“What was that?” Chase asked, steadying me.
“He pushed me.” I stared at the corpse. “When the soul released, it pushed me.”
“Souls can do that?” Jared asked. He didn’t look happy with me either, but at least he wasn’t running away.
I nodded. “I didn’t think they could, but it definitely happened.”
“What, he was pissed off and decided to try to fight back?” Chase smirked. “I say we bring him back and teach him a thing or two.”
I whipped around to face him. “What is wrong with you?” My blood started to boil. “I didn’t want to hurt that guy. You made me do it.”
“I should’ve known you were too weak to do it on your own.” Lexi walked off.
“Hey, wait a minute,” Chase said. “You kissed me, remember? You combined our powers. I have to say, I didn’t hate your method. In fact, I’d like to try it again.” He stepped toward me, but I backed up.
“Don’t. Don’t touch me.” I waved him off. “Whatever this is between us, it’s over. I’m done. I don’t want your powers. I don’t want your help. I don’t want you.”
He advanced on me, and I shivered. He was scaring me.
“I bet one little touch and you’d be saying different.” He reached for my face.
“No!” I backed away farther. “I mean it. Stay away from me, Chase.”
Jared put his hand on Chase’s chest, holding him back. “That’s enough, man.”
Chase laughed, which only freaked me out more. This guy was seriously crazy. He was using me to get to my powers, and the truly frightening part was that, if he touched me again, I was going to give in. I couldn’t fight him, couldn’t resist his touch. I did the only thing I could. I ran. Ran from Chase. Ran from the school. I was hurting everyone. I wasn’t a leader. I was a liability.
I sprinted behind the school, glancing back to see Chase following. His running was almost effortless. Nothing at all like mine. I struggled to breathe as I forced my legs to go so fast they were out of control. I ran into the woods and kept going, weaving in and out of the trees. There was nowhere to hide. I had to keep running. If I could reach the road, maybe I could flag down a car, the way I’d flagged down Melodie. Melodie. Her image invaded my mind. Could I really risk running into her after what I had done? She’d probably run me over if she saw me. Oh wait—she didn’t have a car anymore, thanks to me.
“Come on, Jodi, you can’t outrun me.” Chase was closing in on me. I had to do something.
I cut off to the right, remembering the road was closer to the school on that side. As much as I didn’t want to remember what had happened to Melodie’s car or the hiker who’d tried to save me, I wished I’d come across the remains of the fire soon. At least then I’d know I was close to the road. Close to help.
“Why are you resisting me, Jodi?” Chase yelled. “You know you want me as much as I want you. Give in to it. Stop fighting. It’s not like Alex is here to get in the way anymore.”
I was struggling to breathe, yet Chase was having no trouble at all yelling to me while he ran. He was in much better shape than I was, which meant this wasn’t going to end well for me. I knew he’d use his powers on me the second he reached me, and then it would be all over. I’d give in, and he’d have control.
I pushed my legs off the ground as hard as I could, forcing myself to go faster. I wasn’t giving up. No matter how much it hurt. I saw something big and black out of the corner of my eye. Melodie’s car! I headed toward it, squinting through the trees, trying to make out the road. I was still too far away.
“Does it really have to go down like this?” Chase yelled. I turned slightly and saw he was making a beeline for the car. He thought that was what I was running toward. He was going to cut me off. I quickly changed directions, knowing it would take me longer to reach the road this way.
“Clever!” Chase laughed. “Hey, did I mention I’m a runner? I could compete professionally if it weren’t for the whole sweating thing.” He laughed. “I’d kill my competition in more ways than one.”
Crap, crap, crap! I turned to see how much ground he’d gained on me when I saw him hurdle a fallen tree. He cleared it with ease and even smiled at me as he landed. I couldn’t look at him. He was psyching me out. I focused up ahead again and saw the road. I grunted and forced my body into a sprint. I poured everything into it. All my energy was focused on making it to the road. I heard a car coming. If I could get out of the woods, make myself visible, I’d have a chance. I’d throw myself onto the car’s hood if I had to. Anything to get away from Chase.
I stepped out from the trees and waved my arms. The car was getting closer. One foot hit the asphalt, and then I was hit from behind. Chase was on top of me, pinning me to the shoulder of the road. The car drove past, not even noticing us. But I noticed it. The license plate read, MOM1208. Mom. My grandparents had gotten her the custom license plate after I was born. Even though she was only 16 at the time, she was so happy to be a mom. She never regretted having me, even after my dad left. She never regretted the life we had. No matter how much she had to work or how much she hated her boss.
“Mom,” I cried.
“Hush,” Chase said. “I’ll make you feel all better.” He brushed the tear from my cheek and transferred his power to me. My body tingled, making me forget the pain I was feeling. Making me want nothing more than to be with Chase, to feel this power we could create together.
After a few minutes, I felt the power subside. It slowly went away, leaving me feeling content. I knew I had run away, that I had wanted to get away from Chase, but now I had a hard time remembering why.
“Better?” He kissed me gently on the lips.
I nodded.
“Ready to go back now?” He stood up and extended his hand to me. I took it and let him help me up. He held onto me, and we started walking back toward the school. “That was your mom’s car back there?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t want to talk about it. I wasn’t sure if I was glad she hadn’t seen me or if I wanted to be in the car with her right now.
“It wouldn’t have ended well if she had stopped.”
Was he threatening her? “Would you have hurt her?” I stopped walking and stared at him. I tried to take my hand back, but he squeezed it, sending a burst of power, getting me under his control again.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me, Jodi. We were meant to be together. I won’t hurt you. Why can’t you see that?” He pulled me along, so we were walking again.
“If you hurt my mom, it would destroy me.”
He didn’t respond.
“And you made Alex leave. That hurt me. You made me torture that corpse, and that hurt me, too. If you really don’t want to hurt me, you wouldn’t try to control me like this. Using your power to get what you want is cruel.” I should’ve been yelling at him, but with him still sending little surges of power my way, a gentle voice whispering the truth was the best I could do.
“I didn’t make Alex leave. He left because he wasn’t really in love with you. You weren’t in love with him either.”
I stopped. “Yes, I was.” I tried to take my hand away again, but Chase hit me with another dose of his power, but this time it was the poison. I crumbled to the ground, and he caught me before my head hit a fallen tree branch.
“Please,” I whispered. “You have to stop. I can’t handle much more. You’re going to kill me.”
He looked down at me like he was considering what I said. “I won’t let you die, Jodi.”
“Stop controlling me. Please.”
“I will once you admit the truth to yourself.” He leaned down and kissed me again. “You love me. You’ve loved me since before me met. You felt it, too. The attraction between us. Alex left because of you, Jodi. Because you love me.”