Touch Of Death: Face Of Death Part 9

Matt's face twisted in disgust. I reached for him, but he pulled away.

"Alex was only trying to help me. I just didn't know it. He's like me. He saved my mom. I killed her, Matt. It was an accident. We were cooking, and I cut my hand. I tried to stay away, to tell her the truth about me, but she grabbed my hand and then... If Alex hadn't been there, she'd be dead. He saved her, and then I left. I went with him to a school to study with other Ophi. He's really sweet."

"How soon?"

"How soon what?"

"How soon after I died did you take off with him?"

I closed my eyes, feeling the threat of tears again. "Matt."

"I have to know. I'm trying to be really patient and understanding right now, but I need to know this."

"I don't want you to hate me. I was crushed when you died."

"How soon?"

Payback really was a b.i.t.c.h. This was proof. I was paying for everything I'd done wrong. This was supposed to be my way of making up for all the things I'd done to Matt. I'd saved him from the underworld, yet here he was with me and in more pain than he'd been in Hades' hands.

I bit my lower lip and inhaled deeply. "I left the night of your funeral."

A strange half-cough, half-laugh escaped Matt's lips. "The night of my funeral? Wow."

"My mom died. I couldn't stick around and chance killing her again. What if Alex wasn't there when it happened again? I couldn't risk it."

"And when did you and Alex..." He couldn't even say the words.

"It sort of happened gradually. I didn't plan on it. You have to understand it nearly killed me to lose you." I didn't want to tell him about me bringing him back wrong, about how I watched him rip apart a bunny with his teeth. He didn't need to know that.

Refusing to look at me, Matt stared off at the open road as we kept in the cover of the trees. "Does he treat you well?"

"Do you really want to talk about him?" I didn't want to rub his face in the fact that I'd moved on. He didn't deserve that.

"No. How long has it been since I died, and why am I in the wrong body now?"

"A few months. I couldn't bring you back. Not at first, anyway. When Hades took me and the others to the underworld, I found you. You were wandering around in this place called the Fields of Asphodel. I didn't think you belonged there. You're too good to be trapped in an afterlife where you felt nothing at all. And when you recognized me, I knew I had to free you, raise your soul. I found a young couple who'd just died, and I raised us both."

He turned to me, meeting my eyes for the first time in minutes. "You wanted to be with me again? Is that why you did this?"

I could've lied, made him believe I did this all for us, but when I returned my soul, it would crush his heart all over again.

"I have to free my friends. They're trapped and being tortured. My body is still being tortured, too. My soul can't stay split like this."

"So, we can't be together, even though you're human right now."

"I won't be human for long." He was silent for a while, and I didn't know what to say to make this easier on him.

"Do you need help finding a way to free your friends?"

I nodded. "But I understand if you don't want to help me."

He took my hand and squeezed it. "I'll help you. I can't change the way I feel about you, though."

Did he hate me now? Was that what he was trying to tell me?

"I won't try to pressure you into changing your mind about me, but I won't hide my feelings either. I'm still in love with you."

Pain tore through my insides. It was going to be torture for both of us to be this close and unable to act on all these unresolved feelings. My body felt like it was being hit by a thousand hammers at once.

"Jodi?" Matt squinted at me and grabbed me by my shoulders as my eyes rolled back into my head.

It wasn't heartache I was feeling. My body was being tortured in Tartarus, and the pain was forcing me to tune into the Ophi half of my soul.

Chapter 12.

I cried out in pain, and Matt carefully lowered me to the gra.s.s so I wouldn't hurt myself. I saw glimpses of Victoria looming over me, smiling as she continued to deliver my torture. "Service with a smile," she'd called it. She was talking to me, but I couldn't hear her over my own screams. I felt the h.e.l.lfire burning me from the inside out. This wasn't the normal torture. I wasn't reliving a death I'd caused. Victoria was burning me the same way Hades had after I'd raised the entire cemetery in my sleep.

"You ready to torture your father's soul yet?" Victoria asked, easing up only enough for me to answer.

My dad? "No!" What had I missed? Hades was torturing me by trying to make me torture my own father?

"Then I guess I get the pleasure of torturing you both." Victoria smiled, and I turned to see my seventeen-year-old father on the ground next to me in Tartarus. His eyes said he was more concerned for me than himself.

"Jodi!" My name echoed in my ears. Matt's hand was on my face. "Look at me. Focus on me." His voice was firm, demanding my attention.

I choked back the fire in my throat. My eyes watered, and I clenched my teeth against the searing pain shooting through me. Dad's cries tore through me worse than the h.e.l.lfire.

"Jodi!" Matt was screaming now. "d.a.m.n it, listen to me!" Matt had never yelled at me. Never cursed at me.

I opened my eyes, seeing double. Victoria's image hovered over Matt's with a faint ghostly glow.

"Good," Matt said. "Tune it out. It's just me, okay. You're not there. You're here with me." He took my face in his hands. Please, don't kiss me. Alex-he was near me, near my body in Tartarus. Matt leaned toward me as I shoved the image of the underworld out of my mind. I turned my head away from Matt, and he paused inches from my face.

"I'm okay now." But my dad wasn't. I never thought I'd see him again, but of course Hades would make me watch Dad suffer.

Matt hung his head in relief. "I was trying to shock you out of it. I wasn't really going to kiss you again. I know you're with... I guess it worked."

"I'm going to have to learn to keep those thoughts out. Hopefully, my Ophi half is doing a better job tuning out what's going on here."

"It's almost like you're two people now."

"I know. Even with all the crazy things I've been going through, this tops them all."

