Touch of Death (29 page)

“Are you sure? Because if you’re worried about Victoria, I can handle her.”

“No. I’m not worried about her. I need to process things, and I kind of can’t do that unless…” I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He’d been so helpful, and I really appreciated that, but I needed to be alone.

“Say no more. I’ll walk you to your room.” He nodded toward the door, but I reached up and kissed him lightly on the lips.

“That’s for helping me get into that filing cabinet.”

We didn’t see anyone on the way to my room. I guessed dinner had run long. Everyone was probably arguing over how to handle the situation with Hades. I was glad I’d skipped it, but my stomach rumbled. Alex looked down at my stomach. “I’ll send a servant up with something for you.”

“Thanks, but I think I’m going to crash. If I eat now, it might wake me up, and I don’t want that.”

We stopped at my door. “All right then. I guess this is goodnight.” We heard footsteps on the stairs.

“That’s probably Abby. You better go. Oh, and, Alex, thank you.” It sounded dumb and not nearly enough to express how I really felt about all he’d done, but I was short on time, so it would have to do.

He smiled and gently kissed my lips before I ducked into my room. I didn’t even bother with a shower. I climbed into bed, fully dressed. A plate of wine and cheese sat on my nightstand. One of the servants must have brought it up. My grumbling stomach wouldn’t let it go to waste. I polished off the cheese and wine and fell asleep wondering what Derek Colgan had been like.

I slept soundly, which was odd considering all I had going on in my head. I think my subconscious must have been trying extra hard to keep me in dreamland. I couldn’t blame it. I’d dreamed that my dad was alive. He came to the mansion and demanded that Victoria and Troy let him take me home with him. He said he’d find a way we could be around Mom without hurting her, and we’d be like a real family. Finally. The only strange thing was that in the dream, I wasn’t wearing Medusa’s locket. I hadn’t taken it off since I’d gotten it back from Abby. I even showered with it now. But in the dream, my neck was bare.

When I opened my eyes in the morning, the first thing I did was stretch and squint against the sunlight. I’d left my curtains open and sun poured into my room. My room, which was a mess. I sat up straight, jolted awake by the sight of clothing spilling out of open drawers. My closet was wide open and things were falling off hangers. I couldn’t help thinking it looked a lot like my bedroom at home after Alex had ransacked it and left a dead rat in my closet.

Someone had gone through my things. At first, I couldn’t figure out why. I’d barely brought anything from home, and nothing was remotely valuable. Nothing except… my hands flew to my neck. I looked down and saw nothing but my shirt.

My locket was gone.

Chapter 27

I threw the covers off me and tore the sheets apart. Tossing my pillow aside, I saw the glimmer of something gold between the bed and the headboard. My locket! I pulled it out and clutched it to my chest. Relief washed over me. I knew Medusa wasn’t my immediate family or anything, but right now, she was the only family I felt close to. And the locket was a huge part of that.

I examined every inch of it, making sure it hadn’t been damaged in any way. It looked fine. The clasp must have come loose in my sleep. I put it back on, double-checking the clasp. Satisfied that the locket was good as before, I got started on cleaning my room. Nothing seemed to be missing. Maybe because whoever did this—my money was on Abby—didn’t find anything they thought was worth stealing. I figured it must have been payback for sneaking into her room and taking back my locket.

I lingered in the shower, not wanting to head down to breakfast. Leticia was most likely still a wreck, and I doubted the group had come up with a better plan for how to stop Hades’ attacks on us. The only reason I had for going to breakfast at all was Alex. I wanted to see him. The memories of our kiss and how he’d helped me find out my dad’s name were at the forefront of my brain. He was the one person I could count on right now.

I put my fears aside and went down to the dining room. As usual, I was the last one there. People here must get up with the sun or something. Alex had his usual bowl of mac and cheese, and the moment I took my seat, a servant placed a bowl in front of me, too.

“What’s this?” I stared at the bowl of artificial cheese and elbow noodles.

“I figured you could use a little something extra to get you through your day.”

“You’ve got that right. I woke up to my room completely torn apart.”

Alex dropped his fork in his empty bowl. He leaned closer to me and whispered, “Was anything missing?”

“No.” I glanced past him to Abby. She was facing away from us, talking to Randy. I couldn’t ever remember seeing them talk before. Randy usually sat across from me, and Quinn usually sat on the other side of Abby. “It had to be Abby.”

“Why would Abby go through your stuff? You don’t exactly have anything that’s her taste. She’s—”

“Stuck up and bitchy.” The words sort of came out. I hadn’t meant to say them. At least not loud enough for anyone to hear.

Alex nodded. “That too. But I meant to say she’s really into designer labels and things that cost more money than cars.”

My eyes dropped to my plain shirt, which I’d bought off the clearance rack. “Yeah, I definitely don’t own anything like that.”

“I didn’t mean—”

I held up a hand to stop him. “No, it’s okay. I know you weren’t trying to insult me.” I looked around the table, noticing that everyone was engaged in private conversations. Yet every one of them glanced in my direction at some point or another. “Gee, I wonder who they’re all talking about?”

“Don’t worry about them. They’re still freaked out about the attack in Washington, and no one has any ideas about how to fix the problem.”

“Other than shipping me off and practically throwing me at Hades’ feet.” I took a bite of mac and cheese. I cringed at the fake cheese taste. “Ugh, really? How do you eat this stuff? I think it has an age limit of six or seven. I’m way too old to think food this gross tastes good.” I pushed the bowl away from me and sat back in my seat. Alex laughed and grabbed my bowl. He dug right in, and all I could do was shake my head as I helped myself to a plate of pancakes in the center of the table.

