Jump Once, Jump Twice

by Pinklily8

Chaos. Spells. Magic. Finding out what it's like to understand someone else. Learning how to fight when you don't know how. It's as easy as jumping once, then jumping twice. "No one else can know, got it?" she hisses. He just shakes his head. "Are you really suggesting we can pull this off?" She nods grimly. "We have to."

7. Chapter 7 The Djieien part 1

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Chapter 7

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The morning air is crisp, and a grayish sort of fog floats across the surface of the lake, blocking out the reflection of the feebly rising sun.

Sabrina can hardly believe this can even be considered a lake. There's so much water that she could be fooled into thinking that she's looking out onto a vast sea. She figures that it is aptly named as one of the great lakes. Beside her, Daphne looks just as mesmerized.

Puck and Jake share a look that Sabrina recognizes. They always get that look when they're thinking of somewhere else, sometime else when they'd tackled adventure head on. It used to cause her a pang of jealousy, but now that she's been with them for a few months, she gets it. Sort of.

"Remember Utah?" She asks, nudging his shoulder with her own.

Puck smiles. "When you nearly got trampled by a salt golem?"

Daphne tromps next to them, jaw agape. "A salt golem?"

As they walk along the rocky bank, Puck retells the story, much to Daphne's excitement. Sabrina listens, adding details where she sees fit and considers again whether it was wise to have Daphne join them.

After finishing up in the mirror, the three had gone to uncle Jake to construct the next part of their plan.

Jake had raised his eyebrows nearly to his hairline when he saw that the teens were accompanied by Daphne, but he took it in stride, adding more details to the story while leaving out the most important part. He said it was a good thing, anyways, since they would need a witch to seal the spell once they had everything.

The first item they would be after would be the blood of the Djieien. Turns out a Djieien is a native American myth, a giant spider monster that hides its heart deep underground while it rules the surface above with vicious fangs and blood thirsty need. They were rare, but luckily (or perhaps unluckily), Sabrina's great aunt Matilda, who'd specialized in strange, unique creatures, kept tabs on potential sightings and locations of several monsters. With a fair amount of confidence, her recordings led them to Lake Heron-to an enchanted island in the center of it that mortals were none the wiser to. Daphne was the one who had the good idea to leave at four in the morning so that their absence wouldn't be missed. If they could do this within two hours, no one else would know.

As Puck ends the story with a flourish, laughing with Daphne about the tourists' anger at a supposed cave in, Jake stops. He squints at the distant horizon and beckons Daphne over. "Remember what we talked about?" He asks, taking a scroll from his pocket.

Daphne nods and Jake juts his chin at Puck and Sabrina. "Keep watch."

Sabrina's hand drifts to the sword at her side, gazing out at the fog.

Despite her protests, Jake outfitted the group with weapons. Puck has a sword and a long dagger, Daphne got a new wand that spouts fire, and Sabrina received Puck's short sword and crossbow. As she moves, the gear makes her shift awkwardly, trying to feel at ease with the equipment. She can tell that it should feel comfortable, the leather strap astride her shoulder soft and supple. But her mind doesn't know it and she finds herself shrugging every so often.

Puck, on the other hand, looks right as rain, holding a hand to the pommel of the sword with relaxed ease. Silently, she envies the grace that he walks with, somehow finding sure balance in the muddy sand. She wonders if it would be easier to fly-although Puck might skin her alive for trying.

Jake and Daphne talk together, reviewing the spell to make a suitable raft. The magic talk is mumbo jumbo to her but she can't help but stare at the two, giving Jake quizzical looks, confused by his pale complexion and anxiously shaking hands. Did he have too much coffee this morning?

Puck notices her glances and leans over. "Jake has a problem with spiders."

"Like what?"

"Like he wants to pee his pants whenever one is within two feet of him."

"Of all the things he's seen to be afraid of, he's scared of spiders?"

Puck shrugs. "Guess he can get used to the fairies and goblins and wraiths along with the weirdness of the world, but little eight legged things freak him out. Everybody has to be afraid of something."

Sabrina frowns. "What about you?"

"Huh?"

"What are you afraid of?"

He back pedals immediately. "Everyone but me, of course."

She doesn't get the chance to needle him further, distracted by Daphne and Jake chanting something together. In front of them, an image shimmers into view, a squat wooden boat with two sets of oars attached. As the spell goes on, it becomes clearer and clearer until the illusion becomes solid. It seems foriegn to her to feel so mundane around such potent magic. Her gaze darts to Puck for a moment, but he's studiously watching their backs, pointedly ignoring the spell. A pang of sympathy bites at her insides.

