A/N: I want to say a quick thank you to "TheRealOGMai" for giving me my first review! I was so happy to get some feedback and I would love some more! Please, don't be shy and let me know what you think.
*this chapter has been updated! please enjoy!*
Chapter Two
"Aw come on! How did she get eliminated? These people are clearly trippin' on something," Jake whined.
Trixie laughed as she saw her friend's reaction to the show they were watching. While the two of them were waiting for Spud to come over so they could go to the park, they had done rock-paper-scissors over what show to put on, and since Trixie won, she got to pick. Jake complained at first, but soon he was more hooked on it than she was.
"Man, that was completely rigged, Trix. I ain't watching no more." Jake took the remote and went back to scrolling through Netflix. "This is why I don't watch trash like that."
"Hey, 'The Greatest English Baking Show' is not trash," Trixie stated. "But, if it were, it would be rubbish," she said in her best British accent.
"Why are you so good at that?" Jake chuckled.
"Just comes naturally, love."
"Do you think British people sit around doing American accents all the time?"
"Oh, yeah for sure. Besides, they have a lot more choices, because we have the 'Why I do declare.' southern accent, the 'Literally, like wow.' valley girl accent and the 'Aye, watch where you're going I'm walkin' ere' New York accent, just to name a few."
"Is that so? And which accent do you have if I may ask."
She tapped a finger on her chin as she thought it over.
"I guess I have the 'I'm amazing at doing accents so I can have whatever accent I want', accent," she said with a shrug.
The sound of house slippers sliding against the hardwood floor echoed throughout the house as Trixie's grandmother came into the living room, setting a plate of cookies on the table.
"What are y'all doing in here with all the lights out?" She flicked the living room light on, causing the teens to groan in pain since their eyes had already adjusted to the darkness. "You know I don't allow none of that freaky stuff in this house Trixie Carter." Trixie brought her hand up to cover her face.
"For real Gigi? Why do you have to say stuff like that?" she groaned.
Jake chuckled and wrapped his arm around his friend.
"Because she can read my mind. You know I'm always down for 'freaky stuff'." He looked up and quickly moved his arm when he saw the glare her grandmother was giving him. "Just playin' Gigi."
"Mmhmm. Keep on playin' then, see what happens," she said as she turned to go into her room, but not before shooting another warning glance towards them. "And I wanna be able to see at least one couch cushion in between y'all."
"Man, she used to love me," he stated once the door to her room closed. "She cooked for me, let me spend the night all the time, and now she don't even trust me around you. What happened?"
"We were just kids then, Jakey. She just feels like she has to look out for me a lot more now that we're older. Especially," she started as she lowered her voice with a seductive drawl. "since I've grown to be such a beautiful young lady. She knows you can't possibly contain yourself around me for long."
Jake looked over at her, raising an eyebrow.
"What kind of accent was that supposed to be?"
She clicked her tongue at him and crossed her arms.
"That wasn't an accent it was my sexy voice," she pouted.
"Yikes, that was supposed to be sexy? No, really Trix, what was that?"
"Shut up!" She grabbed a couch pillow and hit him with it. "Lots of people think my voice is sexy."
"Like who? And, please, don't say Kyle or I swear I'm gonna-" Jake said before, dramatically, pretending to vomit.
"Like," Trixie started, ignoring his previous comment. "Remember that guy that was in our group when we were playing 'Red Sus' a couple of weeks ago? He said I sounded like I was 'hot as a summer day in Phoenix'." She smiled at the memory while Jake frowned.
"Oh, you mean that creeper that was hitting on you because you were the only chick in the group? Doesn't ring a bell."
"Really?" she asked doubtfully. "Because he sure mysteriously got disconnected the second he said it."
"Maybe he had a bad internet connection," he shrugged.
"Or maybe someone put a 'disconnect-ey your Wi-Fi-ey' spell on him because he was being a hater that he don't have a sexy voice like me," she said as she flipped a handful of her braids over her shoulder.
"Oh please, between the two of us, I'm definitely the one with the sexy voice." He made a point to make it sound a little bit deeper as he spoke.
"I don't know about that," she said as she leaned forward a bit and lowered her voice. "Mine must be pretty sexy because I can see chill bumps on your arm as we speak," she said as she glanced at his bare arm where there were, indeed, chill bumps.
"Please, girl that ain't because of you. It's just because it's a little cold in here if ya know what I mean. And I think you do..." he said with a glance down.
Trixie gasped and moved away from him as she hugged a pillow in front of her chest. Jake laughed and reached out to her.
"Come back Trix I'm just playing."
"Yea, yea. Get away from me, perv." She smacked his hand away.
"Aw, poor baby, are you mad because you started this game and I finished it?"
"One couch cushion. One. Couch. Cushion." Her saying that caused him to instinctively move closer.
"First admit it. I have a sexier voice than you."
"In your dreams, Jacob." She deliberately said his entire first name, causing him to glare at her.
"You know what, call me Jacob one more time." He squeezed her side, making her flinch and look over at him in shock.
"Are you seriously trying to tickle me?" she asked incredulously.
"I won't if you call me the right name."
"You know you're never allowed to tickle me again since the... incident."
