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.