Daphne wipes a sheen of sweat from her brow. "Alright," she crows, "all aboard!"

Sabrina, Puck, and Daphne clamber into the vessel, wobbling precariously as Jake shoves them off. The older man jumps in, giving an oar to Sabrina and taking the other for himself. Slightly irritated that he'd delegated this as "man's" work, she slides the oar into its fixing and pulls hard. Together, they stroke across the lake. As they do, Daphne and Puck keep up a string of chit chat in the back and she's mildly impressed by how well he knows how to get the girl talking. He asks her about her new crush-Thumbelina's grandson.

The girl gushes a few choice details about his cinnamon hair and blue eyes before turning on PUck. "So, how's Matt?" Daphne asks, overly loud.

Sabrina is torn between embarrassment and laughing. Daphne kept tabs on every boy Sabrina has ever talked to. Matt was a boy from New York with a pleasant personality and killer jokes. She'd texted him back and forth most of last school year but hadn't kept in touch over the summer. Daphne knew this but was obviously trying to make the real Puck jealous. She turns her head and catches Puck's eye. There's a moment of confusion on his face then he smirks. "That loser?" he leans back luxuriously. "Never heard of him."

Daphne frowns. "What do you mean?"

Before he can say anything stupid, Sabrina turns her paddle, slapping the water to splatter the two in the back. They both shriek, twin voices of discomfort and irritation. She turns fully to address them. "Whoops," she says carelessly, grinning when she sees the shocked look on their faces. "Did I get you a little wet?"

Puck opens his mouth to complain, but at that moment, a wave of cold water splashes the side of Sabrina's head, causing her and the boat to jerk. She turns to their uncle who's facing steadfastly forward. "No more messing around," he comments in a teasing voice. "We're almost there."

The three teenagers look ahead and Daphne squints, putting a hand to her brow. "I can't see anything through this fog."

Sabrina silently agrees. It's like all the vapor in the air had condensed into an impenetrable soup. The tendrils stick to her hair and face like reaching fingers, making her shiver.

Jake points, and they all look up where huge leafy fronds appear from the thick mist, the trunk sprouting from the dark lake's surface. Sabrina ducks her head out of the way right as the prow of their boat runs aground, jolting the four companions in their seats.

Jake jumps out, boots squelching in the mud. Sabrina follows suit, helping him pull the vessel all the way onto the sand. Puck and Daphne exit, stretching their legs and arms. Sabrina, on the other hand, stares out at the island as a strong breeze blows the fog away. Bits of it still cling to the trees like ghosts. The island doesn't look that big, a long strip of sand surrounding a thick cluster of palm trees and bushes.

Puck steps up beside her. "Weird how the fog sticks to the trees like that."

Jake wrings his hands, biting his lip. "That's not fog," he mutters.

Daphne gasps. "It's cobwebs, isn't it?" She shudders, sticking her tongue out. "Gross-out."

Sabrina crosses her arms, holding her elbows. "I'm less worried about the cobwebs than whatever made them."

Jake takes a deep, calming breath. "Alright. This place sucks but we need the blood for the spell. So, let's go over the plan again."

Puck rolls his eyes. "We've been through this a hundred times. The heart is hidden in some cave which the spider guards jealously. But if it's preoccupied with something on the surface there's no way it could be down there to protect it."

Jake nods. "Right, which means the first thing we need to do is scout out where the entrance to its cave is." He pulls out a folded piece of weathered paper and opens it up. "Matilda came here once and tracked down the place she felt was most likely to be the entrance." He stabs his finger down to a red X on the map then traces a line down to the shore where they are. "Which means we need to head north east towards the jungle."

Satisfied, the group treks behind Jake. Daphne scampers ahead until she's next to her uncle. "I meant to ask earlier," she says, "but why would the Djieien bury its heart in a cave where it can be reached? Y'know, if that's its only weakness."

Jake laughs uncomfortably. "Well, we don't know that much about it-I mean who wants to study a giant sp-spi-anyway, uh, Matilda theorized that completely entombing it would suffocate it or something."

"Besides," Puck cuts in, "how else could it always know where it is? Sounds pretty bad to not know where your heart is. Especially if you're a creepy, eight-legged, fanged-" as he goes on, Jake's face growing more and more pale until he falls over.

