Face of Death (14 page)

I slowly pulled my hands from his. “It’s just not that simple. Believe me, I wish I could separate both halves of me and choose you
and
Alex. But this is about more than which guy I want to be with.”

Matt nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I said I wouldn’t push you, and here I am putting pressure on you. I shouldn’t have said any of that.”

“Do you ever wish you’d chosen Melodie instead?” The question came out of nowhere, but Melodie had been in love with Matt. I’d found that out right before I’d killed him.

“Melodie? She’s one of my best friends. I don’t think of her like that.”

“I was one of your best friends, too.”

He smiled and waved off my comment. “Nah, I was only pretending to be your friend because I wanted to date you.”

“That’s not you. You’re too good a guy to do something so deceitful.”

“Ouch, the nice guy speech. That hurts.”

“I love that you’re the nice guy. It’s actually what attracted me to you in the first place.”

“Really?” He wagged his eyebrows at me. “It wasn’t my tall, dark, and handsome physique?”

I laughed.

“What? It’s not
that
funny.” He looked mildly hurt.

“No, it’s not that. It’s…well, do I need to show you a mirror? You’re not tall or dark anymore, and as for handsome, Brian had nothing on you.” Crap! I’d just flirted again.

“Good to know.” He sat back in the seat, looking pleased with himself.

Just great. How was I going to survive this trip if I couldn’t stop flirting with him? It wasn’t fair to either one of us—or to Alex, for that matter.

After the next stop, Matt dozed off for a bit. I felt guilty for being happy about that, but I needed a break from everything. Mostly from the guilt of killing the guy who loved me and then bringing him back to life only to break his heart.

The brakes squeaked as we approached our stop. I nudged Matt. “We’re here.”

He looked around, kind of dazed before standing up and motioning for me to go first. “After you.”

“Thanks.” I tried my best not to come in too much contact with Matt as I squeezed between him and the seat on my way to the aisle. I walked to the front of the bus, being careful not to look closely at anyone. Not that anyone would recognize me, but I wouldn’t exactly be able to keep the horrified look off my face if I did see anyone from my old life.

“Mel?” Matt said behind me.

No! No, no, no. I whipped my head up in time to see Matt gawking at Melodie boarding the bus. Where was her new car? Why on earth was she taking the bus?

I turned to Matt and grabbed his hand. “We better hurry or we’ll be late.” I pulled him past Melodie as if we’d never seen her before.

“Wait up.” Matt was tugging my arm, but I kept going. After the bus doors closed, I let go of him. “What the hell, Jodi?”

“Don’t call me that. It’s too risky.”

“Why? We don’t look like ourselves.”

“It doesn’t matter. A guy and a girl with the same names as two kids who used to live here? People will assume we’re together because we’re traveling together. There are too many connections to our old lives. Melodie is another one. You can’t talk to people we knew. You might slip up and say something that will let them know who you really are.”

Matt smiled. “No one is going to believe this. We could flat-out tell people the truth, and they’d laugh in our faces.”

“Let’s not test that theory, okay?” Why wasn’t he getting how serious this was?

“So you’re not the least bit curious about what your mom’s up to? How she’s doing?”

Mom. Of course I’d give anything to see her again. But I couldn’t. Could I?

Matt took me by the shoulders and peered into my eyes. “Come on. What’s the harm in checking in on our old lives? Making sure the people we left behind are okay?”

“What if they’re not?” My eyes burned with the threat of tears. “I couldn’t handle it if my mom wasn’t okay. I wouldn’t be able to leave.”

“I get it.” He sighed and let go of me. “But I want to see my parents and my sister. If I’m really getting another shot at life, then I need to know they’re all okay.”

I started to protest, but he gently pressed a finger to my lips. “If they’re not, then I’ll find a way to make it okay.” I could see the wheels turning in his mind. “I could even be, like, an exchange student or something. I could live in my own home again and be part of the family.”

“Matt.” He was getting his hopes up. Things never worked out that nicely.

“I know it’s a long shot, but what if it could happen? If there’s any chance, I want to try.”

How could I deny him this after everything I’d done to him? “Okay, we’ll go check on them, but I can’t stay long. I have to get to the school. The others are counting on me.”

