire, but a close second. Finally, the body sealed around me, locking me inside. I was a prisoner in someone else’s corpse. To say it was disorienting was an understatement. I couldn’t see a thing. I thought I was blind for a second before I realized I was under a sheet. No, not a sheet. I was in a body bag. I had to get out. Matt was trapped on the gurney next to me, and he had no idea what was happening to him. He must have been terrified.

I groped for the zipper on the body bag, but muffled voices sounded in my head, making me raise my hands to cover my ears. It was like a buzzing that wouldn’t stop. I kicked at the body bag and screamed to block out the noise in my mind. I was losing it. Raising my human soul had driven me mad.

No. Tony had said I’d have to tune out one of my bodies—or one half of my soul. Was I hearing what was happening in the underworld? I settled down, being absolutely still, and listened.

“She really did it.” Alex’s voice was a faint echo.

“We’ll have to keep an eye on her. She’s moving on autopilot now. I’m not sure anything is really registering.” Arianna’s words made me panic. If I was acting weird in the underworld, Hades would notice.

“She reminds me of the souls in the Fields of Asphodel, dazed.”

“She’ll learn to tune out one soul for a while to give herself some peace. It will make her body robotic, just going through the motions rather than thinking, but we’ll get her through it.”

Alex closed his eyes and swallowed hard. “How will she get back if she doesn’t have any powers in human form?”

“She can still summon her human soul from down here. Her Gorgon soul is strong enough.”

“Does she know that? Does she know she’ll have to keep checking in with us?” Alex was panicking. He had no idea I was listening in and seeing everything they were saying.

“She’ll be okay. Let’s give her time to get settled in her new body, and then we’ll try calling her here.”

“If Hades suspects what Jodi’s done, he’ll bring her back himself.”

I was sure he’d find the most painful way possible, too. My head pounded as Alex and Arianna’s faces invaded my vision. I was seeing double—the body bag and the underworld at the same time.

“She’s opening her eyes,” Alex said.

Arianna grabbed Alex’s hand as he reached for me. “Don’t touch her. Just let her be for now. She must be going through a lot.”

Arianna was right. I had to focus on my human soul and getting out of this bag. I tried to block out the underworld completely by throwing myself into finding a way to bust out of this bag. Where was that zipper? I reached up by my head, but the bag was fully zipped—of course. Damn it! I jabbed my pointer finger at the end of the zipper, hoping to make it poke through. Trying to undo a zipper from the inside wasn’t going to be easy by any means. It took a few tries, but I finally forced my finger through, making a small opening at the top of the bag. Now I had to work the zipper down the rest of my body. I hooked my finger over the zipper and tugged. It was awkward, and the zipper snagged on my hair, so I had to tug at Liz’s blonde strands to get free. Little by little, I pried more of my body through.

When I got the bag open to just below my knees, I bent my leg and used my foot to unzip the bag the rest of the way. Using my elbows, I propped myself up and looked around to make sure no one was in the morgue. I felt like I was in a horror movie, because, just like those dead guys that rose from the slabs and walked out of the hospital, I was a zombie. We had to be inside one of those walk-in refrigerators because the room was freezing cold and the walls were silver, like they were made of steel or some other metal to keep the room cold enough to preserve the dead bodies.

I sat up and stretched my limbs, trying to get used to Liz’s body. It was completely foreign to me. Luckily, since I’d raised myself, I didn’t need to wait for anyone’s permission to speak or do anything else. My blood was controlling me, allowing me to be more than just a normal zombie. Matt would be a different story, though.

There was no sign of movement in the body bag next to me. Where was Matt? I slid off the metal table and unzipped Matt’s bag. “Come on, Matt. Open your eyes.” I couldn’t risk someone walking in here and finding us. It was bad enough we were going to leave the hospital with two missing corpses on their hands. Thankfully, we’d be going far away from here so the police wouldn’t be able to track us down.

Why wasn’t Matt moving? I looked down at Liz’s body. That was it! My human half was useless in this situation. I needed my Ophi powers to command him. I closed my eyes and tuned in to my body in the underworld. I was in the palace again. Chase was going on and on about another soul he’d taken to Tartarus. I ignored him and focused on sending a message to Matt’s soul. “Be free. Live out your life in Brian’s body.” As soon as the message was sent, I shifted my focus again.

