Chapter 30: Jada
It’s me. I’m the breathing and bleeding head in Xain’s dream. It scares me so much that I almost fall from the tree.
“Dreams are only imagination or desires of your heart during your sleep, Xain,” I say, trying to hide that I’m trembling, “they aren’t visions of the future.”
“I know,” Xain says, “that’s why I’m not so worried about the dream as I am for you.”
“Don’t worry about me,” I answer back, “I’ll be fine, if you worry too much, you’re likely to not solve anything.”
“You’re right,” I hear Xain chuckle, “my worrying won’t keep any of us alive. Well, we should probably rest.”
“Going somewhere specific?” I ask as I lay back on the tree.
“I don’t know,” Xain says, “we just need to keep moving.”
“Well then, good night, Xainian Alexander Austin,” I nearly giggle.
“How’d you find that out?” Xain sounds surprised.
“Pulled your file,” I chuckle softly.
“Okay, Jadari Willow Anderson,” Xain yawns, “files ain’t hard to find.”
Except the slight chuckle we both share, it’s pretty much silent. I still lie awake and look at the stars. They seem to shine more brightly outside of the encampment. I think of everyone else who didn’t make it out of the C-5 camp, more so about where they may be. I hope that it isn’t on Carnage Island, though I would rather them be alive and there than dead. I shut my eyes for a while, trying to relax and fall asleep, but I can’t sleep.
“Hey, Izzy,” I say softly as I twirl the phoenix charm in my fingers, “I’m sorry you had to go and fight Vice for me, but I’m also thankful for it, because then I would have never met you, Abi, or even Xain. Where ever you are, I hope you’re safe and not hurt. I promise that I will be strong like the phoenix. And Xania, I know you’re probably one of the stars up above. I promise you I will watch over your cousin.”
With that, the necklace begins to glow in the bright moonlight. It looks on fire. Wait, it is on fire! It’s burning bright orange and seems to catch my hand. It accidentally drop it in fear. It lands right next to Xain, but he doesn’t wake. The charm begins to dim, but is still shining ing the moonlight. I climb down the tree and untie myself as I drop silently to the ground.
As I pick up the phoenix, I glance at Xain. He looks peaceful in his rest, though I swear his eyes are not all the way shut. The moonlight is shining directly on him, and I see that he’s curled up as if to shield off coldness. I climb back up the tree and grab my blanket and place it on top of him. He loosens up a little. I begin to feel the chill myself—not sure if it’s the night or if it’s seeing the phoenix catch fire—and climb in the blanket. There’s room for us both. It’s surprising that it’s thin, but give so much warmth. As soon as I’m under the blanket, I seem to fall asleep. I hope he doesn’t mind me being down from the tree, or sharing a blanket with me period.
In the morning, I find out my answer when he wakes up. He was surprisingly calm when he awoke to find me in his arms.
“Good morning,” he says as he rises slowly from the bedding of the ground and stretches, “I trust you slept well.”
“Yes,” I say with a slight smile, “after a while.”
“So let me guess,” Xain begins to examine our food for breakfast, “I just looked so cold or was curled in a ball, so you layed a blanket on me. And maybe after a while, you were cold, you needed to have some body heat, or I just looked so lonely asleep, so you had to climb in with me.”
“I saw you curled,” I respond with a nervous smile on my face, “I did feel chilly after a while, but I mostly hoped you wouldn’t mind.”
“I’m used to it,” Xain says as he hands me a small bag of dry meat strips and fruit.
“To what?” I ask as I bite a piece of meat.
“Sharing sleep areas with another girl,” Xain says. When he sees the surprised look on my face, he continues to explain. “Xania and I used to share a bed because I had an intense nictophobia—fear of the dark; Abi, Izzy, and I used to always sleep together after Xania and their father, Demitri, died; then there is you.”
“No other ‘company’ besides your best friends and cousin?” I joke. Xain’s face shifts into a look of scorn.
“I’m not that kind of guy,” he answers as he finishes packing.
All I can do is smile. I’m actually glad to hear that. “So you’ve never been in love?”
Looks up and smirks. “Nope, not yet? You?”
“I’m only thirteen,” I answer, but blush as I say it. Why am I blushing?
“Why are you blushing?” Xain voices my thoughts.
“I don’t know,” I say, “I guess I was thinking of my first crush, Derrick Luther. I don’t know what happened to him.”
Xain looks down and freezes.
“What?” I ask.
“Derrick Luther was my best friend,” he says, “we both had a massive crush on Isabelle Garder.”
“No way,” the innocent little girl in me comes out in a high pitch voice, “So what happened?
“He made a move on Izzy, she rejected him, she began hanging around me more and more because of her father training me, so he got jealous,” Xain pauses and sighs, “One day, when her father died, Izzy and Abi invited me to stay with them. About a week later, Izzy kissed me. It was on the cheek, but when Derrick saw it, he went on a rage. We both got into an arena, and he purposefully led countless enemies on me. I got out in the end, but when the other teammates heard, they nearly killed him. He was exiled to another ‘classified’ location.”
“Wow,” that’s all that comes, “all for a girl.”
“All for jealousy,” Xain states and tosses on his bag, “Envy and jealousy can draw the most bitter of evil out of even the best of men.”
“Like like our President, Satan, can turn the best of men into killers,” I say bitterly.
