It had been three days.
Or so Jade thought. It was hard to tell. There weren't any windows, after all, and they never turned off the lights. And besides, they'd taken her watch away.
In any case, she had slept twice since waking up here. And still no sign of Jackie or Captain Black.
All Jade remembered before blacking out was leaving school and starting to head home. Next thing she knew, she had woken up here, in this cell. There was a steel, armored door, with a slot through which her meals were pushed, and a cot, with no blankets or pillows. There was also a toilet behind a foldable paper screen. Aside from that, the room was little more than a concrete box, with the occasional odd little crack, as walls have. Jade thought it looked like a cell that might've been used for solitary confinement. Maybe this was a not-so-abandoned prison.
She glared balefully up at her captor's mask: a security camera near the ceiling, with a speaker built beneath it. They had yet to show their real face, or speak with their real voice, always using a scrambler when they spoke to her through the speaker.
"You can't keep me here forever, you know," Jade said bravely. "Jackie will come and rescue me."
With a soft click the speaker turned on, and the kidnapper's cold, warped voice responded. "I highly doubt it. We were extremely careful to cover up any evidence left behind. No one saw you after you left school, and your image wasn't captured on any cameras. No witnesses saw us entering or leaving the area surrounding your school. Your backpack and other belongings were disposed of in this facility – every scrap of magical and physical evidence of your last steps were erased. Nor have we ever been in direct contact with your family in any way, before or after we brought you here. In addition, this building has been shielded from magical detection. So, child, I highly doubt your uncle or his contacts will ever find you." Click.
"Then what is it you even want with me?" Jade demanded. "Tell me!"
Click. "You will come to see – in due time." Click.
And with that ominous message, Jade was left in silence.
~'
It had been nearly a week.
At least it seemed that way.
Jade had found a way of passing the time – she didn't have any chalk, but she could pretend there was an outline, and use a stray piece of gravel as a hopscotch. She'd managed to carve her name into one of the walls with the same piece of gravel. It turned out there was a lot you could do with a piece of gravel: you could play hackey-sack with it, you could carve with it, you could wrap it in your clothes and pretend it was a doll.
She missed her video games, of course – she was very bored.
"You know, I wish I at least had a book in here or something," she said out loud. "I don't really have anything to do."
Her captor made no reply.
But along with her next meal, there was a small hardback book.
It was boring – just a little booklet about growing carrots – but it would help pass the time. Just until Jackie found her.
~'
It had been two weeks.
Or so Jade thought. She'd started marking down all the times she had slept on the wall behind her cot – that was how she estimated days. She'd practically memorized the book about carrots, down to the last typo.
Jade was starting to worry that something must have come up – maybe a new doomsday or demon takeover. Jackie must be so worried – if he had to deal with that first, then she could understand. She was sure Captain Black must have his best agents trying to find her in the meantime.
Unless it was Agent Tag – then she'd be in trouble. She wrinkled her nose. But no doubt he would consider himself too important for a mission like this, and good riddance.
The speaker sounded with a soft click.
"You seem troubled."
"Just how often are you watching me?" Jade grumbled. Secretly, she was relieved to hear another noise besides her own voice.
"Often enough. What troubles you?"
"Well, not sure if you'd know, but two weeks in solitary doesn't exactly make you feel cheerful." She couldn't help but take a biting tone. They were a kidnapper, they deserved a constant reminder.
"You have held out remarkably well. Many others would have gone mad by now."
"Why are you doing this?" Jade spat. "You don't want a ransom, you don't want Jackie, so what do you want with me?! Is this all just some sick game to you?!"
There was nothing but silence for a few heartbeats as Jade took a few shuddering breaths.
Click.
"This is not for my amusement – I am no would-be overlord who enjoys seeing others' torment." The voice was cold and stiff. "You may be assured, this is all for a purpose that will benefit you, no matter how strange or horrible you may find it. One day, you may realize my purpose – you may hate me, or be grateful, but this must be done either way."
