There was a rapid knocking at the door, sounding like the frantic knocking of a boyfriend who got locked out of their girlfriend's place, and as much as it bothered her to open the door, taking her concentration away from Bill and True Blood; Natalie dragged herself off of the bed and opened the door.
"Hell-"
"Is your roommate Maggie Calcarol?" Two men barged into the small dorm, knocking the confused girl into the hall way, began their search through the side of the room that was decorated with photos of Maggie, tossing things on to the floor before, with what seemed like no effort, flipped the mattress over.
"Yea-hey! Don't you need to show a search warrant or something!?" Clearly Natalie had spent too much time watching CIS.
The man, a tall blonde, who did most of the talking, next to the other to males in the room who were currently searching for something, flashed something at her before facing her directly. "This isn't any of your concern now...I'd like to ask you a few questions about her."
-----
Griffin landed in Cuba, crashing into a farmer and his steer before grumbling, raking his hand through his tousled locks before walking away; the farmer following after him, yelling and waving his fists in the air angrily. Another crash behind him caused him to stop. "Wait!" Maggie stumbled behind him, tripping on a stone which caused her to skid to her knees. The farmer stopped; seeing the girl appear out of nowhere freaked him out causing him to run back past his steer and farther off the road.
"Ugh!" Griffin jumped again this time crashing into a few trees in the black forest, another crash behind him; Maggie stumbling forth, this time crashing into Griffin, gripping onto his jacket.
"Let off well ya!"
"Wait just a second!" Pissed and cold from only having shorts, a tank and no shoes, she shivered disillusioning the facade of her determined demeanor. "Answer my damn question!" Hands shoved into her pockets, she pouted her lip, stopping in front of him.
"What do you bloody want from me!" He paced in front of her, questioning himself for even staying.
"Answers! I want answers! I don't know what the bloody hell is going on! Who were those people! Why are they attack me!...How am I following you?" He rolled his eyes, repeating the manner of running his hand through his hair, grumbling as he sized her up. She wasn't much of a fighter, although she was tall, she was petite, and obviously not the brightest crayon in the box.
"You went through my jump scar, now stop following me." He pushed her back into a tree, watching her intensely as he gripped onto her shoulders; his eyes flickered with anger, mirroring her fear as she forced a gulp back. What was she afraid of. Griffin was of normal stature for a guy his age, he was fairly built, knew a good thing or two, pretty much relatable to the 'average Joe.' The girl only had to worry about her ignorance. That stupid problem she had with not listening was what was getting her in trouble. She should know. Every jumper should know that the more you jump the more attention you'd draw to yourself. It was common practice. What was she scared of. Griffin felt a pressure on his shoulders as her fragile hands gripped onto him, pushing him back with strength she held well; he had to admit when she wanted to be she was pretty strong.
"Please tell me." Maggie's voice wavered, trembling as she fought back tears which she wiped at furiously. She was weak though...despite her physical physique.
"Oh...bloody hell...don't start." The boy paced, avoiding her tears, looking left and right, angry he should've jumped when he had the chance, leaving her alone back in Los Angeles would've been the smart thing to do.
"Those people broke into my apartment! They followed me to God knows where! They attacked me in my home! You followed me too! Why are you following! I'm a bit freaked out right now!"
"Well bloody...don't go acting like you're some innocent victim! The way you jump, you reckless twit, no wonder they can follow you! You're so slow!"
"I'm not slow!"
"Ugh! Shut up will ya? You are slow, and so damn annoying!" Maggie growled at his statement, smacking his head into the trunk of the ever green. Pine needles fell in his shirt ,covered his hair and scratched his face. "Why are you so difficult! Listen...those people are called Paladins-,"
"What?"
"Are you gonna let me explain or are you gonna interrupt me again?! Paladins: religious fanatics, kill jumpers, people like us!"
"Why?"
