Jackson sat in class, looking out the window. He felt strongly that he had made a mistake. He was more worried than ever about what was happening to Taft.
He should have stayed home sick and gone to sleep. If someone was going to rescue him, it would be no help to have Taft as dead weight.
Jackson kept looking at the clock, wishing the time would go faster. The teacher was explaining something, but he couldn't pay attention today.
He bounced his leg up and down impatiently. The clock ticked away slowly. The seconds felt like minutes.
Finally the bell rang.
Jackson packed up his stuff and rushed out of the classroom. He got to the hallway and started running before the crowds of students started to form. A teacher saw him and tried to tell him not to run in the halls, but Jackson ignored her.
He burst out of the building and ran over to Mark's elementary school. He knew that his Dad was coming to pick them up today, and he would start by picking up Mark. Jackson wanted to save time.
The elementary school got out at the same time as the middle school, so by the time Jackson made it to the pickup spot outside the elementary school, Mark was just coming out. Jackson was breathing hard from running so much.
"What are you doing here?" Mark asked.
"I just wanted to save time and get picked up with you, bro," Jackson said, huffing. He rustled his brother's hair.
Mark gave him an uncomfortable look.
After a few minutes, Jackson's dad pulled up through the pickup line, and Mark and Jackson got in.
"Whoa, Jackson, are you back to elementary school? School suspensions are harsh these days," he said jokingly.
"Just saving you time from going through two lines today," Jackson said.
"Nice, nice," his dad said, laughing.
The car ride was much quicker when his dad was driving. Sophie always went slowly because she was scared to go fast.
His dad, on the other hand, was used to driving a semi, in which he wasn't allowed to go fast. So whenever he got the chance to drive a normal car, he would always speed.
Before long he pulled into the driveway, and Jackson got out first, walking briskly to the door. Once he was inside, he ran to his room and threw his backpack on the floor.
Jackson had to try and get some sleep. At least a little—to see what was happening in The Interim. He got under his covers and tried to get comfortable.
Sleep wouldn't come. He wasn't tired enough.
Mark walked in and looked at him curiously, but didn't say a word. Instead he just plopped himself on his bed and started watching his videos. Jackson kept trying to get to sleep.
"Hey, Jackson," his dad said, poking his head into the room. "What're you doing, bud?"
"Just uh… trying to get some sleep. I'm really tired."
"You don't look tired," he said. "Come on, let's order a pizza and watch some highlights."
That did sound fun. Maybe Taft could wait an hour or two.
____________________
Sairia looked back at Mandiff, who was following behind her. His red eyes were glowing in the darkness. That was one of the side effects of using Sight. Sometimes it could be a dangerous giveaway, but in this situation there was nothing to worry about.
They just needed to find the Alma Ni.
Sairia used her Sight as well and scanned the new area they were in. She could see dozens of people sleeping in their houses—if you could call those things houses. She thought the people would be in beds, but it looked like most of them were sleeping on the floor.
Even the capital city of Horizon was poverty-stricken these days, though less than the rest of the nation.
Her fault.
She tried not to think about it. Right now wasn't the time for self-pity. She kept scanning the darkness, looking through walls and ceilings.
She was known to be able to have better discernment when it came to Sight. She wasn't sure if that was due to her talent as an Alma Ni or her training—she was trained by the very best kovakirs.
Sairia and Mandiff kept moving deeper into the Sameh District. Things seemed to get worse the deeper they got. The buildings here were mostly collapsed, and there were several people sleeping on the streets.
The alleyways were darker and smelled worse than before. Once they walked about thirty more steps, they did another scan of their surroundings. This time Sairia saw something unusual.
In a place below ground-level, there were four people awake and standing. They seemed to be conversing with one another. A few feet away from them was a smaller body on the ground.
While all living bodies appeared orange in her Sight, the smaller body on the ground looked to be a shade of red. That must have been the Alma Ni.
She touched Mandiff's shoulder and held a finger to her mouth, signaling for him to be quiet. Mandiff used Sight in the direction Sairia gestured and gave a curt nod.
The two walked back a few paces. They needed to get some distance and find a spot where they could talk quietly. It was time to discuss a plan.
"So, what do you say?" Mandiff asked. "I take the two on the left, you take the two on the right?"
"What? Now?" Sairia whispered loudly. "It's nighttime; Nasanites have the advantage. Besides, it doesn't look like they hurt the Alma Ni. What do they want with him? We need to find out more. Maybe capture one…"
"Capture one?" Mandiff said, louder than he should have. "They broke into The Heart. They kidnapped the Alma Ni. And you want to play it safe? Wait for them to do something worse?"
"We can't just go in there, arms ablazing. Who knows what damage that could cause? We have to think this through first," Sairia urged.