Sabrina leans forward, thinking that her uncle has fainted from thinking about spiders, but he tumbles out of reach, disappearing through a bush.

"Jake!" Daphne cries, rushing forward, but Sabrina stops her before she can trip over the same rock Jake just went over.

Puck steps cautiously over the rock and pulls back the fronds of the bush, revealing the gaping maw of a tunnel. "You okay?" he calls to a prone Jake.

With a groan, the man gets to his feet, holding his head and smiling sheepishly. "Looks like I found the entrance." Jake holds his hands out and Sabrina and Daphne help pull him out. "Well," he says, dusting his jacket off, "that was easier than I thought."

"What now?" Puck asks, peering down into the darkness of the hole.

"Now," Jake says, "we split up. Two of us need to go down there and find the heart to fill this," he holds up a little vial, "with blood. And the other two need to create a ruckus up here to keep old eight legs busy."

Puck smiles at Sabrina in a way that makes her heart do this funny kind of flip thing in her chest. "We're pretty good at creating chaos."

"Actually, I was thinking we split up the other way," Jake announces, flinching preemptively.

Sabrina shoots him an unbelieving look, only holding her tongue because Daphne is there.

Puck glares at him. "I don't see any reason for that."

Jake glances at Daphne, ensuring that she's preoccupied with a strand of cobweb stuck to the side of the tunnel. He grabs their shoulders, huddling them close. "Look," he begins, "I know you don't prefer this, but I can't have the two of you fumbling your way through either of these missions. You guys need backup from people in their own heads."

Puck glowers. "What if she does something stupid? Who's gonna keep her out of trouble?"

Sabrina sneers at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "Me? Maybe worry about yourself. Your capacity for stupid is unreal."

"What are you guys arguing about?" Daphne asks, stepping away from the tunnel.

Jake shoves them apart, pasting on a smile, raising his voice so he doesn't seem secretive. "So Sabrina with Daphne in the tunnels and Puck with me up top." He slaps Sabrina on the shoulder.

Before they can protest anymore, Daphne wiggles with delight, grabbing onto Puck's arm. "Sweet! It's been forever since we've done something dangerous together."

Puck forces a grin. "Yeah, it'll be cool."

Sabrina shifts from angry to concerned. There's no telling what's underground or what's in store for them. Puck turns, catching her look and gives her a lopsided smile that makes his face look a lot more like his true form. He steps towards her, hand on his hip. "Ah, you're worried about me."

The line pulls a chuckle out of her. It'd been a running joke this summer. Everytime Puck was about to do something dangerous he'd turn on her with that phrase so she'd deny the statement.

"No I'm not," she retorts, "it'd just suck to have to go searching for you if you got yourself stuck."

Daphne walks up to them and playfully elbows Puck in the ribs. "C'mon, stop flirting. We got stuff to do."

"We're not flirting," they say in unison.

Jake shakes his head at Daphne. "See what I've had to deal with all summer?" His response makes the younger girl giggle.

"Anyways," Sabrina coughs, "shouldn't we get started?"

Jake sobers and nods. "Right, so you girls need to hunker down in one of these bushes and wait for us to lure out the Djieien. There's no telling where it is right now and if it's in the tunnel you don't want to be ambushed." He grabs Sabrina's arm. "We'll do everything we can to distract it, but we need you guys to be quick. You'll know it's dead when the heart stops beating."

Puck and Daphne nod, and the group parts, Sabrina following Jake back to the beach, walking until they're about a quarter mile from the others.

Jake turns to Sabrina. "According to Matilda's notes, it should be attracted to vibrations." He gives Sabrina a scrutinizing look. "How's shifting into animals going for you? A pair of elephant feet would go a long way right now."

Sabrina shakes her head in apology. "Puck and I tried getting me to shift yesterday but no luck."

Jake sighs. "Guess we'll have to do this the hard way." He reaches into his coat and pulls out a handheld speaker.

Sabrina quirks one eyebrow, unimpressed. "It's bright pink," she observes.

Jake rolls his eyes, placing it on the ground. "Puck got it for me as a joke. We enchanted it to amplify different sounds and words. It makes for a good distraction."

"Yeah," she agrees, eyeing the hot pink device, "it sure is distracting."

He gives her a half hearted glare and twists a knob at the front of the speaker which starts to squawk and chime incessantly until he wrestles it into the desired position. A low, thrumming hum begins to emit from the machine, making his hand shake. He quickly lowers the device to the ground and takes a few steps back. Sabrina follows suit, surprised by the force of the vibrations quivering up through her legs.

