Christ, you guys are amazing. The reviews I get are cool and I really do appreciate the concrit. I love you kids. 3333 loveee )

I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. I liked developing Jeremy a little more. So, tell me what you think, but the next one will be an adventure.

At least I hope so.

I got two pints of blood taken out today, then they stuck it in a centrifuge, and shot the plasma back into my arm. It was cool, but I'm so lightheaded I feel blitzed.

MINOR WARNING:

If you haven't read the books, there's something in here that you may not want to know...it'll be in future movies, according to things that I've read, but it has to do with Mily. I don't think it'll be too much of a shocker...but if you don't want to know, then don't read this chapter. It does, however, have a lot of information about Jeremy's past.

My secret locations had come back to my mind after a few hours of not getting shocked with electricity, so I had made a quick jumping trip to where I stashed all my stuff and brought it back to the apartment (the Lair…whatever…) so I could have easy access to it. I wasn't completely sure about whether or not these Paladin characters knew where I stashed my stuff, so I thought it safer to move until I got an actual hiding place. I wasn't too worried about anyone reading anything that I had written in my field notebook—it was mostly just random words scribbled here and there and a few names on my part. It didn't really have a whole lot of information that anyone else would have cared about…at least, I didn't think so.

When I got back from my last jump, Griffin was leaning in the doorway, watching me. I couldn't tell if he was scowling or if it was his natural expression, but it was unnerving me a little bit.

"What?" I asked incredulously. He continued to stare.

"Where have you been?"

"Places."

"Doing what?"

"Stuff."

"Cut the one word answers, kid, you can't go jumping around like you're fucking free to do whatever you want."

"Why the hell not?"

He came further into the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Number one," he says, crossing his arms. "Obviously the Paladin know who you are. They know what you're capable of. The fact that they were able to capture you and hold you is bad enough, but now that you're going out and basically holding a sign in front of their faces saying 'Here I am! Come get me!' is just going to get you killed. They know you're not stupid. I, however, am beginning to think otherwise."

I glared at him but the look was missed. He continued on his tirade.

"If you were smart, you wouldn't have gotten captured in the first place—"

"How was I supposed to know that there were even people out there like these Palawhatevers? I didn't even know they existed until you told me what their name was! It's not my fault!"

"Then whose is it?"

He gave me a cocky grin, daring me to reply. I regretted the outburst and crossed my arms.

"How am I supposed toknow that there are people out there like them that are after me, that want to kill me?"

"Because you can jump," he said, as if I didn't know that. "Did you really think nobody would notice? You're just like David: you don't look before you leap. You think you're so careful and so good at not letting anyone see you, but people do see, whether you want them to or not! It's a fact of life. Nothing in this world goes unnoticed. You can jump like David and I can't, and even Mily can jump, even though she doesn't use it quite as often because she's a chick and chicks are just…weird."

He shook his head in disdain, like he was regretting ever finding out that David's wife could jump. Then he continued.

"The Paladin are always coming up with new weapons, new ways to kill us—to kill you. You slipped through their fingers once, but they're not going to let that happen again. The next time they get a hold of you they will kill you," he said, vehemence in his voice. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but I backed away a little. The backs of my legs hit the edge of the bed.

"If you get caught again," he drew his hand across his neck with a click of his tongue.

"You're a goner, kid. They'll kill you. Now that they know what you can do and what you are, and that you're second generation. They know what they're up against, and we know what we're up against. This is a new war that we've started."

He grinned, all apparent anger gone from his face. "Except this time, we're going to win for good."

We stared at each other for a good minute before he glanced at his watch and clapped a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't get in trouble, don't do anything stupid, and don't die."

He jumped away.

I could almost see the cloud of black squiggly lines above my head that they have in cartoons when the cartoon character is pissed or something. I guess Mily saw it too, because after my discussion with Griff, I wandered out into the kitchen and sat down at the bar. She leaned forward.

"What can I get for you?"

"Rum on the rocks." I cocked my head to the side. "Is that even a drink?"

She smiled. I'd never met Mily before this morning, when she had jumped in from…wherever the hell she was before this. Griff didn't especially like her, so whenever she was around, he made his best effort to spend as little time here as possible, or, when he was here, he made a point to not hang around with her. I, however, rather enjoyed her company. She was a refreshing person, especially since I was apparently being prepared for a hell.

"How about coke?"

I nodded and she poured it into a glass with ice, handing it to me. "You going a little stir crazy?"

I nodded again. "Griff and Davy both want me to stay here but…I have things to do."

That was only part lie. I did have things to do, but they weren't pressing.

I looked up at her.

"What's second generation?"

She paused for a second. "Second generation is the kind of jumper you are. Like, Davy and Griff and myself are first generation jumpers, and you're second generation. You can do more than we can, but we can probably do something that you can't do because…well, you don't need it anymore."

