The J Cubed Chronicles

Chapter 3 Magic Madness Heaven Sin

Jenny's POV

My mouth is so dry, so parched, that I can hear my rasps in between each breath. My eyelids flutter open as they meet two gazes, the faces familiar in my brain.

Jess and Jas.

Startled, I sit up straight but Jas pushes me back down with a firm grip. "Lay back down, you're still in no condition to go running around." My head meets the soft, fluffy moss as I relax my eyes and take in deep breath. What was happening?

I feel something hard and chewy being shoved in my mouth. "Here, these will help. You haven't woken up in days." Jess urges me on as I hesitantly take the item which looks like a root of some sort. I chew on the strange plant, but I surprisingly feel a lot better than when I just woke up. My muscles no longer ache, my head no longer pounding, everything in me was normal once again.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jess standing outside in the scorching heat and desert, crouching at the sand and muttering to herself. Outside was so hot and bright that everything out there seemed white but Jess didn't mind. She stood up, and walked back into our cool and comfy retreat holding a handful of water- hold up.

Water? In the middle of the desert?

I'm going delusional, that's the only plausible reason that would explain why I was seeing strange things. But I realised I wasn't dreaming when Jess walks over to me and allows me to take a sip out of her hand. The water was cool, and refreshing, as if it was straight out of the freezer. I greedily took generous gulps of the water until there was no more. And then it hit me.

"How did you do that?" I stutter. Jas, who is at the other side of the cave tending our things looks over and gives a small laugh. "Oh boy, if only we knew." What does that mean? I look over to Jess, my eyebrows furrowed together. No one was making sense, and it frustrated me. I was stuck in a desert with my two friends, with no idea how to get back and here they are just laughing at me like I'm delusional?

"Okay look, I really don't know I did it either. It just happened to me, I didn't know how I conjured up the water, especially in the desert..." And for added effect, Jess took a step back, breathed in and squeezed her eyes shut, fully concentrating on what's in her mind. A few seconds later, I could feel a slight rumbling, followed by the sounds of trickling water that emerged out of the ground which rose up in front of my eyes. Stunned, I stared as the water flew towards my friend's palm and formed a small sphere of clear liquid, shimmering in the air.

As soon as Jess opened her eyes, the ball of water lost its form and fell to the stone with a splash. So it really was true- Jess has magic powers. If she had a special ability to conjure up water, did that mean the rest of us could have powers as well? The look on my face must've been confused and puzzled, because Jess said the answer to my question without even knowing. "Don't worry, we tried seeing if Jas had any powers as well but nothing happened. It's only me."

"Oh." My heart sunk in my chest as my face fell. I was kind of hoping I was useful in some way. If we were ever going to escape this desert, I wanted to at least be some useful tool to the rest of the team. "If I ever had powers, trust me, I would be like fire girl or something." Jas half heartedly joked. "Yeah, because you're like literally immune to the heat I swear, you never get hot or anything- OH MY GOD YOU'RE HANDS!" Jess exclaimed, eyes bulging out of her sockets.

But she had a reason to be scared and shocked- and a good one too. Jas's hands had lit up in dancing flames of scarlet red, orange and yellow. It was definitely not a normal fire, because they danced and shimmered and even in the light they were still visible from miles away. But the strangest thing was that Jas didn't cry or scream in pain. She stood there staring at her lit hands in shock unaffected by the flames at all.

"What in the world..." I murmured. This is crazy- obviously some witch just chucked us here in the desert and appointed us magic powers, what else? So if Jas could have the powers to harness a fire, than that means...

Squinting my eyes shut, I screwed my face up in absolute concentration, my mind going through every cell of my body just willing it to change. Transform. Then I felt it happening. It was the tingling first that started. It began from my toes and travelled up through every nerve as the sensation filled my entire body. Even with my eyes closed, I could feel things happening to me. All the breath was knocked out of my lungs, and it felt like everything in me was sucked out all in one instant. It felt strange, bizarre, to not know how to breathe or think.  Then, as fast as it came, everything came back again. But when I opened my eyes, I wasn't just one person. No, there was another person standing right beside me who was the spitting image of myself.

Jas and Jess looked at me, confused as they looked between both figures. "Uhh..." Jas started. She was caught so off guard that the flames on her hands had caught onto the fabric of Jess's shirt and spread across her arm. "Help!" Jess screamed, panic rising in her voice as she did her best not to freak. She tried summoning water and splashed it over her arm, but amazingly it still remained alive and burning brightly as ever. Scared, Jas tried touching the flames to try and remove it but if anything, it made it worse. The flames danced menacingly and shone with fierce intensity. "DO SOMETHING!" Jess screeched. She pranced around wildly, flinging her limbs all over the place. Still shocked, I didn't know what to do. If water didn't work, than what will?

Then Jas decided to approach the situation differently. She closed her eyes and willed for the flames to disappear. Suddenly, the bright fire on Jess's arm disappeared, leaving a trail of scorched, black fabric that was still sizzling from the intense heat.

"Well then..." I breathed out, exasperated. "This is a great start to our journey."