Chapter 413

Jackson crawls out of his tent, looking carefully around, trying to figure out…well, if there is actually someone here even if he can’t smell or hear them. But as far as he can see and sense it’s just rippling grass and the wind moving softly around him. He sighs, looking down at the little stone in his hand with a frown, wondering…what the hell it is.

Jackson inspects the rock thoroughly, looking for any sign or writing on it that makes sense to him. Then, hesitating only for a moment, he pushes on it with his magic, as he does when he passes his power to Ariel, trying to see if it engages at all.

But no, it’s just a…rock.

Jackson scowls, glaring at the little chip of stone, hating it a little bit. Whatever that woman said about not being able to give him much…well, is this honestly that much of an improvement? “Thanks for the…rock,” Jackson mutters, bitter. Then he folds his hand around it and turns towards the hill, hiking up the steep side until he reaches the top.

When Jackson reaches the crest of the hill he sits with a sigh, staring off towards the castle which is barely visible in the darkness. That stupid, impenetrable castle where Ariel is held. His girl, so close but…completely unreachable.

Jackson’s scowl deepens as he thinks about her, wondering what she’s up to tonight. Hoping that idiot who is claiming to be her mate is keeping his damn hands off her. Jackson’s wolf growls at this thought, his head dipping low, his lips pulling back over his teeth. Ours, he growls, tension rippling through his fur. We will bite his hands off if he touches her.

Just to start, Jackson murmurs in agreement. His wolf’s growl deepens.

Jackson sighs, though, knowing his threat is empty if he can’t even get inside to help her, protect her. God, if he could just get in – if he could get close. Jackson wishes with a sudden desperation for any way to get to her –

And the world around him…shifts.

Jackson gasps as he tilts forward, like the universe has given him a mighty shove, and then he falls.

His knees hit hard into the dirt of a new world and Jackson stills with fear, his hands flat against the ground, the little rock still pressed against his palm. Jackson’s head spins from side to side, trying to find anything familiar, anything to orient him.

It’s dark here – as dark as it was in Atalaxia – but there is no vegetation. No…nothing.

Jackson whips his head up and stares around, confused at first by a maze of metal built into the ground before and slightly below him, and then…

Then he looks up, his eyes widening, his heart pounding as he realizes that the sky is completely black except for…

Except for the three moons hanging heavy within it. One moon looms larger than the rest, orange and heavy in the sky. Jackson’s eyes move immediately to it, ignoring its two dark brothers to the left and right, one mostly full, the other crescent. No, it is the big central moon which demands Jackson’s attention.

He stares at it in wonder and knows, suddenly, that he’s in another world.

But a world which Ariel has described before – where she has been – a land of Darkness, overhung by three moons.

Jackson gasps and scrambles to his feet, careful to take the little rock with him, glancing down at it and wondering if –

But there’s no time.

“Ariel!” He shouts, desperate, cupping his hands to his mouth. The word echoes out into the nothingness that surrounds him. Jackson listens desperately for any response, willing his heart to slow its pounding rhythm so he can hear over it.

Nothing returns.

Jackson shouts her name again, louder this time, and waits, holding his breath.

Again, nothing returns.

Jackson drops his hands and works hard to steady himself, taking long, calming breaths as he forces himself to adjust to this new world. He glances again at the rock, knowing now that it’s some sort of gift that brought him here. And hope floods him because…she said it was help, right? Or implied it? Whoever that woman was who spoke in his mind?

So…it must be getting him closer to the one thing that matters. To Ariel.

Jackson shifts his attention again to the maze of metal before him – the only thing around to really concentrate on. He frowns as he studies it, slipping the rock into his pocket, wondering …well, wondering what the hell it is. He takes a long few minutes to study the twists and turns of the metal, noting first that it is indeed in the general location of the castle that he’s been staring at for hours and hours. And then that the great outer perimeter of the circle takes the form of the general shape of the castle, from what he can discern.

Slowly, Jackson’s mouth pulls into a smile as he realizes that this isn’t a maze at all.

It’s a cage.

A cage with nothing in it. And if there’s something that the Atalaxians have built here that they’re either trying to keep in, or protect themselves from? Well. That’s something he wants to know more about, isn’t it?

Eager for the first time in days to have something to do, a problem to work on, Jackson strides forward.

With his long legs and magic pulsing through his veins, Jackson crosses the Land of Darkness at a pace faster than most people can run. It only takes him about fifteen minutes to reach the first set of iron bars that align with the outer rim of the castle. When he gets there, Jackson frowns, taking the iron in his hands.

Because upclose he realizes that this enclosure is much less impressive than it looks from afar. Jackson shakes the bars and finds that, absurdly, they move – not rigorously rooted in the ground or anchored to each other. He huffs a bit in derision, thinking that whoever made this cage did quick or lazy work with it, and that if he had been in charge –

But Jackson wipes the thought away. He’s not in the business of making cages, is he? No, he grew up in a cage – a mental one, if not physical. And the realization of that confined upbringing over the past nine months does not make him very fond of any attempts to keep free things bound.

He snarls lightly and takes the bars in his hands, calling on his magic and pulling the metal hard to the side. The bars bend…almost too easily.

“Honestly,” Jackson murmurs, glancing at the bent bars as he steps through them. “Whoever made these could have at least tried.”

But he puts the thought aside and moves forward through the maze. Of course, he doesn’t bother to try to find his way through or around the maze of cages. Instead he just moves forward, just casually calling on his magic and pulling the bars apart every time he comes to a new fence, as easy as pushing a little branch aside while walking through the forest.

About halfway through the maze of cages something hits Jackson’s nose and his head spins to the left, his eyes immediately finding a small, dirty patch of white cloth in the distance. He sniffs again and then turns, moving faster now through the cages, heading directly for it. Because he’s sure – absolutely sure – that it smells like her.

Ariel. She’s been here – within the past few days, at least, she’s been here.

Jackson’s heart begins to pound as the pile of dirty white cloth comes into sight because – what on earth is that? That’s not…that’s not….it couldn’t be a dress, could it?

But as he gets closer, pushing through fence after fence, Jackson’s fears subside as he realizes that it’s certainly not her. That it is, instead, a big pile of bedding.

Jackson comes to the final fence and leans against it, frowning down at the dirty duvet and collection of pillows resting there. Because…what the hell?

Why is this…here, when the rest of the cages are entirely empty? And why on earth does it smell like his mate?

Jackson sighs, confused and frustrated, and turns his back to the cage, shoving his hands deep into his pockets as he leans against the bars and stares down at the ground. Because he just doesn’t get it – why the hell does this elaborate system of cages exist? And why are they empty, except for a whole bunch of blankets that just smell like Ariel?

Is he just…wasting his time here? Should he –

A gasp sounds out behind Jackson that makes him freeze. Because…he could swear…

“Jackson?”

He turns immediately, his hands grasping the iron bars, and stares in shock at the pile of bedding piled in the dirt of this wasteland. Or, more specifically, at the beautiful girl now seated in its center.

Jackson’s breath heaves from his lungs in a single shocked huff.

Ariel stares back at him, her eyes wide, her mouth open in a shocked “o.”