Touch Of Death: Face Of Death Part 10

We walked in silence again. I wished Matt and I could go back to the way we used to be, when we were just friends. I missed him, and this tension between us was unbearable. We decided it wasn't safe for both of us to go inside the gas station to get the bathroom keys, so Matt went alone, while I stayed outside and worried that someone would recognize him.

A few minutes later, he came back holding two keys. "No problem. The kid working the register didn't even look up from his phone when he gave me the keys." Speaking of not looking up, Matt was having trouble looking at me now. Just great. This was going to be extremely awkward.

I took the key and opened the bathroom door, going straight for the sink. Seeing Liz's face stare back at me in the mirror was the weirdest feeling. I shook it off and turned on the cold water. I needed something to shock myself out of whatever it was I was going through. I splashed water on my face, but it didn't help at all.

I stared at the tag on the jeans. Squeezing myself into them wasn't going to be easy. I held my breath and tugged them on. It felt like someone was strangling my waist, but I managed to b.u.t.ton them. They actually reminded me of the jeans Melodie had made me buy. The ones I'd worn on my date with Matt. Being human again was making me tap into all those memories I'd tried to put in the back of my mind when I became the leader of the Ophi. I wondered if my Ophi memories would fade while I was here. I couldn't imagine Alex becoming nothing but a memory.

A knock on the door made me jump. I took one last look at Liz's reflection-now my reflection-and stepped outside.

Matt held his hands out at his sides. "Well, what do you think?" He had on a deep orange s.h.i.+rt. I used to love him in that color. Something about his dark hair and eyes against the rich orange was really ... s.e.xy. But Matt wasn't a brunette anymore. He was a blond. The color didn't have the same effect on his features.

"Looks a little snug." I stuck to safe comments, ones that didn't comment on how hot I'd thought he was-the real Matt, at least.

"Yours, too. Though I remember the jeans you wore on our date to that nightclub, Serpentarius, were killer on you. This girl doesn't...well, she's not you."

Yeah, I knew what he meant. Not that I was complaining about Liz. She was pretty fit, but too teeny tiny-though not as tiny as these size-zero jeans. I wasn't exactly big, but I had a few inches on her-not to mention a few curves.

I fidgeted, feeling uncomfortable, which was ridiculous considering I wasn't even in my own body. "Um, I guess we should figure out where we are."

"Already found out. When I was in the convenience store, I checked out the paper. We're in some town called Springfield."

"That doesn't exactly narrow it down. There are a ton of Springfields across the country."

"Not a problem. Did you really think I'd leave it at that? I checked out a few brochures they had for activities in the area. I'm pretty sure I know where we are." Of course he did, because Matt was perfect. He thought of everything.

"How far from home?"

"I'm guessing about four hours by bus."

"Bus?"

"Yup. Next one leaves at six. We've got two hours."

Alone with Matt for two hours waiting for a bus. I would've killed for this opportunity a few months ago. Now, it terrified me. Even when I wasn't a threat to him, I was still afraid to be around him. "We don't have any money."

Matt looked away as if ashamed. "I sort of stole some money from the register."

"What? How?" Matt wasn't the type to steal. I couldn't imagine how he'd pulled this off.

"I told the kid the coffee maker was empty, so when he went to refill it..." He shrugged.

I couldn't complain. We needed money, and Matt had done what he had to in order to get us out of this town. He was protecting me, even if it meant doing something completely out of character.

"We should go to the bus station and try to get some sleep." Matt c.o.c.ked his head at me. "What is it? Why do you look like you lost your puppy?"

How did I explain this to him? Well, Matt, after splitting my soul, I feel like a complete psycho with a split personality. I still love Alex, but looking at you, I just want to throw myself in your arms and kiss you.

"Just tired, I guess." Yeah, that was a better answer.

"The cas.h.i.+er said the bus station was two blocks down on the left."

