Part Twenty-One of the PW Timeline
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of a complete series I wrote from July 2019 to July of 2022. After the chaos, Chase and Marvin have another visit with one of their friends, one they worried they'd never see again. Meanwhile, JJ and Schneep have their real first meeting.]
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Chase woke up to the sound of his ringtone, the sensation of someone shaking his shoulder, and the pain in your back and neck that develops when you fall asleep somewhere you’re not supposed to. He groaned, and opened his eyes. Where…? Ah, right. Jack’s hospital room. He fell asleep? For how long? Visiting hours must be almost over by now.

Marvin shook him again, leaning over from his chair next to him. “You keep getting a call,” he said. “You should probably pick it up now.”

“Right.” Chase stretched, wincing a bit at the ache in his body, then dug his phone out of his pocket just as the ringtone ended and the call dropped. But looking at his lock screen, he had three missed calls from one Detective Nix. “Oh shit!” He was immediately awake. “I gotta call back—”

Before he could do that, his phone rang yet again as it received another call from the detective. This time, Chase picked it up instantly. “Hello?”

“Mr. Brody?” asked the somewhat-familiar voice of Detective Nix.

“That’s me. Sorry about all the missed calls, I-I fell asleep.”

“Ah, I see.” Nix sounded amused. “I suppose I have to plan for calling you several times.”

Chase laughed nervously, glancing over at the others. He’d fallen asleep to Marvin teaching Jack the beginnings of BSL, but now both of them were staring at him, listening in to the conversation. Jack was sitting straight up, without leaning against the bed. Marvin kept bouncing his leg. The two of them were clearly anxious. “So…wh-what’s the situation?”

“Well, there’s good news, bad news, and good news,” Nix said. “Which would you like to hear?”

Chase inhaled sharply. “Bad news first.”

“We couldn’t find your friend Henrik. Or the other one who’d been taken a month ago, Jameson.”

“Oh.” Chase’s heart sank. “What’s the good news, then?”

“First things first: your friends’ tips were extremely helpful. We managed to find the house they were talking about,” Nix said. “We didn’t recover many THINGS from the location, but we found something else. Or rather, someONE else. Jackie Donovan.”

If his heart sank before, it now rocketed upward into his throat, rendering him speechless. Finally, he managed to get out a strangled, “What?”

“He was in one of the house’s bedrooms, badly injured and tied to a chair, but alive,” Nix continued. “He’s at the hospital now.”

“Which hospital?” Chase asked.

“Southpoint General, in the—”

“Holy SHIT, we’re literally there right now!” Chase stood up so fast he knocked his chair over. “Where is he?! Can we see him?!”

“He’s recovering in what is, I believe, the emergency ward,” Nix said calmly. “Don’t worry, he’s stable, but as I said, badly injured. Unconscious, actually. Visiting hours are basically over, but if you’re already here, and you insist, you could probably hurry if the staff lets you—”

“That’s what we’ll do, then. We’ll be there as soon as possible!” Chase hung up without saying goodbye, and turned to face the other two.

“What was that all about?” Marvin asked, confused but hopeful.

“They found Jackie!” Chase shouted, unable to contain his overflowing joy and relief. “They got him back, he’s here, at this hospital right now!”

“What?!” Marvin shot to his feet. “We gotta see him!”

“That’s what I said! If we run, we might be able to squeeze in just before visiting hours end.” Chase started to head towards the door, then stopped, and looked back at Jack. “Oh, uh, sorry, you probably want—”

“Go!” Jack waved at the two of them, pointing at the room’s doorway. “Gogogogogo!”

Chase laughed. “Alright, we’re going! I’ll see you in a couple days, probably!”

“Go!”

“Okay, bye!” Chase hurried out the door.

“Bye, Jack!” Marvin added, following Chase.

Jack waved at the two of them as they left.

From there, the two of them hurried to the nurses’ station so they could ask where Jackie was. Once the nurse confirmed he was in the emergency ward and gave them the room number, they practically sprinted to the right wing, desperate to make it before visiting hours were over. They ended up making it just in time, and both skidded to a halt outside the right door, breathing hard.

The door to the hospital room was ajar. An older man leaned over and peered through the doorway. “Ah, hello Mr. Brody.”

“Hello, Detective,” Chase said. He paused for a moment to breathe, then added, “We’re here.”

“I can see that,” Nix replied, smiling a bit. “Well, you and your friend come in. It’s Mr. Maher, isn’t it?”

Marvin nodded. “Yeah. Weren’t you at the trial? You talked about the case?”

“So I did.” Nix nodded.

“Huh. So you’re handling the whole thing?”

“Indeed. It’s turning out to be a complex beast of clues and crime. Anyway.” Nix stepped back, and Chase and Marvin entered the room.

Most of the emergency ward was large rooms with multiple beds, but there must have been certain circumstances in place to let Jackie have his own room to himself. It was small, but a bit more homey than Jack’s room in the ICU, with cushioned chairs and a couple small tables, even a TV in a cubby in a wall. The hospital bed didn’t have as much medical equipment surrounding it. But Jackie wasn’t awake to appreciate any of this.

Chase stopped short, just staring. It was eleven months since he’d last seen Jackie. He hadn’t always been that pale, had he? His collarbone and cheeks hadn’t always jutted out like that, had they? His hair was a shoulder-length mess, having grown out, and his eyes had deep purple bags under them. He was wearing a hospital gown, but there were scars visible on his arms that certainly hadn’t been there before, as well as some bandages wrapped tightly around his right arm above the elbow. Despite all this, he looked rather peaceful in sleep, breathing steadily.

Marvin made a choked sound, unable to say anything else.

“He’s…fine, right?” Chase asked, glancing at Detective Nix.

“The doctors say so,” Nix assured him. “He was injured when we found him, but they say it’s not life-threatening.”

“H-how? How was he injured?” Chase asked hesitantly.

“Well…you can see his arm. His legs are bad, looked like someone used a knife to slash them up. And there was a stab wound in his stomach. But he hadn’t lost too much blood. They say his main problem is malnutrition. He’ll be okay.”

Chase let out a long breath. “Okay. Okay. That’s good. Good to hear.”

Marvin stayed silent. He walked up to the bed and, after a moment, gently took Jackie’s hand.

“I’ll let you two have a moment.” Nix slid out of the room, closing the door behind him.

The moment passed in silence.
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The car ride back was silent as well. A lot had happened that day, and the two of them sat, quietly processing everything. They lost Schneep, but found Jackie, each within a few hours of each other. Who knew what would happen tomorrow?

Chase pulled onto the street where Marvin’s house sat, and noticed something odd. “Is there someone outside your house?”

“Hmm?” Marvin, previously spacing out, snapped back to reality. “Why would someone be at my house?”

“I dunno, I assumed you would. Not expecting anyone?” Chase shrugged. “Maybe they’re in front of the neighbors.”

“No.” Marvin narrowed his eyes, staring down the road. “There’s someone at my door. A car in front, too. Who is that? I can’t see them.” He shook his head. “Too dark. The city needs to work on installing stronger street lamps in the area.”

Chase chuckled a bit. As he approached Marvin’s house, he pulled to the side of the road, right behind the strange car that was already there, and tried to get a good look at whoever was at the doorway. A woman. Dark-haired, wearing a brown leather jacket and jeans. She was facing the door, her back to the road, but when the car pulled up she heard the sound and turned to look. Odd…Chase recognized her. But he couldn’t place where he’d seen her before. “You know her?”

“Uh…I don’t think so?” Marvin shook his head, looking confused. “But I think I do? She kinda looks familiar.”

“I was thinking the same thing, actually.” Chase parked the car and opened the door. “C’mon, I want to talk to her.”

“Yeah, let’s ask her what she’s doing at my house at like ten o’clock,” Marvin said, opening his as well and heading out.

The two of them walked up the short path to the door. The woman, noticing them, waved. “Hello! I’m very sorry, ah—one of you is Marvin, right? Actually, you both look—maybe you could both help me? I’m looking for Henrik.”

That voice made Marvin stop in his tracks. “Mina?!”

Chase visibly started as the pieces clicked into place and he remembered who this woman was. Mina von Schneeplestein—or rather, Mina Pfeiffer, as last he heard she was going by her maiden name again. What was Schneep’s ex-wife doing here?!

“Ah, you recognize me, so I have the right address.” Mina nodded, satisfied. “You are Marvin? I saw you on television, I recognize your hair. Though it’s longer than I remember. But to be fair, my memories of faces are vague.”

“You saw me on TV?” Marvin repeated, looking even more confused now that he realized who the woman was.

“Um, hi.” Chase waved awkwardly. “I’m Chase, I’m a friend of Schneep’s. What are you…It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, were you out of town or something?”

“Oh, Chase! I remember you. Yes, I went back home and stayed with family for some time,” Mina said.

“Why are you at my house?” Marvin blurted out.

“Well, ah—sorry about that. It was the only address I could think of.” Mina sounded fairly embarrassed. “I thought you would be home. I am looking for Henrik.”

“Why? We haven’t seen you for more than a year!” Marvin pointed out.

“Yes, I know. It is…a complicated situation.” Mina glanced back at the door behind her. “Should we go inside and sit down?”

“No, I’m fine,” Marvin said. “We can talk about this while standing.”

“…oh. Okay.” Looking even more embarrassed, Mina stepped away from the door, walking a bit closer to the two men. “I suppose this wouldn’t take too long.”

“So you’re looking for Schneep?” Chase asked.

Mina nodded. “Yes. I received some phone messages and mail from this hospital they said he was staying at. But I threw them out. Shortsighted, it would seem.”

“I think I know what you’re referring to,” Chase said. He recalled a conversation he had with Dr. Laurens, where she said they were trying to contact Mina but getting no response. “Did you think they were spam or something?”

“Ah…no, not exactly.” Mina grimaced. “It is really a long story, and it is cold and dark out, so I would prefer if we could step inside—”

“No, tell it quick,” Marvin interrupted.

Mina bristled a bit. “Well!”

“Marv, c’mon,” Chase pleaded.

“Look, no one disappears for a year without a reason,” Marvin insisted. “And something about this seems fishy, so I want to hear the story before I let her into my house with my pets.”

Mina sighed. “I do not see why you are so concerned. Henrik and I are married.”

“You’re divorced.”

“No, they’re separated,” Chase added. “It’s a different thing.” But personally, he still considered them exes, even if the separation had been friendly enough. The pair of them had rushed into marriage, likely due to some family pressure, and later agreed that they needed some time apart to sort their own lives out. That was about three or four years ago, and shortly afterwards Schneep had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. As far as he knew, they hadn’t gotten back together since the separation.

“It’s just weird that you’re showing up looking for him now,” Marvin said, crossing his arms. “Where were you when he first went into Silver Hills?”

“I was out of the country,” Mina repeated.

“On purpose?”

“What?”

“Were you avoiding him?”

Mina looked like she wanted to protest, but then straightened, adjusted her jacket, and said, “If you must know, then yes.”

“Ha!” Marvin barked.

“You must be missing so much of what happened,” Mina said, leveling him with a stare. She was about equal height with the two men, so it wasn’t hard to do. “Henrik and I…were starting to try again. But then his behavior became erratic, and the next thing I knew, he put his friend in a coma and started killing strangers.”

