Jinx Unchained

Chapter Twelve

(Note: This is the second part of a double chapter. If your app or website put you here after you saw I'd just updated, make sure to read #11 too, please! Otherwise you'll be VERY confused as to what's going on. 😁

It was a normal summer's day. Martin was out on the beach, building a sandcastle with his daughter, who was now a precocious four-year old, and who was starting to develop way too much sass like Jinx for his liking. Jinx was lying on one of their chairs on the patio, sunning herself, though because her daughter was out there, at least she wore a red bikini this time, which she'd bought the last time they'd been to the Placidium. Lux was off visiting with Garen and trying to convince him to come see his niece, though of course the journey from Demacia to Ionia was a truly massive undertaking, and so far it had kept him from committing.

Martin's communicator badge beeped, and he paused right in the middle of pouring the mold for the castle's main tower.

"What's that, daddy?" Zoe asked, her face alit with curiosity.

"It's the communicator, sweetie, but..." he glanced over at Jinx, who was still just tanning, and who wasn't wearing her communicator. Lux was most definitely out of range, and she wouldn't have brought her badge with her to begin with, which meant...

He hit the small button on his badge and said, "Hello?"

"Martin... Vi. Don't freak... but you... danger. .... precautions now." A voice which sounded very much like Vi's came over the communicator, but for some reason he was only getting pieces of it.

"Auntie Vi?!" Zoe asked excitedly. "Is she here?"

"I don't know, sweetie. Vi? Where the hell are you?" he asked as he pushed his communicator button.

"We're... Okazaki. ...here... kali. ... your way. ... now!"

"Did I just hear Vi?" Jinx asked, popping her head up and staring at him over the rim of her sunglasses.

"Yeah. I think she said she's in Okazaki," he said, a little surprised. Vi and Cait had communicators, though of course they were useless all the way over in the Placidium. They had kept them with them after the last time they visited, since Zoe wanted to keep talking to her Auntie Vi for as long as she could. Since then, he'd extended the range of their communicators by a lot, by virtue of having built a few more solar-powered towers with relays on them, in preparation for the day when he shared the technology with the rest of the people on the island. He hadn't thought the range would extend all the way out to Okazaki, however. Not yet. Clearly his technology worked better than he'd imagined, though he couldn't see how that was possible.

"Jinx... I'm pretty sure he said we're in danger," he added. He was already scanning their surroundings, though nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

Jinx jumped to her feet and ran inside the house, coming back with Zapper in her hands.

"Daddy, what's wrong?" Zoe asked, clearly sensing her parents' sudden discomfort.

He picked her up and quickly took her inside. "It's nothing, sweetheart. Just Auntie Vi saying we needed to be careful for a bit."

"Why?"

He clenched his teeth. She had absolutely reached that age where everything was answered with "why?" Not that he minded her inquisitiveness, but it was bloody inconvenient at times, especially those times when he'd tried to explain to her that there was a reason their bedroom door was closed at night. Or when he was trying to figure out if there genuinely was a danger somewhere.

"The two of you lock yourselves in the bedroom," Jinx said grimly. "I'll go check things out."

"Not a chance, honey. Not this time. You have no idea what you're looking for," Martin said.