Into the Wild Dark

CHAPTER 22 - JACK

Ch. 22: Jack's Training

September 4 | Day

I was the thing that went bump in the night, the creature in the shadows, the stuff of nightmares.

The yellow bathroom light washed my reflection. I had been at the Ashivants' for two days, and the valleys of my face had sunk deeper. In the mirror, dark circles ringed my eyes. My mouth was a razor. The scar above my lip stood out in 3D. I studied my arms and hands. Veins corded the lengths. The muscles bulged. Tattoos quivered as I turned my wrists to examine them. Fine, wiry hairs glinted along my skin.

I was changed, transformed into a hybrid at once familiar and foreign. All day and all night, the wolf within scratched at the door to be let out. It took little to wake it–hunger, lust, tiredness, anger–and even less to inspire such emotions. I walked around with hair-trigger sensitivity, exaggerated by heightened natural senses. Everything smelled complex. Everything felt amplified.

The notion I had entertained before full transformation, that Mal and Sunny weren't quite like other people, was confirmed. I knew they weren't human. I just didn't know what they were.

I thought of my paranormal experience near death. The Oracle's prophesy of defeat, the blatant common sense cloaked in mystery. Either I would overcome my enemy–provided I had the right team around me–or I would be fail. But I was plunged into a world of jarring supernatural elements. Trust was at a premium, and risk was off the charts. I needed to protect my mother and father, and a small part of me still wanted Zyr to taste payback. Even if I didn't survive.

A knock at the door alerted me to the time. I wrapped a towel around my waist and went to open it as Sunny poked his head into the room. "Coming down for breakfast? You have shapeshifting practice with Mal this morning. Then Cherie and Ava will train you in emotional regulation for noon."

"Where will you be?" I asked.

Despite my haggard appearance, he looked at me like I was everything he wanted to see. "You have sparring with me this evening," he replied.

"So we have our little daily routine, eh? I'm still not sure I'm convinced you're not working for them." I turned my back on him, but he stepped around to face me.

"We've been over this, Jack. I'm sticking around a few days to keep you safe. The only way I got Mal to agree to it was to make myself useful in case Darcy shows up. I'm here for nobody but you."

"I've seen the way you look at her." I smiled wryly.

Sunny blushed and bit his lip as he glanced away. "It's complicated."

"It's mutual," I admitted.

"I know. I see the way you look at her, too," he said. "But I'm not here for any of that. I mean it. I'm here to keep you alive for as long as I can. At least, to give you a fighting chance."

"Yeah, we both get the sense I might not make it out of this, huh."

"Why did you let yourself get caught up in visions of free money at another person's expense anyway?" He studied me curiously.

I shrugged as I settled at the foot of the bed, and the towel parted slightly. I lazily ignored it, pretending not to notice his gaze slipping to the slit. Scratching my chest, I thought of the bizarre set of circumstances that had ushered me to that decision.

"I was watching my world spiral apart, and I couldn't figure out how to assimilate the pieces. Darcy walked in with a plan to make my suffering disappear. All it took was a handshake. You know, the hardest choices always look easy to make when you're desperate."