I smiled. Leticia was actually standing up to Lexi. Good for her.

“The weak should die.” I got what Lexi was hinting at, and I was sure Leticia got it, too. Too bad Chase wasn’t interested in Lexi. They seemed like the perfect match. Thinking that made me hate myself more for giving in to the power of his touch.

“Anything?” Tony asked. He must have just come into the room.

“No,” Leticia said. She actually sounded happy. Did she not want to find me because she thought they were better off without me?

Tony cleared his throat. “All right. I’ll tell the others. You two head to class.”

“Class?” Lexi spoke as if Tony had cursed at her.

“Yes. I don’t think we should let Jodi’s disappearing act disrupt our training. I’m sure she’ll show up soon.” I was glad Tony was getting them out of here, but sending them to class meant they’d be directly across the hall from the library, and I’d be stuck under this desk until dinner.

I waited until the library door closed before I peeked out. The office had windows, so coming completely out of hiding wasn’t an option. I doubted Chase would go to class. He was determined to find me. I made sure no one was in the hallway and reached for the laptop sitting on the desk. Pulling it into my lap, I logged in under Alex again. I figured the school might have some way to keep record of us logging in, and since it would be my name they’d search for, I wanted to avoid leaving a trail. I went to Alex’s sent messages, and this time there was a reply to me.

I opened the message and two words stared back at me. “Got it.” What did that mean? He understood I was in trouble? He got my message? What? I took a risk and sent him another message—from his own email account. I thought maybe seeing the desperate measures I was taking might make this all sink in and get a better response than “Got it.” My fingers flew across the keys.

Alex, don’t email me on my account. Reply to this message—if you are going to reply. I need help. You were right about Chase. He’s evil, and he’s hurting me. He’s found a way to control me with his powers. I’m helpless against him. I need you, Alex. Please. I’m so sorry about what happened. I love you. ~J

I knew it was his personal email account, but I still couldn’t convince myself to type my whole name. He’d know it was me. I didn’t mention going into hiding. If Alex showed up, I’d come out. I’d risk everything to be with him.

I had hours to kill before dinner. I peeked out again and saw Tony had the lights off in his classroom. Must be another thrilling PowerPoint presentation on the history of the Ophi. I couldn’t say I was sorry I was missing it. Still, I was bored out of my mind under this desk. I decided to do a little digging, see if there was anything on the Internet about Chase. I pulled up a search engine and typed his name. Nothing. Not a single match. Like he didn’t exist. That was strange. I typed in Alex’s name out of curiosity. Nothing. I tried mine. Nothing that actually pertained to me. There were other Jodi Marshalls, but all my old records and stuff were gone. Deleted.

The only conclusion I could come to was that the Ophi didn’t want records on themselves. They’d practically deleted my identity. There was one problem with that plan. They couldn’t erase my mom or my friends. They knew I existed, which meant there was still some imprint of me on the human world. I spent over an hour searching Melodie and my mom. I stared at their images on the screen and read Mel’s blog. She raved about the Valentine’s Day dance. The one I would’ve gone to with Matt if I hadn’t come into my powers. She didn’t mention her car being stolen by her former best friend, though. That was odd. Although, there was a picture of a different car in her profile picture. Nothing fancy, but definitely newer than the clunker I’d stolen. I was so wrapped up in Melodie’s life without me that I barely heard the key turn in the lock.

“No, problem, Tony.” Chase came into the room.

Oh, please no! If he walked around the desk, I was done for.

Chapter 20

I didn’t move. The laptop was still in my lap, and my knees were sticking out from under the desk. Chase was going to find me and kill me. Or worse, he’d use his power on me to turn me into his slave again. If I’d had the choice, I’d pick death.

He moved to the bookshelf on the wall. I tensed up when his legs came into view. No way was I getting out of this. I thought about hitting him over the head with the laptop and making a run for it, but I figured he’d hear me and catch me before I could do any damage to him, so I stayed like a sitting duck.

“Did you find them?” Tony came into the office. He walked right over to the desk, and his eyes fell on me.

“No. Didn’t you say they were on the shelf under the severed hand?” Chase laughed. “By the way, it’s awesome that you use a severed hand for a paperweight.”

Tony continued to stare at me. I mouthed the word “please,” hoping he would understand. Chase’s little charade had done a good job of fooling Tony, but maybe seeing how desperate I was now would make Tony understand that I wasn’t losing my mind. That Chase was doing something horrible to me.

“You know, I just remembered I never made the copies,” Tony said.

Chase turned around, and Tony stepped toward him, blocking me with his legs. “I’ll make the copies,” Chase said.

“No, that’s okay. Why don’t you go back to class and tell everyone to study the image on slide twenty-six? It’s fascinating. I think you’ll all get a kick out of it. I’ll be back in a second.”

Chase left, and I finally could breathe again.

“He’s gone,” Tony said. “Now, do you want to tell me why you’re under the desk with my laptop?”

I handed him the computer. “Sorry. I needed to look up something.”

“From under there?”

“I didn’t want anyone to see me.”

“By ‘anyone,’ are you referring to Chase?” Tony put the laptop back on his desk.

“Yes.”

“Because…” His face softened. Maybe he did suspect Chase was up to something.

I wanted to blurt out everything. Tell him how awful Chase really was. That Chase was making me look like the bad guy to everyone else, but really he was to blame. So why wasn’t I?

“Does this have anything to do with Alex?” He put his hands up in defense. “I don’t like to pry, but you and Alex were awfully close, and now all of a sudden you and Chase are inseparable.”

Yeah, because Chase wouldn’t let me out of arm’s reach. I looked down, avoiding Tony’s eyes.

“You don’t have to tell me,” he said. “Maybe you should go for a walk to clear your head. I bet you’ll feel better by dinnertime.”

A walk. Like into town? I could go find Alex. I couldn’t just let Tony go on believing Chase was the good guy, yet something was telling me this wasn’t the time to tell Tony everything. Chase could walk back in.

“Thanks, Tony. I think I will, but please don’t tell Chase you saw me. He’s not what he seems to be. He knows his power is affecting me, hurting me—”

“Hurting you?” Worry spread across Tony’s face. “Jodi, we have to do something if—”

“I’m not sure what to do about it yet. I have to think this through. I think Chase is up to something, but I don’t know what it is. Please, just don’t say or do anything yet. Let me figure it out first.”

Tony nodded, but I could tell he didn’t like this at all. “You’re the boss, Jodi, but be careful. And might I suggest you take the back way out?”

“Back way?” I’d been sitting here this whole time when there was another way out?

“Right there.” He pointed to a door next to the copier.

“I thought that was a closet.”

“No. It leads to the storage room, which has another exit.”

“The one in the hallway.” Boy, did I feel like an idiot. “Thanks.”

I made sure no one was watching before I ducked into the storage room. It was pitch black. I’d never come in here before. No one but the adults ever did. That kind of made it the perfect hiding place. I’d have to remember that for next time, although I hoped there wouldn’t be a next time.