Mandiff was shaking his head. "You may have made some mistakes when you were General, Sairia. But you were always a woman of action, and I admired that. What happened to you?"
Sairia bowed her head in shame. It wasn't the time for that, though. She looked up with a determined expression.
"Listen, if you ever had any trust in me, lend me some of it now. We should at least wait until daybreak to have the best chance of capturing one. Information is just as important in warfare as strength. What do you say?"
There was a moment of silence before Mandiff spoke. "Fine. We can wait until daybreak. But if they make one move that looks like they are going to harm the Alma Ni, I'm going in. Understand?"
Sairia frowned, but nodded.
____________________
Jackson grabbed the last slice of pizza and took a huge bite. His dad was chiding him about eating too much, but it was all in good fun.
It was a nice evening. He was glad he spent the time with his dad, though he felt guilty about ignoring his duty in The Interim. He really needed to get back to sleep.
"Okay, I really am tired now," he said, rubbing his eyes to pull off the ruse. "I'm just going to take a quick nap."
"Pfft, teenagers," his dad said, rolling his eyes.
Jackson walked to his bedroom and got under the covers. His whole family was home now and making plenty of noise, so he tried to cover his ears with his pillow.
The light from the street hadn't even come on yet, so it would be easier if he could get to sleep now. He rolled around for a few minutes but sleep didn't come.
He was starting to feel very nervous about what he would wake up to. That didn't make getting to sleep any easier.
Then Jackson had an idea. Everytime he got a cold, his mom would give him cold syrup that knocked him right out. It also made it hard to wake up the next morning, though, and it was a school night.
It was still worth the risk.
He hopped out of bed and went to the kitchen. His family saw him and joked, calling him Rip Van Winkle. He just chuckled and opened the medicine cabinet.
"What are you doing there, Jackson?" His mom asked from the other room.
"I think I have a cold. I just need a little medicine," he said, then gave a fake snort.
"Oh, okay. You know which one it is?"
"Yeah," he said, pulling the purple syrup bottle out of the cabinet.
His mom was comfortable on the couch with his dad, so she didn't get up. He poured a bit of syrup into the small cup and downed it in one gulp, then he went back to his room to try and get some sleep again.
He lay under his covers, pulling them close to his chest and closed his eyes. It wasn't immediate, but little by little, he could feel the medicine working. His mind was getting bogged down by random thoughts, and he slowly dozed off.
◄——————————————————►
Taft squinted his eyes to not alert his captors that he was awake. He tried to look around from where his head was turned, but he could hardly see anything.
He could just make out a stone wall in front of him. His shoulder was jammed into the hard ground. It seemed that his captors had lain him on one of the hay mats strewn across the floor. He listened for sound.
There were some whispers from the four men behind him. They were still speaking too quickly for him to understand. It seemed the arguing they were doing before had lost its fire, but they were still going back and forth in conversation.
Taft slowly started to tilt his body to see if he could find the door. If he was right, it should've been in the direction of his feet.
He kept moving carefully until he could see the door. This might be his chance. He couldn't risk turning completely around to see where the four men were facing.
He scrambled to his feet in a swift motion and ran as fast as he could to the door. His movements were sloppy. Too sloppy. It was like he didn't have full control of his limbs.
He stumbled to the ground, and two of the men grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted him up. They easily carried him to the chair and placed him on it. Then the same man—his face still exposed—made a gesture with both palms up.
Taft flinched again and covered his face with his hands.
The man was speaking. "Calm," he said in Ihmonic. Over and over he said it. "Calm, calm, calm."
Taft tried to control his breathing—he felt like he was hyperventilating. He tried to show that he was calm, so that the man speaking might not hit him.
Taft could see that the man was trying harder to enunciate and speak slowly.
"I," he said. "Am. Not."
Jackson could understand the man's Ihmonic now. Maybe now he could figure out what was happening. That thought proved to be short-lived when suddenly—
BOOM!
The door to the room exploded, sending bits of flaming wood flying in all directions.
Taft ducked.
The man in front of Taft looked back only to get pelted by dozens of pieces of wood. He was screaming and flinching, trying to tap away at where the hot pieces had hit him.
The other men were composed, drawing daggers from their sides—Taft didn't even know they had them. They were all alert and staring at the gaping hole where the door had been.
Immediately, a large man jumped through the hole. It was Mandiff. He drew a sword as long as Taft was tall.
The captors didn't approach him; they were frozen in place.
Mandiff swung the enormous sword at the first man he saw and the man parried it and dodged. Mandiff continued to swing the heavy sword, and the man parried every attack.
Just then, Taft saw someone else jump in through the hole. It was Sairia. She had no weapon on her, but had her fists up. Then she flexed and ignited both arms from the shoulder to the fist.
