Devil Incarnates

Chapter 7: Devil's in the Details

Chapter 7: Devil's in the Details

"Where the Hell are we?"

Jim turned left. He turned right. He looked up at the sky.

"Crap."

Jim hiked his shoulder. The girl jumped as he nudged her ribcage. "Hear that? We're lost."

The girl twisted, trying to return Jim's shove. She was largely unsuccessful, Jim had bound both hands behind her back, but somehow she managed to clip his chin with her knee.

"Thanks to your pirate buddies..." Jim said, dropping the girl in a pile of roots, "...we've been thrown off course. Lost my bearings, I have no idea where we are."

Jim knelt. "Hold still." he muttered, tying the girl to an enormous root. "I've got to map this place out. Just freeze for like a freaking second."

The girl did not corporate so Jim was not gentle.

"Would you just cool it?! Ow!" Gruffly, Jim hugged her legs and reached for the unfinished knot. "Just stop moving - just - ow! Geeze! Come on!"

Jim shoved. "Okay quit with the valiant effort! We don't have time! Do you want the pirates to catch up? Do you want to go back to Captain Hook? Remember what he was doing to you on that ship?"

The girl inhaled sharply. She stared at Jim as if he had slapped her. Slowly she subsided. She stopped struggling.

Jim tightened the knots. He glanced. She looked away. But Jim saw tiny, teary glints in her eyes.

"Better get used to the idea. Of torture."

Jim settled beside the girl. Cognizant that he had threatened as if he did not intend to hold her ransom, Jim quickly clarified. "I'm just going to sell you back to Captain Hook for all his treasure anyway."

Jim turned. "Clear?"

The girl glared into the forest. Her jaw was clenched but Jim could practically see the curses tingling on the tip of her tongue.

"Still not talking?"

Her eyes flashed like blue grenades.

Darkly, Jim spread his hands across the forest floor. Exposing dirt beneath prickly white moss, he started to draw. "Whatever."

Jim wasted time sketching and re-sketching lines. Alternatingly drawing and erasing images in the dirt, he pretended to be dissatisfied with each attempt. The rhythmic motion preoccupied his body, giving his brain space to think.

The girl was driving him insane.

First, his shoulder was aching from carrying her. Second, every other body part was sore from where she kicked, punched, or hit him trying to escape.

Third, Captain Hook apparently wanted the girl very badly because the entire pirate armada was on Jim's tail. Since the first night raid, Jim could not sleep. He was an emotional time-bomb, hyperreacting to every sound, sight, and thought.

Finally, the girl's silent treatment was getting old. Really fast. Jim had never kidnapped without his brothers, but in every one of those instances the victim's screaming made the process a whole lot easier. There was something about a victim wailing "Unhand me!" or "You will rue the day!" that set the stage for an amazing adrenalin rush and licensure to mock the victim.

But the girl was silent. Occasionally she would make small, displeased noises but she never spoke. She just smoldered in her silence.

Jim traced a line in the dirt. It was probably just as well. Screaming would alert the pirates and probably give him a headache. The girl's silence was fortunate, but it was also unnerving. Jim wished he could crack open her thoughts. He wished more that he could stop his own.