“Then why are you torturing all those souls you took from this cemetery? I raised one of them. I know you’ve been shoving them into the wrong bodies, making them endure the pain of that experience over and over again. What did they do to deserve that?” I was yelling now, and I didn’t care. Hades was going to kill me. He’d taken my dad away again, and I was going to be next. I might as well get out what I had to say.
“Did you think this cemetery was a peaceful resting place? Somewhere family buried their loved ones?” He circled around me like he’d done with my dad. “Think about it. Have you ever seen anyone come put flowers on one of these graves? Anyone crying over a lost loved one?”
I shook my head. “This place is hidden. Humans don’t know we’re here.”
“Exactly. Why would humans bury their loved ones where no one could find them?” He stopped right behind me and leaned forward, his mouth inches from my right ear. “Because they weren’t anyone’s loved ones.”
My eyes widened. Why had I never questioned who the bodies were in the cemetery? I’d raised enough of them to know they were vicious as zombies. I’d come to the conclusion that I’d been raising them from Hell because they were awful. The way that corpse had attacked Randy. The way the souls always lashed out at us. I thought back to Matt. When I raised him, there was no screaming. No anger towards me for raising him. Because he hadn’t been in Hell. Matt was the nicest, sweetest guy ever. If his soul had moved on, it had gone to Heaven. That was where I’d pulled him from. None of the others had been like him.
“Who were they?” I asked Hades. “These people—how did they get here, isolated from the rest of the world?”
Hades smiled. “It’s making sense now, isn’t it?”
Yes, it was.
“This building you call a school was once an experimental prison. The people who stayed here were either criminally insane or downright murderers. Instead of living in cells, they were heavily sedated to keep them under control, and they were buried here, where the rest of humanity would never have to think about them again.”
“My dad was buried here.” I felt tears in my eyes. “What did he do wrong? He deserved better. And none of this explains why you hate
Ophi.”
Hades smirked. “What is an Ophi’s power, Jodi?”
I rolled my eyes. He was treating me like a child. “Raising the dead.”
“When was the last time anyone with a shred of humanity considered that a good thing?” He reached up and touched my face. “You are as evil as the people in these graves. You torture souls.” He smacked my cheek, not hard but enough to show his disapproval. “The only reason why I didn’t come after this school sooner was because you were raising souls that deserved to be punished. Others weren’t doing the same, so I claimed them.”
“The group in Washington?”
“Yes. Still think I’m the bad guy?”
“Yes,” I said, being completely honest. “You killed Chase’s mother. Fine, she did some awful things. I get that. You did your job and punished her, but then you made a deal with Chase. You wanted him to use his powers to help me destroy all the Ophi.”
“Yes, yes, and yes.”
“What made you think your plan would work? You knew I was with Alex. You saw us together.”
Hades laughed and stared at Chase, still on the ground and suffering from the poison I’d given him. “Girls always go for the bad boys.”
Chase was the bad boy. He was everything Alex wasn’t. Sure, Alex had a little bad boy in him. I’d seen that side of him, but he was also really sweet once you got past the wall he put up. Medusa seemed to think Chase might have been different before his mom died. Before he made the deal with Hades.
I avoided Hades’ eyes and focused on Chase. “Why did you do it? Why did you agree to help him? Did he threaten you?”
Hades laughed again. “Always blaming me, aren’t you, Jodi Marshall?” He walked over to Chase, and the contempt he felt for him was written all over his face. “This one, he was evil from the start. He knew his powers were greater than other Ophi. With the exception of you.” He turned to me. “Chase was jealous of your power. It was all his parents ever talked about. Isn’t that right, Ethan?”
Ethan turned away.
“That’s why your son hated you. You pushed him, forced him to use more power than he should have. Tried to make him be more like Jodi. But that backfired, didn’t it?”
“Backfired how?” I asked, since Ethan wasn’t talking.
“It was Chase I came for that day, not Charlotte, but she begged me to give him a second chance. To let him prove he could be of use to me.” Hades bent down, getting in Chase’s face. “Your mother begged for your life, putting hers up in exchange, and you let her do it. You took my deal without hesitation.”
