“What am I supposed to do?” Jackson asked the console. He hoped the female AI would give him a hint. She didn’t respond.
The flashing number of the stopwatch showed Jackson had already wasted two and a half minutes. He pushed down his nerves and tried to focus. Scrappy continued to fly down his path with no obstacles or obstructions in his way. Jackson wondered if he would have to lead the Magglecaw into Asena’s chamber to unlock the cage. He hoped not. The thought of Asena and Scrappy going through the maze together under a time limit sounded like the stuff of nightmares.
Think, think, he told himself. It had only taken the fastest of the tamers before him just shy of eleven minutes to finish the maze. What had they done? He doubted the maze was an exact replica every time, but surely if there was a shortcut or something, they would all have it.
Jackson took a step back and looked at the maze as a whole. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the different tunnels and paths were coded with colored paint or lights — red, blue, and green. A quick look showed Asena in a room from a blue path with only one way out. Scrappy had started in a room that had a red and green exit and was currently going down a green path. Jackson raised a finger to help him keep track of the path and traced its route throughout the maze. Unfortunately, neither of Scrappy’s paths looked like they led to anywhere that the Magglecaw could access Asena’s room from.
The clock now showed just under four minutes. In desperation, Jackson commanded Asena to hit the cage with another flame blast. He was so focused on his Lyote that he almost missed it. As soon as Asena let loose her Fire Bark, the colors of the path changed. Asena’s room was now red, and Scrappy was on a blue path. Unfortunately, the color change only complicated things more, and a few more Fire Barks and color changes from Asena didn’t make things easier. If anything else, it made the paths that much more complicated — like a somehow more frustrating color-coded puzzle cube.
With no other lead, Jackson guided Scrappy down the blue path. All of a sudden, things started to get hairier. Parts of the path were obstructed from Jackson’s view, but he could tell from his Magglecaw’s distress that Scrappy had come across some sort of obstacle. Jackson communicated to Scrappy that he needed mental images. The Magglecaw responded with images of a path choked with strings, almost impossible to crawl, let alone fly through. Based on the length of the tunnel Jackson could see Scrappy was in, and based on Scrappy’s own experience conveyed telepathically, Jackson guessed it would likely take his Djinn eight minutes to make it through. A look at the clock told him that would put him over twelve minutes total — before even getting to whatever finish line he needed to get to — way slower than the others.
What am I missing here?
Something was up. He highly doubted the camp staff would select him personally to give an unbeatable maze to. He’d missed something, but didn’t know what in the world it could be. With no other possible action, Jackson sent Scrappy back down the now-blue path to his starting room. The clock marked five minutes.
A beep sounded in the tower and Jackson looked around wildly, trying to figure out what it could mean. Nothing looked different inside. He scanned the maze and groaned. Now there were other Djinn in the maze, too. He didn’t know for sure, but Jackson thought they probably weren’t here to help. As if reading his mind, a Moldune suddenly popped up in the path in front of Scrappy and showered the Magglecaw with a Debris Shot. The bird went down in a mess of mud, gravel, and sand. Rather than pressing the attack, however, the Moldune disappeared back down its tunnel.
Come on, boy, shake it off. Jackson tried to keep the stress out of his voice and sound encouraging to Scrappy who responded with an annoyed caw as he flapped the last of the dirt out of his wings. The vain Djinn would be cleaning his feathers for days now.
Scrappy managed to climb back into the air, and Jackson could feel his ire at being covered in the Moldune’s spray attack. The Magglecaw made it back into his starting chamber and Jackson risked another look at the clock — six and a half minutes.
Okay, calm down and focus. There’s got to be something —
Jackson cried out at Scrappy’s rush of panicked emotion into his mind. A door had swung shut over the Magglecaw’s chamber.
Both of Jackson’s Djinn were trapped.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jackson yelled and smacked the console panel in frustration. Before he could think of what to do next, however, a mental flare from Asena sent him running to the other side of the observation tower.
