Wolf at Heart

Chapter Sixty Four: Risky Assessment

Sora's footsteps drummed the ground as she approached Jinx. He stood still, seemingly surprised, and threw himself out of the way at the last second. His blindfold loosened and fluttered to the ground, forgotten.

Jinx whirled around, his golden eyes flashing. When he hissed, I could see his fangs peeking out from below his top lip. The two scars over his eyes were visible now, faded but startlingly pale against his warm skin.

It took a while, but Jinx had slowly gotten used to leaving his eyes uncovered. He'd been ashamed of the scars, a constant reminder that he wasn't the same as us.

"My father is one of the nobles," Jinx had hesitantly explained one day. "So I've always been a target. They think they can get ransom money or influence Father somehow if they capture me. I was kidnapped when I was six by a group called the Vipers.

"They had planned to use me as bait to get my Father as well, but he was out of the tribe doing business with the Ursidae and didn't receive word until too late. They kept me for days, threatening me and beating me."

At that point, Jinx had stopped, biting his lip and remembering all that had happened. I had looked down, feeling anger at those who'd done this to him. I'd felt the need to protect him, to protect all of us, even Sora at that time.

"I used to be able to see," His voice was strained. "I could see as well as the next guy. But after Father had no response, they took it out on me. They blinded me. They cut my eyes, enough that I couldn't see, not enough that the scars were too prominent. They wanted it to be a reminder." 

His voice had turned bitter.

"I got the last laugh though. After I learned how to get around without my sight, I hunted down every last one of them. I threw them all in prison. I hurt them almost as bad as they hurt me. But it didn't bring back my sight. I still regret it."

There had been silence after that, none of us know what to think. Jinx had stood and brushed off his pants nonchalantly.

He turned to us with a sincere smile. "But I have you guys now. So don't worry about me, because I know you guys are going to be there. Thanks for listening."

Jinx had then walked off, whistling off-key without a care in the world.

Seeing him now, it was shocking seeing how much he had changed. A while ago, if you had told me that Jinx would be able to think things through and act serious, I would've laughed. The Jinx I had known then was rash and relied on his improvisation skills to get him out of a tight spot -- not unlike myself. Now you could see him consider the possibilities, though he still tended to rush in headfirst.

Sora slashed at him but he ducked, shifting at the last second and slithering away.

"Didn't you say the point was to use our power?" Sora called out, trying to bait him. "I'm not seeing much of that from you." She lashed out, clearing swaths of undergrowth. Thankfully, Alastar had put some web of magic over beforehand, so soon the area would reform back into its original state.

Suddenly Sora's feet were encased in hard stone, forcing her in place. She exclaimed and bent down just as a dark shape flew at her, knocking her over and tossing her weapon away.

"Satisfied?" Jinx asked, holding one arm at her throat.

Sora smirked, but I could see the beads of sweat tracing down both of their foreheads. The strain of concentration and banter was starting to show.

"Not quite," Sora said, kicking her legs up and sending Jinx flying. When his attention was elsewhere, Sora had slowly melted and crumbled the stone at her feet.