My entire body felt like it was on fire. I took my hand away and walked toward Alex. “I was about to introduce Chase to Medusa, but he misunderstood me when I told him to take her hand.”
“Misunderstood you? Yeah, I’m sure that’s all it was.” Alex took my hand in his, and we walked back to the statue.
“Go ahead,” Alex said. “Take Medusa’s hand.” He said Medusa’s name slowly, like Chase might get confused. “In fact, why don’t you take both her hands?”
“No!” I reached for Chase, our fingers touching.
“What?” Chase asked.
“The last person who held both Medusa’s hands at once ended up dead on the floor.” I realized I was still touching Chase. I lowered my hand and turned away.
“They died?”
“For a little while, but I was able to bring her back.”
“Wow, you brought back an Ophi? You really are something, aren’t you?”
Alex reached for my hand, clearly not liking the way Chase was looking at me.
“Only one hand at a time, okay?” I said.
“What’s this about, anyway?” Chase asked.
“You’ll see. It’s something every Ophi who comes here does. Believe me, you’ll like it.”
He smiled at me and took Medusa’s right hand in his. His eyes closed, and I knew he was feeling Medusa’s power breathing life into every inch of him. While he enjoyed the connection, I turned back to Alex.
“What were you trying to do, kill him?” I kept my voice a whisper, hoping Chase would be too involved in the connection with Medusa to hear me.
“I wouldn’t have really let him do it,” Alex said. “But the guy needs to be put in his place.”
“Yeah, well, killing him isn’t the way to do it.” I stepped closer to him. “When you do stuff like that, you make me think you’re—I don’t want you to end up like Victoria and Troy.” I’d never held it against Alex that his parents were evil Ophi who had tried to kill me. Alex wasn’t like them, but he was their son, and it made me wonder if he had that same evil buried somewhere inside him. If he did, I was determined not to let it come out. I owed him that for helping me face his parents and for saving my life.
Alex was silent, and I had no clue what was going on in his head. “You think I’m going to turn into them? Do you really have such little faith in me?”
“No. I’m worried about you. That’s all.” I wished he would look at me, but he was staring past me at Chase. I leaned forward, resting my hands against his chest. “Alex, I care about you. A lot. I don’t want to lose you.”
The coldness evaporated from his face, and he lowered his eyes to meet mine. “You won’t lose me.” He gave one last look at Chase before taking my face in his hands and kissing me.
Chase cleared his throat, making me jump. “Sorry, was I supposed to stay connected to the statue until you two were through making out?”
I spun around, but Alex didn’t let me step away from him. He put his hands down heavily on my shoulders, grounding me in my spot. If I wasn’t so embarrassed, I would’ve been annoyed by Alex’s little attempt to claim his territory.
“You can try holding her left hand now.” I pointed to the statue, trying to get Chase’s attention off me.
Chase’s eyes lingered on me for a few more seconds before he reached for Medusa’s left hand. His face twisted in a worried expression.
“It’s okay,” I said. “The blood in the left side of her body is only poisonous to humans. What you’re feeling is the power of that blood flowing through your veins. It can’t hurt you, though.”
“It feels like—”
“Snakes, I know, but trust me, you’ll get used to it.” I watched Chase give in to the sensation and become oblivious to us.
“Shall we pick up where we left off?” Alex asked.
I shrugged his hands from my shoulders and glared at him. “Don’t treat me like I’m this prize you’ve won. I saw you look at Chase before you kissed me. You knew he was watching us.”
“So? Do you have a problem with him knowing you’re my girlfriend?”
“No. I have a problem with you groping me every time Chase is near. You’re not a dog, and I’m not a tree. So, stop trying to piss around me.”
Chase started laughing, and I turned to see he was no longer connected to Medusa.
“It’s nice to see a girl who isn’t afraid to stand up for herself.”
