Stalked by Death (Touch of Death) (8 page)

I didn’t feel like eating anymore, so Alex and I headed to the cemetery. Leticia and Randy followed, which left Chase alone with Tony and Arianna. I knew they’d have a few things to say to Chase about the comments he’d made. The topic of Victoria and Troy was pretty much off-limits. It was an unspoken rule around here, and I knew Tony would make sure Chase was aware of it.

The air was crisp, and I filled my lungs with it. Since I had come into my powers, I was usually hot, thanks to my blood boiling in my veins to mix both sides of my powers. I welcomed the cool air on my skin.

Alex draped his arm around my shoulders. “What should we start with today?”

“Well, Randy is pretty good with raising one soul at a time, but he really needs more practice with raising multiple souls. I was thinking I could work with him, and you could help Leticia maintain her focus so she stops losing control over her corpses.”

“You got it.”

“Hey! Wait up!” Chase ran after us.

Alex rolled his eyes. “I was hoping Tony was really going to ream into him for a while. Maybe long enough for him to miss morning training.”

“Alex, we need him. You don’t have to like him, but you have to get along with him.”

He pouted.

“For me?”

He sighed, and I knew I’d won.

Chase slowed down when he reached us. “So, I was thinking I could give Uncle Mason a call. Tell him about the power connection between you and me,” he began, as if Alex wasn’t even there. “I think together we could convince him and the others to join us.”

“Really?” I was more than a little excited.

“Really.” Chase smirked. “Let’s show everyone what a great team we make.” He stopped and reached his hand out to me.

He wanted to shake hands? Without thinking, I took his hand. But Chase’s fingers squeezed mine, transferring power up my arms. Instantly my body tingled, overcome with power.

I pulled away, feeling completely self-conscious. “You want to take Leticia over there?” I asked Alex, pretending nothing had happened.

“Sure.” He gave Chase one last glare and walked off.

Chase leaned in close to me and whispered, “How long are you going to try to deny what you feel for me? You can pretend Alex is the one you want, but when I touch you, I know it’s me your blood craves.”

I stepped back from Chase. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Randy awkwardly moved past us. I was sure he’d overheard everything. The question was, how long would he wait before he told Alex?

I followed Randy, yelling back over my shoulder at Chase, “Go work with Leticia and Alex. Until I know how much control you have over your powers, you’ll start with the basics.”

I didn’t have to turn around to know Chase was fuming mad at that comment. I already knew he was powerful, but I’d demoted him to square one as if he were a beginner. I wasn’t sure how training with Alex would go, but I couldn’t handle working with Chase right now. Not until I got my emotions in check.

That’s how it went for the next two days. Me training with Randy and avoiding Chase at all costs. I knew it couldn’t go on like this forever, but I was willing to stick it out for as long as I could. Luckily, Randy never said anything to me or Alex about Chase’s comment. Maybe he assumed Chase was just full of himself. By Saturday, Chase found a way to corner me.

“Hey, did you forget we have a phone call to make?”

“A what?”

“We were going to call Mason and see if we could convince him to get everyone out here. Now that we have our combined powers backing us up, I think we could persuade him.”

“Right.” In trying to dodge Chase, I’d forgotten all about that plan. “But we haven’t trained together yet. I need you to master all the beginner skills before we can move forward.” As much as I wanted the other Ophi here, I couldn’t train with Chase. I couldn’t be alone with him. It was too dangerous. Too dangerous for my relationship with Alex.

“You’ve had me in the baby group for days. I’ve raised souls and released them. What more do I need to prove to you?”

“You haven’t raised multiple souls yet.”

“Okay, then from now on I’ll train with you and Randy.”

What could I say to that? I’d set myself up.

“But I don’t think we should wait to make this call. So what if we let Mason think we’ve already mastered our combined power? If it gets the others here, then it’s worth a little white lie.”

“All right,” I said.