“He wasn’t the one killing them,” Chase corrected gently—mostly to prevent Marvin from saying the same thing, much louder.

“Well I know that now, but at the time, it seemed fairly obvious,” Mina pointed out. “So I left for some time. I returned a couple months ago, but only now heard the news about the truth of the situation. I saw clips from the filmed hearing between you, Marvin, and that doctor. I saw them on television, and realized something was off. So I looked it up, and now I know, and now that I do, I have to talk to Henrik about something.”

“You know…it seems a bit sketchy that you immediately thought he must be the killer,” Marvin said. “Because he was, what, ‘erratic’?”

“Yes,” Mina said firmly.

“You should have realized he would never do anything like that!”

“I wasn’t about to stick around and have blind faith! That is how serial killers draw in women, it has happened in the past!”

“Schneep would never—”

“I did not know that! He was being very strange, and with his condition—”

“Get off my property.”

Mina blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” Marvin leaned close to her. “Get off my property.”

“No, you do not understand, I really must know how to talk to Henrik,” Mina said, tone shifting from defensive anger to a strange desperation. “There is an important matter—”

“Find that mail you threw out and get the address from there. Google it, I don’t care. Though really, if you keep talking like that, I wouldn’t let you anywhere NEAR Henrik.” Marvin growled. “If you stay here one second longer, I’m calling the police. LEAVE.”

Mina looked like she wanted to protest more, but thought better of it. She walked around Marvin and Chase, staring at the two of them as she did, and then hurried down the path to the street. She got inside the strange car Chase had parked behind, started it, and drove off.

“You could’ve handled that better,” Chase said.

“YOU didn’t say anything,” Marvin replied, facing him.

“No, I know. You’re right, something about that seemed…weird.” Chase couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but something about the way Mina was acting was…strange. Not in a bad way. But it felt like there was something more she wasn’t saying.

“I don’t like people talking about people’s ‘conditions,’” Marvin muttered.

“Yeah, that was a bit…Just, the way she said it, like it was a given, y’know?” Chase shook his head. “But you really went off there.”

Immediately, all the fire drained out of Marvin’s body. “Sorry,” he said quietly. “I’m just…tired.”

“I don’t blame you. I feel it too.” Chase nodded. “You, uh…want to go see Jackie sometime soon?”

Marvin nodded. 'Day after tomorrow?' he asked, signing.

“That could work. We’d have to be quick, though, Stacy will be dropping off the kids in the evening for the weekend.”

'Oh, you sure? I can go tomorrow, or even after the weekend.'

“No, it’s fine, I…I really want to see him.” Chase swallowed a lump in his throat. “I’ll pick you up. How about around two?”

Marvin nodded again. 'That would work.'

“Great. See you then.” Chase retreated to his car, turning back before getting inside to wave at Marvin one last time. Marvin waved back, then turned around and went through the front door to his house. Once he was gone, Chase got in his car and drove away.

This day just kept getting longer. He really needed to get home and go to bed.
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Two days later, Chase picked Marvin up and the two of them drove back to the hospital around two o’clock, when visiting hours started. They remembered the way to Jackie’s room, and found it quickly. Nobody else was there. Chase half-expected Detective Nix to still be here, doing some sort of police stuff, but no, the room was empty. Jackie was lying in bed, eyes open, hands folded on his stomach, staring at the ceiling. He wasn’t moving at all, except for the up-and-down of his chest as he breathed. Chase hovered in the doorway, Marvin nearby, feeling uneasy. This sight was a bit…worrying. Was Jackie okay?

Marvin leaned over and whispered, “Is he awake?”

“I don’t know,” Chase replied in the same hushed tone. “His eyes are open.”

“Maybe it’s like with Jack? How he was before?”

“God, I hope not. I don’t want anyone else to go through that.”

At that moment, Jackie’s head turned, and he looked at the two of them. He must have heard them, despite the whispering. Chase gasped a bit before coughing to clear his throat. “Hey, Jackie,” he said awkwardly. “It’s uh…it’s us.”

Jackie didn’t respond, just kept looking at them. His eyes darted up and down as he took in their appearances. Self-consciously, Chase tried to brush some nonexistent dirt off his jacket. He should have worn a newer one instead of the old one with the first merch design for his channel.

Marvin waved. “Hi. We’re here now.”

“Yeah, hi.” Chase waved again. “Uh…how are you feeling?”

Still no response. Though Jackie looked a bit confused now.

“Uh…can you hear us, bro?” Chase stepped forward until he was standing next to the bed, then put a hand on the non-bandaged part of Jackie’s arm.

“Holy shit!” Jackie jerked his arm away and bolted upright. “You’re really here!”

“Wh—yeah?!” Chase said.

Marvin laughed.

Chase glanced back at him. “Dude, what the fuck?”

“Sorry, sorry, I-I dunno what that was about, nervous reflex,” Marvin waved away Chase’s look. “It was just a bit funny, cause he jumped up like that.”

“I—I wasn’t expecting that,” Jackie said, sounding a bit dazed.

“You…weren’t expecting us to actually be here?” Chase clarified.

“Yeah, I-I-I thought that—it’s all a bit—never thought I’d—” Jackie paused, gathering his words. “I thought that maybe…I was just daydreaming a bit. To make myself feel better. This whole place, actually.” He gestured around the hospital room. “I guess it was all so surreal, and I…I was kind of out of it, a-anyway, so I thought this was just more of that.”

“Oh. Well, no, we’re here.” Chase squeezed Jackie’s arm. “You’re really in the hospital. Southpoint General, actually, the same place Jack is.”

“Really?” Jackie laughed a bit. “Cool, I could go visit him.”

“Well he’s in a different, um, ward, or whatever,” Chase said. “But yeah, technically you could.”

Jackie smiled, but then the grin slowly faded from his face. His eyes glazed over a bit.

“So…” Marvin jumped in, walking over to stand next to Chase. “What do you remember?”

“Huh?” Jackie blinked, and looked over at him. “Remember about what? You’ll have to be a bit more specific.”

“I mean about the whole rescue operation,” Marvin explained. “How did the police find you?”

“Oh. Uhhhh yeah like I said I was really out of it, so…” Jackie shrugged. “Not that much. I remember them appearing, I think. There were, like, footsteps, and then a bunch of strangers appeared in the doorway.”

“Did they have to kick it down?” Marvin asked, sounding a little too excited at the idea.

“No, it was already open. I dunno why. Maybe he forgot to close it all the way, he was in a hurry.” Jackie mumbled that last part under his breath, but Chase and Marvin heard it easily enough. “Anyway, they picked me up, and I’m sort of assuming there was a ride to the hospital of some kind, but I completely zoned that out. I kinda vaguely remember a bunch of doctors and some bright lights? But, uh…yeah. Otherwise, I just woke up here, in the bed, and thought I was daydreaming it all.”

“You must have some vivid daydreams, bro,” Chase muttered.

“Yeah.” Jackie nodded.

Marvin gave Jackie an odd look. “I don’t know if having daydreams that strong is normal.”

“No, probably not, but it doesn’t matter, really,” Jackie dismissed.

Marvin looked like he was ready to push the issue, but Chase put a hand on his shoulder and subtly shook his head. This wasn’t the time. “Well, we’re…we’re just really glad you’re okay, Jackie,” he said softly. “We were so fucking worried. You—you’re alright, right?”

Jackie patted himself over, wincing a bit as he pressed on his chest. “Mostly, yeah.”

“Yeah. We’re so happy you’re back,” Marvin added. “What…what happened?” Chase gave him a sharp look, but it was too late, the question was out.

“What happened?” Jackie looked at Marvin incredulously. “I got fucking kidnapped, that’s what happened. And then—a-and then—I was—we—” He stopped, taking a few deep breaths. “Sorry, I…I can’t talk about it.”

Marvin winced. “Sorry. Th-that was—that was rude. It just sort of came out. You don’t have to talk about it. Like Chase said, we were just…really worried, and we—we want to know you’re okay.”

“It’s fine, just be careful,” Jackie said quietly. “I’m okay. Except for the obvious.” In the moment of silence that followed, his eyes drifted down, attention drawn by the bandages on his upper arm. Frowning in strange concentration, he reached up and started pulling at them.

“Whoa, dude, what’re you doing?” Chase almost reached out to grab his wrist, but stopped, thinking that wouldn’t be well-received. “You need those!”

“I just wanna confirm something,” Jackie muttered, managing to loosen the tight bandages enough to start unwinding them. “They can be put back on.”

“I—you’re not wrong, but—what if there’s—I don’t know, a lot of blood, or something?” Chase speculated.

“I don’t think so. Not if I’m remembering right.” Jackie slowly removed the bandages, unwinding and pulling them off. Until, eventually, the wounds underneath were visible.

All three of them stiffened in unison. Jackie’s arm was cut up, but not in a random or accidental way. Instead, the word WARNING was carved into his skin, in bleeding capital letters, going from his shoulder, all down his arm, reaching his elbow.

“What the fuck…?” Chase said, unable to say anything else. He couldn’t believe what he was saying. Stuff like that didn’t happen in real life, only in crime dramas. Who would actually do that?

Jackie’s face shifted as he covered up his distress with a blank expression. “So I was right,” he said tonelessly, attempting to rewrap the bandages one-handedly. Chase pulled himself out of his stunned stupor to bend over and help him with them.

“I’m gonna kill him.”

“Huh?” Chase stopped, looking back over at Marvin.

“Anti. I’m gonna fucking kill him,” Marvin repeated through gritted teeth. His posture was stiff, unmoving, his fists clenched. “He takes our friends—JJ, Schneep, Jackie—and does this? I’m going to kill him. I’m going to take a fucking knife or a gun or rope or whatever I can find and I’m going to kill him and watch the fucking life DRAIN FROM HIS EYES—”

“Jesus, Marv, calm down!” Chase cried. “You gotta think this through.”

Jackie nodded. “Yeah. You’re not a killer.”

“I could be,” Marvin said bluntly.

“No!” Chase straightened, grabbing Marvin by the shoulders and forcing him to look at him. “Marvin, I get it, you’re upset by recent events and clearly filled with rage. For good reason, I’ll say. But you can’t just walk up to a professional assassin and attack him, you’ll just get killed! Besides, JJ and Schneep wouldn’t want you to do that, even for their sake. Just…take a step back. Go walk around and get it out of your system, if you have to. Don’t do anything stupid.”

For a moment, Chase’s words only seemed to anger Marvin more. But then, he broke away, letting out one long, single breath. He pressed his hands to his eyes, breathed some more, then let out a shout and hit himself in the chest a couple times. Chase jumped in surprise, instinctively reaching forward to stop him, but Marvin was already done. “Alright, fine, you have a point. That’d be a dumb move. Impossible and not worth it. But fuck, we gotta do SOMETHING.”

Chase nodded. “Yeah. I know how you feel, bro.” Even though common sense would say to leave this to the professionals, he couldn’t just sit by while his friends were in danger.

“Um…” Jackie waved a bit, drawing the other two’s attention back to him. “What do you mean ‘professional assassin’?”

“Oh. Do you not…know?” Chase asked. “I mean, I thought you would, but…I guess maybe there wasn’t an opportunity. That’s, uh…kind of what Anti does. I think what he’s done with Schneep and whatever he has planned now is just…a side thing, maybe. We actually found his website—oh shit!” His eyes widened in remembrance, and he whirled back to face Marvin. “Marv, you’re not gonna believe this, and you probably don’t need any more reason to hate this guy, but he might be the one who stabbed you.”