"What incident?" he asked with a smirk. "Ah, you mean that time in 4th grade when I tickled you so bad that you-" He was cut off by her putting the pillow over his face.
"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Jacob Luke Long."
In a flash, Jake dug his fingers into her sides, knowing that was one of her most ticklish areas, causing her to laugh and wiggle around on the couch.
"You wanna keep playing with me?" he asked as he held her down and continued to tickle her. "Say my name right."
Trixie laughed and shook her head quickly.
"I'm sorry, Jakey, I won't play around no more."
"Oh, so I'm 'Jakey' again huh?"
"Yes, you're Jakey," she said in between laughs. "Now stop it!"
"And who has the sexier voice?" he asked as he lifted his hands, momentarily stopping.
"Oh come on," she started to protest, but Jake quickly placed his hands back on her sides causing her to quickly change her response. "Okay, okay, you have the sexier voice! You have the sexiest voice in the whole world, now stop!"
He finally let her up, looking at her with a satisfied smile as she caught her breath.
"Just like Gigi says: the truth shall set you free," he remarked, causing Trixie to roll her eyes.
"If by 'the truth' you mean torturing me into saying what you want."
"No, that's not what I mean," he replied, lowering his voice again. "Because you knew it was the truth all along."
Trixie looked at him, matching his tone.
"When you can give me chills the way I give you chills," she said, running her fingers up his arm making him involuntarily shiver. "Then maybe I'll believe you, Jacob."
Jake smirked a bit as he looked curiously at his friend. He had been expecting her to laugh off this whole conversation a while ago. But, to his surprise, she was still playing along, and pretty well at that. He was about to reply when Trixie's cell phone rang. He blushed and looked away from her as she answered it.
"Hey, Kyle." She mouthed that she would be right back and took the call into the other room.
Jake couldn't help but feel a little irritated. But at the same time, he felt a nagging feeling of guilt.
He opened his mouth and took in a deep breath before loudly exhaling.
"Relax, you didn't do anything wrong," he said to himself. Although, he couldn't shake the guilty feeling in the pit of his stomach. And, also, another type of feeling... Their little game may have gotten to him a bit more than he would care to admit.
A few moments later there was a knock at the door. Jake shot up, grateful for the distraction from his thoughts, and went to answer it.
"Hey, dude. You guys ready to get our skate on?" Spud asked as he stepped inside.
"Get our skate on? What year are you from today bro?" Jake smiled as he went to grab his skateboard.
"I like to mix it up." Spud playfully shoved his friend. "Oh, sweet! I knew I smelled cookies. Thanks, Gigi, I love you!" The teen grabbed a handful of cookies and stuffed a whole one in his mouth before unzipping the fanny pack he wore across his chest and putting the rest in there.
Trixie came back into the room, crossing her arms as she took in the scene in front of her.
"And you told me not to buy this," Spud said to her once he finally forced the zipper closed on the bag.
"What can I say Spudinski, you've proven me wrong once again," she overstated. The boys stepped out of the house and Trixie grabbed her sweater before yelling a goodbye over her shoulder to her grandmother. "I'll be back later Gigi!"
oOoOoOo
Jake sat down on top of his skateboard in frustration. For some reason, today he was off his game. He kept messing up on tricks he had perfected years ago and fell off of his skateboard more times than he ever had before. He pushed a hand through his hair and watched a crowd gather near Spud as he moved around the ramps with ease.
"I'm surprised you can even sit after you landed on your booty 15 times in a row." Trixie said as she sat down on her board next to him. She handed a water bottle to him before opening her own and taking a drink. Jake stared at the bottle, rolling it back and forth between his hands.
"So, did you and Kyle kiss and makeup?" he asked. The suddenness of his question made Trixie choke on her water, covering her mouth to try and contain the coughing.
"That came out of nowhere. What's up with the random subject change?" she asked.
He turned his attention back to Spud, suddenly feeling bitter.
"I'm just asking a question. If you don't want to answer it then don't."
"Is that why you been catching an attitude with me since we left my house? Because I talked to him?" she questioned. He acted as if he didn't hear her and yelled out to Spud, cheering him on. Trixie huffed and waved a hand in front of his face. "Earth to Jake. I said is that why-"
"Yes. Okay?" he plainly stated, cutting her off. "That's why I have an attitude." Trixie flinched as he spat his words at her. Of course, they had been mad at each other before, but she never knew Jake to talk to her in such a harsh tone. "That guy treats you like crap Trix and every-single-time you let him get away with it. Since middle school, I've been saying to drop him, that you could do so much better, but you don't listen."
"What are you, my father? I know you don't really like Kyle, but you are not about to tell me who I can talk to!"
Jake gave a mirthless laugh and shook his head. "Fine. Well then the next time he hurts you, I'm not gonna be there to say 'I told you so.'"
Trixie had no idea what to say. She wasn't used to Jake, of all people, lashing out at her like this.
"You know what, that's fine! Who ever asked you to be there anyway? If that's how you've been feeling you should have said somethin' a long time ago. Because trust me, baby boy, Mama Trixie don't need nobody to take care of her." She got up, tucked her board under her arm, and stormed off. She didn't get too far away when Jake's tail quickly shot out and wrapped around her waist, pulling her back towards him. "Let me go, Jake!"
