“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.”

No. I wanted to yell, scream, and spit in his face. He was doing this to me. He was controlling me like a puppet. But I knew if I said what I really felt, he’d just dose me with poison again. It really was killing me, whether he wanted to admit it or not. If I was going to survive, I was going to have to play along. Pretend what he’d said was true.

“Say it, Jodi. Say you love me.”

He stroked my face, sending just the slightest bit of poison through his touch. He had no idea how much he was hurting me. I had to make it stop.

“I love you.” I didn’t say his name, and I pictured Alex’s face in my mind while I said it.

Chase wrapped me into a hug and kissed me. It physically pained me to kiss him back. I hated him. I wanted to claw his eyes out. But I had to play along or he’d kill me and leave me for the wild animals. Chase’s hands were all over me, and I instinctively pushed him away.

“Need a little more?” I knew he was talking about his power.

“No! Please, Chase. I’m really in bad shape. I need to lie down. I don’t even know if I’m strong enough to make it back to the school.” A plan was forming in my mind. “Do you think you could go get your car and come back for me?” I laced my fingers through his, trying to play the part of the loving girlfriend.

“No need,” he said. “I’ll carry you.”

“Don’t be silly. It’s way too far for you to carry me.”

“Jodi, sweetie.” He kissed my cheek. “How dumb do you think I am?”

My eyes widened. My acting skills weren’t cutting it.

“I know, if I leave you here, the second I’m gone you’ll run for the road again.”

Maybe not run. My energy level was seriously depleted.

“I won’t. I’m not strong enough to anyway.”

“Alex may have been an idiot, but I’m not.” He scooped me into his arms and started walking. “Hmm, you may be right about one thing. It’s definitely too far to carry you like this.” Chase stopped and looked around. His gaze fell on Melodie’s car, and he walked over to it.

“It’s totaled,” I said.

“A little burned, but not totaled.”

“The whole thing was up in flames. You can’t drive it.”

He smiled, and I followed his eyes. He wasn’t looking at the car. He was looking at the body next to it.

“No! You can’t be thinking of raising him. Chase, that’s going too far.”

“Don’t worry, sweetie. I wouldn’t think of raising him without your help. In fact, I’d prefer if you did it. You know, as a way to show me you’re going to be on my side from now on.” He put me down right next to the corpse.

“I can’t. I won’t do that. He was only trying to help me. I would’ve died if he hadn’t freed me from the car.”

“Well, then you wouldn’t want his death to be in vain.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re either with me or against me, Jodi. Believe me, you don’t want to be against me.” His expression softened, and he cupped my face in his hands. “I really don’t want to hurt you. We’d make such a great team.” He lowered his hands to right above my heart. “But I will hurt you if I have to.”

I looked at his hands, poised and ready to send a burst of poison straight to my heart. A burst I was sure would kill me.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked.

“Because I need you to see that you and I aren’t like the others. We’re better. I deserve the best, and that’s you. If I can’t have you, I will kill you. So, you better start proving that you want to be with me.”

My eyes stung with the realization that I was defenseless against him. Part of me wanted to let him kill me, to end it so I didn’t have to become the monster he wanted me to be. But if I died, that would be the end of the Ophi. I was sure of it. My death would mark the end of my deal with Hades. He’d go after the others, until there were no Ophi left.