Young Writers Society

James frowned in annoyance. He reached down into his bag and grabbed a small roll of bread and tossed it in Skull's direction. Skull was lucky James was still recovering, otherwise, he would've pelted him with it.

"Eat," he ordered. "Who did you blackmail?"

I did as requested.

"This guy named Carter," I said, although the words were practically inaudible with my mouth filled with bread. I swallowed, eyed the little that was left of the roll, and finally tried talking again after I finished it off.

"This guy named Carter," I said. "I don't know how well you know him. I can't tell you his last name, but I know he's the commander of some army."

My stomach grumbled again. I did my best to ignore it, now that I actually had eaten something - I was still hungry. The hunger just wasn't as bad as it was before.

"Reed showed up," I added. "He mentioned he had been looking for you before I stepped in - not that he knew it was me - and Carter got this angry look to his eyes. I didn't know it was possible to get him so mad."

I shrugged a little, once again ignoring the grumbling of my stomach.

"Anyways, I blackmailed him by saying I'd share our history, and he agreed to letting me look for you when I said I'd do it in return for getting back home."

I turned back towards Tony, trying not to think of all of the food I had given Tiberius earlier. Why hadn't I been smart enough to save anything for myself?

"So here I am," I finished. "I've warned you. You can go off and do whatever you normally do in a situation like this, pretend that you never met me, and I can try to find some way back to my world."

...And some more food.

I glanced back towards his camp.

"And you better not leave those blankets behind," I said. "I worked hard on setting them up. If you do leave them, I'm claiming them - they were Reed's, and they're actually useful to me now that I'm back in my own body."

James didn't understand Skull the first time, but the second time Skull uttered Carter's name, James's face went blank. The words that followed after felt like they hit James one by one as if everything was coming at him slowly.

Carter was nearby. Carter knew he was nearby and had agreed to send Skull after him because Skull had leverage. Somehow, Carter knew Skull and Carter didn't want anyone to know. Considering Skull was a powerful magical being, that, at least made sense.

But Reed? James had thought Reed was dead, but it wasn't until Skull explained what happened that James started to put things together.

Butch had killed Oliver, not Reed. Reed had been left alive. How Skull jumped from Reed to Oliver, he didn't know. He didn't know if he wanted to know. He was beyond confused, and he could already feel panic starting to grab hold of his chest with its claws, digging deep. He couldn't quite breathe.

He gripped Elliot's reins tightly. The only thing keeping him from running off into the woods was Skull... who had found his body. How had that happened?

With his expression still vacant, he looked down at the blankets on the ground. He had one blanket, on Elliot's pack. He didn't need them.

James had trouble finding words. He wasn't sure if he fully understood what had happened, and he wasn't sure Skull knew the implications of Carter knowing of his whereabouts. If Carter knew, he wouldn't have just sent Skull. He would've sent someone to make sure Skull did his job, especially if Carter made the deal on the basis of threats.

James found himself staring past Skull, ears open, and senses alert.

"You might've just led them to me," he said in a hushed whisper.

"No," I said. "He couldn't..."

I thought back to everything I knew about Carter.

How the soldiers respected him, and how quick he had been to manipulate the situation back with everything involving the library. How even though he had wanted to keep everything with me a secret, he did hate Tiberius probably more than he feared me.

"Shit," I swore.

Before James could say anything else, his suspicions were confirmed when a soldier came darting out of the forest from behind him with a sword. She was tall, and that was about all he noticed about her as his heart skipped a beat and Elliot skipped forward just in time to miss a swing of the blunt end of the sword.

Unfortunately, the soldier quickly followed and grabbed onto James's shirt, yanking him off his horse.

As he hit the ground he started seeing spots.

It was obvious who had the upper hand right now - between her height, sword and the fact that she hadn't been tortured for a week, the soldier overpowering Tiberius wasn't a surprise.

So I'd have to turn the tables on her.

I didn't know a lot about fighting, but I did know one advantage I had. While she was busy with Tiberius, I snuck up from. She noticed me too late; just as she spun around, ready to attack, I touched her.