He realized that both her and Scrappy’s doors were connected by a blue tunnel. Unfortunately, the tunnel was sealed off by doors on either side. Jackson commanded Scrappy to hit it with a Mocking Wind, and to his immense pleasure, it exploded inward. A rush of excitement hit him and Scrappy entered the tunnel, hitting the other door on Asena’s end with another Mocking Wind. It exploded outward and the two were finally together.
Jackson was then hit with an unexpected feeling of elation, but the emotion wasn’t his own. Rather, it was Scrappy’s who was apparently amused to find his partner trapped in a cage. Scrappy flew around just out of reach of Asena in a taunt that wasn’t making Jackson’s job any easier.
Scrappy, that’s enough! Jackson scolded his Djinn. Find a way to help her out.
Scrappy flew around Asena’s cage, and after disappearing behind a blind spot for a few seconds, Asena’s cage opened up. Looks like they’d purposely hidden the switch out of view of Jackson and out of reach of Asena.
The female AI’s voice filled the room. Apparently, now she was letting Jackson know just how bad he was doing.
As soon as Asena was free, however, she started to growl at the trickster flying above her.
Stand down! Stand down, stand down, stand down!
The two Djinn almost set upon each other at once, but the overpowering wave of Jackson’s mind held them in check. The only way out of the chamber at this moment was into where Scrappy was previously being kept. Luckily, it seemed like that room’s pathways shifted every minute or so. He needed them to be in that room if he didn’t want to miss his window, so he sent the pair through the tunnel without a second thought.
Jackson couldn’t have cut it any closer. As soon as they entered Scrappy’s chamber, the door disappeared. Now, only one pathway was available from the chamber — a green one. He sent the two Djinn down it as fast as they could manage — Scrappy in front so he wouldn’t try any funny business with Asena’s tail.
About thirty yards down the twisting, turning path, they came across another pair of Djinn. Jackson juggled both Djinn’s connections in his mind and commanded them to attack. As soon as Scrappy’s Mocking Wind hit his opponent, however, the enemy Djinn disappeared — a projection. Asena’s foe took the Fire Bark and blinked out as well.
So not all of the Djinn are real. This changed things. Jackson had been mapping a route along the green path to avoid as many Djinn as possible, but he realized that might be a waste of time.
“Nine minutes.”
Jackson tried not to freak out. According to Tak’s records, the fastest time so far had been ten minutes and forty-five seconds. On the plus side, Jackson now saw two finish line flags placed throughout the maze — projections that had appeared after Asena and Scrappy entered the same room. The blue and red paths had a finish flag. Unfortunately, Jackson didn’t see a finish line for the green path. He knew that certain actions within the maze switch the colors, but would that switch the location of the finish lines as well?
While he tried to puzzle this out, he continued to push Asena and Scrappy down the path. To their credit, or perhaps due to their mounting fatigue, they mostly ignored one another and focused on Jackson’s commands.
The next obstacle they came to was a wide section of rushing water that looked like it would suck Asena into a whirlpool if she tried to cross it. Jackson held her in place and sent Scrappy flying across where a small pull chain stopped the flow of water. Following that were two tunnels set within th
e path. After some quick trial and error, Jackson realized both Djinn had to pass through at exactly the same speed and time to not get flung back out. He allowed a brief celebration when Scrappy and Asena made it to the other side. Their mounting success seemed to be drawing them into an accord, even if he could still feel their dislike for one another simmering through their mental connections. But he was almost done. He could feel it.
Then the floor beneath them collapsed, and both Djinn fell into a mess of sticky tar-like goo.
“Ten minutes.”
Jackson thought he might have a nervous breakdown. He was a few short minutes away from finishing with the slowest time and his Djinn were completely trapped.
Fight, guys! You’ve got to get out!
