“Okay, those of you with more experience will come with me. We’ll work on commanding multiple souls at once. That will be Jared, Lexi—” I looked at the others, realizing I had more newbies than anything else. Plus, I really didn’t want to spend the morning with Lexi. “On second thought. I’ll take the less experienced ones, Leticia, McKenzie, and Lucas. We’ll work on maintaining control over souls once they’re raised.”
“What about us?” Lexi said. “Do we watch the youngsters screw up, or do we actually get to have a little fun?”
“Raising souls isn’t fun,” I snapped.
“Then you’re not doing it right.” Lexi whipped a nail file out of her back pocket. I thought she was going to mock me further by giving herself a manicure in the middle of my lesson, but instead she pricked Jared’s finger.
“Ow!” he said. “What was that for?”
“I can’t wear a Band-Aid on my finger for the rest of the day,” she said. “I just did my nails.” She flicked his finger, getting drops of his blood on one of the graves.
“Lexi, how do you expect to control that soul if you didn’t raise it?” I could do it, but I knew she couldn’t. She wasn’t that far along in her training.
“I don’t. I want to see how Jared does.” She smiled at him.
“Thanks a lot. I wasn’t even ready for this.” Jared looked about twenty-one, but like most Serpentarius Ophi he wasn’t used to using his powers.
Lexi laughed and turned to me. “He gets stage fright sometimes.”
“Shut up. I do not. I just need time to get my blood to do what I want it to.”
“Well, then you better hurry.” Lexi pointed to the hand coming up out of the grave. “Your zombie slave is here.”
“Crap!” Jared closed his eyes and threw his head back. I wondered who’d taught him that technique. He looked possessed.
The zombie was almost completely out of the grave, and Jared still wasn’t ready. Images of Randy getting bitten by the zombie flew into my head. That was not going to happen again.
“Stop!” I commanded the soul. “Turn to me. I’m in charge here.”
The zombie turned and faced me.
“Hey,” Jared complained. “I was almost ready.”
Lexi laughed. “Ready to what? Run away when that thing attacked you?”
Jared looked at me. His eyes were full of hate. I didn’t care if he was mad at me. I was doing what I had to.
“I lost a friend to a zombie because he wasn’t ready. I’m not taking any chances.”
“So, how exactly do you expect us to train?” Jared asked.
“When you’re ready to take over, I’ll be more than happy to hand this guy to you.” I stared at Jared. “What do you say? Now that you’re ready and not being ambushed by Lexi, do you want to give it a try?”
Jared nodded and closed his eyes again.
“Stop,” I said. “Closing your eyes when a zombie is coming for you is a sure way to get yourself killed. Never take your eyes off them. Use your mind’s eye to focus yourself and get control of your powers.”
Jared shrugged. “Guess that makes sense.”
“Good. Now focus on this guy and nothing else. Reach out to him with the power of your blood.”
Jared fell silent, concentrating as hard as he could. “Got it.”
“It’s him you want,” I said to the zombie, releasing him from my control. The corpse turned to Jared again and reached for him.
“Stay where you are.” Jared’s voice shook.
“You have the control, Jared. Don’t let him think otherwise,” I said.
Jared focused on the soul, staring him in the eyes. “Lower your arm.”
The zombie lowered his arm but kept advancing.
“Stop!” Jared’s voice was strong, confident.
The zombie stopped short.
“Great!” I said. Jared had real potential. He was already an adult Ophi, so he’d be a quick learner. “Think you can release him?”
Chase came up behind me. “Why not have a little fun first?”
“Where have you been?” I asked.
“Why? Did you miss me?” He brushed his hand against my back, and chills ran through me. “I bet these guys would love another demonstration of our combined powers.”
Lexi’s eyes widened. “See, now here’s a guy who knows how to have fun.” She batted her eyes at Chase, and I tensed up.
Chase leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Don’t worry. She’s not my type. No need to be jealous.”
Oh, God. I was jealous. What was happening to me?
“So, what would you all like to see us do?” Chase sounded like the ringleader of a circus, only he and I were the main attraction.
“Can you really make them do anything you want?” Lucas asked.
“Let’s find out,” Chase said. “Think of something really tough.”
“Chase, don’t.” I reached for his arm, but he put his hand over mine, letting his power flow to me. He was playing dirty. He knew I couldn’t resist him when he did that.
“Can you make him stab himself?” Lexi suggested.
In my mind I was screaming “No!” Out loud, I made more of whimper. I was lost in the power. Chase was controlling me. He turned to me and smiled. “What do you say, Jodi? Should we give it a try?”
“No, no, no!” Why couldn’t I say that out loud? I had to get through to him. I had to make him stop. He was squeezing my hand so tightly. It hurt and felt amazingly good at the same time. He turned toward me, taking both my hands. He was really going to do this. He was going to torture this corpse, and he was going to force me to help him. I had to snap him out of it. The power was going to his head. I didn’t know what else to do to shock him, so I reached up on my toes and kissed him.
He kissed me back, and the power shot through us. This was a bad idea. I hadn’t shocked him at all. All I’d managed to do was fuel his power. Intensify it. I tried to pull away, but I couldn’t. My blood was responding to his against my will. I wasn’t in control at all. I heard screams and finally Chase turned to see what we’d done. With the connection broken, I staggered back, my eyes falling on the body.
The corpse was lying in a heap on the ground. Lexi’s nail file was jammed into his neck. Leticia and McKenzie stared at me in horror. Like they were looking at a monster. The monster I’d become.
Chapter 18
I couldn’t take my eyes off the corpse. His soul was still inside him. I could feel it, and it was in agony. Leticia and McKenzie backed away in fear, and they had every right to. What I’d done was awful, unforgiveable. This wasn’t what being Ophi was about. It couldn’t be.
“Well, Jodi, I have to hand it to you,” Lexi said. “You’re darker than I thought. I didn’t think you’d actually go through with it. Maybe there’s hope for you yet.”
Leticia glared at me with puffy, red eyes. “You’re no better than they were.” She didn’t need to clarify who they were. I knew. She thought I was as bad as Victoria and Troy. Just as heartless. Maybe I was. Leticia grabbed McKenzie’s arm, and they walked off toward the school. Lucas didn’t say a word, but he followed them. I stared after them, realizing that, to everyone else, it looked that I had done all this. They had no idea that Chase could use his power to control me.
The soul was screaming to me. No one else could hear or feel the souls the way I could. If they could, they wouldn’t do these awful things. I walked over to the body and mixed my blood. “Go back to where you came from. I release your soul.” I felt the soul leave; as it did, it reached out toward me. I felt like a strong wind was blowing me back. That had never happened before. The souls weren’t supposed to be able to touch us.