“Ari, what happened?” I gently took her hand to get a closer look.

“Don’t you worry about that. I can handle myself just fine. You have enough going on, so don’t give it another thought.”

I looked to Alex for an explanation. He sighed. “Hades has been going harder on some of us lately.”

“Because of me.” I let go of Arianna’s hand and inhaled as deeply as I could to stop myself from screaming my head off. If I alerted Hades to my whereabouts, he’d be here and forcing me back to the palace. He wouldn’t approve of my visits with Alex or any of the others.

Arianna gave Alex a reprimanding look. “Don’t you go listening to him. I mean it, Jodi. He had no right to tell you that. We’re fine.”

She was wrong about so many things. They weren’t fine, and Alex had to tell me that because I needed to know.

“Hades was really angry when he found out his plan to have me bring you back didn’t work.”

“I know.” I closed my eyes, trying to erase the image of Amber looking helpless and scared from my brain. “He killed Matt’s sister and had me escort her to Tartarus. That’s why I’m here. My Ophi soul called me back to save Amber.”

“Did you?” Alex asked.

“No, but I made a deal with Bristol.”

“Bristol?” Alex shook his head. “I don’t know if you can trust her. She—”

“I think she really feels like she made a mistake helping Victoria and Troy. She wants to get out of here just as much as we do, and she apologized for trying to hurt me.”

“You believe her?” Alex wasn’t buying it.

“I have to. She’s agreed to take care of Amber until I can find a way to get her out of here.”

“Jodi, if Hades took her, then all you can hope for is to raise her soul. She’d be—”

“Maybe not. If I can figure out how to stop Hades from messing with us for good, then maybe I can convince him to bring Amber back—human.”

Alex put his hands on his hips. “That’s asking for a lot.”

“I know.” I was resting all our hope on Medusa knowing the answer, knowing how to defeat Hades. If she didn’t…

Alex moved toward me and took both my hands. “There’s something else you need to know.”

Not more bad news. I couldn’t handle anything else.

“Hades is still trying to use me to get to you, so take this however you want, but I have to tell you.”

This was going to be awful. No, devastating.

“Tell me.”

“He told me where he’s been going.”

“Is he hunting down other Ophi?” That was what I’d assumed.

“He’s hunting you. He wants to kill you in human form. It’s his back-up plan since his other scare tactics to bring you back here aren’t working. The only problem is, he doesn’t know what body you’ve chosen to occupy.” He closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed before continuing. “But, Jodi, he said that, if he doesn’t find you in the next two days, he’s going to take your mom.”

Chapter 21

Mom. My legs shook, and my eyes rolled back into my head. I felt Alex’s arms around me as I slipped away. When my eyes opened again, I was in Mom’s bed. I stared at her sleeping peacefully beside me. Tears dotted my pillowcase. This wasn’t fair. I wasn’t supposed to be able to hurt her now that I was in human form, but she still wasn’t safe around me. I had to talk to Medusa and find a way out of this mess in two days, or Mom was going to die because of me.

Even though it was only just past three, I stayed awake, watching Mom sleep and wondering if Mason had found out anything yet. We were going to see him at six. That gave me the day to spend with Mom. Of course, I knew Matt was going to want to get in touch with his family or, at the very least, peek in at them to make sure they were okay. Only they weren’t. Amber was dead. They were probably complete wrecks and making funeral arrangements. How was I going to explain that to Matt?

I wasn’t going to have to worry about him loving me anymore. That was for sure. Once he found out I was the reason his sister was dead, he’d hate me forever. I wondered how Hades had done it. Did he take her in her sleep? That would mean her family didn’t even know she was dead yet. Or had he tortured her and made her death painful? A car accident, maybe? I had to know.

I slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Mom, and I sat down at the desk in the corner. Mom’s laptop was open, and luckily it was still on. I brought it out of sleep mode and immediately searched the Internet for Amber’s name. Chills ran across my arms as I clicked “search.” A few seconds later—our connection was slow—a list of results came up on the screen. The very first one was what I was looking for but hoping I wouldn’t find.

“Sixteen-year-old Amber Davenport dies of a brain aneurysm.”

Silent sobs burst out of me. I turned to Mom, wondering if Hades would take her the same way. I couldn’t let that happen. I’d go to Mason this evening, and from there I was going to the school to visit with Medusa. And if all else failed, I’d give Hades what he wanted. I’d throw in my white flag to save my mom. I knew how hypocritical that was. I’d told Amber I couldn’t save her at the expense of eight others, and here I was, ready to save my mom over them. But she was my mom.

I cried until Mom woke up at seven. She rubbed her eyes and sat up when she saw I wasn’t in bed but at her desk.

“Honey, what is it?” She threw the blankets off her and rushed over to me, wrapping her arms around my shaking, tear-soaked body.

“Mom, there’s something I didn’t tell you yesterday. When I raised my human soul, my Ophi half remained in the underworld.”

“You did tell me that.” She patted my head, probably thinking I was hysterical, which I was.

“There’s more, though. I can see glimpses of what’s happening in the underworld. Hades is trying everything he can think of to make me go back there. He knows what I’ve done.”

“How?” She pulled away and looked back and forth between my eyes.

“I’m like a robot down there, going through the motions. He could tell something was wrong, and then when I focused on my Ophi soul and was actually feeling everything that was happening, he noticed. He threatened me by punishing the other Ophi. He even had Alex tell me he knew what I’d done, thinking Alex would be enough to make me return. But when that didn’t work, he…” The tears came again. I turned to the screen, which still had the article about Amber’s death open on it.

Mom’s eyes widened, and her hand covered her mouth. She shook her head. “I should’ve heard about this. I could’ve prepared you, but I don’t watch the news anymore. I don’t talk to many…” Her voice trailed off, which was good because I couldn’t listen to this. Not on top of what had happened to Amber. Mom had completely shut down because I left. She didn’t go out, except for work. I’d turned her into a walking zombie, only worse because she was alive.

“Did you see her?”

I nodded. “Hades made me take Amber to Tartarus. That’s Hell—literally. I got one of the Ophi who tried to kill me…” Her eyes were bulging out of their sockets at this point. “Long story. Anyway, I got her to agree to go easy on Amber if I freed her along with my friends. I’m going to get Amber out of there. I won’t let her die.”

“Can you do that? I mean, she’s already dead.”

“I’m a necromancer, so I can bring her back. Or at least my Ophi half can. But I don’t want her to be like this.” I held my arms out. “I want her to be human again. Alive. I’m going to make Hades do it. He’s the only one who can.”

“What makes you think he’ll do it?”

“I have to talk to Medusa. Hopefully she’ll know how to stop Hades for good.” Mom started to protest, but I shook my head. “I know it’s a long shot, but what else can I do?”

She hugged me, and I felt her body shake as she began to cry. She was worried about me. Worried I wouldn’t survive this fight. I was, too.