Straitjacket

[42] Sage

"Oh. Yeah."

We fall silent again.

"I wonder what it'll be like on an alien world."

"We may have to slit a few throats."

"My only personal promise is to never kill another human, so I can roll with that."

"Cool."

"What about the...thing...in your head? Is it coming?"

I feel a flash of amusement from the Voice. It is resting, but I can feel how tense it is. Hopefully it'll use that energy and unleash it onto the Albinos. If they ever show.

"It's kind of the only reason I know how to fight, and it can hold information much better than I can," I explain. "We would probably have to work out some terms and conditions, but yeah, she's coming."

The tendril of Voice that made me speak the words retreats, her work done. She is safe.

Jake shrugs, but he looks at me closely. "You sound different when it makes you say things."

The Voice perks up. I shoot him a warning glance that I hope he can understand.

He smiles ever so slightly and I know he's going to keep picking at that vein before his mouth even opens again. "Yeah, your pitch gets lower and you get this sort of sarcastic, edgy tone to your voice."

"Do not!"

"Voice."

"Shut up!"

"You."

"I am armed with a shard of plate."

"Ooh, that was closer! Voice."

"Stop aggravating her!"

"Nice try. Voice."

"Fine, you win."

"Normal Sage."

"Stop!"

"And normal Sage once more. Okay, I'm done."

I sigh, rolling my eyes. At least Jake has been able to tell whenever I was being sincere or when I was being unnecessarily cruel because of the Voice. Having not realized he was able to do that makes me feel better. Maybe even before he knew about the Voice, he could tell when something was different about me.

"I'm hungry," I murmur after a moment, glancing distastefully on the food I dumped on the floor. "Do you want anything?"

"Give me something with excessive amounts of chocolate and peanut butter," Jake orders grimly.

"Oh, that sounds good. I'm getting that, too."

Two slices of chocolate peanut butter cheesecake for both of us later, the Albinos still haven't arrived.

"Maybe they seriously have given up," I mutter thoughtfully, giving my cheesecake plate to Jake to break. He had also broken his earlier plate, so we each have three shards. The extra shard is tucked underneath the waistband of my dress.

"I say we keep waiting. Just show them that we're not going to move. We're not going to play into their trap."

"What if we already have?"

"How so?"

"I don't know. I just...something feels wrong about this."

"Yeah, Maggie hasn't bothered us in, like, an hour. That's a new record for her."

"Maybe that's it."

I see that Jake is struggling with where to put his extra glass shard. Moving to his side, I take the shard from him and fit it carefully into his waistband, making sure it doesn't cut into his skin. On impulse. I stay there, pressed against his side, my hands tracing the smooth side of my glass shards.

Jake lets out a breath and throws an arm around me, hugging me close.

There we sit, waiting for someone. Anyone.

And nobody comes.

Soon, Jake's yawns get more frequent and larger. I know that he is not as alert as he needs to be for battle.

And I suddenly realize that this - this is their plan.

"Go to sleep now," I tell Jake urgently, which gives the opposite effect that I desired. Jake perks up, using the back of the hand that isn't resting against my arm to wipe the tiredness from his eyes.

"What?"

"The Albinos are going to take us to the Trial while we're asleep. If you sleep, like, now, I can stay awake and alert and then you can do the same for me when you wake up."

"Well, now I'm pressured."

"I'm going to go get some coffee."

As I do so, Jake lies down on his back and tries to get comfortable. At least he's heeding my advice.

I return to his side with my cup of coffee, and soon am put on even higher alert as his breathing levels and evens as a side effect of sleep.

If the Albinos come now, we are at a serious disadvantage.