Chapter 7: Freeze
Three days later, Jill went in for a visit with Doctor Hardy to get a check-up.
She had just finished tending her plants and clearing the portion of field she had set as a goal for the day, and it was around eleven thirty in the morning. The weather was cool and drizzly, and Jill was grateful for the break in watering the crops. She still had to clear weeds, though, and that had taken a good portion of time.
After Hardy finished checking her head, arms, and legs, he offered to feed her some lunch. They sat together at his kitchen table, eating noodles with veggies, and gave her a short little report on her health. She was doing okay, he had said, but he'd really appreciate it if she'd sleep a little more at night in order to let her body heal more. Jill was only getting a good eight hours on a average night, thanks to nightmares, but she wasn't about to tell Hardy that.
"So, Pony," Hardy started after swallowing a bite of broccoli, "how do you like it in the valley so far?"
Jill smiled and sat up a little straighter. "It's lovely here," she replied. "Really, honestly lovely. I don't think I've ever been in a nicer place."
It wasn't a lie, either. She had to lie a lot, but the valley truly was one of the nicest areas she had ever visited or even lived in before.
Hardy smiled. "That's great. How's the farm going? Considering the tension in your muscles, I'd say you're working hard. Maybe a little too hard?" His eyes twinkled, but there was also a hint of seriousness in his voice, and Jill felt guilt rise up in her chest. Maybe she should start going to bed earlier...
"The farm's doing well," Jill replied after chewing some noodles. She wiped her mouth with the napkin to her left, and continued, "I'm expecting my turnips to be ready to harvest in a few days, which is good, because that will be my first profit of the season, other than shipping local plants and other foraged stuff. My other crops should be ready to harvest shortly, as well. I plan to build a coop with that money, because I've salvaged enough lumber from those deteriorated buildings where I have enough to build it."
Hardy nodded. "Wonderful. Do you like animals? Have you had experience with them before?"
Jill shrugged. "I volunteered at an animal shelter for a few years back home, and everyone told me I was pretty good with them. I worked on a farm for a few summers, too, and I really liked it. My real passion is writing, though."
"Really?" Hardy inquired. "I used to write when I was younger. Got a medicinal book published a good while ago, you know."
"Oh, that's really cool," Jill said, completely in awe. "It took me, like, at least two years to finish my first book, and after that I didn't have the energy to pick it back up again."
That was a lie. She had joined the organization right before she finished her first novel as a sixteen year old, but wasn't able to publish it because she had to keep a low profile if she wanted to stay in the crime business, and there was no way to do so with her name in Oxford Press.
They continued chatting for a while, and Jill was once again amazed at the height of her spirits. She was the most comfortable she had been in she didn't know how long, and she hadn't heard anything of the organization since the three days before when she read that article. Being isolated in a tiny town did have some pretty nice perks.
After they finished lunch and chatting, which was around twelve-thirty, Hardy handed her a squeeze tube and some herbs. He explained that it was for the gash on her leg, which had just started scabbing over, and she should apply it once in the morning and once in the evening in order to avoid any chances of infection. Jill accepted the medicine, and then began to put on her coat, which was hanging on the hook on the door alongside Hardy's striped scarf.
"Be careful not to stay out too long," Hardy warned. "You could get a cold from the rain."
"I'll be home by evening," Jill replied, zipping up the jacket. "Don't worry. And I'll probably stop by Celia's house sometime before that, too, so I'll stay dry."
"Alright, if you say so, Miss Pony," he said. "Eat dinner, too. Go to bed early!"
Jill opened and closed the door just as he said his last words, and she smiled. She had gotten used to being called Pony, and she saw it as more of a nickname than a codename, now. Maybe it helped that her best friend from middle school used to call her that, so it originally started as a nickname, anyway.
The rain fell from the sky lightly, like warm snowflakes, but Jill lowered her head a little bit to keep from getting her face wet. Brown hair that had escaped her loose ponytail flopped in front of her eyes, and she couldn't help but smile a bit as she pushed it away with her hand and then watched it fall back down again because it wasn't quite long enough to tuck behind her ear.
The girl was headed for the southern part of the valley. It was one of only three places she hadn't yet swept clear of lumber and weeds, and while she did have enough wood and material stone for a coop, she wanted to make sure she'd have some leftover, too, in case she needed to make any emergency repairs on the house. Plus, it was better to have something saved up because she could use it to work toward a new barn, too.
