A/N: Sorry this one is kinda long; I just couldn't bring myself to cut it in two!
Hope you enjoy :)
The young woman lounged back in her hammock, lazily throwing and catching the wooden boomerang continuously as she let the warm breeze swing her gently back and forth. Her green eyes were trained on nothing in particular as she caught the delicately carved wooden stick once more, listening to the sound of the birds singing their songs and little monkeys chattering away without a care in the world.
The sun was slowly falling from the sky as the moon prepared to rise, causing warm and cool colors to fight for the remaining spaces in the sky. The receding streaks of light beamed from the enormous bowl of blue, trying to touch as much of the jungle as it could before the twilight finally beckoned the stars. Vermilion, sangria, and amethyst emblazoned the sky in a great mix of smears and smudges, then darkens to obsidian.
The ever-growing dusk was a welcomed source of peace for the woman. It was her favorite time; it wasn't fully day, and yet it wasn't fully night either. It was just... Peaceful. She leaned further back into the ropes of the hammock and breathed in the scent of the surrounding forest, a semblance of a smile forming on her dark lips as she sighed sweetly. In that serene moment, she allowed her mind to think back to earlier that day; back to the marketplace.
As soon as her eyes had spotted them, she knew what they were. The strange group wandering the marketplace that day were not simply NPCs the game had conjured up. No, there were four new players added to the game. And if luck was on her side, one of them was carrying the Jewel. And maybe this new group would finally help her and her companion get back home.
The game Jumanji had the unfavorable habit of adding in certain levels that could only be completed successfully by a player with certain skills; skills in which neither she nor her fellow comrade Alex Vreeke possessed. The two had tried on multiple different occasions to complete the game on their own, but the more they had tried the more it became apparent that the game could only be beaten when all six of the character avatars were occupied.
Emma had been in the game for years; well, at least, that's what it felt like to her. She knew that she couldn't have been in the game for a couple of months at most, but it felt a good deal longer. The first week she had arrived in the new world, every day seemed to rush past her in the blink of an eye. Now the days dragged on and the most she did in a day was going to the market or some other small village town. She and Alex both had long since stopped trying to defeat the game.
To start the game, a player is given three lives. Alex had already lost two when Emma had met him, and she had done everything to preserve her only three. Ever since she had lost her first life to falling off a cliff while trying to beat the next level of the game, the two had decided to lay low for a while. They couldn't afford to play the unbeatable game.
And now, here they were; all six players ready to finish the game and destroy the curse for good.
The new players had not been in the game for very long – at least, not to her knowledge – and already they had caused the game to act significantly different than what it had with both her and Alex. One particular thing that stood out to her was exactly who had shown up in the village that evening. Yes, she had fought the random goons driving motorcycles on many different occasions, but never before had she seen him.
In all honesty, there wasn't much reason for her to remember that one man out of the entire group of thugs that had arrived to kill the four new players. After all, he seemed to be just like every other bad guy the game seemed to never run short of. And yet, there still was something different about him; something she could not put her finger on but definitely noticed. He was very intriguing, and she found herself wanting to see him again.
The sound of a loud conversation quickly intruded into her thoughts, and the sound could not have met her ears any sooner. The heavy clumping of footsteps against the old wooden stairs lightly shook the large tree house they were in, causing her hammock to swing a bit more. Once the group had stepped up onto the balcony, she spared a glance over her shoulder to make sure her only friend was truly with them. She easily spotted his scruffy, handsome face and the untrimmed black hair of the young man and she smirked. "It's about time you got here, Seaplane," she called out to him. The plethora of voices had stopped as soon as they heard her own, and she could feel the four strangers all staring at her, startled by her sudden reveal.
"Hey, isn't that the girl from the marketplace?" she heard a faintly familiar voice start uncertainly. The accusation in his tone was quickly evident to her, but it only made her smile as he shouted and jabbed an accusing finger at her. "She stole from my backpack!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said sweetly, feigning ignorance. The group easily saw through her act.
