Chapter 24

"You're joking..." Jarred's eyes widened. "Please tell me you're joking!"

Pascal shook his head and pointed to the giant clock. "We missed it a few minutes ago."

Jarred groaned falling back. "CURSE THE GODS!" he shouted angrily.

Thunder rumbled in the sky. Pascal looked up warily and sighed. "Be careful of what you say." He muttered before standing up. "It's best we camp out. It's getting dark and the bus to New Jersey is tomorrow morning. From there we'll take the train to Denver."

"Yeah be careful what I say. Like that's gonna happen." Jarred rolled his eyes standing up.

Stephanie tried to stand up before slumping back down on the chair. "Sorry guys...I can't walk properly yet."

Jarred helped her up. "I'll help." He smiled gently at her, letting her lean on him for support.

Pascal stared at the two before turning around. "I'll go ahead and find a good camp ground." He muttered.

"Okay." Jarred said, ignoring the boys annoyance.

"Just stay here...I'll call you two when I find something." Pascal said before going into the woods nearby.

He sat down next to Stephanie and sighed. He felt slightly dizzy from the adrenaline rush and had to force his eyes to focus.

Stephanie ran her hand through his hair. "You can take a quick nap." She whispered. "I'll wake you up when Pascal comes back."

"No, I'm fine." Jarred gave her a small smile.

"Sleep Jarred." Stephanie said, smiling softly at him.

He could feel himself become sleepy. "How are you doing that?"

"Doing what?" She whispered, running another hand through his messy hair.

"You just told me to sleep and now I feel tired." He stifled a small yawn. "How did you do that? I wasn't even close to being tired before."

Stephanie shrugged. "I don't know really." she said before smiling softly. "Just go to sleep Jarred. You'll feel better."

He did as he was told and went to sleep, his head resting in her lap. Occasionally he would mutter something, but nothing more. Soon he found himself in another dream.

Jarred stood in a dark place with fog floating across the floor. He recognized this place from his previous dream at the infirmary.

He looked around silently. "Where am I?"

Suddenly, he heard a faint sound. Straining his ears, Jarred realized that it was the sound of someone humming a low song.

Tears came to his eyes as he recognized the song. It was the one Alice had played at the amphitheatre during his first week at camp. Jarred walked forward, following the sound.

"Hello?" He called out.

The humming sounded louder as he continued to walk forward. Soon he found a figure sitting on the ground a few meters in front of him.

Jarred drew a sharp breath seeing that it was Alice. "Alice?"

Alice turned around. Seeing it was Jarred, she smiled softly as she continued to hum the tune.

He began to walk to her, but suddenly he was no longer able to move. No...No, he was so close to her yet now, she was so far away again.

Alice continued to smile softly at him as she hummed.

"Alice! Alice don't go!" He tried to get his legs to move but they remained planted firmly to the ground.

Alice stood up and walked towards him. She stopped when she was just in front of Jarred and cupped his cheek, smiling softly.

He looked at her sadly, he went to touch her hand but he just went straight through her. Why was this dream turning into a nightmare?

"Don't cry..." She whispered.

"But you're..." Jarred couldn't get the word 'dying' to come, so he stood there silently looking down at his feet.

Alice tilted his head up so she could look him in the eye. She smiled before leaning in and gently kissed Jarred on the lips.

He smiled slightly before drawing back. 'This is a dream. Don't get sucked into it, or you'll end up hurting yourself.' He made that a mental note.

Alice smiled sadly at him as if reading his mind. "I will always love you Jarred. Even if I won't know it myself." She whispered.

"I wish I were able to be with you right now." He whispered shakily, his body shook with small sobs. "So many things could go wrong on this quest. So many what ifs." He looked up at her. "What if I won't be able to hear you say that to me again?"

"I believe in you...I always had." Alice whispered. "I'll always be with you. Right here." She touched the middle of his chest.

Jarred was going to respond but he felt himself waking up. Why now?

Alice smiled before kissing him gently on the forehead. "I'll see you later. I love you." She whispered before she faded with the dream.

As he woke, he felt his eyes burn as he blinked sleep away.

"Hey I was just about to wake you." Stephanie said, smiling down at him.

Jarred sat up but he didn't return Stephanie's smile. "I wish I hadn't gone to sleep." He muttered under his breath.

"It'll be okay." She said, brushing some of his hair off his face.

He winced but didn't answer as he looked into her eyes. His own were faintly bloodshot.

Her bright brown eyes stared back at him filled with worry. "It'll be okay." She whispered.

"I know it will. I just had a dream that's all." He tried to give a small smile.

Stephanie looked up at him. "What was the dream about?"

He winced slightly. "Alice...it was about Alice."

Stephanie nodded. "Want to talk about it?"

Jarred shook his head. "No, I'd rather not."

Stephanie nodded in understanding before leaning in to hug Jarred. "We'll make it. I know we will."

