Chapter 21–Trial and Error

I stood, waiting for the attack to come. But it never came. I only heard a voice.

"Ah, Tia, we meet again."

I whirled around to see Jinx. My pulse picked up, everything falling into place. Of course he'd done this. But not to me…

"What do you want?" I asked, my voice shaking a bit as I tried not to show my fear.

"Ug, not this whole "∞" thing again," Jinx rolled his eyes. "Let me just fix that for you." He snapped his fingers, and Tia took over control.

"Remember what I told you," I mentally reminded her. "You don't have to do what he says."

"Ah, now Tia, girl, wassup?" Jinx asked, swaggering over to her. "Been too long. Why don't you come on over here and I'll make you feel more at home."

Tia was unswayed. "I-I'm on ∞'s side," she told him, her voice quivering a bit. I could tell, it was against her most primal urges, but she was doing it!

"Boring," Jinx sneered. "Who ever liked a goody two-shoes, anyway?"

Velvet poked her head out from behind his shoulder. "Yeah, who did?"

Jinx rolled his eyes in an annoyed fashion. "I think we've all had enough of your comments, Velvet." And then, she dropped to the ground, lifeless, just like the others.

"What have you done to them?" I asked steadily, taking control again. "You better not have hurt them."

"Hurt them?" Jinx laughed cruelly. "Oh, of course I hurt them. But if you're asking if they're dead… they're not. Yes, unfortunately, I still need some of these useless bastards for my later plans. I just shut them off."

"That doesn't make sense," I narrowed my eyes. "You can't just switch people on and off!"

Jinx groaned. "They're machines. Of course I can turn them off."

"Why?" I asked.

"So we could be alone," he stated, stretching out the word alone forever. "Oh, and just in case you think you can crawl back to your little sissy friend Tia, I shut her off, too." Just as I opened my mouth to respond, he raised a hand to silence me. "Don't worry, I'll turn them all on again when I'm done. It's just so much fun making them drop like flies!"

It was sort of a creepy scene. Jinx stood about a foot in front of me, and there were five lifeless bodies lying around us. A flash of lightening ignited the sky, and glinted off Jinx's eye. One hand found its way to my scar, running over the stitches again.

"So, ∞," Jinx smiled. "Now that we're alone, you can tell me the truth."

"T-the truth about what?" I asked, my voice wavering. I always felt much braver when I knew there was someone else to back me up.

"This so-called "light power" of yours," Jinx simply answered. There was another flash of lightening, and then next thing I knew, he was beside me, his back pressed against mine. "Tell me, do you really possess this power, or was that first time just a fluke?"

I leapt away at his touch. "Of course it's real," I snapped. "Ember's teaching me to use it."

"And, from what I can see, you do really believe that," Jinx stated, a smile playing about his lips. "It's odd… why do you trust him so much? He's never really done anything for you."

"Yes he has," I snarled. "He's always there for me. Whenever I'm feeling weak, or-or upset, or anything, he's there to lean on!"

"Yes, we all know how much he loves you," Jinx rolled his eyes. "Why do you believe every word he says?"

"He knows what he's talking about," I quickly replied. Perhaps a little too quickly.

"How would you know that?" Jinx asked. "He could be making the whole thing up. There might be no light power, there might be no way to escape. He might know what's going to happen to you, and telling you all this 'light power' bullshit is just how he gives you false hope."

"But even I know what's going to happen to me," I told him. "If you have your way, my parents die. If I have my way, everyone lives."

"But not only your parents will die," Jinx whispered, getting closer again. "But you will die as well."

"Now, that is bullshit," I snapped. "You're just making things up. If you killed every 'Punk who ever disliked something you did, how do you build onto this little cult of yours?"

"Oh, so now we're a cult?" he asked.

"You didn't answer my question," I narrowed my eyes.

He sighed. "Look, there have been dozens of 'Punks through here that I've killed. Did you really think that the measly seven I have would be enough to satisfy my appetite?"

"So what, you eat the ones you kill?" I asked.

"I never said that," he winked.

"Shut up!" I exclaimed. "You're making no sense at all."

He laughed. "When have I ever made sense? If you can't understand me, I've done what I needed." He wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "So, back to the subject–light magic."

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked.

"I just want to know if it's all complete lies or if there is some sense to it," he simply said, examining his hand nonchalantly.

"I have this light power," I told him, moving away and planting my feet in the ground. "I can and will destroy you with it."

He yawned. "All talk and no show. Boring." He stood up a bit straighter. "Ok then, if you're so sure, then destroy me right now."

"What?" I asked.

"You heard me," he stated. "Finish me. Do me in. Kill me."

I made no response. There was no way this was real. Jinx wouldn't just give himself up like that… would he? Maybe it was a trap…

Jinx groaned very loudly. "No, it's not a trap. I'm giving you a chance, without any fighting back, for you to kill me. Any day now."

There was no harm in trying, right? I closed my eyes, focusing all my energy onto him. I summoned up the images of all the things he'd done, to the others, and even more, to me. I felt the hate for him boil in my gut. But that was only half the power. If I could kill using hate… well, I was no better than Jinx, was I?

I summoned up the image of my family. I let the feeling of longing fill me up entirely, stretching out to the end of my limbs but all originating back at my core, where my heart beat steadily.

I took a breath and prepared to rise. I kept the two emotions clutched to my chest, ready to send my beam of energy at Jinx, ready to annihilate him, ready to drain him of life. But just as my feet began to leave the ground, something inside me snapped.

I fell to the ground, pain ripping at the insides of my skull. Something had gone wrong, and now all I felt was that hate that I despised so much. It fed on itself, growing and taking the place where the love for my family was supposed to go. I curled in on myself, shuddering all over. I was crying now, tears streaming down my face.

Jinx came over, sneering down at me. "Like I said. Bullshit."

I didn't even have the strength to raise my head. If the love for my parents wasn't strong enough, then what was? How would I ever defeat him now? Or was Jinx right, and there was no light power? Was Ember just doing all this training to distract me from the fact that I was going to die? I was more confused than I'd ever been in my life.

Not much later after, it started to rain again, the thunder and lightning continuing. The storm circled around a bit, the boom of thunder sometimes coming only a heartbeat after the flash. After probably about half an hour of lying on the ground in crybaby self pity, I stood with a new determination. Even if I was going to die, I was taking Jinx down with me.

The others still seemed to be deactivated, and I knew that the rain would most likely lead to rust if I left them out there too long.

I started dragging them into the only sheltered area around there–the infirmary. It would've been more helpful if the container had a roof of any sort, but, I guess I should just be glad there was some shelter all ready prepared.

I lay out the bodies in a line on the floor of the infirmary. Ember, Estelle, Echo, Briar, and Velvet. I'd also found Nissa, and she now lay beside them. There was only one person missing. Shadow.

I considered going out to get him, but I decided against it. The rain poured down harder now, and lightning struck every few moments. I wasn't scared of it; I knew I wasn't going to get hit by lightning or anything. I just didn't have the strength to search for him.

I sat down on the chair that Estelle usually occupied and looked over the six corpses. None of them were awakening yet. I sure hoped that what Jinx had told me was true. I sighed. This was going to be a long night.