Alex wrapped me in a hug. “I know. Hopefully, she’ll be back soon.” He stroked my hair, trying to keep me calm, but I was like a bomb ready to explode. We had to find Matt so I could get out of here and figure out a way to put an end to all of this.

The faint scent of smoke made me pull away from Alex. A swirling cloud of black was coming our way. I prayed it was Arianna being transported here by Hades, but my history of stellar bad luck told me differently.

Hades dropped down next to us. “Well, what do we have here?”

“I was escorting two souls to the Fields,” I said, trying to stand my ground.

“Ah.” He stroked his chin. For a brief moment, I was mesmerized by him. The guy was seriously hot. Not that it overrode the fact that he was a complete jackass. “I take it the souls are inside the gate now?”

“Yes.” I hoped they wouldn’t return with Matt while Hades was still here.

“Then you have somewhere else to be, Jodi Marshall.” Hades’ glare zeroed in on me. “Don’t make me have Arianna torture another person she loves today. You’re like another daughter to her, you know.”

I glanced at Alex quickly, communicating a silent goodbye for now, but said aloud, “I’m going.” Without even looking at Hades, I turned and walked away.

Chase was coming out of the palace with a young girl in tow. “Hey, Jodi. What do you think? Can I make this good girl go bad on the way to the Elysian Fields?” He laughed.

“Don’t you ever get tired of hearing yourself talk?” I glared at him before reaching for the girl’s hand. “I’ll take you there. Trust me, you don’t want to be anywhere near this guy.” The girl was more than happy to go with me and get away from Chase.

“Be sure to tell her all about our history together on the way. Start with how you couldn’t keep your hands off me!” Chase yelled after us.

I stopped. I knew I should ignore him, but I couldn’t. “Your mom would be so proud.” My voice was laced with sarcasm. His mom was his weakness.

His jaw clenched, and for once, he didn’t have a snappy comeback. Satisfied, I smiled at the girl and walked her to the Elysian Fields.

The gate to Heaven was beyond words. It glowed a brilliant shade of yellow, with a hint of pure white mixed in. The warmth that came from beyond the gate was intense, but in a completely peaceful way. Happiness. That’s what awaited this girl. She was one of the lucky ones.

I was so in awe of the Elysian Fields that I didn’t even notice Carol and Jared standing next to us.

“Hey, Jodi.” Jared smiled at me. “Thanks for working this out for us. It sure beats those asphodels and, of course, Tartarus.”

I nodded. Couldn’t argue with that.

Carol gently put her arm around the girl and walked her to the gate, which opened immediately for her. “Go ahead in.” The girl smiled as she disappeared inside and the gate closed behind her. Yup, she was lucky.

I motioned for Jared and Carol to come closer so I could whisper. “I found the two souls I’ll be using. They’re in the Fields of Asphodel looking for Matt right now. I’m going to sneak over there before I head back to the palace. If they’ve found Matt and brought him to Alex, then I’m going to try to raise our souls.”

“So, this is goodbye?” Jared reached his hand out to me.

“You want to shake? Really?”

“I didn’t think I should hug you. I mean, you’re Alex’s girl, but you used to be with Matt, and even though he and I aren’t cousins by blood, I appreciate you looking out for him.”

Jared and Matt had been close. I’d always envied the Serpentarius Ophi and how they seemed to have such control over their powers. They were around humans a lot more than the rest of us. “See you soon, Jared.” I gave him a quick hug.

“Just so you know, I’m telling Alex you hugged me.”

I smiled. “Got it.”

Carol hugged me, too, and I started back toward Alex and, hopefully, Matt. I still didn’t really know how to raise my human soul. I figured it would be pretty much like raising any soul, except I’d be feeling broken in two after I did it. That was the part I was worried about.

As I got closer, I saw that Arianna was back. I couldn’t help it. I ran to her and threw my arms around her. “Are you okay?” I asked, my head buried in her hair.

“I’m okay.” Her voice was still shaky. She was trying to put on a strong face, but she was shattered inside. She pulled away from me. “Someone’s here to see you.”

I looked up to see Liz and Brian, and my shoulders sank. They must not have found Matt.

Liz fidgeted with her hands. “We wanted to say thank you for being so nice to us.”

Brian nodded. “And we wanted to let you know we found Matt. Well, actually he found us. He was on his way back here, and he bumped into us. He’s walking kind of funny, but he should be here any minute.”

They’d found Matt! This was it. We could leave. I could save Matt. I could save Alex and Arianna and everyone.

Tears spilled from my eyes. I waved to Liz and Brian as they walked off into the Fields.

“Jodi?” Alex gently took my arm.

“I’m going to miss you.” I could barely say the words. Alex and I had been through so much in the past few months. It seemed wrong to leave him behind.

He pulled me to him and kissed me. To hell with Hades. I had to say goodbye to Alex. When he pulled away, Alex turned to Matt, who was now at the gate. “Take care of her, or I’ll send you to Tartarus myself.”

Matt stared back at him, not comprehending a thing.

“So,” I said, “I guess now I rip my soul apart.”

Chapter 10

My hands shook as I willed my blood to mix in my veins. This was going to be painful. Maybe so painful I wouldn’t be able to go through with it. No, I wouldn’t think like that. I’d find the strength to do this. No matter what.

Arianna touched my arm. “You must raise Matt’s soul first, Jodi. Once you raise your human soul, you won’t have the power to raise Matt.”

She was right. How stupid of me. My fear was taking over and clouding my judgment.

“And another thing.” Arianna looked around, making sure there was no sign of Hades. He could show up at any moment, and that would be the end of our plan. We’d be right back in Tartarus. No more time off for good behavior. We’d be done.

“Hurry, Arianna. We don’t have much time.”

“I know, but you have to locate the bodies of the souls you are reaching out to first. Find them with your blood.”

“That’s, like, the opposite of what I’m used to doing.”

“I know. It won’t be easy, but you need to figure it out fast.”

Alex took my hands in his. “You can do this. Take some of my power if you need to.”

I’d never taken power from anyone but Chase. “It’s too risky. I may hurt you or leave you completely defenseless. I have to do this on my own.”

“Too bad Chase isn’t around. You could drain his power.” Alex’s face hardened. Chase had that effect on him.

“I don’t need Chase for anything. Trust me.” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I willed my blood to mix again, and I searched for Liz and Brian’s bodies. Knowing their names and how they’d died helped. My blood had a purpose, targets to seek out. Images flashed through my mind so fast I couldn’t make out a single one. But then I saw the hospital morgue. The bodies.

“I got it.” I opened my eyes. I didn’t need to see the bodies anymore. My blood knew where they were. That was enough. “Where’s Matt?”

Alex reached for the gate, but Arianna stopped him. “If Matt steps across that gateway, Hades will be alerted. He’ll think Matt is trying to break out of the Fields. Jodi has to raise him from where he is.”

That was too close. We’d almost ruined everything. I walked to the gate and stared at Matt. He was looking at me with a vague sense of recognition. “I’ll see you soon,” I said, and I willed my blood to raise Matt’s soul. To put him inside Brian’s body. I had to work quickly and hope Hades was too busy to notice a soul leaving. With any luck, Matt’s soul would blend in with the ones the Ophi still left on Earth were raising. It should’ve been more difficult, but some part of Matt must have understood I was helping him, because his soul didn’t fight me. He floated away, and as soon as he was in Brian’s body, I turned to Alex and Arianna. “My turn.”