Sam shrugged. “Well, she was you, so yeah.”
“You know what I mean.”
Sam sighed, and in that moment suddenly looked really tired. “It’s nothing personal. We understood that part of you was missing. But the other Jayne was really hardcore. Very focused on getting in shape and prepared for anything. She was…intense.”
“Wow. So she was a real ass kicker, eh?” I was kind of impressed by that, but I got the distinct impression from Sam’s expression and everyone’s cold welcome that it wasn’t entirely appreciated by my friends.
“We’ve been working really hard, and we’re completely exhausted, and we really want to go home.”
“What have you been working on?” I pictured them building mud huts and stoking fire pits to cook their skunk meat on. Maybe they joined the villagers and took part in all kinds of weird rituals. Or maybe Othello loosened up a little bit and let them into his lair…and then when he realized how industrious they were, he made them clean up the place a little bit. That would have been an exhausting job…all those bones to toss out and treasure to organize and such.
“Training,” she said, wiping my fantasy mind clean of the nonsense it had been conjuring up. “To be dragon riders.”
I could only blink at that. She said it like it was an official title or something. Like I should know what it meant. It reminded me of Ben’s response to finding out he was riding dragons. What was the big deal? A response escaped me. Dragon riders? Say whaaaa?
“It’s not easy, you know. It takes a lot of physical stamina, not to mention the spiritual strain.” She rubbed her arms as if her muscles were sore.
“Spiritual strain? What’s that all about?”
“Not everyone has a natural connection to their dragon right away. It’s a lot of work for the souls to align enough that you can become one.”
Become one? As in…a couple? Well, that might explain why Spike acted so disinterested in seeing me, if he was ‘one’ with his dragon. I was strangely not jealous of that idea. I mean, I was mostly one with Othello, since he claimed that we were mated or whatever. And it wasn’t like we were in love; it just made riding him easier. “Wow. All I had to do was fall asleep next to Othello and we were…like, one, I guess.” I didn’t want to say that word out loud—mated. Ew. It made me think of dragon junk…and then the size that dragon junk must be…and then of course I wondered where they hid their big old dragon junk because I had yet to see anything dangling anywhere…
“You’re not Othello’s rider. Ish is. You were his mate by proxy only.”
“Mmmm, you’ve lost me again.” Proxy schmoxy. Who the hell knows what that means? Living in this realm had clearly changed my friends. It was almost like they were speaking another language.
She sighed heavily. “Biad is his mate. But you represented Biad through the scale in your hand, which is why Othello kept insisting you were his mate. The mating ritual you went through was not the kind you do with Spike, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
My face burned. “Did Spike and the other Jayne…”
She glared at me. “Are you seriously going to start drama between the other half of you and your boyfriend at a time like this?”
“No,” I said weakly. Yes. Kind of.
“Good. Because we have shit to do and no time left to do it.”
I nodded, getting my head back in the game. She looked pretty damn fierce in her stained and torn clothing that had been patched up with straps of leather and string tied around various body parts. She had a crude knife strapped to her waist too. “Okay. But first, can we try to get the two Jaynes back into one body?”
She shrugged. “We could try. But I haven’t had a lot of luck with my magic here.”
“That sucks.” I totally felt her pain. My elements hadn’t worked in that nuthouse either, and I’d never felt so empty and useless in my entire life—not even when I’d been sitting in World History class did I feel worse. “Had to do things the old-school human way, huh?”
She nodded. “Yep. And don’t ask how it went, because I’m not in the mood to chitchat about it or anything else for that matter.”
I had never seen Sam look so fierce and proud. It made my heart feel lighter. With someone like her on our side, we couldn’t help but win.
I saluted her. “Got it.” I turned to face the spot where my alter ego was hiding. “We thought it would be best if you didn’t see us together.”
“I agree.”
I walked backward. “But I think we need to be touching, so I’m going to go grab her.”
“Want me to close my eyes?”
