Alex met my eyes and stepped back.

“Smart move,” Hades said. “Although taking orders from a girl is so—”

“Like what you do with Persephone.” The words tumbled out of my mouth.

Jodi, now is not the time to anger Hades, Medusa said.

I hadn’t meant to say it out loud.

Hades let go of my shirt and raised his hand to me.

“She’s gone, you know. Persephone. You thought she’d come back because she was developing feelings for you, but you were wrong. She played you, and she won’t be back until fall, when you force her to be here.”

Hades let out a sound that was almost a roar. His hands burst into flames.

“See what dealing with us has done to you. It’s not worth it.”

“You’re right.” Hades calmed. The flames disappeared. “You’ve just given me all the reason I could ever need to end your lives right now.”

No! That wasn’t my point at all!

Hades looked around. “As much as I’d love to start with you, Jodi Marshall, I think I’ll save you for last. I want you to watch your friends die. I want you to witness their pain. I want to see you suffer.”

Medusa, what do we do?

Before she could answer, Hades disappeared. That wasn’t what I was expecting. We looked around, trying to find him before he snuck up on us. Alex reached for my hand. I squeezed it. If this was the end, I wanted to be with him.

Even Victoria and Troy’s followers looked scared. They may not have been with us right now, but they were still Ophi. And now that Victoria and Troy were unconscious on the ground, they had no one to protect them—not that Victoria or Troy would sacrifice their own lives to save anyone else.

He’s toying with you all, Jodi. He’ll go for the easiest target first. I was so on edge wondering where Hades was and when he’d pop out that I jumped at the sound of Medusa’s voice in my head.

Why? He has the element of surprise. He could take down any one of us.

He could, but he won’t. He’ll start small and make each death worse until he gets to you.

“Anyone see him?” I asked.

Everyone shook their heads, even Abby. Look who was suddenly jumping the Hades ship. If she wasn’t Arianna’s daughter, I’d have taken her down by then.

Medusa, who is the weakest one here?

I think you already know.

McKenzie? She was the sweetest girl I’d ever met, but she wasn’t exactly helpless. Her powers had been coming along before we got here. Leticia? She’d still been struggling to get hold of her Ophi abilities. It must be her. I walked over to Leticia, still on the ground by Quinn. He’d hurt her so much, Tony hadn’t been able to get her up. I remembered how much I’d hated training with Quinn. He couldn’t stand any weakness. No wonder he’d chosen to punish Leticia.

Alex let go of my hand, but he stayed no more than two feet away from me. He even bent down to Leticia with me. “Stay by me, okay, Leticia?”

She looked around, and the color drained from her face. “You think he’s coming for me first?”

I couldn’t lie to her. “Yes, but I’m here and so is Alex. We’ll protect you.”

She nodded, but her lip trembled. I helped her to her feet, and Alex stood on the other side of her. We were shielding her with our bodies. I turned around, keeping my back to Leticia, and Alex did the same.

“Eyes open, everyone. Yell the second you see anything.” I was leading again, and this time, it felt right.

“We’re not going to see him until he’s right on top of us,” Jared said. “The best we can hope for is to scream, but most likely, it will just be the agonizing cry of the life leaving our bodies.”

I shook my head. As much as that was probably true, I had to hope Medusa and I could stop Hades before he killed anyone. Hope was all I had right then.

It was silent for a moment, and then I heard Hades laugh. He appeared right behind Jared and waved at me. I lunged for them, but Hades touched his finger to Jared’s shoulder. Jared’s eyes rolled back, and he slumped to the ground.

He was dead.

I froze, staring at Jared’s lifeless body. Instead of his face, I saw Matt’s. Jared was like family to Matt, and now he’d be in the afterlife with him. I’d killed Matt and so many people he loved.

Jodi, you need to get a hold of yourself. Jared is gone, and the others will be too if you don’t do something. Medusa was the voice of reason as usual. I had to get past Matt, and now Jared, too. We need to join our powers to show him he can’t do this. If we don’t do something big soon, he’ll keep killing everyone.

I could only think of one thing that would get his attention and keep him from killing anyone else. Let’s raise every soul in Tartarus.

We can’t raise every soul. The Titans are in the pit of Tartarus. Believe me, you don’t want them here.

No, and neither did Hades. We’ll keep them in our back pockets. Threaten to raise them if need be. Hell, I’d raise anyone or anything to end this once and for all.

I willed my blood to mix, and I felt Medusa channeling her power as well.

Focus on mixing our powers together. We have to blend them so you’ll have total control over them.

You’re giving me total control over your powers? I thought we were in this together.

I’m right here, but only one of us can use the power. It’s your body. I won’t take it over on you. She didn’t say it, but there was an implied “unless I need to” attached to that sentence.

I was so focused on Medusa and joining our powers that I’d lost sight of Hades again. I turned from Jared and searched for Hades’ smug smile. He had vanished again. He was going to sneak-attack someone else, the coward.

“Alex, stay with Leticia. Everyone be ready to run. The second you see swirling smoke, get out of here.”

“Why don’t we just run for it now?” McKenzie asked.

“It’s too risky. We wouldn’t get far before Hades attacked one of us.”

“Jodi, what are you doing?” Alex sounded out of breath. He must have been freaking out. “What’s the plan?”

“You’ll see.” I wasn’t about to verbalize it, not without knowing where Hades was or if he was listening in.

Let’s do this, I said to Medusa. I reached out to the souls that were in Tartarus with us, the ones in this section at least. I’d leave the pit as a last resort. For the first time, the raising was easy and painless. The souls knew I was trying to free them. Most of them had seen me here with them. They willing latched on to Medusa’s and my power, hitching a ride out of Hell.

“No!” Hades appeared in front of me this time.

“Jodi, look out!” Alex rushed to me.

Hades reached for me, but my skin was literally on fire now. As he was able to produce flame himself, I doubted it would burn him, but he pulled away. I’d at least succeeded in shocking the hell out of him. Hades changed tactics as I raised more souls. They swirled around us and out of Tartarus. Hades looked up at them before glaring at me.

“You think I can’t stop you?” He grabbed Alex, wrapping one arm around his neck.

“Keep going, Jodi,” Alex choked out. “Let him kill me. As long you beat him, I don’t care what he does to me.”

Hades laughed. “How brave and incredibly stupid of you. She can’t beat me. I’m a god.”

My focus wavered.

Jodi, concentrate. I don’t want Alex getting hurt either, but if you stop now, Hades will win.

Oh, God. She wanted me to forget that Alex was being strangled to death. Forget that his life was in Hades’ hands.

You are the Ophi leader. You must do what’s right for the group. Alex would want you to.

I can’t lose him. I was still pulling souls from Tartarus, but my pace slowed. Please, Medusa. I can’t.

“That’s right, Jodi,” Hades said. “Back off or your precious boyfriend is mine.”