Page 58 of Choosing Jenny
But it was not the first time I had felt helpless.
Countless times in my life, I had been at the mercy of others or of circumstance. And I had survived them all. Maybe not because of my own cleverness or my own special abilities, but sometimesIwas why I had survived, and I wasn’t going to give up yet.
I was reminded of the time I had been trapped in a pit at the Mother conduit’s house. She’d had the ability to force someone’s body to do whatever she wanted, and she’d forced me and Kapok to kneel, before she murdered him in front of me. I had blacked out when she stabbed him in the back. When I came to, I had been thrown into her pit with Jac. There were other dead bodies inside the pit, and together, Jac and I made bone spears of the skeletons and had used them to save ourselves. Losing Kapok had been a transformative event for me. It had shaken me to my ghost. I hadn’t given up then.
I am not about to give up now.
There was no way to talk my way out of the cave. Our tech didn’t work. Surge’s magic was not budging the door, and none of us were strong enough to lift the rock, either.
What if I can combine some of those elements?
“Gram,” I whispered loudly.
“Yeah?” he whispered back.
“Can you toss me your gauntlet driver?” The chasm between us was six meters wide and gauntlet drivers were light, so I wasn’t sure he could do it.
“I don’t think it will make it across, and I don’t want to lose my only light.”
Surge’s red hand reemerged in the darkness. “Take it off and I can float it over to Tiger, I think.”
“Pfft,” Omen let out, the sound skeptical.
Gram unstrapped it anyway. “Okay.”
Surge’s red hand glowed brighter and hot—the radiant heat burned hotter than the steamy air. As he focused, Gram’s blue light raised up off of his arm. The driver suddenly flew across the chasm between us and into my hand.
Omen’s surprised laugh chirped out from their now dark side of the cave, annoying the Vulavi yet again. After the snapping, snarling creatures settled down, she whispered, “I stand corrected. Apologies, Surge.”
“What are you doing with it?” Surge asked me in a low voice.
“Not sure yet. But I’m going to try something. Is there a way for you to…I don’t know, supercharge the batteries in the drivers?”
“I can try.”
Surge put his boiling hot hands on the two drivers. Shockingly, they didn’t melt or even feel hot. Their lights grew brighter, though.
After a minute or so passed, he said, “There. I think that’s all I can do without shorting them.”
“Perfect, thanks.”
“Before you get started with that,” Surge said, his voice suddenly tense. “I need you to swing me over the Vulavi, so I can safely get past you and go for the eggs.”
“Are you crazy?” Omen asked in a high pitched tone, then paused for the Vulavi to simmer down. “Is the heat scrambling your magician brain?”
“I’m not going to let what we’re trying to do in this cave be for nothing,” Surge said adamantly. “Please, Tiger.”
Oh, fuck.“My hands are sweaty.”
“Wipe them off on your uniform,” Surge replied, not accepting the excuse.
“If I drop you—”
“You won’t.” His eyes locked on mine. “You and I have been through a lot together and I trust you completely, Tiger. I know you can do this.”
I swallowed hard, and my parched throat scraped against itself. I strapped Gram’s driver to my other forearm to free both hands, then wiped my palms on my uniform to dry them.
My heart thundered in my chest as I turned to Surge. “Are you ready?”