Jackson’s eyes followed the green path through its twisting, confusing turns, but he saw no connection to a red or blue path or to a finish line of its own. There had to be a way to beat the maze. Almost two dozen tamers had already done it before him. But where was the green flag? Or, at least a switch or something to change path direction? Nothing seemed to lie ahead on the path but more obstacles and Djinn, either real or projected.
Growling in frustration, Jackson raised his hand to smack the glass on the observation deck and froze mid-swing. The glass was glowing with a faintly green tinge to it. The words of the female AI at the start of the challenge came back to him: “Return your Djinn to the tower when finished.”
A wild thought, a desperate hope crossed Jackson’s mind. He glanced at the clock — ten minutes and thirty seconds. Pushing the stress of the ticking number out of his mind, he reached out to widen and grow his connection with Scrappy and Asena. Both Djinn suddenly halted in their struggles and turned to stare up at him. Jackson pressed the connection further and looked down at the two Djinn rings sitting inside the slots behind the glass.
To recall a Djinn to their ring, a tamer simply had to will it while he or she was wearing the ring. No matter how resistant a Djinn was to returning to stasis, with enough willpower, a tamer could recall them from distance up to a hundred yards — more as technology increased with the gems and smart metals.
Jackson didn’t know if anyone had ever tried to return a Djinn to their ring without actually wearing the rings before, but he was desperate enough to try. As far as he knew, nothing in the rules suggested that recalling his Djinn to get them out of the maze was cheating. He also banked on the fact that the green tower was a finish zone as well.
Instead of sending a command out from his ring, Jackson focused on Scrappy and Asena in his mind while he stared down at their rings. The plan was to will them to return to their rings. Since there was no way he could get to the ring and put them on without breaking the glass. He felt pretty confident that wouldn’t be allowed.
Jackson poured out all of his emotion from the harrowing days at camp, his fears, his triumphs, his doubts, his exhaustion, his hopes. He dumped them into his two Djinn like water into two pitchers, followed by a single command. Return.
At first, Asena and Scrappy just stared. Jackson forced himself to look back at the rings, ignoring the clock. He poured himself out to them again.
The rings twitched.
His focused with all his might, squeezing his face like his head was about to burst.
A flare of light pulsed across both of the Djinn ring stones.
Please, Jackson begged in his mind. Please. For us.
Twin beams of light rose from Asena and Scrappy and shot toward the tower. They passed through the glass covers on the ring and were sucked into the stone before Jackson could blink. The rings shook once, twice, and then the lights faded. A soft hiss of air escaped and the glass cover slide open. Jackson let out a long breath and looked over at the timer as he picked up the rings. It read twelve minutes.
“Nice work, you two,” Jackson whispered under his breath as he sent both Djinn a mental thanks. They responded with glowing warmth; an intensity he’d rarely felt from Asena, let alone Scrappy. He felt his holo-watch vibrate as both of their Bonds increased.
The doors on the opposite side of the observation tower opened and revealed another lift. Jackson stepped inside and the car carried him across the maze to the opposite side of the fieldhouse and down a similar elevator. A long tunnel led him outside and he exited the building just before another tamer’s name was called to take the challenge next.
Outside, several of the camp staff waited, each holding a tablet. Jackson couldn’t read their faces to tell how well or how badly he’d done. He knew time was only a factor, but his twelve minutes should have put him towards the upper end of the pack, as long as his actions with his Djinn hadn’t cost him too much.
Coach Vanova stood with Briggs. Jackson couldn’t get a read on either of them — they weren’t mad, but they didn’t exactly look happy to see him. Almost…intense.
“Well done, Hunt,” Vanova said in a crisp tone. “I’ve just got a couple questions for you. And you’d better tell the truth.”
Jackson didn’t know what to say. Had they found out about Tak’s recording of the tamer times? His heart ran wild in his chest. Was he going to get the shaft because of Tak Rito again?
“What’s going on?” He couldn’t keep the shaking out of his voice. “Did I do something wrong?”
Vanova and Briggs looked at one another. “That depends,” Vanova said. “I’m interested to know where you came up with the idea to recall your Djinn to their rings.”