I heard him stir and opened my eyes. “Matt.” I reached for him, but he pulled away. “It’s okay. You’re all right. Talk to me, Matt. Say something.”

“Stay back.” His voice was strained, and he swallowed hard. “Who are you? How do you know me?”

Of course he didn’t recognize me. I was in Liz’s body. How could I be so stupid? “Matt, it’s me, Jodi.”

He shook his head. “No. You don’t look anything like Jodi.”

“Please, just let me help you out of there. I promise I’ll explain everything.” I reached for him again, but he sat up on his own and looked around.

“Did you put me here? Is this a—”

“Morgue, yes. And I did put you here, but it’s not what you think.” He’d never guess this on his own, and unfortunately the truth was probably much worse than whatever he was thinking.

“Is this some sort of prank? Did you knock me out and…” His eyes widened as he ran his hands along the bag. “You put me in a body bag?”

“No. Not really. I mean, yes, technically I put you in here, but—” This was coming out all wrong. How the hell did I tell my ex-boyfriend—no wait, we’d never officially broken up—that I had brought him back to life?

He used the sides of the metal slab to stand up, and he stared at me, looking like he was seeing a ghost, or worse, a monster. “Where’s Jodi? What did you do to her? We were together in her backyard, and then I don’t remember anything. You knocked me out, didn’t you?”

“No.” What I’d done to him that day in my backyard was much worse. I’d stopped his heart forever. I shivered, partly at the memory and partly at how cold it was in the morgue. I guess I should at least be thankful that he didn’t remember Hades raising him in the graveyard at the school. “Please, Matt. I am Jodi. I know I look different, but it’s me. It’s really me.”

He turned and headed for the door, his movements jerky in the unfamiliar body. “Jodi!” he yelled.

“Matt!” I grabbed his arm and raised a finger to my lips to quiet him before someone came to see what was going on in the morgue. “It’s me. I’m in someone else’s body, but it’s me.”

“Are you crazy? Did someone do something to you, too? Is that what you’re trying to tell me? It wasn’t you who hurt me and Jodi? Someone else did it, and they hurt you, too?”

I shook my head, not knowing how to make him believe me. I should’ve known this would happen. But he was Matt. He knew me that night in the cemetery at school when Hades brought him back. He’d even recognized me in the Fields of Asphodel when every other part of his memory had faded away. He didn’t know himself, but he still knew me. I’d just assumed he’d know me now.

“Ask me anything. I’ll do anything to prove to you that I’m Jodi.”

“Listen, I’m sorry if you’re hurt, but you have to understand you’re not Jodi. Jodi is my girlfriend. She has brown, wavy hair and the most amazing green eyes. She looks nothing like you.” His voice was soft and sympathetic.

This wasn’t working. He thought I was some poor girl who’d wound up at the end of a prank gone wrong.

“Matt, my name is Jodi Marshall. My birthday is December eighth. My best friend is Melodie. She’s your best friend, too. She introduced us. You and I have been dating—or at least we were until—”

“Until that guy came along. Alec or something.” His face looked strained as he struggled with the memory.

“Alex. His name is Alex.”

“I hate that guy. He tried to hurt Jodi.”

Damn it. He still didn’t believe I was me. Not even after I’d spouted all that off. “How would I know all this if I wasn’t Jodi?”

“Are you friends with Alex? Did he put you up to this?” Matt’s head turned from side to side as he scanned the morgue. “Where is he? Does he have Jodi?”

“No!” I was more frustrated with myself than Matt. None of this was his fault. I looked around helplessly for an answer. My eyes fell on the steel walls. Matt would be able to see his reflection in them if I could just get him to focus on that instead of trying to find me—or what I usually looked like at least. “Come look at this.”

He put his hands up in defense. “Listen, I get that you’re upset, but—”

“Look at your reflection.” I tried to keep the annoyance out of my voice, but he wasn’t listening to me.

“My reflection?” He stared down at his hospital gown. “Where are my clothes?”

“Look at your hand, Matt. You have a birthmark on the side of your left palm, right? Or you did, but it’s not there now.”

Matt stared in horror at his hand. “What’s going on?”

“Look.” I pulled him closer to the steel wall and under the lights. He held his eyes on me for a moment before looking into it. The second he saw his reflection, he gasped. “That’s not me.”