"Hey- that's my boomerang!" shouted another man.
"Here, take it -" she tossed the boomerang over her shoulder with no warning, causing Spencer to just barely catch it before it smashed against his chest - "I was bored with it anyway." As she said this, she pushed herself up from the hammock and jumped down. The group instantly took notice of the elegant way she moved, the softness of her steps as her toes gently touched the floor. When she turned to the group her face broke out into a smile, one that was both kind and mischievous. She stalked towards them as quietly as a cat would when stalking its prey, and that's exactly how they felt when pinned under her striking green gaze.
"Everyone," Alex announced with a broad smile of his own. He cuffed an arm around her thin shoulders and brought her into a firm side-hug. "This is the chick I was telling you about!" He gave her a tight squeeze, chuckling when she passed him a glare at his rough-handling. Giving him a playful roll of her eyes, she met the group with a welcoming smile and an outstretched hand.
"Hello," she said in a soft, yet sturdy, voice. "My name's Emma Adams; player Jessie Jinx. A pleasure to meet you." She offered her hand to Spencer, who stared at her small appendage with suspicion. He wasn't completely sure if he should trust her, seeing as how she had stolen his boomerang, however, Alex seemed to trust her. Alex had saved their lives and already he was proving to be a welcomed addition to the group.
Spencer decided, then, that if Alex trusted her, then he would, too. Besides, she had returned his boomerang with no fuss or lies. His large hand enveloped hers. "Spencer Gilpin. I'm, uh, also Dr. Bravestone."
"I thought you were him," she said and shook his hand, her grip surprisingly firm. She moved on to greet the next two, which happened to be Bethany and Martha. She was quite eager in getting to know the two, her smile honestly excited. "You don't know how boring it can get when all you have for company is him," she jabbed her thumb at Alex, who feigned at being hurt by the comment. Emma rolled her eyes while the girls giggled. She moved on to the last one of the group. She smiled and stuck out her hand for him just as she had with the others, however, he did not take her up on her friendly gesture quite as easily as the others had.
"I ain't shaking her hand," Fridge shook his head while shooting daggers at the woman and crossing his arms firmly and securely. "She might steal it if I do."
Emma blinked in surprise at his harsh words, honestly shocked by his hostility. Then, she began to laugh. Her steady laughter grew to the point she had to cover her mouth with one hand while the other wrapped around her stomach as she doubled over. The chuckles were soft and airy and they sounded terribly foreign in the suddenly tense atmosphere. The cotton-laughter were sparks in the dangerously electric air and the group began to feel uncomfortable, almost as though they believed a real explosion would happen if her laughter continued any further.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Mouse - I'm not laughing at you," Emma managed to finally say between gasp for air as her laughter began to die down. "I'm simply not used to people getting mad at me for stealing. It caught me off guard."
"Not used to it?" his brow scrunched and his frown deepened as he exclaimed. "What do you mean "not used to it"? How the hell would people not get mad at that?"
"Well, usually the townspeople don't catch me." She almost seemed proud of this reveal, showing a care-free smirk and raising her head just a bit more. The group wasn't sure how to feel about it and they awkwardly shuffled from foot to foot, trying to make sense of what she had said. Seeing their confused stares, Alex decided to step in. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders once again, this time choosing to ruffle her golden hair in the process, to which he received a playful swat on the chest.
"Emma here is my little thief," he stated, looking somewhat proud, just as she had. "It's one of her weaknesses, so don't get too hurt by it."
"A weakness?" Spencer spoke up, his face scrunched in a similar confused look as the rest of his group. "Why would stealing be a weakness?"
Alex gave a nonchalant shrug while he began picking small twigs out of her hair. "We're not sure. We figured it had something to do with her backstory, though. You really need clean out the hammock before you jump in, Jinx."
She huffed lightly and crossed her arms over her chest, then gave a queer look to the group that caused both Bethany and Martha to giggle lightly. She always hated when Alex turned his"big brother" mode on. Although, she knew she couldn't live without it.
