Touch of Death (22 page)

“Yeah. Okay.”

We went upstairs, but instead of stopping on the second floor where our rooms were, we went up to the third floor. It was pretty awesome. We passed a library that stretched the length of one entire wing of the mansion, a sunroom, some rec rooms with movie theater screens, and a few classrooms. Alex brought me into a classroom and sat down.

“How long have your parents been in charge here?”

“My grandparents were the ones who found this place. They wanted a safe place for Ophi to meet and teach the younger generations. Somewhere other than Serpentarius. The Ophi there don’t really believe in using all their powers. My parents came here after…”

“Your grandparents died? Is that possible? I mean, can’t you use your powers to bring them back?”

“That’s the ironic thing about Ophi. We can’t use our blood on each other. When we die, we die.”

“That doesn’t seem fair.”

“It’s another way Hades makes sure there aren’t too many Ophi running around. We don’t get to live forever. We’re not immortal.”

“Wow. So, that’s why the Ophi take the whole having babies at twenty-five thing so seriously.” Something in my head clicked. “But wait. How did my dad end up having me at sixteen?”

Alex stood up. “We should probably head back downstairs. My parents must be wondering where we are.”

“Hang on.” I grabbed his arm. “You know something. Spill.”

“Look, I’m not supposed to be telling you so much. My parents and the other adults should be the ones explaining this to you.”

“Yeah, well, they aren’t here right now. You are.”

He sighed and sat back down. “There’s a reason I was sent to find you. You aren’t just another Ophi. You’re different.”

“Yeah, yeah. We’ve been through all that.”

“Not all of it. Your dad did something that other Ophi can’t. He had you at sixteen. And he had you with a non-Ophi girl.”

“So?”

“So, it’s never happened before, and it won’t ever happen again. At least that’s what the prophecy says.”

“What exactly are you saying?”

“I’m saying you’re…”

“Seriously, spit it out already.”

“You’re descended from Medusa. The one whose blood started the Ophi line.”

I slammed my hand on the desk. “Alex, I know all this already. I’m supposed to save our kind from becoming extinct. But how?”

“Your blood is different than ours. If you learn to control your power, you’ll be able to raise Ophi as well as humans.”

“Raise Ophi? Won’t that anger the gods or something? I don’t exactly want Hades coming after me.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.” He didn’t sound convincing. “We aren’t talking about raising all the Ophi and taking control of the world or anything.”

“Then what are we talking about?” I needed a straight answer. No more talk about prophecy and saving the Ophi race. I wanted specifics. “Am I supposed to make it so Ophi can be immortal?”

“I don’t really know.”

“Don’t know, or don’t want to tell me?” I got the feeling he was worried about getting in trouble for telling me too much.

“I don’t know.” He looked down at his desk like there was something really interesting written across it. “The adults pretty much keep us on a need-to-know basis. I can’t wait until my birthday. Then I’ll be eighteen, and they’ll finally let me in on their meetings. I’ll be an adult.”

Somehow, I thought it bothered him more that his parents were keeping information from him than that he wasn’t old enough to be in the Ophi meetings yet. I couldn’t imagine not being close to my mom. Then again, I was going to have to start imagining it. I wasn’t going to be allowed to be close to her anymore. I couldn’t even call her. But mayb… “What do you know about my dad?”

“Not much. He was Ophi.”

“Was?” He did know something. He was talking in the past tense. “Do you mean he’s dead?” There was way too much death in my life.

Alex stopped staring at his desk. “I think so. I overheard my parents talking before I was sent to get you. They said your dad was important. He had more power than the others, but he had refused to help the Ophi.” He paused and stared into my eyes. I couldn’t help thinking about how Victoria told me she thought my dad was a normal Ophi. That was a lie, but why did she lie to me? “The way they were talking about him—well, I could only assume it meant he was dead.”

“Maybe not.” I shrugged. “Maybe he left, and your parents were using the past tense because he was gone. He could be out there looking for me. He had no idea where Mom and I lived.”