Xain turns around with a confused smile. “You mean President ‘Santian’?”
“Nope, Satan,” I say, “he’s as evil as the one below.”
Xain smirks as he and I begin to walk. “I’m mad you said that with such a sweet tone.”
“I’m still the same sweet little girl I was when you met me, Xain,” I chuckle.
Neither one of us has any clue where we’re going or how far away we are from the destination, we just try and try and stay near a water source. We spend the next few days travelling up stream. I’m guessing we’re headed east since the sun blinds me in the morning and burns my back in the evening. Most of the time, we don’t talk. Xain kills various animals for food, but we have to be careful to not attract blood trackers or bears. We also must watch out for Brute.
I don’t tell Xain, but I’m scared. Brute hates us both and could pop up and kill us both in our sleep. I spend my nights cuddled in Xain’s arms. He doesn’t mind it, but I also don’t think he gets any sleep. He’s always awake and near rocking me to sleep until I fall asleep, and he’s still in the same position when I awake. I know he’s worried, too.
One afternoon while he’s building a fire for lunch, I decide to break the silence.
“Do you still like Izzy?” I ask. I don’t know why out of everything I could have said or asked I asked that question.
“Of course I do,” Xain answers without looking up, “she’s my best friend.”
“I meant do you still have a crush on her,” I explain. With that he looks up and smiles.
“A tiny bit,” he answers, “not enough to say that it’s still a crush, though. It’d feel very awkward to go on a date with her. Why do you ask?”
“Just asking,” I shrug off.
“Well then, have you ever liked Clay?” Xain asks me.
“Eww, no,” I say in disgust, “he’s always been in love with me.”
“Well, I think he’s moved on to a blond,” Xain smiles as he cuts strips off of the rabbit he shot earlier.
I try and think back to see if I can recall Clay being with another girl who has blond hair. I don’t recall him hanging around a new girl. As a matter of fact, the only blonds I’ve seen him with have been Abi and...no. “Melissa?” I ask with an air of confusion.
Xain nods his head as he looks at my face. I don’t know how to respond to Clay having a “thing” for Melissa. It almost makes my skin crawl, but is sweet on the other hand.
“I don’t blame him,” Xain says as he flips the meat over in the fire, “Melissa is extremely beautiful. Those eyes of hers could send chills down the spine of even the most confident of men. They could probably put out this fire.”
“Oh yeah,” I say, “Clay must have seen more beauty in her than me. Guys do throw themselves at her everyday.”
“Guys throw themselves at anything pretty,” Xain says, “it doesn’t take much to attract a guy’s attention, you know.”
“I guess I’m not that pretty,” I say as I look down at a piece of rope that I’ve been tying.
“Nope,” Xain responds, “you’re not.”
My head snaps up quickly from the rope. How could he have said that! I was joking around! I’m almost in tears, that hurts so much. I didn’t expect him to respond back that way.
Just as I’m about to yell all sorts of nastiness at him, he says, “You’re not pretty, you’re very beautiful.”
I melt in the spot I’m sitting. “What?”
“Jada, pink roses are the hardest roses to find and are the most expensive,” Xain starts, “In order to make them, flourists need to cross pollinate a red one and a white one and produce pink offspring.”
“Xain,” I say, “what are you talking about?”
“Pink roses hold a high value, especially from the capitol,” Xain starts up again, “they don’t come by cheaply.”
“What’s your point,” I’m aggitated now.
“Do you think that I would give a rare beauty away just to anyone?” Xain says with a wide smile on his face.
It takes me a while to get what he means, but then my eyes shoot wide open as I realize what he’s saying. “The pink rose you gave me was from the capitol?”
“Yeah,” he says, “it’s genetically engineered to not die for a while.”
“That explains so much,” I say as I smile, “I don’t think it ever died.”
“They’re given to fighters who who are endurant,” Xain says, “Xania had a lot on her memorial.”
It’s silent for a while while we eat. “She taught you everything you know, didn’t she?” I ask.
“Everything about the Shadow spear,” Xain responds, “she also bought me my swords.”
“So do I remind you of her?” I blurt out without catching myself.
Xain looks at me and smiles. “A little, why?”
“You bought me a sword,” I say trying not to smile hard.
“I wanted your first time to be special,” Xain nearly laughs, “You did some damage with it, too, I see.”
We sit in silence and finish our meal before burning the scraps. Xain seems to know a lot about surviving in the wild. I just know some plants and herbs. So far, none of that has come in handy.
“We should move to a better shelter before night fall if we’re to avoid problems,” Xain stares over the tree line.
I nod my head as I put my pack back on. We walk along the woods and stream for what feels like half an hour. As I glance up, the sky seems to darken twice as quickly. Xain stops abruptly, and then snaps his head in a direction.
“What is it, Xain?” I ask, but he just shushes me and looks even more worried.
I don’t know what he’s listening to until about five seconds later. There are snarls and growls coming from somewhere distant, but near. There are also moans, and then movement is heard in the woods. What ever it is—or maybe it’s they—it’s approaching rapidly. Xain is looking more and more worried by the seconds, and so am I. It’s not until I realize what he may be afraid of that I completely panic.
“Xain,” I say in a paniced voice, “you know better than anyone, but are those...”
I can’t complete my sentence, but Xain looks at me and nods his head.
“Carnagions.”