Trying to ignore the prodding of her hair from Alex. "Sorry about the boomerang fiasco. It's just that, we don't see very many people who aren't NPC's. Actually, we haven't met anyone other than you guys, and we kinda took advantage of that."
"So, you were just pulling a prank?" Fridge deadpanned.
Emma shrugged her shoulders lightly. "Yeah, I guess that's what it was."
"And you knew those goons were coming?"
"Oh, no!" both she and Alex exclaimed as Emma quickly shook her head. "No, we had no idea they would be there. That was just a coincidence. If we had known, we'd have gotten you all out of there a lot sooner."
Spencer asked, "but, you knew that Alex would save us when you took off?"
"Yeah," Alex confirmed, flicking a twig he had pulled from Emma's hair with his fingers. "It was short notice, but we had a plan. Kinda. It worked out well enough, at least. It was pretty rad, though!" The group all passed their own glances about themselves, not completely sure what to make of what they had just heard. Their lives were never truly in danger, and that was a relief.
"Hey, guys?" Bethany suddenly spoke up. Her brow was scrunched in uncertainty, however, she also seemed somewhat sure of herself. "Didn't that guy from the beginning say something about Emma?"
Martha's face brightened with her own realization and she nodded, confirming Bethany's suspicions. "Yeah, I think so. Wasn't she apart of Dr. Bravestone's group?" She looked to Emma, who only gave her a clueless look.
"Don't ask me – your guess is better than mine."
"You're right," Spencer said, nodding to both Bethany and Martha. "Nigel mentioned her, but I don't think she was in the cutscene. I think her and the group had a falling out before the events of the game took place. Must have had something to do with her weakness. Why don't you remember your backstory?"
Emma, who had been trying to silently fight off Alex's advances in picking out sticks from her tangled hair, turned to messing with his own black locks. "I never met Nigel. You really need a haircut, Seaplane." She had said it so simply that the group almost didn't catch it, but when they did, it hit them as suddenly as a rushing train. They all shouted their own concerns and questions, although the one that was most asked was "you didn't meet Nigel?".
Alex plucked at a stick that was tangled a bit more than the rest, causing a small spark of pain to blossom across her temple. She yelped out in pain and slapped his hand away, to which he only laughed. She glared, however his laughter was infectious and she felt her own smile tugging at her lips. Trying and failing to hid her growing smirk, she slapped her palm against his chest and lightly shoved him away. "Rude," she huffed. "Now you have to make me an apology margarita."
"I know that's supposed to be a punishment, but I will go do that because I want one, too." With that, Alex went around the homemade wooden bar and began setting up to make the alcoholic drink.
"I'm going to give you a haircut later, too!" Emma called, laughing at the groan of agony from the young man. When she turned back to the group before her, she was surprised to see them all looking at her with wide, expectant eyes and dwindling patients. "Oh, right. Yeah, I never met Nigel." She turned and began walking back towards her hammock, this time brushing away the what twigs or leaves had fallen before jumping back up on it.
The group of four followed her with their eyes, still trying to gather exactly why and how she had not met the one thing in all of Jumanji that even half explained what Jumanji even was. Spencer cleared his throat in order to get her attention and he questioned loudly, "so, why haven't you met Nigel, exactly?"
"Stranger danger," she shrugged nonchalantly. "I had just been sucked into a video game and dropped into the middle of an unfamiliar jungle. Within the first five minutes of my landing from being dropped from the sky, I was being chased by hippopotamuses and monkeys were throwing rotten fruit at me. I wasn't about to jump into the first vehicle I came across; especially one where a strange man was already driving it. Who knows what could have happened!" She said it as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. At the time it had seemed logical to the group, but with the way she had put it, they almost felt embarrassed by their choice - even though it was the correct one.
"So, does that mean you don't have the Jewel?" Martha asked. Emma shook her head. After shuffling around in the hammock for a few seconds, she managed to shimmy a rather large hunting knife out from somewhere – whether it was a holster strapped to her hip or from inside her boot, the group wasn't sure – and began to clean her nails with the tip of the blade. "So then, there are two Jewels?"
