Part Thirty of the PW Timeline
A JSE Fanfic
[This is THE FINAL part of a complete series I wrote from July 2019 to July of 2022. Everyone wraps up unfinished business. Jameson, especially, has someone he needs to see. Meanwhile, Schneep has a very important visit.]
[It’s here: the final part of the PW Timeline. I'm amazed that I’m finishing my third AU series. PW started as a one-shot based on the idea of an outsider’s perspective on what the septics go through, but over time I got more and more ideas that I just had to expand on. In the beginning, it was a sort of mystery, wondering if Anti was even real, and then over time it became this sort of—I don’t know. Thriller? Crime drama? Both? Either way, I’m so happy how it turned out ^-^ I’ve loved writing it and I appreciate all of you guys for coming along with me on this ride <3]
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“Are we allowed to have this many people here at once?” Marvin glanced around the room, bouncing on his feet. “I mean, there’s got to be some sort of regulation for visitors, right?”

“I checked online,” Chase said. “And I asked Laurens. She says that there are some limits depending on, like, security or whatever, but Schneep is fine.” He finished signing his name on the check-in list and held it out to the others. “Who’s next?”

“I’ll do it.” Jackie stepped forward, taking the clipboard and a pen from the cup on the desk. “You know, I’m still not used to this place. Different than I expected. More like a hospital.”

Chase raised an eyebrow. “Well, what were you expecting? It is a hospital, just not one for physical injuries.”

“I don’t know, I guess I was thinking, like…something like a retirement home or something?”

Laughter. Jack, sitting in one of the waiting chairs by the wall, leaned forward, grinning. “I don’t think Schneep would appreciate you comparing this place to a retirement home.”

“Hey, I know he’s technically the second youngest, but sometimes he really acts like an old man.” Jackie walked over to Jack and handed him the sign-in sheet and the pen. After he finished signing, he handed it back to Jackie, who passed it to Marvin.

“Oh, hey.” Chase turned back to the front desk, addressing the staff member behind it. “We have another person coming, but he’s going to be a bit later. Is that okay or do we need to, like, leave and come back?”

“That should be fine.” The staff member didn’t even bother to look away from her computer. “Have you been here before, sir?”

“Yeah, a lot,” Chase said.

“Great, then.” She gestured down the hall. “In that case, just return the sign-in board and head down there. You should remember the way.”

“Thanks.” Chase gave her a thumbs-up—which he regretted immediately afterwards for how awkward it felt—and turned around to face the others. “Alright, guys, we’re good to go.”

Marvin put the sign-in sheet back on the desk where it belonged. Jackie reached down and helped pull Jack to his feet. Once everyone was ready, Chase led the way, heading down the familiar route to the Silver Hills visitor’s room.

About ten minutes passed, with the group of four waiting patiently. “Damn, they need to get better reading material,” Marvin muttered, flipping through one of the provided magazines.

“What’re all these crayons and stuff for?” Jack asked, looking over one of the crayons in question.

“Oh, that’s for if kids come visit,” Chase explained. “I brought Sophie and Nick last month, they loved them.”

“Marvin, if you’re so bored by the magazines, just use your phone like a normal person,” Jackie said.

“Hey I can look at whatever I want to,” Marvin said defensively.

Before the banter could escalate into a mild argument, the other door to the visitor’s room opened. Chase stood up, anticipating what was about to come.

“Ah, my friends!” No sooner had Chase got to his feet than he was wrapped in a tight, squeezing hug. “It is so good to see you!”

“Oof! H-hey Schneep, good to see you too,” Chase laughed, returning the hug before pulling away. “Yeah, the gang’s all here.”

Schneep stepped back, looking at the others. “Ah, yes, the entire ‘gang.’ Hello, Jackie! And, ah…Marvin, Jack. How are you two? I have not seen you since…well, you know.”

“Hi, Schneep.” Marvin waved from where he was sitting on the sofa. “I’m fine. Changed all my locks, got one for the side door, uh…that sort of stuff. But I’m fine.”

“Hmm.” Schneep pursed his lips. “Well, if you are ever…not-so-fine, then I am sure there are people who—”

“Yeah, we all need therapy, I know.” Marvin rolled his eyes, but his tone wasn’t hostile. He leaned to the side, noticing someone else lingering in the doorway. “Hey, Laurens, do you have any suggestions?”

“Oh. Um.” Dr. Laurens clearly hadn’t been expecting that question—or to be acknowledged at all. “Well, I know a few agencies. If you’re really asking, you can talk to me afterwards.” She stepped into the room, closed the door behind her, and took a seat in the farthest chair from the group. “Don’t mind me, I-I’m just here because it’s a requirement. This is for you guys.”

“Aww, how could we forget you, Rya?” Jackie grinned. “You’we ouw fwiend!”

Laurens laughed. “Thank you. But really, I don’t want to interrupt. I’ll just be over here.” She was holding a clipboard as well as a paperback book, and put the clipboard down on the nearby table in favor of opening up the book. Soon, she was completely immersed.

Schneep sighed, smiling a bit. “Well in that case.” He sat down in a nearby armchair, leaving Chase to sit on the sofa next to Marvin. Now, all the friends were in a circle. “I cannot help but notice there is one of the ‘gang’ missing. Is Jameson…alright?”

“Yeah, he’s fine,” Chase assured him, noticing the anxious edge in his voice. “He just had…something to do today. He’ll be late, but he’ll be here.” He hesitated, then blurted out, “So did you hear about the trial?”

Schneep froze. Marvin turned and gave Chase a sharp look. Jackie shifted awkwardly.

“I-I mean…you don’t…have to talk about it, I just…thought you should…know. If you didn’t…already…” Chase trailed off.

“I…was told about it,” Schneep said slowly. “I was asked to write a statement, and—a-and I tried my best. It sounds as though…it worked.”

Jackie nodded slowly. “I had to do that, too,” he mumbled. “I’m surprised they didn’t ask us to…show up.”

“I think when there was that much evidence, they didn’t really need it?” Marvin speculated. “The prosecutor must’ve had a real open-and-shut case.”

For a moment, everyone was quiet. The tension in the room was almost a physical force.

“Let’s stop talking about this,” Jack finally said, speaking up for the first time in a while. “It’s just depressing everyone. And god, we’ve had enough of that.” He turned to Schneep and smiled. “Sorry, you asked me earlier how I was doing and I didn’t answer. I’m pretty good. I’ve finally taken my channel back.”

“Hey, I took good care of it!” Chase protested.

“I know you did.” Jack leaned over and patted Chase’s hand. “And thanks for that. Can’t imagine running two at the same time, let alone while keeping up with my old upload schedule.”

“Old schedule?” Jackie asked. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you know, I’ve been thinking a lot about health recently,” Jack said. “For obvious reasons.” He still had to use a cane while walking; It was possible no amount of physical therapy would fix that. “And I really need to take better care of myself. I don’t think uploading twice a day would be the best move anymore.”

Chase laughed. “Honestly, I can’t blame you. I don’t know how the fuck you did it in the first place.”

“Neither do I, really.” Jack chuckled. He glanced back at Schneep again. “Hey. You okay, man?”

“I…” Schneep coughed awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with Jack. “I…Jack, have I said sorry yet? Be-because I am, I am truly, deeply sorry, I-I never should have—I should have recognized the signs and never—it is all because of me that—”

“Henrik.” Jack’s tone shifted to one more serious. “It’s alright. I promise you. I know there was more to it. It’s forgiven. I mean, you’re never going to be my doctor again—”

“I am probably never going to be ANYONE’S doctor again,” Schneep muttered.

“No. Stop that,” Jack said firmly. “You’re the most capable person I know.”

“Even though I—”

“Even though you put me in a coma.” Jack nodded.

“That was my fault,” Schneep said weakly. “You lost an entire year.”

“It was. And I did. But like I said, I know there was more to it. I don’t…blame you,” Jack said carefully. “I know you were responsible, but I don’t blame you. That’s a different thing. And…you’re still my friend, Schneep. Despite it all, I still care about you. So…don’t put it all on you, okay? It happened. It was a terrible, awful mistake with horrible consequences. But don’t blame yourself. Cause none of us do.”

Schneep blinked rapidly. He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his sweater, but that didn’t stop a few tears from trickling free. “Thank you,” he whispered.

“Don’t worry,” Jack whispered back. Then he cleared his throat and looked at the others, who were trying to pretend they weren’t paying attention. “Wow, I thought I JUST said we shouldn’t talk about depressing stuff anymore.”

Everyone laughed. “Well, you know,” Jackie said. “It’s got to be a sign of a good friendship, if we can talk about depressing things together. Means we trust each other. Or some other corny shit like that.”

Before anyone could reply, there was a knocking sound. Laurens stood up and instinctively walked towards the door at the back of the visitor’s room—the one she and Schneep came through—before realizing it came from the door at the front. She quickly crossed the room and opened it. “Oh! Hello,” she said, opening it wide.

JJ leaned into the room, eyes quickly scanning it and taking in the others. He waved. 'Sorry I’m late,' he signed.

“It’s fine, bro,” Chase said. “Honestly you’re earlier than I thought you would be.” He paused. “Did the, uh…thing…go well?”

Jameson walked in. Laurens quickly closed the door behind him and returned to her chair at the edge of the room. Meanwhile, JJ took the final spot on the sofa, sandwiching Chase in between him and Marvin. It went well, yes, he said with a slight smile. Thank you for asking.

“Sooo…” Marvin cleared his throat. “It’s all taken care of? And, like…over?”

'Yes, it’s all over,' Jameson said.

“Good. Great.” Marvin let out a long breath. He muttered something under his breath—something that sounded suspiciously like “fucker deserved it”—and then moved on. “Okay, so I was thinking. We need to try again with the party.”

“Really?” Schneep asked, surprised.

“Hell yeah, second time’s the charm.”

“Third time,” Chase corrected.

Marvin nudged him. “I KNOW, but that ruins it.”

“I’d be down for another party,” Jackie said. “I went to all the trouble of bringing all the Spider-Man movies and I never even got to take them out of my bag.”

“Oh my god.” Marvin groaned. “I am not going to spend the whole night listening to you drooling over Andrew Garfield.”

“Hey, that’s not fair!” Jackie said defensively. “Emma Stone is also very cute and cool in those movies, I give both of them equal attention!”

Jack chuckled. “Well if we’re going to do it, we need a good day. I’d rather have it sooner instead of later, but I have more movement therapy stuff tomorrow and on Thursday this week.”

“Well I can’t do Wednesday,” Chase said. “I have an, uh, appointment.”

'Friday, then?' Jameson suggested. 'I’m pretty sure we’re all free.'

Schneep shook his head. “No, unfortunately. I have an outing on Friday.”

“You do?” Marvin asked. He whistled. “I’m impressed, a man out on the town once more.”

Schneep chuckled and looked away. A small blush bloomed on his face. “Well, i-it is not a big deal. I am just…Mina wanted me to come visit…her. A-and I still can go leave with supervision, so Laurens and I will head out.” Over by the edge, Laurens briefly raised her head from her book to nod, confirming Schneep’s words.

“Oh that’s so cool, man!” Jackie leaned over and gave Schneep a playful shove. “Hey, good luck with that. Really.”

“Th-thank you.” Schneep’s face was growing steadily more red. “I-I am nervous about it, really. About meeting…her.”

“You’ll do great, doc,” Chase reassured him. “She’ll love you.”

“Hmm.” Schneep was fidgeting, playing with his fingers. “If you say so. I-I think you would know.”

“Wait, I’m confused.” Marvin looked around at everyone else. “Isn’t ‘her’ just…Mina? Why are you all saying it so significantly?”

'We’ll tell you about it when you’re older, Marvin,' JJ joked. 'You see, when two people love each other very much—'

“Ohhhh!” Marvin’s eyes widened, and he laughed. “Right, I forgot about that part. Yeah, you’ll do great, Schneep. Trust us.”

Schneep smiled softly. “Well, it is good to hear you all say that.”

“Yeah, bro.” Chase nodded. “Anyway, on a related note, I can’t do anything this weekend cause I have the kids over. What about Monday or Tuesday?”

The group continued planning. But JJ went quiet, the others’ voices fading into chatter. They weren’t talking about why he was late. Which he was relieved about. But noticing the absence of questions…it just made him think about it. About where he’d been all day.
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It had been a long bus ride to get there. Jameson got up early in the morning just to make sure he had enough time. Not that he would need that much. Ideally, this would all be over in less than five minutes.

The bus didn’t drop him off right outside. He had to walk for another fifteen minutes. It was inconvenient, but it made sense. Putting a bus stop right outside a maximum security prison seemed like a major security risk. Luckily, the weather was good.

Actually getting inside the building proved to be the most time-consuming part of the visit. Once Jameson arrived at the central building—it probably had a proper name, but he wasn’t aware of it, since there were no signs—he quickly explained who he was, writing it down on a notepad he’d brought. Luckily, he’d emailed in to schedule his visit beforehand, because most of the guards and other workers were suspicious of him. Again, understandably so. He would be suspicious, too. It was only three days since the transfer, who would visit a killer so soon afterwards?

Jameson would. He wanted this done as soon as possible.

The security checks were thorough, and surprisingly boring. There was a lot of waiting in between procedures, and Jameson couldn’t even browse his phone to pass the time because he wasn’t allowed to bring it past a certain point. Eventually, it was over, and a guard appeared to escort Jameson to the visiting room.

Given all the precautions, Jameson wasn’t surprised to see the visiting room was entirely empty. Just a concrete box with a wall of bulletproof glass dividing it in half. The guard explained that there was an intercom system connecting the two halves so the visitor and the prisoner could communicate. Jameson wanted to comment that they should just leave it off for this particular occasion, but the guard didn’t understand sign and it wasn’t worth writing it down.

Even though everything up to this point had taken much longer, the wait dragged on the most. Jameson stood there, fidgeting, eyes fixed on the door on the other side of the glass, as his stomach slowly tied itself in knots. Was this a mistake? Maybe he should have just left it alone. But when he thought about turning and leaving, something wouldn’t let him.

When the door opened, there was no sound through the glass, but Jameson could practically hear the heavy ka-chunk it no doubt made. Another guard stepped inside first, followed closely by a familiar figure in a gray jumpsuit, then another guard.

Anti’s eye instantly locked onto Jameson. He grinned, and almost too quickly to follow, he darted up to the glass, pressing his hands against it. Jameson automatically took a step backwards. “It’s you!” Anti laughed. “I can’t believe it’s—”

The two guards were there in a split second, pulling Anti away from the glass. He glanced back at them and scowled, but didn’t resist. Anti looked the same as he always had. Mostly. For some reason, he was missing his glass eye, leaving only a dark socket on the right side of his face. The scars hadn’t changed, but they…stood out more, somehow. Probably because there was no makeup to soften their appearance in prison.

“I can’t believe it’s you,” Anti repeated. His voice sounded tinny and artificial through the intercom. “But I should’ve known you would come. I really appreciate it, Jamie. What—”

'Don’t get excited,' Jameson interrupted, carefully keeping his expression neutral despite the way his heart was jumping in his chest. 'I just wanted to make sure it was real.'

“Real? Who are you, Henrik?” Anti laughed again. “Of course it’s real. Let me tell you, it is shockingly boring in here. I can’t do anything to keep busy! And I haven’t really seen anyone,, either, I think I’m not allowed in common areas yet. Anyway. What have you been up to?”

'Nothing,' Jameson said shortly.

Anti tilted his head. “Nothing? Oh, come on.”

'Nothing that you need to know about,' Jameson said firmly.

He’d actually been rather busy lately. Even though he’d decided not to move out of his apartment, he’d still packed up a lot of his stuff, and had to spend time unpacking everything. That started a week of organization, getting rid of things he didn’t want anymore. And that was in between his normal work schedule, not to mention therapy. But he wasn’t going to tell Anti about all that. He didn’t deserve that—or anything else from him.

“Well if you don’t want to talk about anything, then why are you here?” Anti asked, folding his arms. He sighed, pretending to be disappointed. “Can I ask you a question, then? What did they do with all my stuff? I know they probably confiscated a lot of it, but not everything I own is illegal. They can’t possibly have taken all my clothes and shit.”

'I don’t know,' Jameson lied. 'Probably auctioned it off.'

“Really?” Anti looked sad, but he might’ve been faking it. “I thought they would’ve given it to you.”

In truth, the police had offered some of Anti’s stuff to him—after it had all been thoroughly inspected. Jameson had turned down most of it…except for one item. The old, broken pocket watch on the rusted chain. The one Anti had worn around his neck. He wasn’t sure why he took it, or what he was going to do with it. Eventually, he might just throw it away. But…it felt right to take it, at least for a little bit. After all, it had been JJ’s first. Anti had bought it for him, but it was his. He’d always meant to take it with him the night he ran away, but paranoia had taken hold that night and he left it behind, in case Anti could use it to find him. Right now, it was sitting in a box under his bed. He might leave it there.

Jameson shook his head. 'I don’t know what happened. Don’t ask me.'

“Hmm.” Anti narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure?”

'Of course.' Jameson didn’t back down from that glare.

“Well, shit, then.” Anti sighed. “I was going to ask you about that old pocket watch. I don’t know if they’ll let me receive packages, but maybe you could have brought it the next time you visited. Just so I could see it.”

'There’s not going to be a next time.'

Anti froze. His eyes widened, pure disbelief on his face. “What did you say?”

'I’m not coming back.' Jameson kept an eye on his hands as he signed, making sure they weren’t shaking.

