“You there, Hunt? Hunt, can you hear me?”
“I’m here, I’m here!” Jackson shouted into the watch. “I’ve got Fiona with me — we’re okay! Where are you and —”
“You don’t have to yell, I can hear you!” Black yelled back. “I’m contacting you through the emergency satellite function on my holo. It’s patchy at best though, so we have to be quick. Where are you?”
“On some island? I don’t know,” Jackson said, looking around for some sort of landmark.
“Use your head, genius,” Fiona said, pointing at the arm with his holo-watch. “You have coordinates on you.”
“Oh, right,” Jackson said. He tapped through a few menus on the Nav app on his holo-watch and read the coordinates aloud to Black.
“How in the hell did the two of you get all the way down there?” Black said upon hearing the coordinates.
“Are you far?”
“I got some bad news, kids,” Black said through the crackling static. “The bottom line is, we can’t get to you.”
Chapter Nineteen
“What do you mean you can’t get to us?” Jackson asked, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.
There was a disgruntled sound on the other side of the line and Jackson could picture Black shaking her head.
“I mean the storm blew out one of the propulsion jets on my boat and swept us two islands north of you,” Black said. “With one engine, I can get down the coastline on the western side of Lombardia, but it’ll take a long time.”
“How long?” Jackson said, looking at Fiona. She wore a similar concerned expression.
“Three days or so.”
“Three days?” Fiona said. “How did you end up over there in a few hours only for it to take three days to get back? We can’t take that long. We have to get back to the mainland for the Battle Royale in five days.”
“It’s taking so long because I’m repairing the other propulsion jet on the way so it’s ready to go by the time I get back to you. If we had both propulsion jets working, we could get over to you in a matter of hours. But you’re going to have to meet us on the other side of the island. If you trek inland from where you are and then head to the other side of the island, that can maybe save us a day. We’ll have to limp along the shore from island to island until you get there.”
“What about your Orcys?” Fiona said. “He carried me all the way to this island.”
“So he made it, eh?” Black said. “That’s great to hear, but not much help to you right now. I don’t even know where he is. I’m sure he’ll make it back, but who knows when. But he can’t carry you two at once, and even if he could, it’s too dangerous with the various sea-dwelling Djinn riled up from the storm to have him bring you all the way around to us.”
“Why can’t we just walk along the coast?” Fiona asked, glancing up at the thick, ominous jungle on the cliffs above them.
“I’m sorry,” Black said, her temper clearly shortening. “I thought you two were on a strict schedule?”
“I mean, can’t you meet us somewhere else that isn’t clear on the other side? Maybe not as far away as we are now, but not so far from us that we need to head through the scary jungle?”
“It will take you both just as long to walk around that thing as it would for us to limp our way there. And it would likely be just, if not more dangerous, with the cliff faces. Fact is, there is only one beach on the island we can get close to without running this thing aground,” Black said in a clipped tone. “And it’s on the opposite side of the island from you.”
Jackson looked over at Fiona, but he knew the answer already. There was no way they could jeopardize missing the Battle Royale. The look he gave her confirmed his assumptions.
“We’ll go with the fastest option,” Jackson said.
“I’m sending you the coordinates to plug into your GPS holo now.”
Jackson and Fiona shot a worried look at each other before Jackson’s holo-watch beeped, indicated the coordinates had been received. For a moment there was silence on the other side of the line and Jackson thought Black had left them without any further advice. To his great relief, her irritated tone began again.
“You’ll have to cut through some of the brush but it’s the fastest way. Just south of your location is a stream we call West Splitrock Creek. Follow it west — it will take you to Splitrock Falls. The falls diverts in two, directly down the other side is East Splitrock Creek. Follow it down the other side of the mountain and we’ll meet you at that inlet. Copy?”
It didn’t sound too hard to Jackson, but in his short taming career, the things that sounded the simplest were often the most difficult.
