YAY! The next chapter is up! Just so you know I spent all day writing this (and I'm serious when I say this because, due to the over-load of snow, I have not had any school for the past for days. Yay!) and I hope you are happy with it. I'm not going to lie, this chapter doesn't include much inside conflict (sorry, but I'm internal conflicted out after the last chapter) but it does finally reveal the plan in as simple a way as possible.
And when I say 'simple' I mean 'as non-confusing as I can get it'. And personally I think I did a pretty good job, but if you are confused, just as your question in a review or PM me.
PS: If any of you have already read this and found it awesome enough to read it again, I would like to let you know that I had totally forgot that Derek had broken Jon's wrist two chapters ago and Lulubelle09 was nice enough to remind me in the review (YAY REVIEWS!) so I rewrote a few parts and now Jon has a broken wrist! YAY!
Disclaimer: I'm sorry to disappoint, but I am not Kelley Armstrong in disguise, therefore I do not own Darkest Powers. If I led you into thinking otherwise... oops.
Previously:
"So you know how to get her back?" Simon asked, hope in his eyes, though his voice didn't betray it.
"Of course I do." Jon said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world, "You just have to kill Jessa's body."
Chapter 11: The Plan (Dramatic Music)
The silence after what Jon said was impenetrable. Chloe stared at him, her earlier thoughts of him coming out of his madness attack were suddenly extremely doubtful. If they killed Jessa's body then Jessa would never be able to inhabit it again, that was exactly what they didn't want to happen.
"Maybe I'm a bit slow," Tori said slowly from beside Simon, "but wouldn't that be counter productive?"
Chloe almost smiled at how Tori worded it, but she couldn't, because it was obvious that Jon didn't know how to save Jessa, and coming here was just a waste of time and emotional stress.
"I'm going to have to agree with Tori," Jessa said, frowning, "I don't want to die. Then I would be stuck in the spirit world forever."
"You misunderstood me." Jon said calmly, smiling at Jessa, "Please, come inside so I can explain." He walked to the screen door and held it open for them.
No one wanted to be the first to go inside. Chloe could see the skepticism on Kit's and Aunt Lauren's faces, could see that they weren't sure if they should go inside and hear Jon's explanation or if they should just cut their losses and leave now. She could tell that everyone else was waiting to see what the others were going to do, not wanting to be the one to decide. Steeling herself, Chloe pursed her lips and walked past Jon and into the house.
The first thing she noticed about the place was that it was unbelievably clean, as if someone who lived there had OCD when it came to cleaning. The hardwood floors were shining and squeaky clean, the living room was in perfect order, so neat that Chloe wondered if it modeled for furniture magazines.
The next thing she noticed was that there was a kiddie pool in the middle of the living room. She didn't really know what to think of that.
She felt Derek come up behind her, standing close enough for her to feel his body heat. She knew he was staring at the pool just like she was, adding this weird appearance to his already bad perception of Jon.
"Chloe." It was Jon, and she turned away from the pool to see him. He was holding the arm the Derek had broken the wrist of close to his chest. "I would like to apologize about what happened earlier." He did look sorry, and sane, or at least for the moment he did. In the back of her mind Chloe wondered how long it would be until he lost control of himself again. She hoped that she wouldn't be around for it.
"I unpredictably lose my mind sometimes." Jon said softly, like he was talking to a scared child, as if trying to calm her, "I didn't mean to hurt you," He motioned to her hand that she had held against her chest which was bleeding from when he had dug his nails into her skin. "And Derek," He turned to Derek, "I would like to thank you for breaking my wrist so I would let go of Chloe. I'm sorry that it had to come to that when I go into fits like that I can't rationally control my mind." Derek just nodded, not saying anything.
"Come on Chloe we can fix you up in the kitchen, follow me." Jon turned and led them down a hallway which led to the kitchen.
Chloe gasped when she entered the room. There was a round wooden table sitting on one side of the kitchen and above it hung the corpse of a man slowly swaying back and forth. His face was puffy and a purplish blue, his tongue hanging out of his dead mouth, his eyes closed. She looked away quickly but the image continued to make her stomach churn horribly.
"Sorry!" Jon apologized quickly, "I'm not used to people being able to see him, I forgot to warn you."
"Oh, that's gross." Jessa said, disgust in her voice.
"What is it?" Derek asked, looking at her worriedly.
"Um," How exactly do you explain something like this? "There's a dead man hanging from the ceiling." She said in a quiet voice.
A look of disgust settled on Derek's face, then he took hold of her uninjured hand, intertwining his fingers with hers, motioning to the table.