Marvin gasped. “Shit, really?!”

“The one who WHAT?!” Jackie repeated.

“Oh, right you were…gone by the time that happened.” Marvin grimaced, then quickly filled in Jackie with what happened at the boutique he used to work for. Finding out it was a front, having someone stab him on his way home one night, getting home and patching up just barely in time, then figuring the owners of the front tried to kill him and heading back to Ireland for a few months to let things calm down. “How’d you figure out it was Anti, Chase?”

“I checked his website. He has reviews from past, uhhh…’clients,’ and one left one talking about a failed hit on a guy who sounded like you,” Chase explained.

“Well, shit.” Marvin folded his arms, face grim. “That’s not good. Well, I’m not gonna leave again until this whole thing is cleared up. Fuckers try to kill me again.”

“Y’know I really don’t think you should tempt fate like that,” Jackie pointed out.

“Fate doesn’t exist, only karma. They’ll get what’s coming to them thricefold, I’m not leaving.”

“I guess…you don’t HAVE to,” Chase said skeptically. “But be careful. We’re not losing anyone else.”

Marvin nodded, expression finally softening. He grabbed Chase’s hand and squeezed it. “I will be.”

“Good.” Chase sighed. “Well, Jackie. This has been a lot of excitement. We should probably let you get some rest.”

“No no no!” Jackie protested. “I-it’s fine, I don’t want you guys to go yet. I…it’s been…so long. You know?”

Chase nodded sadly. “Almost a year.”

“Yeah. Exactly.” Jackie grabbed the edge of the hospital blanket, twisting it. “So…you have a lot to catch me up on, then. I-it’s gonna take a while. You should sit down.”

Marvin and Chase glanced at each other. Then Marvin shrugged. “There are better chairs in this room than in Jack’s,” he said.

Chase laughed. “I mean, I wasn’t gonna say it—”

“You were thinking it, though?”

“Exactly.”

“Glad to hear my chairs are superior,” Jackie said, smiling a bit. “Pull one up.”

“Alright, Jackieboy Man, we have some time,” Chase grinned. “There’s a lot you’ve missed.”

The three of them sat, talking for hours about things that mattered a lot, and things that didn’t matter at all.
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“—can’t believe they—how did they know about—probably figured out about the others too—”

Jameson wasn’t paying much attention to Anti’s muttering, but every so often, he caught random snatches as Anti paced back and forth. Every time he passed by the doorway, more angry phrases passed through into the bedroom beyond. Something really had him upset, didn’t it? From what little he heard, someone had found something, and that was a big problem. Well…he had wondered if the police found Anti’s previous hideout, and if that was the reason he had to drag them out of there. Whatever the case, good. If Anti had a problem, he deserved it.

“—THREE fucking people in this tiny—gotta find out what’s still—somewhere new? Maybe?—”

Lying on the bed, Jameson saw Anti’s shadow pass to the left…then the right…then the left…then the right…. It kept cutting across the light that was shining into the dim bedroom from the room outside. The living room, to be exact. The living room of the apartment he was now trapped in, to be precise. Though, Anti did seem to be distracted. The bedroom door was wide open, if he wanted he could run out and—No, it probably wouldn’t work. Anti told him the front door was locked, and he probably still had the key on him. Jameson couldn’t take it from him; Anti was much stronger. Besides, even if the key had been sitting out on the table, Jameson wasn’t the only person who needed to get out.

Speaking of which…

He rolled over to his side, now facing the bedroom wall. There was a window on this side, but the shutters were closed, and actually had a padlock making sure they couldn’t be moved. Anti probably had that key, too. There was a wardrobe in one corner and a dresser in the other, the former having its doors ajar to show it was empty inside. Or…empty of clothes, at least. A figure was pressed against one wall, huddled up, indistinct in the shadows. When Jameson had woken up a few hours ago, there had been faint mumbling and sobbing coming from that direction. Now, there was nothing.

After a moment of listless staring, Jameson sat up, glanced out the doorway to make sure Anti was still occupied in his pacing, then stood and walked over to the wardrobe. He pushed the door farther open and stared down at the figure. A man. Knees pulled up and arms covering face, the classic defensive position. A moment more passed before Jameson sat down on the wardrobe floor next to the shadowy huddle.

“Ah!” The man gasped a bit, then looked up. Wide blue eyes reflected the little light in the dim room. He stared at Jameson, then asked, “Jackie?”

Jameson shook his head.

“No, no. Of course not. I’m sorry, I am just confused.” The man’s eyes squinted a bit. “Do I…know you?”

Jameson shook his head again.

“Oh. Good. I was worried for a moment there.” The man uncurled a bit, taking his arms away from his face. He reached down to his ankles, slightly adjusting the cuffs around them, binding them together. Then he glanced around. “I do not recognize this place, either. Do you?” When Jameson shook his head for a third time, the man tilted his head. “Can you…not speak?”

Faintly surprised, Jameson nodded. Most people would ask why he was quiet or demand that he talk. Only a few caught on to the reality without him somehow cuing them with signs or writing.

“Ah, I’m sorry, then. Can you hear me?”

A nod.

“I see.” The man glanced out at the room again. “My name—my name is Henrik.” So Jameson’s guess was right. This was the Dr. Schneeplestein he’d heard so much about, and had one brief meeting with, a meeting that had ended badly. “What is your—what do I call you?”

Thinking for a moment, Jameson reached out and gently took one of Schneep’s hands. He stiffened a bit, but allowed him to do so. Jameson then drew out the letter J twice on the surface of his palm.

“JJ? Oh, that is very nice.” Schneep smiled faintly. “I understand some sign language, you know. But I am afraid I am very rusty. I do not think I could hold a conversation.” His smile fell. “Do you…know why we are here?”

Jameson nodded sadly. He gestured out towards the room, in the direction of the doorway Anti was pacing and muttering in front of.

Schneep shuddered. “Yes, I—I have—he has—I have been in this situation. Before.”

Jameson pointed at himself, then made the sign for also by pointing his fingers and touching his hands together.

“I know that one. You…you know him, too?” Schneep’s voice held a combination of horror, sympathy, and strangely, hope. Hope that he wasn’t alone. “I suppose I don’t have to explain, then.”

Letting out a huff of dark laughter, Jameson shook his head.

“Hmm. That is good.” Schneep scanned Jameson, taking in as many details he could in the faint light. “I…something about this time is…different. Than when he last took me.” He suppressed another shiver as he looked up towards the shadow passing back and forth on the ceiling. “I…am sorry you are here.”

Jameson scooted closer to him. He put one hand on Schneep’s shoulder and signed Sorry with his other. Neither of them should be here. Anti should never have interfered in their lives again.

Schneep let out a shaky breath, and leaned closer to Jameson until he was resting his weight against him. Jameson pressed his head against his. And together, they listened to the sound of their nightmare pacing and muttering, wondering what was next for them.

Part Twenty-One of The Stitched AU
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of a completed fanfic series of mine with 24 total chapters. I started this October of 2018 and finished it May of 2021. The group gains a couple of new allies, just in time for a new enemy to confront them.]
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With a small ding! the doors to the elevator opened, and Jack stepped out onto the ground floor. He looked left, then right, then down at the note in his hand. "Investigating Storage Room 1, first floor, 3:00. On the right side, look for nameplate."

They’d been in the Sanctuary for almost two weeks now. There had been no sign of trouble, but none of them had dared leave the building anyway. The result was a mixture of stress and boredom. But yesterday, something finally happened. Yvonne met with them and said that the magicians had finally gotten around to analyzing the strings. After some talking, Jack had volunteered to meet up with the magicians and relay the information back to the others. Of course, now that he was here he was feeling somewhat nervous, but he pushed that aside.

Folding the note and putting it in his pocket, Jack turned right and soon found the door they had directed him to, identifiable by a nameplate on the wall nearby. At a glance, it didn’t look too different from any other door in the Sanctuary. It didn’t have any of the numbers that the hotel-like rooms did, but then again, not all of them did. He wouldn’t have paid any attention to it at all, which might’ve been the point.

After a couple seconds, the door opened, revealing Delyth standing there. “Oh good, you’re here,” she said. “You’re early.”

Jack laughed nervously. “Well, I wanted to make sure, y’know? Is being early a problem?”

“No, not at all. Please, come inside.” Delyth stepped away so that Jack could walk into the room, closing the door behind him as soon as he had.

Contrary to its door, the room beyond was MUCH stranger than the rest of the Sanctuary. It was dimly lit, with only a few lamps dangling from the ceiling casting concentrated beams of yellow light onto the floor. Not that there was much floor space at all. The room was filled with boxes. Neatly stacked, bigger ones on the bottom, all made out of metal with a coppery sheen. Each box had a label and what looked like a colorful warning symbol, like the sort that was put onto hazardous materials. Jack couldn’t remember if the symbol had a specific name, but he remembered it was a diamond made of four colors. These symbols were similar, except they were circular, divided into four colorful sections with another circle in the center.

In the middle of the room was a table. Delyth was quick to guide Jack over towards it. Yvonne was already there, as well as an older man with dark hair and a beard, both of which looked like they’d been hit by lightning. The man was wearing a coat that was decorated like a labcoat, but dark blue and with a symbol of a four-pointed star on the lapel. Oh the table was one of the coppery boxes, about the size and shape of a shoebox, and a strange device with several large lenses attached.

“Jack, this is Mr. Griffin, he’s one of the wizards studying at this Sanctuary,” Delyth explained.

“Pleasure to meet you, young man,” the older man said in a precise British accent.

Jack couldn’t help but stare. “Uh, yeah, the pleasure’s all mine. You…you’re a wizard, then?”

“I’m not what you were expecting, I understand,” Griffin laughed. “It’s alright, I get that reaction a lot, I’m very used to it.”

Jack laughed a bit as well. “Well, as long as I’m not the first.” He sighed, then returned to the seriousness of the moment. “Anyway, what’ve you found?”

“Well, I’ve examined these strings—”

“We’ve examined them,” Yvonne interrupted. “I helped, don’t forget.”

“Yes, Bell has been very helpful,” Delyth said, sounding as though she’d rather not admit it. “Her knowledge as a soul magician is valuable.”

Yvonne puffed herself up proudly.

“Anyway, we’ve examined them,” Griffin continued. He tapped the side of the box, and Jack leaned forward to look at it. The box actually had a lid, though he hadn’t noticed it since it was made of glass, giving a clear look into the inside of the box. The strings tangled about, writhing like worms and slamming against the sides. “These are not actually physical strings.”

“They’re not physical?” Jack asked, confusion obvious. “But…they can, like, touch things. Interact with them.”

“That’s true, but they’re not made of actual matter,” Griffin explained. “You see, magic can become solid, if concentrated enough. So they’re more like energy than anything else.”

“I…but…isn’t there a thing about how you can’t touch energy? Isn’t that what e=mc2 is all about? Something like that?”

“Magic follows its own rules,” Delyth said. “Just accept that if you take enough magic together, it can become a tangible thing.”

Jack nodded slowly. He figured it was best not to think about this too much. “Okay. So they’re just magic?”

“They’re more than just magic, actually,” Griffin said, suddenly grave. “They’re very dark magic.”

