Touch of Death (24 page)

“That makes a lot more sense. You didn’t seem like the other girls here. You know, back-stabbing and catty.”

“I’m not like that at all. I just didn’t like her invading my private space. She threatened me, and then she stole my locket.”

“She threatened you? About what?”

“You, actually. She thought I had a thing for you.”

He put another forkful of mac and cheese in his mouth and said, “Do you?”

I couldn’t help laughing. “Oh, yes. I think it’s the fake cheese sauce spraying out of your mouth that I find so irresistible.”

He swallowed, his cheeks turning red.

“Are we good?” I asked.

“Hold on, let me get another mouthful before I answer. I know you like that.”

I smacked his shoulder. Yeah, we were good. And he was right. I did like all the weird things he did, like eating mac and cheese for every meal. With all the things going wrong in my life, Alex was the one thing that was right.

After lunch, I had to report to my first training session. I was excited, nervous, and a little terrified when I remembered Troy would be teaching.

“Hey.” Alex jogged to catch up to me as I headed out to the backyard.

“Hey, what are you doing? You’re going to be late for your own lesson.”

“Nah, I talked to Victoria, and she said that since your powers are progressing so quickly, I should help you with your training.”

“Really? But I thought Troy was the one who instructed the beginners?”

“Actually, he teaches all of us just at different times of the day. But he decided that Leticia and Randy aren’t exactly on the same level as you. He’d have to go too slow for you in order to let them keep up. It’s too late to switch you to the other group today—we already met this morning. So, Victoria said I should give you kind of a private lesson.” He smiled and gently elbowed my arm.

“A private lesson? Did she really say that?”

He laughed. “Okay, not really, but she did ask me to help you. We won’t be far from Troy and the others, but we’ll be working on different skills.”

“Does Troy know about this?” I didn’t want to do anything to get on his bad side. The guy was seriously scary when he was angry. I couldn’t erase the look he’d given Alex when we arrived from my mind. I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of it.

“I’m sure he does, but if not, Victoria will back us up.” He clasped his hands together and fluttered his eyelashes. It was impossible not to laugh. “‘Jodi’s powers are exceeding all our expectations. It’s so wonderful to have her here. She’s like the daughter I never had.’”

“Please, tell me that wasn’t supposed to sound like Victoria,” I said, still laughing. “That was awful.”

“Hey, I don’t imitate girls very well. Too much of a man, I guess.”

“Oh, yeah, that must be it.” I shook my head.

“I know that wasn’t sarcasm I heard in your voice.”

“No, not at all.” I continued to laugh as I turned toward the open field behind the house.

Alex grabbed my elbow. “We’re heading this way.”

“But Victoria said my lesson with Troy was in the field.”

“You’re not training with Troy, remember?”

“Right. And you’re sure he knows we’re doing this?”

“Relax. I can handle Troy. I’ve had years of experience disappointing him.”

“But I haven’t, and I’d kind of like to avoid it.”

“Come on.” He tugged my arm again, and I followed him around the house to—no, this couldn’t be right. I stopped short. “Alex, this is the cemetery.”

“I figured that out from all the headstones. I’m smart like that.”

I gave him my “this-isn’t-the-time-to-kid-around” look.

“This is the perfect location for your training.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Isn’t this the worst place to take a necromancer?”

He shook his head and smiled. Apparently, I was amusing him. “Relax. Unless you plan on spitting on all the graves or slicing open a vein and running through all the headstones, we’ll be fine.”

“You really think you’re funny, don’t you?”

He raised one shoulder. “Kind of.”

As we walked through the cemetery, I searched for the servant’s grave. It was the only one that was freshly dug, so it was easy to spot. I was happy to see the servant back where he belonged. I didn’t like the idea of the Ophi using dead bodies as servants. Sure, I’d controlled one of the servants and made him let me in Abby’s room, but that was different. I was desperate to get Medusa’s locket back, and after the lesson with Tony this morning, I was glad I’d done what I had to do to get the locket. Abby shouldn’t have anything this powerful. I raised my hand and ran my fingers over the bloodstone. Who knew what Abby would’ve done with the locket after she found out about its power? She had some major unresolved family issues fueling her anger.

Alex brought me to a grave. “Okay, since you’ve already raised dead animals and…” his voice trailed off. I’d raised more than dead animals. I’d raised Matt. Only I’d done it wrong.

“I don’t want anything like that to happen again. Seeing Matt attack that bunny—he was like…” I couldn’t say it.

“A zombie.” Alex nodded. “There’s a right way and a wrong way to raise a body.” To me, it all kind of seemed wrong. I mean, it wasn’t normal. When you die, you’re not supposed to come back. But then I thought of Mom. Alex had saved her life. If he hadn’t, she’d be dead at 33, and it would’ve been my fault.

“I don’t ever want to get it wrong again,” I said.

Alex sighed. “I know you don’t. That’s why we’re here. I’m going to explain how it’s supposed to be done, and you’re going to practice on these dead bodies. You’ve got a cemetery full of willing participants.” I didn’t think “willing” was the right word. They didn’t have a choice. If their bodies were in reach, Ophi could raise them, and the person whose body it was didn’t have any say in the matter.

“Remind me I want to be cremated when I die. No way am I letting anyone stuff my soul back into my decaying body.”

“No need to worry about that, Jodi. You’re the only one who can raise Ophi, remember? Unless—”

“Unless what?” He was holding something back.

“Nothing. It’s not important.”

“You didn’t like it when I didn’t tell you I’d kept the locket, right? I apologized for keeping that from you, and I’m asking you not to keep this from me.” He stayed silent. “Fine.” I turned and walked away. “If I don’t know everything, there’s no way I’m doing this.”

