Jim and Josh were approaching Tristan's mansion nervously and fully determined in their mission. Jim looked like a completely different person and Josh looked…like himself. The two of them stepped into the brightly lit main hall that they had been thrown out of this morning. Jim would normally be admiring the nicely decorated hall that looked even better than before, but he knew better. His main objective was to find Sarah and convince her to come back with them.
Jim and Josh tried their best to move through the crowd of aristocrats and close friends of Tristan's, but they found the hall was full of people and more were coming. "We can't stick together in this crowd. We will have to split up." Josh said, maneuvering his way past someone to get back to Jim. "Josh!" Tristan's call rang in their ears. Josh switched on his friendliest smile and turned towards Tristan. "Hey, Tristan." Josh greeted in response. "It's been quite a while since you last came to visit. Has work been keeping you busy?" Tristan asked.
"Yes, sorry I haven't had a chance to stop by." Josh said, making sure that his tone of voice didn't shift and reveal his true feelings. "By the way, have you finished working on my longboat yet?" Tristan said. Josh recalled Red Josh working on the longboat in the garage and responded truthfully "I was working on it this afternoon. It should be done before the week is out." "Good." Tristan said gratefully.
Tristan stopped and took a closer look at Josh through the eyes of his mask, which was still slightly covered by his hair. "Josh, have you gotten shorter?" Neither Josh nor Jim knew what to say in response to this observation. "It must be my eyes playing tricks on me." Tristan said, allowing the two of them to relax. Tristan turned to Jim, who had been watching his expressions intently since the beginning of the conversation. "Who is you friend her, Josh? I don't think I've met him before." Tristan asked, not seeing Jim through his disguise.
"I'm Jason Ether. It's nice to meet you." Jim said, putting on the act of a first meeting. "Like wise. Are you a friend of Josh? He's never mentioned you before." Tristan asked, curiously as always. "I just recently got out of the interstellar academy. We haven't seen each other in a while." Jim answered, having expected this question to appear. "Well then I suppose you will be joining a crew soon." Tristan said. "I will eventually." Jim answered, wishing Tristan would leave so he could continue his search.
Jim got his wish when Tristan said "I hope you enjoy the party, Jason, but I have to go and talk to the other guests. Would you come with me, Josh?" "Uh, sure." Josh said, really not wanting to go. As Tristan turned around, Josh whispered to Jim "Help me here!" "Look if you go with him you may find Sarah a lot quicker." Jim whispered back.
Josh reluctantly followed Tristan who was easily cutting through the crowd of guests. Meanwhile, Jim was slowly moving past the many well-dressed party goers searching for any sign of Sarah. Jim searched but was distracted the entire time. By what? Let's say that innumerable pairs of aristocratic female eyes had been boring into the back of his head since he came in the front door.
Jim was listening to every whisper and mention of his 'name' that was made by a group of girls. Though this distracted him from his search, it did help him avoid any encounters with shy head-over-heels girls who wanted to ask for a chance to dance with him. Besides the fact that he was out running many groups of girls, I guess it was luck that led him to bump into a girl with short cut brown hair and an elegant blue dress that was long in the back and shorter in the front.
"Sarah!" Jim said not realizing he should stay in character. Sarah smiled and said "You have me at a disadvantage. How is it you know my name?" "Um…Tristan mentioned you and I thought it would be nice to meet you." Jim said covering up his mistake. "I'm flattered, um…I'm sorry what's you name?" Sarah asked. "I'm Jason Ether." Jim answered sticking to his story. "I would very much appreciate it if you would honor me with a dance, Sarah." Jim said, holding out his hand to her.
"I would be delighted." Sarah said taking hold of his hand. Many girls were disappointed as the next song started and they began to dance. Sarah was truly enjoying herself; not knowing exactly who she was dancing with. Even though he knew he would be taking her away from this new found happiness, Jim had every intention of giving her the locket and he believed this was the perfect time to do so.
Jim stopped in the middle of the dance and said "Sarah, I want you to take this." Jim withdrew the faultless locket from around his neck and put it in her scared hands. Sarah's face lit up. "Jason this is gorgeous. This is the only present I've received that Tristan didn't give me. Thank you." Sarah said. "It's what's inside that's important. Inside that locket are all of the things that you forgot." Jim said.
Sarah looked at him perplexingly then looked down at the locket in her damaged hands. "What do you mean?" she asked, just as the song ended. "Jason, just who are you?" Before Jim could even answer, a torrent of girls from the side of the dance floor came to his side in high hopes. Like being washed down a river Sarah was drawn away from Jim, and he was taken in the other direction.
The girls stepped closer and closer to Jim until he couldn't move back anymore in fear that he would topple over on someone. Despite his efforts, Jim fell backwards onto the floor with about 5 or 6 girls following him down. Everyone in the dance hall turned to see what the commotion was and the crowd receded to give them room. The crowds gave out a gasp of shock and it was clear to see why. Jim didn't realize what had happened until he rubbed the back of his neck. He felt the prickle of the hair that made up his braid on the back of his hand.
Jim frantically reached for his mask but couldn't find it until he saw it laying just feet away from him. Tristan had heard the commotion and came over to discover Jim had blown his cover. "Jim Hawkins! Didn't I tell you you're not welcome here?" Tristan said, summoning security. Josh knew he had to get out or he would be discovered too; he ran outside to meet Jim later.
Jim jumped up and grabbed the wig and the mask, but had to drop them when he felt the grip of the guards around his arms. Sarah was standing there, not knowing what had happened. Jim didn't even struggle as he was carried away; Sarah watched and bent down to pick up Jim's mask. She looked at it, and not having a mask herself put it on.
Jim found himself being thrown out of the front gates for the second time in one day. He sat up and looked at Tristan in contempt. "This is my second warning for you. If you come here again I will take extreme measures to make sure you don't bother me again." Tristan said this and turned to as the gates were locked behind him.
Jim stood up with an exhale of breath and brushed the dirt off of his formal wear. Josh came out to join him from where he had been waiting on the other side of the wall. "I guess that ends our covert missions in this dimension." Josh said jokingly. "Yeah, but we got the locket back to her and that's what matters." Jim said starting to walk back to the inn. "That may be true, but there's always the chance that she'll think it's a fabricated and then there will be no way of bringing her back that doesn't require force." Josh said.
Jim stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Josh. "I guess we will just have to hope."