Delyth nodded. “From what we’ve figured out, the strings were most likely caused by a black magic spell backfiring. Terribly backfiring.” She sighed. “That’s the cost of dark magic. It may seem easy, but when it goes wrong, it goes wrong in a big way. Not to mention the effect it’ll have on a magician’s mind and soul.”

“A spell backfiring…” Jack muttered. “We…thought that Marvin and Jackie cast a spell. And we thought that it went wrong, too.” He paused. “Transference.”

“It’s all my fault!” Yvonne suddenly blurted out. She slammed her hands on the table, looking pale. “That book was in my shop. Marvin saw it, he wanted to borrow it, and I-I didn’t think anything of it! When he gave it back, it looked fine, but he could’ve easily copied—”

“Bell!” Delyth looked shocked. “You had a book with a transference spell in your shop?”

“Yeah,” Yvonne mumbled. “I thought it would sell for a lot. I never would’ve dreamed it could lead to all…all this. If I knew, I never would’ve stocked it.”

“You shouldn’t have been selling a book with that spell in the first place!” Delyth scolded. “Think of all the harm it could do!”

“Well, it’s not really my fault if someone wants to buy it, is it, Mae?” Yvonne said angrily. “If someone showed up looking for a book like that, then they knew exactly what they were doing. There are warnings with each spell and they’re very descriptive, if anything happened, it was on them!” She stopped, then slowly deflated. “At least, that’s what I thought at the time. If I knew…if I knew…”

“There’s never just one person responsible for a spell backfiring,” Griffin said. “Nor the consequences of it. Your Marvin friend shouldn’t have used the spell in the first place.”

Yvonne took a deep, shaky breath. “A-anyway, that’s what the strings are probably from. That spell going tops-up.”

Jack was silent for a moment, watching the strings in the box as they wriggled. “But…okay, if they’re just magic, that’s fine. But why are they moving? Why do they…it seems like they always make a beeline for Jackie and Marvin, why is that?”

“Ah. Well…” Griffin paused, stroking his beard. “This is where Ms. Bell comes into play.”

“Right.” Yvonne straightened her shoulders, collecting herself. “Jack, this—” She patted the device with the lenses “—is one of the many tools we use in soul magic. We, uh, don’t really know what souls are, to be honest. But we know that with this, we can at least see them. It helps us visualize souls into something more…tangible.” She slid two of the lenses into place and angled them so that Jack could look through them at the strings. “Go on, have a peek.”

Jack hesitated, then leaned over. He gasped. His view of the strings had suddenly been magnified by a thousand percent. He could see that the glowing strings were actually woven together of smaller threads, which appeared translucent when looked at individually. Caught in the woven threads, too small for anyone to see with the naked eye, were tiny, broken lights. Blue and red. They couldn’t have been bigger than dust motes, and there weren’t that many of them, but they shined with light.

“This is…kinda fucked up, honestly,” Yvonne said. “The bits of light you’re now seeing are actually bits of…soul.”

“Holy fuck…” Jack had to take a step back.

“I used a similar device to look at Marvin when he was at my flat,” Yvonne explained. “And his soul looked…broken. My only thought is that when he and Jackie performed the transference, both their souls were broken. And bits of them got mixed in with these strings, which must be the magic cast by the transference. It probably had nowhere to go, so it solidified.”

“That…that must be the case,” Jack breathed. “I mean, they’re even the same colors.”

Silence.

Jack, noticing the sudden quiet, looked around. All the magicians were staring at him with wide eyes. “What?”

“What do you mean…colors?” Delyth asked.

“The, uh, the lights are red and blue. Just like Marvin and Jackie’s souls,” Jack explained.

“Wh—” Yvonne choked.

“You can…can you see souls?” Griffin asked.

“Oh. Uh, yeah.” Jack tapped the area below his left eye. “Only with this eye, though. JJ and I think that when he used his magic to replace the one I lost, it kind of overcompensated.”

“And…these souls have colors?” Griffin asked again, looking very interested in this.

“Yeah. Of course.” Jack looked back and forth at the others. “Are they…not supposed to?”

“Even with the Lens, all souls appear colorless,” Yvonne said in a hushed tone. “Even to soul magicians like me. They’re all…white light.”

“Oh. I guess…I’m special, then? Because they definitely have color to me.” Jack closed his right eye. “Yeah, I can see all yours now. Delyth’s is purple like her magic, Yvonne’s is blue with a bit of purple, Mr. Griffin’s is bright, and I mean BRIGHT, yellow, and mine is green. Huh. Also all yours are kinda…sparkly? Mine isn’t. Yours kinda looks like how JJ’s is, but different.”

“Wait, can you see—are you maybe seeing our magic?” Griffin gasped. “That’s incredible!”

“Uh, thanks, I guess. I had no say in it.” Jack opened his eye and laughed. “It’s a bit ironic that I can see all these colors and you guys can’t, I’m actually slightly colorblind.”

“Okay, but the soul bits in the strings match Marvin’s and Jackie’s,” Yvonne hurried to say. “The colors here are the same as the colors of their souls?”

“Yeah.”

“That confirms it, then,” Delyth nodded. “The strings are attracted to them due to having parts of them inside. They want to be reunited.”

“I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing in principle,” Yvonne said slowly. “Except for the fact that Marvin got a lot more angry and attack-y once some of those strings got together with him.”

“I suspect that’s the black magic,” Griffin said.

“Okay, but is there any way to get rid of them?” Jack asked, a desperate note in his voice. “These fucking strings are causing all sorts of trouble.”

“Hmm.” Griffin furrowed his brow and looked up at the ceiling. “I know we looked into that, but I think I left the notes in the other room.” He reached down and tapped the top of the box. It turned an opaque, coppery color, the same as all the rest. “I could go get them now, if you’d like.”

“Nah, that’s fine, I could go get them if you want.” Jack took a few steps back.

“Oh. Well, if you’re offering, then that would be great, thank you,” Griffin nodded. “They should be next door, in the Investigative Room. I doubt I left them in a drawer or anywhere, so they’re probably out on a surface.”

“Alright.” Jack turned around. “I’ll see you later, then.” He hurried to leave. Those strings…he wasn’t eager to spend much more time with them.
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There was a wide open area in the basement of the Sanctuary. At first glance, it looked like a gymnasium, except without the bleachers and basketball hoops. It was also much bigger, with a small climbing wall at one end, an archery shooting range at the other, and a wall in between lined with strange perforations. Delyth explained it was made for agents who wanted to practice spells in their spare time. However, it had sat empty for the entire time they’d been here. But that was fine. Schneep actually preferred it empty.

He pushed open the doors to the room, automatically tensing, searching for anyone. He didn’t think anyone was there. Or at the very least, that strange sixth sense that let him know when people were around was telling him the room was empty as always. He sighed, relaxing, and walked into the approximate center of the room.

Now that things were relatively peaceful—well, actually, that was a stretch, it was better phrased as “now that there was no one actively trying to kill them”—he’d thought it would be best to practice this magic of his. Strange, how things had changed to the point where he readily accepted his new magical abilities, when just a few years ago he would’ve denied it to the ends of the earth. Schneep laughed to himself. Well, time flies.

He started this practice by summoning and vanishing his scissors a couple times. It was still unclear where they came from and went off to when he wasn’t using them. All he knew was that if he reached to the side he could feel their handles, seemingly hovering in midair right where he needed them. Perhaps the scissors were stored in some sort of pocket dimension that only he could access.

What was interesting was that other things could come from this pocket dimension. Shortly after arriving at the Sanctuary and getting frustrated with the unfamiliar layout, Schneep had wished for something that could help him know where things were. He’d reached out, and suddenly found something there. A long, thin stick, that could extend in length. Bringing it to Jack confirmed his suspicions: it was a cane. Exactly what he’d needed. Unusual, he thought, that he’d found it at the exact moment he was thinking about it. Perhaps the pocket dimension could provide what he wanted? But it didn’t provide anything other than the scissors and the cane so far. Well, he was still working on that theory.

Second matter of business. Simple jumps, to get him warmed up. That was what he decided to call this teleporting or whatever it was. The act of walking somewhere and having the world around him change, so he was somewhere else entirely. It was sort of like portals, except Schneep didn’t need a fancy gun to jump, he just did it at will.

He jumped back and forth across the width of the room a couple times, touching the wall to orient himself. Then across the length. Then from corner to corner. He never really got tired from the jumping. And last practice, he realized it didn’t even need to be on solid ground. Though that had been an accident, and he’d ended up landing flat on his face. Moments like that were why he practiced alone.

Schneep paused for a moment, reaching out to feel the base of the climbing wall. Perhaps…? Bracing himself, he took a step forward, and ended up not on the floor, but falling through the air. Fear instantly shot through him, and he waved his arms wildly until his hands brushed against something. That texture—! He tried to grab, and—

“OW!” Schneep gasped. His arm felt like it was being yanked out of its socket. His fall was suddenly stopped when he managed to find one of the climbing wall’s holds, but the sudden change of speed had caused a shot of pure pain through his shoulder. God, he hoped that wasn’t dislocated.

Kicking his legs a bit, he managed to jump back down to the floor, where he immediately started rubbing his shoulder. He’d been aiming for the flat bit at the top of the climbing wall, but it appeared he missed. Luckily he was close enough to find that hold, otherwise he’d have to deal with falling all the way to the floor. Even though the climbing wall was half the size of most, it was still twenty feet tall.

Schneep didn’t allow himself to pause. He wanted to try one more thing before stopping for the day. Walking over to the side, he found the perforated wall of the gym area, and walked along it until he found a control panel. There was a touchscreen on it, which wasn’t much use to him, but there was also a button and a dial. He’d asked Delyth about it earlier, and she explained the button was to start or stop the “course” and the dial was to time it, with the maximum being thirty minutes. Twisting the dial, he set it to about five minutes, then hit the button.

“Projectile training course set for: four minutes.” An automated voice rang out through the gym area. “There is: one minute before start time.”

“Alright, here we go.” Schneep took a deep breath, and jumped back to the middle of the room, tensing with anxiety. He’d have to be careful here.

“Thirty seconds remaining before the projectile course fires,” said the automated voice. Then after a while. “Ten seconds remaining. Nine. Eight.”

Schneep bounced on his feet, ready to move at any moment.

“Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three.”

There was a slight humming sound coming from the wall. He braced himself.

“Two. One. Firing.”

The darts of magic started to fire, each hole making a chnk! sound as they shot and the darts themselves causing a whhst! sound as they passed through the air. Schneep started moving, listening carefully for the noise of each one firing and flying forward. He started running, then skidded to a halt as there was a chnk! from a space near him. The dart whizzed past his face in a gust of air. He ducked just in time to avoid another, then turned around and jumped to what sounded like a safe spot.

Four minutes was not a very long time, but it certainly felt that way as Schneep dodged, ducked, and jumped across the room. He tried not to think too much, just listen and notice the small signs of the nearby darts. Eventually he got into a rhythm, jumping whenever he heard several chnk!s in the area around him.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Soon, one of the darts hit him in the leg and broke his concentration. “Ah!” He instinctively leaned down to clutch at the spot, but that just brought him right into the path of another whhst! “Fick!” And everything broke down from there as a quick barrage of about a dozen darts soon knocked him to the ground. He jumped to another area, only to get knocked right in the chest the moment he arrived and knocked down once again.