“…what?” Anti whispered harshly. “What do you mean?”

'I just said what I mean. I’m not coming back.' He could feel his pulse in his neck.

“…Heh. Very funny, Jamie.” Anti smiled. Not out of happiness. Muscles clenched in his jaw. “What would be the point of coming once if you’re not coming again?”

'I had to see you here,' Jameson simply said. He hadn’t been sure about the visit at first. But after spending a whole session talking with his therapist about it, he made up his mind. She’d said it would probably help with closure, but reminded him to be safe. He promised her he would be, and said he would only be going once. Just to finish things off.

“Ha. Haha.” Anti began to laugh again, forcing it out. “You’re so funny, Jameson. Pretending like—like it doesn’t matter to you.”

Jameson shook his head. 'It doesn’t matter to me.'

“Don’t be fucking ridiculous!” Anti snapped. “Of course it does! Because you care! Don’t shake your head again, I know you do! If you didn’t, then why the fuck did you bother with the seizure? You could have ran as soon as I dropped the gun, but you went right up to me. You helped! Why did you do that if you don’t care?!”

'Because I’m not a terrible person.' Jameson almost added ‘like you,’ but he thought better of it. 'If someone collapses in front of me, I’m going to help. I wouldn’t want them to be hurt.'

“Right, right.” Anti’s fists were clenched. “Because you’re all soft and sweet. But it’s different when it’s me. You know what I’ve done to you and your friends, and you helped anyway! You—you could only have done that if you care!”

Jameson raised his eyebrow at the indirect confession buried in there. ‘What I’ve done to you.’ So. He admitted it. 'I care very much about people,' he said slowly. 'But you’re not special. You stopped being special a long time ago. I keep telling you, we’re not family anymore.'

“Don’t you fucking say that,” Anti hissed. “You know nothing will change. You know it! You—you—What are you doing?!”

Jameson had turned around. He looked at the guard, and held up his notepad. Written on the page was ‘I would like to leave now.’ The guard nodded, and opened the door to the visiting room.

“What are you doing?!” Anti shouted.

Not looking back at him, Jameson began walking, heading out of the room.

“Jameson! You can’t just leave! Jameson!” THUD! Anti punched the glass wall.

Jameson flinched. Immediately, shame pooled in his stomach at that. But he pushed it away. It was okay that he did that. It was normal to flinch at a sudden loud noise and a scream. Especially in this situation. Nothing to be ashamed about. He took a deep breath and kept walking.

“JAMESON!” Anti screamed.

The door was still open. The guard gave him a sympathetic look as he walked through it, leaving the room behind. A wordless scream echoed from the intercom. As Jameson turned to head down the hall, he naturally caught a glimpse of the room one more time. The two guards were trying again to pull Anti back, but Anti was fighting against them this time, trying to stay as close to the glass wall as possible. His expression was inhuman in its anger.

'Goodbye, Aneirin,' Jameson signed. It was too small for Anti to see from this distance, especially as the guard was closing the door. But it wasn’t for Anti. It wasn’t for him at all.
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“Hey.” Something nudged him.

JJ blinked, and looked over to see Marvin, who had reached around and behind Chase to nudge Jameson, staring at him. 'Are you okay?' he signed.

'I’m fine,' JJ replied, smiling faintly. 'I think I’m just overwhelmed.'

'Well, you’ve been busy,' Marvin said. 'Emotionally, physically. It makes sense. Is there anything you need?'

JJ shook his head. 'No. But…thank you.'

Marvin smiled. 'No problem. Just tell me if you do need something, okay? Or any of these guys.' He gestured to the rest of the room.

“Hey, wait a minute.” Jackie looked over at the sofa and narrowed his eyes. “Are you two having a secret sign language conversation? Without us?! How dare you.”

“Yes, it is a secret exclusively from you, Jackie,” Marvin said, turning to face him. “Everyone else has got it.”

“Ha ha, very funny.” Jackie rolled his eyes.

“Oh, wait a minute,” Chase said. “You guys were talking about the thing, right?”

“Yes, the thing,” Marvin said. “Are you still in?”

“Of course I am!” Chase had no idea what was going on, but he jumped in ready to commit anyway. “I’ll bring the smoothies.”

“Wait, what?” Jackie looked back and forth between them, confused. “What’s going on?”

“Ah, right, you don’t know,” Jack said, also jumping in. “Well, we can’t tell you now. You have to figure it out for yourself.”

“This isn’t actually a thing, is it?” Jackie asked, uncertain. “You’re just messing with me and Schneep, right?”

“Ah, I am sorry, Jackie,” Schneep said. “But you have not watched the video, so you will not understand what we are talking about anyway.”

“What video?!” Jackie cried. “I thought you weren’t allowed to watch YouTube in here!”

“Ah, no, see, I showed him cause it wasn’t fair for him to have to find it,” Marvin sighed. “He’s the one exception, you are not.”

“This is a terrible prank! You’re all awful people!” Jackie looked at JJ. “This is a bit, right? You guys were talking about something different.”

JJ said nothing for a while. Until he raised his hands and signed, 'I’m sorry, Jackie, but it’s no fun if you don’t find the video yourself. Then you can get a smoothie with us.'

“Oh come on!” Jackie threw his hands in the air.

At that point, it was too much for the others, and they all burst out laughing in unison. Jackie folded his arms, glaring at them until they all stopped. “God. Sorry, Jackie, it was just too good to stop,” Marvin said, wiping an imaginary tear from his eyes. “We should’ve kept going with it, guys.”

“You’re all stupid,” Jackie said grumpily. “That was so dumb.”

“Hey. Jackie. Bro.” Chase pointed a finger gun at him. “Kettle pot black.”

“Yeah, don’t pretend like you wouldn’t do the same thing,” Jack chuckled.

“Well…alright, you got me.” Jackie looked at Schneep and JJ. “I can’t believe you two did it, too. I thought you were the serious ones.”

“Yes, I am totally serious, one hundred percent,” Schneep said, completely dead-pan. “I am serious man. I think only of serious things like paperwork and dictionaries.”

Jackie made a snrk sound as he kept himself from laugh. “When—when you said dictionaries, I-I thought you were going to say something else, I-I thought you were gonna stop after the first sylla—”

'Oh my, Jackie!' JJ pressed a hand to his chest and pretended to look scandalized. 'I can’t believe you’d say that in front of someone so much younger than you! I’ll be complaining about you on social media.'

“Hey, you’re only one year younger than us and you don’t have anything online!” Jackie protested.

“Also you were smiling,” Marvin pointed out. “You were expecting the same thing, weren’t you?”

'I deny everything,' JJ said firmly.

“Oh my god, you two,” Chase snickered. “I can’t believe I was the mature one here.”

“How’s it feel, Chase?” Jack asked.

“Oh, it’s so strange and new, bro. I kinda…I kinda hate it.”

And again, everyone burst into laughter. There was no real reason. It wasn’t an incredibly funny comment. But it was that sort of mood, the sort where the slightest thing could set off a burst of giggles. The sort that only happens when you are around friends you share everything with, people who you know well, who you understand and who understand you in turn.

And in that moment, everyone was truly, fully happy.
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The townhouse was unassuming, one in a line of identical houses with the same two-story design and the same brown-brick walls. Laurens double-checked the address to make sure they didn’t knock on the wrong door. Number 14. Good, the bus had dropped them off right outside. “This is it,” she said out loud. “How are you doing?”

“Laurens, please, I am fine.” Despite saying that confidently, Schneep kept fidgeting nervously. “There is nothing to worry about.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.” Laurens gave him a reassuring smile. “But let me know if you need anything. Do you want to knock or should I?”

“I’ll knock.”

The two of them walked up the two steps to the front door. Schneep took a deep breath, then reached forward and knocked solidly. Hardly ten seconds passed before the door opened, revealing Mina inside. “You are here! Right on time.” She smiled. Her dark hair was pulled back in a bun and she wore her brown jacket. “Come in, come in. Both of you.”

The two of them stepped inside and Mina closed the door behind them. “Hi, Mina,” Laurens said, looking around the small front hall. “Uh…nice place.”

“It is fine,” Mina said neutrally.

“This is different, yes?” Schneep said. “I could have sworn you lived somewhere that did not share walls with the neighbors.”

Mina chuckled. “Well, my lease expired with that place, so we are here now. It is not so bad.”

“You did not sound so happy just a few seconds ago,” Schneep teased.

“Ah, you caught me.” Mina laughed again. “Trust me, this will be just temporary. I am saving up for someone bigger, out on the edge of town. Hopefully with a yard of some kind, though I doubt something like that will be available.” She stepped to the side, opening the nearest door. “Anyway, this is the living room. Come on. Both of you.” And she disappeared into the other room.

Schneep hesitated. He glanced at Laurens, who gave him a quick thumbs up, and then looked away again. Taking a few deep, even breaths, he stepped through the door. Laurens followed, slightly behind.

The living room was much nicer than the tiny entrance hall. Maybe the yellow wallpaper lended it a warm look, or maybe the window framed by pink curtains let in just enough sunlight, but whatever it was, it made the room feel cozy. There was a single sofa and an armchair, as well as two end tables and a floor lamp in the corner, but Schneep was not looking around at the furniture. His attention was fixed on the wooden cradle in the center of the room.

“Here she is, der kleine Schatz.” Mina leaned over and picked up a small bundle in pastel pink blankets. She kissed the small round head peeking out of the blankets, then turned to Schneep and smiled. “You look scared.”

“I am not scared,” Schneep reflexively denied. “It is just…she is so much smaller than I thought.”

“She is a tiny baby,” Mina agreed, adjusting her hold. “But the doctors say it is not a problem. She is much bigger than she was when she was born. And now she could stand if she wanted to. But she likes being held more, doesn’t she?” She cooed at the baby for a moment, then looked up at Schneep. “Well? If you are not scared, why are you standing all the way over there?”

Schneep straightened the hem of his sweater, then slowly walked over until he was standing next to Mina. He leaned down to look at the baby. “Hello, Elise,” he whispered, his voice already full of fondness. “It is good to see you finally.”

“You should hold her,” Mina said.

“I—I have never held a baby before,” Schneep admitted.

“Really? Never?”

“Well maybe when I was younger, but not in years.”

“It is alright. Here, I will help.” Mina slowly pushed Elise towards Schneep, who hesitated before taking her. “She is older, but you still must support the head—put your hand here. Yes. Now adjust your arms like this.”

Laurens stayed in her spot by the doorway, watching. She knew that she had to be here, but it felt like this was a private moment, so she chose not to go any farther into the room.

“Oh. Oh, you woke her up,” Schneep gasped softly. “Hello, there. You really are der kleine Schatz, ja?”

“She is going to stare at you with bug eyes for a little bit,” Mina said. “But that is okay, she just does not know you yet. Let her get used to you.”

“Is it alright to bounce?”

“A little, yes.”

Despite asking that, Schneep paused for a moment before beginning to slowly bounce the baby, being very careful. “Hello, Elise.” He smiled gently. “I am your papa. I-I am sorry we did not meet sooner. But…at least I am here now. Alles Gute zum Geburtstag. Happy birthday.”

“Alles Gute zum Geburtstag,” Mina repeated. “Oh, watch this.” She held up her hand near Elise. After a moment, the baby managed to get her own hand out from the blankets and clumsily slapped her mother’s palm. “She does high-fives.”

“Oh! You are a very talented little girl, aren’t you?” Schneep laughed.

Elise grabbed onto one of Mina’s fingers. “Mama,” she gurgled.

“Mama,” Mina repeated happily. She reached out and gently angled Elise’s head to look ast Schneep. “And this is Papa. Say ‘Papa.’ Papa?”

“Puh-puh,” Elise said.

“Oh, not quite,” Mina grinned. “But you are close. Isn’t she, Mr. Papa?”

“I…” Schneep blinked furiously, but a single tear still slipped out. “Ja. Papa.”

“Pa-puh,” Elise said again.

“I think we should sit down,” Mina suggested. “You can put her on the sofa and she will sit.”

“I-I remember, you showed me pictures.” Schneep smiled down at Elise. “Come on, kleine süße. We can sit and play.”

As the two of them sat down on the sofa, Laurens slowly backed out of the room. She was confident that nothing was going to happen while she was gone. And at this point, she just felt bad for intruding. Besides, she could still hear what was going on.

Laurens went over to the front door and opened it, letting in a cold breeze. The townhouse was a bit stuffy, so it felt good. She closed her eyes, feeling the snap of the cold February air. Then she opened them again to stare at the cotton clouds drifting across the sky.

She reached into her bag and pulled out a turquoise notebook. Her notebook, the one that had gone missing months ago. Somehow, that monster of a man had gotten hold of it, and the police had returned it to her once they realized it was her property. Idly, she opened it up, scanning her early notes. Reading her old thoughts caused her to wince. She had been mistaken about a lot. Schneep was not the threat everyone had thought he was—including her. It had all been someone else.

And yet…Laurens was also proud as she read. Proud of Schneep, of Henrik. As the sounds of quiet talking and baby babble drifted from the living room, she reflected how much had changed. She was glad he was better now. It wouldn’t be long before he didn’t need her anymore. And though that made her strangely sad, the feeling was overwhelmed by the happiness and relief she felt as well.

Laurens shut the old notebook and put it back into her bag. She watched the clouds for a moment more, then finally closed the door.

Part Twenty-Nine of the PW Timeline
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of a complete series I wrote from July 2019 to July of 2022. Everyone gets together to celebrate everyone being out of the hospital! Or at least allowed out of the hospital with supervision. Unfortunately, an unexpected guest decides to crash their party. Warning for guns and also a bomb threat.]
.............................................................................................

Knock, knock, knock. The sound seemed unusually loud in the empty neighborhood. Chase stepped back, glancing at JJ standing beside him, who gave him a small smile in return. The two of them waited for a few minutes on the doorstep. “Do you think I should knock again, or...?” Chase asked.

At that moment, the door opened, revealing Marvin. “Sorry!” he said. “Luna was at the door, had to get her away.” In his arms he held his other cat, Ragamuffin, who was not nearly as excited about the door opening as Luna usually was. “Anyway, hey! Come on in!” He stepped to the side.

“Hi, Marv,” Chase said, waving a bit as he walked inside. “Good to see you again.”

JJ, following Chase, glanced around the living room. 'Ah, you’ve finally put away all the boxes. Good job. It’s only been several months.'

“Haha, you’re very funny.” Marvin closed the door behind them. “You know what they say: nothing like having several people over at your house to get you to tidy things.”

JJ laughed. 'Hey, did you get a haircut? It looks shorter.'

“No, that’s just ‘cause of the style.” Marvin’s hair was in a braid instead of its usual ponytail. “Where’s Jackie? I thought you were picking him up.”

“I did too,” Chase said. “But right before we got to his place he called and said he was going to be late. Something about a sudden meeting with his landlord.”

“Ugh.” Marvin shook his head. “I’m so glad I was able to buy my own house.”

Chase shrugged. “Jackie’s building isn’t too bad, yknow. I mean, they kept his apartment open even though he was missing for like a year. Not many places would do that.”

“True, true.” Marvin nodded. “Anyway, you guys can make yourselves at home. I got drinks and food in the kitchen, and if you guys want to set up a movie or game go ahead. I’m going to put this guy—” He scratched behind Ragamuffin’s ears. “—in my room with Luna so the two of them don’t get underfoot. I moved the terrarium there, too, which took FOREVER.” He groaned. “Be right back.” With that, he disappeared down the hallway.

Chase walked over to the television, setting down the bag he’d brought. “Hey, Jay, did you want to do anything in particular first?” He rummaged through the bag’s contents. “Stacy let me borrow the family Switch for the weekend, so I can hook it up here.”

JJ shook his head. 'I don’t have anything in mind. But I think we should wait for everyone else to arrive first.' He turned around and opened the front door again. 'I’m going to go get the cookies from the car.'

“Ohhh right, you go ahead and do that.”

Jameson made an OK sign with his hands and left. He returned only a minute later with a plate of store bought sugar cookies. Heading down the hall, he arrived in the kitchen and put the plate down next to all the other food Marvin had bought for that evening. Snack foods, mostly: chips, pretzels, bowls of fun-sized candy bars, some 2-liter bottles of soda with accompanying red plastic cups. Marvin had offered to provide alcohol as well, but Chase requested that they leave that off the plan.

Marvin, walking by the kitchen doorway, stopped and leaned in. “Oh sweet, cookies!” He grinned. “You know you guys didn’t have to bring anything.”

'I know, I know,' JJ signed. 'But it’s the least I could do after you offered to do basically everything.'

“Still.” Marvin’s grin faded a bit. Now he looked a bit anxious. “You, um...you think this is going to go well? I mean, Schneep is going to have doctors with him and everything, they’re not gonna shut this down or anything, are they?”

'If they had any objections, I’m sure they would have brought them up when you and Chase asked if he could come,' JJ said.

“Right, right.” Marvin took a deep breath, in and out. “And...Jack won’t have any problems with it, will he?”

“It’ll be fine, Marvin.” Chase, walking down the hall to join the two others, had just barely caught Marvin’s concerns. “I cleared everything with both hospitals, there’s no problem with anything. The only thing we have to worry about is that Jackie’s allergic to peanuts, and I can tell you’ve got everything there sorted out.” He gestured to the counter of snacks. Most of them were nut-free and the ones that weren’t had been carefully separated from the rest.

“Right,” Marvin said again, nervously playing with the hem of his shirt.