"Trix, I'm so sorry, don't leave ok? I didn't mean that."
She crossed her arms and looked up at him.
"Let me go."
"Not until you forgive me."
"Jake, someone could see," she whispered to him harshly, gesturing to his tail.
"Fine." The tail disappeared and Trixie turned to walk away again, but this time was stopped by Jake grabbing her hand. "Trixie, please, I really am sorry. I didn't mean to say that. You know I'll always be there for you."
"That's just it," she began as she turned to face him. "You don't have to always be there for me. I'm not trying to be a burden on anyone."
"I never think of you as a burden baby girl. I just-" Jake struggled to put his feelings into words. He didn't know how to explain his sudden outburst when he didn't really know where it came from himself. "I'm just an idiot okay?"
She sighed and put her hands in her sweater pockets.
"You're not an idiot, Jake, I love that you care about me and you want to protect me. But, it can just be a little... much sometimes. Spying on me, scolding me like I'm a child, always swooping in to save the day like you think I'm weak or something. Look, I have kicked some serious booty helping you these last few years. And not normal booty, magical, evil booty. I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself by now."
Jake chuckled but nodded.
"I know you can take care of yourself. And I know you're a badass 'booty' kicker. But I also know you have a big heart, baby, and sometimes it tells you to give people more chances than they deserve." He turned his attention to the ground. "I just don't want you to get hurt like... like you used to."
Jake looked up at Trixie who suddenly became really interested in picking the last bit of polish off her nails. He reached a hand up and grabbed hers.
"Listen, I'm always gonna want to be your hero. But, I promise, I'll try to back off. And I will never flip out on you like that again. I'm really, truly, sorry for that. Forgive me?"
When she didn't say anything right away, he pouted his lower lip, widened his eyes and whimpered, finally making her laugh.
"Ok, I forgive you. Don't use those puppy dog eyes on me."
He wrapped his arms around her, laying his head on top of hers.
"Good. You know I can't take you being mad at me."
"Ahem..." Jake turned around, letting go of Trixie, and was face to face with his girlfriend. "Sorry I'm late, Courtney and I were at the salon. I couldn't get her to come with me so, I had to drop her off at home before I came." Rose said, her blue eyes darting back and forth between her boyfriend and Trixie.
Jake felt his face turning red as he brought a hand up to scratch the back of his neck. The guilty feeling from earlier seemed to rush back to him all at once.
"Yea, no problem," Trixie jumped in when she saw Jake was lost for words. "We were getting ready to go eat in a minute anyway." She smiled at the taller girl before hopping on her skateboard to go collect Spud.
"So uh... you hungry?" Jake asked sheepishly. "We were gonna go to Lomardo's."
Rose nodded and walked behind him as they joined his friends. She gave a slight grimace when she saw Trixie look away as they approached.
She stopped walking and tugged on his hand.
"Actually, do you guys mind if we catch up to you later?" she asked, directing her question to Trixie and Spud.
Rose couldn't help but roll her eyes when Trixie seemed to look to Jake for approval. He gave a slight nod and told them they would meet them at the restaurant.
As Trixie and Spud left, Jake took Rose's hand and led her to a bench that was a safe distance away from the other skaters.
"Okay baby, what's up?"
"Well, you know, we never really got to finish our conversation from last night."
Jake gave her a confused look for a moment but quickly realized what she was talking about. He closed his eyes momentarily and took in a deep breath.
"Right. Rose, about that, I can't-"
"I know, Jake. I already know what you're gonna say and I get it. That was unfair of me to ask you like that. It was selfish and thoughtless and I'm sorry."
Jake was a bit surprised by what she said but sighed in relief.
"You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that."
"I know, Jake, it's just, I thought I was gonna lose you and I just panicked. That was the only thing I could think to do." She raised her eyes to meet his. "Because, the thing is, I'm not ready to leave my parents yet. But I also don't want to leave you, Jake."
The teen drew his eyebrows together in confusion.
"What do you mean by that?"
Rose sighed and pushed her hair back out of her face.
"It's just, once I learned the truth about who I really was, I realized that I didn't have any memories of my family." She reached into her pocket, pulled out her phone and opened up to a picture of a young Rose, sitting in front of a tent with her dad. "You see this? I look so happy here. But as hard as I try, I can't remember anything about this day. Or here," she said as she swiped to the next picture. "I don't ever remember going ice skating on the lake with my mom. All of these pictures, Jake, it's like someone just gave them to me and told me this stuff happened but I remember none of it. The only memories I have are of my years with the Huntsclan." She gave him a soft smile as she touched his hand. "And you."
He slowly nodded in understanding.
"God, Rose, I'm sorry. I never thought about that before. It's almost like none of that stuff ever happened."