“Projectile course finished,” the automated voice said. “Thank you for participating.” A loud beep signaled the end of the course.

Schneep sighed. He wasn’t sure what those darts were, other than pure magic, but he knew that they hurt. It reminded him of the time Chase had dragged him to a paintball match, and he was sure that there would be similar bruises left over. Wincing, he climbed to his feet. “Need more practice on that,” he said to himself.

Well, there was always tomorrow. He turned and headed for the nearest wall, following it to the exit.
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“Chase. Chase. Chase. Chase. Chase.”

Ignoring the repeated, nagging sound of his own name, Chase rolled over and pulled the blanket over his face. What time was it? Probably sometime in the afternoon, judging by the light coming in from the bedroom window. Also, who opened the window? The curtains at the Sanctuary were pretty good for blocking out light, they must be open if he could see light even behind his eyelids. Good thing this bed had thick blankets, too.

“Chase. Chase. Chase.” Now something was poking him with every repetition. It soon became something shaking him. “Chase. Chase.”

Finally realizing he wasn’t going to stop, Chase groaned and pushed away the covers. He opened his eyes and looked over to see Jackie standing by the side of the bed. Staring at him. Was he…was he there the whole night? Because apparently he didn’t sleep anymore—or at least, not as much, and not when Chase or JJ were watching. The thought was…disturbing. “What is it, Jackie?” he asked, sighing.

Jackie didn’t answer for a while, just blinked. It was a solid thirty seconds before he asked, “When are we leaving?”

Chase had been about to go back to sleep, but that question sent a shot of nerves through his heart that woke him right up. “Um…I don’t know. Wh-why? Do you want to go somewhere?”

“I need to find the rest of us,” Jackie said insistently. “I know I’m out there, but I can’t tell where.”

“…right.” Chase sat up. “Well, uh…I mean, is this really that importa—”

“Yes.”

Chase fell silent. There were moments when Jackie just acted a bit unusual, but there were also too many moments like this, moments that left him with a crawling feeling across his skin, and he could see how Jackie was once part of Anti. “Um…okay.” Chase inched away. “Well, I don’t know when we’re leaving, so don’t ask me.”

Jackie looked disappointed, but wandered away to look out the window. Chase paused, then glanced at the clock on the wall. 3:00 on the dot. He sighed. It was pretty late, but given how he hadn’t gone to bed until six in the morning last night and had trouble getting to sleep once he did, he wanted to pull the covers up and try to get another hour or two. But he was also pretty hungry, so he should get some food while he had the energy to. So he climbed out of bed and left the room.

The magicians had been providing them with groceries when they asked, as well as anything else they needed. Chase left the bedroom, waving a hello to JJ sitting on the living area’s sofa, and headed straight for the kitchenette. He opened one of the cupboards and took out a box of cereal. The brand was unfamiliar, something generic and probably store-brand, but the bits of cereal were coated in sugar and that’s what mattered. He took out a bowl and spoon and poured.

“You should take a shower.”

Chase yelped, spilling some of the cereal, and looked up to see Jackie had followed him and was now standing in the middle of the living room and watching him. “Jesus, don’t do that,” Chase breathed, setting down the cereal box.

“I don’t think you’ve used the shower since we’ve been here,” Jackie continued. “That’s not good.”

“Uhh…” Chase leaned to the side so he could see JJ around Jackie.

JJ set down his book—something that Yvonne had given him a few days ago—and said, 'Well he’s not wrong. But anyway, can you handle this right now?'

Chase nodded slowly, then leaned back into place and looked at Jackie. “I think I’m fine, Jackie. It’s not like I smell or anything. Uh…right?”

“You lie in bed a lot,” Jackie said bluntly. “Has that always been a thing with you? I think it has, for some time. I remember that. You should at least move to somewhere else. Actually use the other rooms.”

And then sometimes there were these moments. Moments where Jackie seemed almost normal, talking in the same way and giving the same advice he did years ago, before that black magic spell had killed him and created Anti. Honestly, these moments made the whole situation creepier. Chase took a moment to respond. “Well…maybe I WILL take a shower, then.”

“That’s a start.” Jackie’s eyes slowly drifted to the side, and then he turned away, walking around the room in an aimless manner.

JJ waved in Chase’s direction for his attention. 'You alright?'

Chase let out a breath, and nodded. 'Yeah, I’m fine,' he responded in sign. They’d learned from experience over the last two weeks that Jackie would butt in on the conversation if Chase started talking out loud.

Jameson raised an eyebrow. His expression was hard to read under his new mask—this one was black, and had also been provided by the magicians once he’d asked for one—but if Chase had to guess, it was probably concerned. 'I was thinking maybe if we switched places, he might give you a break.'

'You mean if you pretended to be me? I’m pretty sure he’d be able to tell. We have some very obvious identifying features.'

JJ huffed. 'I suppose you’re right. And we can’t get Jack or Henrik to do that, since the same can be said for them. Maybe if Henrik covered up his scars?'

'I get the feeling he’d be able to tell anyway.' Chase sighed, and headed for the fridge, grabbing the milk. He was turning back around when he noticed it. Jackie had suddenly stopped walking and was now standing, shoulders tensed, in the middle of the room. “Um…Jackie? Are you alright?”

Jackie didn’t respond. Instead, he turned on his heel and walked right to the door, opening it and leaving the room.

“Wh—Jackie!” Chase put the milk down on the nearest counter, JJ stood up, and the two of them quickly followed him into the hallway.

Jackie had taken a turn to the left, moving quickly and purposefully towards the stairs at the end of the hall. “Hey! Jackie!” Chase and JJ broke into a run. Jackie glanced over his shoulder, then started sprinting as well, reaching the stairwell in no time.

“Stop!” Chase paused in the entrance to the stairwell, watching as Jackie ran down the stairs two at a time. “Where the hell are you going?!”

JJ pulled up next to him. 'Should I stop him?' He flicked his fingers, making a blue disc of magic appear.

Chase shook his head. “No, let’s follow him first.” And they started running again.

Jackie headed down all three flights of stairs to the ground floor, pausing for a moment as if getting his bearings before taking the right hallway. “Wh…what?” Chase panted. That hallway would only lead deeper into the Sanctuary. What could he possibly want down here? He glanced over at JJ, who looked just as confused.

From farther down the hall, they heard a “What the—” and then someone screamed.

Jameson’s eyes widened. 'Isn’t that—'

Chase immediately broke into a dead sprint.

Farther down the hall, a door was swinging wildly, and someone was lying on the floor as if they’d been knocked over. A few loose papers were scattered around. Chase gasped. “Jack!” He hurried to his friend’s side and helped him stand up. “Are you okay?!”

“Fine,” Jack said shortly, rubbing his arm. “Was that—was Jackie just here?”

“Yeah, ran all the way down here,” Chase said. “What were you doing here?”

“It was that thing, that thing about the, uh, strings,” Jack explained.

Jameson, having just caught up in time to hear that statement, looked shocked. He whirled towards the swinging door and grabbed hold of it, rushing inside.

“Did he go in there?” Chase asked, also pointing at the door.

“Uh, I think so?” Jack gasped slightly. “But that’s where—”

A loud clattering sound came from inside. Jack and Chase glanced at each other, then ducked into the room.

Inside, Jackie was struggling with the three magicians already inside. Yvonne had her arms wrapped around his, while Delyth’s eyes were lit up purple and her hands held out in a defensive position. Griffin clutched the copper box with the strings inside, holding it protectively while JJ covered him with a shield. A stack of other boxes had been knocked over and were now strewn across the floor.

“What’s going—Jackie, stop!” Chase stepped in front of Jack. “You’ll hurt them!”

“I d̛on’t ̛ca̛re,” Jackie hissed. “Give me back!”

“You two get out of here!” Delyth said to Jack and Chase. “This could get messy.”

“No—” Jack started to protest.

There was a flash of red light, and Yvonne suddenly cried out. She stumbled backward, now bleeding from a cut that had appeared across the left side of her face. With his arms free, Jackie lunged towards Jameson and Griffin, eyes fixed on the box. Jameson threw his hands forward, and the shield expanded outward, pushing Jackie to the ground. He hissed again and made a sharp gesture. A slice of red light cut through the air and right through Jameson’s shield, making it flicker and die. Jackie started forward again, only for Delyth to block him with a crystalline shield of her own.

“Fuck this!” Yvonne wiped the blood out of her eye and lunged right at Jackie, managing to grab him again. He shrieked, the sound full of rage, and more red light flashed. Yvonne suddenly dropped again. She clutched her leg, which was now bleeding.

“I said for you to get out!” Delyth snarled. “This is danger—”

There was a sudden, almost inaudible snap! sound, and then there was another person in the room. Schneep appeared directly behind Jackie, hitting him hard on the back of his head with the butt of a cane. Jackie crumpled to the floor, clearly breathing but now unconscious. Schneep let out a long breath. “Please say that was the correct thing to do,” he muttered.

“Hen! That was—where’d you come from?” Jack gasped.

“I was passing by,” he explained. “On the way to the elevator back to the rooms, which may I say, very inconvenient to have an elevator just to get to the basement, but it worked out this time. I could tell there was a fight, so I decided to step in.”

“Wait, how’d you know to hit Jackie?” Delyth asked, lowering her shield. “I thought you were blind.”

“I am. Do you not see this?” Schneep waved the cane in her general direction. “But it seems part of my magic is knowing where people are. And who they are, too. Which is very lucky.”

Jameson clapped his hands for attention. 'May I suggest we continue this conversation after getting this young lady some medical care?'

“Yes, great suggestion,” Yvonne said. “I am bleeding quite significantly.” Her tone said it was a joke but her face betrayed her real worry.

Delyth sighed. “Yes, of course. There’s a small clinic with supplies further down the hall. We’ll finish this up in there.”
.............................................................................................

It didn’t take too long for them all to relocate to the clinic and get Yvonne taken care of. They also took Jackie there as well, setting him down on one of the clinic’s three beds. Once Yvonne’s wounds were wrapped up, everyone immediately returned to the matter at hand. Chase and JJ explained how Jackie had suddenly left the room and ran downstairs, and Jack told the others the information about the strings he’d found out just before Jackie appeared.

“Did he somehow sense the strings, perhaps?” Schneep speculated. “But then why hadn’t he reacted before? They’ve been here the whole time.”

“That may be my fault,” Griffin admitted. “The crates we keep magical artifacts in are designed to keep any magical signals from escaping, but if we need to look at them, the spell to make the crates transparent allows a small bit to get out.” He shook his head slowly. “I’ll have to add that warning to their container.”

“They weren’t even visible for that long,” Yvonne muttered. “And it sounds like Jackie realized they were here after barely a minute. Well, what d’you expect, when they’re part of his soul?”

“Can we talk about these soul strings in more detail?” Chase asked. “Like, for example…how do we get rid of them?”

“Oh, I-I still have those notes I was supposed to get.” Jack reached into his hoodie pocket and took out some crumpled pieces of paper. “Sorry, I kinda…dropped them when Jackie pushed me away, then didn’t really pay too much attention when I picked them up.”

“It’s fine, just hand them over.” Griffin held out his hand, and Jack passed over the papers. He began uncrumpling them.