"I don't have a Jewel either," Alex told Martha. He had already mixed the tequila and triple sec with a blender and was now pouring it into six, salt-rimmed glasses. "You see, besides making margaritas, flying is one of my strengths. Although I did get shot down by a couple of orangutans in fighter jets, so maybe not that great at it. You see, I had put the Jewel in a sack and had tossed it in the back, so when my plane went down and I was reanimated, the Jewel wasn't with me when I dropped."
"What does that mean?" Bethany questioned. Alex brought out a knife, followed by a bright yellow and dull green objects from somewhere behind the bar. He set the two fruits on the table and then pointed the knife at Bethany.
"Lemon or lime?" he asked.
"Lime me up!" Fridge said eagerly. Alex smiled and nodded before he began to cut the green citrus fruit.
"It means, Bethany," Alex started again while slicing the lime in half, "if we lose the Jewel, we only have so long to find it before it pops back up in the beginning with Nigel."
A look of shock passed over the group and they all felt the creeping hand of worry grip around them. "Does that mean we'll have to start over?" Bethany urged Alex to continue, hoping he would tell them of some miracle way of regaining the Jewel.
He gave a shrug in response and Bethany's face fell. "I think so," he said. "After all, all of the traps reset at night, along with the villages and the people. It's like the game resets itself or something, and the only part that stays the same is the part that we're in. I can only imagine that the levels would reset too, so if we did have to go back to get the Jewel, then we would have to re-do everything. So I guess we'll just have to hold on to this one, huh?" He said the last part with a smile as he held up two glasses filled with margaritas, handing one out to Bethany and the other to Fridge. Fridge wasted no time in snatching his glass while Bethany first looked over the beverage uncertainly. Once she had finally taken hers, Alex offered two more to Spencer and Martha. "Make yourself comfortable, dudes!" he said, to which the group nodded and lumbered off to find somewhere to sit and mull over the new information about the dreaded game.
Alex stuck a slice of lemon into the rim of the remaining glass that wasn't his. Fridge gave the drink one look and grimaced. When Alex handed the glass to Emma, Fridge made a grand show of displaying his distaste for the choice of fruit. "Why the hell would you put a lemon in a margarita?"
"I like lemons," Emma said simply, taking a sip of the alcoholic beverage. She smiled at the taste of the tequila and lemon that invaded her taste buds and she snuggled further into the hammock.
"Why the hell would anyone like lemons?" Fridge argued, trying to antagonize her further. However, she wasn't reacting in the way he had hoped.
She simply smiled and moved an arm under her head as a rest. "Lemons are a beautiful, bright color, while the inside is so sour and dull. And yet, some people still like them. I'm not exactly sure why, though, Dr. Mouse." She took another sip and sighed blissfully.
"Stop it with the "Dr. Mouse" already, alright?"
Emma hummed softly and smirked. "I think we're going to be great friends, Mr. Mouse."
"My name ain't Mouse! It's Fridge, got it?" he huffed and took a larger-than-needed gulp of his drink, very nearly downing the entire cup. Emma only laughed softly, her eyes fluttering shut as she stifled a yawn. The darkness of the night had finally overtaken the brightness of the sun, and the activities of the day had gotten to them all as they all began to yawn. All except Fridge, who got Alex to make him another margarita. "These things are great!"
Spencer and Martha had tried their margaritas, however, they obviously had never had a margarita – or any alcohol, for that matter – and had set the glasses aside as soon as they had spit the liquid back into the cup. Bethany had set hers aside, too, the drink going untouched by her as she explored around the tree house. "What's up with all the candles?" she asked out of the blue.
"Alex's got a bug problem," Emma said with a laugh.
Alex threw a glare at his friend's back. "It's not a bug problem; it's a mosquito problem." Bethany's brow scrunched and he quickly clarified, "mosquitoes are one of my weaknesses. Which is kind of a bummer when you live alone in an open hut out in the jungle."