"No, don't be! I wouldn't trade being with you for anything. But, see, that's why I'm not ready to leave my parents yet. I want to make some real memories with them. Have a chance to actually live a normal life not just be told that I have. But I also can't stand not being with you. You're the only good thing that I've had that's actually real. And the only way I could think to protect that is for you to move away with me." She looked up at him through her eyelashes, trying to chose her words carefully. "I know I shouldn't have just dropped the idea on you like that before, but, I did mean it. We could both start over and have a completely normal life. No Huntsclan, no mortal danger, just us. Just think about it. Wouldn't it be nice? Not having to worry constantly whether someone's gonna try to hurt you. Wouldn't it be nice to just be free from all of it and let it just be you and me?"
Jake felt a tightening sensation rise in the pit of his stomach. He had hoped that what Rose said before meant she had dropped the idea of him moving to China with her altogether.
"But I would still have to worry about my family." He looked around to make sure nobody was within earshot and lowered his voice. "There are still a bunch of magical creatures, powerful magical creatures, that want to hurt the American Dragon. What better way to hurt me than to hurt them? If I leave there would be nobody here to protect them. And you know that if I step down as the American Dragon, all of this goes to Haley. I couldn't put that stress on her."
"Jake, I know. Just, please don't say no yet. Because, Jake, I know that I want to be with you, and only you. I love you." She put a hand on his cheek. "And I know that if we can just sit down and figure this out, we can come up with a solution that works for everyone."
He exhaled quietly and nodded.
"Okay, I won't say no to trying to figure something out. But baby, you know that I can't just leave, right?"
She gave him a gentle smile. It wasn't the answer she was hoping for, but it was a start. She stood up from the bench and reached a hand out to him.
"C'mon, let's go catch up with them."
oOoOoOo
Jake groaned as he got up out of bed. Between him being out with his friends all night and then his father waking him up for breakfast at eight o'clock, the teen didn't get as much sleep as he would have liked.
He dragged himself into the kitchen and yawned good morning to his family. But he soon got a burst of energy when he saw his grandfather sitting at the table.
"Gramps, Fu, what are y'all doing here this early?" he happily asked as he patted his grandfather gently on the back. As Jake got more experienced with his abilities, Lao Shi started putting even more effort into their practice sessions to assure himself that Jake was completely ready to take on full responsibility as the American Dragon. So having him come over just to visit and not work was actually becoming a rare treat for the family. While being excited to see his grandfather, a sneaking suspicion crept into Jake's mind that turned his smile into a frown. "Aw man, do we have a mission tonight?" He had promised Rose last night that the two of them would finally have a day alone together and he knew he would never hear the end of it if he canceled their plans.
"Not at all, young one," his grandfather began. "Actually, I spoke with the council this morning and your request to have the rest of your summer vacation off has been granted. The council will assign someone else to keep an eye on things until you return."
"Wow, that's awesome G, thanks."
Jake smiled in relief and sat down at the table, helping himself to some pancakes and eggs.
The family talked and ate for a while, enjoying each other's company. After everyone was nearly finished, Susan and Jonathan stood up in front of the table together. His mother spoke first.
"Attention everyone, I first want to say we're very thankful that all of us were able to have breakfast together this morning. This doesn't happen nearly as often as it should but hopefully, we can change that."
Lao Shi looked up at his daughter and nodded in agreement as he drank his coffee.
"We're also extremely thankful to have Jacob join us," Jonathan continued. "It's a very rare treat for him to voluntarily get out of bed before 2 pm."
"The way you practically dragged me out of bed didn't seem very voluntary, but no problemo Pops," Jake said with a smirk as he grabbed another piece of bacon.
"Anyway, the reason we asked everyone to breakfast is that we have some very exciting news." He looked over at Susan and held her hand.
Jake raised an eyebrow. "Exciting as in, we won the lottery?"
Haley's face lit up as she put down her book.
"Oh if we did, can we get a puppy?!" she asked with a delighted squeal. She gave an apologetic smile across the table to Fu, "No offense, but like, a real one."
A scoff came from Fu, who had been reading the newspaper.
"Puppies aren't as amazing as you think they are kiddo," Fu said with a snort.
Jonathan cringed as the Shar-Pei spoke. He found out about his family's magical background quite a few years ago, but he still hadn't quite gotten used to the dog being able to talk.
"Well, we aren't getting a puppy," Susan said, squeezing her husband's hand a bit before she continued. "But, there is going to be a new addition to the family... I'm pregnant."
Haley screamed and ran over to hug her mother.
"Please let it be a girl! Please, please let it be a girl!" she sang. Lao Shi and Fu both smiled and congratulated Susan and Jonathan.
Jake stood up, ready to go and congratulate his parents when an image quickly went through his mind. It was only for a moment but the seemingly random image triggered a memory of something Jake had long forgotten about and a sudden realization swept over him. Suddenly he felt a wave of nausea and he had to hold on to the table to keep himself from falling over.
The rest of the family chattered away in excitement over the announcement.
"Sweet! It's about time we got another rug rat running around here." Fu exclaimed. "No offense, but the other two are starting to get a little too old to entertain me. Ya know what I mean, kid?" When Fu turned around, the smile fell from his face as soon as he laid eyes on the boy whose face was now as white as a sheet. "Jake? Are you alright?"
Everyone turned to look at him, snapping him out of his trance.
"Uh, yeah, I- I uh... Sorry. Congratulations." He walked over to his mom and gave her a hug while Haley gushed about how excited she was. Susan held her son out at arm's length and gave him a questioning look.
