Enjoy! That's all :)

Chapter 21

{INTO THE URBAN JUNGLE [austin] ELGNUJ NABRU EHT OTNI}

The four of us arrived at Destiny and Jaeson's apartment a few minutes later. I knocked and then Destiny let us in, looking a little grim.

"Hey, Felix," I said upon entering and seeing him. He was reading Jaeson's pulse, his wrist in his hand.

Felix jumped. He turned slightly to look at me and said, "Hello." He didn't seem too happy, either.

"Is he alright?" I asked, turning grim myself.

"His condition has worsened," Destiny said quietly.

Maya pushed past us and stood on Jaeson's other side. She put a hand on his forehead and gasped. "He's fighting as hard as he can, but he's weakening fast."

"What do we do?" Destiny demanded, tensing in fear. Her eyes opened wide with the same emotion.

"We need to ask fast," Rafe said. "Maya, Austin, Jay, and I will go in and help him."

"In where?" asked Uxie's voice. We all whipped around to face her. She was in the head of the hallway. She walked forward and came to stand next to Lily and I.

"Jaeson's condition is not good," Maya explained. "We're going into his mind. Now."

"Take Destiny," Uxie said.

"She's not an empath," Maya said, frowning. She turned to Destiny. "Are you?"

"No, but she's the queen of the universe," Uxie said. "She can go with you. Trust me."

"Okay," Maya said reluctantly.

"You two may be rejected, though," Uxie warned Maya and Rafe.

"What do you mean?" Rafe asked.

"I mean, Jaeson's mind is incredibly strong and he may not accept your presence," Uxie said.

"How will they get out without us?" Rafe wondered.

Uxie bit her lip. "They'll have to help him until he's better enough to fight on his own. Then he'll eject them from his mind. I must warn you: this will be dangerous. You may never come out again if he dies."

"That's okay," Austin nodded. Lily bit her lip, but didn't comment. "First we should probably get Jay over here."

Destiny face-palmed, mostly out of nervousness. "Yeah. It might be easier to bring Jay over here if we're going to take Jay into Jaeson's mind."

"Yup," Austin agreed, nodding.

With a flash of light, Jay appeared, grimness taking over his expression and aura. He must have heard us talking about him.

"Just in time," I said, smiling. "We're going into Jaeson's mind."

"Tell me the details," Jay said, and Destiny explained.

"Ready?" Maya wondered after Jay was satisfied with the information.

"What about Eve?" I realized abruptly. "We have to save her!"

"We will," Destiny said, nodding. "In someone's mind, time is much faster. It's like a dream in that each hour in there is actually less than a second out here. That's why the poison kills so fast; it works at a dream's pace."

"Okay, then," I said, accepting this with a nod. "Let's do it!"

Rafe and Maya took my hand, Jay's, and Destiny's. They then whispered in a different language, running through ancient lyrics of the song that could save Jaeson.

With a flash of light we vanished from the room and appeared in the middle of a tiny town. A vague memory of a picture of a twentieth century suburb came into mind. I wondered where we were.

"I recognize this place," Jay said, stepping away from our small group. "This was... the life before you, Austin."

"What are we doing here?" I wondered.

"This is a location Jaeson's recent memory?" Maya asked, looking worried.

"Yes," Jay nodded. "Just a few lives ago."

"Oh, no," Maya said.

"The poison usually starts from the end, jumps to the beginning and then corrupts one memory at a time from there," Rafe explained. "When the last memory is corrupted, Jaeson will die."

"Oh, no," I echoed. "We have to go fast, then."

"Yes," Jay said, nodding.

"You two are fading," Destiny said, frowning at Rafe and Maya.

"Jaeson's mind doesn't like us, I guess," Maya sighed.

"Like Uxie said," Rafe agreed. "Good luck, guys..." With that the two disappeared.

"Where do we start?" I asked.

"Where the corruption does," Jay answered. "We're fighting his inner demons, right? Well, I remember specifically which one this was."

"What?" I asked.

"His parents rejected him, like usual, but this time he had a sister," Jay told Destiny and I.

"What did the sister have to do with it?" Destiny asked.

"The sister was Mary, the love of his first life," Jay said. He hung his head in sorrow for his friend. "She claimed to hate him more than words could say."

"Ooh," I said, flinching. "That hurts."

"More than you know," Jay said, shaking his head in sadness.

"So where do we go to... stop this?" Destiny asked.

"His demon was loneliness, not his parents or Mary's reincarnate," Jay said. "He had me, but he still felt isolated. This is where he began to drift away from me. He felt that he'd lose me, too, eventually, and couldn't bear the thought. But instead of trying to make more memories to last, he started becoming... who he is now in order to lessen the blow that he thought was inevitable."

"So what do we do?" I asked again.

"We fight the demon," Jay said. "I had been watching his nightmares, and it seems the poison turns his fears into actual monsters that he literally cannot defeat by himself. That's where we come in."

"Okay," Destiny said.

"I'm going to say it again: what do we do?" I repeated.

"We find Jaeson and watch him until we fight," Jay said. "And I think I know where he is."

aUTHOR'S nOTE:

So, children! We are now entering Jaeson's mind. Please keep your arms and legs in the vehicle at all times, and of course keep your seat belt buckled. It's going to be a bumpy ride...

Hope you enjoyed!