Touch Of Death: Face Of Death Part 5

"I'm not giving up." I reached for the gate, slowly releasing the latch.

"Jodi." Alex stopped me. "You aren't going out there. That dog will tear you to shreds."

"I think he guards the souls. Makes sure they stay where they belong. But we don't belong here, and neither does Matt."

"Did someone spike her fruit punch?" Lexi asked. "She's talking crazy again."

"Look, Matt belongs in the Elysian Fields. I think Cerberus knows that."

"Fine, so let him go. See what happens." Lexi raised one shoulder, making it all too clear that she didn't value Matt's soul.

"We don't belong here, either. Hades brought us to Tartarus. That's where Cerberus thinks we should be."

Tony stepped between me and the gate. "What if he tries to bring us back there? He could corner us and make us return to Tartarus. We wouldn't be able to scout out new souls from there. Your plan would-pardon the expression-go to h.e.l.l."

Alex sighed. "He's right, Jodi. Besides, Matt wouldn't be with us anymore, and you'd have to raise your soul and figure out how to save us on your own. I'm not crazy about you and Matt getting close again, but I'd feel better knowing you had someone to protect you. You won't have your Ophi powers anymore while you're human."

I'd kind of forgotten about that part. I was so focused on not being able to hurt anyone anymore that I hadn't stopped to think about how powerless I'd actually be. Matt was a strong guy. I could use his protection. Especially since we were most likely going to be staying in sleazy motels and riding buses on our way back home.

I stared at Alex, hoping he could see I didn't have a plan. I didn't know how to get us out of here without running into Cerberus.

"What if we strike another deal with Hades?" he said.

I squinted at him, wondering what he was thinking. "Go on."

Lexi scoffed and threw her arms out. "Haven't we had enough deals? I mean, that's what got us all in here in the first place. Jodi making a deal with Hades that she couldn't keep."

"The kind of deal I'm talking about doesn't have consequences," Alex said.

"Then Hades will never go for it," Tony chimed in. "He likes big payouts for winning."

Alex smiled. "That's the beauty of this deal. He's going to win from the start."

"Alex-" Before I could ask him what he meant, I figured it out. The deal I'd made with Hades earlier, when he'd taken Victoria and the others...he'd liked that because it gave him Ophi servants. People to do his dirty work and free up some of his time. "We could offer our services. Help Hades run this place and make his life easier."

Alex nodded. "Exactly. Victoria and the others have Tartarus under control, but Cerberus is left to guard the rest of this place. We never see Hades unless he's making us suffer, so what is he doing?"

"Judging souls, making sure no one escapes, going back to the land of the living." I listed off things I remembered Tony teaching us. "What if he's going after the other Ophi while we're down here?"

"Mason." Carol's voice was small and shaky.

I bit my lip, thinking of how I could approach this. "Okay, Hades obviously needs help down here. We can offer him that. We can help judge the souls. That way we'd know who was coming into the underworld. And when the next couple comes..." I paused, realizing that was a poor word choice on my part. Alex wasn't going to want Matt and me to use the bodies of a couple. It would only make his mind focus on how Matt and I used to be together. "Well, when the next two souls whose bodies Matt and I could use arrive, we can get my plan going."

Arianna and Tony smiled, obviously happy with this idea. Carson, Ethan, and Carol weren't as enthusiastic, but they were willing to try it. Lexi shrugged and gave me a "What the h.e.l.l? Why not?" Coming from her, that was good. I knew the others wouldn't challenge me. They never had. And since we'd broken off from Chase, it looked like we all could agree on something as a group.

Leticia looked petrified. "Does this mean we have to get Hades' attention? Bring him here to make the deal?"

I took a deep breath before saying, "Yes, it does."

"Any idea how to do that?" Alex asked.

I looked at the gate in front of me. "I'm pretty sure trying to break out of here will get his attention."

Lexi rolled her eyes. "And royally p.i.s.s him off. He won't make a deal with us if he wants to cause us pain."

"Then I won't let him get angry with all of us." I turned to Alex. "Keep everyone else back. Guard Matt. Don't let him wander off or try to follow me."

He grabbed my arm. "No. You aren't going out there alone."

"I'm not putting anyone else in danger."

"I'm going with you. End of story." He met Tony's eyes. "Watch Matt and the others."

Tony nodded.

