I wondered if he had any trouble sleeping. Probably not. “Fine.” I looped my arm through Alex’s as we walked past Chase.

Breakfast was louder than ever. No one could stop talking about the Ophi from Serpentarius coming today.

“What time are they getting here?”

“Are any of the guys cute?”

“Should I set some extra plates?”

“Whoa,” I said. I didn’t really know the details. Chase was the one who had convinced Mason and the others to come. I turned to Chase. “Tell us what you know.”

He downed his orange juice and leaned back in his chair. “Okay, Uncle Mason said they’d be here some time today. He had to close things up there. I’m sure he worked late last night, so I’m guessing they won’t be here before noon.”

Arianna nodded and got up from the table. “I’ll plan for a big lunch then. What are we taking about, number wise? I’ve made up all the beds to be on the safe side, but I need to know how much food to make and how many plates to set.”

Chase counted on his fingers. “There’s Uncle Mason, Aunt Carol, Thayer, Jared—”

“Jared?” I jumped at the name. I knew him. He was Matt’s cousin.

“Yeah, he’s a bouncer there.”

“I know. I used to date his cousin.”

Alex put his hand on my leg. He’d known Matt. They hadn’t gotten along, and Alex had ended up having to kill Matt after I turned him into a bunny-eating zombie, but he knew I had cared about him. He knew it wasn’t easy for me to talk about him. “You going to be okay with having him here?”

I nodded. “But I’m confused. How were they cousins? Matt is—was—human.”

“They weren’t really cousins.” Chase surprised me. I didn’t know he knew who Matt was.

“You knew Matt?”

“Yeah. I told you I used to hang out with humans a lot.” The way he said it made it sound like he and I had had some big heart to heart. I knew it was intended to make Alex suspicious. “Jared introduced us. Their parents were good friends, and Matt always called Jared’s father Uncle Thayer, so Matt assumed Jared was his cousin. They weren’t really related.”

I couldn’t help feeling jealous that Chase and so many other Ophi could be around humans and keep their powers under control. I wanted to change the subject. “So who else is coming?”

Chase eyed me for a second before rattling off five more names.

“All nine of them.” Arianna looked stressed. Sometimes I forgot that she used to work there and knew all of them. “I’ve got a lot of work to do this morning.”

“We’ll clean up after breakfast, and we can help with lunch, too,” I said.

“Oh, no you won’t. You all have more important things to be doing.” She turned and winked at Randy. “I heard someone has almost gotten the hang of summoning multiple souls. Wouldn’t it be impressive to show the other Ophi from Serpentarius when they arrive?”

Randy smiled and took another bite of his pancake. “That’s why I’m eating a little extra this morning. I want to have enough energy to get it right this time.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him summoning the dead had nothing to do with food. He was so excited.

“I’m ready to get out there when you are, Randy.” I finished my coffee. I usually tried not to drink caffeine, but with the little sleep I got it was a necessity this morning.

“Just let me finish these first,” he said with his mouth full.

“Are you two training alone?” Alex asked, keeping his voice low.

“I think that would be best. Randy is really close to getting this right. I want to help him as much as possible.”

Alex nodded. “I’ll take Leticia and work on controlling souls after they’ve been raised. She’s getting better. I think in a few more days she’ll have it.”

“Take her to connect with Medusa before you go out. I think that will give her the confidence boost she needs.”

“Good idea.”

“Does this mean you and I aren’t going to work on joining our powers?” Chase was standing right behind me. I hadn’t even noticed he’d gotten up from his seat.

“Oh, um, yeah. Not today. Helping Randy is more important right now.”

Chase shook his head. “I doubt that. Uncle Mason is going to be pissed if he gets here and finds out we lied about our combined powers.”

I looked at Alex. He was trying to stay calm, I could tell. I also knew him well enough to know it was a struggle for him.

“We’ll tell Mason that it’s a power drain on me, and we had to slow down our training until my blood gets used to the connection.” I pulled that out of nowhere, but I thought it sounded pretty good.

Chase glared at me for a second before walking out of the dining room.

“Guess that means I’m stuck with him this morning,” Alex said.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. I’d rather have him where I can see him. I don’t trust him, and I don’t want him near you.”

Randy shoved his last pancake into his mouth. “Ready.”

I laughed. “Me, too.”

Alex smiled at me. “See you out there in a few.”

I nodded. “Good luck today, Leticia. I have a good feeling about this morning.”

She smiled, but it was a timid smile. “Thanks. I’ll do my best.”

I took Randy out to the row of graves that still had bodies in them. I picked two at the end of the row. I sort of remembered them being a man and a woman, possibly a couple at one time.

“This will work,” I said.

Randy took a deep breath and pulled a pocketknife out of his jeans. “Wish me luck.”

“You don’t need luck. You’ve got this.” I was trying to be more encouraging, like a good teacher.

Chase came out of the school and watched us. Or should I say watched me? Randy was the picture of concentration. He cut the tip of his right index finger and dripped blood on each grave. I tried to focus on Randy, on helping him tune in to his own blood and raise both bodies in front of him, but it was hard to do with Chase staring at me. I hoped Alex and Leticia would get out here soon. As the corpses climbed to the surface, I saw Randy shake.

“Relax. Remain in control. You need to give two separate commands now. At the same time. One aloud and one in your mind. Your blood will carry the silent message to the soul. Got it?”

He nodded, but he swallowed hard, showing his fear.

“I’m right here if you get into trouble, but I know you can do this.”

Before the bodies were fully out of the ground, Randy started spouting orders. “Stop! Don’t come any closer. Stay where you are. Don’t move until I tell you to.” He got quiet, and I knew he was repeating the orders in his head, but the one corpse, the male, wasn’t listening.

“Jodi!” Randy yelled.

“Stop him, Randy.” I didn’t want to take over. I didn’t want another incident like with Leticia. If Randy thought I didn’t have confidence in him, he might never master his powers. “You can do this. Concentrate.”

He stumbled backward, falling over a headstone. He toppled to the ground, cringing like a baby. I’d never seen him so scared. It wasn’t like him at all. The zombie stalked over to him.

“Stop him!” I yelled again. “You have the power, not him. Use it!”

But Randy didn’t even try. He cowered on the ground while the zombie jumped on top of him. Randy’s scream pierced the air as the zombie bit into his shoulder.

“Randy!” Leticia yelled, running toward us. Alex was right with her.

I was frozen, unable to believe what was happening a few feet in front of me. The zombie collapsed on Randy’s chest. Alex rushed over and pulled the corpse off. I saw Randy’s blood dripping down the side of the man’s mouth. The poisoned blood had killed him instantly.

“It’s okay,” Alex said, leaning over Randy. “It’s not that bad. Really.”

But it was that bad. The zombie had bitten a chunk of flesh from Randy’s shoulder. Randy was bleeding all over the ground. Alex pulled his shirt over his head and applied pressure to Randy’s neck.

“He needs a doctor.”

Chase stepped forward so he was next to me. “One of the Ophi who’s coming here from Serpentarius used to be a doctor. An Ophi doctor. His name’s Carson. He can help.”