Click.
And Jade could think of nothing to say.
~'
It had been three weeks.
Or so Jade thought. It had become harder to count the days – whenever she counted the tallies of how many times she'd slept, she would quickly lose count and have to start over again.
She'd started seeing things, hearing things. Jackie's face peering through nonexistent windows, green chi spells floating through the air, demons chanting in the walls – sometimes she would see her hair going down to her ankles and then realize it was still slightly past her shoulders, just as it had been when she first came here. Other times she would see Shadowkhan emerging from the dark corners of her cell, come to flay her alive in revenge. Worse still, sometimes she would hear Jackie and Uncle's voices, taking harsh tones and saying they always despised her, that they were glad she was gone.
Her only comfort was knowing that none of these things were real.
She looked forward to her meals, now – it seemed that lately she craved sensation, something to do, something to say. Sometimes she hallucinated the voice, speaking to her – it was harder to tell what was real, then. Jade was fairly certain that her captor had stopped talking to her altogether, but was still watching her, judging from the blinking light on the camera. It had become almost comforting, in a twisted way.
No matter what, she had to keep hope alive, she vowed to herself. Jackie loved her, Jackie was afraid for her, Jackie would rescue her – she wouldn't be here forever, no she wouldn't. Her family would be there for her, they always had been, and they always would be.
Always.
~'
Once, she hallucinated Hsi Wu.
Or, rather, she hallucinated Seymour, the form he had taken to trick her. At first, he acted like a friend she hadn't seen in a while, charming and smiling, leaning close to her. She didn't respond – there was no point, he wasn't real.
When she didn't talk to him, he stopped smiling, and his eyes turned red. "Well if that's the way you wanna be, then fine!" he spat. "I was going to offer you a way out of here if you joined me, but I can see that'll never happen!" And then he vanished.
It didn't make sense to her. Only Tarakudo had ever really wanted her to join the dark side. Why would she hallucinate Hsi Wu trying to convince her?
~'
It had been a month.
This time Jade was certain. A MONTH.
A whole month, she had been left in here to rot, with nothing but her own crazy thoughts, a book about carrots, and a silent, faceless kidnapper for company.
Jade shut down those thoughts quickly. There must have been an emergency – a new villain, and they were racing against the clock. When it was all over, and Jackie found her, he would tell her all about it, and she would be disappointed that she missed out.
Surely he had Viper looking into it. El Toro and Paco would be searching their butts off. Eventually, they'd find a clue. Whoever they were, the person behind the camera couldn't have covered up everything.
Her fingernails were definitely longer, she was certain of it. Just slightly.
~'
It had been a month and a half.
Jade still wasn't giving up. The demons in her mind tormented her no matter whether she was awake or asleep, but she still wasn't giving up. Hsi Wu could mock her and scream at her, Shendu could sneer at her, Tarakudo could whisper in her ear with an insidious voice, but she wouldn't give up on Jackie. He was facing some difficult odds – it would take him a while, but he would find her. He would.
She had said aloud many times that she'd gotten bored with the book, but nothing new had come with her meals. Perhaps Jade had only thought that she'd said it aloud, and hadn't really. For entertainment, she scratched at her ankles with her piece of gravel. The pain was something real that she could feel, as far as she could tell – it comforted and grounded her.
She'd taken to sitting on her bed when she didn't need to eat or use the toilet. She stank. She rightfully reeked, and Jade ached for a shower or a bath – even prisoners in solitary confinement got those.
Jade wondered if the demons in the Netherworld ever had nightmarish visions. But she dismissed it. They had each other – they could fight in the sand, fly around from island to island, explore. They weren't stuck in just one place, alone. For all that the Netherworld was a horrible prison, they were still more free than her.
~'
It had been about two months.
Jade wasn't quite sure, but that seemed about right.
TWO MONTHS.
