"Y'know, you guys don't have to have someone constantly watching me."

I glared at Jess from the other side of the fire. The moon was high in the sky, and everyone else was asleep. It was my turn to keep an eye on her. 

"I'm not six years old and I'm on your side." She finished. 

"You're about as trustworthy as a six year old, so yes, we do need to have someone watching you."

She rolled her eyes. "Geez, getting you people to work with me here is like pulling teeth." 

"Wouldn't trust you as my dentist, either." 

"I told you, you shouldn't have told them about me. Would've made this whole deal a lot easier." 

I sighed. She had told me this about twenty times since my turn had started. ""Yes, and when I just magically started knowing exactly where to go, that wouldn't have caused any suspicion at all."

"And what was your plan if you got something from one of those Shadows you were interrogating?" 

I didn't meet her eyes, and she sighed.

"I'm just saying, it would have caused us a lot less trouble. And maybe your friend wouldn't have taken a sword to my arm." 

I glanced at her arm, where a black slash mark was visible. Shane seemed to have thought we were going to kill her right before any news got back, and while it hadn't been enough to kill her, it did cause a lot of confusion when she suddenly shrieked. 

"Yeah, sorry about that." I said. "He hasn't gotten to kill anything for a while and he kind of wants to."

"And you call me the evil one." She said. "Kid, you're friends with a psychopath in the making."

"It's kind of in his family's blood. But didn't you already know that?"

"No. Why would I? Not like I was stalking everyone here. Why would I waste my time doing that?" She asked. 

"Oh. I just assumed Darklox would give everyone as much knowledge about us as he could."

She let out a snort of laughter. "You have no idea how he works, do you? Only the higher ups get the knowledge. The Shadows who are the most powerful, the ones who are closest to him, they get the knowledge of what's happening. The rest of us are just expected to carry out orders as planned, even if we have no idea what for." 

"Wow." 

"Yeah. The only thing we know is what you look like so if we find you, we're supposed to bring you in or kill you as fast as possible. Nether, I didn't even know you were Sky's kid until this afternoon." 

"But isn't that kind of stupid?" I asked. "I mean, if no one knows anything except for looks, how do they know which of us they want and which they don't? Some of us have to be higher priority to snag than others. Like Shane. Shane's probably highest priority because he can fight really well, right?"

"Actually, no." She replied. "The rules are if we see any of you, we're supposed to bring you in immediately. No one's a priority. He seems to think if we could snag one of you, the rest will follow suit. And hey, guess he was right."

"What are you talking about?" 

"Well, he's got the girl, doesn't he?" She asked. "And you're all desperately trying to find him now in order to save her. He probably thinks it's a funny little game." 

I felt kind of sick. She had a point. He had the advantage point here, we didn't. Whatever cards he played, we didn't have a choice but to play along. 

All because he had Skylar. 

"That's sick." I said. 

"Newsflash: everything he does is sick." Jess said. "But apparently, sick works. It's going to be tough to beat him, even with both our sides working together." 

Suddenly, she stood up. "Wait a minute, I have an idea. Come on!" 

"What? No, we can't leave the site, my dad will kill me!" I said. 

"Well, you're supposed to be watching me, right?" She said. "Just tell him I insisted on leaving and that you had to follow me to keep an eye on me, or whatever."

"How do I know this isn't some sort of trap?" 

"You don't." She smiled. "But come on! There's something I've got to show you."

And with that, she started running towards a nearby forest. 

"This has got to be my stupidest idea yet." I muttered to myself before standing up. "Hey, wait for me!"

**

"So, what are we doing out here, exactly?" I asked. 

"Do you have a weapon? Get it." She said, not even bothering to look at me.

"Well, yeah, I have one, but-"

"Oh, would you just listen to me? Please? For once? I promise I won't hurt you." She said. "Besides, if you have the weapon, you have the advantage."

She had a point. 

"Fine." I muttered, and tried summoning my sword. 

To my surprise, it worked. The sword appeared in my hand with a flash of purple light. 

"Okay, I have my weapon. What now?" 

I turned to see Jess staring at the sword, her mouth open a bit. 

"It's you." She said.

"What?" I asked. 

"You have the amulet, don't you?" 

"Uh...no! Yes? Maybe?" I said, suddenly realizing my mistake. She was a Shadow, and I had just shown her the thing that her boss wanted more than anything. 

Her face broke into a smile. "Oh man, this is even better than I imagined! All of us plus your amulet, maybe taking him down won't be so hard after all!" 

"Wait...so you're not going to immediately betray me and drag me straight to Darklox because I have the amulet?" I asked. 

"Dude. I told you. I'm on your side. Why would I bring him the only thing that he wants if I'm on your side?" 

I shook my head. "Okay. Fine. Still doesn't mean I trust you."

"Fair enough."

"Now, what were you going to show me?" I asked. 

"Oh, right. Do you hear the monsters?" She asked. 

Now that she had mentioned it, I could. I could hear a few zombies nearby, and the unmistakable sound of a skeleton, too. 

"Yeah. What about them?" 

"I'm going to show you how I can help you." She said, and at that moment, the group of about three zombies I had heard entered the small clearing we were standing in, and headed straight for me. 

Huh. Guess the amulet decided I needed it for this. 

 "Just go for it. It'll be apparent in a second." She said. 

"O...kay?" I said, and ran towards the zombies, swinging my sword backwards in preparation to slice them down and-

Suddenly, time seemed to slow down, and I felt stronger. Like I could take out an entire army of zombies without breaking a sweat. 

I sliced my sword through all three in one go, and they all exploded into nothing, the same way a Shadow died, minus the black sand. 

Then, as soon as it had started, it was over. Time started moving again, and I felt about as strong as a kid who had spent most of his life watching cartoons.

A.k.a., I felt normal again.

I turned, staring at Jess, who gave me a smile in return.

"What...what was that?" I asked. 

"That is what happens when you have a Shadow on your side." She grinned. "I transferred some of my power to you. I didn't want to overdo it, so that's just a little bit of what I can give you."

"Are you serious?" 

"Deadly." She grinned. "But I can't transfer too much to you unless you're used to it, or you can literally explode. So if you don't want me to do that anymore, it's cool, but if I help you out and we practice, you've got a shot at killing the big guy in one go."

"Killing him in one go?" I asked. "I thought you just said this would just help the others."

"Yes, but that was before I knew about your fancy sword there. Now that I know you've got amulet power backing you, you can get a lot more destructive with my power added in."

Killing him in one go. 

Here she was, offering me a shot at disintegrating my worst enemy into a pile of sand (after we had saved Skylar from him, of course). 

I couldn't say no to that. 

I smiled a little. 

"Can I try that again?"

---------

The art this week is by ThePyroWriter , and it's an awesome picture of Jess! :D