The Faithfuls

Chapter 4: Jinx

Chapter 4: Jinx

I wake at the crack of dawn, eager for Zeth to meet the others. I jump out of the hammock, landing softly on the floor. I kept my boots on last night for some reason, same with my engineer goggles. Zeth lies curled in the sheets of my bed, a little bit of drool coming out of his half open mouth. I resist laughing, trying to disguise it by wiping imaginary dust off my jeans, but it is really hard to. As softly as I can, I shake his shoulder, the same way I shook him when he’d fallen out of the tree.

“Zeth,” I say. He groans a little, the drool going back into his mouth. I can’t help laughing a little. “You want to meet the Faithfuls don’t you?” He looks at me quizzically, obviously wondering why I was laughing. I walk down the stairs, giving him some privacy to get dressed. I grab two apples out of a cupboard, and chuck one to him as he comes down the stairs, his hand running intricately over my vine carvings.

“In my opinion, you’ll fit right into the group.” I smile as I bite into my apple. I chew before speaking, “We’re all welcoming to new people. Well, everyone except Ursa. She’s kind of shy.” Zeth goes over to the couch and sits on the arm rest. He has a grin on his face that’s hard to hide. We finish what would be considered breakfast, and I beckon for him to follow me outside. He walks a few steps past me when he notices I’ve stopped outside the arch.

“Everything alright, Jinx?” He asks. I, once again, bring my fingers to my toes, the arch being encased in bark. I turn around to see him looking at me in awe.

“Awesome,” He mumbles, “never knew you could do that...”

“It’s not every day you meet people like me, hey?” I chuckle.

“You have an aurora?” He says excitedly. It does look like aurora. I can see how he’s confused.

“Uh, yeah... Yeah it’s an aurora.” I rub my tattoo, looking at the ground a little.

 I look up at a raven, flying over our heads. Then, I see a little white speck land on Zeth’s shoulder. I automatically know what it is. Raven refuse. I burst out laughing as he tries to wipe the white sludge off his jacket shoulder. His face is slightly disgusted by the stench.

“Come on... god damn raven...” He says grumpily. I jog over to him, grab his jacket collar softly and tug him along into the woods, him laughing behind me.

We reach a small field after about ten minutes. It’s time to see my friends again. Zeth stands among the grass, curious of how I contact them. I grab out my reflex. The reflex looks practically like a quill pen, but uses fire to carve symbols that disappear after its use. In a row, I carve a bear star constellation, a wolf sitting down, bowing its head, and two lightning streaks crossed over each other diagonally into the ground. I get up and stand back a little. Zeth stays just behind my shoulder, about a few steps away. The symbols glow green, and a hologram square pops up in the centre of each of the symbols. A face appears in each of the holograms, with Ursa’s face in the constellation, Brandon’s in the lightning streaks and Muse’s in the wolf.

They all say it at once, clearly excited to see me, “Jinx!”

“Hey guys.” I smile. “Are you able to get to Merador? I want you to meet someone.”

Muse speaks up. “Is it a new member of the Faithfuls?”

“If he chooses to be, Muse.” I say as Ursa looks curiously over my shoulder.

“Cool,” Brandon says crossing his arms. “I’ll see you there.” The holograms close, the symbols still glowing, waiting for their passengers.

“Wow,” Zeth says from behind me. “That was awesome.”

“You might want to step back.” I say. The symbols glow brighter. The first Faithful to come through their symbol was Ursa, her bow ready and poised up to Zeth’s face.

He puts his hands up. “Whoa!”

“Jinx! You know this guy?” Her bow doesn’t shake.

“Ursa, step away. He’s my friend.” I sigh. “Zeth, this is Ursa. Ursa, this is Zeth.” The bear constellation symbol fades to nothingness. Ursa slings her bow over her back, and shakes Zeth’s hand.

“Nice to meet you. Sorry about the bow thing...” She says.

“No offense taken.” Zeth smiles. Next to come out of the symbols was Brandon, who landed like he just gracefully jumped off a building. Although that doesn’t sound like something Brandon would be able to accomplish. He was closely followed by Muse, who casually walked out of his symbol. A few seconds after their arrival, the wolf and lightning disappear like they were never there. I introduce Muse and Brandon to Zeth, all the boys exchanging smiles.

“So Jinx,” Brandon asks. “Is this guy joining the Faithfuls? He seems nice enough.” Brandon walks over to me trying to wrap his arm around my shoulders. I reply to this gesture by twisting his arm so he jerks back, with me laughing slightly.

“Zeth, you going to join the Faithfuls?” I ask, eager for him to say yes. He nods. He’s in, and I’ll make sure he won’t regret it.

“I hereby declare Zeth Luminatrix the Hell Dimension member of the Faithfuls!” Everyone cheers and laughs. I go over to Zeth who’s talking to Brandon about me for some reason.

I put my hand in a small salute. “Welcome to the Faithfuls, Zeth. You won’t regret your decision.