Magnetic Forces of Love and Conspiracy

Written by BansheeGirl

A/N: Eeek! A little bit of a wait in the updating process again… sorry about that! Yet lo and behold – chapter 16 has finally made its way to your computer screen! Do enjoy, and please review once you're done… now, on with the show!

Disclaimer: See chapter 1 or 2!

Magnetic Forces of Love and Conspiracy

Chapter 16: Breaking the Ice

James listened to the rhythmic crunching of snow behind him; the only indication that there was even another person accompanying him on the second day of the hike to Saunders City. It was well into the afternoon now, and Jessie had not spoken a single word all day. Indeed, she had hardly acknowledged James' presence at all. And yet to James' surprise Jessie did not do this with an air of anger, nor one of scorned indifference. No, today Jessie had woken and remained so mentally distant from anything that she had begun to border on sheer vagueness.

James, on the other hand, did not know how to act. Jessie's outburst the night before had elicited feelings of guilt, regret, pity and sorrow in James, and yet he still could not shake the impression that he wasn't the only one in the wrong. Jessie was still the woman who was planning to throw four-hundred innocent people out of their homes simply in order to build a ski resort, and James clung tightly into this fact as a way of allowing himself some sense of justification.

He could tell that Jessie, despite her not having said anything, was appreciating the relatively flat terrain that the pair had been traversing during this second leg of the trek far more than the rises that they had had to conquer the previous day. James knew that the injuries Jessie had sustained from the helicopter crash were far from healed and pain-free, and he was genuinely thankful that the rest of the hike wasn't going to be too stressful on her battered body. He stopped walking now and turned to wait for Jessie, and only just suddenly realised that a mist had begun to fall as dusk approached.

Jessie arrived beside James, halted and stood silently.

"It's only a short way before the next campsite," James felt obliged to say, though he seriously questioned whether Jessie was even listening to him. "Lucky, because we really don't want to be out here once this fog sets in. We could get lost for hours."

With this comment, Jessie suddenly looked to James with a distinct clarity in her eyes for the first time all day.

"What do you mean, we could get lost? Didn't you bring a compass?"

Jessie's sudden decision to speak caught James slightly off-guard, and it was a moment before he replied. "Compasses don't work in these mountains. There's too much iron ore in the rock, and it completely throws out the magnetic fields that compasses operate on. That's what Ian meant back at the Lodging House about it being impossible to navigate the path through the mountains if you've never walked it before – you can only find your way by memory."

James watched as Jessie appeared slightly perturbed by this information.

"You don't have to worry – we'll be at the next cave well before the fog will become a problem," he reassured, and began walking again. The familiar crunch of Jessie's footsteps quickly followed behind, but it was not long at all before the sound of snow beneath the pair's feet changed into something altogether different.

"Is this safe to walk on?" Jessie spoke again, stopping behind James. Her tone was not an anxious one, but more a simple demand of information.

James turned around to face Jessie, and then down at the ice that the pair had begun to walk across. "I wouldn't be taking us across it if it wasn't. It's okay – at this time of year this lake is covered in a very thick sheet of ice. We're only going around the outside of it, so we're in no danger. I've done this many, many times."

Jessie did not respond to James' words, but looked away with that distant expression returning in her eyes. James waited to see if she would say anything else, but it appeared that she had lapsed back into the silence that had claimed her all day. Sighing, he turned back around and continued onward around the edge of the frozen lake.

James wondered what Jessie was thinking about. What had distracted her so throughout the entire day's walk? He thought of the helicopter crash and wondered whether she was worried at all about the fact that someone had actually tried to kill her. Perhaps she was planning how to deal with the issue once they arrived in Saunders City. Perhaps she was going over all of the facts within her head, trying to determine who could be responsible for her attempted murder. James himself had wanted to ask Jessie the details of the crash, the events leading up to it and who she suspected as the perpetrators – it was a trained curiosity that he had developed during his time at the Police Department's Intelligence Agency. If things continued the way they were between Jessie and James now, however, he knew that there was certainly going to be no way of him getting any such information from his current company.

And yet he could not help feeling that Jessie's constant vagueness was the product of the argument that the pair had engaged in the night before. At least during the previous day's walk Jessie had conveyed the fact that she was angry with James, and that she was forcing indifference. Now there was just… nothing.

