"I don't feel good about this," Jinx whispered. She fidgeted on my bed, playing with a stray thread.
I leaned against the wall, trying not to get annoyed. She had voiced her concern a plethora of times over the last two days. I couldn't blame her for being worried, and I had to admit I liked that she was worried about me, but there was no point in stressing about what was to come. We had put ourselves in this situation—well, Slade had put us in the situation, but it had escalated over the last few months. Even Slade, who was always had a plan, no longer controlled the situation.
"I'm sure Mr. Onen or Trogdor or whatever we are going to call him now, will be a great mentor," I joked.
Jinx looked up at with me her cat eyes. Her once mischievous eyes had dulled. My stomach twisted thinking that I had done that to her.
"What if this doesn't go our way? What if something goes wrong and—what if we just left?"
I sat next to her on the bed, but she wouldn't look at me. My heart broke. Glancing at the door, I thought about what she said. What if we did run? Who would stop us? We did this stop being our responsibility? This wasn't our fight. This wasn't our mess. But we needed to clean it up.
We were just kids. We didn't ask to be heroes.
I was so tried to the constant tug-o-war, trying to figure out what was right and wrong. Was there ever a correct answer? I used to believe the world was black and white, but it is anything but. It was colored in gray. All sorts of shades of gray, some darker than others.
"We can't," I said. Not because I believed it. Not because I thought it was the right thing to say. I said it, because it was the only answer I had. "I made deal with Mr. Onen. If I don't honor that deal…" I let the sentence die.
A heavy silence filled the room, but Jinx broke it with a joke. "At least you still get to stay with Slade."
I couldn't help but laugh. "I still get to stay with Slade. After everything we went through, I still didn't get away from him. I really thought when I took the deal, I would be saying goodbye to him."
"I mean, can you really blame Mr. Onen? He doesn't seem like the parenting type."
"I want to know why I still have to attend Hive Academy."
"Education is important." Jinx said and leaned over and kissed me. "Speaking of education. We have school tomorrow and I have a paper for Mrs. Sand. I should get going."
As Jinx left, I couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom that lingered in the air. Anxiety twisted my stomach, but I couldn't focus on it too heavily.
I walked over to the living area. Slade sat at the large tv monitors, watching some security footage. "I have a bad feeling," I repeated what Jinx said earlier.
Slade didn't look at me. "You should."
"Thanks for the pep talk."
He turned to me and I wished I could rip off his mask. I wanted to see his expression. I needed to see his expression.
"You signed yourself up for a difficult task. One wrong move and…"
He let the threat linger.
"Did we make the right choice?" I asked, but I wasn't sure what answer I was looking for.
Slade stood up, crossing his arms over his chest. He told me, "We made the only choice. Your idea wasn't a bad one. I wouldn't have let you go through with it if it were."
He reached out and rubbed his hand on my head. I didn't brush his hand away, though I wasn't sure why. It was his way of offering comfort.
If we were going to be working together to defeat Mr. Onen, then I needed to learn to trust him.
It wouldn't be easy.
He brought me into this world, and now he was the only one that was going to help me navigate it. He knew Mr. Onen better than anyone. I pained me to say, but I needed Slade more than I needed anyone at the moment.
"Do I have to go to school tomorrow?"
"Keep you home and risk offending Mr. Onen? Even I don't take those kinds of risk." I could hear the smile behind his mask. "A new chapter start tomorrow, Robin. You are no longer my appetence. I know that's what you always wanted."
"I didn't want it like this."