"Are you alright sweetheart? You don't look so good."
He raised his eyes to meet hers and, for a moment, couldn't stop staring. He finally broke the gaze and suddenly became very interested in his shoes.
"Huh? Yeah, no, I'm fine I just think I ate too much." He said with a forced smile.
She was about to say something else but before she could, Haley had come over to her, listing all the possible names for what she hoped to be her baby sister.
Jake was able to sneak away during all the commotion and head up the stairs. Jonathan looked over at his wife who shared his confused expression.
"What's wrong?" he mouthed to her. She shrugged in reply and looked up the stairs wondering what could have gotten into her son.
Jake ran into the bathroom, locked the door, leaned over the sink and splashed water on his face. He felt sick to his stomach and he couldn't seem to catch his breath.
"There's no way. This can't be happening. It has to be a dream."
Jake closed his eyes and sat down on the bathroom floor, his head in his hands.
"Please just let this be a bad dream..."
oOoOoOo
"Jakey! Watch out, there's one behind you, baby!" Trixie yelled.
The American Dragon spun around, seeing a hobgoblin leap towards him. He quickly swatted it with his tail, sending it flying off the rooftop.
"Thanks, Trix, now let's get the hell out of here." He kneeled in front of his friends, letting them hop onto his back, and headed towards the rainbow-like portal that was slowly beginning to close. "Aw man, what's going on?"
"Looks like they're having trouble keeping the portal open," Spud said as he clung to Trixie. "Something must be wrong."
Jake quickly nose dived toward the ground, he couldn't help but laugh a bit as his friends screamed, and landed next to his sister, who had just made her way back in.
"Haley, what are you doing? You need to go!"
"The goblins grabbed Aoife. Brocamas went to save her and he's the only one that can keep the portal open so the rest of the clan can get out of here." The smaller, lilac colored dragon started to fly off, but Jake was quick and grabbed her.
"Haley, you are not going back there."
"But Brocamas and Aoife-"
"Everything will be fine! I'm gonna go back and get them, you need to get Trixie, Spud and the rest of these guys out of here. I'll be right back."
In a flash, he was taking off in the direction he just came from, following the scent of his leprechaun friend.
"Aoife, stay behind me now!" The voice echoed in Jake's ears. He made a sharp turn and headed down an alley. Jake doubled his speed and finally caught sight of Brocamas attempting to fend off a pair of hobgoblins that backed himself and his fiancé against a wall.
"Tell us, where is gold and maybe we hurt you less," one of the goblins said with a twisted smile.
"Well, I didn't bring any gold," Jake said as he landed behind them. "But there's an early delivery on that can of whoop ass you ordered."
"It's American Dragon! Run!" the other goblin cried before they took off in the opposite direction.
Jake held back a smile as he kneeled in front of the little couple.
"Thank you laddie," Brocamas said, his voice shaking a bit. "A million thank you's for saving my bride and me." The little man reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of gold, holding it out to Jake who quickly refused it.
"Thanks Brocamas, but we need to get you guys out of here asap. The portal is closing and I don't know about y'all, but I'm ready to get out of this dump."
Just as he was about to grab them, a scream filled the air.
"Jake! Please, help me!"
Jake turned in the direction it came from. "What the-"
"Save me, Jake, please!" The voice rang out again. Something about it made the young dragon's blood run cold.
"Is something the matter, boyo?" Brocamas asked, a look of concern decorating his features.
Jake shook his head and groaned in frustration.
"Someone's calling for me back there. Those goblins never give up do they?"
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. In an instant there was a doppelganger of Jake in dragon form, standing right beside him. He turned to the clone and quickly instructed it to take the couple to the portal before turning around and flying towards the voice.
Jake flew down the maze-like alleyway, twisting and turning in every direction, following the sound of the unknown person calling for help. He heard the voice getting closer and made one more turn which almost caused him to fly face-first into a brick wall.
He screeched to a stop and stared at the wall, confused.
"What the..."
Just as he turned around, a bright light shot out, hitting him directly in his eyes. He yelped in pain and fell out of the sky, crashing to the ground. He groaned as he lay there, holding his scaly hands over his eyes. The pain was almost unbearable, as if he just stared directly into the sun.
The sound of whispers caused his head to shoot up. He tried to see what was going on around him, but the light had nearly blinded him. He saw nothing but a shadow between the colorful, swirling circles in front of him.
"Who's there?" he cried out.
Jake's heart filled with terror as he was answered by the most blood curdling screech he had ever heard. He shut his eyes tightly and brought his hands up to cover his ears, but it did no good as the sound continued to pierce through. He nearly slipped into his human form, desperately wanting to do anything that would relieve even a small portion of the pain he was in.
Jake struggled to maintain his dragon form as the screeching went on for what seemed like hours when really only seconds were going by. Tears filled his eyes in frustration as he told himself to get up but he couldn't find the strength to.
He tried his best to open his eyes so he could see what creature was doing this to him.
His eyesight still hadn't fully restored so all he was able to make out was the shadow of a tall, thin, form. The shadow seemed to be approaching him and he knew he needed to get up, to defend himself, but he felt so weak. Just when he felt like whatever it was was about to defeat him, everything went silent.