"Ugh." Chloe looked at Jessa, who was examining the corpse, "How do you eat with something like this in your kitchen?" Jessa asked Jon.
"You get used to it after a while." Jon said, riffling through the wooden cabinets on the wall. "I grew up in this house. I was one of those necromancers that was born into a family of normal humans. I didn't start seeing ghosts until I was 13. Needless to say, I was shocked when I came down for breakfast one day and saw Robert hanging there."
"Robert?" Jessa asked, glancing at Jon, confused.
"His name's Robert. Or was Robert. However you like it. He killed himself about 80 years ago. He's just a residual now." Jon turned and placed a medical looking box on the kitchen counter top and waved Aunt Lauren and Chloe over to him, "When I first saw him, my parents thought I was going crazy. Once I realized that I would committed if I continued to say that I saw a dead guy in the kitchen, I stopped. So I had to act like Robert wasn't there, so I'm used to him. And I love this house, I don't think I could ever leave it. Can you fix this Lauren?"
"Yes, Jon, I am a doctor. Go run your hand under the sink, Chloe." Aunt Lauren said quietly. Chloe did just that, cleaning her bleeding cuts that Jon's nails had made.
While Chloe did that Aunt Lauren examined Jon's broken wrist, "I'll put a splint on it." She murmured and Jon nodded. Chloe watched as Aunt Lauren straightened and tied Jon's wrist to a ruler (the only straight object they could find that wasn't a knife).
While Jon was fixed up and medicated for the pain, Aunt Lauren moved on to Chloe, bandaging her hand. When Jon was done bandaging them, Chloe had come to like him more, he liked to talked and he was very interesting.
"You have a pet armadillo?" Tori asked, her eyes wide, "No way!"
"Of course," Jon said, "why do you think I have a pool in my living room?"
Chloe knew in everyone's head the words because you're crazy were flashing in bright neon lights, but no one spoke them out loud.
"It's for Sandy," Jon said, standing up to put the medical supplies back where he has gotten them, "she loves to play in it."
"Armadillos swim?" Jessa and Simon asked at the same time.
"No," Jon answered, turning to sit at the kitchen counter, "they can walk under water. Sandy loves it. I usually keep the pool outside, close to her sandbox, but it's too cold for her to go outside this time of the year, so it's in my living room for now."
Huh. Chloe supposed that explained the pool. Interesting.
"Can we get back to explaining your plan part?" Derek asked, and Chloe knew that he really didn't like Jon. Poor Jon, he seemed so nice. When he wasn't crazy, at least.
"Why yes!" Jon' eyes lit up, and everyone suddenly had their full attention on him.
"So in order to understand the plan there are a few things about the spirit world that you have to know." Jon stood and started to pace behind the counter that Chloe was sitting at.
"Demons never die," Jon said, "they exist forever in their own alternate universe. But when a demon possesses a human body and the body that they are possessing dies, then they also die, and they go to the spirit world where all supernatural souls go."
"Now, this rarely happens." Jon continued, "A demon can quickly escape the body it's possessing and escape to another body. The only time that a demon can't do so is when they spend years in a body and they are so connected and fused to that body that they can't escape."
"But Jessa has only been possessed for a day or so," Derek said, "you said it took years for this to happen. And how does killing Jessa's body help anything if Jessa can't get back into it because she's dead?"
"Let me explain." Jon said calmly, holding up his hands.
Derek pursed his lips and Chloe squeezed his hand, trying to get him to settle down a little, which was going to be hard because he really didn't like Jon. But she didn't blame him, Derek wouldn't be able to forgive the fact that Jon had hurt her and that he had gone crazy in front of her, scaring her.
"Derek is right," Jon said, motioning to Derek, "Jessa's body has only been possessed by this demon for barely a day, not nearly long enough for the demon to fuse with the body."
"Thank God," Jessa murmured, "the last thing I want is for her to be fused to me."
Jon ignored her, "But this demon was also condemned to spend five centuries in that house, her only escape being a necromancer that she could possess."
"Wait," Derek interrupted again, "how do you know that? We didn't even tell you about that."
"Oh," Jon smiled. "It's a long story. But let's say I knew that Nadinka was sentenced to that house." Jon continued, "So this demon, also known as Nadinka, that has possessed Jessa was sentenced to spend five centuries in the house you guys went into. She went for Jessa and then-"
"Actually," it was Jessa who interrupted this time, "Nadinka went for Chloe first, but Chloe fought her off and then she went for me."
Jon raised an eyebrow and looked at Chloe quizzically, "Really?" He sounded impressed, Chloe didn't really care, "Well this could work towards the plan..." She heard Jon murmur.
