The New World: Old Habits

Chapter 17

Around a full day had passed since Jim disappeared again. Turg continued to practice using his staff with Grim while waiting for Jim to return. Grim didn't seem at all concerned while Turg was, though he always worried about Jim whenever he was gone for too long. Turg heard thunder in the distance as he turned to look at where it was coming from. In the distance there were big dark clouds, they were far away but could still be heard. 
"Guess we're getting a storm tonight." Grim said before adding "Which means the cats and fox are going to be hiding for a bit."
Turg wasn't a fan of thunderstorms either. The thunder was loud and the vibrations that came with it hurt his ears. He hoped Jim would be back before it arrived. Though instead a different Jim would arrive. 
A smaller white werewolf ran up towards them before standing up on two legs and tried to speak, but he was out of breath. Grim summoned their scythe and threatened the Clone Jim with it while asking "Why are you here again?"
"I was sent on behalf of the Dear Leader to retrieve you." Clone Jim stated as Grim then told him "Yeah right, last time you did this shit you tried to kidnap us."
Clone Jim put his hands up in surrender and responded "I know, but I was mislead. I am telling the truth this time."
"If it was him he'd be the one telling us himself. Now get out of here." Grim continued to tell Clone Jim. Turg however believed Clone Jim for some reason. Jim did work with him, perhaps he did actually know where Jim was.
"Know where Jim is?" Turg asked Clone Jim, who replied with "Yes! I do, honest this time! I swear!" 
Grim looked at Turg, who expected them to tell him to stop, and un-summoned their scythe. They then asked Clone Jim "Fine, where is he?"
Clone Jim turned into his human form to pull out his phone and show Grim where on the map. They then commented "Oh, out towards where you tried to take us."
Clone Jim put his phone away and transformed back into a werewolf before saying "Yes, and we should go now before that storm gets here. I hope you can run fast."
Turg knew the place, he could use a portal instead, which he did. Clone Jim saw and asked "Wha- how are you doing that?"
"He just does, best not to question him." Grim answered for Turg. 
Turg brought them outside where Clone Jim brought him well over a month ago. Clone Jim took a moment to process what had happened before telling them "This way, try to keep up." 
The two followed him into the forest down a slope and into a cave. The cave was more like a tunnel as at the other end was what appeared to be a small gorge with many crevices someone could hide in. As they continued through, they ended up in a spot with a ledge that Jim was sitting on with people gathered below. Upon seeing him, Grim asked "What are you doing, Jim?"
Jim looked at them and answered with "Sitting here."
"You know what I meant." Grim told him as they crossed their arms. Turg was also curious, he wasn't liking how everyone was staring at him. Jim stood up and explained "This is what I've been up to all this time. I figured it was time to reveal it."
There was silence for a few moments before Grim asked "What is this? Where are we?"
"I've decided to become a cult leader again and rebuilt the cult, this is our hideout." Jim answered Grim's question as he sat back down over the ledge while looking down at them. Before Grim could say anything else or Turg could say anything in general, Kevin wandered over from behind them and loudly told Jim "You didn't rebuild it, we did. This was a team effort and I gave you that role."
Jim didn't say anything back, instead he only glared at Kevin. Grim and Turg were looking at him as Kevin elaborated "And it seems like you two actually came, I sort of assumed you would've killed the messenger." 
"I don't kill, I only deal with the aftermath." Grim corrected Kevin as he then asked "What about the other one?"
Turg wasn't sure how to answer that question, thankfully he didn't have to. Instead, Jim told Kevin "Hey, I do the killing so y'all don't have to."
"Yeah, and you suck at it." Kevin responded with a smile. Jim argued "You've never killed anyone!"
Kevin laughed before adding "Yet."
He then asked Jim "So, why did you bring your spouses here? You also making them join?"
"That's their choice." Jim replied as he leapt off the ledge to be on their level. Turg was curious about what it was all about but Grim seemed to be neutral about it. Jim then told Grim and Turg "You don't have to, this is just my hobby."
