Trials

Chapter 16- Jay

            Jay was stuck. Stuck between the mysterious boy who had appeared and convinced her of his plan. Stuck at edge of the rainforest. And stuck in paradise.

            The easternmost land of the rainforest was beautiful! No carnivorous plants, not as muddy and humid as the rest of the rainforest, and colorful flowers dotted the emerald terrain. But the environment was about the only good thing about her situation. Jay had a hard time talking to Jordan. Even when she had so much to say about the pleasant scenery! She just couldn't get the image of burning out of her eyes; that burning of flesh that wouldn't get out of her mind. It almost seemed as if he almost relinquished it, maybe he did. She still found him smoldering with dark secrets, even though he'd spilled his guts on the entire plan of Thunder Mountain, every detail on the powers her could give, and even his escape plans. 

             That's another thing, his escape seemed almost too good to work. It was simple, yet complicated. Genius, yet perhaps an eight-year-old could've come up with the same solution. The plan was this: Make them forget. Jordan had explained the many little bits of information he'd managed to squeeze out of people during his time here. One rumor had been a memory wipe he'd overheard two guard discussing. He'd explained to her that that substance could've been what they dosed the drinks with at the gathering. A controlled dose, as a precaution, perhaps it was mechanical? They could switch it on and off? 

           Jordan had described it so perfectly. Jordan could electrify it and slowly burn it into a mist. They could hideaway with all the Trials and Jordan could get a jet by sundown to take them to the Himalayas. Yes, it was a decent plan. There was no doubt that it had potential to work, but Jay didn't trust Jordan. Darkness hid within him, and the closer Jay went to Transformation, the more she felt it. Jordan couldn't be trusted. She didn't know what he would do, or how, but Jay felt it there. Darkness. Cold. Revenge. He could do many things with this plan. He could turn the substance on them, he could abandon them all, he could pilot them into a trap, and he could even be lying about this whole thing! So yes, Jay was stuck. Stuck between possibly falling into a boy's possibly malicious plans and stuck between giving up completely.

            "Hey Jaybird! I think I found it!"

           Oh yeah. His stupid little nickname he gave her. It was all Jay could do not to give him a b****y nose. And he knew that. Which made him tease her with it even more. The few words they spoke were either about planning or Jordan's annoying attempt to flirt with her. Only Jordan could find a way to flirt in this crisis.

           Jay shoves her fists away and follows Jordan to a small patch of striped purple and yellow flowers. 

          "This is "The Azora Lily", It grows in highly moist conditions, according to the texts. I wasn't surprised to find it here. Both the Marsh Trial and the Rainforest Trial have a very wet climate, perfect for growing this beauty."Jordan took a quick glance to Jay. "What's wrong Jaybird?" He coos.

                "Don't call me that," Jay warns.

                He grins, a sly smile. "Alright, Jay,"

                Jay twitches uncomfortably when he smiled at her. Jordan gave her a weird vibe. Not vibe necessarily... more of just a feeling. He creeped her out. A lot. 

              "So- what-what's so special about the plant?" She asks, changing the subject.

               "Ah, that's what I needed to show you..."

               Jay finally focuses on he peculiar flower and reaches down to touch it, but Jordan gives her a hard slap.

              "Better safe than sorry. In the Marsh Trial, those petals just ooze poison." Then Jordan pauses and grins. "The perfect backup for our plan!" He says in a chilling voice as he uses a nearby leaf to wrap up the petals and hide them within a pocket in his Trial suit.

             "What? You don't think the plan is going to work?" She asks.

               Jordan chuckles. "It's always good to have backup Jay. You never know what's really is going to happen." He says in an even darker voice that makes Jay shiver.

            "Is there anything else here you need Jordan?" Jay sighs. 

             Jordan examines the flowers a bit more. 

            "It's not the petals I needed, Jay."

              Jay looks at him in surprise. Jordan runs his fingers through the soil until he grabs hold of a silvery stripe buried within the earth. He yanks it out from the rich dampened soil.

            "The roots can be ground up into a powder that, when combined with water, create an acid to burn anything up. The memory-altering substance, the Trials, even human flesh." He explains.

              "What a useful plant." Jay says. Then she glances down at the large leaves that flowered out from a stem that was less than an inch tall. 

            "And the stem? The leaves?" Jay asks. "Can they do anything?"

               Jordan shakes his head, almost laughs. "Nope, nothing. Only part that's completely useless."

                "Not even eatable?" Jay asks.

                  He shakes his head.

                  "Disappointing," Jay frowns.

             Jordan nods and picks at more of the Azora Lily, using the leaves to roll up the petals and grabbing all the roots he could. Once they were done, Jordan spent nearly two days out in this part of the jungle. He grabbed at various plants, all having some stupid power or whatever. Always telling Jay to "stay back it could be poisonous"! Or, "oh I don't think you should help this time" or even openly flirting with her to change the conversation. Jay got exhausted of it. Madness and stability were fighting for control. She wanted to punch Jordan. She wanted to demand the truth from him. She wanted him to suffer...

                                                                                          . . .

              "Wake up, Jaybird!" Jordan says as she sleepily rubs her eyes, too tired to care.

               "I think we got enough supplies to finally pull this thing off!" He grins.

              "Pull what off? The plan? Jordan what're we doing?" 

              Jordan chuckles. "The last ingredient I need to pull this off is to visit my informant. The one that's been helping me with the plan. Who told me about the memory wipe in the first place." 

             Jay didn't speak. She didn't need to. If it was a trap she didn't care. If it wasn't she didn't care. She was just too tired to care. 

            They trekked back through the jungle, avoiding as many cams as they could, but most of them were all off, possibly from the lockdown. Jordan was getting more frequent about checking in on her. Jay just needed to snap at him to make him go away, but he'd always return, like a thorn in her side. 

             Jordan had mentioned the Transformation can make it hard to think straight or make straightforward decisions. But she honestly couldn't even tell the bad decisions from the good ones anymore. Was she really getting rid of all the chances to stay safe and rescue Noah by staying with this creepy, and slightly disturbing, powerful boy?

            "We're almost there," He says when they reach a bigger stretch of high trees.

              They didn't exchange a word before Jordan tapped on an oddly twisted tree. 

             Jay almost jumps back when a head pokes out of the tree. It was a smaller girl with dark hair woven into two neat braids. She looked furious.

              "Why are you here!" She shouts. "The cameras could've picked you up!" She growls.

             "No they couldn't." He whispers. "The mics might though, if you keep on yelling. Why're you so on edge, Sara? Something happen?"

            "I have a visitor," She says more quietly.

             "And I have what you asked for," Jordan smiles.

             The girl, Sara, looked slightly shocked. "We'll see. Come on in, but don't interact with my guest, Jordan!" She warns.

             Jordan rolls his eyes. Sarafina's head shifts back into the tree. Jordan steps through, and Jay gawks as she easily steps in too.

              "A hologram?" She asks.

            The girl gives a hearty laugh. "Out here? Impossible! I covered the entrance in a camouflaging snakes' scales. Protection as well as deflection."

              "Incredible," Jay remarks.

               Then, Jay whips around sharply as she hears a muffled cry and a crash.

               "What was that?" Jay asks.

             Sarafina shakes her head, some unreadable emotion shrouding her eyes. "My visitor,"

             Jordan takes a quick look at the other side room and nearly jumps back."Sara? Who did you say this guest was?"