“Nope. No need.” I stopped at the edge of the boulder and looked at the image of myself dressed in my old clothing. “You ready to do this?” I asked her.
She nodded, coming closer but not far enough out of her shelter that Sam could catch a glimpse of her.
“Hold out your hands,” I said.
She complied and I grabbed them, securing my fingers around her wrists. She did the same to me. “Sam, we’re touching now,” I said loudly.
“I can see her hands, but I can’t see the rest of her. I think that’s good.”
The other Jayne and I nodded.
“Maybe we should touch the scales together,” the other Jayne suggested.
I nodded and let our hands slide back a bit until the heavy plastic-like scales were on top of one another. “Cool. That feels right.”
“Yeah,” she agreed.
I took in a deep breath and let it out. She copied me.
“What’s next?” she asked.
My brain was scrambling for answers. I said the first things that came to mind, hoping that going with the flow was the right thing to do. “We need to use our elements…I think…and Sam needs to bring the magic. When Victoria the Fate whammied us with her cane’s light bulb or whatever, she used magic. So I’m thinking it’ll be the combination of those things that’ll get our mojo back on track.”
“That’s as good an idea as anything I could come up with,” the other Jayne said.
“Me too,” agreed Sam. “You ready to try this?”
I looked to the right to face her. She was just standing there with empty hands. “Don’t you need some herbs or sticks or a wand or something?”
She shook her head. “Not here. This place is wild enough.”
She was doing magic commando style now? That was just a bit worrying. Her response definitely did not inspire me, but I soldiered on. The sounds of the battle were leaking through the cavern and pegging my stress-o-meter hard right into the red. I spoke to my other self. “Okay. So you and I are going to try to rein in the elements, and she’s going to say the magic words.”
“Which would be…?” Sam asked.
I whipped my head sideways and glared at her. “You’re the witch! What are you asking me for?!”
“Yeah, but if there was an incantation, you’re the one who heard it, not me. And I don’t have one ready for this situation, so…”
I searched my memory for anything Victoria might have said when she lashed out at me but came up with a whole lot of nothing. She might have said some Latin words in the hotel, but that wasn’t the spell I was looking for.
“I remember something,” the other Jayne said.
“What?”
“Not anything the witch said, but the prophecy.”
“What?”
She let go of my hand and reached into her bag, pulling out Othello’s wedding gift. “Remember? The Lycurgus cup.”
I touched my satchel, but the cup was no longer in there. Apparently it wasn’t able to be split in two like my soul was. “Um, I don’t really remember what that thing has to do with anything. I thought the prophecy said that the cries will bring it around, but then there were tears of the father…and other stuff?” Ugh. I was the worst saver-of-realms ever. I couldn’t remember that damn prophecy rhyme to save my life. Like, literally.
The other Jayne continued. “It said the Lycurgus c
up would show up, and why else would it be there for us as part of the prophecy if it wasn’t something we were supposed to use for something pretty momentous? What do you think it means?”
“I don’t know. And…not to be rude or anything, but your explanation seems kind of shaky if you ask me.” The prophecy had said something about the Father’s tears doing something with fate. I couldn’t remember the exact details, though. Too bad Ben wasn’t there to smack around a little bit; I would have been happy to get some of his tears going just to test a theory.
“Yeah. You’re probably right. Maybe the cup is just a happy coincidence. Something to decorate our room with. We used our elements in the cavern too, right before we got blasted, so maybe it’s just that: elements and magic. Boom.”
I searched my memories and found the facts there. They were faint, but they were there. “Yes. Okay. We did use The Green to help heal Falco and Water in the cup to quench his thirst, and that’s when the witch blasted us, so those have to be a required ingredients…right?”
The other Jayne’s face screwed up as she thought things through. “This sucks. We really have no clue what we’re doing.”