He smiled so wide I could see all the money Brian’s parents must have spent on dental work. “Let’s call a cab.”

“And what? Show up on their doorstep?” That would never work.

He thought for a moment. “I could show up at Amber’s art studio. She goes every day after school.”

“We don’t even know what day it is. Time moves differently in the underworld. We don’t know how much time has passed.” It was April when Hades took me and the other Ophi, but the air was warm now. I was guessing it was late May or early June. Maybe even later, judging by how hot I was in this hoodie.

“We have to start somewhere.” Matt walked to the traffic light and headed toward the grocery store. “Maybe they have a phone we can use.” Of course, we didn’t have any money left to call a cab or pay for one.

“Who are you going to call?”

“Amber’s cell.”

“What? Are you crazy? You can’t even think about telling her who you really are.”

“I won’t. I’ll tell her I’m new at school and one of her friends gave me her number.”

“And what are you going to do when your own sister thinks you’re hitting on her?”

Matt’s face twisted in disgust. “Oh, gross.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what she’s going to think. Trust me.”

He kicked a rock on the ground, looking defeated. “So then, what do we do?”

“Come on.” I tugged his arm, pulling him inside the grocery store. I grabbed a newspaper from the stand by the door. “Yes!” A few people turned and stared at me. “Sorry.” I turned away from them, focusing on Matt. “It’s Friday. Serpentarius is open to humans.” I could go talk to Mason, and Matt could look for Amber or some other kids from school who might be able to tell him about his family.

“To humans?”

“It’s an Ophi safe house, kind of like the school I need to get back to. Only the owners open the club to humans every Friday night. They even have humans on staff, so there aren’t any slip-ups.”

“Slip-ups?”

I widened my eyes, waiting for him to get the meaning behind my words.

“Oh.” His forehead creased with worry lines. “Do you think my cousin knows about the Ophi?”

Matt had no idea Jared was an Ophi. Just great, another thing I’d have to break to him. “Matt, your cousin isn’t really your cousin by blood, right?”

“How did you know?”

“Because Jared is an Ophi. He’s with the others in the underworld.”

He looked like he’d been sucker-punched. “Wow.”

“He was one of the few Ophi who worked when humans were allowed in the club. He never used his powers, and he was really careful. That’s why he could be around you and your family without hurting any of you.”

“This is so crazy. All my life I had no idea Ophi existed, and now I find out I know two of them, my cousin and my girlfriend.” He lowered his eyes. “Though I guess he’s not technically my cousin, and you’re not my girlfriend anymore.”

The pain on his face made me think I deserved the torture my Ophi soul was being put through in Tartarus. I didn’t have the strength to address the issue of Matt and me, so I focused on Jared. “He’s a great guy. The longer I stay here, the guiltier I feel.”

“Jodi, look—”

“No.” I returned the paper to the shelf and walked back outside, nearly getting run over by an old lady pushing a shopping cart. “I promised I’d help you get settled. Besides, if we go to Serpentarius, you could try to get info about your parents while I talk to Mason and figure out how to break the others out of the underworld. It’s a win-win.”

“Great, except it’s morning. The club won’t open for hours.”

True. I could go back to the school in the meantime and talk to Medusa. Would I be able to touch the statue in my human form? Medusa might not recognize me in Liz’s body. Panic rushed through me. I needed to talk to Mason before I tried to talk to Medusa. He might know something, like how I could connect to the statue without being fried in the process.

“Want to check out the school?” I didn’t know where else to go, only that I wanted to avoid seeing my mom. It would be too hard to leave her again.

Matt looked away, and I knew exactly what he was thinking.

I tugged on his sleeve. “Let’s go.”

He tilted his head in surprise. “Really? Just like that? You’re not going to warn me about how dangerous this could be for me? How it might screw me up forever if things aren’t the way I want them to be?”

“If you say you can handle it, and it’s something you need to do, then I trust you. But…” I waited for him to stop smiling and made sure he was listening. “We have to make a stop first.”

“Where?”

“You’ll see. The question is, how are we going to get there?”

“Steal a car?” Matt laughed, but when he saw I didn’t, he stopped. “No way. Who are you, and what have you done with Jodi Marshall?”

