Season 2 Episode 2 is being released on the 15th! I'm not patient enough for this...
Chapter Seven
Life was going pretty well for Lukas.
In the weeks following the Spring Festival, things seemed to settle down into a routine. He still hung out with Petra and Aiden, since Petra's guard training hadn't started yet and Aiden was around as usual. His dad's petitions continued to be denied, but that was nothing new. Milo had his hands full with other, secret things, which only served to distract him from the rejections. Meanwhile, Lukas avoided Hadrian and Mevia like the plague. After the egg incident, he didn't want to incur their wrath anytime soon.
Of course, the best thing about life was Jesse. Lukas was both relieved and pleased that she was able to sneak away from home every couple of days, and she always made her way to Milo's inn first thing. The two of them would spend the entire day together, frequently accompanied by Petra and Aiden. Milo was always welcoming to her as well, and often told her that she should stop by more often. He wished it was more often, but he could tell be Jesse's expressions and words that she was coming as often as she could manage.
Lukas was learning more and more about Jesse every day. She loved hugs and seemed to give a different one to each of her new friends. She later told him that she catalogued the hugs that each friend preferred. She was a vegetarian (something that made carnivore Petra's jaw drop) but did not force it on other people, and her favorite food was potatoes. Despite being horribly clumsy (she stubbed her toe seemingly on nothing at least once per visit), Lukas was amused to find that Jesse was also ambidextrous. She was quite the juggler when she was given a couple apples to throw around.
Jesse was also a very generous person. She shoved some coins at Lukas to pay for the cake he bought for her at the Spring Festival, and absolutely would not take no for an answer. Lukas had to put his foot down when she offered to pay Milo for food every time she came to visit. He didn't want her to think they needed the money, although the inn wasn't bringing in the revenue they often needed for basic things like clothing (hence the reason Milo's clothes were a bit tatty). However, Lukas occasionally found a few coins hidden here and there on the bar or in his pockets, coins that he was positive hadn't been in those places previously.
How in the world does she sneak money into my pocket without me noticing? Jesse, obviously, always played dumb when he asked her this question.
Jesse did seem to have secrets however. She refused to let either Lukas or Petra follow her to her house, even when the sun was setting and Lukas wanted to make sure she got home safely. She was very vague on the topic of her parents, although she was willing to share that she had no siblings. The extent she was willing to share was to talk about how restrictive her mother was, which was why she had to sneak out to see them in the first place, but Lukas already knew that. She seemed to alternatively know things he had never heard of before, such as some crafting or brewing recipes, but then she wouldn't know something like how to make small talk…or how to recognize flirting.
Whenever they were in the same place, Aiden was a completely different person with Jesse. He would ogle her and try to impress her, and seemed to touch her more than Lukas was comfortable with. The time Aiden put his arm around her waist, Lukas' chest burned, and he couldn't place the reason why. Aiden was especially pushy with her when talking about building, an ability that Aiden was more than proud of. Most of it seemed to go over Jesse's head and Lukas was glad for that naiveté, though it might have more to do with her simply humoring Aiden. Lukas could only hope so. She clearly knew more about building than either of them did.
"Do you want to tell him or should I?" Petra once asked him.
"Tell him what?" Lukas inquired.
"That Jesse's off limits."
"What?"
Petra face palmed. "Seriously?"
Lukas gave her a bemused look. "What are you talking about?
"Lukas, you know I'm not into sappy stuff," she said with a frown. "But even I can see the dopey eyes you give her when she's not looking."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Petra scoffed. "Right. And I grow flowers for a living."
Weeks came and went, and Lukas tried his hardest to not make a fool of himself in front of Jesse. She didn't seem to mind any of his quirks, like his interest in writing and his compete lack of talent at any sort of combat.
The seasons were getting colder when Milo decided to initiate another big change in Lukas' life.
"Lukas, come on! What's going on?" Jesse asked as Lukas dragged her to his father's inn. "You're really excited today!"
"It's just going to be a good day," he answered, beaming at her and refusing to let go of her hand. "Trust me."
"Something's going on," she insisted, smiling as well. "I've never seen you smile like this."
"Just wait and see!"
Milo was already standing in the middle of the inn's lobby, his hands held behind his back, when the two arrived. Philippe closed the entryway door and locked it, and Lukas saw Jesse watch him do so with a confused face.
"Okay," she said, drawing the word out. "Something really secret then?"
"Very secret," Milo answered. "Jesse, we've known each other for a while now, and I feel like you are an open-minded and trustworthy individual."