The sleeves of her shirt burned away, sending flaming cloth floating through the air. She was facing one of the men, but didn't attack.
Then Mandiff shot an enormous blaze of fire from his side of the room. It was spreading everywhere. Sairia had a panicked look on her face.
Taft was still in the chair, squinting at the brightness of Mandiff's flames. Then he noticed the fire was coming right at him. He tried to back away, but he was still sitting down.
The chair fell backwards with him in it, and the flames kept coming closer. He put up his hands, feeling the intense heat approach.
Then the heat suddenly lessened and the fire was sucked away. Taft followed it with his eyes and saw the blaze get sucked up straight into Sairia's hand.
Her arms were no longer aflame. She turned around, keeping herself between Taft and the rest of the fight.
Mandiff continued to shoot balls of bright, red light in all directions. Whenever any would get close to Taft, Sairia was there to block it or absorb it. Then Mandiff's sword arm was ablaze, an intense light emanated from it, spreading fire to the sword itself.
He plunged forward and impaled a man right through the chest. It was so strong, and went so deep, that Mandiff's arm came out the other end of the man along with the large sword. He was holding the corpse in the air.
The other men made startled noises and backed away. Then they ran to the back of the room. Sairia put her fists up, but they ran around her and Taft, toward the back wall.
When they reached the end of the room, they leaped toward the wall, going right through it—as if they were ghosts. Mandiff ran to try and follow them but was too late. He slammed his fist against the wall in frustration.
His arm and sword were still on fire, making a loud roar. He turned around, and the flames went out. He was staring at Sairia, furious.
"I could've used your help," Mandiff said gruffly. "It was practically all four against me." His shirt sleeve was still intact, though it had been on fire a second earlier.
"I was trying to protect the boy!" Sairia replied with indignation. "You know? The one we came to rescue? He doesn't have Resistance! You almost melted the skin right off his bones, Mandiff!"
Taft was happy to understand a bit of the conversation, but he shivered at what Sairia said.
"He doesn't? Well… He should!" Mandiff said defiantly, clearly not having a good defense for that argument. He sheathed his sword on his back and trudged toward the door. "Bring the boy. We have to get back to the palace before sunup."
Sairia offered a hand to Taft, who was still on the ground. Her arms were exposed and Taft could see how toned her muscles were. "Are you alright, kid?" She asked.
Taft grabbed her hand and wobbled to his feet. "Yeah, thanks to you. I knew you would come."
"Sorry we took so long. Tracking Nasanites can be harder than it looks, especially at night."
They walked together, but Taft continued to wobble. He kept losing strength in his joints momentarily.
Sairia gave him a worried glance. "What did they give you? You seem drugged."
"What? Nothing, I don't think."
Sairia looked him up and down in curiosity. "How did you wake up so early?" She asked.
"Well, I took some cold medicine that makes me drowsy. I knew I had to get back here and try to get free, you know?"
"Ah, I see. So that's why you're walking like that. If you take some kind of drug or drink that alters your sleeping pattern, you'll feel those effects to some degree while you're here in The Interim. That's why it's best to avoid alcohol or drugs, being an Alma Ni."
"Seriously? Didn't think to mention that?" Taft said, losing his balance again.
"Sorry, kid. I should have brought it up earlier. Here," she said, putting her arm under his shoulders and helping him walk. "It shouldn't last all day. It was only cold medicine. One time I fractured my leg on Earth and ended up in the hospital. They had me on some pretty strong medication. That really screwed me up here in The Interim. I lost a duel thanks to that."
"Whoa. Yeah, sounds like something that could be really bad at the wrong time."
They walked out of the room and up a set of stone steps. The steps were broken and flaking, so they had to zigzag around to even use them. When they got to the top, Mandiff was waiting. The smell up here was even stronger than it was in the room below, where Taft was kept.
Taft looked around at the various buildings in the area. It all looked chaotic, like someone had forced the wrong puzzle pieces together. The only thing that was the same between each structure was the general filthiness to them.
As the three walked, they passed several people lying on the ground. The people looked homeless. Some of them were stirring and turned in the direction of Mandiff, Sairia, and Taft. Almost all of them had a strip of cloth over their eyes.
"What is this place?" Taft asked.
"The Sameh District. The poorest place in Horizon. This district was once just like the rest of the capital. Clean, functional, orderly. But over the years it became a dump, and the mess got too big to clean up."
"Why are their eyes covered? To sleep better?"
"Almost all of the residents here are victims of oculists."
"What does that mean?"
"Oculists are low-life thieves and murderers. They stalk innocent people and attack them, ripping out their eyes to be used for making Cursed items. Some of their victims die, and some of them survive. The ones who survive are blind for the rest of their lives.