Chase checked the time on his phone. “Okay, it’s just about time to pick up Jack. Maybe Jackie will be done with his thing by then and I can swing by his place, too. I’ll be back in like twenty minutes.”

'See you later, Chase,' JJ said, smiling. 'Thanks again for the ride. You didn’t have to.'

“Heh. No problem, really.” Chase made a finger gun, which he then slowly lowered in slight embarrassment. “See you guys later.”
.............................................................................................

Only five minutes after Chase left, there was another knock at the front door. Marvin, who had been sitting on the sofa with JJ and talking, stood up and quickly walked over to open it.

“Marvin!” Instantly, Marvin was enveloped in a tight hug. “Oh!” The hug disappeared. “I should have asked first, sorry.”

“Hey, Schneep!” Marvin laughed. “No, it’s fine. Bring it in.”

Schneep smiled wide, and the two friends embraced. In just the two weeks since Marvin had last seen him, he’d already changed a lot. He looked almost like his old self again. Sure his hair was a bit longer, and the medical bracelet on his wrist wasn’t going away anytime soon, but he was wearing one of his old favorite sweaters and wasn’t nearly as pale as he used to be. “How’s it feel to be out of there for a little bit?” Marvin asked.

“Well, I now understand what they mean when they say something is a breath of fresh air.” Schneep took a step back. “Because it is literal for me.” He looked around the living room. “Your house has not changed that much.”

“Nope. Which is weird, considering I left it for a few months there.”

'He only recently unpacked everything again,' JJ signed from the sofa.

“Hey, I saw that!” Marvin said.

“Um...” A voice coughed awkwardly. “Is it alright if we come inside?”

“Oh!” Marvin had been so concerned with Schneep that he hadn’t noticed the two others with him. “Yeah, of course. Uh, hi, by the way! Mina, Dr. Laurens.”

“Hello again,” Mina said, stepping inside. “I hope you do not mind, but I brought a drink.” She held up a two-liter bottle of pink lemonade. “I have to drive home so I did not want anything—you know.”

“Oh, don’t worry, we don’t have any here,” Marvin assured her. “Did you guys all...drive together?”

Laurens smiled faintly. “No, Mina just happened to pull up to your house at the same time we did.” She indicated Schneep and herself.

“Oh, okay.” Marvin closed the door once everyone was inside, then turned to Mina. “Well, you can put that in the kitchen with all the rest of the drinks. It’s down the hall, there.”

“Got it.” Mina nodded, heading off in the direction he pointed.

“Jamie! Hello!” Schneep headed over to the sofa. JJ stood up, and the two of them hugged quickly. “I feel as though it has been forever. You do not visit that often, is everything okay?”

'It’s all fine, don’t worry,' JJ hurried to say. 'Nothing to do with you. It’s just I’ve been busy with personal stuff lately. You know...considering everything.'

“Ah.” For a moment, Schneep’s expression fell. He glanced back at Laurens, who gave him an encouraging thumbs up. “Well, yes, I was busy with that sort of stuff, too.” He sighed. “But...let us not talk about that here. This is a celebration, yes?”

Jameson nodded, straightening and putting on a smile. 'You’re right. Your friend Jack has worked very hard to get out of the hospital, it deserves celebrating!'

“‘Your’ friend? Ha, do not tell me Jack has not taken you into his friend fold yet, I know what that man is like.” Schneep chuckled.

JJ laughed a bit as well. 'No, you’re right. We’ve only met a few times, but he’s very insistent.'

While the two of them talked, Marvin leaned over to Laurens and asked, “So is it just you?”

“As supervision? Yes.” Laurens nodded. “Normally it would have been an orderly, but I asked for special permission from Dr. Fells. Just this once. I thought it would, um...‘kill the vibe’ if there was one random stranger in this group of friends. At least you guys know me.”

“Y’know, I think we can be considered friendly by now,” Marvin said, smiling.

“Oh.” Laurens didn’t hide her surprise. “Really? I mean, we only got together a few times. And isn’t it a little weird? With my job and anything.”

“I don’t think it’s weird. And a few times is enough for some people. I’m sure Chase would go out of his way to assure you more, but uh, I’m not all that good at that sort of stuff.” Marvin shrugged. “But you’re cool with me.”

“Well...thank you,” Laurens said. Her voice was soft, but full of feeling.

At that moment, Mina returned from the kitchen, carrying a stack of red plastic cups and a permanent marker. “Alright everyone!” she announced. “I am establishing a rule now! If you grab a cup, you must write your name on it so there is no confusing! Alright?”

JJ frowned. 'I don’t think there’s enough of us to cause confusion.'

“Well, we do it to be sure, then,” Mina insisted. “Just in case there are germs and such.”

Schneep nudged Jameson. “Yes, germs and such. I agree. As a doctor.”

JJ raised an eyebrow. 'Are you sure you’re not just taking your girlfriend’s side?'

“What? Noooo. No, girlfriend? I—what do you mean?” Schneep stammered. “We are still being just friends.”

“Um, yes! Exactly!” Mina added. “That’s all.” Her face was turning a bit red.

Jameson nodded. 'Right. Just friends.' He looked across the room, briefly locking eyes with Laurens and Marvin. They all exchanged identical expressions. 'Well, should we bring the drinks out here, then?'
.............................................................................................

About fifteen minutes later, Jackie finally arrived, knocking on the door like the others before him. “Sorry I’m late,” he said, walking in as soon as Marvin opened the door. “It was totally the bus’s fault, I swear, they were totally behind schedule—”

“It’s fine, Jackie,” Marvin said. “You’re not even the last to arrive.”

“Really?” Jackie scanned the room. “Oh, you’re right. Well, I feel a bit better now.”

“Jackie!” Schneep waved at him from across the room. “It is good to see you!”

“Schneep!” Jackie hurried over to him. As soon as he was within range, Schneep threw his arms around him. “Whoa! Little tight there.”

“Ah, sorry.” Schneep backed up, still smiling. “It just feels like so long. You got a haircut!”

“Yeah, I did.” Jackie ran a hand along his new, short length of hair. “I thought it was time, you know?”

'I think it looks good on you,' JJ said, appearing at Jackie’s other side.

“Oh hey JJ!” Jackie leaned over and gave Jameson a quick, tight hug. “How have you been?”

'Pretty good, actually. I’ll be honest, I’m still on edge.' Jameson’s signs were a bit smaller as he said that. 'But I’m being optimistic. Not going to let any of this keep me down.'

“That’s the spirit!” Jackie grinned.

“Oh hey, Jackie,” Marvin called from over by the front door. “Are you gonna put your backpack down?”

“Nah, I think I’ll hold onto it for a bit,” Jackie said.

Marvin narrowed his eyes. “Did you pack it full of superhero movies? All the Spider-Mans again?”

“Mmmm I’m not telling.” Jackie tried to smother his smile.

“Godamnit Jackie, if I have to spend another two hours with you gushing over Andrew Garfield I am kicking you out of my house!” Marvin shook his head. “Anyway, there’s food in the kitchen, drinks on the coffee table. Make sure to write your name on your cup so it doesn’t get confused with anyone else’s. Laurens and Mina are in the kitchen, too, if you want to say hi.”

“Got it.” Jackie nodded, then headed over to the coffee table, grabbing a red plastic cup and the marker.

Knock, knock, knock. Someone was at the front door for the fourth time that night. Marvin brightened up. “Guys, it’s them!” he said, hurrying over to open the door.

“I’m back!” Chase announced, stepping into the house as soon as the door was open. “And guess who’s with me?” He then stepped to the side, revealing—

“Hey guys.” Jack smiled, a bit shyly, and waved.

“Jack!” everyone shouted in joyful unison.

Immediately, Jack was surrounded by friends, chattering and buzzing over each other for a solid thirty seconds. That came to an end when Marvin shouted, “Alright, alright! He needs space! You all back the fuck up!”

“Ah, sorry, Jack.” Jackie gave a little laugh. “It’s just so surprising to see you out, you know?”

“It’s surprising to be out, I can say that much.” For the first time in months, Jack was wearing normal street clothes—a black hoodie and jeans—and not hospital garb. That alone made him look much more lively, but he still wasn’t quite as lively as he might have been. The cane he was holding tight to was a clear enough indication. “Man, Marv, your house really hasn’t changed at all, has it?”

“Why are you the second person to say that?” Marvin groaned.

'Is everything okay, Jack?' JJ asked. 'How’s it gone so far?'

“Been alright. I’m still gonna need some physical therapy, but I can walk, and they said that’s an important step forward. Literally.” Jack laughed at his own joke. Then, he spotted someone lingering at the edge of the group. “Schneep?” he said. “Is that you?”

“I...yes, it’s me,” Schneep said, shifting awkwardly on his feet.

“Wow. I almost didn’t recognize you—which is amazing, considering how we’re all clones,” Jack joked. “It’s like forgetting my own face.”

Schneep chuckled a bit, but still looked on edge. He hesitated, then stepped forward. “I—Jack, I—I know this is all my fault, but—but it is very good to see you.”

Jack tilted his head. “Hey. It’s alright.”

“But I am the one who—”

“Yeah, you are.” Jack reached out and grabbed Schneep’s hand, squeezing it tightly. “And I won’t lie, that...wasn’t good,” he said delicately. “And I do think we need to talk about that some time. But not right now. It’s really alright, Schneep. I promise.”

Schneep stared at him for a moment more. Then he let out a deep breath, blinking back sudden tears in his eyes. “Are we...still friends?” he asked, almost too quiet to be heard.

“I...I think we are, yeah,” Jack said.

“I...good. Good.” Schneep put on a smile. “I am glad you are okay.”

“Me too.” Jack returned the smile. “Now.” He looked around at everyone else, standing awkwardly nearby and trying to seem like they weren’t listening. “This is supposed to be a party, right? Let’s get it started!”
.............................................................................................

Soon, everyone relaxed into the friendly atmosphere. Chase quickly asserted control over the TV and game systems, which led to a couple arguments with Marvin as he insisted on telling Chase how to set everything up. Mina and Laurens reappeared from the kitchen, greeting the others who had shown up in their absence. Jack sat down in one of the armchairs and, surprisingly, struck up a conversation with Jameson, the two of them getting to know each other a bit more.

After a while, Laurens left Mina talking with Schneep and looked around the room. She wasn’t usually the sociable type at parties, but then again, she didn’t really consider this a party. It was just a bunch of friends getting together, celebrating the fact that ‘getting together’ was possible for the first time in a long while. She couldn’t help but smile to herself.

By now, Chase, Marvin, Jack, and Jameson were all busy debating whether they should put on a movie or play a video game. The sides were evenly split into two vs. two, and Laurens didn’t really feel like becoming a tiebreaker for that matter. Mina and Schneep were talking in German, with Mina showing Schneep several pictures on her phone—probably of their daughter Elise. Jackie was the only person on his own, leaning against a wall and swirling a drink in a red plastic cup. Laurens made her way over to him. “Are you daydreaming again?” she asked.

“Hmm?” Jackie looked over at her, a bit startled. “Oh, uh, hi. Sorry. Was it that obvious?”

Laurens shrugged. “Not unless you’re looking for it. How have things been?”

Now it was Jackie’s turn to shrug. “Fine, I guess. Things are different now, and it’s just...even though a lot of bad stuff happened, it’s hard to get used to a difference, you know?”

“Well that’s completely normal,” Laurens reassured him. “Our brains tend to establish baselines, and when all we’re used to is terribleness, the lack of terribleness seems strange, simply because it’s not the baseline anymore.”

Jackie laughed. “You really are a psychiatrist, aren’t you, Laurens?”

“I—um, what did you call me?” Laurens asked, confused.

“What?” Jackie grinned. “Did I have your name wrong all this time?”

“No, it’s just...you’ve never called me by my last name,” Laurens said slowly. Even though everyone else here tended to use her surname, Jackie was the one exception, the one who had called her Rya from the start.

“Oh. Sorry. I thought it would be like—a funny thing. Um. Anyway.” Jackie quickly drained the remaining drink in his cup. “I’m gonna...go to the bathroom. Be right back.” He pushed away from the wall, heading to the hallway. As he passed the coffee table, he put his cup down. Not too carefully, as it tipped over the moment he let go. But he didn’t care to right it, disappearing down the hall. Laurens watched him, puzzled.

“Whoa.” Jack, sitting in his chair by the coffee table, leaned forward and picked up Jackie’s cup. “Hey, Jackie, be more careful, man!” he called after him. “That could’ve spilled!” He sighed, and happened to look down at the cup in his hands. It was a quick glance, but something seemed off, and he looked at the cup more closely.

Knock, knock.

The conversation lulled a bit. Marvin, sitting at the sofa, stood up. “It’s probably a solicitor,” he said to the room at large. “I’ll make sure they leave.” And he hurried to the front door.

“Hey Chase?” Jack said, leaning closer to where Chase was crouching on the floor, looking through the movies and games they’d all brought.

“Yeah?” Chase turned towards Jack. “What’s up?”

“This is going to sound weird, but...” Jack paused. “Did...Jackie’s handwriting get...messier? While I was in the hospital?” He held out the cup for Chase to look at, with Jackie’s name written in black on the red plastic.

Marvin opened the front door. “Hi, sorry, I can’t listen to some sales pitch right...now...” His voice trailed off, and he took a step backwards, his eyes wide in confused surprise.

Chase grabbed the cup from Jack’s hand to get a better look. “What the—” He shook his head. “That’s not Jackie’s handwriting.”

“Hey guys, sorry I’m late.”

Everyone looked up at the sound of the voice. Jackie was stepping past Marvin and into the house. “That whole thing took way longer than it should have,” he said, rolling his eyes and closing the front door behind him. “Did you know there’s construction on Center Street? I didn’t, because they apparently decided to let the bus routes run right through it.” He stopped, noticing the stares and dead silence he’d walked into. “What? Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“...Jackie,” Schneep said slowly. “Did you...change your clothes? And...your hair?”

“What?” Jackie’s brows drew together. “I mean, I got a haircut, but what do you mean by changing my clothes?”

Most everyone glanced around at each other, too confused to move. But Jameson gasped, eyes widening in realization. He immediately shot to his feet and—

Click. “Please don’t do anything stupid, Jamie.”

There was a man standing in the hallway entrance. A man wearing the same kind of clothes Jackie wore, a man who looked quite a lot like Jackie, but whose stiff posture and cold expression told everyone he was not Jackie. One hand held a black handgun, loaded and pointed forward. The other hand reached up and used the sleeve of his jacket to wipe away the makeup covering half his face, revealing the scars underneath.

For a split second, everything was frozen.

Then there was a scream, and everyone burst into motion. Chase scrambled to his feet, stepping in front of Jack—who tried to stand but couldn’t get up. Jackie gasped and spun back towards the door, and Marvin did the same. Mina grabbed Schneep, who was still in shock, and shoved him behind her. Laurens dropped the cup she was holding and ran to duck behind the nearest chair. The only one who stayed still was Jameson.

“Everyone freeze!” Anti pointed the gun towards the front door. “You two step away from the door. Don’t think I won’t shoot you.”

Marvin, his hand on the front door’s handle, instinctively stopped. Jackie tried to discreetly gesture for him to keep going, but Marvin’s eyes were locked on the gun.

“Oh come on, Jackie, you’re smarter than that,” Anti said, grinning. “How far will you get with a bullet in your leg? Not to mention all the rest of these lovely people who weren’t lucky enough to be standing by an entrance. Do you want them to feel the consequences of your actions?”

Jackie hesitated. Then, slowly, he backed away from the front door, grabbing Marvin and pulling him back as well. He turned to the others in the room with an apologetic expression on his face.

“Good. Now.” Anti then pointed the gun towards Schneep and Mina. “Drop that phone, Ms. Pfieffer.”

Mina gasped, her phone falling from her hands. The number pad was visible on the screen, with a single 9 dialed.

Anti’s eyes darted around the room, landing on each person. “In fact, all of you. Take your phones out. Take them out and kick them away from you.”

“You—you can’t shoot all of us,” Chase said weakly.

“I can,” Anti replied calmly. “Do you think there’s too many of you? Well, I’m sorry, but you’re mistaken. My trigger finger is faster than any of you can run. Drop your phones. No sudden movements.”

Not everyone moved at once, but they all did as he said. First Mina, then Jackie, Chase, Jack, Laurens, Jameson, and finally Marvin. Anti glanced down at the pile of smartphones in the center of the living room floor, counting them. “Seven,” he muttered, and looked back up and counted the people in the room. “Eight.”

“I-I-I’m sorry, I—” Schneep stammered. “I do not have—I was not—”

Anti laughed. “Oh, don’t worry, Henrik, I know. I’m not stupid.”

Schneep relaxed, but only slightly. He was shaking visibly. Mina reached back and grabbed his hand, squeezing tightly.

“What do you—” Laurens swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. “What do you want, Anti?”

“Oh, not much,” Anti said casually. “Just for one of you to come with me. Can you guess who?”

Silence. Anti noticed the eyes darting about, almost everyone looking back and forth between two people. With some exceptions. Schneep inhaled sharply, but then blinked. His eyes locked on Jameson. And Jameson...he didn’t look at anyone. His eyes were locked on Anti, his posture stiff with his hands behind his back. Anti laughed. “You were always smart, Jamie.”

“Jamie?” Marvin repeated, confused for a moment before realizing what the nickname was short for. His head snapped towards Jameson. “JJ, no, you can’t—”

“He certainly can,” Anti interrupted. “Especially with the alternative.”

