Ruins (The Jewel Project #6)

30. No Time

Jimmy knew there was something wrong the moment he stepped off the mountain path and back into what he'd come to consider Kato's yard. In the few seconds before he heard the call, his entire body tensed and the part of him that liked reveling in chaos perked up.

"Jessie! Jessie, where did you go?"

Before Kato came around the greenhouse holding his bo staff, Jimmy was halfway there, the tension already morphing into a terrifying feeling of rage mixed with dread.

"What happened?" he asked as he went.

Kato narrowed his eyes, but continued his way towards Jimmy as well. "Where have you been?"

"Up in the mountains. I needed to burn some energy. Where's Jessie?"

They both stopped when there was less than a foot between them, at the corner of the house. Kato didn't answer, just took him in, his eyes still narrowed.

"You've ruined everything," the old man said.

Jimmy saw it coming, but didn't block the blow to his side. He knew what it was for and he'd accepted the consequences the moment he decided being with Jessie was more important than their training.

"I told you not to do it, to mix your energies, drain them--"

Every word was joined by a swing of the staff. Jimmy started blocking because the hits were hard enough to actually cause some damage.

"Now she is gone, your energy is ruined and we have no time!"

Jimmy grabbed the staff and yanked it out of Kato's hand. "What do you mean she's gone?"

"There is no place she could have gone that I have not looked!" The old man looked more harassed than Jimmy had ever seen him.

In that one moment, so many things bombarded his mind, it felt like a delve back inside the black hole. Kato cared for Jessie, that much was obvious. Jessie was gone and it didn't take a genius to figure out the only place that she could be. And the energy... Kato would be right and Jimmy would hate himself for his weakness and the inability to keep it in his pants if he didn't feel so full, so ready to take on the world.

"I think you're wrong about my energy." The words came out neutral, robotic even as he turned all his focus inward, trying to reconcile that Jessie was gone and that he couldn't go all murderous.

He needed to focus. It was too hard when she was his anchor and she was gone. Like divine revelation, he understood the whole murder concept she and the old man had been trying to push on him. His body literally ached with the need to whip around and head for the castle, destroy everything in his path to get to her.

A touch on his wrist snapped him back to the present. Kato was actually touching him, as if trying to take his pulse but sucking at it.

"Come!" He strode past him and rushed to the house.

Jimmy followed for something to do, the staff held tightly in his hand. As they went, he scanned the surroundings, hoping beyond hope he'd catch a glimpse of orange curls. There was nothing.

"We were both looking for you, actually," Kato mumbled as he skipped over the steps to his door and headed down the hall. "I noticed something was wrong and I needed to see how bad it was." He entered the dojo and whipped around to face Jimmy. "I could have been wrong."

"Um, what?" Jimmy dropped the staff, his entire body still jittery. It was hard to process words when he had no idea what to do.

"Sit. I shall return." And the old man just left him there, heading back into the kitchen.