“Um…what are we supposed to do for food?” Fiona asked.
“Once you get off the beach, the water in the creek is safe to drink. There’s all sorts of fruits growing in the jungle that even a couple of concrete natives like you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding. Here’s the rule: if your Djinn won’t eat it then you don’t eat it.”
“And wild Djinn?” Jackson felt pretty sure he already knew the answer, but wanted to make sure he didn’t break any rules about attacking Djinn in the habitat.
“You’re a tamer, aren’t you? If something attacks you, fight back! I didn’t test you for nothing. I wouldn’t go around provoking any of the local wildlife, though. Some of them are probably twice the level of your Djinn.”
His mind was racing with questions, but he knew Black probably wouldn’t want to sit around chatting with them for long.
“Is Kay all right? Nobody else got hurt did they?” Jackson would never forgive himself if something had happened to Kay.
“We’re all fine!” Black said. “It’s you two who are in the most trouble. You worry about yourselves. I’ll take care of things here. Good luck!”
The static stopped suddenly, and with that, Black was gone, leaving Jackson and Fiona to stare at each other in mild shock and disbelief.
“Okay, then,” Fiona said. “I guess we should get going?”
“Looks that way,” Jackson said. He scrolled over a couple of screens on his holo-watch. He’d recently fitted it with a new motion charger, meaning that whenever he moved his arm or hand, the movement helped replenish the battery, which was a good thing. Even with the days-long battery life, he didn’t want their map to wink out in the middle of the jungle, especially considering Fiona’s holo was toast.
A 3D display of their island popped up, courtesy of the Nav files he’d downloaded prior to the trip. Fiona shot him an impressed glance as he zoomed in on their current location and then found West Splitrock Creek as Black had mentioned.
“Well look at you, Mr. Wilderness Survival Expert,” Fiona said. “We might have a chance of getting out of here alive after all.”
“What is everyone’s obsession with giving me stupid nicknames?” Jackson asked.
“It’s your smug look.”
“Smug look?”
“You always look like you think you’re the first one in the world to accomplish something.”
“Like you’re one to talk.”
“That’s it! That’s the look!”
“Whatever,” Jackson muttered, panning the map on his holo-watch so it followed along West Splitrock Creek up to Splitrock Falls and down the eastern slope again. When he reached the inlet Black described, he tapped a couple of buttons on the projection and a line appeared along his desired route.
“Looks like it’s going to take us almost two full days to cross the island,” Jackson said. “Man, I’m really not looking forward to a night out in the jungle.”
“I agree,” Fiona said. “But we might as well get started. Djinn out?”
The wild Djinn on the island might have been at higher levels than Jackson and Fiona’s, but they had the advantage of four highly-trained Djinn on their side, which almost always meant better attacks, more battle experience, and fine-tuned stats. Jackson wasn’t sure that they should have his Djinn and Fiona’s Mega
la, Rebel, and Sabrina, her Donkick, all out at once, though. It was sure to attract unwanted attention from the native Djinn.
“I think right now we should alternate between using Scrappy and Rebel as scouts and keep Asena and Sabrina in reserve,” he said.
Asena let out a whine at his side — their Bond was such that she could comprehend most of what Jackson talked about, and she definitely knew when the subject of her being put into stasis came up. The Lyote despised being left in her ring and would have remained out of stasis all the time if Jackson let her.
“Sorry, girl,” Jackson said as he raised his left hand and a vermillion light sucked Asena into her Djinn ring. He’d learned it was better to recall her before Asena had too much time to start begging.
Protection wasn’t the only reason for keeping Asena in stasis. Jackson knew he had very little wiggle room left with his Lyote’s Experience Points before she passed the point of no return. If he relied on her too much, they could render the entire trip worthless, and he said as much to Fiona.
“Between Scrappy and my two Djinn we should be fine,” Fiona agreed. “Let’s get moving! The last thing I want to do is spend any more time wandering around the middle of freaking nowhere than we have to.”
