Young Writers Society

This was a lot to take in, but I didn't have the time or focus to deal with Little Miss Murderer's true occupation being revealed. Megara was right; we had to get out of here, and we had to get out of here soon.

"You're not killing him," I insisted. "I rescued him - I get to decide what we're doing with him, and his death is something I currently want to avoid."

Hopping up to my feet - and noticing how pale Kirux looked out of the corner of my eye - I reached out a hand to Jacob to help him off of the bed. I'd definitely need to chat with Kirux later. Megara's true occupation seemed to be seriously throwing him for a loop, and I was afraid of what trouble he'd get us into if he got too scared and decided to run off again.

"Come on," I said. "We have a prince to see - or, at least, a way out from this castle. And you're coming along, whether you like it or not."

Jacob shook his head, “No,” he whimpered, “no, no, no.”

Megara frowned at him, “He’s not going to be cooperative,” she pointed out, “I could knock him out fairly easily. I might have some mild paralyzing agents on me.”

Fidel went red with a mix of indistinguishable but incredibly potent emotions, “You can’t poison him,” he insisted on a voice strangled with outrage and disbelief.

“What part of ‘mild’ was beyond your understanding?” she retorted, “They wear off in a few hours tops. Half dose buys about half an hour if the subject is larger than a child. This is very simple stuff, you’re a doctor, you should know it.”

“You’ve poisoned children?!”

Megara sighed, “Are you incapable of using your brain? The alternative was killing them, dimwit. I may be amoral, but I do draw the line somewhere.”

Fidel still looked a bit ill. Megara guessed he was regretting healing her up, which was fine. They’d both be better off if he’d minded his own business.

I was barely paying attention to the conversation with Megara and Fidel - I was more focused on how we were going to get Jacob to leave. Knocking him out was out of the question. He had to be awake for when we inevitably ran into his prince. I wanted to force the two to interact; it was the only way I could think of getting him to see my side of our disagreement.

"I want him to be awake if we run into his prince," I said, interrupting their lover's quarrel. "And I want him to be able to respond - the paralyzing agent might keep him awake, but it's not going to help with that-"

An idea suddenly hit me.

I slowly turned back to Jacob.

"Kirux," I said, "can you carry my body when we leave?"

Kirux looked confused, but he gave an enthusiastic nod.

I took a metaphorical deep breath, reached over to Jacob, and hopped into his body.

My own body went crashing to the ground.

Kirux darted over to it, hurriedly lifting it up off of the ground.

I raised Jacob's hands up in front of me, trying to get a sense of what it felt like to be in his body. It felt wrong - like usual - but I ignored that feeling and focused on wiping away the last remnants of his tears.

"There you go," I said, unsteadily getting up to his feet. "Now he can't run and has to stay awake - problem solved!"

Megara gave him a sickened look, "You're really going to keep doing that to your allies?"

Jacob, meanwhile, was having a breakdown. I don't understand. I don't understand. I don't understand. He repeated over and over, trying to speak by finding his own mouth out of his control.

Fidel went to stand nearer Kirux and gestured toward the door, "Who's going to lead the way?"

"Try the one with experience traversing unfamiliar castles to the chambers of royalty," Megara said with a roll of her eyes.

I gave a very evil looking smile - something that felt nice after being stuck with a face that couldn't really move in the same way Jacob's could. "Yes - I do it all the time to Natty boy, and Jacob's not technically an ally right now."

I gave a little stretch, starting to get used to how his body felt. I could hear Jacob having a mental breakdown in the back of my mind, but I had to focus on the conversations actually going on instead of the one in my head.

"I vote Megara, too," I said. My feet were still a little unsteady, but I moved from where I was standing over to Kirux's side. He stared at me for a little bit, like he was trying to make out me in Jacob's expression. He must have found what he was looking for - he scooted so close to me that my hand was touching his. I could feel it shaking. I definitely needed to talk to him soon, but then I came to a horrifying conclusion.

Jacob didn't know sign language, and I didn't either.

Which meant I had no way of easily understanding him.

I bit back a swore before turning my attention to Jacob again.

"It's my power," I said, not looking at any particular person while I spoke. "I can possess people - I think it's supposed to be a nice little reference to how I was a ghost, but it's very useful when it comes to me getting what I want."

I paused.

"...It's also great for pranks," I added, though I doubted that was going to help him calm down.

Megara scooped up her knife and headed to the door.

"Subtly isn't really an option," she pointed out, "so how about Kirux stay near me at the lead to help take care of anyone unsavory we come across. Fidel, you stay behind him to hold onto Skull's old body to free up Kirux's hands when we run into trouble, and Skull," she looked him up and down, "stop trying to make light of your creepy little ability. Also, try not to get Jacob killed. I don't particularly care, personally, but the others seem not to share that sentiment."

