I walked over to him, and my blood began to mix. Oh God! My body wanted me to use my power on him. I looked down at my arms, watching the blood boil underneath my skin.

“What, are you going to dose me with the good stuff? Make me forgive you?” Alex held his arms out in surrender. “Go ahead, Jodi. Manipulate me the way he manipulates you.”

I covered my face with my hands and started to cry. I was turning into Chase. How could I call him evil when I was doing the same thing to Alex that Chase had done to me? If Chase was evil, so was I.

“How does it feel to be the one in control?” Chase asked.

I looked at him, confused. “What?”

“You’re in control. It’s nice, right? Except he’s fighting you the way you fought me. That part sucks. So, what are you going to do, Jodi? Are you going to make him give in to you? Take what you want? Or are you going to give me what I want?”

Control or be controlled. Those were my options. Both completely sucked. I couldn’t force Alex to accept me like this, but I couldn’t let Chase have power over me. What was left?

“You don’t have to decide,” Alex said. “I’m done. The prophecy is coming true. You’re changing to better suit him. You aren’t the same girl I fell in love with.”

Something in me switched. Instead of feeling sad and confused, I got angry. “I didn’t hear you complaining when you were taking my power. When you were pawing at me and taking off your clothes. We almost—” I couldn’t say it, so I turned to look at the bed.

“But we didn’t. All because of him.” Alex narrowed his eyes at Chase.

“She’ll thank me later,” Chase said.

“Shut up!” My blood was boiling again. I wanted to poison Chase and use my power to make Alex stay. Every ounce of blood inside me was urging me to take control, but what would I become if I did?

“Your blood’s never wrong, Jodi.” Chase pointed to my arms, which rippled like snakes were crawling under my skin. If only he knew what my blood was telling me to do.

Alex shook his head. “I really wish things were different.”

He was done with me. Unless I stopped him. “They can be.” I rushed to him and gave him more power than necessary. He bent under the strength of my blood. Pulling me as close as possible, he kissed me.

“Apparently I was wrong.” Chase ripped me out of Alex’s arms. Alex stared at me, looking confused at first and then his expression changed to disbelief. “You really did it.” He shook his head and looked heartbroken. “I didn’t think you would. I thought I could snap you out of this. Convince you how wrong it was, but you gave in to the power. You chose to control me.”

He looked at Chase. “You can have her. She’s not my Jodi anymore. She’s like you now.” He walked out of the room, leaving me to fall on my knees and cry.

Chapter 27

Chase picked me up and sat me on the bed. “Calm down. You’re better off without him. He wasn’t strong enough for you.” He held me and smoothed my hair, not using any of his power on me.

After I couldn’t cry anymore, I looked up at him with puffy eyes. “This is the guy I was talking about. This is who you used to be.”

“I don’t want to talk about that.” He leaned down and kissed me, just a small peck on the lips.

“I need you to tell me about your mom.”

“Shh.” He kissed me again, and this time he transferred his power to me. He wasn’t playing fair. He was making me forget what he didn’t want to answer. He was making me feel better about Alex walking out on me again. He was making me want him. I ran my fingers through his hair and kissed him back. The tingling coursed through me until my entire body felt like a live wire. All I could think about was Chase and wanting to be closer to him.

Then the power stopped. Chase took it away, and he let go of me. For the first time, after the power connection ended, I still wanted him.

“What are you doing? Kiss me,” I said.

“Is that what you really want?” He looked different, sad.

“Yes.”

“What if I didn’t give you my power at the same time? Would you still want me to kiss you?”

“What do you mean? Why wouldn’t you give me your power?”

“I’ll give you all you want after you choose me. After you swear that you and Alex are history. Nothing more than a memory.”

Alex. His name brought waves of pain. Heartache. “You don’t just stop loving someone.”

“Jodi, we have to fulfill this prophecy, and until you commit to me, I’m cutting you off from my power.”

“You won’t connect with me at all? Not even to bring my dad here? We were going to spy on Hades. See what he’s planning so we could be ready for the attack. I can’t do that without you.” I reached for his hands, sending him some of my power.

He pulled away before he could be sucked in by it. “Don’t try that on me. I invented that game.” He stood up. “Sleep on it. Decide who you want. Be sure. Because whatever you decide, the decision is final. If you pick Alex, you’ll never see me or your dad’s soul again. If you pick me, Alex goes.” He walked out of the room, pausing in the hall. “Alex will never be able to do for you what I can. Remember that.” He left.

I fell back on the mattress and stared at the ceiling. The decision should’ve been easy. Alex. I loved him. But Chase and I were destined to be together. He had the ability to be a good person. He just needed someone to help him get there, and if I didn’t choose Chase, I’d have another enemy. I didn’t need any more of those. But could I give up Alex? Would Alex even take me back at this point?

Sometime around three in the morning, I finally dozed off. My questions all went unanswered, yet I knew Chase was expecting an answer in the morning. I woke up drenched in sweat, feeling like I was in the middle of a hellfire. I sat up and looked around the dark room. Even without any light, I felt the presence of someone in the room. I reached for the lamp on the nightstand. A corpse was standing at the foot of my bed.

“Not again.” I was about to release him when something hit me. The feeling of hellfire. Where had I raised this soul from? I got up and walked over to him. He turned so he was facing me. His movements were awkward, like the body was unfamiliar, not really his.

“What’s your name, and where did you come from?”

He opened his mouth, struggling to form words. Finally he said, “Derek Colgan. Tartarus.”

I had to grip the bed to stop myself from falling over. “Dad?”

He nodded.

“How did I raise you? I wasn’t trying to, and you were in Tartarus. Hades has your body. It should’ve been too difficult to get to you without Chase helping me.”

“Another soul said you were looking for me.”

The woman Chase and I had raised!

“I’ve been waiting for you to come for me. I felt you reaching out, and I grabbed hold of you.”

I wasn’t used to souls being willing to come to me. “Was it painful? The woman said it’s like torture to be in someone else’s body.”

“I’m okay. It was worth it to see you again.”

I wanted to hug him. I didn’t care that he was a corpse or that my seventeen-year-old father looked like a sixty-year-old man. He was still my dad.

“I have to warn you, Jodi. Hades is planning an attack. He says he’s free to claim all the Ophi after all the slip-ups you’ve made.”

I’d figured as much. “What is he waiting for? I thought he would’ve come for me already.”

“I don’t know. He’s hiding something.”

“What’s going to happen when you return to Tartarus and he finds out you talked to me?”

He tried to smile, but it came off looking like a lopsided snarl. “He can’t kill me, because I’m already dead, but his punishments are worse than death.”

“Then you’re not going back. You can stay here with me. I’ll protect you.”

“No. He’ll come for you.”

“Maybe not.” That was it. My decision was made for me. I wouldn’t lose my dad again. He’d been taken from me before I even met him. Now I had the chance to save him, and I would.