James suddenly stopped. Nothing. Lost in thought, he had not realised that the sound of Jessie's footsteps behind him had disappeared. He spun around quickly, his whole body instantly seizing with fear when he could not see Jessie at all in the mist that was becoming denser and denser with every minute.

"Jessie?" He called out.

There was no reply. James immediately leapt forward to run back the way he had come.

"Jessie!"

It happened in a second.

Her mind had been in another world, and it had only just been upon the realisation that she could no longer see James ahead that she had heard the sickening crack from beneath her. Her insides immediately contracted; her limbs petrified. In that second she was suddenly aware of her whole body and everything around her, before the ice she stood on completely gave way and Jessie plunged into the freezing water below.

The pain that Jessie felt as she was enveloped in the icy water was indescribable. Ironically, the closest thing that she could compare the writhing pain of the ice-cold liquid against her skin was being burned. It was as if her entire body was being eaten away by burning acid.

Jessie gasped, trying to call out to James for help. Yet the freezing water seemed to press in on her, squeezing all air out of her lungs and making it impossible to make any sound other than a panicked whimper. She frantically tread water, and yet with every movement it was as though her limbs became heavier and heavier, making it harder and harder to keep herself afloat. Jessie tried to grasp onto the edge of the hole she had fallen into in attempt to hoist herself up onto solid ice, but any strength she might have had seemed to have instantly drained away, leaving her weak and useless. Her limbs had already begun to numb as Jessie's body began the automatic process of shutting down one's periphery in order to sustain the vital organs. I am going to die, she realised.

She went under.

Jessie inwardly screamed for her arms and legs to move; to kick back to the surface. She fought to stay in control; to keep holding her breath so she did not allow the icy water into her lungs – the undoubtable final step to her doom. Mustering all of her remaining energy she thrust a heavy arm upwards, but it still came short of the surface above. This is it… this is the end…

And then, quite unexpectedly, just as Jessie bordered on unconsciousness, an arm reached down into the water above her and grasped tightly onto her own outstretched one. In one great movement she was hoisted out of the chilling depths and up onto the solid ice above. She was still in a state of disorientation as James physically dragged her away from the open hole, before stopping short ten or so metres away. There he collapsed down beside Jessie, and, despite her dripping wet state, he immediately wrapped his arms around her.

All prior tendencies were forgotten and Jessie quickly responded by clinging onto James, seeking his warmth. Tears streamed down her face as her cold, wet clothes continued to chill her painfully to the bone.

"Make it stop!" She sobbed into James' snow jacket, clutching even more tightly onto him. But it seemed to Jessie a worthless endeavour – she felt as though there could be no way in the world to rid her convulsing body of the cold now.

"Jessie," she heard him say, "We can't stay here. I know you're in pain!" He cried, as Jessie let out another sob of agony. "If you stay out here like this, you'll be dead of hypothermia before you know it! We have to get to the cave, it's not that far…"

And with that James stood up, heaving Jessie upright with him. She faltered on her feet, and James supported her close to his body.

"I can't," she started, through wracking sobs, "I can't m-move! My legs, they d-don't move!"

James suddenly took a firm hold of the sides of Jessie's head, and turned her to look directly into his intense eyes.

"Jessie, you're giving yourself a panic attack!" He yelled, and Jessie's sobs miraculously subsided to some degree. "I know it's hard, but we have to get to the cave as soon as possible. Make your legs move. Give me your pack," he said, and he wrenched Jessie's pack off her back and swung it over his shoulder. "Now come on."

With James holding tightly onto her arm, Jessie forced herself to endure more pain and continued the slow trek around the remainder of the frozen lake.

Jessie had always had the impression that Hell was a hot place, full of flame and heat. Now she realised that it was the very opposite. The desolate, horrible cold that tore at Jessie's being was the purest form of Hell she could ever dare imagine.

Mwahaha! And it is there that I leave you, my dear readers! Thankyou for reading, once again, and please do review! Thankyou to everyone who reviewed last time – your complementary iPods should be coming in the mail any day now!

I won't be posting review responses on my profile page anymore, because I'm going to try this new service thingy they've got going here on where I just reply to my Review Alerts… kay? So if you do leave me a review, you'll receive a nice message from me right to your inbox! Isn't that just lovely?

Well, till next time and next chapter!

BansheeGirl.