Guilt hit me hard when I realized I’d made her doubt herself. I knew how that felt, and it wasn’t something I wanted any part of me to suffer through ever again. “Maybe you’re right about the cup. Maybe it’s the key. It couldn’t hurt to try and use it, right?” Or maybe it could hurt. I didn’t know. But I was tired of standing around debating the situation with my other self.
“So, you’re down with drinking from this thing?” she asked, holding it out at me.
“Yeah. But what exactly are we supposed to drink?” I asked. “If you say blood I’m going to slap you.”
She smiled. “I won’t say blood, then. But do you have any other ideas? Because I was definitely thinking blood.”
I looked at Sam. “What do you think?”
“I’ll ask Biad if you want.”
“No, I’ll do it.” I turned to face the big red beast I could barely see from where I was standing. “Biad! We have the Lycurgus cup. We want to make our fractured selves one again. What should we drink out of the cup?”
Perhaps you should ask your elements.
It took me a few seconds, but then her words finally sank in. “Duh,” I said, feeling colossally stupid. I looked at the other Jayne and she nodded.
“Water it is.” She grinned. “Shall we?”
I nodded, balancing the cup between us with all four of our hands intertwined and pushed together.
She tilted her head. “Would you like me to do it or…?”
“No, let me,” I said. “I think I’ve figured this place out.”
She snorted. “Okay. Yeah. Sure.”
I frowned at her. “This is no laughing matter.”
“We’ll see.” She was mocking me.
I closed my eyes, not interested in engaging in a slap fest with my other half, even if she did deserve it. I focused on the second element that I command, the one that usually got away from me the easiest. Not this time, Water. Today, you are mine. I took in three deep breaths and cleared my mind of everything but our connection. Everything was riding on this moment. If I screwed it up, I might remain only half a person for the rest of eternity, and that was unacceptable.
Water, water, everywhere, filling my body, washing my hair… I stopped. No, that’s dumb. No more rhymes or I’ll probably end up drowning myselves. I opened my eyes and stared into the blue green irises of the other Jayne. “Water, hear my call.”
Other Jayne repeated after me. “Water hear my call.”
I glanced over at Sam. “Fire it up, Sam! Bring us the magic!” I didn’t wait for her contribution; I turned to my other half and pressed on. “Water come to this cup.”
“Water come to this cup.”
“Water fill this cup.”
“Water fill this cup.” The other Jayne looked around, clearly spooked, but I ignored her reaction.
“Water bring the healing liquid that will re-bind and renew our bodies and souls together.”
“Water bring the healing liquid that will…uh…” She looked toward the entrance of the cavern nervously.
“Finish,” I urged.
“I can’t,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Because…can’t you hear that?” Her eyes got rounder and wider. She was definitely scared.
“No. Hear what?” I strained to pull in whatever sounds she was getting, but there was nothing coming to my ears.
“Oh, shit,” she said, her grip on me tightening.
“What is your…?” I didn’t get the rest of my sentence out before a huge wave of water entered the cavern and smashed into us. The only sound I could hear now was my eardrums being pummeled by a million gallons of liquid. I gulped down way too much of it before I was able to clamp my jaws shut.
I tried to hang onto the other Jayne’s hands, but she was instantly swept away by the force of the wild element, and the only thing I could see after she was gone was blue—blue water, blue bubbles, and blue waves. Soon, however, bits of rocks, weeds, flowers, and other items started floating by. I was panicked about being able to find my breath, but then I remembered that I was literally in my element.
I stopped fighting it and let go. There were a few scary seconds when I thought I was definitely going to drown, but then the underwater world opened up to me, and I no longer had to struggle for breath.
Ah, that’s better. Now where did that Jayne girl go? I looked around but didn’t see anyone nearby. The blue color that surrounded me went violet for a moment, and I looked down to find the source. The scale in my hand was glowing and combining with the blue to make purple. It pulsed with not only color but heat. I took that to mean that Biad was close.
Biad, can you hear me?
Yes, Elemental.
Is everyone okay? I hope I didn’t drown anyone.
We have wings.
What about Sam?
