Ruins (The Jewel Project #6)

20. Tricks of the Mind

Jimmy and Jessie had found a cliff top behind Kato's house which allowed them to survey the village and the bridge that led to the castle. So each morning and evening, they climbed the steep path leading there and tried to gauge the activity of Snitch Gravel's men and figure out a pattern.

They'd borrowed an old set of binoculars from Kato and a notebook in which they could jot out the comings and goings of countless henchmen. There wasn't much to put in there.

"As boring as ever," Jimmy said, passing the binoculars to Jessie.

He wasn't sure if he'd been that way before the experiments or the weird brain-tugging tea Kato kept giving him, but Jimmy's mind was spinning with impressive speed and categorizing information. Even know, he perfectly remembered what he'd seen and swiftly compared it with the rest of the information he had.

There had been a slight commotion the day before as the men seemed to struggle to find a proper space for a new car, but after that, they'd returned to their silent vigil, the number of guards constant. The castle was as imperturbable as ever. There was no shift in the silence or the lights coming from it at night.

Two snipers on the top floor, one man on the each balcony of the others, two before the door, two at the bottom of the steps, two at the end of the bridge. Not that many, but still impossible to take out stealthily. They needed weapons. Kato unfortunately seemed to have only sticks and swords which they weren't even training with yet.

For some reason, the swords intrigued Jimmy, just like the axe he'd gotten so used to. It was now customary. Train with Jessie, have some tea, return to chopping wood while Jessie went inside for some secret meditation training he wasn't ready for yet.

"You're right," Jessie said, lowering the binoculars. "I just wish we had more time to survey them, but training is also important." 

The wind blew her orange curls around her face, but they were too short to bother her now. He felt a pang of sadness, even if he was very aware it would grow back. He'd always loved her hair. It fitted her fiery, rebellious personality so well.

And just like that, his mind glossed over the technical aspects and he got a new type of pain in his chest. It was almost immediately accompanied by more pain, this time in his sides and back. His vision swam. He needed water.

"Jimmy?"

Jessie's voice was a distant echo, but it stared something within the darkness, within the pain. Why was it still there? Why, even with the void inside him gone, couldn't he be back to normal? But every time he thought he finally was, it slipped away from him. Emptiness, confusion, pain. Adrenaline, nervous, unbearable energy. He needed to run.

"I have to go," he mumbled, getting off his belly and into a sitting position. "I have to--"

Jessie grabbed his arm to stop him. "Where are you going?"

"I need to run, I need to..." His words faded because he had no idea what he needed. Just that he couldn't keep sitting there, doing nothing.

"We'll train in a minute and you'll be able to burn your energy then. Just don't go up into the mountains again."

The moment she said it, he didn't want to do it anymore, but the pain, the need, it was still there, just... Different. His body shook and his muscles tensed. Deep breaths. Come on. He shut his eyes and did his best to control himself. It shouldn't be this hard.

A warm hand touched his cheek, and even if he could no longer pick up on Jessie's words, he could hear her voice surrounding him. The energy inside him morphed into something else, a fire engulfing him, towering, all-consuming. A need he couldn't outrun or outclimb.