by M. Leighton
Like find a way to get my Jackson back before it was too late.
“Turns out I was wrong,” I said simply, casually shrugging it off. “Commander Jessup was in Transport when we got there, perfectly alive and healthy.”
Jersey grimaced. “Was Jackson mad?”
I quirked a brow. “What do you think?”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, ouch.”
“So what now? What’s the plan?”
“Well, we go back to Plan A, before we visited Kellina. We keep an eye on Dustin and we watch for new ticks and oozing sores. Not much else we can do.”
“It could take a while for us to find them.”
“Lucky for us, we have a little bit of a break before the next spirits arrive. I think it’s time I learn Dustin Hyden’s schedule, don’t you?”
Jersey grinned. “Like more spy stuff? Like more Double-0 Jersey stuff? Hells yeah!”
She held up her fist for a bump. Obligingly, I tapped it. She splayed her fingers and made what was supposed to be an exploding sound.
“You really need to stop watching so much television, Jersey.”
“It’s that or amuse myself in other ways,” she explained. From behind her back, I heard bling bling.
“Okay. Television it is.”
********
I was standing in front of the window, staring at the huge moon that hung overhead. I felt melancholy, although I didn’t know why. The room was quiet. Jersey was just…gone, I didn’t know where.
The adjoining door opened, drawing my attention, and Jackson appeared. He was nude. Half his body was bathed in a shaft of silvery light, the other half in deep shadow. It reminded me of something important, some other dichotomy, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
He studied me for what seemed an eternity before he approached, and when he did, he did it slowly, cautiously, as if he were afraid he’d spook me.
Or maybe he’s just afraid, my mind elaborated, to which I laughed. Jackson was afraid of nothing, least of all me.
He stopped within inches of me, his chest so close to mine I could feel the heat radiating from it. He reached out and touched my cheek, reverentially almost. He trailed his fingertips down to my mouth and traced the outline of my lips. They parted of their own accord. His eyes were trained on them, unerringly. Carefully, he slipped the tip of his finger inside, testing first my teeth then advancing further.
I closed my lips around the digit, sucking gently, flicking his fingertip with my tongue. He inhaled sharply. I watched his pupils dilate. Heat poured through me in answer to his reaction.
He tugged and I released my hold on his fingertip. He raised that finger to his mouth and tasted it. He closed his eyes. A deep mmm rumbled at the back of his throat. “I know that taste. And I miss it,” he breathed.
When he opened his eyes, they were ablaze. I remembered that look. I’d always remember it. It turned my insides to lava and made me forget the world.
Languidly, as if he had all the time in the world, Jackson threaded his fingers into the hair at my temples and he brushed his lips over mine, feather light. I leaned into him, but he leaned back, refusing to increase the pressure. I felt the heat of his tongue as it snaked out to lick my lips. I tried to capture it, to bring it into my mouth, but he was elusive.
“Please,” I whispered. I was starving for him, for his love, his attention, his touch.
I raised my hands to his sides and laid them against the tight skin of his narrow waist. I felt the muscles contract beneath my palms.
And then I melted into him. And he let me. Like the coils of a python, he wound his arms slowly around me, gathering me to him, pulling me against his chest. But still, he was careful, handling me as if I were made of glass.
Bending he scooped me up and carried me to the bed, laying me down in the center and stretching out beside me. One by one, he unbuttoned each tiny pearl that held my pajama top closed. When he finished, he pushed the pieces apart, revealing my body to his eyes.
He sucked in a breath as he brushed his fingertips from the hollow of my throat down my chest and between my breasts. I felt my nipples pucker, as if begging for him to pay them homage. Finally he did, circling one tight bud with the tip of his finger over and over again until I thought I might burst with longing.
Taking it between his thumb and forefinger, he rolled and tugged it until I was arching off the bed and biting my lip to keep from crying out. Then he took it into his hot, moist mouth.
I drove my fingers into his short spikey hair and held him to me, writhing beneath him. I wanted more. I knew what it was to have him inside me and I wouldn’t be satisfied until I felt it again.
A loud bang woke me. Confused, I looked for the origin of the noise. It was Jackson. He was standing in the doorway between our rooms, chest heaving, staring at me. He looked angry. Or passionate. Or maybe both.
“Get out of here before I stab you in the leg, douchebag!” Jersey grumbled angrily, tossing something across the room at him. “It’s the middle of the night.”
Jackson and I stared at each other. On his face was the dream I’d just lived, enjoyed, reveled in. The dream I didn’t want to be over. All he had to do was say the word and I would follow him back to his room and finish what we’d started, Jersey be damned.
But he didn’t. He watched me for several tense seconds. Then, with a growl, he turned and slammed the door shut behind him, leaving me awake and confused and yearning for the rest of the night.
********
I was ready for school way, way, way too early. That happens when you can’t sleep, yet you can’t stand to lie in bed and think any longer. But, since Jersey sleeps like the dead, I was able to keep myself occupied. I straightened up our room, cleaned out my closet, showered and got ready for school, all before my alarm even went off.