She is a dragon rider.
I took that to mean she was safe and up in the sky. Do you know if the other part of me is with me now?
Only you can know the answer to that question.
Only me and a pixie, I corrected. Where’s Tim the pixie?
He is waiting for you here.
Okay, so everything was probably cool. I had to assume if the other Jayne wasn’t with me, she was swimming around in the cavern like I was and breathing underwater no problem, so all I had to do was get rid of the water and we could get on with the show. We were either one or two, but either way, we were going into the Overworld to kick some demon ass. There was no more time to play around with the elements and try to figure out whether I’d gotten lucky and actually figured out the formula for putting two halves of a person together into one whole elemental.
Go away, water.
Nothing happened.
Water, go back to where you came from.
I was still floating in what was quickly becoming a cesspool of debris. If there had been a wall nearby, I would have punched it. I was so sick and tired of screwing up. My temper flared and my entire body went hot. Water! I’ve had about enough of your bullshit! Now get back into that waterfall where you belong, or I am going to invite my Dark Fae friend Ben in here to burn you into steam!
I was bowled over backward by the force of the water withdrawing. I tumbled ass over teakettle through the cavern, out the exit, and into the soaking wet field of muddy grass and torn up flowers. I finally came to rest on my rear end, my legs splayed out in front of me and my bag twisted around my neck and hanging down my back. I was plastered in green goo, and I stunk to high heaven. There was definitely fish poop in that water. I’d lost my Crocs somewhere along the way and I was still wearing scrubs. I reached my hand into my pocket and pulled out a soggy, disgusting sandwich. I threw it on the ground and wiped my hand off on my pant leg.
I heard the buzzing of Tim’s wings before I saw him. I closed my eyes so I could spare m
yself the humiliation of seeing his expression mocking me.
“I have to tell you,” Tim said, his voice coming from somewhere in front of me. “That was impressive.”
I opened one eyeball. “Seriously?”
“Are you kidding?” His face was lit up with a huge smile. “The old Jayne could barely bring a sprinkle of rain, but this Jayne, the new-and-improved Jayne, she brings tsunamis, baby!” He spun himself into a tiny tornado and then did a high-flying roller coaster move, zooming in a large circle, swiveling as he went. “And she’s my roommate, everyone, so back off! Besties forever! Can’t touch this! Dragon riders, pfftthbbtt, ain’t got nothin’ on an elemental! Don’t go chasin’ waterfalls, my butt! We’ll chase ‘em all day long if we want to! Boo yah!”
His enthusiasm was contagious. “That was pretty cool, wasn’t it?” I asked. “I think I brought the whole waterfall in there.”
“You know it.” He stopped in front of me, out of breath from his aerial shenanigans. “I mean, who cares if you wiped out everything inside a fifty mile swath from here to kingdom come? It was a freaking tsunami! A tidal wave of epic proportions, baby!”
I lost a bit of my grin. “Is everyone okay?”
He waved his hand around in front of him, his face twisted into a painful smile. “Yeah, yeah, everyone is fine. You might have drowned a few moles or whatever, but what do we care? They dig up gardens and tick off the lady pixies. And nobody…I mean nobody…wants a pissed off she-pixie, am I right?” He lifted his brows at me.
“Uh, yeah. So, anyway, could you sit on my shoulder and tell me if I’m all good? One hundred percent all me?” Looking around revealed no washed up other half of myself, so I was hoping with everything I had in me that my attempt at reconnecting the two Jaynes had succeeded.
He pointed to one shoulder and then the next, his face scrunched up into an expression of extreme distaste. “You want me to sit on the one with the fish poo on it, or the one with the dead lizard on it?”
I looked left and right, wishing my sense of smell wasn’t so acute. “Pick your poison.” I carefully lifted the soggy not-quite-deceased lizard off my body and placed him on the ground, watching him limp away through the torn up grass as I waited for Tim to make his decision. “Sorry, little guy,” I whispered.