I stared at Chase, not liking the way he was looking at me any more than I liked the way Alex was acting. I spun on my heel and headed toward the kitchen to help Arianna with lunch, and more importantly to put some distance between both guys and me.
“Jodi,” Alex called after me.
“See you at lunch.” I waved my hand, not looking at either of them, and kept walking. I turned the corner, almost smacking into Arianna.
“Jodi, what’s gotten into you?” She shook her head at me. “I’ve only known you for a couple months, but I’ve never heard you talk like that. Especially to Alex.”
She was right. I didn’t talk like that. I had no idea where it was coming from, all this anger. Before Chase came, things with Alex had been great. I’d never minded when he kissed me out of the blue. I thought it was romantic. But now…
“It feels like the only reason Alex is acting like this is because he doesn’t like the way Chase looks at me.”
“The only reason?” Arianna tsked. “Honey, that boy is in love with you. If you can’t see that, well, you need to get those pretty green eyes of yours checked.”
In love with me? No. No way. We’d been together less than three months. Alex couldn’t be in love with me.
“And Chase definitely has a crush on you. I saw the way he was looking at you. Holding your hand.”
My eyes widened. “Arianna, were you spying on me?”
“Sweetheart, please. I was dusting in the living room. It’s not like you and Chase were behind closed doors. I have eyes and ears, and they work just fine.”
“Well, since you know what’s going on, maybe you can help me. I really care about Alex. I do. But Chase is different. I’m annoyed by his cockiness, but drawn to him at the same time. It’s so much like the way I felt when I first met Alex.” I hung my head. “What should I do?”
“Okay, here’s one way to find out where your heart really is.” She brought me over to a couch in the living room, and we sat down. “Close your eyes.”
I took a deep breath and did what she said.
“Now clear your mind completely.” She paused. “Is it clear?”
Clearing my mind wasn’t easy these days. I had too much going on in there. “Not really.”
“Different question then. Whose face do you see?”
Whose face? I didn’t see a face. Wait! Yes, I did. But it wasn’t Alex or Chase. It was Matt. My ex-boyfriend, Matt. My human boyfriend I’d killed and brought back as a zombie, Matt. What did that mean? And did I really want Arianna to know I was this boy-crazed?
“Jodi? Do you see a face?”
“No,” I lied, opening my eyes.
“All right. Let’s try something else.”
I didn’t want to try anything else. I wanted to forget I was a complete headcase right now.
“Hades is coming.”
“What? Where?” I whipped my head around.
“Relax.” Arianna grabbed my arm, gently rubbing it. “It’s another method of figuring out what’s really in your heart. Pretend Hades is coming. He’s determined to take one of the boys. Either Alex or Chase. You can’t bargain with him. You can’t get out of making a decision. Who do you save?”
“Alex,” I said, without hesitation. “I’ve known him longer. I don’t really know anything about Chase.”
Arianna cocked her head to the side. “Is that the only reason you’re choosing Alex?”
“No. I really like Alex.”
“So, you don’t like Chase?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t gotten to know him yet.”
“But you want to get to know him?”
“Yes.”
“Even if it hurts Alex?”
“I don’t know.” All this was doing was confusing me more. I felt like I should be lying on a couch in the middle of a therapy session while a shrink analyzed all my thoughts.
“So, if you could get to know Chase without hurting Alex, you would?”
“Yes.”
“And what if getting to know Chase means losing Alex?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Alex asked.
I spun around on the couch to see the twisted expression on his face. “No, that’s not what I meant.” I reached out to him, but he was already taking off upstairs.
Chapter 5
“Alex, wait!” I jumped up and ran after him. “Let me explain!”
At the top of the stairs, Chase grabbed my arm. “Explain what?”
“Let go of me, Chase. I need to talk to Alex.”
“Don’t tell me you two are fighting again.” His expression was unreadable. Not quite concern, but not quite wishful thinking.
“We’re not fighting. Things are fine. Let me go.”