The first area she spotted was near Kasey and Patrick's house. They were the twin brothers who made fireworks and, according to Muffy, were often drunk at the bar. Jill smiled as she found lots of branches and stones to transform, and set to work, chopping and smashing and pulling weeds just to keep the field clear. She found some herbs and flowers, too, which she figured she'd either ship or give to Hardy and other townspeople.
She worked like that in the cool rain, feeling motivated, for about half an hour, and that was when she realized that the echo of her hammer wasn't an echo. She stopped moving for about five seconds, and listened to the sounds around her. Someone else was nearby, also hammering rocks and other material. But who? No one in the valley built their own homes, shacks, or other buildings except for her.
Jill narrowed her eyes and scanned the area, turning in a complete half circle before she found another figure in the distance. Judging by the person's brute size even from this far away (which was a good seventy feet) it was a man, and a big man at that. His skin was darker than anyone else she had met so far in the valley, and he was swinging his hammer at a particularly large boulder that didn't seem to want to budge.
Curious, Jill started walking through the rain to this man she had never seen before. Maybe he had gone to the festivals earlier that week, but she hadn't noticed him at all.
When she finally arrived at the boulder, he didn't even give her a glance or say any words. He just kept clobbering away at the rock, and Jill couldn't tell if it was sweat or rain gathering near his brow.
She cleared her throat, and he finally spared her a glance. After that tiny pause, though, he kept on working. Jill couldn't help but notice his well-used, slightly tattered clothing, and, again, she became full of curiosity. Finally, she gathered the courage to say, "Please don't take offense, but, uh, what are you doing?"
Without stopping, the man (Guy? Old dude? Jill couldn't even tell whether he was young or old) replied curtly, "Smashing this rock."
Jill smiled, and said, "Well, yeah, I can see that. But why?"
"Material," he replied, taking another swing, creating another bang that echoed through the air. "Inside the rock. There's iron, maybe."
"How do you know?" Jill asked, a little surprised there was iron in the valley.
"A hunch," he shrugged, and swung again.
Well, he certainly was a man of few words, Jill decided. But few words or lots, a single person, even of his size, wasn't going to crack open that boulder. It was bigger than her, even though she was only a good five feet tall.
"Well, do you want help?" She asked.
The man glanced briefly at her arms, which hardly looked muscled even though they weren't paper-thin anymore, and then looked back at the rock and shrugged. "If you want."
Jill smiled, pulled up her hammer again, and went to the other side of the rock. Then they both swung their hammers simultaneously, creating a larger echo. They worked in silence, Jill focusing on the drumming noise of the rain as it gradually got heavier. She felt the drops fall down her neck and shivered, but continued working nonetheless, curious to see if this man's hunch was right and there truly was some sort of metal inside the rock.
The man grunted, and waved a hand at Jill. She stopped her hammer in mid-air, and watched as he tensed his arms and raised his own hammer high above his head. Then, with a small grunt, he swung the hammer down on the rock. A short but deep crack appeared where he hit the rock. He repeated this process again, swinging even harder this time. The crack widened. Again and again, he produced powerful swings, until finally the boulder became loose enough where after one final tap, the crack split completely and revealed the inside of the boulder.
It was in fact, to Jill's surprise and amazement, filled with some sort of metal. She let out a short breath, almost like a gasp, and watched as the man started to hack away at the inside of the rock with a smaller mallet. Jill caught on fairly quickly, and started using her own hammer to separate the metal from the inside of the boulder. She worked on the smaller pieces that had separated completely from the rock, while the man worked on the larger body. It's almost like this rock is a freaking geode, Jill thought.
Once they were done, the man pulled a large brown sack from over his shoulder, and they loaded the metal inside. It filled up the sack more than halfway, and Jill wondered what on earth he was going to do with the stuff.
"You want the stone?" He suddenly asked. Jill was confused at first, until he gestured to the material stone lying all around them.
"Yeah," Jill replied. "Actually, I do. I'll have to go home and get another bag, though. I don't think all of this will fit in my rucksack." Even if it is made to be bigger on the inside, Jill added inside her head.
"I've got one at my house," the man said. "It's right over there." He nodded his head toward a metal trailer, and Jill suddenly realized that this was the scary and intimidating guy Celia had talked about before, but she couldn't remember his name. Well, he didn't seem too bad. Still, the fact that he needed this much metal for something sparked her curiosity.
The man started walking toward the trailer, ducking his head against the rain, and Jill quietly followed. Her bangs were wet enough that they had all clumped together now, so she didn't even bother wiping them away from her face this time.
