Read Online Stalked by Death (Touch of Death) by Kelly Hashway - Free Book Online Page B

office. Randy shrugged and headed over to Alex and Leticia to finish training.
    “I told Alex I’d meet him before dinner.” I tried to get Chase to at least slow down, but he was already pushing me through the door.
    “I think lover boy can find the dining room on his own.”
    I sighed and walked into my office, taking a seat at the desk. I had Mason’s number memorized. I’d called it about a thousand times before he’d called me back. I dialed and switched the phone to speaker.
    “Hello?” Mason answered.
    “Guess you forgot to check your caller ID,” Chase said.
    “What? Who is this?”
    I heard Mason fumble with the phone. “Jodi?”
    “Does my voice really sound that deep?” I asked.
    “No, no. Who’s with you?”
    “It’s Chase, Uncle Mason.”
    “Oh, Chase. It must be a bad connection. I didn’t recognize your voice.”
    “No problem. Listen, we’ve got exciting news.”
    “Don’t tell me you two hit it off and got engaged or something.”
    “No!” I yelled.
    Chase laughed. “Not yet.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “But Jodi and I do have a special connection. A power connection.”
    “What do you mean?” Mason asked.
    “We can combine our powers. Turns out I have more power than the average Ophi, too. Like Jodi. Together we’re unstoppable.”
    Mason was quiet on the other line, like he was thinking.
    “You need to get everyone out here, Uncle Mason. Jodi and I have so much to show you.”
    “Chase, you know I can’t. If you and Jodi are really as strong as you say, I’ll send a small group, but I need to keep enough here to keep Serpentarius up and running. That’s my best offer.”
    “Thanks, Mason. We’ll take it.” I tried not to sound disappointed, but I needed Mason. He would make a great teacher, and he could easily replace Troy. Arianna and Tony were great, but they always defaulted to me because I was the Chosen One. I needed an adult who took charge.
    “I know it’s not what you were hoping for, Jodi.”
    “That’s okay. I appreciate whatever you can do.”
    “Take care.” Mason hung up.
    “Well, I guess it’s a start.” I stood up.
    “You’re not happy,” Chase said. “I can tell.”
    “We need everyone. Otherwise we aren’t strong enough to stand up to Hades.” Even with everyone, I wasn’t sure we’d be strong enough.
    “Then I’ll get you everyone.”
    “What?”
    “I’ll see you at dinner.”
    Before I could say another word, Chase was dialing the phone again. I gave him one last glance before going to the dining room.
    “Hey, where have you been?” Alex slid a bowl of mac and cheese in front of me. I hated to admit it, but I was kind of getting used to the stuff, even if it was made with powered cheese.
    “I called Mason. He’s going to send a small group here.”
    “That’s great.”
    I shrugged. “Yeah, but we need everyone.”
    “Give it time.” He nudged me with his elbow and took another heaping forkful.
    I picked at my food, mostly moving it around to make it look like I was eating. I’d barely eaten two real bites when Chase came into the room with a huge smile. “All taken care of. They’ll be here on Monday.”
    “Who?” Leticia asked.
    “Everyone,” he said the word slowly, “from Serpentarius.”
    “Everyone?” I asked.
    “Yup!”
    Leticia squealed and threw her arms around Chase. “Oh, you’re the best! You’ve saved us all!” She turned to me. “Don’t you think so, Jodi?”
    I nodded and went back to pushing my food around with my fork. The rest of the meal was filled with happy faces and people patting Chase on the back. I should’ve been happy, but something was off.
    “We should celebrate,” Leticia said. “Do something fun for once. No lessons or talk about training for one full night.”
    I didn’t feel like celebrating. I felt like getting answers, but I was outvoted. Everyone was shouting out ideas. After what had happened during the last movie night, we skipped that idea. Randy