"Best get that crossbow ready," Jake advises.

Sabrina wonders if her uncle can remember that she's never fired a crossbow before. He must be banking on her accuracy. Or the sheer size of their expected adversary. She decides that she'll only fire if it's right in front of her.

The two stand at attention for several minutes until Sabrina's arm begins to cramp. She lowers her weapon. By now, her legs feel queasy from the movement. She clears her throat.

"So," she says, "how about those spiders, huh?"

The older man groans. "Why do I trust Puck with anything?"

She holds up her free hand placatingly. "Hey, no judgment. I'm no fan of spiders either-especially since I've found several tarantulas in my blankets before. Just wondering how that all started."

Jake rolls his shoulders. "Not sure, honestly. Too many legs, and every sentient spider I've ever met makes too many strange clicking noises."

She pauses, thinking back to her run-ins with Mr. and Mrs. Arachnid. "Yeah, I get what you mean. But why keep yourself topside where we have to fight the Djieien?"

He shakes his head with a small chuckle. "Trust me–the two of them are going to have to deal with crossing paths with thousands of small spiders. I much prefer one big one that I can keep track of."

"Yeah," she agrees, "I can see that."

Jake frowns. "Can you stop clicking your crossbow trigger? It's getting irritating."

She lifts one eyebrow. "I'm not clicking..." Her jaw drops, and she yells, "Jake, duck!"

It's lucky that he's used to responding to commands without explanation, because the next second, a huge hairy leg swipes past the air where Jake's head had been moments before. The leg slams back into the sand and the clicking resumes, fiercer than before.

Jake runs to her side, staring pale faced into the many eyes of their adversary. Stretching its mandibles wide, the mythical Djieien loses a mind-splitting screech.

.-.-.-.

Daphne jumps at the sound of the strange roar. "I think that's our cue."

The two leap past the brush into the tunnel, almost immediately swallowed away from the light.

Puck shuffles deeper into the darkness, waiting for his eyes to adjust. When they do, he's severely disappointed. He has to squint to make out his own hand in front of his face. Humans are so underdeveloped.

A sparkle of light starts up beside him and he jumps when Daphne points the flash light at him then puts it under her chin, making a distressed face in the creepy illumination. An involuntary squawk of surprise escapes him.

Daphne laughs at this, swinging the light back in front of them.

The sounds from the surface fade away and Puck looks at the cave ceiling warily. He's never liked being underground. It makes him feel trapped, left without a patch of sky to escape to.

"Don't worry about them," Daphne assures, interpreting his anxious expression incorrectly. She walks confidently forward, flashlight in one hand, fire wand in the other. "You know those two can get through anything."

"Yeah, I know," he responds, frowning. Yes, he and Jake could take on just about anything. But Sabrina was running the show–and that was not comforting in the slightest. While watching her fail at the most basic of magic abilities yesterday had been pretty funny at the time, now it feels extremely distressing. "We should probably hurry though," he advises, quickening to a jog before the younger girl can protest.

She follows, her light bobbing up and down with her strides. Puck is pleased that the cave is well worn, smooth and easy to navigate even without the light constantly on their slowly down sloping path.

"Sabrina," Daphne calls, "wait up for a sec."

Reluctantly, he slows to a stop. "What is it?" he asks, hands on his hips.

In response, she sweeps the flashlight around them, illuminating several tunnels branching off from their main path.

He narrows his eyes, turning in a quick circle. "Looks like..."

"A nest," Daphne finishes. She grimaces, looking at her feet to think of a plan but then lets out a startled little scream.

Puck whirls around, hand on his sword. "What is it, what happened?"

Daphne laughs nervously, tiptoeing over to his side. "Nothing, there was just little spiders crawling across my shoes."

Puck sighs and lets go of the sword. "They're just spiders, Daphne." He pauses, unable to resist making a joke. "Just itsy bitsy–" he quickly lifts one of his hands and tickles her side, making her yelp.

"Hey!" she retorts, face half amused, half annoyed. "C'mon, I'm doing my best here to keep it together."

Puck chuckles behind one of his hands. "Sorry, sorry. No spiders, see?" he holds up his hand and wiggles his fingers.

Daphne rolls her eyes and rubs her arm. "You've been spending too much time around Puck, you're starting to turn to his humor."

