𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃

chapter thirteen - showdown on the sea

"On me. Duh."

Jalen's eyes widened. "What?! Nuh-uh."

"Well, the more harm you cause to a person, the more corporeal your Gift will be and the longer it'll stay, right? Stab me."

"Are you okay in the head?" Sophia joked. "Because last night you said you attempted a double suicide with a Jorvik, and now you're asking to be stabbed."

Lucas hesitated to answer. "Well..."

"Either way, I'm not stabbing Lucas!" Jalen declared.

"You don't have to stab me. Just cutting my hand would deal more damage to me than that punch you gave Matthew," Lucas said.

"Still no!"

Lucas rolled his eyes. "It's really not that hard, man."

He placed Requiem in Jalen's hand. He took Jalen's hand and used it to make a shallow diagonal cut on his palm. It stung a bit and his hand now had a pool of blood in it, but he didn't care.

"I- You... Wha-!"

"Well, it's not like you can un-cut me now, or anything. Summon the train now, Mr. Engineer."

Jalen fumbled over words to say but eventually gave up and went to activate his Gift. The Trolley Problem returned, but this time, it didn't seem like a simple almost-transparent ghost of a train. Instead, it was nearly impossible to see past its walls as it chugged through the air at an incredible speed. 

However, its more solid state also meant that it was easier for the Jorvik to spot. The creature reached out one of its long arms to swat away at the Gift, but Jalen managed to get the trolley to swerve around it. The Jorvik's tentacle pathetically crashed into the sea as Jalen's Gift sped faster towards its main body. Finally, the Trolley Problem rammed into the Jorvik's eye. Blood splattered everywhere and the monster wailed in anguish. It began to thrash around violently and aimlessly, creating a wall of waves to block it, and the Trolley Problem, from sight.

Jalen dropped his arms. "It's no good! I can't control it if I can't see it!"

Lucas racked his brain for an idea. "Jalen... do you mind cutting me another time?!"

"No! Not again! No more!" he fumed. "I'm not doing that to you another time!"

"Well, it's either me or someone else!"

"Someone else! I'll take literally anyone else! Just not you."

Lucas sighed and turned to the pirates. "Anyone wanna volunteer?"

"What's the plan?" MJ asked. "Jalen said so himself; he can't control his Gift without being able to see it."

"Yeah, and wouldn't the Jorvik just be able to... bleed out? If we leave it alone for long enough, won't it just die?" Matthew added on. 

"Does that look like a dying creature to you?!" Sophia exclaimed while pointing at the erratic Jorvik. 

Lucas grabbed Jalen's armed hand again and used it on his other hand. Jalen sputtered furiously, but Lucas didn't care. 

"Summon it again."

"Tch." Jalen looked away. "Fine."

The Trolley Problem reappeared, and before it could embark on its third journey out to sea, Lucas grabbed onto one of the opened windows.

"Lucas! What are you-?"

"It's fine! I'm fine!" he grunted. 

Lucas started pulling himself up, using the moving wheels underneath him as a foothold. That proved itself to be a bad idea, so Lucas had to rely on upper body strength alone to hold on. Eventually, he ended up falling face-first onto the train's floor. Lucas didn't expect any ghost people to be on the train, but he at least thought there would be seats and booths. Instead, he just found an empty compartment and zero doors. Lucas shrugged then went back out the window to try and get on top of the roof.