"Thanks?" Jesse glanced at Lukas with a raised eyebrow. He just crossed his arms and continued to grin.
"As such, I believe you are honorable enough to keep certain information confidential," Milo continued.
"Oh, you have no idea," she muttered, barely audible to Lukas' ears.
"Such information that could have horrifying consequences if it were to become common knowledge," Milo said. Lukas rolled his eyes at the recitation. He did this with every potential new member. "Revealing it would not only put myself in danger, but everyone else involved as well, including my son."
"Dad, will you stop being dramatic?" Lukas scolded with an exasperated sigh. "He's always does this."
"I still have no idea what's even going on," Jesse stated. Her eyebrows had practically disappeared into her hair.
"Oh, very well. You take all the fun out of it, Lukas." Milo shrugged his shoulders and pretended to look disappointed. This was clearly an act, if his immediate return to his normal self was any indication. "Jesse, before I reveal this to you, you must take an oath. An oath to never divulge anything of what I'm about to show you. Do you understand?"
Jesse glanced at Lukas, who just nodded. "I understand."
"And do you swear?"
"Milo, whatever this is about," Jesse said, holding her right hand up. "I solemnly swear that I will never tell your secret to anyone else."
Milo's smile brightened. "I was hoping you'd say that."
"Philippe?" Lukas signaled to the barman, who flipped a switch hidden beneath the counter.
An opening appeared behind the two men, with the stone sliding down to reveal a larger room inside. Jesse jumped a little at the sound.
"Right this way," Milo said as they walked in, the entrance immediately closing behind them.
Lukas watched as Jesse's eyes darted around at the sight before them. The room was two stories high, indicating that the lower floor had been dug into the ground beneath the inn. The upper floor was open to the bottom one, with a wooden rail keeping anyone from falling over the edge. Tables and chairs were scattered about the room on both stories, with the tables marked off to appear like crafting tables, although they couldn't function as one. There were a couple true crafting tables, but they were few and far between. Red rugs lined the floor and there were various paintings of items hung on the walls. Redstone torches provided light for the people there, along with a collection of glowstone on the ceiling.
Lukas couldn't be sure, but it looked like there were over two dozen people there. Many of them were going around and practicing crafting recipes. There was a substantial amount of noise from the conversations going on, and a few cries of joy when someone managed to successfully craft an item.
Jesse ran to the railing and grabbed it, looking around with bright green eyes and taking in everything she could. Her mouth hung open in wonder.
"Whoa! What is this?!" Her tone wasn't reproachful at all. Instead, it oozed curiosity.
"This…" Milo paused, for dramatic effect. "…is Build Club."
"Build Club," she repeated. She turned to them with a wide smile. "A secret Build Club?"
"We can't go around declaring it's here, can we?" Lukas joked.
"Yes, The Founder is completely unaware that this club exists," Milo explained. "While I was in prison, I realized that just because building is risky, it doesn't mean no one should do it."
Jesse gave an emphatic and supportive nod.
"So, once I was released from prison, I decided that The Founder's restriction on building wasn't a good enough reason to not build at all." Milo led the two to a small set of stairs leading to the lower level. "I found like-minded people, and together we started this Build Club. Everything you see before you was built from resources that my people have saved or…obtained."
Which means we steal them, Lukas thought. If Jesse wanted to say anything against that, neither her voice nor her facial expression gave it away.
"And since you seemed to agree with our position regarding the laws," Milo offered. "I was hoping you would consider becoming a full member of our club."
If it was possible for Jesse's face to brighten even more than it already was, it did. "I would love to! This is awesome!"
Milo returned her grin. "Then welcome to Build Club!"
"Come on," Lukas said. "I'll introduce you to some of my friends."
They descended the stairs, giving a better view of the small wooden stage beneath the upper deck, where a single crafting table was located. A couple blocks of iron sat behind that.
"Lukas! Jesse!" a voice belonging to Petra called out. She waved them down from the far end of the room, where she sat with another young woman wearing an red outfit. "Over here!"
The pair quickly sprinted to the table and Lukas smiled at them both. "Hey, Petra, Olivia. This is Jesse. She literally just joined."
"Bout time," Petra said. "Sure took Lukas long enough to bring you here—"
"Oh, who asked you?"
"—but it's good too see you." Petra waved to the girl in red. "This is Olivia."
The girl waved. "Nice to meet you."