He didn't know how long he laid there, curled up on the ground, before he was finally able to open his eyes and slowly regained his vision. He lowered his hands from his ears and slowly rose from the floor looking around to see where he was. His eyes fell on a window and he noticed he was now completely in his human form.
He turned his eyes away from the window to gage the rest of his surroundings.
He was standing in a building which he quickly realized was a hospital. But it wasn't a human hospital, he saw fairies with broken wings, trolls standing at the front desk, a mermaid sitting in a kiddie pool in the waiting room, but the strange thing is, they all seemed to be frozen.
He walked towards one of the nurses, an ogre, and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Uh, excuse me." As soon as he spoke, the hospital was buzzing with noise. Everyone was talking at once, all kinds of creatures were running back and forth calling for a healer, and several nurses were doing their best to calm down hysterical patients. Jake dodged out of the way narrowly avoiding a collision with a gurney.
The nurse turned to him, her face looking somber, and sighed. "I know, sir, a healer will be with you as soon as one becomes available. But honestly, I don't know if there's much they can do for the little one."
"What?" he asked, but the nurse had already dashed off down the hall. Suddenly Jake felt a slight weight in his arms.
He looked down, and his heart clenched as he saw a little boy, no more than about 4 years old, laying in his arms, unmoving, a blood-soaked shirt clinging to his small torso.
"Woah, woah, what is going on? Who is..." Just then, the boy opened his eyes and looked up at Jake. As he did, a wave of emotion swept over him. Those eyes, he knew them, but he had never seen this boy before.
The little boy took a short breath, his eyes filling with tears, as he reached a small hand up to grab Jake's shirt.
"Please... Please st-." Before he could say another word he began coughing. The voice tugged at Jake's heart, he didn't know what to do, or how to help.
"Shh, don't say anything else okay? You're gonna be just fine," he promised.
The boy gently nodded and closed his eyes before his grip on Jake's shirt loosened and his hand swung, lifelessly to his side.
Jake found it hard to breathe as he looked down at the little boy. He had so many mixed emotions, he felt as if his heart had been ripped from his chest but he had no idea why since he didn't even know who this boy was. Tears poured from Jake's eyes as he hugged the small boy to him. He turned to look for someone that could help, someone to tell him what to do, when he glanced again at the window.
He stared at his reflection in horror as he saw that his face was now covered in blood. He brought a hand up to his face and saw that, instead of flesh, there were his fiery red scales and sharp, ivy, claws which, to his horror, were also covered in blood. He looked back at the small boy he was holding and saw four slashes in his shirt, across his chest.
"No. No, I didn't- I couldn't have..." He looked back at his reflection, feeling his heart pound. "I... I killed him?"
Suddenly he felt someone roughly shaking his arm. He held the boy tight, afraid he would fall out of his arms.
"Cut it out!" Jake turned to see what was going on and caught sight of a hooded figure briskly walking away from him. Something about this person caught his attention. "Hey!" he called out to them.
The figure stopped in their tracks before slowly turning around toward him. Whoever it was, their face was completely hidden from his sight. Jake saw that they were wearing a black hoodie with a small logo on the chest that he couldn't quite make out. He had a dozen questions he needed to ask, but at that moment, only one stuck out.
"Did..." he started, unsure of why he felt the need to ask this to the unknown figure. "Did I do this?"
The figure stood there for a moment as if it were about to answer him, but quickly turned and ran away.
"Yo! Hold up!" Jake wanted to chase after them but it was as if his feet were cemented to the ground.
Just as he was about to call after them again, the shaking resumed and he heard someone faintly calling his name. Then everything went dark again...
"Jake! Wake up, Jake! Jake, please wake up!"
He took in a shuddering breath as his eyes snapped open. He saw his sister sitting in front of him, shaking his shoulders violently. The sudden sight of her made him jump back in fear.
"Woah, dude, are you ok?" Spud, who had been standing nearby, reached out and grabbed Jake's shoulder, trying to calm him down. Jake looked around and saw that he was laying on a couch in his grandfather's shop, his friends, his sister, and his grandfather all around him. He exhaled in relief and sat back down, rubbing his forehead.
"Yea, I'm fine bro. What happened?"
Haley looked up at him, her eyes red from crying, and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as she sobbed. After just a moment of hesitation, Jake returned the hug, stroking her hair and letting her know he was okay. Once she calmed down a bit, the group took turns filling him in on what happened.
When Brocamas and Aoife made their way through the portal and the Jake doppelganger disappeared, they had let the group know that Jake was with them but turned back for an unknown reason.
Haley and her grandfather immediately flew back through the portal to find him. It took a minute, but they soon found a group of hobgoblins surrounding the unconscious teen, ready to attack. The duo was able to fight them off and get Jake out just seconds before the portal to the goblin dimension was closed.
"Damn. I don't even remember any of that." Jake said as he rested his forehead in his hand. His grandfather stood before him. Although he maintained his calm demeanor, he had been afraid for his grandson and was relieved that he was alright.
"Do you have any idea what it was that led you to turn back, young one?" Lao Shi asked.