"The plan being?" Simon prompted him.
"Right!" Jon exclaimed, "So many interruptions... Anyhow this demon possessed Jessa and left. As you know Nadinka could only possess a necromancer to escape the house, my guess is that still applies even though Nadinka is no longer in the house."
"You think that she can only possess necromancers?" Derek asked, despite his dislike for the guy, Chloe knew Derek's curiosity was peaked by the idea of trying to solve a puzzle.
Jon smiled, "Yes, and not only that but I also think she can't leave Jessa's body unless she immediately goes into another necromancer's body."
"So she's stuck in Jessa's body unless another necromancer is around with a body she can possess." Derek summed up.
"That's what I think." Jon carefully, "I'm not for sure, but that would make the most sense."
"Since Nadinka can't leave Jessa's body unless another necromancer is around," Derek said, frowning, "if we kill Jessa's body then we-"
"Kill Nadinka." Jon finished, "Exactly."
"But if we kill my body then I'm dead." Jessa said bluntly.
"If we kill Jessa's body then she's dead." Simon said, unable to hear what Jessa had just mentioned.
"Then we just bring her back to life." Chloe murmured quietly, and everyone looked at her, Jon beaming, "Demons are part of the spirit world, they don't have a body to revive them, so once they're dead, nothing can bring them back. But Jessa has a body, and if we kill her, we have a chance of bringing her back, demon free."
"Yes!" Jon cried happily, "Exactly! We kill Jessa's body, rid ourselves of that pesky demon, and then we bring Jessa back to life."
"But how are we supposed to kill Jessa in such a way that she will come back?" Kit asked, finally getting into the conversation.
"Electric shock would be the best way," Aunt Lauren murmured thoughtfully, "it's easily reversible. Though how we are supposed to shock a demon without letting her onto our plan I will never know."
"And what if we can't bring Jessa back?" Simon asked.
"Yeah," Jessa chimed in, "I would like to be brought back."
"If we have a necromancer around when we kill Jessa," Jon said, "Then Jessa will most definitely be able to come back. A necromancer can persuade any spirit back into their body as long as they haven't been dead very long and their body isn't mutilated too badly."
"But if we have you or Chloe nearby," Derek said, "then Nadinka could leave Jessa's body and try and possess one of you two. And that's only if we can manage to get to her and kill Jessa. The chances of Nadinka noticing one of us and figuring out our plan is extremely high."
"Plus she has werewolf strength." Jessa cut in, "And her little demon powers."
"Werewolf strength?" Jon frowned at Jessa, "I thought you were a necromancer?"
"Only partly." Jessa said, sighing, "I was in an experiment as a kid; I'm part werewolf part necro. I'm special." She smiled grimly.
"So this complicates things..." Jon murmured, his brow furrowed, thinking. "The chances of Nadinka figuring out the plan is high... if she does figure it out she has super strength and demon powers... if there isn't a necromancer around then the chances of Jessa dying is high... if there isa necromancer around then Nadinka will possess them once we try to kill Jessa, then we would be forced to kill the other necromancer..."
Derek shook his head, "There are too many variables." He snapped angrily, "If we try and kill Jessa's body the chances of things going wrong are too great. We can't control how Nadinka will react."
Jon nodded, his eyes gazing off far away as he thought, "Yes," he murmured, "we can't let anyone else get hurt and the chances of that happening are too great... Unless..." Jon frowned a new thought popping in his head, "It would eliminated a few dangers... make her more controllable... it could work..."
"What would work?" Chloe asked.
Jon smiled at her, "What we want is to be able to control Nadinka's actions, right?"
"Yeah," Derek said, "That way we can make sure she doesn't fight back and hurt one of us or some bystander."
"What if we can do that?" Jon asked carefully.
"Well then it would make the plan more promising and more reliable and less up to chance." Derek commented simply. "But how could we do that?"
"It's quite simple, really," Jon mused, "I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. It would've been so easy to-"
"Jon!" Jessa snapped, "The plan!"
"Right!" Jon smiled, "We get Nadinka to go into Chloe's body, Chloe will be able to control Nadinka with super necro powers, and then we kill Chloe."
And then Derek kills the guy. The end.
HA! Sorry, but I just had to do that. I couldn't resist. Sooooooooo? Confused? I hope not. I thought I explained it pretty well. But if I didn't, I'm sorry. If you have questions, just ask in the review that you WILL LEAVE! And if you forgot to mention your question in the review that you WILL LEAVE you can PM me. And people, if you do ask a question in the review that you WILL LEAVE, please log in because I can't answer your question if I can't send a message to you.
So, please review!
Thanks- Cheerfully Blue