"Same here!" Jesse declared, sticking her hand out to shake Olivia's. She paused. "Wait, I've seen you before, haven't I?"
Olivia squinted her eyes, then realization came over her. "Yeah, weren't you the one who smacked into me at the Spring Festival?"
Jesse rubbed the back of her neck. "Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. I was really excited."
"I noticed," she laughed. "In any case, welcome to Build Club."
"Thanks." Jesse sat down next to Olivia, and Lukas took a seat next to Petra. "So, what do we do here?"
"Go over crafting recipes mostly," Olivia explained, tucking her black hair back under her green hat. She gestured to the sticks and string sitting on the table. "I'm working on one right now."
"Olivia's awesome with redstone," Lukas said. "She wired up most of the lights here, and she made the secret entrance. She's probably the best of us with it."
"For all the good it does me. I can't get The Founder to approve my petitions for some," Olivia revealed, and Jesse pressed her lips together. "Right now I'm just trying to figure out the recipe for a bow. I just can't seem to get it right."
"And that's saying something," Petra commented. "Olivia's a braniac, so if she can't figure it out…"
"I'll get it eventually," the other girl protested.
"I can show you, if you like," Jesse offered. Olivia blinked at her. "Unless you want to figure it out yourself. It's good to experiment, learn on your own."
"Wait, you know how to craft a bow?" Lukas asked.
"Well, yeah."
There was a pause before Olivia spoke again. "Please, show me!"
Jesse grabbed the sticks and string and headed for a crafting table. The others followed, and Jesse waited until they were surrounding the table before placing the string in a straight line in one column. She placed the sticks on the top and bottom of the middle column, and then the last stick went in the middle row of the left column, creating a curve of wood. She pulled her hands away and waited for the table to pull the items together, and a bow popped into existence.
The group except Jesse gave out a gasp, and Olivia took the bow to get a closer look at it.
"Of course! It's so simple!" she said. "Now I feel really stupid for not figuring it out."
"You're not stupid. You just didn't know." Jesse gave her a pat on her shoulder. "It's not like I was born knowing how to build."
"Do you know many other recipes?" Petra inquired.
Jesse blushed a bit. "I know a few. It's no big deal."
"Can you show us?" Lukas requested. "None of us here know a lot of recipes."
"Well, uh…" Jesse nibbled on her bottom lip. "I don't know that much, but I can show you what I do know?"
It was more of a question than an agreement, and Lukas chuckled. She was so cute when she was nervous. "We're not here to judge you, Jesse."
"Yeah, this is about learning how to build and enjoy it. That's what everyone's here for," Petra announced. She looked over Jesse's head, and her mouth scowled. "Well, maybe not everyone."
"What do we have here?" Aiden seemed to pop out from nowhere and gave Olivia a sneer. "A loser with a bow? Don't know about that, Olivia. That might be too sophisticated for you."
"Lay off, Aiden," Petra warned as Olivia visibly deflated. "I don't see you crafting a bow."
"I could if I wanted to," he declared. "And I don't need someone else to do it for me."
"Aiden, lay off, will you?" Lukas asked. "We're all friends here, remember? Everybody being cool."
"I'm the only cool person around here," Aiden argued back. He cocked his head at Jesse and smirked. "Well, maybe not the only cool person."
Jesse averted her eyes. Aiden didn't seem to like this, as he quickly grabbed the bow out of Olivia's hand, causing Jesse to look up at him in annoyance. Olivia, meanwhile, let out a cry.
"Hey!"
"You know, I've never tried reversing the crafting process," he said as he looked over the bow with a critical eye. "Jesse, why don't you help me figure out how to turn this bow back into sticks and string?"
Lukas felt a growl in his chest at his friend. Why is he acting like this?
"Aiden, that's not fair!" Olivia cried and moved to grab the bow again. Aiden simply held it above his head, and his extra height over Olivia stopped her from reaching it. She let out a sigh and went to sit down again.
"Aiden, give that back, right now." Lukas was a bit stunned at the darkness in Petra's tone. "Or I will make you."
"Let me think about it…Nah," he teased.
"Aiden, you know how hard it is for us to get supplies," Lukas reminded him.
"Yeah, it's not easy to come by some of this stuff," Petra added. "Stop keeping it all for yourself."
"Wait, he's done this before?" Jesse asked, looking at each of them and stopping at Olivia, as if she had all the answers. "Olivia?"