"So basically it's evolution," I say, taking a sip. She shrugs.

"Sort of. It's more like….adaptation. I don't know exactly how it works. I do know that you develop the ability when you are put into a dangerous situation. But I don't know how you leave no jump scar while the rest of us do."

"What happened to you that made you jump?" I asked Mily. She scrunched up her face a little in concentration.

"Well, long story short, David and I have this house, I tried to escape, I didn't fare so well and next thing I knew I was in my apartment. It was weird."

She refilled my glass and placed it back in front of me.

"What about you?"

I went quiet for a moment. She had told me a few days ago how David's first jump had happened, and now I knew about her. I guess mine wasn't really that different.

"My brother and I played hide and seek a lot. We had this huge wood behind our house and we could spend hours playing back there. On the other side there was a major road and one time I thought it would be great if I just wandered all the way through the woods and crossed the road to hide in the creekbeds on the other side. I got to the road, looked both ways, started to cross. This car comes speeding around the corner when I'm halfway across and I stop dead, close my eyes and scream."

She's staring at me intently. "How old were you?"

"Like, five. When the car doesn't hit me, I open my eyes and I'm in the back of my dad's truck."

A smile creases my lips. "Then my brother slaps his face against the window and screams 'I've found you! What the fuck, Jer, it's been three hours!'"

She smiles and pulls a stool up to sit across from me.

"How old was your brother at the time?"

"Ten. So he's…twenty-two now."

"Do you know where he is?"

"Army."

"Do you talk to him at all?"

"Not really. He split when he was eighteen and I was thirteen."

Mily nodded sympathetically. I took a long drink from the glass. I hadn't thought about these things in a while. I wasn't sure if now was the time to drag them back up.

Mily sat up a little bit, resting her elbows on the counter and putting her chin in her hands.

"Why the back of your dad's truck? My safe spot is my apartment, for obvious reasons. But why the back of the truck?"

I opened my mouth, then shut it. Mily must have noticed, because she told me that if I didn't want to talk about it, I didn't have to. But I shook my head and started to talk.

"My dad wasn't the greatest guy on the face of the earth. He used to screw Dev up really badly whenever he did something wrong. I could hear it. Whenever Dev knew that something was going to happen, he'd tell me to go and hide in the truck so our dad couldn't get to me. And I did. And then when our dad was done, Dev would come out and hang with me until he knew Dad had calmed down. And I'd usually be asleep by then, so Dev would either just sleep in the truck with me or, if it was too cold, carry me inside."

"What about your mom?"

"I killed her."

Her face fell and she straightened up a little. I reworded my sentence.

"I mean like, she died when giving birth to me." My life was beginning to sound like a soap opera. I didn't think I was so cynical about everything, but I guess it turned out that I was naturally cynical and had a certain attitude around people. At least, that's what the police always said

"Oh." She smiled. "Then you didn't kill her. She gave her life so you could live."

I shrugged. Sometimes I wished that my mom was still around and that I was gone. I felt Mily's hand on my own, comforting me.

"Sorry I made you think about it," she said. I shook my head.

"Not your fault."

"So you never really knew her…just your brother and dad?"

I nod, scratching at a nonexistent itch on my arm. I was never really very comfortable talking about my past, as it brought up bad memories of talking to the school psychologist about things I didn't care much for.

I looked up at Mily. "So, do you know what David and Griffin want me to be able to do?"

She shrugged, taking my glass and moving to the counter, placing it in the sink.

"They always talk about starting an army of some sort, and now that they know there's a new breed of jumpers out there, they know that they can get going on it. They've got you here, they've been looking for other kids your age that they know can jump." She turned to face me. "They want to take down the Paladin…and they really need your help. It's turning into a full blown war, now that they've gotten information on you. You're saving your life and the lives of innocent people. They won't hesitate to take people you love hostage…"

She paused, as if she had said something wrong. I arched an eyebrow.

"What?"

"I…" she stuttered. I smiled.

"You think I don't have anyone."

Mily ran a hand through her hair, letting the tresses fall over her shoulders and shrugged. "Sorry. I just don't know a lot about you. David just kind of…"

"Stuck me here?"

"Yeah."

"I have two people," I said. She grinned wolfishly.

"Girlfriend?"

I arched an eyebrow, but before I could say anything, Griffin jumped into the area, and, giving both of us a serious look, said:

"We've got to go."

"Why?"

"We've found another Jumper…but he's in bad shape. Plus, the Paladin have David."

I wasn't sure if the look on his face as he said that last part was annoyance or genuine panic, but he fixed his eyes on Mily.

"You stay here," he said. Turning to me, he grinned.

"It's time to see what you're made of, kid."