Chapter 37:
"What's going on with her?" Cinder asked.
"She's schizophrenic." Jacin said. "I need you all to leave. Now. Get Levana and Aimery out of here. They're not making the matters any better."
Cinder looked concerned, which Jacin thought was nice, seeing as they'd only met a few minutes ago, but the less people around Winter, the better.
Scarlet looked like she knew that, and he looked at her, pleading for her help.
"Come on." said Scarlet "Wolf and I will take Levana and Aimery to the police, Cinder and Kai, you need to find out where Cress and Thorne are. Go to her house and see if her dad knows anything."
Jacin remembered Cress. Dr. Erland's daughter, and felt a sliver of worry for her. But he squashed it down. Winter was hallucinating, and he went into doctor mode. She was his patient.
Cinder and Scarlet paused at the door.
"Will she be all right?" Cinder asked him.
"She'll be fine. I've had training." said Jacin.
"Make sure she's safe." Scarlet said. "I don't want her in any more danger."
"Don't worry," Jacin agreed. "I want the same thing."
She nodded once, then left, shutting the door behind them.
He went through the steps that he learned during his double degree at uni. What to do when someone was having hallucinations.
She was aware that she was hallucinating, so that was good. She'd become better at realising it in the past couple of months. She stopped screaming once Levana attacked her, leaving the scars on her face and a while after that she started to process that the things she saw were not always what other people around her saw.
"Winter." He said gently. She looked at him. "Sit down,"
She slowly shuffled to the black leather couch.
"Are you breathing good?" he asked.
"You know I'm not." Her breath was coming out in shaky gasps.
"Thought so," he said. "Remember your exercisers."
She screwed up her eyes and counted to 10, he breath becoming steadier with each inhale and exhale.
"What are you seeing?" he asked.
"Bleeding walls, as usual." she said. "And everyone was bleeding. That's a new one. You're not bleeding any more, so that's good." Her speech was slightly jarred.
"And the walls are still bleeding?" he asked.
"Mhm. All Levana's fault, probably."
"Probably, definitely."
She made a noise of agreement. "Is she still here?"
"Nah. Scarlet and Wolf took her and Aimery to the police."
"Oh. Good. Good. She should go there. I'm glad you're not with them."
"Why's that?"
"I like it when you stay."
The corners of his lips twitched. "Winter,"
"Mm?"
"Your eyes are still closed."
She opened them. "Oh. I thought I would disappear."
"You always say that." He asked again. "Are the walls still bleeding?"
She watched as it raced backwards, like a tape played in reverse, back up the walls, never to be seen again. Or at least for a little while.
"Nah." she said. "You know I can handle the hallucinations myself."
"Yeah, but I like to stay just in case."
"Scarlet did that too."
He swallowed. "That's good of her."
"You're better at helping me though."
"Well, I've had training."
"That's true." said Winter.
Jacin scratched at the corner of his nose. There was no more blood there any more.
"You hit Aimery pretty good." she said.
"Yeah. I always wanted to do that."
"Same, to be honest." said Winter. "I'm glad I won't be seeing them any time soon."
"How do you know?"
"They're going to jail. Cinder's been found still alive. If she has a DNA test, it'll clear everything up."
"I hope so." he said. All these years of Levana getting away with abusing Winter instilled a doubt in the justice system for him.
They paused for a moment.
"So, are you feeling all right now?" Jacin asked.
"Much better." she nodded. "Do you think Scarlet likes Wolf?"
The question took Jacin by surprise. One moment she was hallucinating, next she was asking him his thoughts about other people's relationships. He thought he would have been used to Winter's sudden changes in interests by now, but she always managed to say something that caught him off guard.
"Which one is Wolf again?"
"The tall one. The other one is Kai. He likes Cinder."
Amused, he sighed. "Do you think so?"
"I think she doesn't want to admit it. I think she's gotten over me though."
He couldn't stop himself from smirking. "Well, that's good."
"I think so too."
Winter looked around, as if suddenly noticing they were alone.
