I woke up once more at around 12:47. The first thing I noticed was the intense heat pressed against me. I opened my eyes and saw that I was still propped up around Jam like when I fell asleep. I also noticed that I was sweating and my first reaction was that I needed a shower. I groaned, feeling pretty gross. Then I realized that Jam was panting in uneven huffs. I also realized that the heat was coming from his body. I was no doctor myself, but I could tell Jam's body temperature was unhealthily high.

"Jam?"

No reaction.

"Jam? Jam!"

I was shaking him desperately. "Jam! Please get up! Please!"

Still nothing more. He couldn't be dead; he was still breathing. So why wasn't he awake yet? His breathing told me that he was weak. I knew I had to get him up soon.

"Jam?" I tried again. "JAM!" By this time I was near screaming and I could feel tears starting to accumulate at the edges of my eyes. Jam was still breathing, so he was still alive. But I wanted him awake to reassure me that everything was alright. Everything would be OK. He would be fine. My friend just lay there and gasped weakly. I didn't care how hot I would be. I fell on top of the butler as tears finally fell.

"...Jam..."

After about a minute or so, I raised my head to look at him. I felt his forehead and my panic strengthened. My hand felt like it was touching white hot coals. I gritted my teeth against more tears threatening to escape and got up. I sprinted to the bathroom, wet a washcloth, ran back to Jam, rolled it up and placed it on his forehead. His hair was plastered to his head and his breathing was weakening.

"No!" I cried. "Nononono! I'm NOT losing you! Not now!" I mopped his forehead with the washcloth, as if that would do much good. His whole body seemed to need cooling down. I moved the cloth and started to wipe sweat off his chest and arms. I didn't know what else to do. I tried to wake him again, this time by literally picking him up into a sitting position and shaking him.

"Get up! Please!"

I brought my hand back and regretfully whacked Jam in the face, hearing a slap. I jumped when I heard him scream in agony and his eyes snapped open. We stared at each other for a second before I jumped into his arms. He hugged me back and my momentum threw us on the bed; me on top of him. I heard him grunt.
Jam brought us back to a sitting position and hugged me tightly. I could hear myself weeping violently. I couldn't catch my breath fast enough, I was crying so hard. Every breath I took interfered with the next. I buried myself into him as he quietly shushed me.

"Shh...I'm up now, sir. There's no need to worry anymore. I'm here. Shh. Jam's here now. I'm awake now."

But my crying didn't cease. Jam held me tighter and stroked my hair. But no matter how much he tried to calm me down, it didn't change his body temperature which was still radiating off him.

I finally swallowed with difficulty and tried to pull myself together. It was hard, but I just reminded myself to breathe normally. Jam was awake now. He'd know what to do for himself.

"Jam?"

"Mm?"

"Do you feel OK?"

"No," was the answer I got, which worried me. "I feel quick sick, but I've felt like this before. It lasts for a day at the most. I will be perfectly fine tomorrow."

"I don't believe you."

"But you trust me?"

I sighed. "Yes."

Jam continued to pet my hair lovingly as my tears ceased and my gasps faded into normal breaths. I sat there, listening to Jam's heartbeat which aided in calming me down. I noticed that something was off. His heartbeat was irregular, but it was also...stronger. OK. I came to a sudden conclusion that made me feel slightly guilty. After this morning and last night, British people officially freaked me out. Yeah it wasn't the best thought but after the moments of inhuman sounds that I had witnessed last night in the alleyway they honestly reminded me of wolves.
Actually, now that I focused, there seemed to be a lot of things off about Jam. His eyes kept flitting this way and that. It was as if he couldn't focus on anything for too long. His eyes would see one thing then immediately move to something else across the room. He also seemed overall more muscular. Not by much, but it was enough to be noticeable. I listened closer and I heard him mumbling to himself.

"Wolf...Wolfgang..."

I recognized it as the name Luke had called him.

"Wolfgang...Wolfgang ArĂ¼nd..."

"Jam...you're weird."

He snorted. "Me?" His eyes focused on me. "Coming from who, huh? Last time I checked I wasn't part dragon. You're calling me weird?"

