Matt had finally caught up with us. His spiral pattern had led him to the gate. He looked down at it with his head cocked to the side. Cerberus growled as Matt reached for the latch on the gate.
“Matt, no!” I rushed to him and grabbed his hand. He stared past me at something beyond the gate. I couldn’t see it, but I had a feeling the Elysian Fields were in that direction.
Lexi kicked the gate, getting more snarls from Cerberus. “We’re stuck. All this way just to get trapped by that thing.”
“I’m not giving up.” I reached for the gate, slowly releasing the latch.
“Jodi.” Alex stopped me. “You aren’t going out there. That dog will tear you to shreds.”
“I think he guards the souls. Makes sure they stay where they belong. But we don’t belong here, and neither does Matt.”
“Did someone spike her fruit punch?” Lexi asked. “She’s talking crazy again.”
“Look, Matt belongs in the Elysian Fields. I think Cerberus knows that.”
“Fine, so let him go. See what happens.” Lexi raised one shoulder, making it all too clear that she didn’t value Matt’s soul.
“We don’t belong here, either. Hades brought us to Tartarus. That’s where Cerberus thinks we should be.”
Tony stepped between me and the gate. “What if he tries to bring us back there? He could corner us and make us return to Tartarus. We wouldn’t be able to scout out new souls from there. Your plan would—pardon the expression—go to hell.”
Alex sighed. “He’s right, Jodi. Besides, Matt wouldn’t be with us anymore, and you’d have to raise your soul and figure out how to save us on your own. I’m not crazy about you and Matt getting close again, but I’d feel better knowing you had someone to protect you. You won’t have your Ophi powers anymore while you’re human.”
I’d kind of forgotten about that part. I was so focused on not being able to hurt anyone anymore that I hadn’t stopped to think about how powerless I’d actually be. Matt was a strong guy. I could use his protection. Especially since we were most likely going to be staying in sleazy motels and riding buses on our way back home.
I stared at Alex, hoping he could see I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t know how to get us out of here without running into Cerberus.
“What if we strike another deal with Hades?” he said.
I squinted at him, wondering what he was thinking. “Go on.”
Lexi scoffed and threw her arms out. “Haven’t we had enough deals? I mean, that’s what got us all in here in the first place. Jodi making a deal with Hades that she couldn’t keep.”
“The kind of deal I’m talking about doesn’t have consequences,” Alex said.
“Then Hades will never go for it,” Tony chimed in. “He likes big payouts for winning.”
Alex smiled. “That’s the beauty of this deal. He’s going to win from the start.”
“Alex—” Before I could ask him what he meant, I figured it out. The deal I’d made with Hades earlier, when he’d taken Victoria and the others…he’d liked that because it gave him Ophi servants. People to do his dirty work and free up some of his time. “We could offer our services. Help Hades run this place and make his life easier.”
Alex nodded. “Exactly. Victoria and the others have Tartarus under control, but Cerberus is left to guard the rest of this place. We never see Hades unless he’s making us suffer, so what is he doing?”
“Judging souls, making sure no one escapes, going back to the land of the living.” I listed off things I remembered Tony teaching us. “What if he’s going after the other Ophi while we’re down here?”
“Mason.” Carol’s voice was small and shaky.
I bit my lip, thinking of how I could approach this. “Okay, Hades obviously needs help down here. We can offer him that. We can help judge the souls. That way we’d know who was coming into the underworld. And when the next couple comes…” I paused, realizing that was a poor word choice on my part. Alex wasn’t going to want Matt and me to use the bodies of a couple. It would only make his mind focus on how Matt and I used to be together. “Well, when the next two souls whose bodies Matt and I could use arrive, we can get my plan going.”
Arianna and Tony smiled, obviously happy with this idea. Carson, Ethan, and Carol weren’t as enthusiastic, but they were willing to try it. Lexi shrugged and gave me a “What the hell? Why not?” Coming from her, that was good. I knew the others wouldn’t challenge me. They never had. And since we’d broken off from Chase, it looked like we all could agree on something as a group.
Leticia looked petrified. “Does this mean we have to get Hades’ attention? Bring him here to make the deal?”
I took a deep breath before saying, “Yes, it does.”
“Any idea how to do that?” Alex asked.
I looked at the gate in front of me. “I’m pretty sure trying to break out of here will get his attention.”
Lexi rolled her eyes. “And royally piss him off. He won’t make a deal with us if he wants to cause us pain.”
“Then I won’t let him get angry with all of us.” I turned to Alex. “Keep everyone else back. Guard Matt. Don’t let him wander off or try to follow me.”
He grabbed my arm. “No. You aren’t going out there alone.”
“I’m not putting anyone else in danger.”
“I’m going with you. End of story.” He met Tony’s eyes. “Watch Matt and the others.”
Tony nodded.
This was the best I was going to get. There was no arguing with Alex when he was like this. I kissed him lightly on the lips, just in case my plan backfired and Hades decided to burn me in hellfire instead of making a deal with me. I wanted to make sure I got one last kiss. Then, I unlatched the gate and pushed it open.
Cerberus growled, sending spit flying out of his mouths from the vibration.
“Easy.” I held my hand out in front of me. Alex tried to pull me behind him to shield me, but I wasn’t having it. I stood my ground. “Can you call Hades?” I asked Cerberus, keeping my voice as steady and non-threatening as possible. “Call your master here. Tell him I need to talk to him.”
“Our fearless leader, everyone,” Lexi said. “Talking to a three-headed dog from Hell. We’re all screwed.”
“Can it, Lexi,” Alex yelled, and Cerberus snarled at the outburst. He charged at us, and Alex and I lunged to the side. Cerberus rammed into the gate. While he was stunned, I reached for him and shot him with a dose of poisoned blood from the left side of my body. He whimpered and went down.
I removed my hand from his fur and stared at it, unable to believe that had worked.
“You dosed him?” Alex was breathing heavily and staring wide-eyed at Cerberus’ still form on the ground.
“I didn’t think I could hurt him like that. I just wanted to stun him a little.”
“My dog!” Hades’ voice boomed from above us as he came swirling down in his black cloud.
Alex rushed to me, ready to face Hades.
“I didn’t mean to hurt him,” I said. “He attacked us. I just reacted.”
Hades’ eyes burned into me, but not enough to kill me. He wanted to make me suffer. My eyes watered from the flames, but I wasn’t about to cower before him.
“You tried to escape. Of course Cerberus attacked you. He was doing his job.”
“No.” I held my hands up. “You don’t understand. We weren’t trying to escape. We were trying to find you. We need to talk to you.”
“It’s true,” Alex said. “Look for yourself.” He pointed at the others beyond the gate. “Would we have left them behind if we were looking for a way out of the underworld?”
Of course, my plan was to leave everyone behind while I found a way out, but Hades couldn’t know that.
Hades looked at the group. Once his eyes were off me, the burning stopped. I stepped closer to him. “We have a deal for you.”