“Good, let’s do it now.” He tugged my arm, pulling me toward my office. Randy shrugged and headed over to Alex and Leticia to finish training.

“I told Alex I’d meet him before dinner.” I tried to get Chase to at least slow down, but he was already pushing me through the door.

“I think lover boy can find the dining room on his own.”

I sighed and walked into my office, taking a seat at the desk. I had Mason’s number memorized. I’d called it about a thousand times before he’d called me back. I dialed and switched the phone to speaker.

“Hello?” Mason answered.

“Guess you forgot to check your caller ID,” Chase said.

“What? Who is this?”

I heard Mason fumble with the phone. “Jodi?”

“Does my voice really sound that deep?” I asked.

“No, no. Who’s with you?”

“It’s Chase, Uncle Mason.”

“Oh, Chase. It must be a bad connection. I didn’t recognize your voice.”

“No problem. Listen, we’ve got exciting news.”

“Don’t tell me you two hit it off and got engaged or something.”

“No!” I yelled.

Chase laughed. “Not yet.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “But Jodi and I do have a special connection. A power connection.”

“What do you mean?” Mason asked.

“We can combine our powers. Turns out I have more power than the average Ophi, too. Like Jodi. Together we’re unstoppable.”

Mason was quiet on the other line, like he was thinking.

“You need to get everyone out here, Uncle Mason. Jodi and I have so much to show you.”

“Chase, you know I can’t. If you and Jodi are really as strong as you say, I’ll send a small group, but I need to keep enough here to keep Serpentarius up and running. That’s my best offer.”

“Thanks, Mason. We’ll take it.” I tried not to sound disappointed, but I needed Mason. He would make a great teacher, and he could easily replace Troy. Arianna and Tony were great, but they always defaulted to me because I was the Chosen One. I needed an adult who took charge.

“I know it’s not what you were hoping for, Jodi.”

“That’s okay. I appreciate whatever you can do.”

“Take care.” Mason hung up.

“Well, I guess it’s a start.” I stood up.

“You’re not happy,” Chase said. “I can tell.”

“We need everyone. Otherwise we aren’t strong enough to stand up to Hades.” Even with everyone, I wasn’t sure we’d be strong enough.

“Then I’ll get you everyone.”

“What?”

“I’ll see you at dinner.”

Before I could say another word, Chase was dialing the phone again. I gave him one last glance before going to the dining room.

“Hey, where have you been?” Alex slid a bowl of mac and cheese in front of me. I hated to admit it, but I was kind of getting used to the stuff, even if it was made with powered cheese.

“I called Mason. He’s going to send a small group here.”

“That’s great.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, but we need everyone.”

“Give it time.” He nudged me with his elbow and took another heaping forkful.

I picked at my food, mostly moving it around to make it look like I was eating. I’d barely eaten two real bites when Chase came into the room with a huge smile. “All taken care of. They’ll be here on Monday.”

“Who?” Leticia asked.

“Everyone,” he said the word slowly, “from Serpentarius.”

“Everyone?” I asked.

“Yup!”

Leticia squealed and threw her arms around Chase. “Oh, you’re the best! You’ve saved us all!” She turned to me. “Don’t you think so, Jodi?”

I nodded and went back to pushing my food around with my fork. The rest of the meal was filled with happy faces and people patting Chase on the back. I should’ve been happy, but something was off.

“We should celebrate,” Leticia said. “Do something fun for once. No lessons or talk about training for one full night.”

I didn’t feel like celebrating. I felt like getting answers, but I was outvoted. Everyone was shouting out ideas. After what had happened during the last movie night, we skipped that idea. Randy suggested we play charades, but no one else went for it. Arianna said she’d found some board games in one of the hall closets, but that suggestion got groans from all the guys.

“I know.” Tony got up from the table and left the room without another word.

“Are we supposed to follow him?” I asked.

Alex shrugged. “Why not?”

We got up and scanned the halls for Tony.