"They're also unable to use kovak, of course, which segregates them from the rest of society. Those blinded by oculists are neglected and despised by others, so they come to live in the Sameh District. Horizon isn't the only city with this problem, either. Other parts of the country have their own woeful communities."
Taft frowned as he passed them by. "Something that horrible is done for… what? What are Cursed items? Are they valuable?"
"Extremely. Cursed items are permanently Infused with kovak and can provide an edge in battle or in… just about anything. For example, if I were to have a horn that was Akar-Cursed, then that horn might… be able to call a swarm of insects to attack my enemies. Or something like that. That way I have my own type of kovak, plus a piece of kovak borrowed from another clan."
"Wow, that does sound handy. How are they made?"
"At this point only oculists know that, and not even all of them. Obviously they need eyes to be able to do it, but I don't know exactly how it's done," Sairia said. "You should hope you never find out. Knowledge as dark and evil as that should stay hidden, in my opinion."
"Are they illegal?"
"Of course they are. But more than that, the goodfolk see it as unforgivable to even touch Cursed items, so it's ingrained in the culture."
Taft didn't say anything to that. But he was thinking about how useful those Cursed Items could be. Surely they could be used for good just as well as anything else.
Mandiff, Sairia, and Taft finally left the Sameh District and were on a clean, brick street. The houses were much better to look at, too. This was the first time Taft got to see the city, so he was excited.
The three took a small break to put a hood over Taft's head, hiding the pattern of white hair. There wasn't anyone out on the street yet except for them.
The sky seemed just light enough to suggest that daybreak was on its way. They continued walking; this time the pace sped up. Taft struggled to walk still, but with Sairia's help, it was easier.
"Why are we going so fast? I want to see the city," Taft said.
"I know you do," Sairia said. "But it's best if the city doesn't see you. Your awakening isn't public yet, and we don't want anyone getting suspicious seeing a young boy with General Mandiff and… me."
"Aw, come on. They don't know what I look like. I have this hood to cover my head. You could just leave me by myself; I'll be fine."
"You want us to leave you alone right after we just finished rescuing you? Don't be so sure."
"Yeah, but getting kidnapped wasn't my fault. I can take care of myself, I swear."
"I'm sure you can, kid. But give it some more time. You'll get your chance soon enough. You'll be out and about so often that you'll get bored of it."
Taft sighed.
The three of them kept up the pace even as they walked up a steep street. Ahead of that street was a massive stone building. It was decorated with enormous flags. The red flags had the white triangle symbol.
Taft learned that it was the flag of Rey Oben, which meant the building must be the palace. It was very tall, and had one arched entrance that looked almost forty feet tall on its own. As he limped down the street, Taft heard the jingle of some bells.
The buildings on the side of the streets had hanging signs out front, like shops. There were a few people setting up tables in front, with various colorful merchandise. One place had clothing, another had bread, and yet another had tools.
It looked like a market that was just about to open. The jingling came again whenever they would open a shop's doors. It reminded Taft of something.
"Hey Sairia," he said, "when I was with the Nasanites I could hear an alarm that was going off on Earth. It almost felt like that sound pulled me out of consciousness and forced me to wake up. Has that happened to you?"
Sairia looked at him in surprise. "So soon," she said under her breath, then louder, "Yes, it means the connection between your Earth body and your Interim body is growing stronger. It's a good sign.
"Soon you'll be able to resist that feeling of being forced awake, and it shouldn't trouble you. Eventually the connection grows so strong that you can switch between bodies like that." She snapped her fingers; sparks flew out.
"Then I won't have to roll around in bed, trying to sleep when I'm too nervous or anxious?" Taft asked.
"Exactly."
"That sounds nice."
They walked under the arch into the palace. The first section was some kind of plaza. There were three buildings in a semi-circle in front of them.
The largest one was in the middle and it had a massive set of wooden doors, painted red and with gold hinges that ran almost to the other edge of the door. The other two buildings also had large doors, but they were maybe half the size of the pair in the middle.
All three buildings were connected to form one large edifice. Mandiff, Sairia, and Taft walked toward the largest doors.
"Hey, kid," Sairia said. "What did the Nasanites do to you? Did they hurt you or anything?"
"No, they were just trying to talk to me… and keep me prisoner. But I didn't understand what they were saying. I think they had an accent… plus they spoke way too quickly," he said.
Then Taft remembered to mention the last part. "Except right before you saved me," he said, "then they tried speaking more slowly to me, but… well… it all happened so fast. Did Mandiff explode that door with kovak?" He asked excitedly.
"Yeah, yeah," Sairia said dismissively, wanting to stay on subject. "The Nasanites tried to talk to you?"
"Wow, I have got to learn that move!" Taft said, ignoring Sairia's question and making an explosion sound with his mouth.
The three of them reached the giant red doors and two guards pushed it open for them. The inside of the palace was like a fantasy.