'What do you think will happen to the parts of their souls that are stuck inside the strings?' JJ asked, his expression drawn and worried. 'Will they disappear? Would that hurt?' Jack translated for the part of the room that didn’t understand sign.

“That’s a…very good question,” Delyth said. “Bell?”

“Don’t ask me, Mae, this has never happened before!” Yvonne said defensively. “Maybe we could ask the guy with deus ex soul vision.”

Jack hesitated. “Maybe…the bits will just go back to the full person?” he suggested tentatively “I mean, it’s hard to know which ones belong to who, since whenever I look at Marvin and Jackie their colors are all mixed up—”

Yvonne’s head shot up. “Wait, does that mean their souls are mixed up?!” she shrieked.

“Well, I think…” Jack trailed off. “I…hadn’t thought of…”

Silence fell in the room, only broken by the occasional ruffle of paper as Griffin continued to smooth them out. “Well, I…suppose that makes…sense,” Schneep said haltingly. “Jackie has…abilities now. Magic. He never had them before. If magic is in the soul, perhaps having bits of Marvin gave him…some of that?”

“But is there a way to undo it, then?” Chase asked with more than a hint of desperation in his voice. “Is there a way to make them better?”

More silence. Everyone looked at Yvonne, the only soul magician, but she had nothing to offer, so she looked over at Griffin. Awkwardly, he cleared his throat. “Well…I’m sorry, but I don’t think so,” he said as gently as possible.

Chase’s expression visibly fell. Jameson, standing nearby, reached over, offering his hand. After a moment, Chase breathed in deeply, and took the hand. “Right. I guess…that was stupid to think.”

“It wasn’t stupid,” Jack said gently. “It was hopeful, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“But there may be a way to improve this situation a bit,” Delyth suddenly said. “The strings…they’re black magic, and I don’t doubt that’s affecting your friends. If we get rid of them, perhaps we could stop them from being so oddly hostile…and prevent this Anti from ever returning.”

Chase looked up, and slowly nodded. “Okay then. How do we do that?”

“It would need to be strong magic,” Griffin said, looking over his notes. “But it’s not impossible. We may be able to burn them with an intense blaze, freeze the spell inside, or take them apart until they cease to function…either way, I don’t think just one magician will have enough power for that on their own.”

“Okay, so we next work on figuring that out,” Schneep stated. “How? If you need help, I will offer.”

'I will as well,' JJ added.

“We’d need to try,” Griffin muttered. “Just…try many different things. That’s the only way I can see forward.”

“The old trial and error,” Yvonne said. “Well…I’ll help too, if you need it.”

Chase let out a long, long sigh. “I…I’m done for the day. This was a lot for just a few minutes, and I just woke up.”

“Oh yes, by all means, all of you return to what you were doing,” Delyth said. “We’ll come tell you if we need anything, and remember you can ask us for anything as well.”

And slowly, they dispersed. Chase and JJ took Jackie back up to their room, while Jack and Schneep returned to theirs. Yvonne remained in the clinic for a while longer before retreating to her room, too. Nobody said anything as they left.

There was no way to reverse this. The fact was slowly sinking in to all of them. Whatever Jackie and Marvin had done, it could not be undone.

Yet maybe, just maybe, they could salvage something from this.

Just maybe.

Part Six of the Switch AU
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of an ongoing fic series I started in April 2019. In a short break from the current problems facing the group, Marvin gets a cat.]
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“I don’ recognize t’is part of town,” Marvin muttered, staring out the car window at the streets whizzing by. Not too intently though, he still wasn’t used to how fast cars went now. “Are you goin’ t’finally tell me what we’re doin’ here?”

“Hang on a moment, we’re almost there, just let me park.” JJ carefully maneuvered the small car into an empty space, turning it off with a twist of the keys. “Alright, here we are!”

Marvin looked out the front window at the store they’d parked in front of, reading the name emblazoned on the sign. He squinted. “Is…is t’is a pet store?”

“Surprise!” JJ smiled, accompanied by a joyful fluttering of fingers. “I wanted to get you a pet!”

Marvin blinked. “Why?”

JJ’s smile faltered a bit before he recovered his cheer. “Well, I thought it would help you adjust to this new…environment. And also…” His joyful expression fell once more, becoming serious. “I sometimes worry about you being home all by yourself. It might get lonely, you know, and I can’t keep asking the others to stop by even though they keep saying they’d be happy to.”

“Oh, so you’re saying t’at I can’ be alright wit’out you?” Marvin chuckled as JJ suddenly started stammering excuses. “It’s alright, I know what y’mean. Are you sure about t’is? Pets can be difficult to take care of. I’m okay wit’out one.”

“Well, yes, but also…small animals are cute.”

Another chuckle. “Alright. I s’pose I can’ change your mind once you’ve got it made up. Lead the way.”

JJ paused. “I’d hoped you be a bit more enthusiastic, to be honest.” Marvin didn’t answer, just shrugged. JJ exhaled a puff of air, then continued. “Well, we can’t do anything just sitting in the car. Come on.” He opened the door and stepped out, and Marvin soon followed.

The inside of the pet store was about what you’d expect, a main reception desk and walls covered in cute posters about the adoption process and how to take care of your animals. A few workers wearing blue shirts and nametags were milling about. One immediately walked up to JJ and Marvin. “Hi, can I help you?” she asked.

JJ looked over at Marvin, who gave an indifferent shrug. “Well, we’d like to adopt today,” JJ explained.

“Oh that’s wonderful! Do you know what type of animal you’re looking for? We have dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, snakes, hamsters and gerbils—”

“Cat,” Marvin jumped in before she could list every possible pet that existed. Yeah, cats could take care of themselves. He didn’t have to devote himself to that.

“I’m a cat person, myself,” the worker—her nametag read Kendra—said with a laugh. “If you would follow me through this door I can show you our cat kennels.

Marvin was expecting walls lined with cat carriers, and there were a few side rooms of that. But Kendra instead led them down a hall to a large room with wide windows that was entirely taken up by cat condos and trees, multilayered carpeted platforms with scratching poles and little houses to hide in. There were even a few mounted on walls. Around the perimeter of the rooms were benches for visitors and baskets of cat toys. Naturally, there were cats everywhere, of all shapes and sizes. Brown, white, black, tabby, calico, short-hair, long-hair, and every -hair in between. There were already some people inside interacting with them; what looked like a mom and two kids and an elderly couple.

“This is our playpen. Not all our cats are out right now, but this is a good place to get to know them,” Kendra explained. “If you don’t find one who appeals to you, I can take you into their actual kennels. We also have a selection of toys, beds, and other entertainment items, if you want to check those out.”

“Well,” JJ started, “we might not—”

“Jems, you can go look at those,” Marvin interrupted. “I’m goin’ t’stay in here for a while and see what happens.”

JJ gave him a look, but then said, “Okay, if you insist. Come get us if you need anything. Miss, if you can show me where that is…”

JJ left the room with Kendra, and Marvin immediately walked over and sat on a bench in a corner, near one of the cat trees. He watched the others in the room play with the cats, petting them and picking them up and dangling cat toys in front of their faces. That all seemed well and good, he supposed. But he didn’t really feel any urge to join in himself. So he just watched.

There was a slight movement in the corner of his eyes. He glanced over at the cat tree nearby. There was a pair of green eyes hidden inside the shadows of one of those little house-structures that sat on the tree. They were looking at him. Marvin stared at the eyes for a while more, then looked away, turning back to the room at large. He watched the pair of children entertain a black kitten with a laser pointer for a while. Weren’t they supposed to be bad luck? A cat like that would need a home, maybe if he had to get one he could pick that one up. But didn’t kittens require special care?

There was another movement. Marvin looked back over to the cat tree to see one had climbed out and hopped to the ground. It was mostly shades of brown and tan, with some darker brown stripes. Its muzzle and chest were white. Marvin presumed that its belly and paws were white as well, but given how it was sitting in that “loaf” position, and how its fur was extremely long and poofy, Marvin couldn’t exactly see its paws. Overall, it looked a bit like a burnt marshmallow. A marshmallow that was staring directly at Marvin.

Marvin, in turn, blinked at it. “What is it?” Obviously, the cat did not answer, and after it didn’t move for a while Marvin turned away again. But only a minute later, there was a warm, soft ball pressing next to his leg. He startled, and looked down to see the cat was now a ball of fluff sitting next to him on the bench. He raised an eyebrow. “What? D’you want attention? I can’ really tell, I don’ speak cat body language. I have trouble enough with the human kind.”

The cat kept staring at him with its big green eyes. After a moment, he gently set his hand on the cat’s back. When there was no reaction, he slowly began petting the length of it. The cat squinted its eyes, and after a while, started purring. “You wanted t’at? Well, I don’ mind. You’re very soft, a lot of fluff. Pleasant to touch. And you’re a han’some cat as well.” After a while of petting, Marvin stalled. He hesitated, then started petting the cat’s head.

With a stall in the purring, the cat opened its mouth wide and yawned. Then it shook itself, causing Marvin to sharply withdraw his hand, and climbed to its feet, stretching. Marvin thought it would leave next, but instead it padded even closer and clambered onto his lap, standing there. “Oh!” Marvin gasped, surprised. “Y’could warn a man first.”

The cat kept eye contact, sitting on his lap. And now that it was out of the “loaf” position, Marvin noticed something. He was right about the belly and paws being white, but also…while its left front leg was as expected, its right front leg ended in a stump. Marvin blinked. “Oh, I see. Y’have trouble in t’at area, then? Well, you’re not alone in the world, Mr. cat.” He reached out and scratched the cat below its ears. It squinted its eyes, then it stood up again, walked closer, and vaulted onto its two hind legs, placing its front paw on Marvin’s chest. “Hey! T’is is a nice jacket, don’ get your fur all over it,” Marvin chuckled, maintaining the ear-scratching.

Another slow blink from the cat. This time, followed by a soft sound, a small “mrrp.”

“Oh my goodness,” Marvin whispered, eyes wide. “T’at was the best sound.” His chest was suddenly light and bouncy inside. “Okay, you’re comin’ wit’ me.” He scooped up the cat, which didn’t wiggle at all as he carried it across the room, out the door of the playpen and into the hallway. From there, it was luckily only a short wandering before he found an open archway that led to a room full of various pet products, and as he walked inside he caught sight of JJ and the worker from before, Kendra. She was holding what a leash and talking to him. “—once they’re harness-trained you can take them outside for walks, like you can with dogs. But of course, training takes—” The worker glanced over as Marvin walked inside the room. Her eyes widened. “Sir, you can’t take the cats out of their kennel area!”

“Why not?” Marvin asked. “T’is one is doin’ fine.”

JJ looked over, and the moment he saw the bundle of fluff in Marvin’s arm his face lit up. “Did you find one you like, Marvin?”

“Well, I’d say t’is pretty kitty found me, act’ally.” Marvin bounced the cat a bit. “Walked up to me.”

JJ gasped, covering his open mouth with a hand. “That’s adorable,” he whispered.

Kendra seemed to have recovered from the shock of seeing a cat in an area it wasn’t supposed to be. “That’s Trio,” she said with a smile. “He’s a rescue. Got hit by a car, unfortunately, and a stranger brought him here. He’s a five-years-old Siberian, and he’s a pretty quiet cat. Liable to snuggle with you while you’re sitting, or even sleeping in bed. He’ll go after laser pointers and other toys, but not as enthusiastically as other cats.”

