Jinx Unchained

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

It was two days after the postponement of Jinx's trial when Melanie sat in her kitchen, listening to Sarah's explanation of what they were doing for her upcoming examination of Jinx's mental health.

"It's pretty nice, actually. The interrogation room they're expanding in the Enforcer base's medical wing will work perfectly. It only has one door which they have to guard. They're adding a reinforced chair, and several of those Hextech restraints, so Jinx can sit there without being a danger to anyone, and they're building a cell out of the other half of the room for her to stay in afterwards. This way they don't constantly have to move her from the cells in the basement to the examination room and back over and over again."

"When do you start?" Melanie asked, sipping her tea.

"Probably in the next day or two. They were almost done with all the construction work. At the same time, I've heard from Lux that they're making great progress in expanding the clinic in Zaun already. The Firelights have cleared out the building next door, and they've begun work on the connecting walkway between the two. Later, they said they may work on connecting the two buildings entirely and just turning it into one large one, but for now the covered walkway will suit our purposes just fine," Sarah said excitedly.

"So, do you think you're going to be able to do anything with Jinx?"

Sarah's excitement turned into uncertainty. "I don't know, to be honest. I want to try, for Martin's sake if nothing else, but the girl is extremely damaged. There may not be much left of her original personality, if anything at all. She is easily at least twice as bad as Caitlyn Kiramman was, and I wasn't able to do much for Caitlyn."

"You hadn't really studied mental illness much at that point though," Melanie pointed out.

"True, but studying it and putting it into practice are two entirely different things. I'm excited to give it a try though!"

Melanie smiled at her sister. She was always so caring, so nurturing. If only the village had seen that skill in her... The fact that they'd picked her... she shook her head. No sense in dwelling on it; it didn't make sense then, and it sure wasn't going to make sense now, over a hundred years later.

"Speaking of Martin, have you gone to visit him yet?" Sarah asked.

Melanie shook her head, feeling slightly guilty. "No, I haven't. I'll admit I've had my mind on other matters, though I know he'd be happy I focused on these things first. But I'll go see him soon. Did you see him?"

"Not yet. Caitlyn said she'd allow me to go visit him soon, though. Will you come with me?"

Before she could answer, Melanie heard a knock on the kitchen door. "What is it?" she called out.

"Ma'am, there's a messenger from house Ferros here for you," the voice of one of her gate guards came through the door. "But the message is very short. All it says is 'she's here'."

Melanie's eyes opened wide, and she immediately jumped up from her stool by the kitchen table and grabbed her cloak. "I have to go, Dae," she said, pressing a kiss to her sister's forehead. Without even waiting for an answer, she wrapped her cloak around herself and slipped into its shadow, emerging into the shadow dimension. She oriented herself towards house Ferros, searched for a suitable shadow, then stepped out of it, appearing within the Ferros' mansion itself. It would give their guards fits, she knew, but it also made it clear to Emilia Ferros that Melanie could get to her at a whim if she so chose.

She grabbed the first servant she saw and demanded to know where Emilia was. The startled man squeaked out a word she couldn't comprehend, but he pointed in the general direction. She immediately set off that way, and within half a minute she came upon a door guarded by two Ferros guardsmen.