This was the best I was going to get. There was no arguing with Alex when he was like this. I kissed him lightly on the lips, just in case my plan backfired and Hades decided to burn me in h.e.l.lfire instead of making a deal with me. I wanted to make sure I got one last kiss. Then, I unlatched the gate and pushed it open.

Cerberus growled, sending spit flying out of his mouths from the vibration.

"Easy." I held my hand out in front of me. Alex tried to pull me behind him to s.h.i.+eld me, but I wasn't having it. I stood my ground. "Can you call Hades?" I asked Cerberus, keeping my voice as steady and non-threatening as possible. "Call your master here. Tell him I need to talk to him."

"Our fearless leader, everyone," Lexi said. "Talking to a three-headed dog from h.e.l.l. We're all screwed."

"Can it, Lexi," Alex yelled, and Cerberus snarled at the outburst. He charged at us, and Alex and I lunged to the side. Cerberus rammed into the gate. While he was stunned, I reached for him and shot him with a dose of poisoned blood from the left side of my body. He whimpered and went down.

I removed my hand from his fur and stared at it, unable to believe that had worked.

"You dosed him?" Alex was breathing heavily and staring wide-eyed at Cerberus' still form on the ground.

"I didn't think I could hurt him like that. I just wanted to stun him a little."

"My dog!" Hades' voice boomed from above us as he came swirling down in his black cloud.

Alex rushed to me, ready to face Hades.

"I didn't mean to hurt him," I said. "He attacked us. I just reacted."

Hades' eyes burned into me, but not enough to kill me. He wanted to make me suffer. My eyes watered from the flames, but I wasn't about to cower before him.

"You tried to escape. Of course Cerberus attacked you. He was doing his job."

"No." I held my hands up. "You don't understand. We weren't trying to escape. We were trying to find you. We need to talk to you."

"It's true," Alex said. "Look for yourself." He pointed at the others beyond the gate. "Would we have left them behind if we were looking for a way out of the underworld?"

Of course, my plan was to leave everyone behind while I found a way out, but Hades couldn't know that.

Hades looked at the group. Once his eyes were off me, the burning stopped. I stepped closer to him. "We have a deal for you."

He turned back to me and laughed. "What could you possibly have to make a deal with? I have you. You're in my world now. You have nothing to bargain with."

"That's not true. You're swamped down here. We almost never see you because you're too busy running this place. And I'm willing to bet Persephone is around here somewhere, right?" I looked to Tony for confirmation that my mythology was correct. He nodded.

"Leave her out of this." Hades' voice shook the ground, and I grabbed Alex to keep from falling.

"Fine. She's your wife, and actually the deal has nothing to do with her. Not directly, at least. Though it might give you more time to spend with her, if you wanted."

Hades narrowed his eyes at me. "Two minutes. Talk fast."

So, Persephone was his weakness. Good to know. "The other Ophi have a handle on Tartarus for you, but what about everything else you have to do here? You must be going crazy trying to handle it all on your own. Let us help. We could..." I paused, pretending I didn't have this all planned out already. "I don't know...maybe help you judge the souls, place them in the proper afterlives."

"I suppose you want to do this to avoid your own punishments?"

"No. We understand that you won't allow that. We aren't asking to avoid punishment. We are asking to simply cut down on the amount of time we spend in Tartarus each day." I knew the others were cringing at this, but Hades would never entirely release us from punishment. This was the best offer I was going to get us.

"I don't need all of you," Hades said. "I already have three judges."

"Rhadamanthus, Minos, and Aeacus," Tony said.

d.a.m.n it, Tony! Couldn't he have told me this earlier? My mind scrambled to find a new job for us, one that would still keep us in contact with the new souls arriving each day.

"They must be very busy, too busy to judge and take the souls to the proper places. We could do that. Usher the souls into their afterlives." I looked to Tony, seeing if that sounded reasonable. He nodded.

"That still wouldn't require the services of your entire group," Hades said. "I think your two minutes are up as well. Time to return to Tartarus."

"Wait!" I was desperate. "Just today we found some souls wandering to this gate." I pointed to the gate guarding the Fields of Asphodel. "That's how we found it. The souls remember where it is. They might seem mindless and lost in themselves, but deep down that knowledge is there. We stopped some souls from escaping. I think that proves you could use some of us as guards. Here, as well as at the entrances to the Elysian Fields, and Tartarus even."

