"Just tell me if you spot Reuben anywhere," Jesse said, looking around for her small pink pig but not finding him.
After wringing out their hair and shaking out the water as best as they could, they'd started out for Endercon. Over only about the five minute walk, Jesse's momentary enlightenment of her problems disappeared, and now she felt like she was carrying a ten-ton elephant on her chest from how worried she was about the whole thing.
"He's gotta be around here somewhere," Petra said, sounding concerned as Jesse's slightly differently-colored green eyes roved over the crowds hopefully.
"So," and Jesse's attention momentarily focused on the redhead, who'd put her glove back on over her gold arm, "when we're making the deal, I need you to... let me do the talking, okay?" and she smiled at Jesse.
When Jesse didn't immediately respond, her brain still focused on finding Reuben, Petra continued, "I just don't want anything to mess this up."
"Sure," and Jesse nodded with a small smile at her friend, "I'll keep quiet."
"And, if you REALLY wanna be useful, try to look intimidating," Petra suggested to Jesse.
"Petra, I think you should know by now that I don't really do intimidating," Jesse said with a deadpan face, making Petra twist away from Jesse and cover her mouth with a snort.
"By the way, your eye seems a bit darker... kinda red," Petra noted, when she'd recovered from her momentary laughing fit, straightening back up. "I didn't really notice in the dark... but... well, now..."
"Oh- got it," and Jesse took the gold barrette out of her hair and let it fall out of it's usual style, one wave of hair covering her left eye- which was the one that was was usually darker- before clipping the right side of her hair and letting the one wave fall in front of her eye.
Petra raised her eyebrow at the raven-haired girl next to her. "You look surprisingly good with your hair like that," she commented at length.
Jesse blinked up at her, surprise in her expression. "Umm, thanks," she said, sounding and feeling slightly startled.
"Jesse!" Jesse turned to see Axel and Olivia race up to meet her. Olivia stopped in her tracks, eyes widening. Jesse'd noticed her right eye seemed a bit brighter than usual, but waved it off- it was just probably lit up from all the lights.
"And... Petra?"
Jesse looked over at Petra, who shrugged in return. Jesse looked back at her friends. "Yeah, I- ran into her, while I was looking for Reuben," she said. And we set a zombie on fire, she added mentally.
"Couldn't find him, huh?" And Axel's face grew more solemn and a little worried.
"He just has to be here somewhere, I just know it!" Olivia said, apology written in her expression.
"I saw him," Jesse nodded, "but before I knew what was happening, we were under attack from a zombie horde. I told him to run- it was for his own good." Even as she said that, she felt like she was just trying to convince herself.
"But hey," Olivia said, overly cheerily, "we won!"
They all turned to look at the Enderman, everyone else trying not to make 'eye contact' with it even though they knew full well it was a statue (except for Olivia, who seemed to be scrutinizing it more), and Axel said, not as optimistically as Olivia, "Abandoning friends in their time of need paid off once again."
"I still wish I'd gotten that part in the back to look better," Olivia said, frowning.
"Guys, I'm PROUD of you," Jesse said, grinning and stepping in front of them, clasping her arms behind her back and quashing down the still-growing bumps.
Axel smiled a little at his friend. "Aww, shucks," he joked.
"Don't make me blush," Olivia said, smiling slightly, before her face went more deadpan. "Seriously. Don't."
Axel looked over at Petra over the two females' giggles at that. "So, Petra... what were you doing in the woods?"
Petra and Jesse shared another rather panicked glance. "Nothing... just... drawn by the sound of Jesse's high pitched screams," Petra invented. Jesse nodded and looked back to her friends. "I'd be a zombie if it weren't for her help," she said, sincerely.
"So... Jesse, it's time to go do that... thing I was telling you about," Petra said, mildly.
Jesse blinked. "Huh- oh, right. See you guys inside later?" she asked, turning back to her friends.
"I heard someone was selling cake by the map booth!" Axel responded, and Olivia rolled her eyes with a grin. "Sure. See you later," she said, though she did seem a little hurt. Jesse mouthed to her, "Shouldn't take more than 15 minutes."
Olivia gave her a thumbs-up and a small smile, before the two of them walked off. Petra watched them go for a moment, before rushing over to Jesse. "Hurry- we're supposed to meet in the alley over there," she said, in a softer, more urgent voice, before pointing at an alley that branched off a bit.
They walked into the alley, Jesse looking around, half of her mind still fixed on her pet pig. "... it's not that dark," she commented absentmindedly.
"Really? You must have eyes like a bat then, it's really dim in here," Petra commented, looking around the area and squinting intently, before putting her hands on her hips. In the alley sat a normal-sized chest and nothing else. "That's weird... he said the dark, creepy alley close to the entrance."
"Are you sure this is the dark, creepy alley he meant?" Jesse asked drily, and Petra frowned, crossing her arms. "Hmmm... I... WAS. Okay, new plan- you stay here in case this IS the spot he meant, and I'll go look around for him."
"Sure," Jesse agreed with a slight smile, "I'll hold down the fort."
"Thanks Jesse," and Petra walked back off.
Jesse looked around the alley, before down at the chest. The dim light shone down on the chest from above, and her hair annoyingly blocked her left eye, so she pulled the hair aside, just for a moment-
"Ahem."
Jesse twisted to her left, even as the ever-growing bumps on her sides curled in response to her sudden apprehension, to see someone crowded in shadow.
The shadow seemed to start back for a moment. And for good reason. Jesse didn't realize it, but her left eye had turned a shade of blood red and cut through the dim light like a sword through butter, and the dim lighting threw dramatic, warped shadows over her face, making the only feature that stood out on her face the blood-red eye.
She let her hair fall in front of her left eye again, turning more fully as the shadow stepped forward, revealing a man with long black hair, dark blue eyes, sickly pale skin, and brown robes that seemed faintly tattered. "And just who might YOU be?" he sneered.
A/N: Haha, another cliffhanger, I'm sorry xD Ivor is a good spot to leave off, anyway.
Toni42: You'll see when you read that chapter, when it finally rolls around anyways. ;)
KaosRuin: Yeah, it's probably gonna be one of the harder chapters I have to write. Oh well!
angelwings: Yeah, that would've been funny, but then only Petra would've gotten wet and I wanted to make it fair. Though it would've been really funny for me to end the chapter with Jesse fleeing from a soaking wet, angry Petra. xD
See ya!
x.X. A.L. X.x