A car pulled into the parking lot, so we decided to leave the bathroom keys in the door locks instead of risking going back inside the store again. The fewer people who saw us, the better. While we walked, I kept my hands shoved in my pockets. I wasn't afraid of Matt trying to hold my hand. I was afraid of me wanting to hold his. I loved Alex, and if I was fully in the underworld with him, it would be his arms I'd want around me. His hand I'd be holding. But this part of me-my completely human soul-had never been with Alex. Matt and I had a history together, one based on me being normal, not Ophi.

We stepped into the bus station and found the bus we needed. Matt pointed the way, gently placing his hand on the small of my back. He used to do that all the time when we walked down the halls at school, but now...

He looked down at his hand. "Sorry. Old habits and all that."

I shook my head. "It's okay." No, it wasn't.

I looked at the empty wooden bench. It wasn't exactly sanitary.

"Here." Matt sat down and motioned for me to join him. "You can put your head in my lap so your hair doesn't stick to whatever this substance is coating the bench. My guess is year-old chewing gum and...well, I don't want to know what else."

Put my head in his lap and sleep? That was way too intimate.

"Jodi." He frowned at me. "You know you can trust me. I'm not going to do anything to you while you sleep."

He wasn't the one I was worried about. "I know that." It was four in the morning, and I was exhausted, so I curled up on the bench next to him and rested my head on the edge of his lap, not daring to touch any more of him than necessary.

I closed my eyes and wondered what Alex was doing.

Chapter 13.

Heat p.r.i.c.kled against my skin as I led the soul past Tony and Ethan and into the depths of Tartarus. He cowered behind me, not wanting to follow but unable to stop his legs from moving. I knew the feeling. Hades had done the same thing to me on several occasions.

"Please, don't make me go. I'm sorry. For everything. Please." He grabbed my hand, squeezing it with every sobbing heave of his body.

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do. Once the judges make their decision, I have to follow their judgment. They said to bring you here. I'm powerless to change your fate." Even as the words left my mouth, they felt foreign. I was going through the motions down here. The only reason I was aware of what my body and Ophi soul were doing in the underworld was because my human soul was asleep. When I tuned out one soul, the other took over.

The man, Henry Something-or-Other, continued to wail. Knowing what awaited him in Tartarus, I couldn't help feeling sorry for the guy, even if he had done terrible things in his life. I wasn't really one to judge.

"Oh, good. Another one." Abby smirked. "Who knew there were so many d.a.m.ned sinners in the world?"

"You're one to talk. Your punishment didn't end too long ago."

Her eyes burned into mine. "And it will be time for yours again soon."

I turned away, not wanting to see Henry's horror or the look of pleasure on Abby's face, and headed back to the palace. As I pa.s.sed the Fields of Asphodel, I felt a pull in that direction.

"Jodi."

Alex. I fought the urge to run into his arms. I had to be careful in case Hades was watching us. We never really knew where he was. Ever since we'd made the deal with him, we'd seen him less and less. It was strange, but the second I tuned in to my Ophi soul, I had access to all my memories in the underworld. I just had to be careful not to access them all at once. Between the torture and bringing souls to their own personal forms of h.e.l.l, it got overwhelming really quickly.

I walked slowly to Alex, looking around for signs of Hades. "Hey."

"You came." He looked deep into my eyes. "It's you. How? Did you release your soul already?"

"No. My human soul is sleeping, and that brought my focus back here. It's happened before, though. When we were in Tartarus. The pain yanked my focus back to my body." Just in time to see my dad. That image was hard to get past.

"The double vision thing is tough, huh? Tony said it would be, but I've been hoping he was wrong." He reached for my hand, lacing my fingers through his. G.o.d, I missed him.

"Is it okay to be holding hands like this? I mean, will Hades-"

"He's been leaving the underworld a lot. No clue where he's going, but we end up unsupervised. He thinks we're all still under his control, but when he's gone we can do whatever we want. Our powers are too strong for him to keep a hold on."

"He doesn't have a clue, does he?"

"Not at all. Something's going on. He's too busy to notice us."

"That can't be good. What could he be looking for?" The thought hit me like a speeding Mack truck. "Do you think he knows what I've done?" I clutched Alex's hand, squeezing it so hard he looked down at it.

