The Runaway Wife

Chapter 12

They weren't discovered until the second day. By that time, the food Skylar had brought was beginning to run low so Jylie was actually somewhat pleased to see soldiers approaching since they might have some supplies on them. When she spotted the enemies in the distance, she shoved Jackie behind a pile of rocks and motioned for her to stay put.

"You ready, Sky?" she called to Skylar, who was standing at the ready, gun in hand. The boy looked a lot more nervous than his companion did.

Jacelyn froze when she heard the vibrations of the men's boots hitting the ground, getting closer and closer. Her heart beat in tune with their loud footsteps. If they found her here, she'd die. Jylie had better have a good plan for getting rid of them.

The soldiers broke through the clearing and stopped when they saw the pair standing in plain sight. They'd been expecting their prey to hide or at least look somewhat frightened but these two looked very confident. One of the taller men angrily pushed through the ranks and pulled out his gun. "Get 'em, boys!" he yelled and fired at the chick's face.

Jylie didn't move to dodge the bullet. Instead, she stared at the man, whose grinning face turned into one of shock for the bullet he had shot froze in front of the woman's face, then fell to the ground. She smirked when she saw the looks on the other soldiers' faces. "If you want to run away, feel free to do so," she called to them. "I'm not giving you a second chance." When none of the men moved, she sighed. "Very well."

Jackie froze when she started to hear the men yell and set several explosives off. The air around her turned a slight green occasionally as more loud thuds and kabooms went off in the direction of the battle. It was so strange that her curiosity got the better of her and she peeked over the rock to see what was going on.

Jylie was shooting huge, green orbs of light at the men, knocking them back. The weird emerald spheres also served as a shield for her and Skylar. The boy was shooting the men when they were on the ground so they couldn't get back up and his partner would use the orbs to lift up her enemies and drop them onto the ground. This is not what Jacelyn had been expecting. Was it some new form of technology that Jylie had gotten her hands on? She continued to watch in awe as the fight continued, though it only lasted a few more minutes.

When the pair were done, they had a pile of dead or unconscious bodies in front of them and neither of them were hurt. Jylie looked back at the runaway wife, smiled, and gestured for her to join them. Skylar started searching the bodies for food, weapons, and money while the woman took a moment to catch her breathe.

"Uh . . ." Jackie glanced nervously at all the bodies, then back at her friend. "What . . . what was that?"

The mysterious woman shrugged. ". . . Magic," she answered dramatically, making Jacelyn's eyes go wide in surprise and admiration.

"She's probably lying," Skylar called from where he was looting bodies. "No one knows how she does it and she won't tell anyone. Don't believe a word she says."

"Oh. Well, if you wish to keep it a secret then--"

"I do. It's funner that way." She grabbed Jackie's arm and let her in the direction of the headquarters. "We'd better keep going. I'm sure they'll send reinforcements and we need to be gone when they arrive. Come on, Sky!"

The trio left the strange scene behind them, hoping that John would be thoroughly confused when he found all of his men taken down easily by his wife (and her friends).

~~~

John stood in his office at the top level of the Hikari Company Building, overlooking the city. His daughter was running around behind him, pretending to be a butterfly. She was the only person allowed up here with him. Well, he'd invited his wife to come up too but she'd never wanted to so Angela was the only one who'd seen the city from this height.

When her wonderful "flight" ended she grabbed her father's legs and looked up at him with wide eyes. "Mommy?" she asked sweetly, her cheerful attitude immediately replaced by sorrow. It had been a week since Jacelyn had disappeared.

John sighed and stoked her pretty hair. Leaning down, he answered quietly, "She'll come back. As long as you're here, she'll always come back," he told her affectionately, squeezing her cheeks. "Don't worry. I'll make sure that she returns to us."