Alex raised the corner of his mouth in the tiniest of smiles. I might have just saved us all.

"Who were these souls who tried to escape? Show them to me. They need to be punished." Hades advanced on the gate. Advanced on Matt.

Chapter 8.

c.r.a.p! Matt! "No!" I ran to Hades and nodded my head to the side, hoping Arianna would read that as get Matt away from the gate. "It's not their fault. The souls don't know they aren't supposed to leave. They aren't sure of anything here."

Hades stopped and faced me again. "You think you know my souls better than I do?" His glare was filled with hatred and the threat of more h.e.l.lfire coming my way.

"That's not what I'm saying, but you can't deny that necromancers know souls really well. I can see what they're doing, what they're thinking even." Totally not true, but he couldn't prove I was lying. "We could help you control them. They aren't trying to disobey you, and if we can show them how they are supposed to exist here, things would be easier for everyone, especially you."

"I can't help but wonder why this is so important to you." He walked around me, eying me up and down. "Are you trying to save your friends and yourself from torture, or do you have some other endgame, Jodi Marshall?"

I had to be careful what I said next. The wrong thing could blow this plan entirely. "I want something we all can live with. I've seen how Victoria and the others help you. You're more lenient with them, and I can't help wondering why, since they caused you so much trouble. Remember the reason you brought them here?"

"Yes, because you made a deal with me: them for your safety. Only you broke our deal, which made your souls fair game."

"Fine. Well, if we're talking about what's fair, then why aren't you punis.h.i.+ng them?"

"Who says I'm not?" Hades smiled and laced his fingers behind his back.

That was it. He was punis.h.i.+ng Victoria and the others. "We're taking turns. When we come to the Fields of Asphodel, you're busy punis.h.i.+ng them. That's where you go!"

"Very good."

This was good. I could use this. "Wouldn't you rather be doing something else? Spending time with Persephone, maybe?"

He stepped forward, getting right in my face. The heat radiating off him burned my skin. I cringed as he practically spit in my face. "I told you not to speak of her!"

"I'm sorry." The mere mention of her name got him worked up. "I thought you'd be happy about that suggestion. I really didn't mean to offend you."

He backed off, and the pain in my face eased. I must have been as red as a cooked lobster.

Alex gently touched my arm. "Are you okay?"

I nodded.

"Honesty is your only chance, Jodi Marshall." Hades stared off in the distance. I remembered Tony saying something about the part of the underworld where Hades lived with Persephone. I didn't doubt that was what he was gazing toward, even if I couldn't see anything.

"What do you want to know?" I hoped he was becoming more open to the idea of another deal.

"What do you get out of this?"

"I thought that was obvious." By the way he glared at me, I knew that was a stupid thing to say. I'd just insulted his intelligence. "What I mean is that I'm not looking for anything more than what you're thinking. I don't want my friends to be tortured twenty hours a day. If I could lighten our sentence by helping you in other ways here, then I want to do it."

We all waited in silence while Hades contemplated my deal. It was killing me to watch him think. He narrowed his brow a few times, which meant he was considering something-whether it was good or bad, I didn't know.

Alex took a step back, pulling me with him. He must have been afraid Hades would turn me down and lash out at us. I was afraid of the same thing.

"I've made my decision." Hades continued to stare off into the distance, avoiding our eyes. It was comforting. I figured if he was about to dismiss my idea, he'd want to see the disappointment on my face. "I'm going to allow this. For now." He finally turned to me. "You and your friends will be stationed at different places throughout the underworld. As it turns out, I like the idea of splitting you all up. There will be no chance for you to conspire against me."

Alex grabbed my hand, and I realized Hades would probably send us to opposite ends of the underworld-if this place had ends. Even though I wasn't planning on staying in this body-not fully, anyway-I wanted Alex to be the one to watch over my body while I was gone.

"Here are my conditions." He waved his hand and the gate to the Fields of Asphodel opened. He motioned the others forward. I sighed, realizing I was going to have to find Matt all over again. No way would he stay put with no one watching him.

I pulled myself together. "We're ready. Name them."

Hades snickered. Apparently, he found my comment amusing. "I hadn't realized I needed your permission to continue."

"Sorry. I just wanted you to know we were all listening." Not a great cover, but it would have to do.

"First, when you are on duty, you answer only to me. You may fulfill the judgments made by my three judges and escort souls to their afterlives, but beyond that, you listen to me."