“No.” I couldn’t believe it. Chase had seemed tortured over losing his mother. How could he be the reason Hades took her? “Chase, what really happened?”
He was still too weak to move or talk, so I walked over and gave him a dose of my power to heal him.
“Talk!” I demanded.
Chase staggered to his feet, looking at Hades and ignoring me. “I did everything you told me to. You said you’d give her back to me.”
My stomach lurched. “You did all this to get your mom back?” I whipped my head toward Hades. “You only took her temporarily?”
“That depended on whether Chase succeeded. Which he did not.” He motioned to the others. “They are still alive.”
“They died. It worked. I did what you said.” Chase was desperate, grasping for a loophole.
That’s when I realized Hades never set up a deal he couldn’t win.
“We’ll do it again,” Chase said.
“Like hell we will!” I’d had it. Chase might be trying to save his mom, but I wasn’t going to let him kill everyone else to do it. I shoved him, letting a dose of poison knock him back to the ground. If it were my mom on the line, I wouldn’t have given up, either. I was sure that was something Chase and I had in common. I had to eliminate him as a threat, and poisoning him was the only way I knew how.
“Perhaps I can persuade you otherwise.” Hades raised his arms out to his sides and a figure rose from the crack in the earth.
Matt. I stared, nearly collapsing. He was himself again. Not a corpse. Not a zombie.
Chapter 29
I couldn’t breathe. My body was frozen in place as I looked at the first guy I ever loved—or could have loved if I hadn’t killed him. I’d never forgiven myself for killing Matt. I had known I was poisonous to him, yet I’d kissed him anyway. I’d given in to my emotions and kissed him, knowing what the consequences would be. Now, he here was. Alive.
He stared at his arms, hands, and legs. He patted his chest, trying to figure out if he was real. I knew the feeling. I wanted to do the same thing.
I shook my head, still in disbelief. “How?” I asked Hades.
“I’m god of the underworld. I can even bring your father back. If you give me what I want.”
“What do you want?”
Hades walked toward me, invading my personal space and making every hair on my body stand on end. “I want you to destroy the Ophi. Choose Matt and your father. You could be happy. The only thing I ask for in return is your promise never to have a child. I don’t want any loopholes left open. The Ophi line ends with you.”
Matt wrinkled his forehead and reached his hand toward me. “Jodi? Where are we? What’s going on? All I remember is being in your backyard, kissing you. Then things got fuzzy.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks. “Oh, Matt, I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I never meant for any of this to happen.”
“Don’t cry. I’m fine.” He took his thumbs and wiped the tears from my cheeks.
“Matt, no!” But I was too late. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he crumpled to the ground. I collapsed with him, my heart torn in two. I’d killed Matt again. Hades had brought him back alive, and I ha
d killed him for the second time.
I looked up at Hades, my blood boiling. “You lied! It’s all a lie!”
Something landed with a loud thud next to me. Alex was clinging to the edge of the crack, trying to pull himself up. While I’d been wrapped up in Matt, he’d jumped over it to get to me.
“Alex!” I grabbed his arms and tried to pull him up, but he was too heavy.
Hades watched, clearly amused.
“Jodi, I can help.” Chase’s voice was weak from poison.
I held on to Alex and stared at Chase. I couldn’t trust him. He’d try to make me kill everyone. But I couldn’t save Alex on my own. I needed help, and Hades wasn’t about to lend me a hand.
“Alex, hold on. I have an idea.”
“He’ll throw me over, Jodi. He’s tricking you.”
“Trust me.” I locked my eyes on his, hoping he’d see how much I cared about him.
He nodded, and his face contorted in pain as I released my grip on his arms and he held on without my help. Leticia and McKenzie shrieked, obviously terrified for Alex. Tony moved like he was going to try to jump the crack and help Alex, but I held my hand up. I couldn’t risk him falling, too.
