Here's chapter 14 for everyone to please enjoying! Sorry, Japan is slowly eating at my ability to use the English language properly…
chyp: Satisfaction.
Raya: A very bloody hell, if you ask me, but I'm not one to spoil the surprise, so you'll have to make up your own conclusions…
"How did we get back home?" Matthew asked.
"I don't know," Wesley said, looking confused. "I just got scared and home was the first place that came into my head."
"You glimmered us here," Matthew concluded. "Your powers are getting better. Now, you just need to learn to do it consciously, not instinctively."
"I can't help it," Wesley said. "It's impossible to control. It just happens. You oughta know what I'm talking about now, considering…"
"Okay, okay," Matthew said. "Let's calm down and think for a minute."
"We don't have a minute," Wesley said quickly. "We need to get back to Jimmy. He wasn't looking too good last time we saw him."
"Unless you can glimmer us back there," Matthew said calmly, "we'll have to think of something."
"My car's still here," Wesley said. "Let's go."
"Hold on," Matthew said, catching Wesley by the collar. "He's definitely gonna expect us to come back now. We need a plan."
"I wish John were here," Wesley said, looking hopelessly at the ceiling. "He could get us back there and fix everything."
"He's not here," Matthew said rather sternly before changing his tone upon seeing Wesley's reaction. "I'm sorry. Look, I know it hurts, but you need to focus on the tasks at hand."
"Fine," Wesley sighed. "What are we gonna do?"
"Assess everything," Matthew said. "We have wayward students all around Atlanta. The Council has our Book. Jimmy's in trouble, and his professor's a demon."
"Some shopping list," Wesley mumbled.
They spent the remainder of the afternoon discussing the many supernatural problems they had, putting them in order of priority. They eventually decided that saving James was at the top of the list, since they would need him in order to accomplish anything else. They were the strongest as three, after all. There was only one thing that was standing in their way of proceeding; Dr. Gilkeson, as Matthew had stated earlier, would expect their return and would surely be ready for them. They had to figure out another way to get James back.
"We have to figure out another way to get Jimmy back," Matthew said.
"Let's do it over dinner," Wesley suggested. "It's already nine o'clock and I'm starving!"
"It's nine already?" Matthew asked, looking at his watch. "We've been talking about this for that long?"
"Are you kidding?" Wesley exclaimed. "Matt, when you get obsessed over something, you really like to talk about it until there's nothing left to talk about. And seeing that we still haven't found an answer, it's pretty safe to assume that you're still gonna wanna talk about this."
"Shut up," Matthew said after a moment of hesitation.
"I'm just saying," Wesley said, "that it would be a whole lot easier if Jimmy were here."
Their conversation was interrupted when James burst through the door. He looked exhausted and out of breath, as if he had just fought an entire army of demons. He was sweating profusely and looked a general mess. All the while, though, his gaze remained fixed upon his brothers.
"Guess we should've seen that comin'," Wesley whispered to Matthew.
"Jimmy," Matthew said, "are you alright? You look worse than usual."
"H-H-Help…m-me," James stuttered as his eyes started to glow an eerie red hue. "C-Can't…c-contr-trol…it!"
His eyes went fully red and he immediately took on a darker persona. His look of exhaustion quickly changed into a look of utter focus and determination. His panting and heavy breathing turned into a more relaxed and relieved state. Wesley jumped off the couch without a second thought and grabbed Matthew.
"This is it, isn't it?" Wesley asked.
"You think?" Matthew replied sarcastically as James slowly advanced upon them.
"Jimmy," Matthew beckoned, "you have to fight this. This isn't you. You can beat it."
"Beat this!" James replied with an air of arrogance.
He waved his hand and both Matthew and Wesley were magically lifted off their feet and thrown into the kitchen, crashing through the doorway. They slowly stood up, their backs aching, and Matthew boldly walked back into the living room while Wesley peeked in from the doorway.
"Back for more?" James asked.
"If it means saving my brother," Matthew said, "then yes."
"There's nothing left to save," James replied.
Without moving his eyes, James motioned to the side of him and a dagger came tearing through the air from out of nowhere, headed straight for Matthew, who was too focused on James to react quickly enough. With a shriek, Wesley threw out his hands and the dagger froze just as it barely pierced Matthew's side. He ran out and joined Matthew.
"Nice timing, jackass," Matthew said, pulling the dagger out of his side, causing a little blood to trickle.
"Thank me later," Wesley said, pointing to James. "Look, he's frozen, too. That's a bad thing, right? My power doesn't work on y'all unless something's wrong."
"Well don't you think something's wrong?" Matthew asked. "We need to turn him back, and I bet that his professor is the key. Let's go."
"Where?" Wesley asked. "And what do we do about Jimmy?"
"Leave him here," Matthew said. "I have an idea."