Jake thought back to the strange encounter he had, but he couldn't even begin to find words that would describe what happened to him. So, instead, he told him that he couldn't remember. The older man seemed to detect that it wasn't completely the truth but said nothing as he was just thankful that his grandson had recovered.
Trixie and Spud had offered to stay the night, but, Jake declined their offer. Once everyone left and his family had gone to sleep, Jake brought his laptop up to his room and sat at his desk as he typed in everything he could remember into his browser and hit search.
"Your search did not match any documents... of course." He narrowed down his search to creatures that have the ability to temporarily blind you. Many different articles popped up, but nothing very helpful to him. He changed his search to creatures that make you see visions, still nothing. With a sigh, Jake leaned back in his chair and looked longingly at his bed, ready to call it a night. Then he remembered something that sent a shiver up his spine. He sat back up and typed: creatures that predict death... and scream. Just the thought of that horrible scream made his bones go cold. He hit the search button and one interesting thing popped up.
"A banshee?"
Jake had heard of banshees before, they were also known as wailing women. They usually let out a scream to let someone know that either themselves or a loved one was going to die. But thankfully, neither he nor anyone else he knew had ever had a run in with one. That is, it seemed, until now.
He clicked on a link to an article and the first thing that popped up was an image of a tall, slender woman with bright glowing eyes. Jake froze as he remembered the blindingly bright light that he saw just moments before seeing the shadow of a very tall and very slim person approaching him. Could that have been a banshee? He didn't want to believe too much of what he read since the internet wasn't always the most accurate source of information, but he knew his grandfather had hardly any books with information on banshees, since there were so few reported encounters with them, so right now this was all he could do.
He quickly scrolled past the image, as looking at it was making him feel anxious, and read through the article. As he expected, it was all stuff he had heard before. If a person lays eyes on a banshee, they will die soon after, but if a person only hears a banshee cry, it is a warning of the impending death of one of their loved ones.
So is that what the vision was? Was the boy someone close to him?
Jake closed his eyes and pressed the palms of his hands against the back of his eyelids. He knew that there were no children that age in his family now, but maybe...That's when it hit him.
Just a few months ago, his aunt had announced that she was expecting a baby. Could that possibly have been the boy in his dream?
Jake's head pounded with all the possibilities of what could have happened. He closed his laptop and set it to the side as he laid down on his bed, staring at the ceiling and silently counted the glow-in-the-dark star stickers.
Against his better judgment, he decided against telling anyone about what happened that night. Instead, he would just keep a close eye on his family for now and hope that it was all just one horrible nightmare. And if it wasn't, he would do whatever it takes to protect the ones he loved.
oOoOoOo
Jake had nearly forgotten that horrible night almost 2 years ago. At the time, he was afraid that the baby in the dream would be his unborn cousin but, to his relief, his aunt had a little girl. After a while, he had basically written the whole experience off as him passing out and having a nightmare.
It was late afternoon by the time Jake finally got the strength to get out of his bed.
He leaned against his desk for a moment before turning his head to stare at himself in the mirror. More specifically, his eyes. His dark, nearly black, eyes with a ring of green near the border of his pupils. The same rare eye color he shared with his sister... and the young child in the vision. Finding out his mom was pregnant made everything start to click for him. That's why the child looked so familiar. Is it possible that it was his own little brother that was in the vision? That would mean...
Jake turned away from his reflection, trying not to think about the rest. There was a knock on his bedroom door. He assumed it was his parents since they had come up to check on him several times throughout the day.
"I'm fine. I uh, I just had to take a nap. I didn't get much sleep last night," he called out.
"I don't care, ding-dong," came the voice of his sister. "Rose is on the phone for you."
Jake mentally kicked himself for forgetting the two of them had plans today. He looked over at his phone which must have been dead since she called the house. He knew she was gonna kill him for this but he couldn't bring himself to talk to her right now. He would explain later, if he could.
"Haley just... I don't feel good, can you tell her I'll call her later?"
"No problem," she said sweetly. "Hey, Rose, Jake says he's sick. It must be the truth because he's been locked in his room all day which he never, ever, does. And this girl came and went in there with him, I assume she's taking his temperature because she keeps saying: 'You're so hot-'"
Jake flew to the door and pulled it open so fast that the wind made Haley's hair blow behind her.
"Haley what are you-" He came face to face with his sister who stood in the hallway, arms crossed, and no phone in sight. "Very funny. Where did you learn to talk like that anyway?"
"I watch a lot of telenovelas," she said with a shrug.
"Well, starting today, you're not allowed to watch those anymore." Jake rolled his eyes and started to close the door but she stuck her size 5 shoe in the way.
"Now that I know you're alive, maybe you can tell me what's wrong."
"What makes you think something's wrong?
"Did you not just hear my imaginary phone call? You've been locked in your room all day. You never do that."
"I've been in my room all day before."
"Yea, but you never lock your door," she said as she turned the doorknob for emphasis.
"Well, maybe I should start. And maybe you should stop being so damn nosey." He pushed her foot out of the way and closed the door.
He sighed as he turned the lock once again. As much as he hated to admit it, Haley was right. He needed to talk to his family about this situation. But how could he tell them what was going on when he didn't even know?