"Well, yeah," the dark-haired girl answered with a voice that was barely a whisper. "It doesn't matter—"
"Yes, it does!" Jesse professed. She put her hands on her hips and gave Aiden a dark look. "Taking resources from other people? That doesn't make you any better than Hadrian!"
Aiden's eyes widened at her declaration, but he quickly recovered and rolled his eyes. "Resources should go to the people who can really use them. I'm the best builder in Build Club, so I should get the best resources."
Lukas could practically hear Jesse grinding her teeth. "Now you sound like The Founder."
"Come on, Jesse. Don't be like that," he said, putting his arm around her shoulder, and Lukas felt that burning again. Jesse immediately pushed him off though, making Aiden give her a shocked look. "I can show you how to build some pretty cool things. Let's go over here and try it out."
"No, thanks." Jesse clicked her tongue a few times. "I don't need you to show me how to build."
"Is that right? I told you, I'm the best builder here."
"I think I know my way around a crafting table better than you, Aiden."
Lukas glanced around and noticed that they were starting to attract a crowd, including his own father. Everyone seemed to be watching them silently, and Lukas could only guess that they were curious if a fight was going to break out. He had been so absorbed with watching Jesse that he hadn't realized everyone else in the club had come over to watch the commotion.
"Uh, Jesse? Aiden?" he said. "Maybe you two need to cool it a bit."
Aiden just ignored his friend. "You think you can out-build me, Jesse?"
She crossed her arms over her chest. "I know I can."
"How about you prove it then?" Lukas did not like the intense look in Aiden's eyes. "What do you say to a little competition?"
"Competition?" Now Lukas didn't like the interest in Jesse's tone. "A building competition?"
Aiden glanced around at the rest of Build Club, who had started whispering to each other. Who was this new member? Did she really think she could build better than Aiden? She was one of the few who ever stood up to him. Where did she come from?
"Everyone, we're going to have a build-off!" The crowd cheered at his declaration.
"Well, I didn't expect you to do that on your first day here," Milo commented. Jesse gave him a helpless shrug and smile, and he just shook his head. "I'll go get some supplies from the storage."
Milo headed off to a corner of the room, followed by a couple other builders.
"So, how is this supposed to work?" Jesse asked Lukas, turning her body to face him and away from Aiden, whose nose scrunched at the snub. "This competition?"
"Well, each person is allowed whatever supplies they want to craft whatever they want," Lukas described. "The rest of us decide which of the items crafted is the best, based on a vote. Whoever has the most vote, obviously, wins."
"Let's not forget the terms," said Aiden. "What the winner gets from the loser."
"Okay." Jesse glanced back at Olivia before turning her attention back to Aiden. "If I win, you swear to never bother Olivia again, and no taking her items or resources from her."
"I can agree to that."
"And if you win?"
Aiden steepled his fingers, pretending to look like he was thinking, but Lukas recognized that expression. Aiden knew exactly what he wanted.
"A date."
Jesse raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"
"A date. With me."
Olivia looked like she wanted to protest, and Petra simply was dumbfounded, her mouth hanging down. Lukas had to suppress the snarl emanating from his mouth.
"Seriously Aiden?" he said, pulling on his blond hair. "Jesse's not—"
"Okay, deal." Now the three were staring at Jesse, all of them astonished. "Let's do this."
"I get to go first, okay?"
"Sure."
Aiden spun on his heel and headed for the stage, where Milo and a few other Build Club members had brought various resources and piled them on stage left. As Aiden started picking out a few items out of the mound, Jesse turned to her friends.
"Um, guys?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "What's a date?"
"What?" Petra said.
"A date? What is that?"
The group was silent. Lukas and Petra looked at each other with horrified expressions, and Olivia stared at her with openmouthed.
"You…don't know…what a date is?" Olivia questioned.
"Never heard of it…well, other than what you put on a calendar, but I don't think that's what Aiden means."
Lukas coughed into his sleeve, trying to gather his thoughts of how to explain this. Well, as knowledgeable as Jesse was, he shouldn't have been surprised she didn't know what a date was. She didn't know what a high-five was when they first met, after all. Just another thing she was naïve about.
"Okay, Jesse, here's the thing," Petra answered at last. "All you need to know is you need to build the best thing you can think of."
Jesse gave a nervous laugh. "That bad, huh?"
"Yeah, that bad," Lukas agreed. "Petra's right. You need to build like you've never built before."
Jesse's green eyes darted back and forth between them and started biting her lip again.