Kevin then quietly commented "Nobody else had a choice."
"I thought you were done with this." Grim pointed out as Jim replied "I was bored." 
"You sure you want Turg in this?" Kevin asked before Jim told him "Kevin, go somewhere else. Stay out of this."
Kevin turned into his werewolf form and replied "Fine, whatever you say Mister Dear Leader."
He then tried to climb up the cliff to get out only to slide back down while everyone was watching. Kevin turned to face everyone and told them "None of you saw that." 
Once Kevin had bounded off and out of sight, Jim told the two to follow him. He lead them into a small cave that was on the ledge Jim was originally sitting on. 
"Mind explaining what exactly is going on here?" Grim asked Jim once they were in the cave away from everyone else. Jim rather quickly replied with "What else is there to even explain? I thought it was obvious. You've known me for centuries, Grim. This is just what I do." 
Turg didn't find that helpful, he didn't know what was going on. Turg knew about Jim's previous cults but the only one he saw was nothing like what he was seeing currently. Grim would acknowledge that by telling Jim "Yeah, but I don't think Turg knows."
"Turg don't know." Turg decided to add. Jim took a deep breath before explaining "Fine, few months ago I was hired by Kevin to forcefully remove his opponents. He then came up with the idea of kidnapping random people for ransom but nobody ever got back to us, so they live here now."
There was silence between the three before Jim added "I also wasn't given the amount I agreed upon."
"Why?" Grim asked. 
"I don't feckin' know. He's either not as rich as he says he is or he's just trying to use me. He didn't win the election because of this too." Jim answered Grim's question.
"No, I meant why did you agree to all of this? I thought you didn't want to do this anymore and if money was an issue I would've started working again." Grim asked again, clarifying what they meant. Jim giggled a bit before answering again with "I don't know, I just like doing it."
"Jim okay?" Turg decided to ask as he rested his hand on Jim's shoulder. Jim looked at Turg and gave a rather honest answer "No, not really. This is my coping mechanism. Makes me feel powerful again. I would go to therapy but they'd just arrest me or put me in a psych ward."
"You can tell us, though." Grim suggested as Jim glared at Grim. 
"Yeah, and you just get pissed off with me because nothing I do can ever please you anymore. You used to like this, now suddenly you're against me doing bad things!" Jim snapped at Grim before looking at Turg and telling him "And I don't want to use Turg, he's my husband not my therapist." 
"I just don't want you getting caught like the idiot you are and I have to cover it all up for you." Grim told Jim rather calmly despite Turg feeling Jim starting to heat up from how angry he was getting. Grim then said "Whatever, you can continue doing this if it makes you happy. If you get caught I am not covering it up for you anymore. I am going back to make sure the animals are indoors before the storm." 
Grim then dematerialized, leaving Turg alone with Jim. He quietly said "Well, that's some progress."
Jim started wandering away while telling Turg "Sorry you had to see all of that, just now and all those other times. I try not to involve you."
"It okay." Turg responded as Jim took another deep breath before turning around to face Turg again. Turg thought he was going to say something but instead Jim gave Turg a hug. Turg hugged him back. Once they both let go, Jim said "You don't have to stay if you don't want to, just thought I'd finally show you what I've been up to."
"Turg stay. Turg want to." Turg told Jim, who responded with "Oh, alright, that's rather surprising. I thought you wouldn't like it." 
Turg was curious about what went on. Turg wanted to join the one Jim made all those years ago when fighting to get his amulet back but Jim wouldn't let him. 
Jim started heading towards the exit of the cave, stopping to tell Turg again "Though if it becomes too much you can leave, I won't be mad nor will I stop you." 
Turg didn't say anything else, instead he joined Jim by his side. Jim then said "Maybe you'll make a better second-in-command than Kevin. He's not very competent, if I'm gonna be honest."