Alex didn’t say a word, but I could tell he didn’t agree. He thought my dad was dead, and he didn’t want to upset me by saying so. I wasn’t sure why I was holding on to the idea of Dad. I’d never met him. He never attempted to find me. I shouldn’t care if he was dead, but now that I couldn’t be with Mom, I wanted to know about Dad. I had to find him, if he was alive.

Alex squinted at me, like he knew I was trying to come up with a plan. “You going to let me in on what you’re thinking?”

“I was wondering when my dad was here. Was it recently?”

“No, I don’t think so. I’d remember him.”

“Do you think he was ever here? I mean, if he didn’t want to help the Ophi, then maybe he didn’t even come here.”

“Jodi, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can help you.”

“But you must know how I can find this stuff out.”

“If you really want to know, talk to Victoria.” I’d just figured out she had lied to me about my dad. What would make her tell the truth now?

“What about your dad? You call your mom by her first name and you barely ever mention your father.”

“My parents decided that since they’re in charge, they don’t want the other Ophi to think they’re playing favorites with me. They told me to call them by their first names, like everyone else does.” He shrugged one shoulder. “It makes sense. I don’t want the others to not like me because I’m the son of the two people in charge here. We don’t even use last names in this place. Other than you, no one knows Victoria and Troy are my parents.”

Well, that explained why Abby had no problem coming on to Alex right in front of his parents. She had no clue they were related. “Family’s not all that important around here, is it?”

“We’re all family, sort of. Abby wasn’t wrong about that. Ophi do share the same Gorgon blood.”

“Yeah, but it’s not the same.”

“Maybe not.” He stood up. “Let’s get out of here. You’ll be spending enough time in these classrooms tomorrow, learning all you can about Ophi history.”

“Oh, goody.” I knew I needed to start training and figuring out my power. I had gotten lucky in the cemetery with that servant. I’d had Alex there to coach me; I think I’d only succeeded out of necessity. I’d been too horrified to fail. But the thought of sitting through hours of Mr. Quimby talking about blood and death wasn’t exactly my idea of a fun time.

“Hey, if we don’t use last names here, then what will I call Mr. Quimby tomorrow?”

“Tony. His name’s Tony.”

“Tony Quimby. Sounds weird. This is definitely going to be strange for me. I’ve never called a teacher by his first name.”

“Jodi, you were homeschooled for most of your life. You called your teacher Mom until you were almost seventeen. If you could get used to the whole Mr. and Mrs. thing, you can get used to this.” He had a point. “You want me to show you around some more, or do you want to go back to your room?”

“My room?” My heart skipped. He wanted to go back to my room?

“Yeah, I’ll walk you back. It’s on the way to my room.”

“Oh.”

He smiled at me. “What? Did you think I meant—”

“No!” I answered way too quickly. “I knew what you meant.” I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn’t buying it. “I thought maybe we’d have a meeting or some kind of lesson before bed. That’s all.”

“Right.” He nodded. “Victoria and Troy actually cancelled tonight’s lesson. They said it was a special treat so the rest of us could get to know you better.” We started back toward our rooms on the second floor.

“Am I supposed to get in my PJs and go knock on Abby’s door?”

“Please, don’t. I’m thinking you two might want to keep your distance.”

Only I couldn’t do that. She had my locket. I was sure of it. We reached my door, and Alex gently squeezed my arm. “Sleep well. You’ve got a big day ahead of you tomorrow.”

I said goodnight and went into my room, locking the door behind me. Alex was right. Tomorrow
was
going to be a big day. I had two things to find: my locket and my dad.

Chapter 21

I woke up with a plan in my head. After breakfast, I was going to do something I wasn’t very proud of: I was going to use my power to get one of the servants to let me into Abby’s room. I’d wait until I knew Abby was at her first lesson. Then, I’d get one of the servants alone and command him to open Abby’s room for me. I’d find my locket and head to my own lesson. Being new gave me the “I got a little lost” excuse. As long as I didn’t take too long to find the locket, I’d be okay.