I looked around, deciding that, if everyone was going to be sneaking glances at me, the least I could do was catch them in the act and make them feel guilty. It was fun at first, but then I got to Victoria’s spot at the table. “Hey, where’s Victoria?”

“She was gone when I got up,” Alex said, finishing off my mac and cheese. “Troy said she was flying to Washington to check out the situation.”

“Oh.” I was shocked that she’d gone alone. I figured she’d try to make me change my mind or kidnap me while I was sleeping. I mean, what was she going to be able to do for a bunch of dead Ophi? But the good thing about Victoria being gone was that she wasn’t here to make sure Alex and I stayed apart. Troy was too busy to notice us, so things were kind of back to normal.

After breakfast Alex and I headed to the cemetery to work some more on raising multiple bodies. In fact, that was all I worked on for the next two days. All I did was eat, sleep, and train. My headaches were starting to get a little better, but the nosebleeds were just as bad. I felt so rundown at the end of it all that when we went back into the mansion, I walked right over to Medusa and grabbed both her hands.

Her power filled my blood and restored my energy. I knew that connecting with the statue like this usually drained my energy afterward, but I was already drained, and I needed the boost if I was going to be able to climb the stairs to my room. I let her power bring my body back to some sort of normalcy. And as I was about to let go, Medusa’s image rushed into my mind with such force I almost fell over.

I staggered and struggled to stay connected so she wouldn’t disappear. “What is it? Something’s wrong.”

“Yes, my child. Something is very wrong. You are no longer safe in this house. Enemies are among you. In these very walls. You must protect yourself. Things are not as they seem.” She looked down, her eyes falling on the locket. “Not at all what they seem.”

“How do I protect myself? Please, tell me what to do.”

“You must find the power within yourself. It is all you have left, but it is strong enough to save you. Your father was like you. He was strong. But he did not heed my warnings. He trusted those who should not have been trusted. They gave him blood to drink. Blood they said would awaken the powers in him. They claimed it was Gorgon blood, but it was not. It was human blood, and they used it to dilute his power. Stifle his abilities.”

“He drank blood? Like a vampire?” I shuddered at the thought.

“They slipped it into his wine. Pretended they were toasting his arrival and then every success he found after that. When he questioned the taste and thickness of the wine, they finally told him it contained blood. But they lied to him about why they were giving it to him. He didn’t discover the truth until it was too late. I could not save him, Jodi.”

My mind was stuck on something she’d said. Wine. The Ophi had toasted my arrival, too. And they’d given me wine on more than one occasion. It was different than any wine I’d ever seen, but everyone drank it. That had to mean it was okay. Unless. My wine might have been the only one laced with human blood. Maybe everyone else had been drinking regular wine. I remembered the slightly metallic taste. Could that have been blood? Ugh! I was questioning everything. I didn’t know who to trust anymore. Emotions had been on high lately, especially with the attacks on Ophi, but I’d thought that was all it was. People freaking out and acting funny because of all the bad stuff going on. Now? Maybe they had been trying to sabotage me.

I didn’t know what to think about anything. And Medusa was only here in spirit, so she couldn’t help me figure things out right now either. Still, there was one thing she could help me with.

“Can you tell me about my dad? What did he look like? What was he like?”

“He looked a lot like you. Green eyes. Dark hair. One dimple on his right cheek just like you. He was tall, too. Almost six feet. He was seventeen when I met him.”

“He was seventeen when he died,” I said.

“Yes, that is true.”

“He was so young.” I couldn’t imagine my life ending at my age. There was so much I still wanted to do. He probably had felt the same way. Or maybe he didn’t know he was going to die. I couldn’t bring myself to ask Medusa. I wasn’t ready to hear about his death yet. “Derek Colgan.” I muttered, without really meaning to.

“I see you have learned his name. And, yes, he was young. When he discovered what was really going on here, he asked me to protect you.”

“Me? But he never even met me. He left my mom right after he found out she was pregnant.”

“Yes, he had to leave. He was coming into his powers and did not want to hurt her or you, but he did see you. When you were born, he went to the hospital. He told me you were beautiful and so small. He asked me to protect you. I told him you were chosen. You would receive my locket, which would unlock your true powers.”

My head lowered. My eyes were still closed, but in my mind I could see the locket.

“Jodi,” Medusa said, “that is not my locket around your neck.”

“What? But you gave it to me.”

“I did give you a locket, but that is not it. That is a fake.”

“No, that’s impossible. The locket hasn’t been out of my sight, except for when Abby stole it. Did she switch them? No, she was upset when I got it back. She wouldn’t have been that upset if this wasn’t the real locket.” My thought and speech were mixing in my mind. A jumbled mess.

“Child, calm yourself. I can sense my blood, any Gorgon blood, and there is none inside that stone.”

Had Abby lied about everything? Was this all a big charade? She could’ve fooled me, pretended to be upset about me getting the locket back when all along it was what she’d wanted. Fueled by anger, I released Medusa’s hands and marched up the stairs. My energy level was better than normal now.

“Jodi, wait!” Alex called. I’d forgotten he’d been with me when I connected with the statue. “What’s wrong? Where are you going?”

“There’s something I have to do.” I stormed down the hallway and pounded on Abby’s door.

“She’s in a lesson right now,” Alex said.

“I need to get inside. She took something of mine.”

“What did she take? I thought you said nothing was missing from your room.”

I froze. That was it! Abby hadn’t switched the lockets back when she took it from my bathroom. She switched them a few nights ago when she ransacked my room. “That witch!”

“What?” Alex was trying to keep up with me, but I wasn’t exactly filling in any of the details for him.

“Do you have keys to the rooms? Your parents run this place, so even if they don’t want you advertising that fact, you must have certain privileges, like a master key.”

He sighed and reached in his pocket. “For the record, I never let you in here. Got it?”

I crossed my heart.