Was that really how long she'd been left in here? She knew that some of their adventures could take a long time, but Jade had never thought that she could spend so long trapped in one place without Jackie coming to the rescue. She had tried everything she could think of to escape, but it seemed her captor thought of everything. The only thing keeping her going was the thought that Jackie would eventually come save her, and the feeling of the sharp end of the gravel on the side of her foot. Sometimes it bled now – after the first time, a box of band-aids and disinfectant had appeared with her next meal.
Her meals had gotten smaller, Jade had noticed. And that wasn't her seeing things – what used to be a microwave meal and a bottle of water had become a banana or a cup of yogurt, and a smaller bottle of water.
"What's the big idea?" she asked at first. "Can't afford Banquet anymore?"
Jade got no answer. By now, she didn't expect any.
~'
It had been THREE MONTHS
Where was Jackie? Where was her family?
Her head was swimming. Her throat was parched. Her feet and ankles stung from the cuts and disinfectant. Drago was picking at them with his claws, but she'd gotten the hang of distinguishing between real and imaginary pain by then. She could swear she smelled Shendu's feet, but she knew that was just herself. Red Shadowkhan eyes watched from under the cot.
Food had stopped coming a day or so ago, maybe two or three. She was starving, starving, starving, and thirsty beyond belief.
"He'll never come for you, Jade," Drago said in a bored tone. "He's forgotten all about you by now." Forgotten, forgotten, Jackie's forgotten all about you, the Shadowkhan echoed mockingly.
"Or maybe he's given up," Drago continued. He paused from picking at her feet, and smiled to himself. "Yeah, that sounds more likely. If he's given up," and he flashed a cruel, toothy grin at her, "then we've got you all to ourselves, and he can't help you."
Jade conceded that he had a point. Jackie might think she was dead. Dead! He thinks you're dead! The Shadowkhan echoed her thoughts.
If he did, then she would be here forever. Here forever! (scratch, scratch)
Alone, with imaginary demons, tormenting her endlessly. Endless torment, yes yes! (scritch, scratch)
No food, no water – no hope. No hope! You have no hope! HA! (scratch, scritch)
She would be Jade, forever alone in a cell, never seeing the sun again, never feeling the wind on her face – she would die here, alone, because Jackie gave up on her.
"They'll never come for me," she whispered.
Clack.
Drago wasn't there. The Shadowkhan weren't there.
Jade slowly lifted her eyes. The door was open.
It was probably a hallucination. The door couldn't just open by itself, and there was no one on the other side.
It wouldn't hurt to go over there. Just to see.
The door was open. It was really open. The hall was real, and it was really empty, and Jade was really free.
Her piece of gravel and book about carrots clutched in her hands, she crept forward, carefully, silently, checking for traps. There was no Jackie, rushing around the corner, having just defeated the bad guy to save her. The dusty halls were as quiet as the grave – there was no swarm of Section 13 agents searching the place for her. She had been let go. Rescue had never come, but she was free anyway.
As she made her way through the halls, and finally found an exit, Jade knew that she would never see Jackie the same way again.
Even as they fought the latest round of villains (a cult of dark wizards who worshiped Tarakudo and sought to bring him back) Jade had lost faith in Jackie and her friends and family. Those three months had changed her – he had searched, all that time (he hadn't forgotten!) but never come close to finding her. They never did find out who kidnapped her, and the others often worried about what they might have done to her without her knowing. They'd made her see a therapist, and they often threw her concerned looks.
In the past, she had always been sure they would win. Now, Jade knew they could lose.
Now, every day, Jade slipped a single, seemingly innocuous piece of gravel into her pocket and touched it whenever things seemed dark. She no longer reassured her comrades that they would win, that they always won. That piece of gravel reminded her that yes, they could lose, reminded her why they should always double and redouble their efforts, reminded her of what was and wasn't real. Whenever an enemy tried to fool her with fearsome illusions and magical nightmares, her gravel was her anchor.
She loved Jackie. She always would. But her faith in him was broken. Jade sometimes wondered, bitterly, if that was what her mysterious captor had wanted all along.