“T’at sounds wonderful,” Marvin said, distracted by the fact that the cat was now pressing his face into Marvin’s neck. “Trio’s an odd name, why is it?”

“Well, because of the…ah…you know…his, ah…situation…” Kendra seemed reluctant to continue, especially when Marvin’s head shot back toward her with a hard stare.

“I understan’ t’at people often name cats after t’eir features,” he said slowly. “But you didn’ see any problem with t’at particular name?” You know, like the only thing unique about this cat was his legs. Like that was the only thing about him that mattered.

“I didn’t name him,” Kendra hurried to say. “And it’s only temporary, if you adopt him, you can change it.”

JJ looked at Marvin, clearly trying to keep a calm expression. “Do you want to? Adopt him, I mean?”

Marvin looked down at the cat’s tiny face. “Y…yes,” he said, his voice a bit softer than normal. He looked back up at JJ’s excited face and frowned. “You knew this would happen, didn’ you?”

“That you’d get emotionally attached to one and love them? Well, I hoped it,” JJ said, a big grin on his face. “I know you were reluctant, but you’re reluctant about a lot of things, Marvin. A cat’ll be good for you.”

“Yes, yes, alright,” Marvin rolled his eyes. “Let’s finish t’is process so we can take him home already.”

About a half hour later, Marvin and JJ were back in the car. There was now a cat bed, a scratching post, and other cat materials in the back seat. Marvin, in the passenger seat, had a cat carrier on his lap with a burnt marshmallow-colored ball of fluff inside. The ball of fluff had a new green collar with a silver label, and was meowing intently at Marvin. “It’s only for a little while,” Marvin responded. “I t’ink we live close by. T’ough don’ ask me how we get home, I don’ know.” More meowing. “Calm down, Mister, it’ll be fine. I can give you a new toy to distract you, if ye want.”

“Did you just call the cat ‘Mister’?” JJ asked, amused, as he started the car.

“Yes, his name is Mr. Fluffington, and he deserves your respect,” Marvin said without even looking up.

“I see. Well, tell Fluffington it’s nice to meet him.”

“Mr. Fluffington, who do you t’ink you are?”

JJ laughed. “Yes, alright then, Mr. Fluff.”

Marvin looked back down at the newly christened Mr. Fluffington. “Jems says it’s nice to meet you. Ye’ll be seein’ a lot of him.” Fluffington meowed. Marvin grinned. “He likes you.”

“I’m glad. And I’m glad you like him too.”

“I wasn’ expectin’ it, if I’ll be honest.” Marvin unzipped the lid of the carrier just enough to reach inside. “But…I t’ink I’ll be happy to have him around.”

Mr. Fluffington nuzzled Marvin’s hand and he laughed. JJ smiled as he watched. He knew this would be a good idea. These two seemed like they would get along perfectly.

Part Ten of the Inverted AU
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of a fic series I wrote from December 2018 to August 2021. It seems Stacy's got herself wrapped up in this situation with Anti. Though it seems as if she might've gotten wrapped into it eventually, given who, exactly, is involved in this single group causing a lot of the criminal trouble in the city.]
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Honestly, Stacy had been expecting an abandoned warehouse. She didn’t know if there were any even in the city, but the creepy-crazy atmosphere of the whole night had told her 'yes, that is totally where we’ll go next.' Her second guess was a run-down ruin of a house in the suburbs, probably the site of a suspicious death. But what wasn’t even on her list of guesses was this: a perfectly normal office building in the middle of the city.

“What the hell are you waiting for?” Anti asked. She’d froze in place just outside the door.

“Um, won’t the people inside notice us?” Stacy asked. “And stop us because we’re, uh, not supposed to be there?”

“Hmm…no. Now come on.” He didn’t even bother to open the door, just dissolved, taking Sam the eye with him, and reappeared on the other side as if taunting her with his noticeable-ness.

Feeling her face getting hot and hating it, Stacy pulled open the door and rushed inside. There was a reception desk, and a waiting area full of chairs. It was very gray and boring. There were two people in the waiting area and one behind the desk. The two were staring intently down at their phones, and the receptionist was enthralled by his computer screen. Anti ignored them all and walked right to the elevator. As Stacy followed him, she realized something: those people were awfully interested in their electronics; they didn’t even glance up at the sound of footsteps. It was like…they COULDN'T…

The elevator doors closed the moment Stacy was inside. She glanced nervously at Anti, who pressed the button for the top floor, then folded his arms and stopped moving altogether. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. As if sensing her unease, Sam darted around Anti and started bumping her arm affectionately. They looked up at her, their pupil wide, then nuzzled her further. Stacy smiled. Okay, maybe she can wait to see what happens.

Ding! The doors opened, and Anti and Stacy stepped out onto the top floor. It was completely dark, but that didn’t last long. A series of red, green, and blue LED lights flicked on. Mostly hanging from the ceiling, though a few were strung on cables on the walls. Stacy gasped as the vivid lighting revealed a dragon’s hoard of technological devices. Racks of CPUs acted as walls dividing the wide open space of the floor into rooms. A few were freestanding, more like pillars. Monitors were mounted on the walls, attached to the CPUs, dangling from the ceiling, everywhere. Cables and wires connected everything: red, yellow, white, black, grey, blue, thick, thin, rubber, plastic, bundled, individual—every variation you could imagine.

“Welcome to my hub.” Anti stood in the middle of the first “room,” arms spread wide. “You’re the only person who’s seen it so far.”

“Jesus Christ,” Stacy said softly. She looked around in awe, taking in the blinking lights on the CPUs and the multitude of cables. A few of the monitors switched on all by themselves, showing nothing but vague shapes in static. Sam flew about, looking at every little thing. “How-how does this place even WORK?”

“I ma͝ke̡ it work,” Anti said matter-of-factly. “It’s just dead wires without me. Now c’mon, we need to get your arm fixed. And your forehead is starting to bruise too.”

At this point, Stacy had begun to tune out the constant throbbing from the burn, and she’d completely forgotten about the sticky pain from where her head hit the shelf and knocked her out. But Anti’s words brought it back in full force. She winced. “Oh, that’d probably, um, be a good idea, huh?”

“Probably.” Anti rolled his eyes, then turned and walked through a gap in the CPU “wall,” letting Stacy follow. She was really starting to get sick of him doing this.

Passing through a few more “rooms,” they came to one on the outside of the building. Stacy could tell because one of the walls was covered in black trash bags, but one had started to slip, revealing a window with a nice view of the city outside. This area had a table sitting near one of the walls of racks. On the table was another computer monitor, of course, and various medical supplies. Mostly bandages, though there was also a needle and thread, some bottles, and… and… “Is that a knife?” Stacy squeaked.

“No. This͠ i̶s a ͏k͡nif̶e̛.” Anti waved around the knife he’d been brandishing back at the diner. Stacy jumped. Where did it come from? Did it just appear and disappear at will? “That’s a scalpel.”

“It has dried blood on it!”

“Yes. Actually, I didn’t mean to pick it up. It just… hi͝tchęd͡ ̡a ̕ri̡de͏ last time, so I pulled it out and kept it as a souvenir.”

“Somebody STABBED you and you KEPT it?”

“Yes.” Anti glitched over to the table and started fiddling with the bottles. “Now hold on while I find the burn salve.”

Stacy shut her mouth, remembering why he’d even brought her here in the first place. Awkwardly, she stood by the one exposed window and waited. Sam zoomed over to hover by her head. They scooted closer to the window, peered, out, then shrank back, partially hiding in Stacy’s curtain of blonde curls. “Not a fan of heights, huh?” she muttered. “Don’t worry, my son isn’t either. I understand.” With a single finger, she reached up and gently patted the eye. They were kind of sticky, but…not unpleasantly so. Sam’s pupil squished, like they were closing their eyes, and their optic nerve swished happily.

“Got it!” Anti yelled triumphantly. “Get over here!” Stacy flinched, then crept over to the table, Sam still in her hair. Anti twisted open the lid of a jar, revealing a bluish-white paste. “This is supposed to be rubbed on the area of burning, then you put a bandage on it because at that point it becomes a normal burn, and you don’t want that to get infected I assume.”

“I can—I can do that myself, thanks,” Stacy said hastily.

Anti raised an eyebrow. “Didja think I wa̛n̢t͢ed͡ to do this for you? Fuck no. You’re d͏e͢fi͞n̨i̛tȩly̡ doing this yourself.” He pushed he jar of salve into her hands.

“Oh…” she had, indeed, thought that. She didn’t know why…maybe his creepy vibe just made her think he would be the type to invade personal space. Apparently, it was the opposite.

While Stacy carefully smeared the paste on the burn area, wincing every time the cool salve touched the still-hot flesh, Anti picked up a roll of bandages from the table. Frowning at it, he carefully unwrapped the scarf from his neck. Stacy paused momentarily as she stared at the bloody bandages around his throat. Then, he unwrapped those as well, and she gasped, dropping the jar.

His head whipped toward her, much faster than it should’ve been able to. “What?”

“Your neck! What the fuck?!” Stacy almost reached out, then stopped halfway. “It’s—are you—how—”

“Oh.” Anti poked the cut. Stacy couldn’t help but cringe, resisting the urge to touch her throat. The deep slice ran all the way across his neck, bleeding profusely. He should’ve been dead…or was he already? “I forget about it until the bandages start getting super wet. It’s very inconvenient.”

“But—how—but—” Stacy stammered. “Does it hurt? Are you in pain?”

“P͡a̧i̶n..̛.̕” Anti said the word like it tasted new in his mouth. “No.”

“Th-that’s not possible. Are-are you sure?”

“Of course.” Anti unrolled the bandages. “If I’ve ever felt pain, I don’t remember it. It took me a long time to get that I was the odd one out. What’s it even for?”

It took a while for Stacy to find her voice again. After three attempts, she finally succeeded in stammering, “It-it-it’s supposed to tell you when something is-is wrong. With your, uh, your body.”

“No, no, I get that part.” Anti waved away her words. His knife reappeared, and he cut a length of bandage away from the rest of the roll. “What I don’t get is when people are in so much pain that they can’t function. Why? You can’t fix the problem if you can’t move.”

“I don’t know enough about biology to answer that,” Stacy muttered.

Anti wrapped the new bandages around his neck injury. Immediately, the clean white cloth began showing speckles of red. “You finished with the burn?” he asked. When Stacy nodded, he handed the roll to her. “Take that then. Thanks for breaking the jar, by the way.”

“Sorry…” Stacy mumbled. “You can—you can get another, right?”

“Eventually.”

What was that supposed to mean?

“Now, if you’re all fixed,” Anti grabbed his scarf, “you can show yourself out.” And he disappeared, breaking into pixels that faded away.

“Wha…” Stacy stood there awkwardly, staring at the spot where he’d been just moments before. Did he seriously just…he went to all the effort of getting her here, fixing her burn, and then he leaves her? Well, he hadn’t seemed too eager to have her tagging along in the first place, but he could have at least told her how to get out. She could probably figure it out. Probably.

Sam followed her as she tried to retrace her steps back to the elevator. They’d passed through three or four rooms of varying sizes on the way, and they’d turned once. It couldn’t be that hard.