"Easy, Jodi. I don't think he suspects anything, but you have been different since you left."

"Different how?"

"Every time you go by the Fields, I call out to you, but this is the first time you've responded."

I'd been ignoring him. "I'm so sorry."

He shook his head, dismissing it. "You're not all here. I get it." He got quiet for a moment, which could only mean he was thinking of how to ask about Matt.

"Things aren't going so well for the human me, either. Matt had a tough time adjusting at first, but after I showed him his reflection-Brian's reflection-he was pretty much up for believing anything I said. I left out some things, though. I didn't want to overload him."

Alex's head jerked up. "What kind of things?"

"The whole 'I brought him back wrong' thing. You know, the bunny-eating incident."

"Anything else?"

"He knows about us. I told him."

He nodded and started breathing normally again. "Good. If he does anything, tries anything-"

"Matt's not like that. He knows how I feel about you." I didn't want to tell him about the kiss-kisses. Or that Matt had said he still loved me. It wasn't the right time to tell him. I didn't know how much time I had left before I woke up and my focus s.h.i.+fted back to my human soul.

"I don't want to, but I should go. I only have a couple hours to rest before the bus comes to take Matt and me back to the school."

"He agreed to go with you?"

"Yeah. He needs to get used to his new body and decide how he's going to start his life over."

"Wait, you're not ever going to release his soul? I thought this was just a temporary thing, to give him a break from his afterlife."

"No. He deserves to live, Alex. I can't let him die again."

"Jodi, he's a zombie. Maybe you gave him permission to act like himself, but he's still not alive. He's been dead too long."

I hadn't thought about that, but Matt seemed so different. He wasn't like the other souls I'd brought back. He seemed so alive.

"I don't know. I'll figure it out. There's still time for me to decide what to do about him."

"Please think about this..."

Alex's image faded as Matt gently shook my shoulder. "The bus is here."

I sat up, rubbing my eyes. Alex was gone. I was with my human soul again. With Matt. I hadn't gotten the chance to say goodbye or tell Alex I loved him.

"You okay?" Matt rubbed my arm, concern all over his face.

"Bad dream." This going back and forth between souls was too much for me to handle. Matt wouldn't be able to understand.

"I know what you mean. My dream was really strange."

We got on the bus and found seats in the back, away from everyone else. Not many people were on the bus this early in the morning.

"What was it about?" I kept my voice barely above a whisper in case Matt's dream had been of the underworld, too.

"You. Me. That Alex guy and some other people I don't know. We were in a cemetery, and this guy was telling you to choose your dad and me. He must have meant over Alex. At first, I thought the dream was just my mind trying to process you being with Alex now, but then something weird happened. The guy said you weren't allowed to have any kids. Strange, right?"

Not strange. Matt's dream was exactly what had happened in the cemetery the night Hades brought him back to life.

"Then you and I talked, but you were crying, so I wiped a tear from your cheek. I don't remember anything else, so that must be when I woke up."

No, that was when he'd died...again. My mouth couldn't form words. I couldn't tell him the truth, could I? How would he react to knowing I'd killed him again? That he'd once been in Heaven, and because of me Hades had sentenced him to eternity in the Fields of Asphodel, where he barely knew his own name?

"Matt, how much about me do you really want to know?" Letting him decide for himself was the only fair thing to do.

"What do you mean? You told me about what you can do." He looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping, even though we hadn't said anything too bizarre. Yet.

"I've done a lot of bad things, not all on purpose." I played with the hem of my s.h.i.+rt. "There's more to tell you about us. You and me."

He straightened up in the seat and stared at me. "Go on."

"Your dream, it wasn't a dream. It was a memory. That really did happen." He shook his head, but I continued. "Matt, when you kissed me in my backyard and you died, I brought you back to life. Only, I did it wrong and Alex had to..." I couldn't say it. He'd hate Alex even more.

"What did he do to me?" His fists were clenched at his sides.

"He had to release your soul, only he wasn't powerful enough to do it yet so he poisoned you with his blood. You died again."

"He killed me?" His voice was way too loud, and a few people turned around to look at us.