“Sure.” He gave Chase one last glare and walked off.
Chase leaned in close to me and whispered, “How long are you going to try to deny what you feel for me? You can pretend Alex is the one you want, but when I touch you, I know it’s me your blood craves.”
I stepped back from Chase. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Randy awkwardly moved past us. I was sure he’d overheard everything. The question was, how long would he wait before he told Alex?
Chapter 7
I followed Randy, yelling back over my shoulder at Chase, “Go work with Leticia and Alex. Until I know how much control you have over your powers, you’ll start with the basics.”
I didn’t have to turn around to know Chase was fuming mad at that comment. I already knew he was powerful, but I’d demoted him to square one as if he were a beginner. I wasn’t sure how training with Alex would go, but I couldn’t handle working with Chase right now. Not until I got my emotions in check.
That’s how it went for the next two days. Me training with Randy and avoiding Chase at all costs. I knew it couldn’t go on like this forever, but I was willing to stick it out for as long as I could. Luckily, Randy never said anything to me or Alex about Chase’s comment. Maybe he assumed Chase was just full of himself. By Saturday, Chase found a way to corner me.
“Hey, did you forget we have a phone call to make?”
“A what?”
“We were going to call Mason and see if we could convince him to get everyone out here. Now that we have our combined powers backing us up, I think we could persuade him.”
“Right.” In trying to dodge Chase, I’d forgotten all about that plan. “But we haven’t trained together yet. I need you to master all the beginner skills before we can move forward.” As much as I wanted the other Ophi here, I couldn’t train with Chase. I couldn’t be alone with him. It was too dangerous. Too dangerous for my relationship with Alex.
“You’ve had me in the baby group for days. I’ve raised souls and released them. What more do I need to prove to you?”
“You haven’t raised multiple souls yet.”
“Okay, then from now on I’ll train with you and Randy.”
What could I say to that? I’d set myself up.
“But I don’t think we should wait to make this call. So what if we let Mason think we’ve already mastered our combined power? If it gets the others here, then it’s worth a little white lie.”
“All right,” I said.
“Good, let’s do it now.” He tugged my arm, pulling me toward my office. Randy shrugged and headed over to Alex and Leticia to finish training.
“I told Alex I’d meet him before dinner.” I tried to get Chase to at least slow down, but he was already pushing me through the door.
“I think lover boy can find the dining room on his own.”
I sighed and walked into my office, taking a seat at the desk. I had Mason’s number memorized. I’d called it about a thousand times before he’d called me back. I dialed and switched the phone to speaker.
“Hello?” Mason answered.
“Guess you forgot to check your caller ID,” Chase said.
“What? Who is this?”
I heard Mason fumble with the phone. “Jodi?”
“Does my voice really sound that deep?” I asked.
“No, no. Who’s with you?”
“It’s Chase, Uncle Mason.”
“Oh, Chase. It must be a bad connection. I didn’t recognize your voice.”
“No problem. Listen, we’ve got exciting news.”
“Don’t tell me you two hit it off and got engaged or something.”
“No!” I yelled.
Chase laughed. “Not yet.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “But Jodi and I do have a special connection. A power connection.”
“What do you mean?” Mason asked.
“We can combine our powers. Turns out I have more power than the average Ophi, too. Like Jodi. Together we’re unstoppable.”
Mason was quiet on the other line, like he was thinking.
“You need to get everyone out here, Uncle Mason. Jodi and I have so much to show you.”
“Chase, you know I can’t. If you and Jodi are really as strong as you say, I’ll send a small group, but I need to keep enough here to keep Serpentarius up and running. That’s my best offer.”
“Thanks, Mason. We’ll take it.” I tried not to sound disappointed, but I needed Mason. He would make a great teacher, and he could easily replace Troy. Arianna and Tony were great, but they always defaulted to me because I was the Chosen One. I needed an adult who took charge.
“I know it’s not what you were hoping for, Jodi.”
“That’s okay. I appreciate whatever you can do.”
“Take care.” Mason hung up.
“Well, I guess it’s a start.” I stood up.
“You’re not happy,” Chase said. “I can tell.”
“We need everyone. Otherwise we aren’t strong enough to stand up to Hades.” Even with everyone, I wasn’t sure we’d be strong enough.
“Then I’ll get you everyone.”
“What?”
“I’ll see you at dinner.”
Before I could say another word, Chase was dialing the phone again. I gave him one last glance before going to the dining room.
“Hey, where have you been?” Alex slid a bowl of mac and cheese in front of me. I hated to admit it, but I was kind of getting used to the stuff, even if it was made with powered cheese.
“I called Mason. He’s going to send a small group here.”
“That’s great.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, but we need everyone.”
“Give it time.” He nudged me with his elbow and took another heaping forkful.
I picked at my food, mostly moving it around to make it look like I was eating. I’d barely eaten two real bites when Chase came into the room with a huge smile. “All taken care of. They’ll be here on Monday.”
“Who?” Leticia asked.
“Everyone,” he said the word slowly, “from Serpentarius.”
“Everyone?” I asked.
“Yup!”
Leticia squealed and threw her arms around Chase. “Oh, you’re the best! You’ve saved us all!” She turned to me. “Don’t you think so, Jodi?”
I nodded and went back to pushing my food around with my fork. The rest of the meal was filled with happy faces and people patting Chase on the back. I should’ve been happy, but something was off.
“We should celebrate,” Leticia said. “Do something fun for once. No lessons or talk about training for one full night.”
I didn’t feel like celebrating. I felt like getting answers, but I was outvoted. Everyone was shouting out ideas. After what had happened during the last movie night, we skipped that idea. Randy suggested we play charades, but no one else went for it. Arianna said she’d found some board games in one of the hall closets, but that suggestion got groans from all the guys.
“I know.” Tony got up from the table and left the room without another word.
“Are we supposed to follow him?” I asked.
Alex shrugged. “Why not?”
We got up and scanned the halls for Tony.
“Tony?” I called. “Where are you?”
No answer. We peeked in all the rooms and even closets downstairs. Nothing.
“Did he go to his room?” Leticia asked.
“Nope,” Tony called from the stairs. “I went to the library.”
“What for?” Alex asked.
“This.” Tony held up what looked like a severed hand.
“Ugh! Where did you get that?” Leticia turned away, gagging.
He reached the bottom landing and turned the hand over in his palm. “I know it’s a little…”
“Gross,” I said.
Tony shrugged. “It has sentimental value to the school.”
I crossed my arms, thinking he must be joking. “How can a severed hand have sentimental value?”