"Ugh god am I going to have to spell it out for you? Because we can do what ever the hell we want! That's why! That's why they attacked you! That's why they broke into your place!"
"Well how nice of you. Because we can do what ever the hell we want! Yes. I totally knew that was the exact reason why strange men carrying guns broke in to my apartment and tried to kill me! That makes so much damn perfect sense!"
" And that's not the end of it! Them breaking into your apartment is only the start!"
"What do you mean only the start!"
"They'll keep looking for you and they'll start with your family, your ,friends, I assume if you have any. Now...get lost...and if I were you-" He leant in closer, just like he did at the club, but this time, Maggie felt the cool rush off the snow between her toes, her hands shivered from the lack of clothes and the water still dripping from her hair, yet no blush emerged. "-I'd hide. Don't tell anyone, not your family, not your friends, just disappear. They'll go after you, your family, friends, anyone you hold close to you. They won't stop until you're dead." And just like that he left.
"Maggie what the hell is going on with you! I want the truth damn it! Two guys just barged into our room and demanded to know all this stuff about you! They tore up the room! They even smashed my TV! My damn television Magnolia! I was watching True Blood!" Maggie bit her lip; the fact that those people had gone to the apartment in Berlin had made her feel reckless but that they went to her dorm crept her out. It was like what Griffin said, if they couldn't find her, they'd go after everything else that mattered to her.
"Listen...Natalie did you tell them anything?" Anything could give her away now, not like she'd talked much to her roommate in the first place, but her brothers had visited and she knew her mother well enough that anything she said could send them after her family. First thing's first though, they must've wanted to know something important. What did she know that was important? What had she done to deserve this attention?
"They kept asking about your behavior, family, listen Maggie they took a bunch of your stuff."
"My stuff? Why would they do that? Wait. WHY IN THE HELL DID YOU LET THEM TAKE ME STUFF! Did they say why they went like a tornado through the room? Hey wait...what did you tell them about my family?"
"Nothin-" the phone hung up, flashing a low battery sign as Maggie grumbled, cursing under her breath as she paced back and forth along the Rein. The morning and night before had been disastrous: her whole world seemed to be turning upside down (but then again maybe she may have been a bit overdramatic.) A boy she'd only met. People attacking her in her apartment, chasing her around the world, taking her stuff...
She continued to pace, feeling uneasy as she walked back and forth before jumping to some city, taking a turn at some street and making her way to some unknown location. Cars shot by, the cold February morning biting at her bare legs causing her to shiver before she took another turn into a alley before she jumped again, this time, her bare feet landing on hot, black rocks. The heat from the Hawaiian beach made Maggie feel better as she made her way up towards the road before jumping again.
Hours had gone by before Maggie even realized what time it was. After taking a quick stop at her hometown to grab a few things from her old room (before her parents even knew she'd gone home) she'd jumped back to the University to see what was left of her things. Pictures had been taken, her dresser pulled out of its cabinets, Natalie had already gone to class, probably after telling all of her friends she'd dormed with a criminal of some sort or just plain went down to the Commons to watch True Blood; leaving the jumper to herself to recollect on what was going on. Items of her were missing (yet her iPod was still in its spot, hidden by Natalie's clothing on the floor) and with her small messenger bag slung over her shoulder she'd shoved what she could in there.
"Magnolia I presume?" She screamed, shoving back into the torn apart dresser as a man stood at the door, arms crossed over his chest. Despite her anxiety on high, she could make out the features on the tall sandy blonde. Muscular, hair cut short, short features and a southern accent; he'd reminded her of a boy she had dated back in high school. What was his name…Drake. Yeah. Drake. Wait. Why in the hell was she thinking of that. The stream of conscious was working on her nerves which burned to run. Run. Run. Run stupid run! He raised his hands up defensively, smiling as he stepped in to the dorm.
"W-who are you!" Why didn't she make a break for the door. Why didn't she scream.
"The name's Caleb."
