Jessie turned and glared at Jonny. "What. Is. He. Doing. Here?" she asked, enunciating each word to the point that all were sentences in their own right. She was trying very hard not to acknowledge Jager's accursed presence, hoping against hope that perhaps she was hallucinating.
Jager walked towards her, shaking his head sorrowfully. "Well, don't look so surprised, love. Did you really think that your boy toy here would stop me?"
A cold emerald glare answered his question. "You stay away from me," she hissed, backing away quickly, suddenly thankful that she'd worn a long, loose shirt on their last date that covered her legs enough. Gods, she thought detachedly, that was only last night… I think.
Jonny moved behind Jessie, carefully wrapping his arms around her waist and pinning her arms to her sides. "Jess," he soothed, "it's okay. It's just Hadji." He felt the garnet-haired girl relax into his embrace, and she repeated the name in a wondering voice. "Yeah. It's just Hadji, Jess. Nothing to worry about…"
Hadji came towards her, glad to be rid of Jager's voice in his head. When Jonny had destroyed Jager in QuestWorld, all of Jager's influence in the real world had disappeared. He also tried soothing Jessie, "It's just me. Jager's gone. He can't get to you, I swear."
But it was not Hadji's voice and form that Jessie was hearing and seeing. She instead heard Jager's mocking tone and his dark, suave features, and she was getting mad. She started struggling in Jonny's grasp, gasping out, "Let me go! Jonny, you lied! You lied!" Jessie managed to move out of his arms long enough to turn and slug him once across the face.
"You lied to me, Jonny Quest," Jessie sneered, breathing heavily. "You lied. You're no better than he is," she yelled, pointing at Hadji/Jager.
Jonny watched, dumbfounded, as Jessie ran out of the room. He touched his already bruising cheekbone and cast a confused gaze to Hadji. "What the hell…?"
Hadji shrugged. "Like I know?"
Jessie flew down the hallway, bare feet pounding the tiles swiftly. She halted only when her father caught her upper arms as she ran by. "Jessie? What's wrong, sweetheart?"
"No! Leave me alone!" she screamed, wrenching herself free of his grip. Jessie kept running until she had her bedroom door shut and barricaded behind her. She quickly crossed to her closet and yanked out a pair of blue jeans, tugging them on hurriedly. A hand groped around at her night table, finding a rubber band and using it to tie up messy red hair. Some clothes and toiletries she threw into a bag, making plans to collect some food from the kitchen on her way out of the compound. Jessie pulled on her trainers, sweeping a bit of jewelry into her sweatshirt pocket along with some money.
She ghosted down the hallways, moving soundlessly in the shadows. She paused twice, first to post something on a door and then to spare a tear as she said goodbye to her home.
Elsewhere, Jonny found a note tacked to his door written in Jessie's hand. 'I can't stay with you guys. Jager will have too many opportunities to hurt all of us with me here. But I love all of you. I love you, Jonny. Be careful. Jessie.'
He crumpled the note in a cold fist. "I'll find you, Jessie," he vowed. "Run where you like, I will find you. We need you." A pause. "I need you."
Author's Notes---
Ooh, shocking… Anyway, I'm a little stuck. If anyone has an idea… Review! Blessed be, Luna