Lexi held her hands up. “Whatever.”

“All right, everyone,” Arianna said. “Alex and Jodi don’t need an audience. Move along.” She ushered them away from us, giving my arm a quick squeeze before she followed.

I moved toward Alex, but he backed away. “Don’t do that.” I advanced on him again. “Don’t push me away. You just said there were too many things coming between us all the time. Don’t you be one of them, too.” He stopped, and I took his hands in mine. “I’m yours, Alex. All of me.”

“No, you’re not. You want to raise your human soul and your human boyfriend. What the hell do you think is going to happen when you’re both alive again? Together?”

I hadn’t thought about it like that. Would my human feelings for Matt come back? “I wasn’t planning to raise Matt so we could be together again. I only wanted to get him out of here. I swear. Alex, if I could raise you and bring you with me, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I want you with me. Leaving you is the only thing stopping me from raising my human soul right now.”

He pulled me closer to him. “I’m not mad at you. You know that, right? It’s just this situation. Ever since Chase came, I’ve felt like I’m not good enough for you.”

“Alex—”

“No, let me finish. You have all this power. You can do things no other Ophi can. And what am I? An average Ophi. Nothing special. I don’t deserve you.”

“That’s not true. I may be the Chosen One, but I chose you.”

“Great, so I’m special by extension?”

“That’s not what I meant. You’re the only guy I’ve ever loved, Ophi or not. Yes, I had strong feelings for Matt. Yes, I still want Matt to be happy. But I don’t love him. I love you. Being with Matt again isn’t going to change that.”

“Being with him? You mean you aren’t just going to raise him? You’re going to keep him with you while you find a way to get us out of here?”

Crap, I was making this worse. “I don’t want to do this alone. Like I said, if I could take you with me, I would.”

“How is Matt going to be of any help to you?” His jaw tightened; he was gritting his teeth. “I hate to say this, but it seems like you just want some extra time with your old boyfriend.”

Was he wrong? Was I trying to get more time with Matt? “I’m not going to lie. I do like the thought of getting a second chance with Matt.”

Alex let go of my hands and turned away from me. His hands clenched into fists, and he swung at the rows of asphodels, sending white flower petals flying everywhere.

“Alex!” I grabbed him, but he kept swinging. “Not like that! That’s not what I meant. Please, if you love me, hear me out.”

He stopped, but his whole body shook with rage. He shrugged my hands off his arm.

“Matt was my friend, too. I didn’t just care about him as my boyfriend. For most of the time I knew him, he was one of my two best friends. I owe him this. I owe myself the chance to make things right and to say goodbye to him for good. I know I can’t keep him in my life. It’s too dangerous. But I think I should at least get to say goodbye to him on my own terms, not because he died, not because I have to run away and fulfill my Ophi destiny. I owe him the truth.” Now I was breathing heavily. I’d blurted all that out, wanting to say everything before Alex got the chance to cut me off.

“You don’t still have feelings for him?” He was staring out over the asphodels, unable to look me in the eyes.

“I do still care about him as a friend, but that’s all. As a friend.” I reached for his arm again, and this time he didn’t pull away. “When this is all over, when we’re out of here and back at the school, I promise it will just be you and me. No one else. For as long as you want me.”

He turned toward me and took my hand. “I’m holding you to that promise.”

I smiled, and a tear ran down my cheek. “So, what now?”

“You don’t have to ask for my permission. You’re the leader, remember?”

“I know, but that doesn’t mean I can’t ask for your input. You are my boyfriend, aren’t you?”

“Through bad and worse, apparently.”

“Come on, don’t say that. Things haven’t been all bad.” I touched his cheek, and even without me transferring any power to him, he smiled.

“No, definitely not.”

I reached up to kiss him, but he stopped me. “We have company, remember?”

I’d kind of forgotten about Matt. “Right. Sorry.”

“No need to apologize to me. It’s actually nice to see that I can make you forget about everything else.”

“You do that to me a lot, you know. I’m sorry if I don’t always make you see that.”

He kissed the top of my head. “I guess we need to find two bodies for you guys. A guy and a girl. Unless…”

“Don’t even think it. I’m not putting Matt into a girl’s body.” I couldn’t help it. I laughed. Poor Alex. He was so desperate not to lose me to Matt he wanted to make Matt a girl. “You are so lucky I love you.”

“I know.” He smiled, but his tone was completely serious. I leaned forward and kissed him. I knew Matt was watching us, but I didn’t care.

“Okay, so how do we find out where the new souls are? I need to find them almost immediately when they arrive.”

“I think we need to talk to Tony. He’s our expert.” Alex took my hand and started toward Tony and the others, but I held him back.

“Hang on.” I turned to Matt. “Matt, will you come with us, please?” He stared at me, not understanding.

“Take his hand,” Alex said. “He might remember your touch. I would if I were him.” Moments like these made me wonder how I’d gotten so lucky. Alex really was amazing. I was staring at him, and I guess he thought I was wondering if it was a trick because he said, “I’ve seen you hold the guy’s hand before. I think I can handle it without flipping out.”

“I know. That wasn’t it. I was just in awe of you. You’re kind of perfect, you know that?” Perfect. It was the word I’d always used for Matt, but it really did apply to Alex, too.

He smiled, and I swear his cheeks got a little red. Still holding Alex’s hand, I reached for Matt. He didn’t move, so I carefully slipped my hand in his. “Is this okay? Do you mind if I take you to my friends?”

Still nothing, but his fingers curved slightly around mine. That was all the answer I needed. I nodded to Alex, and we walked over to the others. I’m sure we looked like a demented threesome, every bit as awkward as it felt.

The others raised their eyes to us. They obviously had no idea what I was doing. I wasn’t really sure I knew either.

I let go of Matt’s hand. “Okay, so here’s the plan. We need two new souls. I’m bringing Matt with me.”

Arianna looked back and forth between Alex and me. I knew she was checking to see how he really felt about me bringing Matt along.

“Alex and I discussed it, and Matt doesn’t deserve this kind of afterlife. Hades is only keeping him here to punish me. I have to free him, give him another shot at life.”

I couldn’t help feeling like they were ignoring me. All eyes were on Alex. I nudged him, encouraging him to say something and make the blank stares go away.

He let them squirm for another moment before he chimed in. “Matt will be human again, and he’ll help Jodi. I don’t want her to go through this alone. She won’t have anyone who knows who she really is since she’ll be in a different body.”

Lexi raised an eyebrow. “You’re sending your girlfriend to shack up with her ex-boyfriend, and they’ll both be human? Wow, Alex, I didn’t peg you for a complete idiot.”

“Enough, Lexi.” Arianna gave her daughter a long hard look.

“What? I’m trying to help.” She shrugged, and in her own strange way, I think she really was looking out for Alex.

“I trust Jodi.” Alex gave me a small smile.

“And we won’t be shacking up,” I said. “Matt doesn’t have to stay with me at all if he doesn’t want to. I’ll help him get settled, but he’s free to live his life however he wants.”