Not really, but I was hoping it wasn’t too much different than returning a soul to its own body. “Let’s reach out for one of the souls Hades took. Once we have him or her, we can use our combined powers to command the soul into the body we choose.”
“Okay, which corpse did you want to use?”
“Any one but the one we had stab himself. I don’t want to bring the soul any extra pain. I have no idea what this is going to do to it.”
Chase picked another grave and stood on one side of it. I stood on the other. We reached our hands over the grave and joined them in the middle. I could feel everyone’s eyes on us. They knew we were trying something different, and they were all definitely interested.
“Ready?” I asked Chase.
“Should I transfer power to you first?”
I didn’t know why, but I had a feeling this would require a give and take. “We’ll transfer power to each other at the same time. You push your power to me through your right hand and into my left. I’ll do the same to you. The power should circle between us that way.”
“Sounds cool. But what kind of power?”
“We need to mix our blood so it’s at full strength.”
“What do you mean? When we combine powers, we are mixing our blood.”
I shook my head. “No, I mean I’m going to mix my blood before transferring my power to you. I want you to do the same.”
He shrugged. “I can’t. You’re the only Ophi who can, Jodi. I can only give you a concentrated dose of one side of my blood.”
I knew that all too well. He’d been dosing me pretty much since he got here. “You’re not like other Ophi either. Have you tried mixing your blood?”
He nodded. “When I heard you could do it, I tried every day. I hoped I could do it, too. I can’t.” His voice was full of disappointment.
“All right. Then send me the life-restoring blood.
“I just said I can’t mix—oh wait, you don’t trust me. You think I’m going to dose you with poison.”
The others were still staring, but they weren’t close enough to hear us. Except for Alex. He was staying in earshot. “You’ve done it numerous times before. This is what I’m talking about, Chase. How can I trust you or want to work with you when you’re purposely hurting me? If I’m skeptical of you, it’s because you’ve made me be this way.”
His face turned crimson with anger. “If I were you, I’d help me calm down before I lose it and my blood takes over.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Are you saying you can’t control your emotions? That you haven’t been hurting me on purpose? Are you blaming your blood for what you’ve done to me?”
“Haven’t you blamed your emotions and blood for raising the cemetery countless times?” He yanked his hands down, pulling me directly over the grave. I stumbled forward, but he caught me. “We’re not that different.” He pressed his lips to mine, and I realized he was trying to calm down. He wasn’t trying to use his powers on me. I gave in because I didn’t want his poisoned blood to cripple me and stop me from raising this soul. I let him kiss me until his hands unclenched.
I pulled back slowly. “Are you okay now?”
“Fine. I hate that you can turn me into a monster.”
“Funny, I feel the same way about you.”
He smiled. “We’re either going to make the perfect couple or we’re going to kill each other, aren’t we?”
I laughed it off, but inside I knew it would probably be the latter of the two.
“You two going to actually raise something today, or did you just come here to make out on top of the graves?” Alex yelled.
I jumped, and I felt Chase tense up again. Crap! After I’d just calmed him down.
“Not your problem, Alex,” I called, keeping my eyes locked on Chase.
Chase smiled again. I was getting better at fooling him.
“Okay, let’s try this.” We joined hands and closed our eyes. “On three.” I felt Chase’s power already flowing to me. For a second I wanted to let him dose me with that amazing energy. I was high on it, but I knew I had to transfer my power to him. I willed my blood to mix, feeling it bubble beneath my skin. I sent him a little at first, waiting to see how he’d respond. I opened my eyes so I could watch his reaction. He threw his head back and laughed, obviously loving the feeling. I gave him a little more power before I reached out toward the underworld.
It took me a second to realize Chase wasn’t helping. He was too busy enjoying the power surging through him. “Chase, I need your help. Stay with me.”
“Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry at all. “Is this how I make you feel? Because this is seriously awesome stuff. No wonder you throw yourself at me when I touch you.”
I felt my cheeks redden. Alex and the others were watching. I hoped they were far enough away not to hear Chase.
Chase pulled me closer to him. He was acting exactly like I did when he used his power on me. He wanted to wrap his arms around me, but I couldn’t let him break our connection or mess up what we were trying to do. I clenched his hands tighter and gently pushed him back.
“Focus. Reach for the soul with me.”
“Only if you promise we can do this again later when we won’t be interrupted by souls.”
I sighed, partly because Alex was having to watch all this and I knew it was killing him, but mostly because I understood why Chase wanted to connect like this more. I wanted it, too. I had to stay focused. I had to find a good use for the power Chase and I had.
“I promise,” I said.
Chase squeezed my hands, and I felt the power circle through us. He was concentrating now, helping me call out to the souls Hades had taken. I settled for the first one that answered us. It was a woman. She came with us willingly at first, which was a nice surprise. Usually the souls didn’t want to come with us. But when she realized it wasn’t her body we were trying to put her in, she freaked. Her soul lashed out at us. Her screams rang through my head.
Chase squeezed me tighter. He heard her, too. For the first time, he could hear the torment the souls went through when we raised them. It was good to sense him cringing. It meant he was capable of emotion. So far today, he’d shown me that side of him more than once. It was a side of him I didn’t hate.
His breathing became heavy and labored. He clenched my hands so hard it hurt. He was getting angry at the soul. I worried what he’d do. What he’d make me do.
“Chase, relax. It’s always like this, only you never heard or felt it before. This is what I experience every time I raise a soul. It’s awful, I know, but don’t let it overtake you. Push it out of your mind.”
His hands and arms shook. I had to get him to calm down. I stepped closer to him without breaking our connection, not that I could with how tightly he was holding my hands.
“Chase, I’m right here. Focus on me. Focus on our power. Forget the soul. I’ll handle her.”
He grunted as the soul screamed so loudly I thought my eardrums would burst. She whipped around us, not wanting to get near the body we were standing above. She tried to force us apart. Chase was losing it. His anger flared up, and I felt his blood change.
“No, Chase! Don’t!” He was going to poison the soul, and in doing so, he was going to poison me.
I sent more life-restoring power to him, no longer mixing my blood but forcing concentrated bursts of the energizing power to Chase. I hoped that would snap him out of it. Instead, he countered with a shot of poison.
The soul and I screamed in agony at the same time. Chase was hurting us both. I stopped transferring power to him, too weak to give him any more. His poisoned blood was taking over mine. My vision blurred. My hearing dimmed, but I could still hear the soul screeching at us. My screams stopped, turning to choking instead. I fell to my knees, my hands still in Chase’s. He wasn’t stopping. I coughed up blood, staining the dirt beneath me.