And with this in mind, Stacy proceeded to get totally lost.

With a sigh, she stopped, standing in the middle of a square room. “Sam, you wouldn’t happen to know the way out, would you?” she asked. The little eye hovered, seeming to squint. Then they turned, and slowly flew through a gap into another room, as if saying “I THINK it’s this way…”

It was not that way. The room beyond was a dead end; it had no more gaps in the walls of CPUs. There was an unusually high concentration of monitors here, practically covering every surface, including all over two CPU pillars in the middle. But these monitors weren’t showing static. They were constantly flickering, never staying on one image for more than a couple seconds. Stacy stepped closer to one. It was showing…websites. Social media, mostly. As she watched, it became an Instagram account, then an explore page on some blog site, then a YouTube video, then a screen from Twitter, then another YouTube video. This was interrupted by a local news website, with an article about recent trouble in the city.

“Oh my god,” Stacy whispered. Were all the screens like this? She turned and watched the ones on the pillars in the center of the room. These ones were different. They looked like security monitors. Every one showed a still image of a room. There were little labels in the bottom right corners of each screen, identifying them. Operating room, left hallway, loading dock, training room, conference room…walking around the pillars, Stacy counted twelve rooms under surveillance, from various angles.

“Sam, this is…interesting, but it’s not the way out,” she said. And right now, she really wanted to get out. “Let’s go.” She turned away.

The little eyeball flew at her face, bonking against her cheek. “Ah! What—” Stacy tried to swat them away, gently of course, but Sam just bonked even more insistently at her hands. “What is it?” Stacy hissed. Sam darted away, zooming in front of a screen and tapping it with their nerve-tail.

Stacy narrowed her eyes. “Sam, did you want me to come in this room?” The eye responded by tapping frantically.

It didn’t make sense. Sam had never been in this hub before, how would they have known where this room was? And how would they know it had something of interest to Stacy in it? Maybe Sam was psychic. They were already a sentient floating green eyeball, what’s being psychic compared to that? Well, it didn’t matter. Sam wasn’t going to let Stacy leave until she saw whatever was on this monitor. She leaned in close…

“Chase?!”

“S̸o y̢ou̡ ̷dǫ ̶know ͏hi͝m.͡”

Stacy shrieked. She spun around with too much force and ended stumbling, almost following to the floor. Anti was next to her, the air around him full of spasms and glitches. He was staring at her intently. Hastily, Stacy backed away.

“I was looking you up,” Anti said casually. A screen next to him turned to static, then began rapidly switching between images. “Facebook status single, but you have two kids. Constantly searching for new jobs, been denied for everything so far because you never finished college. And if you go back far enough, there’s a certain someone who appears in a lot of pictures you’ve posted.” He pointed to the monitor that showed the security footage. “That’s not actually who you think it is. All of them look pretty similar, so I don’t blame you for thinking it was your—”

“Stop!” Stacy screamed. Anti took a step back, eye widening. “You—you shouldn’t know these things! This is my life! This is—it’s a violation of privacy! You shouldn’t—don’t—leave me alone! Leave everyone alone!” Then she turned and ran.

She couldn’t find the way out. Why couldn’t she find the way out? It shouldn’t be this difficult. But the endless racks of computers and the never ending screens of static and the cables and wires that could be tripped upon—it made the floor a maze. Twists and turns, and Stacy just kept running. Until finally she reached another dead end. Tears pricked at her eyes, and she collapsed to the ground, leaning against one of the racks. She put her head in her hands.

Something bumped against her head. Stacy looked up to see Sam, their iris curved downward in a sad expression. They gently rested their “head” against hers. It was sweet.

A screen on the wall fizzed, and Anti appeared beside her. She squeaked, then edged away. Anti stood perfectly still, the glitches and distortions around him fading away. Sam flew toward him, circling around him a couple times before coming to rest on his shoulder. Anti glanced at them, then…smiled. A gentle smile. It faded away when he looked back at Stacy. “I’m…sorry.”

Stacy stared at him. “No, you’re not.”

“I…maybe.” Anti sat down. “I didn’t mean to make you freak out. I wish I didn’t. Does that mean I’m sorry?”

“Don’t know,” Stacy said honestly. “You were—you were spying on me.”

“No. I was investigating you. You reacted so strange when I showed up at your diner, and then when you gave me your name you were about to say something else, before you changed it. I wondered if you were connected to that trigger-happy maniac. Or, maybe trigger-angry would be a better description.” He laughed at his own comment.

Stacy bristled. “Chase isn’t a maniac.”

“Of course you would say that, he’s your husband.”

“Well, I mean, we—we’re not married anymore. We got a, um, divorce.”

“And why did you do that?”

“I…” Stacy trailed off. It was two years ago that they’d divorced. Or rather, when she asked for a divorce. Why had she done it…? Her excuse was that he was terrible with finances, and that they’d gotten married early and she’d fallen out of love.

But…she remembered when she first told Chase she wanted to be separated. He’d pleaded with her, begged her, to reconsider. She gave it another shot. And she watched him more closely. He was away a lot, always obsessed with his stupid YouTube channel, needing to get the views, needing to constantly up the ante to get the attention he craved. The kids would ask when their dad would be home, and she’d have to tell them over and over that she didn’t know. She told him a second time that she wanted a divorce, and this time, she didn’t let up. He told her he couldn’t live without her. He said that the kids were his as much as hers. He threatened to kill himself if she went through with it. It…scared her, actually. And after the proceedings went through, and the court ruled he wasn’t fit to raise kids, he sent her a video in an email, subject line: “this is your fault.” Watching it…

“But that doesn’t give you the right to-to spy on him!” Stacy blurted out, as if Anti was somehow able to read the thoughts that had been running through her head. “And-and what about those people downstairs? You—it’s like you hypnotized them or something!”

Anti blinked, slowly. The first time she’d seen his eyes close at all. “I'̧m̷ ͏no̢ţ a̢ filt͠hy͝ ͠fųc͡ki̧n̶g ̡hypn̷o͝tis̨t,” he growled. “N̨o̵t l̸ik̵e͡ s҉͎̞̹͔̬̻͡o̵̤͕͔͔͈m̷̭̳͍̫̤̦e̛҉̹̲̤͍ pe͏̧o̧p̡̕͠l̸̸ę͢. Those in the lobby were just in a trance. They came out of it the moment we left, and weren’t aware that time passed. No harm done.” He paused. “ U͠͏͞n͏͟l͏͝i͢k͞e ş̢o͞m̧e͏ p̛͞eo̵̶pl̕e̷’s t͟͞r̕ic͡k̷̕s̕.”

That still didn’t sound good. “But-but it was still mind control.”

“No, it wasn’t. If they wanted, they just needed to look away from their screens to break the trance. That’s happened to me before. It’s just easier if they don’t notice me.”

“Oh.” That was…underwhelming. “So, so then why are you spying on Chase?”

“Not just him.”

Six screens in the room blinked away their static. They flickered through a variety of images. Stacy’s eyes darted to and fro, taking in everything. On one monitor, there were pictures of Chase, interspersed with what looked like news reports. On another, Stacy recognized the man in the cat-shaped mask, Marvin, along with strange symbols and nonsense words.

“How much do you know about the situation in the city?” Anti asked.

“Like, on the news?” When Anti nodded, Stacy continued. “I know there’s been some disappearances lately. A…I mean, I don’t want to freak my kids out, but…a concerning amount. And there are a lot of criminal gangs, but they’re being taken out by each other. And some people are…they’re worse than disappearing.” She swallowed nervously.

“The news doesn’t cover everything,” Anti said darkly. “The people who are ‘worse than disappearing?’ They’re coming back in pieces. The gangs and mobs aren’t being taken out by each other, but by one psycho who decided one day that h̸͞ę knew what was best. And the ones going missing are just labelled as such because they never find the bodies. This place has gone to s̨͟hit͡, Stacy. And your ex is involved. He’s part of this whole little group, the same guys I rescued Sam from. They’ve been causing trouble all this time, so I ͡wa͏tch͢ them, trying to keep track of all five’s antics so I can stop them. F̧or̨ ͡go͡o̸d̕.͞”

“What?! No no no no, Chase isn’t—even he wouldn’t get involved with—”

“You know, he’s awfully fond of that gun of his, right?”

Stacy shuddered. “Y-yes. He—after we got a divorce, he—”

“Sometimes, the only way to get out your frustration about your shitty life is to make sure nobody gets to be happier than you.”

“I—I don’t—” Stacy stuttered. She didn’t want to believe him. But she was starting to. And she hated that. “He is my kids’ father.”

“You couldn’t have known. And maybe he was different, before. Humans change. Circumstances change.”

“You’re not helping!” Stacy hissed.

“I’m not?” Anti sounded faintly curious. “Oh, well. Do you still want to leave?”

“…yeah,” Stacy muttered. She stood up. “I don’t—I don’t know what to do. I-I need a new job, I need to understand this,I-I-I—”

Anti glitched into an upward position. Sam jumped off his shoulder and zoomed toward Stacy, bopping her head. That got a small grin from her. “You may be going into shock,” Anti said casually. “You should probably get home before everything comes crashing down.”

“I don’t—how do I get there from here?” Stacy asked softly.

Anti’s head tilted to the side. The distortion increased, and some of the nearby monitors flickered. “Am I ALLOWED to give you directions on your phone?”

“O-oh!” Stacy reached into the pocket of her uniform. She’d completely forgotten about her phone in all this craziness. That was a miracle for this day and age. “Y-yeah, I guess. I just thought—I mean, I know it’s ridiculous, but I thought you’d, uh, walk me there, like you walked me here?”

“I can’t keep this body stable for much longer,” Anti said. “And that was a special case. To show you the way and how to fix the burn.”

“Wh-what was that first part?” Stacy asked faintly.

Anti rolled his eyes. “Think of everything you’ve seen this evening. Is it too far to tell you that I’m not a physical entity and I’m just copying someone’s body for a short period of time?”

“Uh…that’ll probably make more sense when I think about it later. But…whose body?”

“Not important.” The way Anti said those two words left no room for discussion, but Stacy noticed the sixth monitor suddenly switch off completely. It must’ve been a touchy subject. “Now come on, I’ll get you back to the elevator.”

An ironically short walk through the technological maze later, the two of them were standing back in front of the elevator. The door opened on its own. “There’s nobody downstairs except for the receptionist right now,” Anti said.

“How do you—”

“This building has security cameras. The system is easy to hack, fo̢r ͞m̡ę. Now, are you going to throw a fit about putting him in a trance, or are you going to take the risk of him asking you who you are and how you got up there?”

Nervousness about social interaction. He’d only known her for a few hours, and he already knew exactly what to say. Stacy sighed. “No, you-you can do that.” She stepped into the elevator. “Well…goodbye.” Anti waved a bit, and Sam bounced up and down in the air. The doors closed behind her.

What would she do with all she’d learned tonight? How would she fit into this new world she’d discovered? Just yesterday she’d been a struggling single mom with a crappy waitress job, now she was unemployed and knew that her ex was a criminal. Was it better to know this?

Maybe it was. Because she also knew that there was somebody out there trying to fix this messed-up city. Sure, he was an asshole and struggled with relating to the people he was trying to keep safe, but he was TRYING, and that was what mattered. He could get better.

And at the very least, her life had just got a hell of a lot more interesting.