Alex shook his head and stepped toward me. Chase grabbed my hand again, but he didn’t push Alex away. He let him talk. “I don’t know, but it does make sense. He took your father. That pretty much bought him insurance of exactly this.”

“I’m playing right into his games.” I’d done what Hades had wanted me to. “All I wanted was to talk to my dad again and see what Hades was doing in the underworld. I thought he could spy for us.”

“I can spy,” the corpse said.

I wrinkled my forehead at her/him. “Why would you do that? You said this is torture. I’m doing the same thing to you that Hades is.”

“Yes, but he does it repeatedly. It’s the initial act of shoving the soul into the wrong body that is so painful. I can adapt a little once I’m here. It’s still torture, but not as bad.”

“Then, I could bring my dad here.”

“Jodi!” Alex looked appalled. “She said it was torture. Why would you put your own father through that?”

“Because she said this isn’t as bad as what Hades is doing.”

“Are you sure about this?” Alex’s voice was soft and full of emotion. I was waiting for Chase to notice and punish me for it. I had to avoid that.

I put my hand on Chase’s arm. “I want to try raising all the souls Hades took. Every single one of them. Let’s create an army of souls. Let’s take back what is ours.”

Chase smiled at me. “Now that deserves a reward.” He leaned down and kissed me. At first, it wasn’t a reward at all. I had to pretend I wasn’t turned off by him, and with Alex watching that wasn’t easy. But then Chase transferred his power to me through his lips, and in seconds I was all over him. The power was intoxicating, and I wanted more. Chase’s arms were around me, caressing my back and sending ripples of energy through me. I moaned in response.

“That’s enough!” Alex ripped me from Chase’s arms. I staggered back, resisting the urge to grab Chase and continue what we’d started. Alex turned me toward him, and the pain on his face brought me back down to earth.

“What the hell, man?” Chase was in Alex’s face. “Keep you hands off my girlfriend. If I want to kiss her, I will. Got that?”

“Chase.” I reached for his arm, pulling him away from Alex, but Chase shot me with a dose of poison strong enough to send me flying backward onto the ground.

“Jodi!” Leticia rushed to me.

Lexi was laughing, and the others stared, looking like they wanted to intervene but not sure if they should. Chase didn’t even look at me.

He had no remorse for hurting me. Alex stared at me, his nostrils flaring.

He was done. He’d had enough. He lunged at Chase, and they toppled to the ground, wrestling each other. Alex got in a few good punches at first, but then Chase managed to flip over, sending Alex falling to the side. Alex hit his head on a tombstone and looked dazed.

“Chase!” I rushed to him, already mixing my blood. I placed both of my hands on his chest and sent my biggest burst of power into him. He smiled and lay back down on the ground, absorbing my gift. I turned to the others. “Take Alex inside. Get him to Arianna. Go now! I can’t do this for too long without getting power back in return.”

Leticia nodded and went for Alex. Jared gave in and helped, along with McKenzie. Lexi shook her head and walked inside alone. She wasn’t helping. I watched them bring Alex inside. My power was weakening. I didn’t have much more to give. The front door of the school closed, and I let go, slumping forward onto Chase’s chest.

“You dosed me,” he said, sounding euphoric from my power. “I’m not saying I didn’t love it, but you tried to control me.”

“Like you do to me.”

He laughed. “Well, look at that. I’m making your true colors come out after all.”

He wanted to think he and I were the same, but we weren’t. I’d only done that to help Alex. But the thought I couldn’t seem to shake, the one that haunted me, was why I hadn’t dosed Chase with poison. That would’ve shown him how much he had hurt me. Why did I give him pleasure when all he deserved was pain?

“I know what you’re thinking,” he said.

“Believe me, you don’t.” I pushed myself off him, still feeling lightheaded and weak.

“You did it because now you need me to take care of you. You like it when I take care of you, Jodi.” He sat up and brushed the hair from my face.

“I’m not a pet, Chase. You can’t reward me or punish me as you see fit.”

“You rewarded me for keeping Alex away from you.”

Did he really think that’s what had happened? I mean, sure, I did give him a power boost, but it was only to distract him. Wasn’t it?

He laughed again. “One of these days, you’re going to learn to listen to me. I’ll make sure of it.”

I didn’t want to piss him off and have him dose me with poison when I was already so drained, but I had to know something. “Why do you continue to hurt me? When you first came here, you tried to lure me with your good blood. That’s how you got what you wanted, Chase. Not by poisoning me. Now you’re driving me away. You must know that.”

He reached for the back of my neck. “Then let me make it up to you.” His fingers tingled against my skin, and I soaked up his power. He didn’t need to pull me to him this time. I was starved of power, and I went to him willingly. I was lost in him until I heard McKenzie’s voice.

“Excuse me!” she shouted.

Chase pulled away first, smiling at me as I tried to bring his lips back to mine. “We have company.”

I looked up at McKenzie, and the embarrassment set in. I jumped to my feet, feeling like myself again. “Sorry, do you need something?”

McKenzie shook her head. “I came to tell you that Arianna’s got Alex all bandaged up. He asked to talk to you. Should I tell him you’re too busy making out with the guy who assaulted him?”

“No!” I said.

“Yes.” Chase narrowed his eyes at me. “You don’t need to be talking to him right now. Not after he attacked me. It’s me you should be concerned about.” He turned to McKenzie. “We were doing fine before you got here, so go find someone else to annoy.”

Chase was losing it. Before, he’d been trying to make me look like the bad one to the rest of the group, but now he wasn’t even trying to hide the evil in him.

“McKenzie,” I said, but Chase grabbed my wrist.

“Don’t make me, Jodi.”

McKenzie backed away from Chase, clearly afraid of him.

What could I do? “Tell Alex I’m busy with Chase right now.”

McKenzie looked at me, her eyes full of fear. “You can’t even protect yourself. How will you ever protect the rest of us?” In her eyes, I should’ve been able to stop Chase. I was the most powerful Ophi. The fact that I’d become his puppet was making her think I was the worst leader ever. She walked away, not giving me the chance to explain.

“See,” Chase said, “I didn’t have to hurt you because you did the right thing on your own.”

McKenzie was right. I couldn’t even protect myself. I had to get to Alex.

“We’re probably missing lunch. We’ve been out here for a long time.”

“Then let’s go to lunch. And since you seem to like musical chairs so much, why don’t you and I sit together? I’ll take Alex’s seat. He won’t be needing it, I’m sure.”

I really wanted to smack him. “I’m going upstairs to wash up quickly first.”

“I’ll go with you, make sure you don’t get lost.”

Lost in Alex’s room was what he meant, and that was exactly what I was planning to do. How could I get rid of Chase? I wracked my brain as I released the woman’s soul. I felt awful about sending her back to Tartarus. Maybe I’d take her up on her offer to spy. Chase and I headed to the school. When we walked inside, Arianna was coming down the stairs.

I widened my eyes at her and tilted my head slightly toward Chase. Arianna reached for me. “Oh, Jodi, good. I need to borrow you for a minute.” She tried to pull me away, but Chase wouldn’t let her.