Jameson said nothing. His expression was unreadable.

“...why?” Jack whispered. “Why...Jameson?”

“Hmm.” Anti glanced at him. “I forget, you’re out of the loop. Though apparently not as out of the loop as you should be. That’s my fault, really. I didn’t expect you to remember what I said while you were a vegetable.”

Jack paled, shrinking back into the chair as he attempted to make himself as small as possible.

“But it’s quite simple, actually,” Anti continued, now pointing the gun towards the center of the room, where it could easily aim at anyone. “I have to leave this city. Fucking sucks, really, giving up everything I built, but what can you do when the coppers are onto you? And, well, now that I know my brother is alive...” He laughed. “I’m not letting him leave again.”

'You really shouldn’t care this much, Anti,' Jameson finally spoke, taking his hand out from behind his back to sign. 'We haven’t seen each other in years.'

“And whose fault is that?!” Anti suddenly screamed, and Jameson’s carefully guarded expression broke into instinctive fear as he flinched. “Who made me think you’d killed yourself?!”

'I never intended to—' Jameson started.

“Oh, so—so the note wasn’t meant to sound like that, was it?” Anti growled. “It was—The goodbye wasn’t supposed to sound so final, was it?” He shifted, pointing the gun directly at Jameson. “And your jacket in the river—th-that was just an accident, wasn’t it? Wasn't it? Not meant to look like you’d jumped? You weren’t expecting—weren’t planning on me running all through town, trying to find you, being so, so afraid of what you were planning, only to find that—that bit of cloth in th-the water, the rapid water, caught on a t-tr-tree? You didn’t think about what I’d assume?”

Jameson took a slow step back. The others in the room were silent, statues holding their breaths afraid to interrupt this outburst.

“You didn’t think—” Anti laughed hysterically. The gun trembled in his shaking hands. “You didn’t think about how I’d be—how I’d sit by the river crying for an hour? You didn’t t-think about what it would mean, when my o-only family left me like that? The only thing that kept me g-going, growing up in those shit towns with those motherFUCKERS who w-wanted the—who pocketed the foster money and left the k-kids to kill each other in gangs—the only thing that kept me going in those hells, kn-knowing that when I was old enough, I had real family that I h-had to look after. You were the only FUCKING thing I had! And you fucking left me alone! You let me bleed, you let me DIE! You made me try to follow you! And now...” He stopped, breathing heavily for a moment. “Now...you pretend like none of it mattered. The least you could do...is come with me.”

Jameson couldn’t say anything, left completely speechless by Anti’s rant. He stared at him, gaping, for a solid few seconds. Then, slowly, his expression became stone again, and he put his hands behind his back once more.

“Refusing to say anything?” Anti laughed. “You never...would have done that...before.” Suddenly, his spun and pointed the gun in a different direction. “You don’t f-f-fucking move.”

Laurens, who was slowly standing back up after crouching behind a chair, stopped mid-movement, awkwardly bent over. “Anti,” she said slowly. “I’m sorry you went through all that. But you can’t...you can’t make one person into this beacon of everything you need. That’s not...fair. To him. O-or to yourself. You’re making yourself dependent on something that doesn’t exist.”

“If I wanted a shrink, I would have—I-I-I would have—” Anti stopped, panting. “Just fuck off. I didn’t ask you.”

Then, Schneep, whose eyes had remained locked on Jameson, finally looked at Anti and spoke. “If there is anything—a-anything we can do, in exchange for you—leaving Jameson alone—”

“Henrik, no,” Chase said softly, looking back at him. “You’ve been through enough.”

“I appreciate the o-offer, Schneep,” Anti said, grinning mockingly. “But as fun as you were, i-it’s too much trouble to t-take more than one person with me.”

“H-how are you expecting this to work?” Schneep asked, his voice shaking yet refusing to look away from Anti. Mina inched further in front of him, but he leaned around her. “If Jameson leaves with you, you must know it will not be long before the police are after you. Or—or what if we try to follow you?”

“So d-desparate,” Anti sighed. “But I should expe-ect as much from you. Did you think I wouldn’t h-have a plan...for that?” He reached up and took off the backpack he was wearing—the one he had refused to take off while he’d pretended to be Jackie. While still pointing the gun at the room, he clumsily unzipped it, then unceremoniously dropped it on the floor. With a swift kick, he pushed the backpack into the center of the room, right near the pile of phones. The inside of the backpack was filled with wires and electronic parts. An LED screen poked out from the mess, reading “ARMED” in big red letters.

Jackie inhaled sharply. “Is that a fucking bomb?!”

“C-can’t tell you how long it...it took to put it together,” Anti laughed. “But I-I’ll say it’s not nearly as long as you—as you think.”

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” Marvin cried. “What if it went off while you were still here?!”

“Idiot,” Anti snapped. “I-I’m not stupid enough to mess with ex-explo-explos—with bombs that I don’t u-understand. Now listen up. This is how i-it’s going to w-work. Jamie and I are going to leave here. All of y-you are going to stay. If I see a-any of you come out of the house after us, I’ll t-trigger the bomb. Look at it closer for a moment. S-see the lens?” He gestured at the bomb, indicating a round glass lens amidst the wires. “Th-that’s a camera, it’s linked up to my phone. Even after I l-leave, I’ll be watching you. If any of you move from where y-you’re standing within the next...hour, then I’ll trigger i-it. Understa-and?”

Nobody said anything, but their expressions and tense posture was answer enough.

“Good.” Anti nodded. His hands were shaking, but his aim held steady. “Now. Jamie? The ch-choice is yours.”

Jameson stared at Anti. His stone expression had given way to pure fear, but he didn’t move.

“Leave him alone.” Schneep stepped forward. Anti immediately aimed the gun at him. He stopped, but didn’t back up. “You—you say the choice is his, but it is not really a choice, is it? You do not give people choices, you just pretend you do. When the alternative is to stand by and let people you care about be hurt, there is no real choice to be made.”

“You shut your—” Anti snarled.

“Nnno.”

Several gasps went around the room as Jameson spoke. Even Anti was surprised, looking back at Jameson with wide eyes.

'Henrik is right,' Jameson said. 'There was never a choice with you. There were only threats and lies. Your only desire is control, Aneirin. Control through any means possible. And I can understand why you want that, but you took it way too far too many years ago, and now you can’t stand when even the smallest thing refuses to go according to your desires.'

“Jamie,” Anti said softly. “I—”

'You can’t justify it,' Jameson continued. 'You can’t say you just want to protect me. That went out of the window when you fucking kidnapped me all those months ago. In fact, it was out of the question from the moment you asked me to help hide a body. From the moment you said I had to stay, or else the police would catch me. Though, would you have minded if they did? It seems like a prison is just protection to you.'

“I’m sorry—” Anti started.

'No you’re not.' Jameson shook his head. 'If you were, you wouldn’t continue to do it. You wouldn’t BE here if you were sorry, let alone bring a bomb with you. You’ve never given me any choice, Aneirin. And that’s why I had to leave. That’s why I had to be dead to you. I didn’t want it to look like a suicide. I thought it would seem like I fell into the river while running away. But the only way I could escape you is if you thought I couldn’t be reached. And the only way I couldn’t be reached—in your eyes, at least—was in death.' Jameson stared directly at Anti, two pairs of blue eyes locked across a room. 'I’d ask you if you understand, but I don’t think you can anymore. It’s not an option for you. And because of that, we are no longer family. We haven’t been for years.'

Anti’s chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. His hand was shaking significantly now, the muzzle of the gun pointing at anyone and everyone. “J-Ja-Jameson.” His voice was strangled. “You—you—y-you c-c-can’t—” Then his eyes shot wide open. He gasped. And like a puppet with its strings cut, he suddenly collapsed.

It was so sudden that most of the room remained where they were, confused and shocked. But two people burst into action. Jameson ran across the room, kneeling at Anti’s side. Quickly, he took the gun from his shaking hand, tossing it across the room and almost hitting Laurens, who instinctively ducked. Meanwhile, Schneep darted to the center of the room and gingerly grabbed the straps of the backpack with the bomb in it. He looked at Jameson. “Are you sure?” he asked.

Jameson gestured towards the front door. Schneep nodded, and broke into a run. He threw open the front door and dashed out to the street, carefully but swiftly dropping the backpack on the sidewalk before running back to the house. By the time he returned, some of the others had recovered. Jackie grabbed his phone from the pile and immediately dialed the police. Mina ran around Jameson and Anti and blocked off the hallway with her body, preventing Anti from escaping down that way. Chase walked over to where the gun had fallen and picked it up. He turned it over in his hands, eyes widening as he recognized it.

“What—what just happened?” Marvin asked.

Jameson glanced back at him. 'Seizure,' he signed, fast enough for the sign to be almost unrecognizable. Then he turned back to Anti, who was noticeably shaking, his arms and legs jerking. Jameson hesitated, assessing the situation, then looked at Chase. Give me your jacket, he said.

“Uh—what?—I mean, yeah.” Chase stammered, confused, but took his jacket off and handed it to him.

Jameson didn’t say thank you, merely balling up the jacket and putting it underneath Anti’s head.

“Wh...why is he seizing?” Laurens asked, inching closer.

'He has them sometimes,' Jameson explained. 'We were in a car accident as children, it did damage to both of us. The seizures used to be a lot more common, though.' He stared down at Anti and sighed. 'Unlucky.'

“I’d argue it’s extremely lucky,” Marvin muttered. “For us, I mean. I-I don’t know how we were...” He trailed off.

“You should not wish a seizing on someone,” Schneep said. “Shame on you.” Though his words rang a bit hollow, as he stared down at Anti and didn’t move.

'This is a bad one, but it should be over in a minute or two,' Jameson said. He glanced back at everyone else. 'So...what should we do?'

Silence. Until Jack cleared his throat. “I mean, we shouldn’t—shouldn’t ignore it, but...we need to make sure he can’t...do anything. Maybe—maybe we can lock him in the closet?”

“Closet doesn’t have a lock,” Marvin said. “But we can move a chair in front.”

Meanwhile, Jackie was still on the phone. “I-I don’t know, we moved it outside,” he was saying. “Now the guy is having a seizure. I don’t—No, he seems alright. So far. What should we do?” He paused. Then he looked at the others. “Do we have handcuffs or something?”

“Jackie, really, this is my house,” Marvin said. “But—I can grab a scarf from my room or something. Oh, Mina, actually, you’re closer. It’s the last door down the hall, can you—?”

“On it,” Mina said, and turned to run down the hall.

“Yeah, we can do that,” Jackie said, returning to the phone conversation. “How close are you?” He paused. “Okay. Okay. Should I stay on the line?” Another pause. “Okay, I will, then.”

Anti had stopped shaking. Now the only movement was the rise and fall of his chest. Jameson reached over and rolled him onto his side. Anti still didn’t move. His eyes—one real, one glass—drifted upwards, landing on Jameson’s face. Jameson didn’t say anything. But he didn’t look away.
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It was a while before everything calmed down. As soon as Jameson said it was okay to move him, Mina and Marvin grabbed Anti and put him in the closet, tying his wrists behind his back with a scarf and shoving a chair in front of the door. They also took away his phone, recalling what he said about it linking up to the bomb.

The police arrived soon after that, with the bomb squad in tow. They quickly escorted Anti to a squad car and instructed everyone else to stay in the house, far away from the bomb. The whole group watched from the front windows, on edge and waiting for the sudden explosion. Luckily, a few minutes later, the police officer working on the bomb stepped back, it having been properly defused. They then took the bomb away, and a couple officers approached the house to ask what happened. It was a long story, but ended with the group telling the police to contact Detective Nix for more information, as this was related to a case he was working on.

After it all, everyone found themselves alone, sprawled on the floor and furniture of the living room. Nobody said anything for a long, long time.

Until someone started laughing.

“Who the fuck...?” Chase lifted his head, looking around. “Marvin?”

“Why d’you go to me?” Marvin grumbled.

“Because it’s a guy, but Jackie and Schneep are out of it and that’s not Jack’s laugh,” Chase said. “Oh...that really only...leaves one other, though.”

Everyone looked towards the corner. Sure enough, Jameson was laughing. Sitting on the floor, laughing hard enough that tears were coming from his eyes. Then those tears increased. The laughter turned uneven, and soon he was crying.

Schneep shook his head, returning to reality. He stood up from the chair he was sitting in, only to drop down to the floor next to Jameson. “Is everything okay?” he asked quietly.

Jameson nodded, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

“Do you...need anything?” Schneep asked.

Jameson didn’t know how to answer that, so he just shrugged.

“Hmm.” Schneep scooted closer. After a moment, Jameson leaned against him, drained but still crying softly. “We will just be quiet then, yes? Unless you want to listen to voices speaking.”

'I’m fine, thank you,' Jameson signed shakily. He closed his eyes, utterly exhausted. One word echoed in his mind.

‘Finally.’

Chapter Four of Fantasy Masks
A JSE Fanfic
[This is the first part of an ongoing fic series I started in June 2021. As Chase gets more familiar with the Masked Phantoms and warms up to Jackie and Henrik, they soon give him his first mission as a member of the group. But something...strange...happens.]
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By the time the sun set and everyone started to head towards the cooking fires for dinner, Chase’s arms were aching from the effort of shooting a bow for hours. They felt less like part of him and more like useless things hanging from his shoulders. He was glad the day was over. The whole thing had been a lot to take in, and that training at the end had just made him exhausted physically as well as mentally.

Just like the previous night, Chase lingered around the edges of the cooking fires, instead of actually doing much mingling. It looked like almost all of the Phantoms were here, either getting food or doing the cooking themselves. Most had taken their masks off and had them in their hands or around their necks as they chattered in groups with each other. Chase, however, just waited for more people to clear up so he could feel comfortable getting food. He headed over towards the dragon leg bones that were in the area and sat down near the end, on one of the smaller bones that could serve as a bench. Some time passed, and more and more people arrived.

“Are you actually going to get something, or just sit and stare?”

Chase yelped, and twisted around to see Henrik standing behind him. “Oh. Hello.” He’d almost forgotten that Henrik had said he’d meet up with him at dinner. “How are you doing?”

“I am alright.” Henrik sat down next to him. “I would ask you the same, but I think I can tell everything by the expression on your face.”

“Do I look that bad?” Chase groaned.

“No, not bad. Just tired.” Henrik paused. “Am I right?”

“You’re right.” Chase rubbed his eyes. “I’m sorry, I’m still…trying to understand everything. All this about medicine and magic and everything else. And having to prepare for combat, you know? I may be a hunter, but I’ve never fought a person. Unless you count getting into squabbles when I was a kid, and even then, it never came to blows.”

“Oh.” Henrik looked away. “Maybe I should not have insisted you do everything at once. I’m sorry. I thought it would help you to be part of the group, if you knew what you needed sooner, instead of later.”

“No, it’s fine, it’s not you,” Chase hurried to say. “It’s the whole situation. I just need time.”

“Right.” Henrik hesitated, looking like he wanted to say more. But then he shook his head a little, and said nothing.

“What? What is it?” Chase asked.

“Nevermind, if you are feeling overwhelmed, I do not want to add to it—”

“No, please, if there’s anything else, say it now. You’re right, I’d rather have everything laid out at once.”

Henrik sighed. “Well…you see, now that you are all caught up, we usually have you choose where you want to fit in. We have these—here.” His mask was hanging off his belt, and he reached down and picked it up. “You’ve noticed the symbols on the forehead by now, yes? That tells everyone what you do. It’s a helpful shortcut, since we all have different skills.”

“Ah.” Chase nods, recalling the different symbols he’d seen. There was the straight line with the curved lines wrapped around it, the circle with two dots, the X with two dots, and the card suits. “There are four, right?”

“Five, actually,” Henrik corrected. “You probably haven’t seen the fifth up close, ah…” He turned towards everyone else gathered around the cooking fires. “See, look, over there. It’s on Ana’s mask.” And he gestured towards a nearby redheaded woman, wearing a mask in the shape of a floppy-eared dog. The symbol on her forehead was a five-pointed star.

“Alright, five,” Chase nodded. “What do they mean?”

“The one I have here means medicine,” Henrik said, tapping his mask. “Or otherwise, support. We are also all birds so that we can be picked out easily in an emergency. Then the circle and cross are for combat, those are the types who go out on missions.”

“Why are there two?” Chase asked, raising an eyebrow.

Henrik shrugged. “Different skill sets. I’m not sure on the specifics, that is Jackie’s area of expertise. But circles are more direct, I believe. Like warriors. Then the star is for organization, things like records and messengers. And the card symbols mean you are a magic-wielder.”

“And why use the card suits for magic?” Chase pressed. “To my knowledge, card games aren’t magical.”

“Ah—well—w-we didn’t choose that particular symbol,” Henrik said, and then quickly moved on. “Of course, you do not have to choose now. We can put this on the shelf and you can think it over. Oh, but I should tell you now, you cannot have your own mask just yet, with your own chosen animal. You will have to use one of our extras until we get some plaster.”

“That’s fine. I don’t know what animal I’d want to be, anyway.” Chase fell silent for a minute, watching the others gathered around the fires. Someone had started playing an instrument, and the sound of strumming was soon joined in by a few people singing along. Many of them were clearly missing the notes, but they made up for that with the joy in their voices. “Yea, I’ll think about it.”

Henrik nodded, and said nothing, joining him in on watching the others. After a moment, he took a small flask out of a pouch on his belt and drank.

“That can’t hold that much ale,” Chase said. “You wouldn’t get anything out of that.”