"Ok Caleb, get out." Maggie searched for something to use in her defense as Caleb reached into his pocket pulling out a tazor. Magnolia's eyes spotted the weapon instantly and cursed uncontrollably. Who uses a tazor anymore. Why a tazor! God. Her hands searched for something to use but came empty every time.
"I'm afraid, unless you come with me...I can't do that." When had he moved. When did he shove that tazor into her side. A sharp pain lunged in her side, causing her to crumble to the floor; images of Venice, Moscow, Berlin, Vegas, and other previous spots Maggie jumped to blurred in her head, a cry of pain pulsating through her muscles. "You've been quite foolish coming back here even after your friend called."
She stifled another cry of pain as she gripped onto the small lamp table, trying to catch herself. A tight fist gripped at her hair, pulling her back to expose her neck, "There's no point in fighting." Adrenaline. She'd prayed to god that her adrenaline was kicking in soon. The neck. He was planning on hitting her neck with the tazor. Her neck! Why wasn't the adrenaline kicking in!
She shut her eye, grinding her teeth together as she shoved herself back from the lamp table, shoving back into the male behind her. Caleb tumbled back, attempting to hold onto her hair, but Maggie ripped away. Her legs wobbled beneath her as she shot down the hall, tears streaming down her cheeks as she slammed her weight into the stair well, gripping the railing before the male slammed into her, sending them down the stairs.
A vision of New Delhi imprinted itself in Maggie's mind but the shock from the low voltages still running through her system blocked her from jumping unfortunately away from her attacker as well jumping to the Indian city, leaving them sprawled on the landing, a few of the tenants from the floor below them coming to check out the commotion. The girl began to cry, biting her lip as she managed to limped down the stairs before collapsing on the floor.
"You can't run Maggie." Her attacker laughed, holding his sides as he followed down the hall after her. "You can't even jump!"
Panic filled Maggie, adrenaline pumping through her veins as she felt the tingling electricity escaping her, a moment to jump, a moment to escape her attacker. The room shook, the wall crumbled around her, and for a spilt second she felt her ears pop as the cool, moist grass forming underneath the thick trunks of lush canopies came into view. She fell with a thud, the rumble from her jump shocking some of the still formed snow from its spot as she rolled down the mountainside with little enjoyment before hitting a tree trunk.
"You put up quite a fight for a girl your size." Instantly she was pinned to the ground, struggling to breathe under her attacker's weight as he hand-cuffed himself to her, grinning as he hovered over her with a sick smile on his face.
"What do you want with me!" Kicking, screaming, trashing and crying, trying to break free from his hold over her on the ground. Cringing as he ran a hand over her reddened cheek.
"You know...we don't normally come across female jumpers, matter-of-fact, its a rarity to even hear of one, so it surprised me when I heard that we'd located the paladin killing jumper with a female," Caleb laughed, brushing her bangs out of her face, watching her squirm underneath him. "Now, Now, look at me...now I don't want to kill you, not now at least, but for what we know, Griffin is our top priority. And since I'm in a intrigued mood, I'll cut you a deal."
Maggie jumped, sending both of them into the salty Indian ocean, where Maggie struggled to keep herself afloat with her attacker's weight dragging her down. A burning itch filled her throat, begging desperately for air, begging for her to jump.
They crashed this time among the staircase hills of Santorini, tumbling down before she jumped again this time, landing on a sunny beach in the Maldives. She gasped as she gripped onto his shirt, biting into his shoulder not knowing what else to do. Her wrist hurt, shoulders burned, her back was on fire and her lungs left like she had been stung by a hundred bees.
"Release me!"The jumper panted, pulling at the hand cuff around her wrist.
"You're the one gripping onto me!" He laughed, pushing back Maggie's soaked bangs from her face.
"Ugh!"
"You're feisty one. I like that. But as I was saying I'll cut you a deal, bring us Griffin and I won't kill you." And with that he smashed the back of the tazor into her neck, knocking her out unconscious.