Jade stared at him, lost for words. The school was in danger...again?
Out loud, she said, "Again? I thought we were going to get a little
time to, I don't know, study?"

She had been looking forward
to a month of normalcy. They were going to have a masquerade ball on
Halloween night, with costumes and masks and music and fun. They were
studying all kinds of fun legends in classes, and the choir was
practicing harder than ever so they could perform at the ball. Her
parents were sending her a costume- whichever one she wanted. It was going to be perfect,
and now it was all over.

Jack laughed dryly. "You just can't catch a break, can you?"
She sighed and buried her face in her arms. "No. I really can't."
"Well, think of it this way. You beat that Laga-whatsit last month, and you were fine."
Jade
looked up. "No. Jack, I wasn't 'fine'. I almost lost my arm, and I was
so scared. I thought I was going to mess something up and someone was
going to get really hurt." Her eyes filled with tears as she relived the
moment- darkness and swirling blue lights and West in chains and
Abigail screaming and Alana's hands, bleeding, still scarred. She
hiccuped, and Jack put an arm around her.
"Jade, listen to me. I know you're scared, but that's okay. We can get through this. I think we can protect the school."
She stretched her arms up and then looked at him, comprehending fully what he had just said to her. "We?"
He moved a little closer to her, smiling reassuringly. "You don't have to do things alone, Jade. Your friends are here. I'm here."

The
two looked at each other, him tipping his head downward, her tilting
her chin up so that they were on the same level. There was barely an
inch of distance between them...it would be so easy to...
An eerie
shadow passed across the room, and all of the windowpanes rattled. They
could almost hear footsteps, crunching across the leaf-strewn ground
and coming, ever so slowly, towards them.
Jade shivered. "I think I
should go to bed." The clock chimed three times, shaking her thoughts.
"See you...later, I guess, Jack."
"See you tomorrow, Jade." He
watched her go, her comical bunny slippers flopping on the stone floor,
her hair swinging. He sighed, thinking about the chance he had just missed. He could have kissed her, and he hadn't. Her closed his eyes to slow the headache that he knew was making its way towards him, hoping that this would all even itself out
soon.