I went to Chase and gave him only enough power to allow him to stand. “Let me be clear. You’re going to help me, and if you try anything, I’ll dose you with more poison than your body can take. Do you understand me?”
Chase glared at me. He’d obviously been hoping I was dumb enough to believe he was going to help me.
I pushed him over to Alex. Keeping one hand on Chase, ready to transfer my poison if need be, I reached for Alex. Chase grabbed Alex’s other arm, and we pulled him up.
Hades clapped. “How touching.”
I glared at him, wishing more than anything that I could take him on, but I wasn’t stupid. He was a god, and he’d squash me in seconds, if it even took that long.
“This is what you’re protecting?” Hades scoffed in Alex’s direction. “You see, you really would be better off with Chase.”
“Why would I believe anything you say? You lied to me and said I could be with Matt again. You know I can’t be around humans.”
“No, but you can be around Chase.” He walked over to Chase, looking him up and down. “His power is almost as strong as yours. He’s Ophi, so you wouldn’t have to worry about killing him. He’s the closest thing to an equal you are going to find.”
“I’m not taking a consolation prize. I refuse to kill the Ophi.” I stood my ground, but inside, I was shaking.
“Very well. Have it your way. I can’t kill all the Ophi at once, but I can kill those who are right here.” Hades reached his arms out, and the others fell to the ground. All but Chase and me.
“No!” I reached for Alex. He didn’t have a pulse. His heart wasn’t beating. He was dead.
“I will hunt down every Ophi, Jodi Marshall. I will kill them all. Your only chance at saving yourself is to take my deal. It would save me a lot of time if you’d end the Ophi race for me.”
I looked at Chase. He was petrified. I was sure he thought Hades was going to kill him, too.
“Your answer?” Hades crossed his arms. “I don’t have all day, you know.”
Something inside me clicked. My emotions were out of control. I’d never hated someone so much. Hades had taken my father, made me kill Matt again, wiped out every Ophi in the school, and worst of all, he’d taken the guy I loved. I was done. My blood bubbled, and my skin looked like it was transforming. Hades stared at me, obviously surprised by the change in my appearance.
My hair whipped back as I stood. I must have looked insane. That’s how I felt. I reached my arms out and summoned the souls of the Ophi lying on the ground. They came to me willingly, recognizing my power. There were no screams, and I didn’t have to force them back into their bodies. They wanted to come with me. I heard them stirring on the ground, so I turned my attention elsewhere. Somewhere deeper. Tartarus.
Hades’ eyes locked on mine, but he didn’t stop me. He was measuring me. Seeing how much power I actually had. Not even I knew that, but I was going to find out. I didn’t call out to the souls this time. I took them. I ripped them out of there. Hades had said they were evil people when they were alive, so I didn’t feel bad about torturing them this way.
One by one, I forced them into the bodies lying in the graves below us. I hoped the giant crater Hades had created wouldn’t make them all go plummeting back to the underworld. I saw the first set of fingers reach through the ground, and I commanded the soul to go right for Hades. I kept going, ripping souls from Tartarus and turning them on the god who’d tortured them for who knew how many years.
Hades didn’t seem too worried. He stood there watching, mocking my attempt to stand up against him. I worked faster, making the cemetery crawl with zombies, and they all wanted one thing: Hades.
Still, Hades was toying with me instead of taking control of the situation. He wanted to make me suffer.
“Stop her!” Hades commanded Chase. “Destroy her with your power. Make her bend to my will.”
“She’s too strong. I’ve never seen her like this.” Chase kept his distance. Wind whipped around me like a hurricane.
Hades raised his arms, and I expected an attack, but instead he brought a woman from the crack in the ground. I knew instantly that it was Chase’s mother.
“Break through her powers and poison her, or your mother’s soul is mine forever. I’ll see that she suffers in Tartarus for all eternity.”
I kept my focus on controlling the souls. Hades was beating them down and sending them away, but I raised them again. It was an unending cycle, and he was getting pissed. I’d hoped it would make him leave—retreat to the underworld, even if it was out of annoyance rather than fear. But he stayed.