After scribbling Jersey a note, I crept quietly out of our room, locking the door behind me and hurrying past Jackson’s door. I had no idea if he was in there or not, but I didn’t want to chance running into him. His mercurial mood swings from passionate angry to angry angry were wearing on me something fierce.
My two hulking shadows fell in line behind me as I exited the dormitory. Dawn had just broken and the air was already warm and humid. It was going to be a scorcher of a day!
I stopped on the steps and inhaled deeply. I loved the smell of the breeze. In Slumber, the air was a combination of sweet jasmine and salty ocean. The only thing that ruined the moment was the flash of red I caught from the corner of my eye. I turned just in time to see Nadia’s fiery head duck around the corner of Building C.
What on earth is she doing out so early, sneaking around?
My heart thudded painfully as I wondered if she was meeting Jackson. Maybe they couldn’t carry on in his room because of the people with whom he shared a wall and the Sentinels that were posted in our hall.
The thought made me feel queasy.
If I’d given it more thought, I’d have used better judgment and talked myself out of it. But as it was, I was blindly driven to see if Nadia was meeting Jackson. Turning to shush my two gawking goons, I took off across the grass to follow her.
Turns out they were better at stealth than I was which shouldn’t have been a surprise. At one point, I had to turn to see if they were even still behind me. They were. They were just that quiet.
I motioned them flat against the brick wall of the building as I peeked around to see where Nadia was. I swallowed a gasp.
Nadia was whispering heatedly with none other than Dustin Hyden. My mind whirled with the implications. I cautioned myself not to jump to conclusions, but it was hard not to, especially when I saw them sneak into the basement door of the building.
I had too many questions not to follow them. Where were they going? What were they doing? How did they know each other? Were they the two Lore I sought? All the pieces seemed to fit…
Pausing only long enough to let them get a little bit ahead, I darted across the
grass to the basement door and gently opened it just a crack. I put my ear to the space and listened, hoping to hear…something, anything. But there was nothing. No sound at all.
Glancing back at my two Sentinels, at their scowling faces, I knew no one would approve of me cavorting around, chasing could-be dangerous criminals, but there was much at stake. I had no choice.
Quickly, I opened the door and slipped inside. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I held my breath, hoping not to be attacked by a madman. Or a madwoman. And I wasn’t. They had already moved on. I was standing inside what looked like a storage room, all alone.
Clary and Gere were already inside with me by the time I’d made my way across the room. A door at the top of some stairs opened and closed. Dustin and Nadia.
I knew if I continued on my journey, there would likely be much danger at the end. But to me, it was worth it. Worth anything. Even if I wasn’t concerned about what havoc the spirits could wreak on land or in the sea, I had to find a way to reverse whatever they’d done to Jackson.
It was that need that drove me more than any other. When it boiled right down to it, Jackson came first, even before Atlas. It wasn’t right, wasn’t the way I was supposed to feel or act, but it was true nonetheless.
I still wanted to ensure the safety of others as much as possible, though, to take their situations into consideration. It was for that reason I sought a way to keep Clary and Gere out of harm’s way.
I looked around for something to use. Anything at all. That’s when I spotted the conduit that snaked its way along the walls on either side of the door. I could use that. I could definitely use that.
Scrambling up the steps, I ran through the door and closed it behind me, immediately focusing on my bracelet and the small amount of water it contained. As though my power had been on standby, waiting, I felt it course through me as if anxious to do my bidding.
I pictured the lengths of metal conduit, pictured it breaking free of the restraints that held it against the wall, and then I imagined it crossing in front of the door, through the handle and winding around the rail on the other side. Back and forth I had it stretch until there was a nearly impenetrable barrier covering the door, one even super strong Sentinels couldn’t get through in time to stop me.
I whispered through the door, “I’m sorry,” and then I fled, hurrying to catch up to Dustin and Nadia. As I turned the corner in search of their footsteps, I thought I could hear voices calling from the storage room.
Clary and Gere.
Jackson might not be too happy with them, but at least they’d be safe. That was the main thing.
Leaving them behind both physically and mentally, I focused all my energy on the two people in front of me. At a distance, I followed them through the building and out, exiting one building only to enter another. They darted into the adjacent building and down some stairs into the boiler room.
I’d been there before, but on that occasion, I’d been with trusted friends in the middle of the afternoon. It was quite different to enter it by myself on the heels of some of the world’s most treacherous fugitives when the rest of the campus still slept. But enter it I did. All I had to do was picture Jackson and his foreboding expression and I was as motivated as I ever needed to be.
I could easily track their movements. Their feet made clanging sounds on the series of catwalks that wove their way around the piping and equipment. I waited until the door at the top of the steps had closed before I followed.
They made their way down a short hallway and out another door that led to the football field. There was a long narrow pane of glass in the door. I eased slightly forward so I could watch them covertly while I figured out what I should do.
If only I could hear them…
If only I knew for sure they were the ones…
If only…a lot of things.
I was pretty sure about Dustin. There were just too many coincidences as far as he was concerned. But Nadia, I wasn’t nearly so convinced. In some ways it made sense, but in others…not so much. But why else would they be together? I mean, it couldn’t possibly be romantic. She had Jackson’s attention. She had no need of any other guy. At all. Ever.