Aiden was finally ready to start his build. He was allowed to either build something with blocks or craft something on the crafting table provided on the stage. The important thing was that whatever he built had to be watched by everyone else, to make sure he actually made the item and didn't jus get it from someone else. Lukas glanced around, seeing that everyone in the club had moved to watch the competition. A few people even climbed the stairs to the second floor to get a better look from the railings.
Lukas couldn't see exactly what Aiden was crafting, but he was using sticks and string, just like Jesse did with the bow.
No way he's just going to make another bow, he thought. Everyone else just saw Jesse doing it. That wouldn't prove he's a better builder.
His curiosity was sated when Aiden finished placing his items on the table and he heard the telltale sound of an item being created. He lifted it up above his head so everyone else could see, and the audience burst out into applause.
Petra coughed. "It's a fishing pole."
"Not like we go fishing very often," Olivia commented, her lips pressed together. "But not a lot of people know how to make that. Man, Jesse's going to lose."
Jesse gave her a confident smile. "Faith, Olivia."
"What?"
"Just a little? I mean, a fishing pole?" Jesse scoffed and blew a raspberry. "Let me show you something really cool."
Jesse headed up to the stage, passing Aiden as she went. He smirked at her and said something, but Lukas couldn't hear it. Jesse shook her head as she reached the pile of crafting supplies. She shifted them around a bit, but quickly grabbed two iron ingots and a single stick.
"What's she building?" Petra wondered aloud, to which Lukas could only shrug.
"No idea," he responded. "She knows a lot about building though, so she could be making anything."
"Where did you say she learned how to build?" Olivia asked.
Lukas opened his mouth to answer, but he found himself pausing. "I didn't say. I don't know."
No one could see the pattern of the recipe Jesse was using, but it wasn't more than a minute later that she had finished and an iron sword appeared on the table. She swung it around a few times before lifting it above her head so everyone could see. The club members that didn't let out gasps of awe were instead staring at it with mouths agape.
"That's a sword!" someone called out. "That's what the guards carry around!"
Milo walked up to Jesse to take a closer look at the weapon. "How in the heavens do you know how to craft that? None of us figured out how!"
"It's a simple recipe," Jesse replied. "I can show you."
"Please do!"
Cheers from the audience continued as Jesse held out the sword to Milo. He tentatively took it and swung it once, getting a feel for its weight.
"Amazing!" he cried.
"You can keep it, Milo," she offered, and Milo's eyebrows rose at her. "As thanks for trusting me, you know?"
"You don't need to repay me for that, Jesse, but I thank you nonetheless!" Milo turned to the other members of Build Club. "All those in favor of Jesse's build, raise your hand."
Lukas shot his up first, followed by Petra and Olivia, and soon nearly everyone else in the room. Aiden held his fishing pole at his side and frowned, his furrowed brow clearly showing he wasn't sure how to react to losing so badly to the newest club member. Jesse descended from the small stage and walked over to him.
"Remember the deal," she said seriously. "Don't bother Olivia, ever again."
Aiden huffed but nodded stiffly. "Fine. Just remember, I don't give up that easily."
He then turned and walked away, heading to the stairs leading to the upper floor of the club. Jesse just shrugged, apparently not sure what to make of that.
"Sorry, Jesse," Lukas said as he joined her. "I really don't know what's gotten into him. I mean, he's been cocky before, sure, but now he's just being…I don't know…"
"A creep?" Petra suggested.
The roars of the crowd finally began to die down. Milo went to Jesse and patted her on her shoulder, nearly knocking her down.
"Well, Jesse, on your first day at Build Club, you not only showed off your crafting skills, but also managed win a competition hands down against one of our best builders," he teased. "You sure know how to make an entrance."
Jesse just shrugged again, her teeth glistening in the light of the redstone torches. "No big deal. I'll share all the recipes I know."
"We are in your debt if you do, Jesse."
"Yeah, nice one!" Petra congratulated her. "Bout time Aiden got put in his place."
"What else can you make?" Lukas asked, his blue eyes brimming with the desire to learn. "I know how to make levers, buckets and some special blocks, but I've never tried something like a sword before."
Jesse's cheeks turned pink. "I, uh, well, let's start with something basic. Do you know how to make a shovel?"
"No. Show me how?"
"Okay, okay, but before we officially induct you into the club," Olivia interjected, holding up her index finger. "There's one very, very important question you need to answer first."
Jesse's expression became perplexed again. "What's that?"
"Would you rather fight a hundred chicken-sized zombies, or ten zombie-sized chickens?"