At that remark, Henrik spluttered, and almost choked before managing to swallow the mouthful of liquid he’d just taken. “It’s not ale,” he said, voice a bit hoarse. “I-I do not—drink anything of that sort.”

“Oh. Sorry,” Chase said, embarrassed. “I was going to joke about having some, but, um, sounds like it’s…just water, then?”

“No, no.” Henrik capped the flask and put it back in the pouch. “Is medicine, actually. You would not want any.”

“Oh,” Chase repeated. He could tell that Henrik didn’t want the issue pressed any further. And who could blame him, really? Something like that was fairly personal. “Hmm…you know, I was thinking, and…I don’t actually know that much about you, do I?”

“I assure you, you know more than anyone here except Jackie,” Henrik said drily. “Most of the Phantoms know I am a doctor, but not that I travel.”

“I don’t just mean your occupation, I mean a lot more than that. Like, for example, how old are you? Do you have any family? Are you courting anyone? Things like that.”

Henrik started to smile a bit. “I am twenty-nine years old.”

“You’re a year younger than me?!” Chase gasped.

“Hey, I don’t look THAT old, do I?” Henrik nudged his shoulder.

“No, you don’t, really. I just…guess you SEEM it,” Chase said slowly. “You sound and act like you have a lot of experience.”

“Well, thank you,” Henrik said, flattered. “As for family, my parents still live in Alterde. I used to write to them, but not anymore.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Hmm.” Henrik pursed his lips. “It is a long story. What about your family?”

Chase shook his head. “Mam and Dad are gone, have been for years now. I don’t have any siblings. Stacia had a sister, but she went down into the flatlands to become a merchant. So, really, it’s only been me, Stacia, and the kids.” His heart was starting to sink the more he talked, so he quickly moved on. “Can’t help but notice you changed the subject just before you answered my last question.”

“Hmm? And what was that?” Henrik asked, clearly feigning ignorance.

“Ohhhh, I see.” A wide grin spread across Chase’s face. “So, you’re not actively courting anyone, but you’re PINING. Is that it?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Henrik said, not looking him in the eye.

At that moment, someone approached the pair from the side, recognizable even from a distance because of that red cloak. “I’m missing some context, but I think I can figure out what’s going on here,” Jackie said. “Come on, Henrik, everyone knows. I thought Chase needed to be on page with everyone, riiiiight?”

“I—not like—this is—” Henrik stammered for a while, then tried to change the subject again. “What are you holding?”

“Well I saw you two being lonely out here on the edge, so I thought I’d bring you some food.” Jackie was awkwardly holding three plates, two in one hand and one in the other. “Here.” He set two of the plates down on the bone next to each of them. “I hope you like venison, Chase.”

Chase scoffed a bit. “You remember you’re talking to a hunter, right? I was raised on venison.” He picked up the nearby plate, noting the fork balanced on top of the meat. “Elders, you guys must have a lot of dishes.”

“Oh you have no idea,” Jackie muttered. “We rotate cooking and cleaning every week, so remember to check the chore notice by storage to see if it’s your turn to wash them all.”

“I’m already dreading it,” Chase assured him. “Also, I can’t help but notice Henrik still hasn’t answered my question about if he’s courting anyone.”

“Shush,” Henrik said, face slowly growing red.

Jackie chuckled. “Nothing official. He just happens to like a certain someone. But he’s not at this camp, so Schneep’s just been waiting, and I’m sure the moment they’re reunited he’s going to run right at him and profess all his feelings in a poetic—”

“Schwestern verdammit, Jackie!” Henrik threw his fork at Jackie, who just laughed and let it hit him. “Can you not do this?!”

Jackie couldn’t speak, he was too busy laughing. The best he could do was hand him his fork again.

“Well, then,” Chase muttered. “I guess that’s an answer.”

Henrik sighed. “Do not—tell anyone. I suppose everyone…knows already, but please don’t. I am not sure if he’ll…feel the same. And I want to be more sure before he finds out through rumors.”

“Alright, Henrik,” Chase said cheerfully, shrugging. “I understand. Besides, I don’t even know who you’re referring to, so I wouldn’t even know who to talk about.”

“…thank you.” Henrik let out a breath, and glared at Jackie.

“Aw, you love me,” Jackie grinned. He pushed his wolf mask off, and turned to Chase. “And if you’re going to ask me that question, the answer is no, I’m not courting anyone. Don’t have my eye on anyone either, but I don’t have a preference, so I’m sure I’ll find someone eventually. Maybe once things are less busy.”

“Good luck on that, then,” Chase nodded.

Jackie smiled wider. This was the first time Chase had seen him without the mask covering the upper half of his face. There was a small scar next to his right eye, short but straight, probably caused by a blade. And he looked…younger than Chase expected. Much like Henrik, he thought Jackie would be older than him, but he seemed to be the same age as him, if not younger. For a moment, Chase wondered how these two got mixed up in this whole rebellion situation. Were they affected by the King’s actions like he was? Or in some other way? Or something else he couldn’t come up with? And why were their masks the only ones that had color?

Before he could ask any of these questions, Henrik decided it was once again time to change the subject. “Ah, Chase, I have been meaning to ask you.” He cleared his throat. “Would you like to…learn how to read better?”

“Huh?” It took Chase a moment to return to the present. “Well, I guess. It would be helpful to know more. Why, do you want to teach me?”

“A-ah, I don’t know if I would be a good teacher,” Henrik mumbled.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you were pretty good at teaching me,” Jackie said. “And that was while you yourself were still learning the language!”

“You know most of that wasn’t me, it was—” Henrik suddenly stopped, glanced at Chase, and abruptly moved on. “There is more to teaching than just knowing the language.”

“I know, and you were pretty good at it.”

“I was going to say that we would find someone who would have more time on their hands, we are busy—”

“Not as much now that you’re not travelling anymore. Besides, I think it would work best with you two together, you already sort of know each other, and you’re getting along well. It’d just be complicated to shove Chase at someone new, he already met enough new people today.”

Henrik tried to argue further, but Jackie just looked at him, his expression a strange mix of pleading and stubbornness. So, Henrik just sighed, and turned to Chase. “Would you want me to teach you?”

After a moment, Chase nodded. “Yea. Jackie’s right, w-we already know each other, it’ll be easiest.”

Henrik looked up to the sky. “Alright, then. I will find some time, Sisters willing.”

“Great!” Jackie gave Henrik a quick one-armed hug. “Now you two should actually eat the food I brought you. It’ll get cold fast.” And with that, he disappeared back into the rest of the crowd.

Chase watched him go. “He’s…something, isn’t he?”

Henrik laughed quietly. “You are right.” Then he looked at Chase. “So, is that it, then?”

“Reading. Yea.” Chase paused. “If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Of course it is not. It’s my schedule that is the trouble.” Henrik shook his head. “Now, please. We should eat.”

They ate quietly, and afterwards, Chase went back to his tent. The moment he laid down, he was asleep, too tired to do anything else.
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Time passed. Days, at first, and then weeks. Frost started to linger on the ground, and people started wearing two jackets or cloaks to block out the cold. Personally, Chase was content with his one jacket and hat. Maybe he was more used to the cold than the other members of the Masked Phantoms. Or maybe he was just too busy to feel the chill.

It took him a few more days than expected to decide where he’d fit in. Obviously, he didn’t have any magic, so he couldn’t help with any magic-related tasks. And after thinking about it, he didn’t really have the mind for medicine. There was just so much to remember, not just about medicine itself, but also how the body worked, and he’d have to look after so many people. Sure, he might know a bit about simple injuries and common illnesses, but just the extent to which Henrik and Nemet and all the other doctors had to remember and learn…he didn’t think he was cut out for it. It was a similar case for the more administrative tasks. He’d never been very organized. It didn’t seem like a good fit.

So, instead, he turned his attention to his skills. He was a hunter. So, on some level, combat made sense. It was also the one that involved the most action. Groups and individuals were frequently leaving and returning to camp, many of them wearing masks with the circles or crosses that indicated they were fighters. That was what Chase wanted to do. Direct action. But not too direct. He wasn’t a warrior, after all. And Henrik had described the circles as being like warriors…given the process of elimination, the result was obvious.

But he figured that out quickly. The reason he hesitated to commit to that particular branch of the Phantoms…was because of Lukas. Chase picked up that Lukas and Holly were in charge of the two combat-based branches, with Lukass leading the crosses and Holly leading the circles. And Lukas continued to show a deep mistrust of him that was honestly unnerving. He brought it up with Jackie and Henrik, but they each reassured him that Lukas would learn to get along with him. But…that didn’t seem to be happening. In fact, Chase felt like Lukas was going out of his way to keep an eye on him. Every time Chase went out to the combat fields, Lukas was there, insisting that he show off his bow skills. And sometimes, Chase even thought he could see the fox-masked man following him around camp. But that last part might just be paranoia and mistaken identity. After all, there were many different animal masks at Wyvernlair.

Eventually, Chase realized he might be taking too long to decide, so he gritted his teeth, and told Jackie about his choice the next time he saw him. Jackie was excited, as he usually seemed to be, and took him to storage to pick up one of the spare masks. There were three spares marked with the crosses: a wolf, a mouse, and a hedgehog. Chase didn’t want to choose the same wolf theme as Jackie, so he went for the hedgehog. Stacia had always thought those were cute.

Of course, it turned out that his anticipation of difficulties with Lukas…was entirely correct. He seemed a bit surprised to hear that Chase had decided to join the branch he was in charge of, but he quickly got over that feeling and doubled down on his obvious distrust. Every day, he’d meet Chase at the combat fields, and give him a target range to shoot at…over and over and over. And they got more difficult each day. He said he was trying to improve Chase’s mediocre shooting ability, but Chase got the impression he wanted him to fail.

On the bright side, once he got a mask of his own, even if it was only a spare, everyone else quickly accepted that he was part of the Phantoms. And once that happened, it was easy to get to know everyone. Nemet was already familiar with him, so she’d stop by every so often to check on him, and to insist that he keep his tent in order. Holly regularly intervened when Lukas started to go a bit too far in his ‘archery practice,’ and every so often, gave Chase short lessons in self-defense. Tripp, the sorcerer, kept popping out of nowhere to strike up a conversation about some random topic before disappearing. And of course, Jackie and Henrik were always around.

Somehow, the fact that Chase was getting to know all these people seemed to upset Lukas, making him even more suspicious.

Though, there was something strange that Chase was noticing. As he became familiar with other Phantoms, he got the distinct impression that…something was missing. He wasn’t sure how else to describe it. When he talked to people, they’d sometimes start to say something, then change the subject. How’d they manage to find these dragon bones? Who came up with the idea to make the masks animals? Are there quite a lot of magic-wielders in the group? Questions like that got glossed over, and soon, Chase began to realize there was an empty hole in the Phantoms that nobody wanted to talk about. An empty hole…where a person might fit.

This realization only made him more curious about whoever-this-was who was missing. But if nobody was giving him the answers to the small questions, he doubted they’d say anything if he just bluntly asked about this person. But the thought just wouldn’t go away. Maybe…he could ask Henrik? He seemed the most likely to give him some sort of answer. Perhaps he could bring it up during one of their reading lessons.

The lessons weren’t too bad, really. Chase already knew a fair amount, so they weren’t starting from scratch. He already knew how to put together sentences and could read most commonly-used words. But oftentimes the lessons were short, as Henrik got called away to do something or other really quickly. This meant that progress was still slow, even with Chase practicing on his own.

Where he struggled most was with the new words. He recognized every one so far from speech, but his mind couldn’t match up the spelling with the sounds. Mostly because they were, in his opinion, not spelled how they sounded at all.

In one lesson, he threw the chalk he was using away and exclaimed “Why do they combine the letters?! It would be so much easier to have one letter for every sound!”

“Oh, I do not disagree with you there,” Henrik said, standing up to retrieve the chalk. They’d taken to holding the lessons on the edge of camp, where the trees of the forest once again started to appear. The chalk had hit one of said trees, and Henrik found it quickly. He walked back to his spot next to Chase, sat on the ground next to him, and handed him the chalk

Chase grumbled and pressed the chalk hard into the board they were using. Copying the letters and words was easy, even if his handwriting was a bit crooked and looked like a ramshackle hut next to Henrik’s solidly built houses of letters. But recognizing the words? “Why don’t they change it so it makes more sense?”

Henrik shrugged. “Alphabets do not just change automatically. It is something that happens slowly, over time. From what I understand, the one that most nations use today is put together by combining symbols from many different places. Of course, many nations that are farther away use their own. And even some close by are stubborn to keep their own letters.”

“We should’ve kept our own letters,” Chase muttered.

“Hmm?” Henrik’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing. That doesn’t even make sense. I’m just frustrated.” Honestly, Chase wondered if Glasúil ever had its own alphabet. The single kingdom was once home to several different clans, each with their own customs. They probably each had an alphabet, and when the kingdom was united, decided it was too much trouble to pick one or combine them, so they brought in an alphabet from beyond the island.

“Ah, I see. Well, I think you’re doing very well.” Henrik looked up towards the sky. “But unfortunately, I will have to leave soon.”

“Aw.” Chase erased the words on the board with his jacket sleeve. “Tooooo bad.”

Henrik scoffed. “Well, remember you have to practice words with those combined letters—”

“Yea, I got it, Henrik. Ancient elders, you can be a stick in the ground sometimes.”

Despite Chase’s tone, Henrik smiled briefly. “Before I go, I have to tell you something. Or, well, I should ask first. Are you ready to go on your first mission?”

Chase perked up. In the weeks he’d spent here, he hadn’t gone on one mission to help the Phantoms. The timing was perfect; he was starting to get restless. “Of course. What is it? What do I have to do?”

“Nothing too risky, not for your first time. But recently, we heard that there were…unusual visitors in the surviving mountain villages. The ones more…downhill. Farther from the Greatwoods. It may be nothing, but we should go see. Since you are familiar with the mountains, it seemed a good idea to ask you go to along.”

“It’s a group?” That made sense. If they didn’t want too much risk on his first mission, there would be safety in numbers. “Who else is going?”

“Jackie—”

“Jackie’s going? He could’ve asked me himself.”

Henrik huffed. “He was going to tell you, but he got sidetracked by business, so he asked me to tell you, since I would be seeing you first. Elin is also going, she is a sorcerer. And Kenneth, who is a doctor.”

“Four people.” Chase nodded. “Maybe you should come, too, round it up to five for luck.”

“I am delighted that you’d want my company, but…well, must I really repeat my scheduling problems?” Henrik sighed. “Besides, if Jackie is gone, someone has to be here to make sure everything goes well. I assure you, Kenneth is a wonderful doctor.”

“I’m sure,” Chase nodded. Though he was a bit sad Henrik wouldn’t be coming, he knew it would’ve been difficult. At least Jackie would be there. “When are we leaving? Did Jackie tell you?”

“Two days from now,” Henrik said.

“Oh. That’s sooner than I expected,” Chase admitted.

“You have to account for travel time,” Henrik explained. “I understand the village is three days from here, if you go straight. Possibly four.” He once again glanced up at the sky, and stood up. “Alright, I really must go now. Remember to practice.”

“Yea, I hear you. Be seeing you.” Chase waved Henrik off as he headed back towards the main body of Wyvernlair, passing in between the distant—but still large even this far away—bones of the dragon, and disappearing from sight.

Two days, huh? Chase supposed that was enough time to prepare. Sighing, he stood up, grabbing the board and chalk. And maybe enough time to finally get a hang of some of these letter combinations. He might as well get started now. Once he left for this mission, it would be a few days before he’d see Henrik again for another lesson.
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Two days later, Chase met up with Jackie and the two others, and they set off before the morning frost started to melt. The journey itself wasn’t too exciting. Just a lot of traveling through the woods. The other two people on the mission, Elin and Kenneth—a pair of siblings wearing near-identical goat masks—weren’t very talkative, so Jackie filled most of the silence. The most surprising thing was the number of animals Chase was seeing. The area of the woods around his town had been so empty, even for late fall. But as they moved farther from camp, he saw all kinds of woodland creatures, even a few deer. That was strange.

Something that wasn’t strange, but took some getting used to, was that everyone was carrying weapons. Chase was used to having a bow on his back and a quiver by his side, but it was strange to look at his companions and see them armed as well. Elin had a pair of daggers dangling from her belt, while Kenneth had a single, broad-bladed sword that he carried on his back. Jackie had two swords, one on his back and one on his hip. Chase found that odd, but he was sure Jackie knew what he was doing. Jackie had insisted Chase carry a knife as well as he bow, just in case. So one of the swords must’ve been a spare, ‘just in case.’

But the journey passed surprisingly quickly, and the next thing Chase knew, three days had gone by, and Jackie was gathering the three of them to talk about their approach to the mountain village, called Skytown.

“Alright, we’re going to circle around so we’re approaching from the east, that way it’ll look like we just came from downhill instead of the forest. That won’t be unusual, I understand this village gets a lot of visitors from farther down. Everyone alright with that?”

Everyone nodded slowly. “We would blend in more as visitors if we had horses,” Elin muttered. The few times she’d spoken up on the journey had all been talking about horses.

“Damn it, Elin,” Kenneth sighed. “Do we have to talk about the unsuitable terrain AGAIN?”

“No, no, I was just pointing it out.” Elin paused. “But I still don’t understand why people bring horses up into the north mountains, but not here. They’re both mountains. And the Northavens are much rockier.”