“Wait!” he called. “Jodi, come back.” I faced him, and he sighed. “I’m not supposed to tell you this, so you have to promise you won’t say a word to anyone.” I crossed my heart with my index finger. A little childish, but he got the point. He waved me over. “I don’t want to have to say this too loud.”

I stood right next to him. He smelled great. I wondered what kind of soap he used. It had a powerful yet inviting smell, and since he’d already gone through training this morning, he had a faint musk going on, too.

He cocked an eyebrow. “What?”

Oh, God! I hoped I didn’t have a stupid look on my face. If he figured out I was smelling him, I’d die. At least I was in a good place if that happened. “Nothing. Just eagerly waiting to hear what you have to say.”

He smirked. Yeah, he knew. Just great. He reached up and touched my locket. “Right after lunch, Victoria and Troy were talking about this. They knew the Ophi in the prophecy—you—would have the power to raise Ophi, but they have a theory about the locket.”

I raised my hand to the locket and our fingers touched. He looked into my eyes, and I knew I was done for. Immediately, I thought of Matt. Sweet, nearly perfect Matt who always knew what to say and was so patient with me. Alex was almost his opposite. He was cocky, a little dangerous, had strange habits, and raised the dead, but he was also sweet and protective of me. And he smelled really good. In some ways, Alex was perfect for me. Was I ready for what I thought I might be feeling for him?

“What’s their theory?” I asked, breaking the spell between us.

He took a step back, letting go of the locket. “They think that the mixture of blood inside it would give the wearer the power to raise Ophi. Only they have no idea how to do that. How to tap into that power.”

It made sense. And since I was supposed to save the Ophi race from extinction, I was going to have to find a way to tap into that power. Just this morning, I was feeling great about the locket and the look it brought to Abby’s face when she realized who the locket had belonged to. I was glad I was the Chosen One. I even liked all the attention I was getting from Leticia and Randy. For once being different felt good. But now, I only felt the sinking weight of responsibility on my shoulders. It was a lot to rest on one person. Especially when that one person was me. “Great, one more thing I’ll be expected to figure out in order to save the day.”

“Don’t think about it right now. Let’s try raising the dead. The correct way,” he added, as if it needed to be said. “If you do it right, you’ll be able to control the bodies. They’ll obey you even if they don’t want to.”

“So, they’re like slaves to us?” I thought of how the servant had tried to claw his way back into his grave because I told him to. It was awful.

“Kind of, but they’re dead. What does it matter?”

“What about my mom? She’s not under your control, and you brought her back.”

“That was different. The longer a soul is out of the body, the less they can fight us when we put them back into their bodies. If we bring someone back right away—like with your mom—they still have full control over themselves. Her soul never left her body. I didn’t have to force it back inside.”

“Force it back inside? This sounds so terrible. I’m not sure I want to be able to do this. Besides, why would we want to put someone’s soul back in their body and control them?” I turned away from the grave, not wanting to have anything to do with all of this. I walked over to a mausoleum a few feet away and leaned my head against it. The coolness of the stone felt good on my forehead.

Alex’s footsteps crunched on the ground behind me. “Are you scared of us?” He reached for my arm, and I let him turn me around. He looked almost sad as he took my hand in his. “Are you scared of
me
?” With his free hand, he gently pushed a stray hair off my face, but his hand lingered on my cheek. His touch was electrifying.

My heart raced. I
was
scared. Scared that I was falling for him. “I—”

He leaned forward like he was going to kiss me. Without thinking, I leaned into him, too.

“Well, what kind of training is this?” Abby asked.

I jumped back. She glared at us with her arms crossed. Alex turned away from me, running his fingers through his hair. Another almost-kiss to add to my collection. It was Matt all over again.

Chapter 23

Abby ignored me and glared at Alex. “She’s supposed to be raising the dead. If you can’t handle training her, someone else will.” She stormed off before either one of us could respond. Not that we really had anything to say. I was completely embarrassed.

“I guess we should work on your training.”

I knew there was something else I had wanted to know. Something I’d asked him. But I was so lightheaded from our almost-kiss and shaken up that Abby, of all people, had caught us that I couldn’t remember what we’d been talking about. Abby clearly had a thing for Alex, and this incident would only make her hate me more.

We walked back to the grave we’d been standing by before. Alex clapped his hands together. Was that an Ophi thing? Because people here sure liked clapping their hands together. “All right. You have to concentrate. This is serious stuff you’re about to get into.” His face was stone cold, not at all like it had been a few minutes ago. He definitely wasn’t the same guy who’d tried to kiss me. “You have to learn how to control your power. Otherwise, you’ll end up raising the dead by accident again. That’s not exactly working out for you, is it?”

I shivered, a combination of his mood change and the truth in his words. “Definitely not.”

“Good.” He walked behind the headstone and placed his hands on it. “Now, when you raise the dead from a grave like this, you don’t have to dig them up. You can simply call to them by dripping a little of your blood on the ground covering their grave. Our blood is powerful. If you concentrate, it will find your target. But you have to concentrate. That’s the key.”

“Do I picture a dead body in my head?”

“No. Unless you know what the person looked like when they were alive, that’s a very bad idea.” He paused for a moment, like he was trying to figure out the best way to explain it. “Okay, try this. Close your eyes and tell your blood to find the body beneath the dirt. Your blood is part of you. You’ll be able to control it. And when it finds the body, you’ll know it.” He paused again, but this time he was making sure I was following.

“Got it,” I said. “Should we try that part first and then worry about controlling the body?”

“No. You need to have a clear reason for summoning the body. It’s going to
want
an explanation. If it doesn’t have a purpose when it rises, it’ll go crazy. The souls know they aren’t supposed to be back. They get stir crazy.”