Bethany nodded, then quickly turned away so as to hide her growing smile. "He's single!"
"What am I – chopped liver?" Emma asked with a pout.
Alex simple waved a dismissive hand her way and rolled his eyes. "You're like my sister; I have to live with you." Emma was about to retaliate, but quickly cut herself short. It took a moment of thinking, but when she finally realized what he had said, she felt her chest swell. Had Miss Bethany caught the eye of her Little Alex? The thought made Emma smile. She hoped something would become of them – Lord knew Alex needed somebody.
A sudden frown tugged at her lips, the swelling in her chest changing to that of a sharp sting. If Alex got with Bethany, would that mean she would lose her only friend? Now that there were more people, would Alex abandon her? Will she be left alone again?
She took a large gulp of her margarita, successfully emptying the cup while driving away those unwanted thoughts. However, it only worked for so long. In order for her to get a good buzz, she needed in the very least four drinks, however, Alex was already fishing out the extra blankets to make pallets for the group of four and she didn't want to bother him this late. She'd have to deal with her thoughts.
Emma pushed herself up and jumped down from the hammock to helped Alex set up the beds. Then she cleaned the margarita glasses with a bucket of fresh rainwater. Luckily, she was able to at least drink Bethany's untouched glass. She could have had more, but she wasn't exactly up for drinking Spencer and Martha's spit drinks; no matter how much she longed for the airy, carefree feeling of alcohol. Fridge, however, seemed to be getting a bit wobbly in the knees and a good deal happier than what seemed to be his normal just from the two he had. He denied that he was drunk, although Emma had the feeling that if she had left the two tainted glasses of Spencer and Martha out, Fridge wouldn't have had any second thoughts.
Fridge, who had been wandering around the tree hut, suddenly called out,"who's this?" Emma glanced over to where he was standing and she knew what he was referring to instantly. "Who's Alan Parrish?" he asked again as he eyed the tree with the words "Alan Parrish was here" carved into the thick branch.
"He's the guy who built this place" Alex called back to Fridge as he set out a blanket on the ground; a makeshift bed for one of the new four.
"Wait, you mean other people have been stuck here too?" asked Spencer with a similar bewildered look as Fridge, Bethany, and Martha.
"Well, yeah," Emma nodded. "I mean, this is Alan Parrish's house. We're just living in it."
With this newfound information about the strange and lethal video game, the group quickly fell silent as they decided to help Alex and Emma make their pallets. No one seemed to want to talk as they mulled over the thought of how many kids had been here before them, or how many had actually managed to get out.
With their beds made and the sun finally set, the group was finally able to lay down and get some sleep. However, sleeping seemed to be the last thing on their minds. "So, Alex, tell me," Bethany spoke lowly in case someone was asleep. Even so, her voice still seemed foreign in the cool jungle air. "How long have you and Emma been in the game?"
Alex breathed out a huff of air. "Ooh, it's tough to say; time is kinda funny here. A few months at least, right Em?" The group gasped in shock, all appalled by the thought of being stuck in the game for so long. "Yeah," he said again once everyone had quieted down. "I just can't seem to make it past the Transportation Shack."
"Transportation Shack? What's that?" questioned Martha.
"It's the next level of the game. The first time my hot air balloon wouldn't even take off, and then there was the whole plane thing I mentioned. And once I got down to my last life, I realized I was screwed. And that I was never going to get out of here by myself. Half the stuff that came at me I had zero way to deal with. You know, you can't kill a black mamba with a margarita."
"You're damn right!" Fridge slurred as he drunkenly puffed out his chest. You need a zoologist for that!"
Alex gave him a tight-lipped smile and a short nod; neither which truly reached his eyes. Emma could clearly see the downcasted look that clouded over him; she could see the hurt within his brown, sorrowful orbs. Alex had been in the game a lot longer than she had, and she knew it was hard for him not to be able to return home. She reached over and placed a small hand over his, giving it a comforting squeeze. His dark eyes flickered to her and she gave him an encouraging smile, one that he thankfully returned.