When they reached the strange structure of a house, the man opened the door, and allowed Jill to step inside before him. Jill had to keep herself from gasping in surprise. The only legitimate pieces of furniture in the house were the bed and the table. Everything else seemed to be a work of art made from metal that looked like it had been smashed together, not with a hammer, but with fists. The little circular indentations suggested that the metal had been shaped by a more natural form.
The floor was littered with little pieces of material, as well as smaller, pretty projects. One in particular that caught Jill's eye was a little silver vase with thin strips of something that looked like scrap metal, or maybe iron, curling up like flowers out of the bottom of the structure. The fluorescent lighting of the trailer made it glow dimly, giving the sculpture a mysterious but beautiful essence.
The man walked across the room and grabbed an empty sack off the floor, breaking Jill's trance, and then walked back and handed it to her.
"Did you make all these?" Jill asked, gesturing with her hand toward all of the sculptures and projects.
The man nodded. "Yeah."
"They're beautiful," Jill breathed. "Really. I love them."
"Thanks," the man mumbled, and Jill watched in amusement as an embarrassed expression crossed his features.
"Well, thanks for the bag," Jill said, taking the brown sack from his hands.
"Thanks for the metal."
Jill nodded, and began to walk out of the trailer, when she suddenly realized she still didn't know his name. She looked over her shoulder at him, and said, "I'm Pony, by the way."
"Cody," he grunted. Ah, that's right, Jill thought. Cody.
"Nice to meet you, Cody. See you around!" And with that she left the trailer and walked back out into the rain to collect her material stone, still smiling about the strange but amusing encounter.
• • •
Two hours and a change of clothes later, Jill had finished collecting material and was enjoying a cup of tea at Celia's house. She had been informed beforehand that Karen, Celia's best friend from Mineral Town, was going to be there. On Tuesdays, the two girls generally spent Karen's day off discussing various topics of interest in Celia's bedroom.
Now there were three girls talking about little things in Celia's attic.. Jill liked Karen so far. Much unlike Celia, Karen was fiery and passionate as well as sarcastic, but there was also a nice part of her. She was tough, but caring, according to Celia.
"So, Pony," Karen began after taking a sip of tea, "you run the farm here now?"
Jill nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I've been running it for the past three days, and I only got here a few days before that, but I like it here so far."
"That's cool," Karen smiled. "I have a friend who helps his mom and sister with the poultry shop in Mineral Town."
Celia giggled, and said, "I'd hardly call him a friend, Karen." She turned to Jill, and continued, "His name is Rick, and he's Karen's fiancée."
A hint of pink appeared on Karen's cheeks, and Jill couldn't help but smile, too.
"Hey, that's my business, not yours!" Karen cried, and grabbed a pillow off of Celia's bed and hit her with it. Celia smiled even wider.
"But I'm the first one you told besides your family," Celia laughed. "You ran all the way here from Mineral Town the day it happened, and it wasn't even a Tuesday."
"Oh, quiet, Celia. You don't know anything."
"Oh yes I do!"
The girls giggled, and Jill eventually said, "Congratulations then, Karen. When's the wedding? You must be really excited."
"It's in a season or so," Karen said giddily. "And I'm very excited. You're welcome to come to the ceremony and reception, Pony. I invited everyone in the valley and Mineral Town. It'd be rude of me not to invite you, too." She gave Jill a once over, and then joked, "Plus, I guess you're alright, other than your horse stench."
Jill set her tea down, giggling. "I don't even own a horse, thank you! But it's really nice of you to invite me. I'll be sure to save the date."
The conversation carried on in a light-hearted way, and the time passed quickly. Jill thought about the organization once or twice, but her spirits picked up again with about the same speed that they dropped. By the time they finished their tea and talking it was past four o'clock, and Jill was feeling pretty tired. Last night she had more nightmares than usual, and, thus, lost more sleep.
"Well, guys, I've got more work to do," Jill eventually said during a break in the conversation, "so I guess I should head out. I'll see you later though, Celia. And Karen, feel free to drop in on my house next time you're in the valley."
"Will do, Pony," Karen replied. "It was really nice to meet you. Have a great evening!"
"Bye, Pony!"
Jill left shortly after. The air was cooler than the afternoon, and the rain had subsided enough that she didn't have to duck her head while walking. Marlin and Vesta were out working in the fields, pulling weeds around the turnips and planting new seeds after they harvested the other crops. Marlin looked up from his worked and Jill waved shyly. He nodded and then bent back down to tend to the turnips, and Jill smiled. Elvis' reincarnation was very anti-social, and that was a fact.