A second later, my body was falling to the ground - with me watching from the soldier's eyes.

James watched from the forest floor as the soldier spun around and knocked Skull to the forest floor. Taking in a sharp breath, he braced himself for what he was about to do.

He swung his legs around on the forest floor and kicked her legs out from under her. As she slammed to the forest floor, he jumped on top of her and clocked her right in the nose.

"Ow!"

My hand immediately shot up to my nose - it hurt! I had thought Tiberius needed help, but apparently I had underestimated him. In the back of my mind, the soldier I had possessed was both confused and terrified thanks to the combination of me possessing her and Tiberius landing those two attacks.

"It's me," I protested, still holding my hand to my nose. "Skull."

James pulled his second punch, just narrowly missing the woman’s face and instead hitting the ground. He was breathing heavily, and the moment he knew it was Skull inside her body, he wanted to collapse. But he didn’t.

He got off of the soldier slowly and got to his feet. He was trembling again, but he fought to hide it as much as possible. Others could be waiting in the trees. He had no way of knowing. He needed to stay on guard.

He looked down at Skull, holding the bloody nose of the woman he’d taken control over. He knew Skull said he had that ability, but to be able to do it so quickly and suddenly? James was terrified. Terrified that Skull might do it to him. But he had consolation in the fact that Skull probably did not want to be in his shoes as a wanted man, or as someone in as much pain as he was.

“I can’t believe you,” he snapped. “You really didn’t think Carter would send someone after you?”

"I blackmailed him," I protested, getting back to my feet - my voice a little muffled by the hand in front of my nose and mouth. "I thought he'd be a little more worried about me blabbing! I know I'd rather risk losing you than admitting to everyone who knows me what we did."

I looked down at my body.

Now that we had taken care of that, I grabbed my body and looked over where it had fallen. There was a sharp rock near my arm - it looked like I had been cut.

"You seem to have things handled," I said, "so I'm going to jump back into my body in a minute - when I sit up, you should probably knock this woman out."

James sighed and just glared at Skull.

”Fine,” he spat, reaching down to grab the woman’s sword. “Get out, then.”

I switched back into my body.

The moment I sat up, Tiberius did as requested. With a swift strike of the handle of the woman's sword, the soldier went collapsing to the ground in the perfect imitation of my body passing out whenever I wasn't in it.

"Thanks," I said, stretching a little - and completely ignoring my injured arm. "I could have figured something out, but it's always easier with another person.

James threw the sword to the ground, letting it clatter near the woman’s feet. Maybe it was the adrenaline pumping through him, or maybe it was the storm that had been the last week finally catching up to him, but his heartbeat was not getting any slower. He was breathing hard, looking over at Skull with his eyebrows knit together.

Skull wasn’t making any sense to him.

One moment, Skull was torturing him. The next, he was taking care of him, and scaring away Butch. Now he was tricking Carter on his behalf and possessing another attacker to keep James from getting captured again.

“Shut up,” he hissed through his teeth. He didn’t mean it though.

“Gods. What are you trying to do?” James said, his voice angry and desperate. Tired and weary. He let out a frustrated huff and stepped back. His head hurt, and his body was aching again. His side was throbbing. He probably reopened the same wound again.

When Tiberius told me to shut up, I had already decided that I wasn't going to - even before he asked me a question. I wasn't possessing a rotting corpse anymore, or some torturer. I was me, and that meant I was able to finally act the way I wanted to.

"Right now?" I asked. "I'm trying to figure out how I'm supposed to get back to my world."

James’s eyes widened and he clenched his fists at his sides.

“That’s not what I’m talking about!” he said, his voice rising only a little, but increasing in intensity. “Why the hell do you keep - I don’t even know! You - you physically wounded me in ways I will never be able to forget even if I wanted to.” He lifted a fisted hand and loosed it halfway as he put his hand on his chest.

“And then you keep finding me!” His hand swung back down to his side. “What do you want from me? If you’re not even from this world like you said you were then why - why even bother - why -“

He cut himself short when he felt his throat begin to tighten. His face tensed and his lips pursed into a brief frown before he forced his mouth back into a straight line.