“It’s not about rocks, it’s about sudden ups and downs and the steepness of the slope. People can climb, horses can’t.”

“Alright, you two, break it off,” Jackie said. “Chase, are you on board with us?”

Chase nodded. “Um…can I say something, though?”

“What?” Jackie asked.

“I think I should stay back. If you’re planning to pretend to be visitors from the flatlands, that is.”

“Hmm?” Jackie tilted his head. “Interesting. Why?”

“Well, something I’ve noticed is that all of you from the flatlands talk differently than me,” Chase said. “Not too much, but it’s noticeable. See, just the fact that I call the rest of the kingdom ‘the flatlands’ would give away that I’m actually from the mountains. So, if you’re going to pretend to be visitors, I should stay back, because I’d give it away.”

“You could just not talk,” Elin suggested.

Chase considered this. “I guess that could work…but it might be hard.”

“Let’s talk about it again when we’re out of the forest,” Jackie said. “C’mon, get moving everyone. We’re almost there.”

By now, the colorful autumn foliage of the trees had mostly fallen off, making a carpet of brown leaves on the forest floor and leaving the branches above bare in many places. And Chase had noticed that the trees were starting to spread out, less close together like they were deeper in the forest. Jackie was right; they were almost to the edge of the forest. Though the area itself was unfamiliar to Chase, it felt similar to home.

While looking around these surroundings, he saw something move. He almost missed it, on the very edge of his vision. Chase stopped, turning to look. Was that…a deer?

“Chase! Keep up!” Jackie called.

“Sorry!” Chase looked away for a moment, hurrying to catch up with the others. When he glanced back, the deer-shaped thing was gone.

Soon, the trees thinned out, and the four of them stood on the edge of the forest, overlooking the mountain village Skytown. It was quite a bit bigger than the Hilltown Chase called home. All the buildings were solid stone, large enough for at least four rooms, with thatched roofs that hadn’t been present back in Hilltown. People still bustled about, but their clothes were a bit nicer, with less patches. Was this because Skytown was downhill, closer to the rest of the kingdom?

“Nothing looks strange from up here,” Kenneth said, shielding his eyes against the sun. “What would these unusual people look like?”

“The reports said they were dressed nicely, almost nobly,” Jackie said. “And there was at least one of them wearing the royal crest.”

Elin raised an eyebrow. “I see.”

“Alright. Chase.” Jackie turned to look at him. “Do you still want to stay behind?”

“Um…” Chase hesitated. Stalling for time, he once again looked around the forested surroundings. Back home, the trees almost curved around Hilltown, leaving only one side that was open. Here, it was the opposite. Most of the area around Skytown was open, covered in grass and rocks, and the forest was only to the west. It felt a bit strange, seeing all that wide, clear space.

Idly, Chase looked over his shoulder. And froze. There was a deer there. Some ways away, blending in with the brown forest, mostly hidden by the trunks of the trees. But its antlers…they drew his eyes. Gilded. Golden. And from there, he noticed that the deer was looking right at him.

His heart stopped.

“Chase? Is everything okay?” Jackie asked, concerned.

“Y-yes.” Chase turned back around. “I…think I’ll stay back here. I’ll be the cavalry. If something happens, just send me a sign, I’ll come running.”

“Are you sure?” Jackie asked. “You don’t want to get closer, at least?”

“No, this is the only place nearby with cover,” Chase insisted.

Jackie looked unsure, but he nodded. “Alright. We’ll send you a sign, somehow.”

“I could do that,” Elin said, wiggling her fingers.

“We won’t be long, though. Be on the lookout.” Jackie turned to the others. “Alright, masks off and hidden. We want to look normal. If there’s an emergency, put them on first before anything else.” The other two nodded, and he looked back at Chase. “We’ll be back soon.”

Chase nodded, taking a step back into the forest. “Good luck.”

He watched as they hid their masks behind their cloaks, then headed out, circling around the village, eventually shrinking into the distance. The moment they were gone, he turned back around.

The deer was still there.

In fact, it was closer.

What was he supposed to do? “Is this…is this because I almost shot you that night?” he finally asked, voice barely above a whisper. “I didn’t know it was you. Had I known, I never would’ve taken aim.”

The deer’s ear flicked. Its head moved side to side, as if shaking ‘no’ in response to his question.

“Then…what? What is it?” Chase waited, but didn’t get another response. He blinked. And suddenly, the deer was even closer. “I-if I’ve done something to wrong you, or any of the Elders, I-I sincerely apologize, and assure you it was done in ignorance, not malice.”

Another shake of the deer’s head. He blinked again, and suddenly it was right in front of him, close enough that he felt hot breath on his face. It was an unusually large deer. Most of the ones he’d encountered had their head reach his chest, not counting the antlers. But this…the deer’s eyes were level with his, large and unfathomably dark.

His head started to spin. The ground tilted beneath his feet, but he didn’t fall. For a moment, everything was alive. The forest floor was breathing, the rocks were mumbling, the trees were staring at him, the sky above was filled with a foreign presence. The world was vast, it was living, and he could reach out and touch the soul of everything.

Then the deer blinked. And Chase gasped, staggering backwards, losing his balance and landing hard on his back. Groaning, he sat up again. Wait a minute…had the sun changed position? He could’ve sworn it was closer to the eastern horizon a few seconds ago. The difference wasn’t large, but it was noticeable. Confused, he looked back at the deer.

It blinked again, slowly. Then it looked away from him, towards something behind him. Its head moved up…and down. Like a nod. Chase, turned around.

There was a plume of smoke rising into the sky from the village.

Chase gasped, and scrambled to his feet. He glanced back over his shoulder, but the deer was gone. What had that all been about? No, this wasn’t the time. If anything was a sign, that was it. He made sure that he still had his bow and quiver with him—of course he did—and pulled the hedgehog mask onto his face. Then, he ran.

The town wasn’t quite in chaos yet, but it was getting close. The townsfolk were shouting and pointing, but not fleeing in panic. He got more than a few baffled looks as he passed through, but he ignored them, and headed towards the fire, near the village center. And the closer her got, the more people he ran past who were, in fact, fleeing in panic.

By the time he reached the center, the air was filled with smoke. He skidded to a halt, taking a moment to breathe through it.

The center was taken up by a wide square, with a well in the middle. It was the buildings around this square that were on fire, their thatched roofs aflame…as well as the stone walls. Chase was taken aback by the familiar, strange sight. But then he turned his attention to the few people in the square.

A fight had broken out. Or, more accurately, three separate fights, one for each of his masked companions. Nearest to him, Kenneth had pulled out his sword and was dueling with a man. A man wearing a black tunic with the royal crest on the back. And it looked like this man considerably outmatched Kenneth in skill, because he kept forcing him to back up. Across the square, Jackie was also in a battle of swords, but his battle was very different. Three people—two men and a woman—were attacking him, but he was easily holding his own, dancing around them in a whirl of scarlet cloak. And he was using both swords. Chase had never seen or heard of anything like it, but the way Jackie was moving, you’d think there’d never been any other way to use a sword, other than in pairs.

The strangest fight was happening in the middle of the square, around the well. Strange because there were no weapons being used. Instead, this was a battle of magic. Elin and another woman were circling each other, with the well in the center. The strange woman had something in her hand, something glowing, and she’d pull some of that glowing light away from the object and hurl it towards Elin. The moment the glow left her hands it became a raging ball of fire, but Elin was expertly drawing water from the well in fluid streams, shaping it to shield her. She kept glancing back at the burning buildings, but when she tried to send water that way, the strange woman would throw another fireball that she had to deflect.

Nobody had noticed Chase yet. Taking advantage of that fact, he quickly pulled an arrow from his quiver and nocked it on his bow. He got ready to loose the arrow, but hesitated. He’d never shot at a person before.

At that moment, Elin glanced back at the fire again, and her shield of water wavered. The strange woman threw another fireball, hot enough to fly through the weak shield without disappearing. Elin screamed as it hit her shoulder.

And Chase snapped to action, shooting his arrow towards the strange woman. It landed in her back, and she screamed as well.

The man in the black tunic stopped his duel with Kenneth, spinning around. “Lady Tinechroí!” he shouted. And the moment he was distracted, Kenneth turned and fled. He ran towards Elin, who had fallen to the ground, clutching her shoulder.

The other three strangers attacking Jackie also stopped to turn, and in that moment, Jackie brought one of his swords down on one of the two men, wounding him in a splash of red. The other two cried out, and Chase nocked another arrow, shooting towards the other man. That arrow hit him in the leg, causing him to bend over, and Jackie hit him in the back of the head with the hilt of his other sword. Then he turned quickly to block an attack from the woman, the last attacker.

“YOU.”

The single word was filled with venom, and Chase immediately knew it was directed at him. He turned to look. The strange woman, the one he’d shot in the back, was now leaning against the well for support. In that moment, Chase managed to take in a few details about her. Pale blonde hair, pulled back in a braid. Unnaturally bright blue eyes. Wearing a purple tunic and trousers that were embroidered with gold, looking very fine. In her hand, she held a silver brooch with a red gem in the center. And then the gem started to glow. In a split second, that glow ran up the woman’s arm and into her body. She glowed bright white, and pointed her other hand at him.

Chase immediately turned and leaped behind the nearest building. A bright white bolt hit the corner near where he’d been standing, breaking off the stone, showering him in pieces of broken wall. “Shit!” he shouted, covering his face just in time to block a fist-sized stone piece.

“We need to get out of here!” Jackie yelled. Chase peeked around the broken corner at the sound of it. The man in the black tunic and the woman who’d been fighting Jackie were now helping the other, strange woman stand, supporting her. A similar situation was happening with his own companions. Jackie and Kenneth were helping Elin up, as she weakly directed streams of water from the well onto the burning buildings nearby: not fully putting them out, but making the flames smaller.

Jackie saw Chase peeking around the corner. He pointed to the left. Chase nodded, and ran, heading away from the burning.

Townfolk were also running, but they were heading towards the burning, many of them carrying buckets. Chase noted them briefly, scanning the area for Jackie and the others. He spotted them a few minutes later, heading towards the three of them as Jackie and Kenneth carried Elin between them. The moment he was within earshot, he shouted, “What happened?!”

“Later,” Jackie said, tilting his head towards the edge of town.

“Oh. Yes.” Chase glanced back towards the blaze, uncertain. The townsfolk could handle that, right? They seemed prepared. And it wasn’t that big a fire, comparatively. But still, he felt uneasy as the four of them turned away.

They reached the edge of the forest and kept going. And going. Once the town was out of sight and the trees were close together once again, they relaxed a bit. Kenneth started digging through his bag, pulling out small bottles of salves. Elin sat by one of the trees, wincing at the burn that covered most of her shoulder. Jackie sheathed the sword he still had out and breathed a sigh of relief. “That was bad.”

“What was all that about?” Chase asked once again. “You were in town for one minute and suddenly there was fire!”

Jackie gave him an odd look. “Um…we were in there for much longer than one minute.”

Really? It hadn’t seemed like it. “Well, still, what happened?”

Jackie’s expression darkened. “They knew we were coming. I’m not sure how, but they did. Maybe they saw some of our scouts a while ago? Either way, we went into town and started searching. We looked over the whole place a couple times, but didn’t go inside anywhere. Then, out of nowhere, they burst out of one of the houses and attacked us. That wizard started throwing fire everywhere, it was a disaster.”

“A wizard, huh?” Chase whistled. “Wow. Who was she? They called her Lady—”

“Tinechroí,” Jackie muttered, bitterness lining his expression and voice.

“Um…well, yes. So she’s a noble.”

“That’s not surprising, the King has many of them in his pocket.” Jackie sighed. “Thank the elders you decided to stay in the forest. Though it must’ve gotten boring, being out there for that long by yourself.”

“…no, it wasn’t, not really,” Chase said uncertainly. “To be honest, I…lost track of time. How long were you in town?”

“Not sure. An hour, maybe.”

“Ah.” That…didn’t make sense. Chase could’ve sworn he was only waiting for a minute. But…in that minute, the deer had done something strange to him. Was it possible that more time had passed, and he just didn’t realize? “Well, thank the elders.” Quite literally, perhaps.

Jackie nodded. “We should start heading back now. I think Elin is stable now, but we should get her back to Wyvernlair quickly, just in case.”

“Yea. Let’s go.”

As they headed back, Chase remained quiet, thinking about his encounter with the deer. This was the second time he’d seen it, and the first time had been the night Hilltown burned. What did the deer want? What was its goal?

He stayed silent for the entirety of the three day journey back to camp.

Part Fourteen of the Switch AU
A JSE Fanfic
[This is part of an ongoing fic series I started in April 2019. With several new, and urgent, developments, the group meets together to decide what to do. Afterwards, Jameson tries to make things easier for everyone by going out on his own.]
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" We have to have a meeting about all this. In person. Tomorrow at five?"

Jameson reread the message again, then glanced at the clock. “They’re all late,” he muttered.

“‘T is only ten minutes, Jems,” Marvin said from his usual chair in the corner of the living room. Looking down at the nearby table, he was concentrating on trying to stack playing cards into some sort of structure—a feat made more difficult while he had Mr. Fluffington asleep on his lap. “They’ll be here.”

“Yeah…you’re right,” JJ nodded, placing his phone down on a nearby table. Still, he couldn’t sit down. Sighing, he picked up a book sitting casually on the table surface, opening it and skimming through the contents. “Do you think I have time to get some practice in before they arrive?”

Marvin looked up, glancing down at the book JJ had picked up, taking in the purple cover edged with gold. He immediately frowned. “If t’at’s the book I think it is, no. No, you don’.”

JJ snapped the slim volume shut. “Well, you sound rather disapproving all of a sudden.”

“The last time you tried t’at sort of spell, you were coughing up feathers for a week,” Marvin reminded him.

“Yes, but if I practice, I’ll be able to ACTUALLY turn into an animal.” The study of animal transformation was fascinating. It was a complicated magic that you had to be very precise with, lest something go wrong and you get stuck.

“And t’en you’ll get stuck,” Marvin said, placing another two cards on the structure to make a triangle. “And I’ll have t’tell ev’ryone why you’re a bird and feed you little birdseed. And keep Mister from huntin’ you down.”

JJ chuckled. “Mister doesn’t seem like the hunting type. He seems to prefer, you know, sleeping.”

“Hey, you’ve seen him with t’ose little feathered toys on string!” Marvin looked down at the cat on his lap and started petting, running his fingers through Fluffington’s long fur. Soon after, Fluffington opened his eyes and yawned widely. “Oh no, I’ve awoken him! Did I disturb ye, Mister? So sorry.”

Fluffington got to his feet, stretching his back. He turned in place, until his eyes landed on the house of cards Marvin had been making. “Hey, no,” Marvin said warningly. “Don’ you dare.” Of course Fluffington didn’t listen and hopped onto the table, batting at the cards with his front paw. “Mister! No!” Marvin picked up the cat and twisted away. “I trusted you!”

JJ outright laughed at this. “Ah, one of cat’s most primal instincts: smack the thing.”

Marvin sighed, and leaned over to set Fluffington on the ground, where he immediately began wandering. “Now I have t’pick up fifty-four cards.”

“I thought there were only fifty-two cards in a deck.”

“T’is one has two jokers. And a rules card, but t’at’s still in the box.” Marvin began sweeping the fallen cards into a pile. “Some decks have as many as six jokers, which, by the way, were orig’nally made to be the highest level card in the game Euchre.”

“Really?” JJ leaned back against the table. “Never heard of that one. How do you play it?”

Marvin looked up, about to answer, but then the doorbell rang. “Ah. Well, t’at’ll be the others. I’ll explain it t’you later. Can you get t’at?”

“Sure. Be right back.”

Jameson walked over to the front hall, opening the door. The moment the entrance was wide enough, Anti shoved his way inside. “Okay, we’re all here? Good? Let’s go then, where’s Marvin?” he said. Anti looked a little bedraggled. His hair was a mess and his jacket and shirt rumpled, like he’d slept in them. He was holding a green backpack with a scene of cartoon dinosaurs printed on it.

“Living room,” JJ said, gesturing back towards it.

Anti nodded, hurrying over. JJ threw the door open the rest of the way for the other two.

“Sorry we are late,” Schneep said, walking inside. “We had the idea to pick Anti up, but he’d already gotten on the bus, so he got off and we had to find him—it was a whole thing.” Jackie entered behind him silently, the hood of his hoodie pulled up over his head. He seemed a bit pale.

“It’s fine, let’s just get started,” said JJ. The three of them entered the living room. Schneep and Jackie sat down next to each other on the sofa, while Anti remained standing, clutching the small backpack in his hands. JJ walked in, also still standing. He cleared his throat. “Right. So. We all know why we’re here. Why don’t we just…cut to the chase?”

“Do you guys remember those detectives?” Jackie suddenly asked.

“The ones who keep askin’ you for a lead?” Marvin asked, busying his hands with getting all the cards into a single stack.

Jackie nodded. “I mean, they stopped, but yeah. Anyway, you’re not gonna believe what they’re—”

“Oh my god, those two are the ones looking for the kids?!” Anti scowled. “Hmm, yes, I’m sure they’ll be fucking FANTASTIC at that.”

“Well, for police, they seem to actually do their jobs,” Schneep mumbled.

“Not in a situation like this,” Anti said darkly. “You all saw the photos I sent. We KNOW who’s behind this.”

The room fell silent. Jameson resisted the urge to pick up his phone and look at the group chat again. Anti had sent pictures of what happened to his apartment: the way it had been turned upside down and smiles had been scrawled on the walls. That had been…ominous. And more than that, it felt like a taunt.