Once she got to the bridge over the creek leading to the other side of town, Jill felt her stomach squeeze and her throat went dry. These physical reactions had been happening every day since she nearly drowned, and Jill wondered if her body had developed a phobia of water and swimming. She would have to work on that. It wasn't good to have a weakness, especially if the organization was still after her.
Thoughts like these convinced Jill that it was still going to take a long, long time for her to fully forget about the organization, and Hawk and his pigs. But she was improving even within these first few days, and she was happier than she had ever remembered being.
It was an easy walk after the passed the bridge. Jill decided on not going back to the farm, but she didn't really want to see anyone, either, so she settled for just taking a stroll through town. Maybe there were some flowers or herbs she had missed on her earlier investigation.
This plan was quickly ruined, however, as soon as Jill came in sight of the bar. The door to the small building opened and out came Muffy, looking like she had just been attacked by a pack of raccoons. Well, maybe not that drastic, but she looked pretty bad. Her blond hair was ruffled and her face was slightly pale. The almost-too-short brown skirt she was wearing was creased in weird spots, and she looked like she hadn't slept last night or something.
"Pony!" She cried when she spotted the brunette. "Oh, Pony, I'm so glad to see you!"
"Why? Is something wrong?" Jill asked as Muffy threw her arms around the much shorter girl.
Muffy let go of Jill and sniffled. "It's the most horrible thing, Pony. Griffin and I found a note from that Phantom Thief this morning. It said he's going to come to our bar tonight and steal something!" She paused, smiling a little, and then said, "His confidence is pretty attractive." She straightened her face again, and then said, "But still, we have to catch him, and I don't know what to do! I don't suppose you'll help us, will you, Pony?"
Many reactions and thoughts rushed through Jill's head as she went through the pros and cons of helping. Pros: get a chance to steal information from Skye again, help Muffy and Griffin, get Skye arrested. Cons: possibly fall into a horrible trap, expose skills as an agent/thief/whatever, lose more sleep. The obvious answer was to say no in order to protect herself (and, in the long run, protect her new friends), but something in the back of her head said go for it.
And so, she went for it.
"Yeah, sure, of course I'll help," Jill replied. "When should I come by?"
Muffy's face lit up like a child's on Christmas. "Thank you so much, Jill!" She threw her arms around Jill yet again, and then continued, "You should probably come by sometime around after ten. Don't, like, bring a gun or anything. Griffin and I will try to have some sort of plan made up by the time you get here."
"Alright," Jill nodded. "I should probably get back to my farm and finish some more work, then. I'll see you at ten."
"Bye!" Muffy said as Jill started walking away. "Thanks, Pony! You're a life saver!"
The rain was falling gently again, and Jill's thoughts were pitter-pattering in her brain, as well. Catch the thief, or keep him to get more information? Maybe she wouldn't even have to catch him. Maybe he'd win. Wouldn't that be something?
She tried not to think about it too much, but Jill could probably be classified as the greatest crime boss of all time, even though she wasn't even head of any sort of organization. Hawk was the boss of all the bosses, and Jill had escaped him. It was his fault, of course: he had taken her under his wing, he was her mentor, she learned from him. He should have predicted that if he showed her any shady side of the business that she didn't anticipate or desire, she would rebel. If he showed her anything at all that she didn't want to be a part of, she would leave. She would run. And she did.
The fact that she had escaped from him, Hawk, a one-syllable word that sent shivers down the spine of anyone that knew him, was pretty much impossible. But she was escaped, and had been for a year. And not only that, but she had exposed Project X to the government through two hack codes and a flash drive, thus ruining a plan he had carried on for generations of crime leaders.
If that wasn't impressive, she didn't know what was. But really, it was much less satisfying to think about than you would believe.
Jill spent the hours until ten o'clock writing in her journal and lounging around her house, trying to keep her thoughts away from things she didn't prefer to think about. It was easier when she was around people, and maybe that was the reason why she surrounded herself with her new friends most of the time. When she was with others, it was easier to realize that she was indeed a good person, she had just had a few bumps in the road on the way of becoming one.
At nine o'clock Jill was becoming so exhausted she debated bailing on Muffy and Griffin and going to bed. It was all she could do not to lie down and fall asleep in her work clothes. Still, she went on, pacing across her main room in order to stay awake. Her thoughts wondered to good things, like Karen's engagement and her new acquaintance, Cody. She let herself linger on thoughts of Marlin, the anti-social Elvis, as well as Celia and Muffy.