They made their way south down the beach until they came to the spot where West Splitrock Creek emptied out into the ocean. The beach was deserted and, aside from a few scattered cries of various gull Djinn high above, there seemed to be no other life in the area. Jackson wasn’t about to let his guard down, though. He’d learned enough about Djinn during his time at Sato and on tour for the Bronze League to guess there were at least a handful of unseen Djinn hiding out in the jungle or cliffs, watching their every move. Hopefully, they were Djinn of the curious variety, not the hungry, predatory kind.
Just as the Nav chart showed, the creek emptied down from the tree-filled plateau through a narrow channel cut into the cliffs. By the time they made it to the outlet, it had hit late morning and the heat and humidity were sweltering. Fortunately, the creek spilling down over the rocks provided fresh, cool water, and a sliver of shade thanks to the eaves of overhanging plants and vines from up above.
Jackson and Fiona rinsed themselves down in the splattering water and then drank like a couple of kids slurping from a water hose. It took several long minutes of this for Jackson to finally quench his thirst and he was grateful they’d have fresh water throughout their trek across the island.
He couldn’t help but stare as Fiona rinsed her face and dark hair in the little waterfall and had to look away hastily when she caught him watching out of the corner of her eye. For whatever reason, she made no comment.
“I think if we get away from the wet, slippery rock, we shouldn’t have a problem climbing up this,” he said. “It doesn’t look much higher than ten yards in most spots and the rock has kind of crumbled away in some spots so that it’s almost like stairs.”
“Great,” Fiona said. She whistled and Rebel spread his multicolored wings and flapped up onto the top of the cliffs. Jackson saw his dark green, blue, and purple feathers glittering in the sunlight for a couple of passes before the peacock Djinn returned to its tamer. “Doesn’t look like there’s anything up there that he could see, anyway.”
Jackson gestured to the cliff. “Ladies first?”
Fiona laughed and shook her head. “I’d rather you get eaten if there’s anything waiting up there. Plus, I don’t want you staring at my ass the entire way.”
Feeling his face burn from more than just the sun, Jackson started up the cliffs without comment. Apparently, she had noticed his stares.
On top of the cliffs, the creek disappeared into thick undergrowth. Aside from their little clearing of grass, everything seemed to be buried in thick brush, vines, and gigantic leafy plants. An image of a machete-wielding jungle guide came to mind and while that was a cool thought, Jackson didn’t relish all of the bugs, wild Djinn, and itchy plants that awaited them.
Black’s instructions were clear, though: stick to the creek. The entire island pointed up to a central, rocky spire that had to be the Splitrock Falls but Jackson didn’t want to take any chances. Beneath the jungle canopy, it would be impossible to make any directional landmarks. He doubted his watch’s GPS would function well, either and it didn’t look like the sun could even penetrate the thick foliage in some places. Jackson glanced back at Fiona.
“You ready for this?”
“No,” she said.
Fiona recalled Rebel and Jackson set off forging a trail. He hated to do it, but he brought Asena out of her ring to scout ahead. She was the only Djinn that could maneuver through the tangles and roots, and Jackson didn’t think it was a good idea to go stumbling blind in wild Djinn country. Between Asena scouting ahead on foot and Scrappy scouting from above the trees, it reduced their chances of getting lost.
All the same, the going proved slow, sweaty, sticky, itchy, and frustrating all at the same time. Jackson lost count of how many times he stumbled or got slapped in the face by a plant or had to swat away swarms of gnats and mosquitoes. Even Fiona had to focus on walking and didn’t make so much as a single snarky comment.
Following the creek proved harder than Jackson had imagined. At times, the water ran only a foot or so wide. It twisted and turned into the island’s bedrock in several places so that it was completely out of sight. Sometimes they had to skirt several yards around particularly steep hillsides, making for a trek that required their constant attention. This was going to be a long two days, Jackson realized.