Schneep cleared his throat. “Well. Michelle and Will disappeared the night before last. There has been nothing since then, not from normal kid-taking types or from the Distorter. We…have no leads,” he finished quietly.

Another silence. “Quite…grim, isn’t t’at?” Marvin asked tentatively.

“Okay, idea,” Anti said. “We talk about the OTHER thing and come back to this.”

Everyone made various noises of agreement. “So, then…” Jameson coughed awkwardly. “Anti. About this weird…eyeball…thing.”

“Way ahead of you,” Anti said, unzipping the backpack. As soon as it was open, a ball of glowing green shot outward. Jackie and JJ made near-identical shrieks of surprise. The floating eyeball hovered in the middle of the room, twirling as it looked around. “Second item of business: this fucking thing!”

“Jesus,” Marvin breathed. “What…what is it?”

“It is clearly an eyeball,” Schneep pointed out.

“No, I mean—” Marvin sighed. “What…is it? Why is it like…t’is? Alive? And big? And glowing?”

“I’ve been doing some research,” Jameson said, picking up his phone and unlocking it. “There are some magician-run websites online that have been helpful. But I can’t find any references to a living, glowing green eye, so it’s not an established magical creature, and therefore probably unique. And if it’s unique, it’s called a ‘being.’” He shrugged. “Simple, broad term that can cover a lot of different things. Basically, it’s magic, and it’s intelligent, but it probably wasn’t ever human at some point.”

“Very helpful,” Anti remarked.

While the others were talking, the eyeball was flying about, seeming to examine the room. At one point, it crept up close to Mr. Fluffington, who was sitting on the floor by the couch. Fluffington leaned forward to sniff the eyeball, and seemed to accept it as not a threat. He did try to smack it, but the eyeball dodged just in time, flying back over to hover near Anti’s head.

JJ lowered his phone. “Well, look, all I’m saying is that we’ve never seen anything like this before. So to the rest of the world, it doesn’t exist.” He laughed bleakly. “Seems we attract that. Never before have we seen a time traveler, a vigilante with shock abilities, and a zombie-like thing that can hypnotize people.” The laughter died into a disappointed sigh. “Which means we…don’t have any outside help with this.”

Jackie kept watching the eye as it moved. “At least this thing seems friendly,” he pointed out.

Anti nodded in agreement. “Yeah. It can, uh, understand what we’re saying. Right, um…Mr. Eye?” The eyeball looked over at Anti and bounced.

“Why are you assuming it’s a guy eye?” Jackie asked.

“I was thinking it was a girl,” Schneep said. “Do not know why.”

“Okay, gender neutral eye,” Anti said. “Mx. Eye. Anyway, we can talk to them. They can’t talk back, though. Or can they?” He reached into the backpack again, and pulled out a folded board.

Marvin leaned over to get a better look at it. “Oh jesus, Anti…” he said. “Is t'at…a ouija board?”

“Yes, it is,” Anti said defensively. “I bought it for a Halloween video last year and immediately shelved it until now. Figured it could work to communicate with our eye friend, cause it has all the letters and shit. What, are you gonna scold me about summoning ghosts?”

Marvin rolled his eyes. “Ouija boards are toys an’ parlor tricks. I jus’ never thought you woul’ be one to buy one.”

“You mock ghost summoning, but we know magic is real,” Schneep argued. “Who is to say ghosts are not?”

“That’s debatable,” JJ said. “I mean, necromancers can summon spirits, but ghosts are a different thing. And also as far as I’m aware, ouija boards are bullshit.”

Anti made a strangled noise. “Jackson! You swore!”

“Yes, I can swear,” JJ said defensively. “It’s not like I”m incapable, I just don’t like to.”

Marvin chuckled. “Yet ouija boards got you worked up enough to allow it.”

“Alright, let’s move on,” Jackie said. “We have a ouija board. How’re we gonna use it?”

Anti slung the backpack over his shoulder and glanced around the living room. He then pulled one of the end tables over towards the center of the room. In the process, he nearly caused the lamp on said table to fall over. Jameson let out an alarmed, strangled noise, and rushed over to catch the lamp. “Why don’t you have a coffee table, Jackson?” Anti muttered. “That would be easy.”

JJ was too relieved that he’d caught the lamp to answer, so Marvin jumped in. “It doesn’ fit wit’ the style of the room,” he said.

“Fuck style, be practical. You need a central table for moments like this.” Anti put the ouija board down on the table surface. Schneep and Jackie scooted closer to get a better look of it, while Marvin leaned forward for the same purpose. JJ sent the rescued table lamp down on the floor and walked over. “Alright. Mx. Eye,” Anti looked over at the eyeball, hovering nearby. “You can use this to spell out words, okay?” The eyeball bounced. “Okay. That’s a yes. Now…what should we ask?”

“Do you have a name?” JJ asked.

The eyeball darted down, hovering over the ouija board and looking down at it. They landed on the YES square.

“Good. So, can you tell us what it is, then?” JJ prompted.

The eye flew back into the air, circling around the board for a moment. Then they darted about, pointing at letters with the end of their retinal nerve. They spelled out S-A-M.

“Sam?” Schneep repeated. “That is not the name I was expecting. Not very…magical-sounding.”

“Nice name, though,” Jackie muttered. “Gender neutral.”

“Sam,” JJ repeated. “Well, Sam. Is there anything you want? With us?”

Sam bounced, and spelled out H-E-L-P.

“Wait, does t’at mean YOU need help, or you want t’help US?” Marvin asked.

After a moment’s pause, Sam landed on YES again.

“So…both?” JJ asked.

Again, Sam bounced, landing on YES.

“Well, what do you need help with, then?” Anti asked, a bit impatient. “Cause all you’ve been doing is running around my apartment and sometimes staring at me creepily.”

Sam looked down, almost seeming embarrassed. They shot up and spelled out L-O-S-T.

“You’re lost?” JJ asked. Sam bounced a YES. “Well, I’m not sure how we can help you with that. I suppose we could take you back to where you’re from, but…we’re sort of in the middle of…a situation. Do you know that?” Sam glanced at Anti, then bounced YES again.

“Unless you t'ink you coul’ help us with t'at?” Marvin asked.

Sam considered this, then spelled out I L-O-O-K.

“Okay, the flying eyeball’s offering to help us search,” Anti muttered. “Great. Fantastic. What the fuck are our lives?”

“Anti shut the fuck up,” Jackie suddenly snapped. “Our kids are MISSING and we’re gonna do every-fucking-thing we can to find them, and if the magic eyeball is offering to help we’re going to take it! Okay?”

Anti stared at Jackie, eyes wide. He took a step back. “I…didn’t mean to say that we weren’t going to,” he said slowly. “I just…it’s weird. I don’t know. Sorry.” He folded his arms around himself, shoving his hands underneath his armpits. “I mean, they can help. They managed to follow me all night, so they’re…capable. Never mind. Sorry.”

Jackie exhaled slowly, rubbing his eyes under his glasses. “No, I’M sorry,” he muttered. “Didn’t mean to yell. I’m just…freaking out.” Schneep scooted closer to him, reaching out as if to put an arm around him, but hesitated. Jackie leaned into his side, and Schneep pulled him closer.

“Alright, alright, so Sam’s offering to help look,” Jameson said, redirecting the conversation. “That’s good. We can look, too.”

“Eh…Jems…” Marvin said slowly. “You wouldn’ happen to have…a crystal ball or somet’ing?”

“What?” JJ looked over at him. “Well, there’s one that I use as a prop sometimes, but it’s in storage at Jewett. Why?”

“I was jus’ t’inkin’…” Marvin leaned back in his chair. “T’at…maybe there woul’ be some way to use t’at to look for the kids? Magically? I mean, isn’ t’at what crystal balls are used for in fairs and carnivals? True, it’s usually for seein’ the future, and I’m pretty sure fortune tellers are scams, but…somet’ing like t’at?”

Jameson blinked. “There is scrying. That’s a form of magic. We wouldn’t necessarily need a crystal ball, just something reflective. We could pour water in a bowl, and—oh my god, why hadn’t I thought of that sooner?” He hit his forehead with his hand.

“This is a whole mess, Jamie, we have all been distracted,” Schneep said. “Is not your fault.”

“Can we do that now?” Anti asked. “We’re all already here, might as well—shit!” Sam had flown up and tried to land on Anti’s shoulder, but at the slightest touch, he’d started and instinctively tried to smack them away. Luckily, they jumped off at the right moment. “Don’t…don’t do that,” Anti said to them. “Not from an angle where I can’t see you.” Sam bounced.

“Yes, we could do that now,” JJ said slowly. “I know one of my books have a scrying spell in it…we’d need something that belongs to one of the kids—”

“Got that,” Anti said shortly, clutching the strap of the small backpack he’d brought Sam in.

“Um…right. Then we’d just need a bowl of water, which we definitely have.” JJ headed towards the living room entrance. “Why don’t I find the book I had the spell in, and you guys all move to the dining room? I’ll meet you there.”

Okay a few minutes later, the group had gathered around the dining room table. JJ was sitting in one of the chairs, scanning the instructions for a scrying spell on page 239 of the spellbook he’d found. On the table in front of him were the backpack and a wide bowl full of water. “So I think I understand,” JJ said. “There’s no incantation, but not all magic needs one.” He looked over his shoulder. “It might be easier if you two would stop hovering.”

Anti and Schneep, leaning over his shoulders, immediately backed away in unison.

“So how does this work?” Jackie asked, sitting in the chair to JJ’s right.

“Well if this works, there will be an image in the water that’ll tell us where the kids are,” JJ explained, closing the book. “If it doesn’t…well, there won’t be, I guess.”

“Let’s jus’ hurry it up, t’en,” Marvin said, sitting on JJ’s left.

“Right, right.” Jameson exhaled deeply, placing his hands on either side of the bowl. It would just take a little magic push for this to work…

A pressure built up behind his eyes, and he soon felt his fingertips tingle with magic. The water in the bowl slowly turned blue, the color spreading through the water like dye. Then it started swirling on its own, a miniature whirlpool starting to grow in the ceramic bowl. JJ quickly broke one hand away from the bowl and touched two fingers to the edge of the backpack. Pulling them away, he left a trail of teal—not the usual color of his magic, interesting—in the air. He tapped his fingers on the side of the bowl, and a streak of teal found its way into the whirling blue liquid. That was what the instructions said should be happening. And now, he just had to concentrate on the kids.

At this point, Jameson couldn’t have looked away from the water if he tried. He couldn’t even blink, eyes fixed on the whirling water as it began glowing. The water swirled violently, picking up speed and throwing droplets high, yet it never spilled over the edge of the bowl.

And then suddenly, it all stopped. The water suddenly smoothed over into a glassy surface, the blue glow fading. Jameson saw his reflection, as well as the reflection of the others, leaning close. Then the reflections faded, turning into a vignette on a blue background. The scene shown in the water was blurry, oddly out of focus, and in colorless grayscale. It looked like the image was moving, traveling down a suburban street like someone out for a walk. The image picked up speed, homing in on a certain location. Then it stopped. The scene blurred, streaks of gray smearing. And when it cleared, it was rushing forward. The group watched as the scene flew out of the city and into the empty fields that bordered the town on one side. Then, abruptly, it faded away into gray fog. The water turned to solid ice in less than a second, cracking the rim of the bowl.

Silence filled the room. Jameson squeezed his eyes closed and opened them again several times, getting used to moving his eyes again. “What…was that?” Anti asked, a note of…was that fear in his voice?

“Was t’at what the spell was s’posed to do?” Marvin asked.

JJ turned to the scrying spell in the book again. “Well, not exactly. It says that sometimes if you’re trying to lock down something that’s somehow magically protected, the spell might ‘wander’ about looking for it for a while. And if it can’t find anything, it’s supposed to just…fade away? There’s nothing there that says anything about that…change of direction.”

“Maybe that was the wandering the book meant,” Schneep said, though he didn’t sound entirely convinced.

“Why’d it turn into ice?” Anti took a few steps backward. Sam, previously hovering nearby, flew over to him. “That doesn’t seem like something that’s supposed to happen.”

“No, I don’t think it was,” Jameson muttered.

“Do you t’ink…Distorter is outside the city?” Marvin asked hesitantly. “Maybe he took the kids away.”

“It’s a possibility.” JJ bit his thumbnail, anxiety working at his stomach. “I suppose, with his powers, he might be able to somehow interfere with the scrying. If we really wanted, we could find another magician to try again, but I don’t think anything will change.”

“Okay, so what do we do about it?” Anti asked. “Are we supposed to check out that field outside the city or something?”

Jackie, who’d been unusually quiet the whole time, frowned, and mumbled, “That’s not…”

Everyone looked at him. “Is…is there something you want to say, Jackie?” Schneep prompted gently.

Jackie folded his arms, grabbing the fabric of his hoodie and balling it in his fists. “I just…don’t recognize…that place,” he forced out. “I-I thought I…I would.” He shook his head. “They…they might be somewhere else. Which is…is good, really. It’s good that they’re not…there.”

The air felt heavy. The other four all looked at each other with varying expressions of sympathy. “Right, it’s very good,” Jameson finally said. “So…perhaps if we check this field out, we may find a clue to where they actually are.”

“We might,” Schneep said. “Or it could be a trap.”

“Yeah, if Distorter somehow messed with the spell, I wouldn’t fucking put that past him,” Anti added.

“So what I’m hearin’ is we be more cautious t’an not,” Marvin summarized.

JJ frowned. “Well…I still think we should see if there’s anything there. We don’t know that Distorter was interfering with the scry. Obviously we be careful, but we shouldn’t avoid it altogether.”

Anti rubbed his temples like a headache was beginning to form. “Yeah, I get that, what we just need to do is make a plan for when we go there.”

Jackie laughed dully. “Right yeah. Let’s—can we do that tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?!” Marvin repeated, straightening. “Time is of the essence here! We can’ just sit around—”

“I know we can’t!” Jackie snapped. “I’m not saying we do! I just—we’ve done a lot today—”

“And we shoul’ keep goin’ while we’re here!” Marvin insisted. “Might as well hit him tonight! If we’re lucky we can—”

“If we’re lucky,” Jackie repeated, leaning across the table. “We might not be lucky at all! This could be a trap, remember? We—we’re not losing anyone!”

“If we don’t hurry, who knows what’ll happen?!” Marvin emphasized, leaning forward as well. “They’re KIDS! Are we leavin’ kids t’ere?!”

“No, we are NOT doing that!” Jackie slammed his palms on the table surface. “I don’t WANT to wait, but I don’t WANT any of you to have to—any of you to be taken, either! It’s a risk, but we can’t afford it if anyone else ends up like—like that! With him!”

“Oh, well, you’re a bit feckin’ late if ye don’ want anyone else to be affected by him!” Marvin drawled. “By about a few years—or a few decades, depending on what actually happened t’ere, I don’ remember! They are children. Will we let them alone in t’is situation?!”

“That’ is not what we’re doing!” Jackie shot to his feet. “What, you can’t wait a day?! So impatient! We need a PLAN, Marvin! Otherwise everyone else will end up like us! Do you want that?!”

“I don’t want children to end up like t’at, either!” Marvin shouted, standing up and putting his face into Jackie’s.

“None of us here do! But we can’t just go rushing in!”

“We can’ wait, either!”

“Will the two of you just SHUT UP?!” Anti yelled. “Fucking god! You’re wasting time fighting when we could be deciding what to do to save the fucking CHILDREN in the hands of a NIGHTMARE!”

Marvin and Jackie glanced over at him, then back at each other. In almost comical unison, they both sat down.

Schneep sighed. “Well, we may need time to break just so you two can calm down. Anyway, we will take a vote. Who wants to go investigate this field today? Raise your hand.” Marvin’s hand shot in the air, and Jameson’s followed, more slowly. “Who wants to meet up tomorrow to plan and investigate then?” Jackie, Anti, and Schneep raised their hands. “Then it is decided,” Schneep said.

Marvin cried out, frustration evident. He stood up, violently pushing his chair back, and stormed out of the room.

Jackie looked after him. “I didn’t…mean to make him…”

“He’ll be fine,” Jameson said quietly. “I’ll talk to him.”

The remaining four quickly decided to meet again early tomorrow. Then Anti, Schneep, and Jackie left, with Sam following Anti. Jameson waved goodbye to them at the door. The minute they were out of sight, he closed the door and pressed his forehead against it. That…hadn’t ended well. He’d never seen Marvin and Jackie fight like that. Sure, they argued, but never about anything serious. Never did it devolve into shouting at each other.

Speaking of which…JJ took a deep breath, and turned around, heading down the hall towards Marvin’s room. The door was closed. If he listened carefully, he could hear muffled sounds from inside. He knocked. “Marvin? Are you alright? The others are gone.” There was no answer. He knocked again. “Marvin? Are you okay?” When there was still no answer, he said, “Marvin, I’m coming inside, alright?” and pushed the door open.

Marvin was lying on the bed, curled up with his back to the door and his face buried in his pillow. Now with the door open, Jameson realized the muffled sounds he’d been hearing were the sounds of sobs. “Are you okay?” he asked gently. “Do you need anything?”

After a moment, Marvin looked over his shoulder to stare at him with red-rimmed eyes. “No, don’ need anyt’ing,” he mumbled.

Jameson nodded slowly. “Do you…want to talk about it?”

