Matt put his hand on the small of my back and led me over to the bar. It wasn’t crowded yet, so we ordered two bottles of water—using the last of my money—and sat down in the corner. “Sorry. That was stupid of me.”

“It’s okay.” I took a sip of water to avoid lecturing him. After all, I’d just spilled everything to my mom.

“Maybe this was a mistake. Me coming along. Me being around people from my old life.” At least he recognized that it was his old life. It couldn’t be his life anymore.

“No. It’s fine. You’ll get the hang of it.” I looked around, wanting to go straight to Mason, but I was worried about leaving Matt. What if he saw Amber or someone from school?

“Go.” It was like he was reading my mind. “I’ll be fine. I’ll sit here and drink my water. No one will recognize me, so we don’t have to worry about that. And I promise I won’t talk to anyone I used to know.”

I trusted him. Really I did, but there was so much at stake here. I couldn’t help thinking I should bring him with me to see Mason.

“Jo—I mean, wait, what am I supposed to call you? We only came up with a name for me.”

“Jodi is fine. In this body, nobody is going to question the name.”

He nodded and took a big gulp from his water bottle. He’d almost downed the entire thing already. “Seriously, I’m good. You can trust me.”

“I know I can.”

“Then what is it?”

“Nothing.” I stood up. “I’m going.”

“Good luck.” He sounded sincere and sad at the same time. He cared about me, so he wanted me to get the answers I needed. But that would also mean I’d be leaving soon, and he didn’t want me to go.

I gave him a weak smile before heading toward the office in the back.

“Hang on,” came a voice behind the bar. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Oh, um…” I didn’t even think that getting to Mason’s office would be a problem. Now I was wishing this place was more crowded. No one would notice me if the bar was full of people waving bills in the bartender’s face. “I’m a friend of Mason’s.”

The guy eyed me suspiciously. “I’ve never seen you before, and Mason didn’t say he was expecting anyone.”

“Can you tell him Jodi is here to see him? Trust me, he’ll let me back there.”

The guy sighed and tossed a dishtowel onto the bar. “Wait here.”

“Thanks.”

I watched him go, hoping Mason wouldn’t ask the guy to describe me in order to make sure it was really me. If he did, I’d never get into his office. It seemed to take forever, so I glanced back at Matt. A guy was walking over to him. Oh, please be a worker just busing the tables. Matt’s water bottle was empty, and he’d finished mine, too. I tried not to panic. It was probably nothing. I was just on edge and reading too much into everything.

Matt’s eyes rose, and he looked up at the guy approaching. I debated going over there, but it was too risky. The bartender had told me to stay put, and if I acted suspicious, the guy walking over to Matt might think we were up to something. I had to wait this out. See what happened.

I couldn’t hear anything, but I saw the look of recognition on the guy’s face, and I swore I read the word “Brian” on his lips. Oh, God! Someone recognized Brian!

Screw staying put. I rushed over to Matt, weaving through people coming into the club and heading for the bar. Of course it would start to fill up in here now.

“Hey.” I grabbed Matt’s arm. “I love this song. Let’s dance.”

Matt jumped up from his seat and followed me, but the guy came, too.

“Hang on!” He called after us. “I know you, too. You’re Liz.”

I stumbled as we reached the dance floor. This wasn’t good.

Matt flashed me a look, not knowing what to do. I wasn’t sure either. I took a deep breath and turned around.

“Sorry, you must have us confused for someone else.” I took Matt’s hands and started to dance, hoping the guy would take the hint and walk away.

He didn’t. He stood his ground, staring at us.

“Seriously, buddy, sorry if you lost your friends, but it’s kind of dark in here. These lights play tricks with your eyes. Maybe try checking the bathroom.”

He shook his head. “Trust me, they wouldn’t be in there. Corpses don’t need to use the bathroom. Of course, they don’t dance, either.”

I stopped dancing.

“One of you want to tell me what the hell is going on?”

Chapter 18

We had two options. Bolt out of here, looking totally guilty and drawing suspicion, which meant I wouldn’t get to talk to Mason, or make this guy into the bad guy by accusing him of trying to freak us out. I was going with option two.

I twisted my face into a horrified expression. “Do you think this is funny? How dare you come up to us and say these things? We’re just trying to have a good time here.”

Matt suddenly found the ability to speak again. “Yeah, go away, before I get your ass tossed out of here.”

The guy glared at us with such contempt. “I don’t know how you did it. Did you stage the accident? Was it because your parents objected to you guys getting married?” He wasn’t letting this go.

“I don’t know who you think we are, but I’m Jodi and he’s Tyler. I’m telling you, you’ve got the wrong people. I’m sorry if you’re confused.”

“I’m not confused. We were in the same business classes at Eastern University. I heard all about your accident before I got home for summer break. You guys died in a car crash.”

Crap. He’d gone to school with Brian and Liz, and just our luck, he lived nearby. “Obviously, you lost two people you knew, but we aren’t them.” Since going on the offensive wasn’t working, I figured appealing to his emotions might.

He stared at us for several seconds, not saying a word.

“Look, we need to go. We have an appointment with the owner.” I took Matt’s hand and pulled him toward the back office, leaving the guy gaping after us.

“Wow, I didn’t see that one coming,” Matt said. “Does this mean I can’t stay here, in this town?”

“I don’t know yet. Let’s not jump to any conclusions. You could always dye your hair or something. We’ll figure it out.”

The bar was crazy now, littered with people shouting drink orders over the music. The bartender must not have been able to find me in the crowd after I ran off to help Matt. Maybe that was a good thing. Sneaking back to the office was probably the better way to go. I waited until the bartender had his back to us, and then we ducked down the hallway that led to Mason’s office. I silently thanked Alex for telling me where it was. I’d never actually been in it before.

The door was shut and locked, so I had to knock.

“What?” Mason called from the other side, and by the sound of it, he wasn’t happy about the interruption.

“It’s Jodi, Mason.”

A chair screeched across the floor and hard footsteps followed. The door swung open and Mason glared at me. “This isn’t funny, little girl.”

“Wait.” I held my hands out so he couldn’t slam the door in my face. “Mason, it’s really me. I raised my human soul, and I needed a new body.”

He looked past me at Matt. “Alex?”

Matt lowered his head.

“No. This is my friend Matt. I raised him, too. Look, it’s a long story. Can we please come inside and sit down? I need to talk to you about something. About Carol.” I hoped the mention of his wife would get him to let us in.

He stepped aside without saying a word. I walked past him, taking a seat in front of his desk, and Matt followed, standing next to me.

Mason walked around the desk and sat in his chair. He folded his hands, resting them on the accounting records sprawled out in front of him. He’d kept right on working while his family suffered in Tartarus. I wasn’t sure how he’d managed it. “Tell me. How bad is it?”

“What have you heard?” I needed to know what he knew before I got into the gory details.