With my left hand, I reached for Arianna. Her eyes opened at my touch. I watched the color return to her cheeks, and she smiled at me in thanks. If only I could reach the others.

Hades had been silent for too long. He was contemplating his next move. I didn’t doubt he was trying to torture us by making us wait for his decision. More torture or let us return to the Fields of Asphodel. I had no idea which way he was leaning.

Alex and Arianna were okay now, so I stopped transferring my power and let go of Arianna’s hand. I held on to Alex, though. No matter what happened, we were in this together.

“Very well.” Hades stared down at me. I hadn’t even realized he’d left Chase and come back this way. I was lost in Alex’s eyes, pretending I was anywhere but here. Hades waved his hand, and a cloud of black smoke swirled around us, lifting us in the air. Leticia and McKenzie clutched onto each other, and even Lexi looked scared, reaching for Arianna’s hand. Somehow, I knew Hades was returning us to the Fields. He wasn’t ready to let us die just yet. He had other plans. I just didn’t know what they were.

As we were placed in the asphodels, I thought about how to reach the human part of my soul. I had to find a way to rip it from my body, and I had to find a new body to put it into.

“So, what, do we pretend we’re inches from death every time Hades tortures us? Is that the new plan?” Lexi was near hysterics. I was used to her being so sure of herself. She’d once told me Abby was nothing compared to her. That she was the real bitch in the family, but I could see glimpses of what Arianna was holding onto. Lexi wasn’t all evil. The power had consumed her, but not to the extent it had consumed Abby.

“We’ll figure something out,” I said. “For right now, I have to work on tapping into the human half of my soul.”

Tony put his hand on my shoulder. “Can you communicate with Medusa from down here? Maybe she can tell you how to do this.”

“The last I spoke with her was when we first got here. She said she couldn’t help me.” I sighed. “We’re on our own.”

“Okay.” Tony nodded. “Then you need to mix your blood. Tap into your powers and try to reach out to your own soul.”

Alex stepped closer to me so our shoulders were touching. “No way. Until she has a body to put her soul into, this is too risky. I mean, what if she sends her soul floating into the nearest body? As far as we know, that could be inside Tartarus.”

The bodies Hades took from the cemetery at the school. Alex was right.

“All right. New plan. We have to convince Hades to let us serve him. To cut the time we spend in Tartarus down even more and let us help him with the other jobs he has in the underworld.”

“Why would he do that?” McKenzie asked.

Leticia was the one to answer this time. “Because he’s too busy. He’s overseeing this whole place. Judging souls, keeping souls from escaping, punishing souls—that’s a lot for one person, even if he is a god.”

I smiled at her. She may not be great in the actual raising and controlling of souls, but Leticia was smart. I needed that right now.

“Good. We can work with that. I mean, look what he did with Victoria and the others. They were supposed to be suffering down here, but instead they’re working for Hades.”

“And enjoying it way too much,” Lexi said.

I looked back and forth between her, Arianna, Leticia, and Alex. They all had family here. They were all being punished by those family members. I couldn’t even imagine how much this was hurting them.

“We didn’t cause Hades anywhere near as much trouble as they did.” I was grasping at any argument I could use to prove we could be useful, that we deserved a little break from the punishments.

Alex crossed his arms and glared at Chase, who was standing on the outskirts of our group. “That’s not entirely true. I’d say he’s a lot like Victoria and the others.” That was saying a lot coming from Alex. Yes, he hated Chase, but those were his parents he was comparing him to.

Chase laughed. “Oh, and Jodi is an angel? You all felt the pain she caused that hiker. Are you going to deny she’s done her share of—”

Before Chase could finish the sentence, Alex was on top of him. “Don’t you ever talk about her like that. Jodi never would’ve met that guy if it weren’t for you. You started all of this, you son of a bitch.” Alex punched Chase in the face and showed no sign of stopping. It took Tony, Carson, and Ethan to pry him off.

I stared at Chase’s bloody face, finding it hard to feel sorry for him. Everything Alex had said was true. Chase coming to the school had been the turning point. He’d brought us all down—way down to the underworld. Even Ethan stared at his son like he was to blame. After Chase had made it clear he was willing to sacrifice his own father, Ethan had turned on him, too. Or maybe he just finally saw Chase’s true colors.

Arianna had told me that some Ophi are corrupted by the power in our blood. Her husband, Abby and Lexi’s father, had been. Part of me understood why it was so easy to give in to that power and turn off all emotions. We weren’t human, after all. Maybe that was why I was so desperate to move forward with my plan and reconnect with the human that once lived inside me.

“What should we do with him?” Ethan asked, surprising us all. I knew he wasn’t happy with his son, but I didn’t think he’d ask a group of necromancers who hated Chase to decide his fate.

“Leave him. Let him handle things on his own. He’s not one of us, and he never will be.” I stepped toward Ethan, searching his face for the truth. A sign that he really was abandoning Chase and joining us. “Whether or not you’re one of us is yet to be seen. Understand I’m giving you one chance. That’s it. The second you blow it, I’m done with you. We’re done with you. Got it?”

He nodded.

I motioned for the group to follow me, putting some distance between us and Chase. I could’ve used the life-restoring power in my blood to heal him in seconds, but I didn’t want to. He needed to feel pain. He needed to know he couldn’t mess with us. I’d let him control me for too long, and I was done.

We moved through the Fields, walking off the events of the day—or days. I wasn’t sure how long we’d been here. I would’ve killed for a hot shower. It was the only thing that really calmed me down. Since learning I was an Ophi, I’d taken more showers than I probably had my entire life.

Leticia grabbed my arm, bringing me to a sudden stop. “Jodi.”

“What?” I looked at her, but her eyes were focused off to my right. “Did you see something?”

I figured it could’ve been any one of our victims. Someone she’d accidentally killed and now they were roaming these Fields for all eternity. I knew, if I saw the hiker or any of the other poor people I’d killed, I’d need more than a moment to freak out and regroup.

“I’m not sure, but isn’t that—?” She pointed to a group of souls, wandering aimlessly. At first I had no idea what she was trying to tell me. There were two women and an older man with them, but none of them looked familiar.

“Leticia, I don’t see—” They parted, and I saw who Leticia was talking about.

Matt.

No. There had to be a mistake. Matt was a good person. He was perfect. He’d never hurt anyone. If anyone should end up in the Elysian Fields, it was him. I moved toward him, determined to prove my eyes were deceiving me. It had to be someone who looked like Matt. Looked like him but wasn’t him. That was the only explanation that made sense to me.

“Jodi.” Alex reached for my arm as he followed. “Don’t. Please, don’t.” He gently tugged on my arm, making me turn to him and breaking me from the spell that had taken hold over my body.

“It can’t be him.” My words shook with the threat of tears. “He was too good to end up here. I have to prove to myself that it’s not him.”