He hugged her back, closing his eyes. "I know we will too." His voice was quiet and soft.

Stephanie shivered. "You're cold. I mean you feel cold."

Jarred pulled away. "What do you mean?"

"It's just...your chest...It's cold." She said, her eyebrows furrowing.

His eyebrows furrowed together as he looked at the necklace around his neck. Holding up the small gem slightly, he saw that it was dim and losing its warmth. Oh no... He looked up at Stephanie. "We have to pick up our pace tomorrow and try to get to Los Angeles as fast as possible."

"The camp ground's ready." Pascal's voice sounded. Looking up, they saw him standing by the forest's edge.

Jarred stood up and helped Stephanie walk over. "Not a moment too soon." He said quietly. "We'll be leaving first thing in the morning."

Pascal led the two towards a small clearing in the forest. There was a fire pit in the middle where a blaze was illuminating the surroundings.

"Make yourselves at home." Pascal muttered before going to sit against a tree.

When he had helped Stephanie sit down again, Jarred walked over to Pascal and sat beside him. "Dude, it's bugging me, what's your problem lately?"

"It's not like you don't know." Pascal muttered as he looked up at the stars.

Jarred's eyes narrowed. "You know that I regret doing that." He growled, as good of a friend as Pascal was, he really could get on Jarred's nerves.

Pascal turned his dead eyes towards Jarred. "Sure...Whatever." he said before looking away.

That's it, I'm sick of this. Jarred thought bitterly. "That's it! Pascal this is ridiculous you know that?!" He snapped.

Pascal suddenly stood up, his fist clenched. "Me? Ridiculous? You should talk." He laughed without humor. "I find you about to kiss the girl I love when your girlfriend, my best friend and little sister, is DYING." He shouted. "DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME I'M RIDICULOUS FOR ACTING LIKE THIS!"

Jarred got to his feet. "I WAS HAVING A GODDESS MESS WITH MY HEAD!" A sudden darkness crept to his eyes. "AND I WILL CALL YOU RIDICULOUS! YOU'RE ACTING AS IF NOTHING MATTERS ANYMORE! JUST WITH A RETARDED DEAD LOOK IN YOUR EYES!"

"WELL I'M SORRY FOR BEING HEARTBROKEN. I'M SORRY FOR TRYING HEAL MY FEELINGS! I'M SORRY FOR FEELING BETRAYED!" Pascal shouted back, tears running down his face.

Jarred felt a pang of sympathy, he knew what he had done was wrong and he knew that he had hurt his friend. He sighed lowering his voice. "Pascal, you know I'm sorry for all of that, I didn't know what I was doing." He had to force his voice to be calm, for his anger was still there.

"You two didn't sound like it. Who do you think paid for your meal in that café?" Pascal hissed out, his eyes showing pure pain.

Jarred glared at Pascal. "You're over-reacting Pascal. You know that I would never take Stephanie away from you." He was beginning to lose his patience.

Pascal glared back. "I don't believe you." he growled out. "But you already made your choice."

"Yeah I have and I chose Alice!" He hissed. "You're so naive and stubborn, you know that?" Jarred gave him a small shove.

Pascal stumbled back and glared at Jarred. "Doesn't look like it." He spat. "Just leave me alone Jarred." He sat back down and ignored the older boy.

"No I will not leave you alone! I've left you alone for too long! Every day you get worse and it's worrying me and Stephanie, and starting to get on my nerves!" His voice was rising again. The shadows around the forest seemed to get darker, like they were responding to his anger.

"Please Jarred." Pascal croaked out, pain showing on his face. "I'll give you one last chance...Don't mess it up."

"You'll find a way to make it so that I messed up. So what's the point?" Jarred hissed quietly. Efialtis was in his hands, with the dark gleam in his eye it looked like he wanted to skewer the other boy. Instead he just walked off into the forest, away from their small camp ground.

After letting out some steam, breaking a few trees in the process, Jarred came back to the camp ground relatively calmer. Pascal was still in the spot when Jarred left and Stephanie was looking at Pascal worriedly.

Jarred sat far away from the fire. Keeping silent as he narrowed his eyes at the small source of light they had.

Stephanie sat down beside him and pulled her knees to her chest. "Hey."

"Hey." He said quietly, not taking his eyes off the fire.

"You feeling better?" She whispered, glancing at Pascal.

"Yeah, but it's probably best if I stay away from him." He looked at her. His eyes still remained dark and cold.

"That would be hard since we have to work together for this quest." Stephanie said.

"Yeah, I know." He looked back to the fire.

Stephanie stayed silent. Jarred saw that she was looking at Pascal with an almost longing expression.

"Go over to him." He said quietly. "He's the one that needs the comfort."

Stephanie looked uncertain but went over to Pascal. Pascal turned his glare towards her but it immediately softened.

Jarred watched them for a minute before curling up on the grass, his back to them. I'll be home soon Alice... He thought and drifted into sleep.