He paced the floor of his room, debating what to do. After a few minutes, another knock made him freeze in his tracks. He looked towards the door but couldn't make his feet move towards it. Instead, he went to his window and leaped out.
oOoOoOo
Jake had spent the night flying around the skies of Manhattan. Although this was supposed to clear his head, he felt like he was even more confused than he was before. How would he ever be able to explain this to his parents? Especially his dad who was still adjusting to everything.
He still couldn't face his family, not yet, but he needed to talk to someone. He was only in the air for about another minute before he landed, back in his human form, on the fire escape outside of Trixie's bedroom.
He knocked on the window gently and waited, but got no response. He knocked a few more times, it was getting late but still way too early for her to have been asleep.
He sighed, figuring she wasn't home and turned to leave when he heard a car door slam.
"Trixie, get over here," came a male voice.
"Leave me alone, Kyle!" Jake's ears perked up when he heard Trixie. His wings appeared and he flew up to the roof of her house and looked over the edge at the couple below.
Kyle walked up behind Trixie, who was digging in her purse for her house key and snatched her arm, making her face him.
"Come on babe, you said you wanted me to take you home." He slightly stumbled as he spoke, clearly drunk.
"Great, thanks for finally taking me home after an hour of me saying I wanted to leave that stupid party. You did your job, now you can go back and finish drinking yourself stupid." She tried to pull away from him but his other hand shot up so he was holding both of her wrists.
"I know that's not what you meant by 'take me home'," he slurred as he leaned in for a kiss. Trixie pushed his face away as she struggled to free herself from his grip.
"Let me go!"
"Come on babe, don't you always say I don't give you enough attention? I'm just giving you what you want right?" He pushed her back against his car and roughly pressed his lips to hers. She cried out and tried to get away from him but he pushed his body against her, pinning her to the car. He let go of one of her wrists, moving his hand to lift the bottom of her skirt. "Isn't this what you wanted? My attention?"
Once her wrist was free, she brought her hand up and slapped him as hard as she could, causing his head jerk to the side. He looked at her in a way that terrified her as he pulled his hand far back. She flinched and closed her eyes, preparing to take the hit, but instead, she heard Kyle gasp. "Where the hell did you come from?"
Trixie opened her eyes and saw Jake standing next to him, holding his arm. In one swift motion, he twisted Kyle's arm behind his back and slammed him against the car next to Trixie.
"What the hell, Long? Let go of me man. Trixie get him off me!"
"I told you never to put your hands on her again," Jake said, his voice sounded much darker than usual. "You don't like to listen much do you?"
The other boy yelled out in pain as Jake twisted his arm farther behind his back. Trixie's heart raced as she saw the look in her friend's eyes, she was afraid that if she didn't do something, he would snap Kyle's arm right off.
"Jakey, I'm fine. Just let him go, okay? Please, Jake." She reached over and touched his arm. As he looked at her, the anger slowly went away, and he let go of Kyle who fell to the ground trying to get away from him.
"Whatever dude, you can have her. She's not worth it," He said, spitting on the ground in her direction. He staggered into his car and sped off.
Jake was ready to take off after him but was stopped by Trixie grabbing his sleeve.
"It's fine, Jake, forget him."
The two of them went inside. Trixie got him a glass of water and they sat down in the living room.
"So, you were spying on me again huh?" she asked. Jake laughed a bit and set his glass down on the table.
"Like I said, spying is an ugly word, let's call it... Jiàndié," he replied.
Trixie raised an eyebrow at him.
"And what does that mean?"
"Basically it means spying. But it sounds a lot better."
Trixie smiled a bit sadly and sat back on the couch, pulling her knees to her chest. The two of them sat in silence for a moment before Trixie spoke up again.
"I just... I hope he's gonna be okay. I shouldn't have let him drive home like that."
"Trix, are you for real?" Jake looked at her in disbelief. "After what just happened, you're still thinking about him?"
She looked down and sighed. "Jake, please don't start."
He looked away angrily. Who was he kidding? Kyle Wilkins could do no wrong in her eyes.
"Whatever. I'll see you later." He was about to stand up when suddenly Trixie wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, her body began shaking violently as she cried. "Woah, Trixie, calm down, you're okay."
"Please don't leave me, Jake, I need you to stay," she sobbed.
Jake held onto her, alarmed, he hadn't seen her cry like this in years. His hands clenched into fists as she sobbed, he cursed himself as he realized he wasn't able to keep the promise he made long ago that he would never let anyone make her cry like this again.
"Don't cry, baby. I'm sorry, I'm not going anywhere." He pulled her onto his lap, stroking her hair as she cried on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head and gently rocked her back and forth. "I'm never gonna leave you and he's never gonna hurt you again, okay? Nobody's ever gonna hurt you again. I'm gonna protect you."
Jake continued to hold her as she cried herself to sleep. When he looked down at her in his arms, he suddenly remembered the reason he came there. He sighed and laid his head back against the couch. What if it was true? What if what happened to the boy in his dream was the fate of his unborn sibling? He yawned as his tired eyes began to close.
"Please let it be a girl... Please, please let it be a girl."