Hours passed, and they still hadn’t come across any wild Djinn. Jackson should have been relieved, but for some reason the lack of wildlife was more unsettling than comforting.
If only they saw at least a few non-predatory Djinn, it would at least mean the jungle was safe from any immediate danger. Then again, they were making enough racket to probably scare anything off within a mile radius. So which was it? Were they safe or not?
The constant worry put him on edge until another thought crept into his mind. He and Fiona still hadn’t spoken about their almost-kiss. Even though Fiona seemed to want to play it off like it never happened, whenever Jackson let his mind wander, it always ended up back at that night.
“I know you don’t want to talk about it, but…” Jackson said. He tried to play it cool and didn’t even turn around to see Fiona’s reaction.
“You’re right,” she said. “I think we should just forget about the whole thing.”
“Oh come on,” Jackson said, stepping his way around a gnarled tree leaning over their scant path. “It was just one little kiss.”
He turned around and held back a branch for Fiona to pass under. She rose up and met his eyes. “It wasn’t a kiss. It wasn’t anything, if you’ll recall.”
“Well there was definitely something in that moment,” Jackson said. “I’m not saying anything has to happen but I think we should at least talk about it.”
Fiona gave him a narrow-eyed gaze and Jackson risked a blind step backward. He held up his hands defensively.
“Look, I never thought that way about you, either. It hadn’t even dawned on me until that then.”
Fiona’s expression was unreadable, but Jackson didn’t think that meant he’d won her over by any means. “I’m not sure what you’re trying to do here, but you’re not really winning any brownie points,” Fiona said. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
Jackson’s mouth hung open. What was wrong with him? And why was it so hard to talk to her about this without constantly tripping over his words?
“I checked the regulations,” Jackson said. “There’s nothing in there that says two tamers can’t be in a relationship.”
He’d apparently found the line that shouldn’t have been crossed. Fiona’s nostrils flared.
“Holy — you checked?”
“Should I not have?”
“Listen to me: for one, we didn’t even kiss. So I don’t appreciate you trying to put us in
a relationship.” Fiona jabbed her finger into his chest and Jackson stumbled backward, pinwheeling so he didn’t tip over. He glanced at Asena for support — the Lyote was sitting on her haunches watching the display from a couple feet away. When she saw Jackson’s silent plea for help, the Lyote turned her head the other way, clearly not wanting to get between Fiona and Jackson.
“Second,” Fiona continued. “It’s a little presumptuous and weird that you looked that up. And third.” One last jab that was sure to leave a bruise. “Nothing is going to happen with us while you’ve got that thing going on with Kay.”
Stunned, Jackson’s mouth hung open and he stopped in his tracks. He was too surprised to be intimidated. “What are you talking about? I don’t have a thing with Kay. That’s crazy! We’ve been friends for forever! I had like three different girlfriends in high school and it’s never been weird.”
“Jackson you’re such a boy,” Fiona gave him a withering look. “Sure, you’re friends but she likes you. It’s not that hard to see. I’m sure each one of those girls drove her insane. She’s just too shy to bring it up with you because she doesn’t want to ruin what you guys have going.”
Jackson folded his arms. He’d been taken completely off guard with that comment.
“Look, if you don’t like me that’s cool, but you don’t need to use Kay as an excuse. Just come out and say it.”
“I’m not using her as an excuse. She told me!” Fiona said in an exasperated tone. “What kind of person would I be to get involved with you now that I know that?”
Jackson opened his mouth to reply and then stopped. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Asena hunker down, her hackles raised. A low, angry growl rolled from the Lyote in the silence that followed. A spike of adrenaline surged through Jackson and he glanced around. Fiona, catching Asena’s cue, did the same. The jungle looked the same as before, but the absolute silence wasn’t encouraging.
“That’s not good,” she said, raising the hand that wore Rebel’s ring.
Djinn Tamer - The Complete Bronze League Trilogy Page 67