He released his grip, letting his fingers lightly trail down my arm until he reached my hand. He laced his fingers through mine, and a tingling sensation soared through me. I couldn’t deny the effect he had on me, but I didn’t want to feel this way. I wanted Alex. I dropped Chase’s hand and walked around him, careful not to touch him in the process.
“See you at lunch,” he called after me.
I rushed to Alex’s door and knocked. “Alex, please let me in. I need to talk to you.”
For a moment there was only silence, but then I heard footsteps coming toward the door. “Go away, Jodi. I have nothing to say to you.”
“Well, I have something to say to you. Please, Alex.” My voice quivered as I struggled to hold back tears. Emotions welled up inside me. Emotions I hadn’t realized I had. Arianna’s words echoed in my brain. Honey, that boy is in love with you. I pressed my palms against the door and let the tears spill from my eyes. “Alex…I love you.”
Time seemed to freeze as I waited for some sort of reaction, but all I got was silence. My throat constricted. If Alex didn’t listen to me after I’d said the L-word, there was nothing I could do to save our relationship. I was about to walk away when the lock clicked, and the door swung open. Alex stared at my tear-streaked face.
“I’m sorry if I said that too soon. If it freaked you out. I just had to tell you.”
His arms were around me before I could blink. He pulled me close and kissed me. He didn’t have to say it. I knew Arianna was right. He loved me. Alex pulled away slightly. “Do you want to come in?”
I nodded, and he stepped back so I could follow him into the room. Before I made it through the doorway, I saw Chase still standing in the hall. Staring at me. He’d seen and heard everything. My blood bubbled under my skin, but I looked away and walked into Alex’s room, shutting the door behind me.
Alex and I hung out until lunch. I let myself forget about everything else and focused on him. It was exactly like it was before Chase had gotten here. The only problem was that once we left this room, Chase would be there, and what would happen the next time he touched me?
I tried not to think about it while we walked to the dining room. Arianna smiled at me when she saw Alex holding my hand. I smiled back at her and mouthed the words, “Thank you.” She had helped me realize how I felt about Alex. I was still confused about Chase and why he affected me the way he did, but at least I had a handle on Alex.
We took our seats and dug right into the meatball subs Arianna had made us. I even had a side of mac and cheese with Alex. Chase still hadn’t shown up for lunch, but I pretended not to notice. Finally, I heard footsteps and looked up, expecting to see Chase, but instead I saw the corpse. The one I’d left in my bathroom with instructions not to leave unless I told him to.
Leticia screamed and everyone else pushed their chairs back away from the table, ready to spring into action if the zombie tried to attack us.
“That’s the guy from the cemetery,” Leticia said. “The one Jodi raised and brought to her room.”
“I didn’t bring him to my room,” I said. “At least not on purpose.”
Tony stared at me. “What’s he doing back here?”
“I don’t know.” It wasn’t a complete lie. I didn’t know why the zombie had left my bathroom. I hadn’t called him.
Chase walked into the room. “What did I miss?” His gaze fell on the zombie, and he stopped. “Do you guys always invite the dead to eat with you? ‘Cause it’s a little gross, don’t you think?”
I shook my head. “No one invited him. He just showed up.”
Alex stared at me. He knew I was hiding something.
Tony walked over to the zombie but kept a safe distance. His face fell completely still and focused. He was calling on the power in his blood to control the corpse. “Who brought you here?”
The zombie looked past Tony at me. “Her.”
All eyes were on me. No way could I hide this anymore. “Okay, okay.” I put my hands up in defense. “I sort of summoned him this morning…in a dream.”
A chorus of “What?” rang through the room.
“I didn’t know I’d done it. I had this dream and—”
“About what?” Randy asked.