"Yes! Yes I am!" I teased. "I've come to a conclusion that I think that about all British people!"

"Hey!" he growled. "First it was personal but now you've brought Britain into it? Oh you're going to get it!"

Before I knew it we were playing tag through the hallways. I thought I was fast but then again I had never been chased by Jam. I slowed down at each turn but he literally slid around them. I could hear his feet sliding on the ground as he round every bend. He didn't lose any speed and before I knew it he was right beside me. I was surprised when my friend passed me. We were running down a huge corridor so there was room to be fast. I never thought it was possible to sprint that fast but Jam was at the other side of the hallway in less than four seconds. Impossible...and his feet barely made a sound.

He slowed to a hasty stop and waited for me to catch up. I saw him back into a wall, holding his head with one hand. He was panting by the time I reached him.

"You alright?"

"Y-yes...just out of breath," he panted. But I knew there was more. He was sick and had just sprinted faster than any human should ever be able to run.

"Don't strain yourself...too much."

...

We ate breakfast hastily. The king was surprised when he saw us up.

"It's 1:00 pm, guys," he scolded playfully. "Were've you been?"

"Asleep," I replied. "Where else?"

"Well never have I known Jam to sleep later than 7:30."

I turned back to Jam in disbelief. "7:30?!"

He grinned sheepishly. "I have to set an alarm but yes. That's the latest I get up."

I felt my jaw drop.

"When you get older you wake up sooner, Erec," my dad laughed.

Jam walked past me to get to the table and closed my mouth with his hand. "You get used to the early hours. Remember, the early bird gets the worm."

"Oh yeah?" I said, following him. "Well the second mouse gets the cheese!"

"Is that it then? Well maybe we should do something about that. From now on, sir, I will be getting you up when I do."

"No! You wouldn't!"

"Really? Then there's a lot you don't know about me."

"What? That you wake up innocent teenagers who need their sleep?"

"When was the last time you ever slept a full night anyway?"

He had me there. I had no response.

"Exactly."

...

Jam ate more than I had ever known him to eat.

"Are you even full?"

He just looked at me. "Of course not, Erec. If I was full do you think I'd still be eating?"

"You never know with you."

He just rolled his eyes and went back to eating. This day was just strange already. It must've been his sickness. That had to be it. There was no other reason for Jam to eat so much.

...

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Then dusk arrived. It brought along a beautiful sunset. I was spending the evening with my other friends Jack, Melody and Rosco. Jam was nowhere to be seen, but sometimes he had to work late.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" asked Melody.

"Yeah," we all replied.

"I hope you find Bethany soon," said Jack. I had told them about what had happened.

"Well we know where she is, we just need to get to her on time. Until Midnight on the summer solstice is how long we have to wait."

"I bet that's hard on you," said Melody. They still didn't know...and I wasn't going to tell them any time soon.

"Yeah."

"You'll get to her on time, I know it," said Jack encouragingly.

"Thanks," I smiled.

...

The moon was high. The stars were out. There were no clouds. My friends had left a while ago and I was now standing and watching the sky alone. A bird or two here and there but nothing more. It was like watching paint dry. Just as I was turning back to the castle, I heard a horrible scream. It sounded like a man in terrible pain. I ran toward the sound which led me to the edge of the woods. I saw a man bended and hunched at the waist, clutching his abdomen. It was dark and my first initial thought was that it was Jam and his sickness had caught up with him. But the man seemed way too tall to be the butler. So Jam was out. Then...who was it?

"Hey!" I called.

The man turned and the moonlight showed that his eyes were an orange-yellow color. That made it official that this was not Jam. He wasn't wearing a tux either. His clothes were all black and almost looked like leather. The man cried in a hoarse voice, "Don't follow me!" and ran off into the woods. I decided that I would talk to Jam about it when I saw him. I headed back to the castle.

...

Jam was nowhere to be seen.

"Sometimes he likes to be alone and sleep under the stars so that might be where he is," said the king when I asked him.

I figured that I should let him sleep under the sky alone tonight. I went back to sleep in my room.

...

Is it weird I like golden eyes?

...After everything I wrote I think that golden eye love is weird? I really DO need my priorities straightened out :/