"Once I found Emma, I thought we had a chance," Alex started again, this time his voice holding a tone that she could not exactly place. It was not sad, and yet not entirely happy. He was glad to have her, but she knew he would have preferred his home. His tone was just, thoughtful. "But none of her strengths can help very much when we have an entire canyon to get across. So, we've just been chilling out here, trying not to get killed."
"But we can try again!" Spencer exclaimed, his excitement showing on his handsome face. "You and Emma have been here for a long time – you know the game. And between us, we've got a lot of strengths."
"Yeah," Mumbled Martha, looking up at the suddenly passionate Spencer with a look Emma could not place. "We're actually pretty good together." Emma smiled softly at the two. They seemed cute together. Her childish thoughts were quickly shattered when she saw the panic slowly overtaking Alex.
"Guys," she spoke up, her hand squeezing his a little firmer, "we can't risk it. At least, not now. We have no idea how the game will react to you guys and acting now will only cause more danger. We should wait before we do anything." The others looked close to persisting with coming up with some sort of plan, but Bethany stopped them. She also saw the horrified look in Alex's eyes and the way Emma held his hand so tenderly, and she knew that whatever Alex had been through must have been so much worse than what they had.
After Bethany had taken Alex and Emma's side in the argument, they all decided that they were too tired to argue any further and they let it go. The group of four shuffled and rolled on their blankets while Emma and Alex lounged in their hammocks, trying to get some sleep. The group was out as fast as a light once they had gotten comfortable; all except Emma.
The young woman laid back in her hammock, gazing up at the twinkling stars, wandering and contemplating a multitude of things as they passed through her mind. What would Jumanji do now that all six players were playing? Would the traps get harder? The animals more dangerous? Would Alex be able to handle coping with the certainly new and dangerous environment? Would they be able to survive?
All of this and more swirled around her head like a raging storm. One thing in particular that kept jumping back into her mind, though, was the Jewel.
She wondered as to what it looked like and how big it was. She had never gotten the chance to see it since she had not received it from Nigel, and she had met Alex sometime after he lost it. She wondered what made it so special to the game and why those goons wanted it so badly. What good could there be in a simple stone?
Even she thought that to be silly. She knew the corrupt needs of man's greed, so it really wasn't that surprising to her that so many people were after it. She was simply looking for a reason to be this interested in it. It was a mere stone that the jungle wanted returned; nothing more, nothing less.
Then why was she still thinking about it? Why was her chest thumping so loudly in her chest? Why was it calling to her?
It wasn't calling her, she told herself. It was merely interesting.
However, this did little to settle the feeling within her gut; the tingling in her hands.
Before she realized what she was doing, she was out of her hammock. In even less time, she was standing over the sleeping Fridge, eyes glued to the discarded backpack next to him. 'I just want to see it,' she told herself.
As quietly as though she were a ghost of a breeze in the late autumn air, she fell to her knees next to the large bag and opened the flap. Her hands grazed against the many objects, mindful not to let them clang against each other. When her hand uncovered what must have been a shirt, her eyes widened.
The Jewel was big. No, it was massive. It must have been the size of her head! And it glowed. It glowed such a brilliant shade of peridot that she had to keep herself from gaping at the magnificent sight. Pins and needles were in the palms of her hands now; the same feeling she got when she wished to steal something of actual value – not the simple bread from a passing cart or fine jewelry - something truly costly and dangerous. Something exhilarating.
In that moment, she pulled herself away from the glowing object. She knew instantly that there was something wrong with the Jewel; something evil. She attempted to push herself up and go back to bed, however her body made no such movement. She stared unblinkingly at the closed sack, knowing very well what was just under that single flap of fabric.
'I'll just hold it for a few moments,' her mind reasoned with her. 'Just a few, harmless little moments.' It worked. Her hands were moving away the fabric of the sack and within mere seconds she was holding the Jewel.