Maybe it was scholastic. But if that were the case, why sneak around?
As I chewed my lip, wishing for Jackson’s keenly strategic and discerning mind, Dustin reached forward and cupped Nadia’s face. It was far from a simply friendly gesture. It was even more than romantic. The way that he cupped her face and leaned in, it was intimate. He was used to touching her thusly and she was used to letting him.
I grimaced as he kissed her. It was bizarre to behold. Nadia was stunning, even though I hated to admit it. And Dustin…well, he was not quite her type. Nadia looked like she belonged with someone like Jackson, whereas Dustin looked like he belonged with someone a little more…intelligent.
She seemed not to mind his braces or his acne as she dove headlong into the kiss. It was only when Dustin moved his mouth to her neck that she seemed uncomfortable.
Nadia flinched and my heart skipped a beat. In my mind, I could imagine what Dustin had inadvertently uncovered beneath the heavy veil of her hair. A sore. I was sure of it.
I held my breath as I waited for him to move her hair and reveal to me the only other proof I needed to make my move.
And then he did. Carefully, caringly, Dustin brushed the thick tangle of Nadia’s red hair away from her neck, the left side of her neck which was facing me. An angry, raw red sore was there beneath her ear. It was long and jagged, as if caused by fingernails, by scratching just like Jersey’s book suggested.
Silently, I thanked my crazy friend. She’d be thrilled to find out she was instrumental in the positive identification of the Jackal.
Now, what to do?
Before I could answer that question, the two joined hands and moved out of the corridor in which they’d been standing. I had no idea where they were going or what they planned to do there, but I knew there would likely never be a better chance for me to make my move. I needed them together to ensure the safety of my loved ones. And they were. All I needed to do was get Jackson cured and then I could focus on getting the two escapees back to Atlas.
When they disappeared down and out of sight, descending the steps to the field itself, I took a deep breath and opened the door. I didn’t have a plan per se, but I had a mission and that was enough for me.
I scurried to the top of the steps and peeked down them to see where Dustin and Nadia were. They were making their way onto the field. I looked out past the bleachers on the other side, wondering where they might be headed. Apart from some low office buildings, the only structure on the other side was the Slumber Water Treatment Plant. But what would they want with that?
Like the shutter of a camera, my mind clicked quickly through ideas and scenarios. Although I didn’t have any specifics, knowing that the Jackal and Hyde were both incredible scientific minds alarmed me. Add to that the Jackal’s magical origins as well as its evil bent and I saw a definite reason for concern. The two of them had obviously developed some sort of…potion or something to dramatically change Jackson. What else could they come up with? Something on a massive scale, something that could go into the water and effect everyone in the entire town?
Urgency slapped me in the face like a bucket of cold water. What if I couldn’t get them to tell me how to fix Jackson? I couldn’t very well let them go and put an entire population at risk, could I?
My inner selfish girl spoke up, loud and clear. Yes! Yes, you can! It’s Jackson we’re talking about here. He’s not just anybody!
No, he wasn’t, but how could I live with myself if I betrayed an entire town full of people who unwittingly trusted me to do the right thing, at all costs? And for such a selfish reason? Jackson wasn’t hurting anyone, only me. He was safe and that was far more important than him not being in love with me anymore, even though sometimes I wondered if anything could hurt worse.
My heart constricted,
curling up into the fetal position. I knew what I had to do. And it was killing me.
I’d taken too long. The time to think and debate and plot was gone. Dustin and Nadia had nearly crossed the field and were headed right for the water plant. I had to act now or run the risk of never having another opportunity. The Lore were not to be toyed with. I might never catch them being so sloppy again.
Running down the steps as fast as I could, I made my way onto the field, just close enough to feel the tension of the water in the irrigation pipes buried far beneath the soil. I could sense it at each sprinkler head, at the ready. I closed my eyes and called to it, summoning it to my will.
Like the hiss of a thousand snakes, water began to spray from each nozzle. I felt it sprinkle my face. I felt it nourish my skin. I felt it permeate every cell in my body. But mostly, I felt it in the swell of power that surged through me.
I pulled the water out, faster, harder. I heard the metal pop of sprinkler heads leaving sprinkler bodies, giving way to the force of the water that poured from them.
I opened my eyes to find Dustin and Nadia. They had both stopped to stare at me, gape-mouthed but not afraid. They were convinced they had this all sewn up. They thought they had me on the run, scared. Trapped.
But they were wrong. I was born into a line of royalty and leaders. My blood coursed with strength the likes of which I couldn’t fathom. All I needed was a small portion of that. Today. Right now.
“You don’t have the nerve,” Nadia said. Although she didn’t speak loudly, I heard her as plainly as though she had screamed. “And risk your precious Jackson? Never.”
Her words chilled me. Was I risking Jackson? Couldn’t I have both—victory in battle and victory in love?
Nadia’s lip curled up into a smug smile and she turned on her heel and started to walk away. Playing a hunch, praying it was the right one, I cupped my hands, imagining I was cradling water, creating a capsule of sorts.