“I can’t remember.” I played dumb. I couldn’t admit I’d been dreaming about Chase. “I only remember I was dreaming, and then someone was knocking on my door. I forgot to set my alarm, and when I saw what time it was, I figured it was Alex knocking, trying to wake me up.” I paused, but everyone was silent, waiting for me to continue. “It wasn’t Alex. It was him.” I turned toward the corpse. “I didn’t know I’d summoned him.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” Alex asked. “I came to get you when you were late for breakfast. Why didn’t you tell me then? And what did you do with the guy? He wasn’t in your room when I got there.”
“I told him to hide in the bathroom.” My voice was barely a whisper.
Alex threw his head back and ran his fingers through his hair.
“I was freaked out. You have to understand that. I’m raising souls in my sleep now. Do you know how dangerous that can be for us?”
“Exactly, Jodi,” Alex said. “That’s why you should have told me.”
“Lay off,” Chase said. “She panicked. Big deal.”
I looked at Chase, thankful for his support. I felt like I was up against a firing squad, so it was nice to have one person on my side.
Alex was seething at this point. He slammed his hand down, knocking over his meatball sub. “Don’t try to play the hero here. You have no idea what you’re talking about or what Jodi has been going through.”
“Alex, I think Chase was only trying to help everyone calm down.” Tony put a hand on Chase’s shoulder.
I lightly touched Alex’s arm. “I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
I shrugged. “I sort of forgot he was in my bathroom. I haven’t been to my room all day, and so much has happened since this morning. It slipped my mind, but honestly, the second I saw him again, I was going to come to you for help.”
Alex closed his eyes, processing everything. I wasn’t sure if he believed me or not. All I knew was he was mad.
The room fell silent. I was supposed to be the leader. The one to make the decisions and keep us safe. But instead I was clueless about how to do my job, and I was putting us all in danger. I wasn’t cut out for this, and somehow I had a feeling Hades knew that when he’d agreed to my deal.
Alex sighed. “Release his soul, and Tony and I will go bury him.”
“I’ll help you.” I stood up. I needed to get out of this room. Away from all the judgmental stares.
Alex put his hand on my shoulder, stopping me. “No. We got it. You eat.” There was a small hint of warmth in his voice. Yes, he
was angry, but that didn’t change the fact that he cared about me.
I released the soul and watched Tony and Alex carry the body out of the room. The rest of the day was pretty much a blur. Tony lectured about Ophi history. Arianna made something for dinner. It wasn’t my turn to help with the dishes, so I headed to my room to lie down. I wasn’t up for interacting with everyone. Not that anyone really wanted to interact with me. They weren’t being mean or anything, but they weren’t going out of their way to talk to me either.
I flopped facedown on my bed and tried to let the awfulness of the day melt away. It might have helped a little if someone hadn’t knocked on my door.
I sighed and got up to answer it. Chase was standing in the hall with a big bowl of popcorn and a movie in his hands. Oh, this wasn’t going to be good.
“Um, what’s up?” I asked, fully aware of how dumb that sounded.
“Thought you could use a good horror movie to forget your troubles.” He shook the DVD, and I saw it was a zombie flick. How appropriate.
“You’re kidding, right? My life is pretty much a horror movie. How would this make me forget about it?” I couldn’t help it. I laughed. Chase smiled, and I realized that was his exact reason for choosing the horror movie. The sheer irony of it.
“So, what do you say?” His eyes were hopeful, and I didn’t want to crush him by saying no. After all, he was the only one talking to me right now. Still, being alone in my room with Chase could only add up to trouble. There was only one thing to do.
“Tell you what, let’s invite the others. I know Arianna and Tony won’t go for it, but Alex, Leticia, and Randy might want to watch.” So much for not wanting to interact with people tonight.
Chase’s face fell. It wasn’t what he was hoping for.
“Go on in.” I opened the door more. “I’ll go get the others.” I hurried down the hall before he could protest. Leticia’s room was the closest, so I started there.
“Leticia.” I lightly tapped on the door. “We’re all going to watch a movie in my room. Want to come?” I figured I’d have better luck if I made it seem like everyone else had already agreed to it.
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