“Mel—”
“Is he here? Will I see him?”
“No.” The word was barely a whisper. “I raised his soul. He deserved another chance at life.”
“How? If you couldn’t do it before, how did you do it now?”
“I’m more powerful now. I can do a lot of things. I even raised half of my own soul. The human half.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re with him now, aren’t you? The human you, I mean. My God! You killed him, and he still wants to be with you! Unbelievable!”
“It’s not like that. I’m with Alex.” Only I’d been making out with Matt when my consciousness was pulled back into my Ophi soul.
“Alex? Is he that guy you ran off with?”
“Yes. He’s here. We’re being punished by Hades.”
“Good.” That word, and her look of pure hatred, barreled into me.
“Mel.”
“I’m sorry, Jodi, but look what you’ve done. You killed Matt. You killed me.”
“I didn’t kill you. Hades did.”
“To get back at you. That’s what you told those freaky hooded guys. Same difference.” She crossed her arms. “I can’t believe I was ever friends with you.”
Hades knew this would happen. He knew Melodie would hate me for everything I’d done. For what I’d become. Deep down, she must have always resented me, even when we were friends. She’d wanted Matt, but he turned her down because he was into me. Even though it wasn’t my fault, she held it against me, and I couldn’t really blame her. I hadn’t even noticed she had feelings for Matt until I was about to break up with him. What kind of friend was I?
“I don’t know what to say to make you understand. I didn’t ask for any of this to happen. I was happy with you and Matt and my mom. Things were just about perfect. This got sprung on me.”
“Am I supposed to hug you and tell you it’s okay?” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Because it’s not okay. Even if you don’t mean to kill someone, they’re still dead. You can’t undo it.”
“Yes, I can. I’m a necromancer. I brought Matt back. He looks different now because he’s in a different body. But he’s okay. He saw his mom.”
“His sister is dead. Do you know that? Does he?”
“Yes.” I lowered my eyes.
“Are you responsible for her death, too?”
“No!” My God, she thought I was a monster.
“Sorry, but I can’t believe that. Everyone around you is dead or some freaky undead creation of yours.” Her face went stone cold. “You deserve whatever punishment Hades is giving you. You deserve to rot in Hell!”
Chapter 24
My throat constricted, squeezing the air out of me. My best friend hated me. Thought I was some killer or psycho necromancer. Nothing I said was going to change her mind. Maybe she was right. Maybe I did deserve what I was getting.
“I’ll take you to the Fields of Asphodel.” I didn’t look at her. I just started walking again, hoping she’d follow. If she didn’t, Chase or even Hades might show up, and they’d make her pay for being disobedient. Even if she hated me, Melodie didn’t deserve any of this. She wasn’t supposed to die yet. This was my fault. I glanced behind me to make sure she was following. She kept her eyes glued to the ground, and I thought I saw a tear drip down her cheek. Was she crying because she knew she wasn’t supposed to be here? Was she scared? Or did she feel bad about the way things between us were ending?
Alex’s figure came into view, and his face lit up when he saw me. I wondered if he always reacted to me this way. When I was focused on my human soul, I couldn’t tell what was happening here. How many times had I disappointed Alex by coming up to him without really being here? It seemed like I was disappointing everyone these days.
Arianna reached for Melodie’s hand, not paying much attention to me, probably because she didn’t know I was fully here. “Thanks, Ari.”
She did a double take before throwing her arms around me. “It’s so good to see you. Are you okay? Is everything going all right up there?” She looked up, not that we could see anything but black sky.
“I’m fine. Things are going slowly, but I’m meeting Mason again soon.” How soon? How long had I been down here? “I need to get back there so I don’t miss our appointment.”
“Can you stay for a minute?” Alex asked.
Arianna released her grip on me and put her arm around Melodie. “Come, dear. I’ll show you where you’re supposed to be.”
“That’s just it, Ari. She shouldn’t be here.” I turned to Alex. “Do you remember Melodie?”
He nodded. “Hades.” The word said it all. Alex knew he’d taken Melodie.
“It’s so unfair. I don’t know what to do to make this stop.”
A gust of wind blew all around us. We shielded our eyes as it stirred up the ashes that paved the way to the Fields. Without opening my eyes, I knew Hades was here.
“Did I hear you say you don’t know how to make this stop?” He touched down in front of me, and his swirling black smoke performed a trick I hadn’t seen yet. It didn’t just dissolve. It became a black suit jacket.
“You’re all dressed up with nowhere to go.” I wasn’t in the mood for niceties. I was majorly pissed.
“On the contrary. I’m dressed for dear Melodie’s funeral.” His hand grazed Melodie’s cheek, and she pulled away. Her face was bright red where he’d touched her, where he’d burned her.
“Don’t touch her!” I stepped toward him, grabbing Melodie and pulling her behind me. “You killed her. She wasn’t supposed to die. Are you so pathetic that you have to stoop to killing innocent people to lure me back here?”
He smirked and leaned down so he was right in my face. “Are you so inhuman that you are willing to allow me to kill so many of your former loved ones while you continue to plot against me? Why don’t you tell Melodie how the lives of the Ophi mean more to you than hers?”
Melodie gasped behind me.
“Don’t listen to him, Mel. He’s just trying to make you hate me. Remember, he’s the one who killed you. This is his sick game.”
“No, Jodi Marshall. It’s yours. You started it when you raised your human soul.” He walked around Alex, invading his personal space and running his fingers across Alex’s shoulder and back, finally resting on his other shoulder. He clamped down, and his hand burst into flame. Alex collapsed under the pain, falling to his knees.
“Stop!” I reached for Hades, willing my blood to mix. When our hands met, the heat was intensified. Hades let go of Alex and laced his fingers through mine.
“You have some fire power of your own, I see.” My hand burned against his. Most of the heat was coming from him, but he was right. I could make myself hot to the touch when I mixed my blood. “Very interesting.” The flames on his hand doubled, and I yanked out of his grip. “Still no match for me, though.” He blew on his hand, extinguishing it.
I held my hand, palm up, examining the blisters on my skin. Damn, that hurt.
“Tell me, Jodi Marshall. Will you choose to stay in exchange for Melodie’s life?” He turned and held his hand out like he was asking me if I wanted the prize behind door number one. “Or do I need to kill your mother next?”
“Don’t touch my mother!” My blood hadn’t even simmered down before it was raging once again.
“If that’s what you wish, then simply release the human half of your soul, and your mother will remain safe.” He walked over to Melodie. “But I think, because of your outburst, I’ll keep this soul for myself.” He gently patted Melodie’s hair.
“You’re always changing the rules, and you make sure every deal you make has you come out the winner, no matter what.”
He held his hands behind his back, looking totally at ease. “When you made the deal with me that night in the cemetery, you thought you’d outsmarted me. And if you want to be technical, you were the one who breached that deal. You raised souls that were off-limits to you.”