Touch of Death(32)

"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.

"Listen, you maggot-ridden corpse, that is my room, and I'll go in it whenever I-"

"Abigail!" Victoria's voice boomed. "What is going on here?"

"This thing won't let me in my room. I came upstairs to get something before my lesson, and he was standing here like a guard dog or something. When I told him to move, he said he couldn't allow me to go inside."

No one said anything for a moment, but I knew it wouldn't take long for Victoria to figure things out. I had to hide. There wasn't enough room under the bed, so I was going to have to be cliché and hide in the closet. I turned toward the nightstand to turn off the lamp, when I saw something peeking out from underneath. I ran over, feeling under the surface. My locket! Abby had it taped to the underside of her nightstand, but the chain was dangling down just enough to see. I yanked it free as Victoria said, "Someone's controlling him."                       
       
           



       

"They're all under someone's control," Abby said.

"No!" Victoria snapped. "Someone else is controlling him. Someone who isn't me or Troy."

I ran for the closet and ducked inside. I squeezed into the corner behind some dresses and dragged the duffel bag on top of my feet. Then I shut the door. Victoria and Abby's voices were muffled now, but I heard Victoria command the servant to step aside. She said something about him not following orders from anyone but her. Great! I made a mental note that this particular servant wasn't going to do me any good from here on out. I hoped Victoria wasn't planning on going back to the other servants and telling them the same thing. If she was smart, she would've, but I was hoping against it.

I heard a key in the lock and then Abby's voice. "It's about time. I'm going to be late for my lesson now thanks to that-" She stopped talking, and I realized why. I'd been so excited to find my locket that I'd forgotten to turn off the lamp.

"Is something wrong, Abby?" Victoria asked.

"N-no, nothing. I guess I left this light on." The lamp clicked off. Through the slatted groves in the closet door, I could see Abby reach a hand under the nightstand. She was making sure to block Victoria's view. Her nostrils flared, and she gritted her teeth when her hand came back up empty.

"Get whatever it is you need, Abigail. You're late enough as it is."

"Yes, Victoria." Abby went over to her desk and grabbed a book. Victoria motioned for Abby to follow her, but Abby stopped and stared right at the closet. She knew, but there was nothing she could do about it with Victoria ushering her out of her own room. After she left, I waited ten seconds before coming out of my hiding place. I had to make sure they would be down the hall, but if I waited too long, Abby might lose Victoria and double back, trying to trap me. I put the locket around my neck, shoving it beneath my shirt, and rushed out of there.

I headed straight upstairs and to the last classroom on the left. I spotted Abby in the room right before mine. I paused. She was telling a woman that she got held up by one of the servants. "Victoria can vouch for me," she said, as if she and Victoria were close. She turned on her heels and headed to her seat, but saw me in the process and glared. I simply smiled and waved before entering my own classroom.

"Jodi," Mr. Quim-Tony-said, "always late."

"Sorry." I took an empty seat. There were only two other people in the class, a boy and a girl. "I haven't been here long, and I keep getting confused. All the hallways look the same to me."

"Perhaps when you get to training today, you can ask Troy to teach you how to command the servants to draw you a map."

"Troy?" I was more than a little surprised to hear his name. "Troy teaches?"

"Of course. He's very powerful. What better Ophi to teach you to use your powers?"

I smiled, trying to act like Troy didn't scare me. There was something eerie about him. He didn't say much. In fact, he sort of watched while Victoria took the reins. Then, I remembered the story Alex had told me about his field trip to the park. Somehow, I knew Troy had been the instructor who'd gone with Alex.

"Now," Mr. Quim-Tony-said, "let's get moving with today's lesson." He went to the laptop at the back of the room, and in seconds an image was projected onto the screen in front of me. I gasped. Really loudly. It was an image of my locket.

"Jodi, are you okay?" Tony asked.

"Um, yeah. I think a bug flew in my mouth." The girl sitting next to me scrunched up her face in disgust. "I know, right?" I said, trying to act normal.

"All right then," Tony continued. "Does anyone know what this is?"

There was a knock on the door, and I looked up to see Abby. "Selena told me to join your class today since I was late to my own lesson." She turned and glared at me. "Apparently, I missed important instructions that she couldn't be bothered to repeat. So, here I am."

"Take a seat, Abby. We were just getting started."

Abby walked past me, knocking her book into the side of my head. "Oh, Jodi!" She put her hand to her mouth in mock horror. "I'm so sorry. I hope that didn't hurt too much."

I gritted my teeth against the pain. "Not at all." I could deal with Abby's little stunt because the second she saw the image on the screen, she'd be the one in pain. She smirked and sat down. I continued to watch her. Her eyes flickered toward the screen, and her hands clenched the edges of her desk.

"That's-"

"Yes, Abby?" Tony said. "Do you know what this is?"

She looked at me, and I smiled. "Please, tell us, Abby."

"I-I don't know." She shook her hair behind her shoulders, and I could actually see her confidence returning. "I was just surprised at how hideous it is. I mean who would wear something so ugly? Only a complete loser." Her eyes burned into me.

Tony cleared his throat. "Actually, Abby, what you're seeing is the bloodstone locket worn by Medusa herself."

I was glad Abby and I were still locked in a stare-down because I got to see the look of horror on her face.

"Medusa?" she croaked.

"That's right," Tony said. "Um, Jodi, eyes on the screen, please." I nodded and turned my attention back to the front of the room. "The bloodstone locket is the only one of its kind. It's rumored to hold a concentrated combination of Medusa's blood. Both the poison and the blood used for restoration of the dead are blended inside this locket. As you are all aware, Ophi must shed their blood, tears, saliva, or sweat to tap into these powers that Medusa bestowed upon us. But Medusa herself did not need to do any of these things. She could simply call upon both sides of her blood to become one and perform any number of miraculous feats."