Marvin paused. “It’s…I just don’ want…” He reached over to the nightstand and grabbed a handkerchief to wipe his eyes. “They’re jus’ kids, Jems. A-and after ev’ry…all of…ev’ryt’ing that I…” A shudder wracked his body. “I want them t’be alright, but…they might…”

Jameson waited for more, but soon realized it wouldn’t come. “They will be alright, Marvin,” he reassured. “We’ll be looking out for them. I’m sure one day won’t make too much of a difference.” But, though he said it confidently, he felt doubt in his heart. “Do you want me to stay, or…?”

Marvin shook his head silently.

“Alright, then. Just call me if you need anything.” He started to close the door, but then looked down as something brushed past his leg. “Oh, looks like you have a visitor.”

Mr. Fluffington walked inside the room, stopping next to the bed and looking up at Marvin. After a moment, he hopped up onto the surface and began sniffing at Marvin’s face. Marvin made a small laugh, and reached over to pet the cat. “Y’can leave the door open, Jems,” he said.

“Got it.” Jameson backed away, eventually turning and heading down the hall.

This whole thing was…terrible. Not only for Will and Michelle’s sakes, though that was awful enough on its own. But the group was falling apart because of it. Jameson couldn’t let that happen. He’d always fought so hard to keep them together, to keep everyone alright. Perhaps…perhaps there was something he could do. Something that would make everyone happy.
.............................................................................................

Later that night, at midnight exactly, Jameson left the house, driving out of the city and following directions he’d looked up online. He’d do a quick scout of the location they’d seen in the scrying spell. It wouldn’t take too long; he just wanted to see if he could detect anything magical. Accordingly, he’d dressed in his stage outfit of a cape and his mask—not necessarily required for magic, but it got him in the right head space.

Empty fields bordered the town on the south side. There wasn’t really a distinct end to the city limits, just the suburbs in the south gradually spreading out, then stopping. The paved roads came to an abrupt end, but at different spots for each road. JJ drove as far as he could on the street, then parked his car and got out, staring out at the empty planes of rough, knee-high grass. It looked kind of…foreboding, in the dark. But he’d had to leave at night, so that Marvin wouldn’t know he was going to check it out. As much as Marvin had pushed for them going to the location immediately, JJ knew he’d be upset that he was going out on his own, without any backup.

Uneasy dread curled up in his stomach. Jameson hesitated. If this was a trap, it wouldn’t really be a good idea to be here…alone…without having told anyone where he’d gone. But no, he’d planned this out. He’d read up on several defensive spells in case he’d forgotten any, and even tried out a light illusion spell that would hide him from view. Besides, he didn’t want any of the others to worry. They were upset enough recently, the events of the last few days taking a toll on all of them. He could do this on his own—in fact, he had to.

Taking a deep breath, Jameson forced himself to step off the familiar asphalt of the dead-end street and into the tall grass. Okay, the scrying spell had gone fairly far into the fields before failing, so he had some way to go. And since there wasn’t a lot of cover out here, might as well try that illusion spell. “Kui me malí ab scomumbrae,” he whispered, hoping he’d remembered the incantation correctly. There was a gentle blue glow, and then he felt suddenly a bit chilly—more so than usual for a November night. When he looked down, he couldn’t see his own body. Seemed to have worked.

He kept walking. There wasn’t much to identify one spot in the fields from any other spot, except for turning around and seeing how far away the city lights were. Jameson tried to remember how far away the buildings had appeared in the scrying spell.

It felt like he’d been walking for a while when he decided to try and run a quick detection spell. If there was anything magical out here, he should be able to find it with that. No incantation for this one, just concentration and listening to your inner voice. And his inner voice said that there was something…something further away from the city.

Jameson glanced back over his shoulder. The city lights really were starting to fade into the background. He could make out the shapes of buildings, but he wouldn’t be able to walk back to them—or at least not quickly. For a moment, he thought that maybe he should turn around.

And then he heard…a voice.

Jameson stiffened, and turned back to look over the empty field. He could hardly see anything now, hardly any light from the city stretching far enough to light up the empty expanse of grass. But that voice…it sounded familiar. Was it crying?

Wrapping his cape around himself, he headed towards the noise. It sounded like it was getting closer, but he couldn’t see what was making it. He didn’t want to risk saying anything in case the wrong party overheard him. Maybe…if he cast a light, the illusion spell would conceal it?

Might as well try. He held up his hand, and a brief flash of blue light lit up the area. The sound of crying stopped. “H-hello?” The voice of a little girl called out. A familiar little girl, in fact.

Jameson’s heart stopped. So, Michelle and Will were out here. Or at least Michelle was. But…perhaps this was part of the trap they’d been worried about earlier? JJ silently cast another detection spell. There was magic here, much closer. It didn’t feel hostile…which was strange enough in itself.

“Who’s there?” Michelle’s voice asked, fear ringing in each word. “I-I’m—my name is Michelle Parker-Diaz, I…I came out here with my friend…I-I don’t know where he is…hello? Is anyone there?”

Jameson slowly walked closer. Unfortunately he’d neglected to pull up more light, and in the darkness, he tripped over something in the grass. “Oof—!” He stumbled, but managed to catch himself.

“Hello?!” Michelle’s voice cried. “I know you’re there! Can you help me find my friend? Th-there’s a monster out here, there’s…” She trailed off. “I-it’s close by…”

Something rustled in the grass nearby.

Jameson cast his eyes about again. By now, it was almost pitch black, only the slightest hint of light coming from the moon and stars above. He bit back a curse, then cast another flash of blue light.

The rustling increased. Michelle screamed. “It’s here! Help! Please, someone help!”

All caution was immediately abandoned. Jameson dropped the illusion spell and cast a more substantial light spell, crystallized bits of blue magic dancing around his fingers. The field lit up in a circle around him. He could see the grass rustling, in the same direction Michelle was screaming from. But it sounded like she was getting farther. “Michelle?!” He called. “Don’t worry, I’m coming!” He ran after the screams.

“Help! Please! It’s coming, it’s COMING!”

“Don’t worry! I’m—” Not looking where he was going, his shoe slammed into something hidden in the grass. There was no time to stop the fall. Jameson merely braced himself as he landed hard on the ground.

“No! NO!” Michelle screamed again, the sound piercing Jameson’s ears.

And then the scream changed.

Into…laughter.

“You always seemed clever.” Michelle’s voice began warping, lowering and shifting into something that definitely wasn’t her, but wasn’t definitely anything else. “I guess the heart over/rides the brain in your case, huh?/”

“Shit,” Jameson whispered, climbing to his feet. So it had been a trap. And out on his own, he didn’t have anyone to stop him from falling for it. Well, only one thing to do now. He turned around and ran back towards the distant city lights.

“/Going so soon? /Aw, that sucks. /It was just starting to get fun./”

The city buildings in the distance shimmered like a heat wave rising off the highway. Then they shifted position, now to Jameson’s right. Then to his left. Then in front again. Then behind. Jameson stopped running, turning in circles trying to catch up with where the city was. He raised his hand higher, the crystal blue lights illuminating a greater area. Though it helped him see, it didn’t stop the location of the city from shifting. And it was then that he remembered Distorter couldn’t actually change his surroundings. It was all an illusion. “What was the point of this?” He called out.

“/What was the point of trying to find me?/” Distorter snapped back. His voice seemed to be coming from all over, making it difficult to pin down his location behind the illusion. “/You didn’t really think it would be that easy, did you?/ Well, maybe you did, considering you waltzed right out of the city. /All on your lonesome, too. /Nobody else volunteered to come? /Wow. /Bad parenting, sending someone else to get your kids./”

“Hey, you shut up,” Jameson snapped. “What do you know about parenting?” After a moment’s hesitation, he started walking in a direction that he thought was the way he’d come. The distant city lights were blurring and wavering, and occasionally disappearing altogether.

“/Aw, I bet they’re worried,/” Distorter said. “/Worried about their little bitty babies. /Well, don’t/. I know enough to take care of them. /They’ll be better off here, anyway, than with a violent asshole and a man who can’t even live in the same house as his daughter./”

“That second one is your fault, don’t deny it,” Jameson said. “And that first one is a wild exaggeration.”

Distorter laughed. “/Spoken with the confidence of a man who’s never seen another’s thoughts! /Oh by the way, you’re heading in the complete opposite direction./”

Jameson rolled his eyes. “And why should I believe you in that matter?” He kept walking solidly in the direction he was going. “You lured me out here, you pretended to be Michelle, you are not above misleading me.”

A pause. “/I lured YOU out here?/” Distorter repeated. “/So…then you ARE on your own. /No one else hiding in that invisibility spell? /It’s just you?/”

Icy fear suddenly splashed through Jameson’s veins. “Would I tell you if there was?” He asked, hiding the tremble in his voice. “Let’s just admit we both have reason to lie to the other and call it a day. Or, uh, night. You do realize we outnumber you, yes? It doesn’t matter how powerful you are, we can overwhelm you all together. So are you willing to risk that?”

“/Wow, now you’re just rambling. /Nervous, huh?/” Distorter’s voice faded away.

Something flickered in the corner of Jameson’s vision. He stopped walking and spun around. His eyes darted around the vast, empty surroundings, all dark beyond his little bubble of light. Perhaps it was time to put those defensive spells to use. He muttered an incantation under his breath, and the blue light weaving around his fingers flared, shooting outward in a circle.

Distorter laughed. “/You talk too much./”

Jameson spun back around, the blue light twirling away from his fingers and fading in surprise. There was a shuffling movement in the darkness.

And without any warning, Distorter was right in front of him, grinning and bleeding and tackling him to the ground. Jameson cried out in surprise, mind scrambling for a spell to help. But then something red splashed, and Jameson felt a sharp, sudden pain in his neck. He gasped, and choked as something tasting of copper ran down his throat.

Another laugh, and Distorter backed away, disappearing into the darkness. Jameson’s hands immediately flew for his neck, wincing as they made contact with a wound that instantly drenched his fingers in warm liquid. He pressed against it, choking more as the movement put pressure on his windpipe.

“/Wow, that’s a lot of blood./” Distorter’s voice was right in Jameson’s ear. He jumped. Something grabbed his hair and wrenched his head backwards. “/Yikes. /I think you’re actually going to die, magic man. /Way out of the city, nobody nearby to rush to your aid…yeah, you’re going to die tonight./” Distorter sounded delighted by that fact. “/All these spells and enchantments you can do, and you’re going to die of blood loss. /Not a very magical end. /Are you starting to feel dizzy? /Maybe your vision is going all out of whack. /Eventually you’re going to pass out, though, so at least it’ll be like dying in your sleep. /And hey, at least the pain will stop./ God, what’ll Marvin think? /I bet he’ll be devastated. /Oh, well./ I’ll give him your regards./”

Jameson tried to push Distorter away, but it was so dark, he couldn’t see where he was. Not the priority right now. He gathered his cape into a ball and pressed it against his neck. It was instantly soaked. He had to at least try to get away, didn’t he? It couldn’t…couldn’t end like this.

Was it always this cold? It didn’t matter. He had to stand up. But when he tried, he just stumbled and fell again. Okay, crawling, then. Pushing past the strands of tall grass and just…just heading forward. Just keep going. Keep…

The field was lit up by a golden yellow light.

“What the fuck?!” A female voice shouted.

Jameson caught movement out of the corner of his eye. And also movement right in front of him. The light was coming closer. Was this…?

“Oh my god, what happened here?! That thing—what—? You’re hurt! Wait a minute, don’t I know you?”

Jameson looked up at the light, and then his eyes rolled back and he passed out.
.............................................................................................

He didn’t expect to open his eyes again. Or at least, not to something so ordinary as this. It looked almost like a hospital, with the rows of beds and white walls. But there was something more…casual about it. There was wooden paneling on the bottom third of the walls, the beds looking more like they’d belong in a bedroom than a hospital. The weird room was empty, except for him…and a red-headed woman sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed.

The woman looked up. “Oh good, you’re awake. How’re you feeling?”

Jameson frowned. His throat…really hurt. He tried to say something about that, but ended up just making a hoarse wheezing sound and coughing.

The woman winced. “I meant with the whiteboard.” She pointed to Jameson’s side. If he’d tilted his head just a little bit, he’d have seen a nightstand next to the bed, with a whiteboard and dry erase marker on it. But then again, tilting his head hurt.

JJ reached over and grabbed the board, scribbling out 'My throat hurts.'

“Yeah…I expect it would.” The woman inhaled sharply. “There was some…serious damage there. That thing managed to carve deep enough to do damage to your vocal chords. Healers say you should be able to talk again…mostly. With some, um…it’s not good, okay?”

JJ blinked. This woman looked familiar.' Who are you?' he asked. 'How did I get here?'

“Do you have ninety minutes?” The woman asked, then chuckled. “Sorry. Bad reference. Anyway, we’ve met before, a couple months ago. Your name’s Jameson Jackson, and mine is Aoife Kelley.”

That name did ring a bell. JJ cast his mind back, and then it hit him. 'You’re that ABIM magician who didn’t help us,' he wrote, glaring at her.

“Look, I’m really sorry about that,” Aoife said sincerely. “But the regulations exist for a reason. And, uh…if what I saw last night was real, I am so, so sorry for not stepping in. That thing was…haunting.”

'Wait, “last night”?' JJ wrote. 'I have to get home! The others will be worried!' He sat up straight, throwing away the blankets.

“Whoa, hey, be careful!” Aoife stood up and pushed him back down as he started to stand up. “You lost a lot of blood. The ABIM healers hooked you up with a replenishing potion, but you’re still not fully up and ready.”

JJ glared at her. 'I didn’t tell my friends where I was going. I have to let them know I’m okay.'

“You didn’t…? Well, don’t you have a phone? Text them or something.” Aoife glanced at a clock on the wall. “It’s about eight. I can drive you to your house.” She paused. “And, uh…if you need help with this…whole…situation you’re in, I’m ready to help.”

'You didn’t seem so ready to help when I asked for it a few months ago.'

“I was! I just couldn’t.” Aoife sighed. “Look, my magical specialty is divination. Last night, I was woken up in the middle of the night, and just…strongly felt I had to go to that field. And when I saw you there, and that thing, I started wondering…maybe our fates are intertwined.”

JJ blinked. 'If you’re flirting with me, I must inform you that I am very gay.'

Aoife laughed. “No, not like that! I meant just like—like I’m meant to help you.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, rectangular piece of wood, which she then handed to Jameson. “I think I’ve given you this before, but this is my cell phone number. If you need help, call or text me, okay?”

JJ sighed. 'Yes. Alright. I appreciate the offer.' He paused, then added, 'Now can you please take me home?'
.............................................................................................

Jameson entered the house, slamming the door behind him. Immediately, there was a “Jems?!” from down the hall, followed by the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. JJ looked over, and was hit by a sudden hug from a familiar figure. “What happened?!” Marvin asked. “Are you—whoa!” He started listing to the side, and Jameson hurried to help him back to a stable position. “Thanks,” Marvin breathed. “Now. Where have ye been?! When d’you leave?! What happened to your neck?! Are y’alright?”

JJ patiently waited for the onslaught of questions to fade, then he grabbed the whiteboard and marker Aoife had generously given to him, and wrote out, 'I made a very bad decision.'

“Okay, what was t’at?”

'I went to the field we saw in the scrying spell.'

“On your own?!” Marvin grabbed Jameson by the shoulders. “What were ye t’inkin’?! I know I was all for actin’ quickly, but together! Not by yourself in the night!”

Jameson looked down at the floor, then up again. 'I just thought this would be the best way,' he explained.

Marvin blinked. “Why?!”

It took a while to write out that response. 'Well, we do need to get the kids back, sooner better than later. But I didn’t want to trouble you or Jackie because you were upset after that fight. And Anti seemed a bit overwhelmed with that Sam eyeball and all the stress. And Henrik has his own plate full.'

“Jems,” Marvin said, sounding absolutely stunned. “Okay, yes, t’is is all correct. But did ye really jus’—just t’row yourself into danger so as to not make anyone upset?!”

Jameson paused. 'Well it sounds bad when you put it like that.'

“Oh my god, Jems.” Marvin buried his face in his hand. “Ye can’ look out for ev’ryone all the time and not yourself. You’ll get hurt.”

'Figured that one out,' Jameson pointed out, resisting the urge to touch the bandages wrapping around his throat.

“I mean you’ll get hurt in your head,” Marvin said. “It’ll run you dry. Look, I didn’ call any of the others yet, but we were s’posed to meet up later t’is mornin’, right? So we still meet up, we tell ev’ryone what happened, and then—then!—you are goin’ to rest up and not worry about anyone other t’an yourself. Alright?”

'Well…I’ll probably need that rest, anyway,' JJ wrote slowly. He hesitated. 'Marvin. There might have been some…permanent damage. It’s a long story, but…if I’m lucky, it’ll be difficult to speak. If I’m unlucky…' He couldn’t bear to finish writing that sentence.

Marvin nodded. “Well. We’ll deal wit’ t’at when it comes. I’m sure we can tackle it. And for once, I will be the one making sure you are alright. And you are goin’ t’like it!”

Jameson let out a wheezing laugh that he cut off not long after it began. 'Thanks.'

“You’re welcome. Now. Go lie down, I’ll call the others.”

Jameson headed into the living room and lied down on the sofa. Mr. Fluffington, previously towing with a bit of string on the floor, walked on over to see what the fuss was about, and hopped onto Jameson’s stomach. JJ smiled a bit. And despite passing out for about eight hours last night, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.