I tried to act normally through breakfast. Mr. Quim—Tony—was there. He said it was nice to see me again, and he was looking forward to teaching me about Ophi history. I smiled and shoved some scrambled eggs in my mouth. Alex stifled a laugh. He must have known I was trying to avoid having to lie about my own enthusiasm for learning Ophi history. I shot him a look, nothing short of “shut up,” but that only made him laugh more. As soon as he finished eating, Alex whispered, “Have fun!” and gave me a double eyebrow raise. I rolled my eyes and carried my plate to the kitchen. Alex was the only one I’d seen clear his plate since I got here, and he had only done it that once. But I needed to get into the kitchen and get one of the servants alone.

I put my plate on the counter next to the sink. One of the servants was busy washing a sink full of pots. I scanned the room. There was a guy shelving cans in the pantry closet. Perfect. I walked over to him and stood by his side. Luckily, the servants didn’t question the Ophi because I had to stand there for a few minutes, trying to tap into my emotions. I did it the same way as last time, recalling painful images from the past week. As soon as I felt my blood bubbling in my veins, I put my hand on the servant’s arm. It felt waxy and cold. Ew! It took all my concentration not to freak out and run to the sink to scrub my hand, but I stayed focused.

“Come with me,” I told him. He nodded and followed me out of the kitchen. I headed upstairs, moving quickly and hoping no one stopped me. It would be difficult to explain why I had a servant tailing me. Everyone was still eating breakfast when we passed the dining room. I picked up the pace when I reached the stairs. I brought the guy to Abby’s door and turned to face him again. “Open the door.” He stared at me without moving. I realized my fear of being caught had taken over my anger, making me lose my control over the servant. “Damn it!” Well, that was one way to get mad. My blood boiled. “Open the door,” I said again.

He took a ring of keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. “Now, wait here, and do not let anyone into this room.” He nodded, and I stepped into Abby’s room, closing the door behind me.

The room was painted teal green. Not exactly what I would’ve guessed for someone like Abby. I figured she’d want her room the color of fire or even ash. The room looked a lot like mine. Not much furniture. That was good because I didn’t have much time to find the locket. I was due in my first lesson in ten minutes. I started with the dresser, since that’s where I’d found the locket in my room. I searched every drawer. Abby had enough clothes to start her own store. One drawer was filled with jeans. Just jeans. Light blue, dark blue, black, gray, and even silver. I had to admit the gray ones caught my eye. The bottom drawer was filled with letters. Unopened and marked return to sender. My stomach sank as I realized she must have sent these to her family. The address didn’t have a name other than Serpentarius. Alex was right. They had abandoned her here. They weren’t even accepting her letters.

I couldn’t let me feelings get in the way of finding the necklace, so I shut the drawer and moved on to the nightstand. An alarm clock and lamp rested on it. I turned on the lamp to give me some more light. Abby still had her curtains drawn, and her room was pretty dark. I reached around inside the lampshade, making sure she hadn’t hidden it there. I even picked up the alarm clock and looked in the battery compartment. I was desperate.

I tried the bed next, patting down the sheets and checking inside the pillowcases. Nothing. I looked under the mattress and the box spring. Nothing. I only had two minutes left or I was going to be late. I checked shoeboxes and the duffel bag on the floor of the closet. Nothing and nothing. I shut the closet and was going back to the nightstand to turn off the lamp when I heard Abby’s voice outside the door.

“What do you mean you can’t let me go into my room? It’s my room!”

“I have instructions not to let you inside this room,” the servant said. Ugh! Why hadn’t I been more specific when I gave him the order? I should’ve told him not to tell anyone I had commanded him to stand guard. I stepped closer to the door so I could hear better. Although, I was pretty sure the entire house could hear Abby yelling.