Once again, the judge in the middle leaned forward. “Elizabeth Roseman and Brian Gehris, you are here before us to be judged for your sins. We shall review your lives and decide how you will spend eternity. Await your judgments.”

Apparently, things were pretty scripted around here. Either that, or this guy had been giving the same speech for eternity, and he said the same thing every time without even thinking about it.

While the judges reviewed the lives of Liz—she looked more like a Liz than an Elizabeth to me—and Brian, I stared at them, trying to picture Matt and me in their bodies. I’d never visualized myself as a blonde before, and her hair was pin-straight. I was going to miss my waves. Brian was better than average in the looks department, but he had nothing on Matt. It was definitely going to be a step back for him, but I doubted he’d mind.

“It has been decided,” the middle judge said. “You both will spend your afterlives in the Fields of Asphodel. While your lives were not full of sin, they were not full of great deeds, either. Your existence in the underworld will be much the same.”

That was how they viewed it? I hardly called wandering around aimlessly neither good nor bad. It downright sucked. Still, I was glad I didn’t have to take them to Tartarus.

“Follow me,” I told them. As we left the palace, we passed Chase.

“Wow, he put up a fight.” He laughed, as if there was something funny about dooming a soul to eternal punishment.

“Go crawl in a hole,” I said, ushering the souls past him.

“You just can’t stop talking to me, can you, Jodi?” I really did try to ignore him, but something about Chase demanded attention. He was like a little child. The more you ignored him, the more he kicked and screamed.

Liz and Brian were silent the entire way to the Fields. At first, I wondered how I’d even find my way there, considering I’d only traveled by black cloud since I got here, but my body moved on autopilot. Another one of Hades’ tricks, I was sure. As we approached the gate, I saw Alex’s dirty-blond hair. My heart sped up at the sight of him. Now I knew where he was. I’d be able to see him before I raised my soul.

He was leaning over the gate and calling out Matt’s name. Crap! I’d forgotten Matt had wandered off while I was striking yet another deal with Hades. I couldn’t leave until I found him. I owed him that much. He wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for me.

“Alex.” He jumped down from the gate and whirled around at the sound of my voice.

“Jodi!” He rushed to me, scooping me in his arms. I squeezed him tightly, not wanting to ever let go.

“I thought Hades had sent you to guard the gates of Tartarus. I figured he’d send most of the guys there.” I leaned my head back to look at his beautiful face.

“I thought he was going to, too, but here I am.” He smiled at me and lowered his lips to mine.

As much as I didn’t want the kiss to end, I had a feeling Hades would show up and personally put an end to our reunion if we didn’t knock it off soon. “Alex.” His name was barely a whisper on my lips, proof that I didn’t really want to get his attention. I really wanted him to wrap me in his arms and…well, that would have to wait until we were out of the underworld.

He sighed, resting his forehead against mine. “Sometimes you make me forget we’re in Hell.”

Liz gasped at the word, obviously unfamiliar with the levels of the underworld.

I turned to her. “It’s okay. You aren’t going anyplace bad.” Well, not entirely bad at least. It definitely wasn’t good either. I wondered if Liz and Brian would even remember each other after they’d spent some time in the Fields of Asphodel.

Alex opened the gate and stepped aside for them to enter. They peered in, looking very unsure.

“It’s fields of flowers. They’re called asphodels. There’s nothing in there that will hurt you. I promise. It’s safe.” I left out the part about losing all sense of who you were.

As they entered the field, I whispered to Alex, “I heard you calling Matt. No luck finding him yet?”

“No. My guess is he’s doing his pattern again. He’ll find the gate eventually, but…” He looked at Liz and Brian. “I’m guessing you want to use their bodies.”

“Yeah. They’re kind of perfect.”

“They’re a couple, you know.” Of course he’d notice that.

“I know, but that doesn’t really matter. They won’t be themselves. They’ll be Matt and me.”

“Right.” Was he really still jealous of Matt? “And did you notice the engagement ring on the girl’s hand?”

Engagement ring? No, I hadn’t.

“You’re not really going to pretend to be his fiancée, are you?”

That would be way more than Alex could handle. “No.” I doubted Liz would be buried with the ring anyway. At least she wouldn’t have it on in the morgue when I took over her body.

It wasn’t the best time to bring up Matt again, but we were kind of crunched for minutes here. “We have to find Matt. Like, right now.”

Alex sighed. “Seriously, I want major brownie points for this. I’m talking watching the movies I want to watch, eating the food I want to eat…” His mouth curved in a devilish grin. I knew where he was going with this.

“Yeah, yeah, but you know, you lose points when you try to tell me you deserve…certain things.” I couldn’t bring myself to say the word “sex.”

He held his hands up in defense. “I wasn’t going to say that. I was simply going to say all the alone time with you I want.” He raised an eyebrow. “But it’s interesting to see where your mind is.”

“Ha ha.” I laced my fingers through his, and we both became completely serious again. This was goodbye, and we both knew it. Even if it was only for now, neither of us wanted to be apart.

“Hey,” Alex called out to Liz and Brian, waving them back to the gate. They looked nervous as they approached us. Did they really think we were the bad guys? “Can you two look for a guy walking in a weird spiral kind of pattern? He’s tall with dark hair, and his name is Matt, but he might not respond to it. We need to talk to him. Think you can find him and bring him here?”

Liz stared at Alex like he’d just described a puppy getting hit by a car. She was horrified. “Wh-why wouldn’t he respond to his own name? And why is he wandering around?” Her eyes met mine, and she reached for my hands.

Alex put his arm up to block her. “Sorry, but once you’re inside, I can’t let you out. Not even your hands.”

Tears fell from her eyes. I wished there was something I could do for her.

“You’ll be okay. Matt’s been through a lot. He didn’t die under normal circumstances.”

“We died in a car crash,” Brian said. “Trauma to our heads, I think. Will we forget who we are, too?”

Car crash. I hoped their bodies weren’t too badly banged up. I didn’t want to put Matt and me in busted-up and broken shells. Putting our souls into the bodies would heal them to a certain extent, but not completely.

“You’ll be okay.” God, couldn’t I think of anything better to say? “Will you find Matt for us? Please?”

Liz nodded. Brian took her hand, and they disappeared into the asphodels.

I stared in the direction they’d gone. “What if they can’t find their way back? I’m afraid if I use my powers to call out to Matt’s soul, Hades will sense me doing it and stop me.” And that would be the end of our deal.

Alex didn’t answer. He just put his hand on my shoulder.

“Hey, who’s guarding this place with you?”

“Arianna.”

I looked around. “Where is she?”

“Hades said he needed to see her. Something about Abby.”

Hades wasn’t the type to reunite families, so what was the deal? “What’s wrong with Abby, and why would Hades need help from Arianna?”

“Abby did something wrong. Didn’t follow orders specifically. Hades is punishing her extra.”

No, he was making Arianna punish Abby. “That’s torture for Arianna! Abby’s her daughter. No matter how bad Abby is, Arianna still loves her.”