Puck blanches, a change that is luckily hidden by the low light. "Uh, well anyway–which way do you think we should go?"

Daphne holds up her light again. "Maybe the one that goes down the steepest? That's where I'd hide something important. Down at the deepest point."

Together, they walk around until Puck finds a tunnel that seems promising, but when Daphne shines her light into it, it reveals itself to be completely vertical, more of a hole than a tunnel.

"That's not good," she remarks.

Puck throws a fist sized rock down the chute and they sit silently until they hear it clatter deep below them nearly fifteen seconds later. "Definitely too far to jump."

Daphne frowns. "What are we going to do? We don't have any way to fall slowly."

Puck gets back to his feet and dusts off his pants. "Let's keep looking, there might be a more promising one."

Reluctantly, Daphne follows.

Barely ten feet from where the hole was, Puck feels the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He looks to his right where a smallish tunnel leads straight ahead, more flat and level than the others. There was a strange sensation coming from that one. This whole island radiated a slight buzzing from all of the enchantments that keep it hidden, but this was different.

"We need to go down this one," he announces.

Daphne comes to his side and examines it skeptically. "This one?"

"Yes, it has a weird–a weird..." he waves his arms uselessly.

She seems to understand. "Okay, we'll follow this one."

The two enter the new tunnel, keeping watch for any more branches, but none are forthcoming.

After a minute or two of walking, Daphne cocks her head and nods. "You're right," she says. "Something magical is definitely down here." She continues to swivel her head around, turning like she's trying to catch a peculiar sound. Apparently satisfied, she stops the strange motion and reaches into one of her pockets. "Here," she says, showing Puck a few glass vials with cork stoppers. "Jake gave me these earlier to keep the blood in. Figure each of us should have some."

Puck takes two of them and tucks them away, then has to stop, taking a deep breath. There's so much magic in the air it feels like his skull is vibrating.

"You okay?" Daphne asks, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah." He rubs at his temples. "Just need a second." How irritating! He never could have imagined magic being such a hindrance. Having been around it his entire life, he hardly noticed it, but in this body it was like constantly hearing a noise that's just barely too high pitched to be ignored. He'd been playing it off to Sabrina when they were at Raken's hideout, but now it was hard to pretend. It sucks. He's pulled out of his jumbled thoughts by Daphne cursing.

"Dang it!" she mutters, and when he opens his eyes all he can see is darkness. "Dumb batteries." Daphne drops the flashlight with a small clatter and flicks the fire wand, instantly making a fire light on the tip. "Ready to go on?" she asks.

But Puck isn't focused on her words. He's focused on the strange way the fire is dancing. Should it be moving that much? "Let's go," he says, a bit nervously.

With the better light coming from the wand, they quickly spot their end destination. A large cavern sprawls out in front of them, and in the middle, a single pillar of stone connects the floor and ceiling. In the center, in a hollow like in a tree, something is emitting a strange, ethereal glow.

"That has to be it!" Daphne cheers, skipping forward, Puck not far behind.

"There," he says, face splitting into a grin. "That wasn't so bad. Can't wait until we see their faces when we tell them how easy this–" he cuts himself off, stumbling a few steps until he secures his balance and can keep from falling over. He looks up to see Daphne's perplexed face and catches sight of her flame, which is wavering crazily along the wand tip.

"Do you feel that too?" she asks, almost unnecessarily as the ground shudders beneath them.

Puck comes to her side and turns around, and for the first time, notices the unbelievable amount of holes in the walls and ceiling of the cavern. His eyes widen. "That is not a good sign."

Daphne screams from shock and terror. First dozens, then thousands of spiders ranging from the size of a golf ball to the size of a dog scurry into view, coming out from the many cubby holes around the cavern, filling the air with clicking and hissing.

Puck draws his sword, holding it with both hands in front of him, turning in a threatening half arc. "Looks like our monster up there has plenty of friends," he jokes weakly.

Daphne lets out a shuddering breath. "Together," she says loudly, over the cacophony of many legs skittering their way. "I'll make a ring and you fend off anything that gets close or caught inside!"

Puck nods his ascent and readies himself, only hoping that things are going better for the duo on the surface.

.-.-.-.

AN: Yes, a double cliff hanger because I have no soul. Look, this chapter is already way over the amount of words that I usually do for chapters for the sake of a consistent feeling has what was going to be one chapter turn into 2 (so far). Hope you liked this one! I love your reviews they really make the words flow. See you soon!

-Pinklily8