“Shh!” I pushed him away from the door and the people walking out of the store. “No one can hear you call me that.”

“Sorry.” He looked down at me. I was pressed up against him in an alcove next to the cart return. I could feel his heart race as we huddled together. I cleared my throat and backed away.

“Okay. We just have to remember to be more careful. That’s all.” Yeah, more careful not to get that close again. I said Alex’s name over and over in my mind.

“Right, but are you serious about the car thing?”

“What choice do we have?” I scanned the parking lot, looking for a clunker, something I wouldn’t feel bad about taking. “There.” I pointed to a beat-up sedan that looked older than me.

“Are you kidding? The person driving that thing obviously can’t afford a new car. If he could, he wouldn’t be caught dead in that.” Matt looked over the cars. “That one.” I heard the smile in his voice as I followed his gaze.

“No way. Matt, that’s a BMW.”

“Exactly. That guy’s got money.”

“Unless he blew it all on an expensive car during a midlife crisis.” He shrugged. “Might teach him a lesson to have it stolen.”

It was my turn to stare at him in disbelief. “You’ve changed since…” I didn’t want say “since coming back from the dead.”

“Desperate times, I guess. So, what do you say?”

“Do you know how to hotwire a car?”

“If I said yes, would you judge me for it?”

Was there another side to Matt? A reason why he ended up in the Fields of Asphodel instead of the Elysian Fields, where all the good souls went?

“Let’s get this over with.” The memory of stealing Melodie’s car was all too present in my head. This wasn’t as bad. I didn’t know this person, and I hoped Matt was right about this guy having a lot of money.

We crouched down between the rows of cars, staying out of view. Matt tried the door. Locked. Of course. No alarm, though. That was surprising.

“How are we going to get in?” He looked at me as if I had the answer.

I didn’t have anything to pick the lock. Could you even pick a lock on a car? There was only one thing I could think of.

“Any chance there is an alarm on this but that we didn’t trip it?”

“Sure. All we did was try the door. That’s not enough to set off an alarm.” He studied my face like he was trying to read my thoughts. “But why would you want to set off the alarm?”

“If we trip the alarm, one of the store employees will announce that the car’s alarm is going off. Then the owner will come out to reset it. When he unlocks the doors, we’ll jump in.”

“Please, tell me you’re kidding.”

“Not even a little bit.”

Matt threw his head back and stared at the clouds. “I really am starting to think we’re completely different people.”

“Does that mean you don’t want to do this?”

“No.” He looked at me again. “It means I do.”

Matt motioned for me to go around to the other side of the car. We couldn’t be sure the owner wouldn’t come inspect the car when the alarm sounded. If he did, we’d have to move fast.

Matt started tugging on the door handles and bumping the car with his body. The alarm blared in my ears. I peered through the window, watching the grocery store doors for someone coming out with keys in their hands to disable the alarm. It felt like an eternity before the doors opened. A man in his late forties with a really bad dye job—I must have been right about the midlife crisis—came out. He stood on his toes, trying to see the car over the others in the lot.

“Get ready,” Matt said in a loud whisper.

The man was about four cars away when he unlocked the doors and shut off the alarm.

“Now!” I pulled open the door and threw myself into the passenger seat. Matt was inside and fumbling under the steering wheel quicker than I could put on my seatbelt.

“Hey!” the guy yelled as he saw me through the windshield.

“Matt, hurry up! He sees us.” The guy had keys. No way would we be able to keep him out of the car.

He was only one car away now. I undid my seatbelt, getting ready to run. I couldn’t get arrested. It would ruin everything.

“Matt!”

The engine roared to life at the same time the locks clicked open. Matt sat up and put the car in reverse as the guy opened the driver’s side door.

“Go!” I yelled.

Matt didn’t bother trying to close the door. He backed out of the spot, dragging the guy with us. He held on like he was waterskiing through the parking lot. Matt slammed on the brakes, sending the guy flying forward and the door slamming shut.

“Nice. Now drive!”

We sped out of there, fumbling for our seatbelts. My breath caught in my throat as I looked in the side mirror. The guy was on his feet with his cell phone pressed to his ear.