Chase got as close to me as he dared, and he lowered his voice as much as he could with all the wind howling around me. “Jodi, take my hand. Together you and I are strong enough to stop him.”
What? This had to be a trick. He didn’t want to help me defeat Hades. He wanted to get his hands on me so he could poison me.
“Nice try, Chase. Don’t get in my way, or I will take you down.”
“I’m not lying.” His eyes left me and went to his mom. She stood there, bound in place by Hades’ power. “I can’t let him take her again. I have to make it up to her. Please, let me help you.”
Maybe he was desperate to help his mom. Maybe he really did want to defeat Hades. He’d failed Hades, and if he made it through this fight, Hades would kill Chase anyway because he’d failed. I knew it, and Chase knew it. I couldn’t trust him. As much as I wanted to save all the Ophi, this wasn’t the way to do it. Even if Chase was serious about helping me, our combined powers still weren’t enough to defeat a god.
“I’m sorry, Chase. I feel bad about your mom, but I’ve made my choice, and it’s not you.” I reached my hand out and hit him with a dose of poison. I couldn’t risk him doing the same to me. I knew it was wrong, but it was a poison or be poisoned situation. I wasn’t dying at Chase’s hands. If I was going down, it would be Hades’ doing.
“Wrong choice, Jodi Marshall.” Hades let out a yell, and the ground opened wider, crumbling beneath our feet.
I couldn’t maintain focus on the souls. I stopped controlling them and tried to grab onto something, anything. Alex was next to me, and we reached for each other’s hands as we plummeted into the black abyss.
The fall went on for what seemed like forever. I caught glimpses of the others. The Ophi, the zombies. Everyone was falling. Everyone was screaming in terror. The only one I didn’t see was Hades. He was already where we were going to end up. The underworld.
I’d made my choice. According to Hades, it was the wrong choice. He couldn’t let me go after that. I was a threat to him, and he wasn’t having it. I clutched Alex, silently communicating an apology. I’d put him through hell these past few months. I didn’t deserve him. Even just in the past hour, he’d had to see m
e with my human ex-boyfriend, who I clearly had unresolved feelings for. He should’ve hated me, but the look in his eyes said he still loved me.
I looked around, trying to get my bearings and remember what we were passing on our way to the underworld, but Hades had us surrounded in a black cloud of smoke. It carried us over the River Styx, which was barely visible through the smoke, and finally we fell at the gate to the underworld.
The zombies were obviously back under Hades’ control because they got up and walked past the three-headed dog that guarded the gates and headed back to Tartartus. Leticia and McKenzie gasped and backed away from the dog as Hades appeared from behind him.
“Welcome to my world.” He gave us a malicious smile and patted one of the dog’s heads. “This is Cerberus. Normally, you’d be judged to determine if you belong in the Elysian Fields, the Fields of Asphodel, or Tartarus, but I already know where you’re all going.”
I guessed the Elysian Fields were where the good people went. Not people like us. Cerberus stepped aside so we could pass, but no one moved.
“We’re not going there with you,” I said.
Hades laughed. “How amusing that you think you have a choice.” He stepped forward and got in my face. “You’re on my turf now, Jodi Marshall. We play by my rules.”
Everyone looked at me, their leader. Only I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know much about the underworld. Tony did, but I couldn’t exactly ask Hades to hold on while I had a chat with Tony to figure out how to get us out of here.
I did the only thing I could. I closed my eyes and mixed my blood, trying to summon Medusa’s spirit. She’d been in the underworld before. She might be able to help us get out of it. I knew Hades wouldn’t just stand there and let me do this, so I pretended to faint. I fell to the ground.
Panicked voices were all around me, including Alex’s, but I tuned them out. I focused only on Medusa and calling her to me.
Her image appeared in my mind, but she looked lost. “Jodi, where are you?”
“In the underworld. Hades took us all.”
“I felt a shift in the Ophi power. I knew you were in trouble.”
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