With that, she slipped into the hall, leaving no room to argue with her plan. Things would arrange themselves naturally as they went, anyway, and she didn't feel like waiting around to be found and cornered.

Kirux gave me a very, very terrified look when he heard Megara's suggestion, but we both knew there was no way to go against it. If she wanted him to be in the lead, he would be.

He walked over to Fidel and carefully handed my body over.

"I wasn't talking to you," I said, popping out of the room and tapping my head. "I was talking to Jacob. He's having a bit of a mental breakdown right now."

Kirux followed me out. Giving me one last look, he joined Megara up front and made his key appear.

They wove through the halls, coming across fewer guards than Megara anticipated on their way to the prince’s chambers.

The guards at the doors were taken care of, and the group entered inside.

The prince, it turned out, was a rather handsome man. Blond, muscular, dressed in black silk and holding a very sharp sword. Megara made quick work of his sword and secured his arm behind his back, using her free arm to cover his mouth.

“Listen,” she said over his attempts to call for his guards, “I don’t want to be here any more than you want me here. It’s those guys over there who insisted that it was so important to come chat with you. We’re not going to hurt you any more than I already have, unless you decide to be difficult. So, when I remove my hand, you’re going to be quiet, yeah?”

The prince stopped in his attempt to call for the guards, and I decided that was the moment for me to hop back into my body and drag Jacob over to the prince. The switch was easy - I just walked over and tapped myself on the shoulder before getting out of Fidel's arms. I did stumble a bit, but I quickly regained my balance.

Then I grabbed Jacob and brought him to the front.

The prince stared with wide, dark eyes.

"Jacob?" he said. It sounded like a "Jacob", anyways - it was a bit hard to tell what was being said with Megara's hand over his mouth, but I got the general gist of it.

Megara removed her hand from his mouth but didn't release his arm.

Jacob, meanwhile, was reeling. His attempts not to break down in tears were visualized by his shaking shoulders and quivering lip.

Megara rolled her eyes, "Good gods, just talk to each other already so these people will focus on something that matters."

It was hard to tell if the prince hadn't realized that Megara hadn't also removed or just didn't care - whatever the case was, he tried to tug it free as he attempted to move closer to Jacob.

"Jacob?" the prince repeated. Jacob was an almost sobbing mess, so I took the initiative and pushed him forward a little bit more. "You look horrible - what have these people done to you?"

"We haven't done anything," I butted in, "besides rescue him and drag him here."

The prince stared at me for a handful of moments before staring at Jacob instead.

"...Is that true?" he quietly asked.

Jacob was crying too hard to answer. All he could get out was a stuttered, "My-my prince..." before he broke down into sobs.

Megara rolled her eyes and tightened her grip on the prince, "Yes, it is true. Can we leave now?" she looked to Skull, raising an eyebrow as if to punctuate the uselessness of this situation.

Fidel stepped forward, "Let him go, Meg-" she glared, "-ara. He's not going to do anything."

She barked a laugh as Fidel gave the prince a not-so-subtle pleading look.

"That is a very bold assumption," she said, twisting his arm, more for fun than anything else.

I had to admire the prince a little - he only winced when Megara twisted his arm even more than before. There wasn't any cries of pain, any whimpers - just a wince and then a very, very irritated look. That was what surprised me. He hadn't said anything yet, but it definitely looked like he wanted to deck Megara if she hadn't been restraining him.

"We're not leaving yet," I argued. I took a step forward. I'm not sure what I was planning on doing, but I didn't get a chance to do it - Kirux suddenly popped up in front of me, giving Megara a pleading look as he rested a hand on her arm.

Megara looked Kirux over. She could hit him with her free hand. She should hit him. He had touched her without her permission.

She decided against it.

"If you'd like me to do something, darling, ask," she said to him with forced calm, "If you touch me in your attempt to convey information again, I'm going to gut you, understand?"

Fidel's eyes widened in alarm and he glanced between them, his mind racing for something to say, to do.

Kirux stared.

Then his eyes widened in horror, and he quickly withdrew his hand as he went stumbling back into me. The eyes were something I didn't notice until he was turning around to look at what he had just bumped into. If I didn't know Megara's threat was the culprit for the reaction, I would have guessed that he had just seen a ghost.

I moved beside Kirux so I could see what he would inevitably sign.

And he did sign, after another handful of moments passed. His hands were shaking and still looked absolutely terrified, but he managed to get out a, "I'm sorry! You don't like watching me sign, so I didn't want to upset you again..."