Face of Death (17 page)

Long?
She’d handled it really well. “You’ve been amazing.” I hugged her and rubbed her back. “If you don’t mind, can Matt and I stay here until I—?”

“For as long as you need. The longer the better, as far as I’m concerned. You can bunk with me.”

I couldn’t help laughing. There was the mom I was used to. The one who made sure I kept my distance from boys. “I’m with Alex, Mom, not Matt, but I’d love to bunk with you. It’ll be like a sleepover.”

“Good, because you’re still my daughter, which means I make the rules here.” Mom turned to Matt, who was putting the steak sauce back in the fridge. “That goes for you, too. I get that you’re almost eighteen, but this is my house, so you’re going to have to follow my rules.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Matt nodded. “I’m just happy you’re letting me stay. I plan to get a job and help out around here. I won’t be a problem at all.”

“Well, I guess we should go.” I wanted to run upstairs to my room and put on clothes that were actually mine, but Liz’s body would drown in them. I did grab the little money I had stashed in my desk drawer. We wouldn’t get into Serpentarius without paying the cover charge.

Mom pulled me in for another hug, squeezing me like she was afraid that, once I walked out that door, I’d never come back. This couldn’t have been easy for her. I was asking her to accept so much without any proof at all.

“I love you, Mom,” I whispered before I pulled away. “We’ll be back later tonight.”

She blinked back tears. “Not too late.”

It was great to see glimpses of how things used to be.

Matt and I said goodbye. Mom insisted we take her car. Matt drove since I’m not very good with a stick. I couldn’t help thinking about the last time Matt and I had gone to Serpentarius. I’d thought Alex was some psycho stalker. I’d thought Matt was the one for me. Now, my mind was a jumbled mess.

“Everything okay?” Matt snuck a glance at me. “I’m not used to you being so quiet.”

“Still processing, I guess. I’m not sure I’m going to get used to wearing someone else’s face.”

“I know what you mean.” Matt checked out his reflection in the rearview mirror. “He’s not better-looking than me, is he?”

“No.” I answered way too quickly. It was stupid slip-ups like that—comments that made it all too obvious my feelings for him were still there—that made being around him so difficult. Maybe bringing him along for all this had been a mistake. I should’ve raised his soul, explained what had happened to him, and moved on. Only, I couldn’t. He deserved better than being dumped in a strange body and left to fend for himself.

“Any more flashes of what’s going on with your body in the underworld?” He smirked as he said it. “That’s never going to stop being weird for me. Talking about the underworld.”

“Luckily, no. And after the last one, I’m not sure I could handle another. At least, not any time soon. I’ll have to check in on the others eventually, though. Especially once I figure out what I’m going to do, how I’m going to get them out of there.”

Matt was silent for the rest of the drive. I couldn’t help wondering if he was waiting for me to change my mind about all of this. I couldn’t help wondering if
I
actually would change my mind about all of this.

We parked, and Matt came around to open my door. He couldn’t stop being a gentleman. “Thanks.” I stepped out and stared at Serpentarius. All the answers I needed might be inside those walls. Nervous energy surged through me, feeling vaguely like the power I used to have in my blood. I missed that feeling.

“Hey, it’s Jack, right?” Matt said as we approached the door. I recognized the guy from around town. He worked at the gas station on most days.

I tugged on Matt’s arm and gave him a look that said, “What are you doing?” No one would recognize Matt in this body.

Jack narrowed his eyes at Matt and me. “Do I know you?”

“Um, yeah,” I said, trying to play it cool. “We were here about a month ago. You gave us directions to—” Crap! Where was I going with this? I sucked at lying. “Um, what was that place called again?” I looked to Matt for help.

“The museum. The one with all the interactive science stuff.”

“I did?” Jack’s brow wrinkled as he struggled to remember something that had never happened.

“Yeah. We found it. Had a great time, too. And since you were so helpful and friendly—I mean you told us your name and everything—we decided to come back here. This place is awesome.” Did that sound believable?

“Right. Glad I could help.” Jack took our cover charges and waved us inside. “Have a nice night.”

“Thanks.” I gave him a small wave and ducked inside.

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?”

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.

He let out an extra-long and loud breath that smelled strongly of coffee. “You raised a bunch of souls from the depths of Tartarus, and Hades came to claim what you had promised him according to the deal you’d made.”

He blamed me for all of this. No wonder he wasn’t happy to see me.

I swallowed hard. “You have to understand that I was set up. Chase was sent to the school by Hades to try to get me to end the Ophi race. Ethan, your own twin brother, helped him do it. They were trying to save Chase’s mom.”

“Charlotte.” The name was barely a whisper on Mason’s lips.

“Yes. I was set up. Hades made that deal with me, the one where I thought I was saving the Ophi, knowing he was going to send Chase after me. Knowing Chase was going to overpower me.”

“You take no responsibility?” Mason raised an accusing eyebrow at me.

“Of course I take responsibility. I’m the Ophi leader. I should’ve figured it out sooner.”

He leaned back in his chair. “I suppose I didn’t help any, agreeing to let Ethan take my place. I should’ve at least told Carol what was going on.”

Yes, he should have, but I wasn’t about to agree to that. I couldn’t risk making him angry when I needed his help.

“Look, we all made mistakes, and now the others are trapped in the underworld. My body’s still there with the Ophi half of my soul.”

“You split your soul.” He nodded. “I didn’t think that was even possible.”

Not what I wanted to hear. He was supposed to know
more
than me, not less.

“Tony and Arianna talked me through it. Believe me, it wasn’t easy. I have to tune out one part of my soul, and still I see glimpses of the underworld when I fall asleep or when—” Was he ready to hear about how we were being tortured?