“Please, Bristol, do whatever you can to slow things down. I need to find Medusa. Once I do, I can save us all. I’ll get you out of here, but I need your help right now.”
Her eyes teared. “But how? I don’t know what to do.”
“Create some sort of distraction. Anything. Get the focus off the others. Pretend you’re hurt, in pain.”
I calmed my blood for a moment, focusing on the life-restoring power alone. I gently touched Bristol’s arm and sent a wave of the energy to her.
“What is that?” Her eyes widened, and she smiled. “That’s amazing.”
“Think you can handle this now? I gave you a power boost.”
She nodded. “Yeah. I can do it.”
“Good. Go!” I pushed her toward the entrance, and she ran in.
“Great,” Alex said, “but we still don’t know where Medusa is.”
“Yes, we do.” There was only one place she could be. “In the palace. She’s with Persephone.” I took off running toward the palace.
Alex easily kept up with me. The guy always had been fast. “Why do you think she’s there?”
“Because it’s the one place that has been off-limits to us. Hades keeps Persephone guarded from everyone and everything.”
“You’re right, but then how are we going to get to her?”
I pictured the look Persephone had on her face when we were all in the palace. She hated Hades. “Hades told me Persephone came here on her own, but I don’t believe it. Something is up. Persephone will help us because she’ll do anything to get back at Hades for imprisoning her here.”
Alex smiled. “That’s crazy enough to actually work.”
“Yeah, but we need to find Persephone’s chambers in the palace first. I think I know where to go. I saw her walk away during the argument earlier.”
We raced the rest of the way. The palace entrance was quiet. Hades was gone, which wasn’t good for us. That probably meant he was with Persephone, guarding Medusa.
“What now?” Alex asked, catching his breath.
I pulled him off to the side and out of view of the judges, not that they really cared that we were there. Their only concern was judging new souls. Still, we ducked behind a pillar. “We need to find Persephone and see if Hades is really with her. He might be somewhere else. We have to know for sure because we don’t have time to waste.”
“I know what you could do,” Chase said, walking around the pillar and facing us. His nose was still crooked, and he had dried blood caked on his face.
“Get out of here!” Alex yelled, shoving Chase in the chest and sending him slamming into the pillar.
“Would you two stop it?” I grabbed Alex’s arm. “We can’t afford to draw attention to ourselves right now.”
“He’s a spy. Hades can see everything he can.” Alex was fuming, and he jabbed his finger in Chase’s chest.
Chase held up his hands, showing he wasn’t going to fight back. That was different for him. “Hades can only see through my eyes when he’s tuned in. He’s not right now.”
“How do you know?” I asked him.
“I can feel it. It’s like he takes control of me.”
I wondered how many things Chase had done since we’d gotten here that weren’t actually his actions, that were Hades’.
Chase focused on me, pleading with me to listen. “You need a power boost. You didn’t fail last time just because you were worried about Alex. You were weak. Splitting your soul took a lot out of you, whether you feel it or not.”
That made sense. Still, this was Chase talking. I couldn’t exactly trust him.
“Take my power. All of it.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “That would kill you.”
“I know.” His voice was soft and low. “I can’t live this way. I was supposed to die a long time ago. If my mom hadn’t bargained for my life, I wouldn’t be alive. She’s dead because of me. Hades took her, and he isn’t going to give her back.” He shrugged. “Let me do this. I owe you all a lot for what I’ve put you through. Let me make up for it—at least some of it.”
This wasn’t just sacrificing himself for the good of the Ophi. He wanted to die. “You’d get to be with your mom again.” That was his real endgame.
He smiled. “I can’t fool you. Yes, I do get something out of this. You had to know I would.”
Yes, because he was Chase. He never did anything without getting something in return. “You’re really ready to die?”
“Can you call being Hades’ puppet living? I died a long time ago. I’m just not at peace.”
“What makes you think you will be after the judges get through with you?” Alex asked.
“I guess I don’t know for sure, but I think they might go easy on me, considering my actions weren’t all my own.”
Maybe. Maybe not. I knew the judges were fair. They’d know what to do with Chase. Still, could I go through with this? Could I kill Chase to save Medusa? If I didn’t save her, the rest of us would be dead in no time. I didn’t know how long Bristol could hold off the punishment that was killing my friends.
I looked to Alex, who shook his head. “I’m not making this decision for you. This is your call. I’ll support whatever decision you make.”
He didn’t have to tell me what he wanted me to do. I knew already. He wanted me to take Chase’s power. Alex didn’t care about Chase. No, that wasn’t entirely true. He had very strong feelings for Chase. They just weren’t good feelings.
“Come on, Jodi.” Chase tapped my elbow, which got him a stern look from Alex. “What’s there to think about?”
“A lot. You’re asking me to kill you.”
Chase shrugged. “No big loss, right? You hate me.”
“I don’t—” I stopped myself. Alex would never understand my crazy screwed-up feelings for Chase. Yes, I hated him, but I felt sorry for him, too. It was so screwed up I didn’t even understand it. “I don’t want to kill anyone.”
“Hades isn’t with Persephone,” Chase said. Either he had a really good poker face, or he was giving me the reason I needed to go through with this plan.
“Are you sure, or is this just a tactic to get me to end your life for you?”
“You can go check first if you want, but Hades was on his way to Tartarus last I saw him. He wanted to see your friends die.”
Damn it! Bristol would never be able to stall if Hades was overseeing things. I couldn’t go check Persephone’s room. I had to take Chase’s word for it.
Alex ran his hand down my arm. “This is our last chance.”
I nodded and walked over to Chase. “This is what you want? Really? Because there’s no coming back from this.”
“Trust me, you’ll be saving me along with everyone else—if you succeed, that is.” He smirked. Even moments from death, he was taking a little dig at me. Yes, I could still fail, even with Chase’s power. Unless…
“The prophecy.”
Chase and Alex both cocked their heads at me. “What about it?” they both asked, giving each other horrified looks for thinking the same thing.
“Chase, the prophecy about us, we thought it meant we were supposed to destroy the Ophi line, but we were wrong. Medusa told me that prophecies didn’t always mean what we thought they did. They’re tricky. I think this is the true meaning. We’re supposed to join powers to save everyone.”
Chase smiled. “Are you trying to make me go out a hero?”
Alex scoffed. “Not likely.”
No one could call Chase a hero after all he’d done, but he was definitely helping us. “Let’s just say you’re doing a good thing, going out on a high note.”
“Good enough for me.” He reached for my hands, but Alex stepped between us.
“What are you doing?” I widened my eyes at him. “I thought you wanted me to do this.”