"You okay to get up?"

I nodded. "I think so."

He gave me his hand and pulled me up, going slowly to make sure I was really all right. "What do we do now?"

"I have to get back to the school. Medusa's spirit is trapped in a statue we have there. Normally, I can call her and she'll appear in my mind, but I don't have any of my Ophi powers now. I'm hoping, if I connect to the statue, I'll be able to talk to her."

Matt rubbed the back of his neck. "Medusa's spirit? Really?"

"I know how it sounds, but it's true. Listen, you don't have to come along. You can start over. Go somewhere no one knows Brian."

"I don't have anyone anymore." He looked down at his feet. "Except you."

"Do you want to come with me?"

"Do you mind?"

"No. Actually, I was kind of hoping you'd come along. We didn't really get to say goodbye to each other. I've been carrying the memory of you and the last time we were together for months now. I'd like a better memory for when I-"

"Go back to being Ophi and can't be around me anymore?" His big brown eyes spoke volumes.

"You know, all Ophi have green eyes. It's really nice to see your brown eyes again, even if these aren't really yours."

He smiled. "I always loved your eyes."

Things were getting weird again. These feelings just wouldn't go away, especially when we stared into each other's eyes like this.

"We should go. We can't exactly stay in this town. Someone will recognize Liz and Brian." We started walking again. Our only chance of not drawing attention to ourselves was to find one of those donation bins and get some normal clothes.

We came to a fork in the road. "Which way?" Matt asked.

Neither of us had a clue where we were. "Let's go right," I said. "It's the right side of Medusa's body-and mine-that has the power to restore life. Seems like a good way to go."

"Whatever you say." Matt smiled at me, a smile that said he'd follow me anywhere. This was not going to be easy. Matt was a gentleman, and I knew he wouldn't try anything as long as I was adamant about Alex. But what if my human soul couldn't hold on to my Ophi feelings for Alex?

We walked along the road in silence. No cars drove by, and the streetlights were few and far between. I tripped over a dead animal, and Matt grabbed my arm to keep me from faceplanting in the dirt on the shoulder of the road.

"You know, a few months ago, I would've been afraid I'd raise the poor thing."

"I still can't believe you can do that."

"It takes some getting used to."

We came to a traffic light, and we both smiled. This was a good sign. It meant we were getting closer to civilization. Maybe we'd find somewhere to get clean clothes. At this point, I wasn't opposed to stealing from a clothing store. I'd find a way to pay for it later.

"Right again?" Matt asked at the intersection.

I nodded. It was only our second right so we wouldn't be heading in a circle or square that would lead back to the hospital or cemetery.

We walked about another half mile before we started to see lights. Neon lights.

"Stores!" I never thought I'd be so happy to see a store, especially a drugstore.

"Look." Matt sounded equally as happy. He pointed to the sign across the street from the drugstore. It was a secondhand shop, and outside was a donation bin.

"Yes!" I whirled around and hugged Matt. He lifted me off the ground and squeezed me. Our faces were inches apart, and we stared at each other. My smile slowly faded, and I lowered my eyes. "Sorry."

Matt didn't say a word as he lowered me to the ground. "Ladies first." He motioned for me to lead the way.

Alex, Alex, Alex, Alex. Alex was counting on me. He was probably worried sick about me. I couldn't do anything to jeopardize what I had with him. Matt was only temporary. I wouldn't be human forever. I tried so hard to convince myself of all these things. To be rational. Only ... the human heart isn't rational. A huge part of me wanted to finish what Matt and I had started.

The metal container creaked as Matt held open the lid. "So, do I dive in and start digging for something appropriate?"

"How about you reach in? I don't want to have to pry you out of there if you get stuck."

He laughed. "Okay." He reached his arms in and pulled out a yellow tube top. I shook my head, and he tried again. This time he got a pair of neon-green pants.

"Oh, they're so you," I said.

"Remember you have to be seen with me."

"Touche."

Matt reached in again. "Oh, I've got the perfect outfit for you. So perfect that I'll agree to wear the green pants if you put this on." This was going to be bad. Matt held up the most hideous floral and paisley-print dress that only a senile old great-great-grandma would wear. "What do you think?"

I shook my head. "I don't think it goes with my eyes. Darn." I faked an upset tone.

"All right, your turn. I can't reach anything else."

"My arms are shorter than yours. How do you expect me to reach in there?"

"I'll hold you up. I bet you'd fit in there just fine."

"You won't let me fall in?" I knew he wouldn't. I trusted Matt with my life. The only reason I'd asked was because...well, I was flirting. I cursed myself for it.

"I'd never let anything happen to you." He was dead serious.

I nodded, and he waved me closer. As I put my hands on the metal container, Matt placed his hands on my waist. He counted to three and lifted me up. Leaning forward, I reached both my arms into the container. I was dangling upside-down, held up by Matt's arms. I tried to push the warm feel of his touch from my mind as I sifted through the clothes. Most were nowhere near my size or Matt's. I was about to give up hope when I found what felt like a t-shirt and a pair of jeans near the bottom of the bin. They felt big, so I guessed they were men's. I also grabbed another smaller pair of jeans and a lightweight zip-up hoodie.

"Okay. Pull me out of here."

Matt carefully brought me back out of the container. His body pressed up against mine. He cleared his throat and backed away, running his fingers through his hair and avoiding my eyes. Yup. We both felt the pull between us.

I forced myself to look at the clothes in my hands under the light of the thrift store sign. "Hopefully these will work." I handed Matt the jeans and shirt.

"We should find a bathroom." He pointed to the gas station two stores down. "That'll work."