So he had cheated after all. Jackson explained his thought process, trying to defend his action as best he could. “The AI said to return my Djinn at the finish and I thought the tower was a finish point,” he finished.
“You didn’t get a tip-off from another tamer or a member of camp staff about that trick?” Coach Vanova asked. She still eyed him with plenty of suspicion — Jackson couldn’t tell if his defense had done any good or not.
“Oh c’mon, Vanova,” Briggs said. “Jackson doesn’t lie about…most things. If he says nobody told him about commanding his Djinn to return to their rings, then he’s probably telling the truth.”
“Briggs! You’re not helping,” Jackson said. “No one told me about the return. I was getting desperate and the clock was ticking up. I figured after my slow start, it was worth a shot.”
Vanova stared him over for a long moment as if her withered gaze could withdraw a confession from him like a dentist pulling a tooth by sheer will. “All right. We’ve got to do a bit more digging, but I believe you. Nice work. Please return to Barrack 4. You’ve got the rest of the night off, but you’re not allowed outside the barracks until the challenge is complete for all tamers. We’ll send out an announcement over the app.”
Jackson opened his mouth to argue his innocence even further, but before he could, Briggs grabbed him above the elbow and hauled him away at a fast walk.
“Wait. Give me a minute.”
Briggs said nothing but kept a firm grip on Jackson’s arm until they were well away from the camp staff. At last, Jackson shrugged free, still fuming.
“Cool down, kid.”
Jackson looked at Briggs, face burning. “But I didn’t cheat.”
“Nobody’s calling you a cheat,” Briggs said. “They were just a little…surprised is all. What you did was some pretty advanced stuff. Most tamers can’t do a long-distance recall for years. To do it requires you to really tap into your connection with your Djinn, without the help of tech. That was quite the feat and some quick thinking on your part.”
The sudden praise from Briggs out of the blue took Jackson by surprise. His anger vanished, but he didn’t know what to say or do.
“Don’t let it go to your head, though,” Briggs said. He clapped him on the back and seemed to find enjoyment out of bursting Jackson’s bubble. “There’s still a lot of camp left…but good work.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Camp staff didn’t make them wait. As soon as all of the tamers had gone through the challenge, the new rankings posted on the app and
on the barrack screens. Although he’d known he’d done well, Jackson was surprised to find himself in the top fifteen. Appleby and Hayden were also standouts and placed in the top twenty.
To everyone’s surprise, Moto and Akamu posted their lowest scores of camp. Akamu brooded in the commons, and although he didn’t say anything to them, Jackson heard rumors that the powerful, yet slow, Tandile had wrecked his time. Nobody knew what happened with Moto — she disappeared to her room as soon as she completed the challenge without a word to anyone. There was also one other low score for Barrack 4, low enough they were heading home.
“I’ll be seeing you around.”
Tak held out a hand to Jackson. He smirked liked he’d just taken first place, not almost last. His single duffel bag sat at his side and he’d decided to catch the train that night out of camp rather than wait for morning. “I bet you’re glad to see me go, aren’t you, Jack?”
“I’d say it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, but…”
Tak laughed. “Yeah, you’re probably right. This isn’t over, though.” He gestured around at the finery and high tech inside the barracks. “I was just getting used to the high life. I’m not going to give it up already. Plus, I still need to knock Akamu down a few pegs.”
Jackson shook his head. He wondered if he should send a tip to camp security and suggest they search Tak’s bag before they allowed him off the property. “You’re something else.”
Tak just grinned again and grabbed his bag. He made it to the sliding glass doors and then stopped and turned around. “You know, Jack, I never said it before, but I’m sorry about what happened in the Underground.”
It was the last thing Jackson had expected to hear. “Well, uh, thanks, man. I’m glad you —”
“Not saying I wouldn’t do it again, though,” Tak interrupted with a smirk.
Djinn Tamer - The Complete Bronze League Trilogy Page 43