Finally, at nine fifty-five, Jill started her walk to the bar. The rain clouds had cleared enough that she could see the stars bright and twinkling in the dark sky, not covered with smoke like they used to be in the city that was miles and miles and miles away.
She stepped inside of the bar at exactly ten-oh-five. Griffin and Muffy were much less solemn than she expected them to be, but that let Jill relax a little. Last time, at Lumina's house, no one had been hurt, and no violent acts had happened. Maybe this Skye wasn't so serious after all.
They were relaxing at the bar, Jill swirling her spoon around in a mug of hot chocolate, when Muffy suddenly said, "Mmm...what's that smell?"
Jill inhaled deeply, and realized that Muffy was right. There was a peculiar smell. It wasn't any type of dangerous gas, though. Jill had practically memorized the scent of those. It was more like...curry?
"It smells good," Griffin commented. "Hey, Muffy, maybe we should go check it out. Pony, do you mind staying here?"
"Uh, sure, I'll stay," Jill replied, and then they were out the door within seconds, probably excited to try and solve the case of the mysterious smell.
Five minutes passed. After she heard their mumbling voices disappear, Jill hopped down from the stool, and started heading toward the door to make sure they were okay.
Just as she reached for the doorknob, it opened. But instead of Griffin or Muffy coming to relieve her post, it was Skye.
As soon as the two made eye contact, they both froze. Just like the first time, they stood there staring at each other for multiple seconds. Jill was unable to comprehend why she didn't feel like she could move. Instead, she was caught up in reading the thief's expression, and his eyes, which she hadn't really been close enough to analyze last time. They were a combination of blue, green, and gray, but there was something else beside color in his irises. Age. It was something Jill saw in her own eyes whenever she looked in the mirror. She was only nineteen, and yet whenever she looked in her eyes, she saw old age. They had seen too much in this lifetime to be young.
Skye blinked, and the trance broke, shattering like a glass dropped on a stone floor. He smiled charmingly, and said, "Well, if it isn't Pony, my fair maiden. We meet again. It seems that fate has decided to treat me kindly tonight."
Jill smiled in a charming way, as well, trying hard not to giggle at his dialect. Come on, Jill, she thought. This is a thief, not a prince. Still, it was difficult to believe he was a threat when, once again, he was wearing that leopard print suit.
"Could it be fate?" Jill pondered aloud, watching with more amusement as Skye played along and walked a step closer to her. She had been so close to the door before that now they were only inches apart.
"I don't suppose you're going to kiss me this time instead of tackling me to the floor?" Skye chuckled.
"You stole my friend's necklace," Jill shrugged. "That justifies the tackling. And besides, I don't kiss thieves."
Skye gave her a funny look after that, a look that had underlying meaning, and Jill probably could have picked up the significance if the expression hadn't disappeared so quickly.
"Well," Skye breathed, his charming façade apparent once again, "tonight I'm here to steal a lovely drink that is very valuable, so you can either look the other way, or you can try, and fail, to capture me."
Jill moved a hand quickly to try and deliver a blow to his gut, but he caught it just in time, and twisted her around so that she was facing the door again, one arm caught uncomfortably behind her back. Her body wasn't as used to the hurt as it had been days before, but she managed to hold back a cry of pain and settled for gritting her teeth quietly instead.
"I really don't want to hurt you," Skye said, his voice unexpectedly sincere. "I don't hurt people. I'm not a monster, as I explained at our last meeting. I'm sorry that your arm is uncomfortable at the moment, but it's necessary."
"You're rather perplexing, you know that?" Jill said breathlessly, and she was a little surprised at the teasing tone of her voice.
"Or so I've been told," Skye chuckled. His mouth was uncomfortably close to Jill's neck, and she resisted the urge to shiver as his breath tickled her collarbone. "Now," he said, "I'm going to let you go, but only for a moment or two. Get into a somewhat comfortable position, okay?"
"Wait, why? I mean, no, I'm not going to do that! You do realize-,"
Skye abruptly let her go, and Jill used the two split seconds to gain her bearings. She twirled around to face him, let her arm drop limply, and was about to reach out and try to pin him down again when suddenly he put his arm up and shouted, "Chick-beam, fire!"
Something tucked in his hand started to glow, and Jill was so surprised that she froze. Then there was light. The flash was blinding for about two seconds, and then everything went normal again.
Everything except for the fact that Jill couldn't move.
• • •