“Tony?” I called. “Where are you?”

No answer. We peeked in all the rooms and even closets downstairs. Nothing.

“Did he go to his room?” Leticia asked.

“Nope,” Tony called from the stairs. “I went to the library.”

“What for?” Alex asked.

“This.” Tony held up what looked like a severed hand.

“Ugh! Where did you get that?” Leticia turned away, gagging.

He reached the bottom landing and turned the hand over in his palm. “I know it’s a little…”

“Gross,” I said.

Tony shrugged. “It has sentimental value to the school.”

I crossed my arms, thinking he must be joking. “How can a severed hand have sentimental value?”

“This is the hand of the very first corpse raised by someone at this school. It was preserved to remind us that our power is our greatest gift.”

“I don’t want gifts like
that
.” Leticia pointed to the severed hand.

“I don’t expect you all to understand it now, but one day you will. When you understand how important this school is.” Tony loved this school. It was all he had. He was thirty-eight and had never had a wife. I’d heard a rumor that he’d fallen for an Ophi who was already engaged to someone else. He never got over her. That meant he never had had a child either. Being Ophi and not being able to have a child was ten times worse than it was for a human. Tony hadn’t been able to contribute to the Ophi line, so he’d dedicated himself to teaching Ophi kids.

“Why did you want to get the hand?” I asked. “I thought you had an idea for what we could do this evening.”

“Maybe he wants us to raise a few corpses and chop off some hands of our own,” Randy said.

We all turned and stared at him.

Randy shrugged. “What? Tony’s the one who brought that thing down here.”

Tony laughed. “I brought it because I had an idea for a game. A game that will let us get to know each other a little better.”

“And it involves a severed hand?” I asked.

Tony shrugged. “I needed a spinner.”

The guys burst out laughing. I had to admit it was kind of funny. I mean, a bunch of necromancers playing with a severed hand? But poor Leticia looked horrified.

“I’m not touching that thing,” she said.

“You won’t have to. I’m not actually playing, so I’ll be in charge of spinning.” Tony nodded toward the living room. “Come on. Let’s learn a little more about each other.”

“So, it’s a get to know you kind of game?” I flopped down on the couch.

“Exactly. If we are going to be like family, then we should know a few secrets about each other.” Tony dragged over the coffee table and another couch, so we were sitting in a rectangle. He placed the hand in the middle of the coffee table.

Maybe this game wasn’t such a bad idea. I could get some answers out of Chase.

“Sounds interesting,” Chase said. “I can’t wait to hear everyone’s darkest secrets.” His gaze fell on me.

“Shall we begin?” Tony was already spinning the hand. It stopped with its fingers facing Leticia.

“Ugh, why did that creepy thing have to point to me?”

“All right, Leticia,” Tony said, “tell us something we don’t know about you.”

“Okay.” She paused, thinking of what to share. “Oh, I know. Once when Abby borrowed my shampoo and didn’t return it, I snuck into her bathroom and dripped toilet water into her toothpaste.”

“You mean you put perfume in her toothpaste?” Arianna asked.

“No.” Leticia shook her head. “I used a cup to get water from the toilet, and I dripped it into her tube of toothpaste.”

“Why didn’t you just dunk her toothbrush in the toilet instead?” Randy asked.

Leticia’s face turned red. “I didn’t think of it,” she said in a small voice.

We all started laughing. Poor Leticia. She really was kind of helpless—for someone who could raise the dead.

Tony spun the hand again. This time it landed on Randy.

“Um, I don’t have any secrets like Leticia’s, but I did steal a bag of Troy’s favorite chips once. Man, he went crazy looking for it. He even blamed the servants. Like a bunch of living dead would eat potato chips.”

“Boring.” Chase dragged out the word. “At least Leticia’s story was funny. You’ve got to have a better secret than that.”

Randy fidgeted with his hands in his lap. “I do have one secret, but it’s not something I want to share.”