"Where did everyone go anyway?" she asked.
"Cinder and Kai went to look for Cress and Thorne. And Scarlet and Wolf went to the police station."
"I don't get it." Winter said. "Didn't Wolf call the police?"
"Yeah, but they should have been here by now."
"I bet Levana has something to do with it."
"When doesn't she?"
Winter laughed, but bitterly.
"Why are they searching for Cress and Thorne?"
"Apparently Cress was kidnapped. Thorne got involved in it too, so they're off to find them."
"Oh. I hope they can." she worried her bottom lip.
"They'll be right." Jacin said. "But I'm worried about you. You've been under too much stress today."
She shrugged. "I guess you're gonna say I can't do anything to help, now?"
"Well, as much as I want to, I know you're just gonna ignore me."
"That's true." She grinned at him. "But I don't really know if there is anything I can do anyway. I don't know about you, but I think the worst of it all is behind us."
"Even though Cress and Thorne are missing?"
She scowled at him. "Well… I hope they're not missing for long."
"I'm joking." he said. "I know Cress. I feel like she'd be pretty good in tight situations." he remembered her the day he found everything out. He'd seen her for a few fleeting moments, but he was usually a pretty good judge of character, and he thought there was something in her that not many people realised she possessed.
"I hope you're not just saying that to make me feel better." said Winter.
Jacin shrugged. "We'll just have to see what happens. Cinder and Kai will take care of it."
She nodded. She pulled up her legs onto the couch.
"Where will I live?" She asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Once Levana's in jail."
"Oh." he shrugged. "With me, if you want to."
"Or, you could live with me." she suggested.
Jacin laughed. "What about Liam?"
"He can live with us too."
He rolled his eyes.
"You don't like that idea?" asked Winter.
"Not really."
She laughed. "He doesn't have to, then."
"We'll figure it out." he said.
She nodded.
"Jacin," she asked after a while.
"Hm?"
"Did you wanna go out?"
He almost choked on his own spit.
"What?"
"Well, we like each other. Don't we?"
He looked at her. Really looked at her. He knew a long time ago that he loved her. Before she and Scarlet started dating. They'd been here for each other for the worst moments of their lives. And their best. He remembered that day, what felt like such a long time ago, when they went to Lunar Park after work. He wanted to kiss her then, and he never ever stopped feeling it.
He would be lying if he said that he didn't want to say yes, right then and there. But he remembered she was still in a vulnerable state. She was hallucinating not fifteen minutes ago, and she still could have been feeling the effects of it, like disorganised speech or something. He settled on a compromise.
"I want to,' he said. "But ask me again in the morning, if you're sure."
Iko returned to the house, somewhat exhilarated. She'd completely sold out on all her orders. She had money, and a job, and it was pretty much all thanks to Kai.
She almost screamed when she found there were too complete strangers in the house.
She felt like that viral gif from Community where Donald Glover's character walked into the room with the pizza and then entire room was on fire. Except obviously the room wasn't on fire. Though she didn't know just how close it was for there to actually be a blazing inferno.
Though, she did smell something strange, but she thought that was just Cinder's usual smell of gasoline, lingering around the house.
"Who are you?" She asked as she walked up the stairs, at the black girl and the white guy sitting on the couch, looking somewhat in a daze.
They looked towards her. "Who are you?" the white guy asked.
"I asked you first,"
"I asked you se-" The guy cleared his throat. "I'm Jacin Clay, and this is Winter Blackburn-Hayle."
The girl stepped towards her. "Are you Iko?"
"Um," she paused. "Maybe?"
"Oh!" She exclaimed. "Did you know that we are cousins, of a sort?"
"Say what?" She looked around for Cinder, to see if she actually got a sense of humour and was playing a practical joke on her.
The guy sighed. "Sit down." he said. "We are going to have a long conversation."
Completely bewildered, Iko followed him and sat down.
A/N: a little fun and some cute jacinter before we get to the final part of the climax! there are only a few chapters left and im trying to draw it out!