A strange and sudden surge rushed through her and she nearly dropped the Jewel in shock. Instead, however, her small hands gasped the Jewel even tighter as she held it against her stomach as rushing electricity filled her, pulsated through her, empowered her.
As soon as it had hit her, the feeling was gone. She was left silently gasping for the air that had been stolen from her, grasping the Jewel so tightly that her knuckles very well could have split from the tension. She blinked up at the stars, those same exact stars that she had been looking at ever since she had arrived at Jumanji, and noticed that they were different. Very different.
She didn't remember there being this many stars before. Her ears perked up at the plethora of sound that suddenly hit them. When had the jungle become this lively? She inhaled deeply; she could smell the freshly baking bread from the village, ready to be sold at the market in the morning, along with the smell of smoking wood, wet plants, and soil. Why was everything so... clear now?
There was an odd shuffling, almost scratching sound off to her left. Her head jerked to the object as quick as a whip and her glowing eyes locked on to a tarantula. The creature was no bigger than her hand and it marched across the wood almost lazily, without a care in the world. With unblinking eyes, she stared at the eight-legged arachnid with a fiery intensity, watching as every one of its legs moved its fat, little body along; how its little hairs whisked in the breeze. It suddenly went rigged under her sturdy, unmoving gaze. Its entire body tensed up and it looked as though it were preparing to bolt, but instead, it turned to look at her.
She stared deeply into its dark, oil-drop eyes, her face devoid of any emotion, her mind bare of thought. A bright, electric spark of green flashed across the spider's eyes, and it was suddenly crawling towards her. Without thinking, she lowered a hand to the wooden floor palm-side up. The spider crawled into her hand without hesitation, and she brought the creature up to her face so she could inspect it. It stared back at her blankly, non-moving. Her eyes flickered down, then back up to the spiders. Then, it was moving up her arm. A wicked smile broke across her face; she was controlling the spider!
She twisted her arm around and back, moving it this way and that way, all the while telling the spider where to go. She almost laughed as she did so; it was as easy as moving a finger! She stopped the spider back in her palm and she brushed a finger gently across its back to gauge its reaction. It did nothing more than stare blankly back at her. It was as though the spider wasn't there anymore; just a hallowed out toy she could manipulate.
That was, until, its eyes flashed green once more. However, this wasn't like the previous bright flash; this green was darker in color, and she somehow knew that it wasn't her doing it. Now, as she stared into the eyes of the spider, it wasn't a simple empty case – something else was looking back at her. A cold, biting shiver raced down her spine as she stared into the cold eyes of a stranger, unable to look away as fear began to slowly pull at her chest. She found that she couldn't move, and she began to panic. She couldn't even scream for help.
With another dark green glint, the paralyzing presence was gone and she could suddenly breathe again. Her mind was racing and all of the power she had felt was gone. Her heart thundered in her ears as she breathed heavily, trying to calm herself down before she woke anyone up. A prickling on her palm caught her attention and she realized that she was still holding the spider. She almost didn't want to look back in its eyes in fear that the terrifying presence would be there, but when she finally willed herself to look at the spider, she knew nothing was there. At least, not anymore.
In fact, as she stared into the eyes of the arachnid, its eyes now bright black and shiny, she realized that even she didn't have control over it anymore. It began to try and crawl back up her arm she quickly set it back to the ground, watching it as it began marching its way away from her, it previous lazy movements back like nothing had happened.
She then turned her gaze to the stone that sat on her lap, a million and one questions shooting through her mind. She could breathe normally now, and as the seconds ticked by she could finally think more clearly, too. She picked up the Jewel and held it up, inspecting every inch of it. Satisfied that nothing interesting would happen again, she set it back down. Her eyes moved to gaze out into the dense forest foliage, looking for what, she did not know.
All she knew was that the stone had done something to her - had given her something powerful – and someone out there was even more powerful than her. And they knew about her.
Things just got a lot more interesting.
A/N: Did you like it? Did you hate it? Have any comments? I'd love to hear them! Please follow, favorite, and review to show me and this story some love :)