Duskwood After Story

An Old Friend

We went back to Jake's place after our night time picnic. He explained to me what happened after the FBI surrounded the Ironsplinter Mine.

Jake managed to escape his pursuers but had to lay low until he could put some distance between them again. Immediately after that night, he moved out of Duskwood and had been switching his location at short intervals. Jake made sure to not have any pattern in his movement so that they could not predict where he would go next. It had been 3 months of constant running for him. Instead of bringing all of his equipment with each move, Jake stored them at a safe location from where he could go back to retrieve later. During this whole time, he had only contacted Hannah once to make sure she was recovering well, just as Jessy told me. She was broken, both mentally and emotionally after all that had happened. But therapy had started to show its results as of recently.

He had been back to Duskwood for one week before he received my letter. He was about to contact me but wanted to ensure that his protections would not be broken again before that. And then I came. Jake said it was a fortunate stroke of serendipity.

Obviously, it was not his idea to spend the night together. I insisted. "Told you I would make all the moves when we met, didn't I?" I said in a mischievous chuckle while he shied away into his dark hoodie. I texted Jessy to let her know that I was with Jake and that I would talk to her tomorrow.

"Thank God everything worked out. I was so worried for you. Talk to you tomorrow! 😄"

***

Jake asked me to leave my car at the church's parking lot then switched to his to get to his place. It was just a normal black car from the outside but what happened inside was totally unexpected.

When we were inside the car, Jake put his phone down in a slot near the wheel and said:

"Nymos, sync my devices."

"Ok, syncing devices... Report ready. Would you like to listen to it?" - A male robotic voice answered.

"Yes."

"External signals transmission detected: none. Malware detected: none. GPS signal: off. Would you like to enable offline location tracking?"

"Yes."

"Encryption in process... Offline location tracking activated."

My mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. I could feel my jaws hanging loosely watching the whole scene unfold before my eyes. I stared at Jake in disbelief until he noticed the questions in my widened eyes.

"Sorry. I had to make sure nobody bugged the car while we were away."

"And Nymos can do that?"

"Yes. It can scan the car for tracking devices that send signals to an external party."

"And what is offline location tracking? That does not mean GPS, right?"

"Correct. It is not GPS, but rather, a way for me to not get lost while still staying offline. I'd feed Nymos with data of the region I am in. It then saves an offline version of the map and calculates the road to take from my current location to the destination."

"Jake, that is really impressive!" I jumped in my seat. I had never seen anything like this except for in movies and books. Seeing one in real life reminded me of what a genius Jake was.

"Thank you. We can't be too careful" – Jake smiled in return.

"Can I try talking with it?" – I asked, still with excitement. It felt like meeting a dear old friend.

"Of course."

"Hello, Nymos!"

"Hello, Bailey."

I turned to Jake in amazement once again.

"How does it know my name?"

"It learned your voice from when I had you install it in your phone to defend against my pursuers. There are only two people in the world who can control Nymos: you and me."

"I don't know what to say to all this. You really are a genius, Jake!"

Jake's face slightly flushed at my sudden compliment. The corners of his mouth went up to form a smile.

"Alright. It's time to go." Jake said as he put his hands on the wheel.

"Okay, let's go". I buckled my seat belt, trying to contain all the excitement I was feeling.

***

Jake's place was a cabin deep in the Duskwood forest, much like the hut that Jessy and the gang stayed during their time hiding from the man with no face. There was no one else besides us in the area and the road to get there was off the beaten path. Jake said he found this place from an old advertisement. The owner did not ask too much about his renter's personal details, as long as they could pay their due. That was one thing that made hiding easy in this sleeping town.

As soon as we entered the cabin, Jake started conversing with Nymos again.

"Nymos, turn all lights on."

"Ok, turning all lights on."

Poof. The place then became illuminated with hanging lights from the ceiling. The interior was cozy, typical of a vacation hut hidden away from the city's bustle.

"Nymos, report current stage."

"Camera feed report: no unusual activity detected. External signals transmission detected: none. Would you like to switch to in-person security system?"

"Yes."

"Ok, in-person security system activated."

Only then did I notice several cameras installed around the place. There was one facing the front door, one in the living room and one in the kitchen. Adjacent to the kitchen was a dining table. But instead of cutleries and dining sets, it was cluttered with several electronic equipment. I recognized a laptop which was connected to two desktop monitors, a keyboard and mouse, some cables which were grouped together and arranged neatly to follow the grooves of the table to a wall outlet. There are other things that I didn't recognize, but I understood right away this was Jake's "working station".

Besides the dining table which showed signs of frequent occupancy, everywhere else in the house looked like it was left just the way it was before Jake rented the place. The kitchen looked especially sparkling clean. I could not help but wonder if Jake ever stopped working to eat or sleep or perform any other bodily functions.

I let my eyes wander to different spots in the house as my feet followed. I tried to take everything in quietly while Jake went to get us two glasses of water. He placed them on a glass table in the living room and sat down on the sofa facing an ancient fireplace. He signaled me to do the same. I stopped my tour short to come sit next to him. He handed me the water and asked:

"How are you feeling?"

"I don't know." I laughed nervously. "A bit overwhelmed, I think."

"Why so?"

"I mean, I knew beforehand that you do take measures to protect yourself. But seeing it in person is on another level. You put in a lot of work."

"Yes. As I said, we can never be too careful. But I hope you can relax soon as there is nothing to worry about."

I took a big sip out of the glass of water and exhaled. The exhaustion from excitement and nervousness of the whole day was catching up to me. I put the glass down on the table and quietly scooched closer to Jake, laying my head on his shoulder. Jake held on to my hand and rested them on his lap. I hadn't noticed earlier: his hands were so soft yet strong, his warmth enveloping my cold fingers. We laid both of our tired bodies back on the couch, staring blankly at the ceiling, deep in thoughts.