The Nibiru Effect

Memory 32

Get up!" The voice yanks me from my slumber, and I bolt upright. I glance around, my heart pounding. Kara and Korri are still sound asleep, but Jonn is already up and about. In fact, he's the one who woke me.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

He shushes me and nods to Kara and Korri. He then gestures for me to follow him and walks out of the cavern. I hesitate for a moment, then get dressed and follow him.

"What's up?" I ask.

"I'm going to look for Avalon," he says, "and you're coming with me."

The thought of spending a full day alone with Jonn is far from appealing, but I can't deny the fact that a day of exploration would be a nice change of pace. I haven't left the cavern once since the korrigan priest collapsed. That was almost a full week ago. Now seems like as good a time as any for me to reintegrate the real world.

"All right," I finally agree. "Where are we going?"

Jonn doesn't answer. He pulls out his knife and, weapon in hand, vanishes into the nearby jungle. I hesitate for a moment before following him.

Jonn leads me deep into the jungle. For the first half hour or so I keep staring over my shoulder, terrified that a hungry beast will sneak up on us and maul us to death. When it finally becomes clear not even dinosaurs dare attack Jonn, I decide to get some answers. Since getting the grey-haired soldier to open up will be hard enough in and of itself, I choose to begin with something simple.

"What's with the pendant?" I ask.

Jonn keeps walking. I'm about to repeat the question when he finally answers.

"What pendant?"

"The one the korrigans stole from you two weeks ago," I say. "Why do you care about it so much?

There's another long silence during which all I can hear is the squawking of birds, the chirping of insects, and the distant roar of dinosaurs.

"It's none of your business," finally says Jonn as he comes to a stop. I half expect him to spin around and attack me for prying into his business, but he pulls out his knife and uses it to cut a thick vine. The two severed pieces swing apart, and Jonn marches on.

Since the grey-haired soldier won't answer my question, I decide to share a story of my own.

"A few years ago this kid at my school started picking on me. He made fun of me and called me names. His favourite was 'Won't,' because he claimed Will was too good of a name for a loser like me."

Jonn marches on. He says nothing, but I can tell he's listening.

"At first I got upset, then one day I found out his parents beat him, and I realized he was only picking on me because his family was doing the same to him. I felt sorry for him, so I stopped getting upset when he insulted me. Before long, he stopped picking on me."

There's a moment of silence before Jonn comes to a stop. He turns to me and asks, "Why the drowned would you tell me that?"

I'm no longer surprised to hear the Atlantean curse escape my companion's lips. He's uttered it so many times I've lost count. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's his favourite word.

"Well," I say, "I thought if I told you a story from my past, you would share one from yours. Perhaps one about a pendant."

Jonn scoffs.

"Nice try, kid, but you'll have to do a lot better than some sob story to get me to open up. Oh, and by the way, from now on I'm calling you 'Won't.'"