That’s it! Keep it up!
At first, whenever Asena gave a swift hit to the Gruffoat, Drill would laugh, but after the fifth Attack to the side and another 15 hit points down, Jackson noticed that the insults halted altogether. He looked up from the ring to see Drill’s teeth gritted and eyes focused on the match in front of him. He was no longer on autopilot.
We can actually win, Jackson realized.
“Well, whaddya know?” Laila announced. “It looks like the Lyote’s got some spirit, after all!”
Some of the crowd let off some cheers at this unexpected turn.
The Gruffoat charged once again, and again Asena dodged to the side and gave him a swift Attack before retreating to the other side of the ring.
“C’mon, Billy! Quit doing the same thing over and over again and listen to me!” Drill yelled out.
The Gruffoat didn’t listen. Clearly panicked, it gave another charge at Asena.
Asena! Fire Growl and Dodge! Jackson called out. He had a plan.
The flames erupted towards the opponent Djinn, and after a quick burst, Asena jumped out of the way. From the looks of it, his plan worked. The Gruffoat had started to shake its head to douse the flames around it, and that gave them an extra opening.
Throw your whole body into your Attack!
Asena listened, taking down the Gruffoat, which hit the ground sideways with a bleat.
Its HP dropped down to 30. They’d actually made some headway.
“Get up, Billy!” Drill called out.
The Gruffoat scrambled to get back to its feet, and in its scramblings, its horn dug into Asena’s hip.
Asena let out a little yelp and her HP took a tumble.
Both Djinn retreated to their respective sides of the ring, both a little worse for wear.
We can do this, Jackson called out to Asena.
Asena let out a bark in agreement, but something was different.
That dig into Asena’s hip had done more than just damage her HP — she was bleeding and was starting to move even slower. Jackson glanced at his battle indicator and saw her HP was down to 20. The stats also indicated she had a partially paralyzing status effect that decreased speed and agility. Worse still, it seemed likely that Asena’s HP would continue to drop every several seconds or so, thanks to her open wound. They didn’t have time to dance around like they had been.
Jackson’s eyes roved around for Briggs, but the former champion was nowhere in sight.
“You ready to give up yet?” Drill shouted across the arena, his confidence clearly returning.
“Go to hell, Drill!” Jackson yelled back. Asena! Hit it with your best Fire Growl right in the face! But wait until it closes in!
Asena braced herself. The Gruffoat reared back and charged again, head lowered to the sand. With each moment, it closed the gap but Jackson held off. To her credit, Asena didn’t waver.
Hold.
Hold.
NOW!
With only feet between them, Asena let loose a fearsome blast of flames that struck the Gruffoat directly in the head. In the next moment, however, the charge took Asena full on in the chest.
Time seemed to slow. Asena rose in the air, first straight up and then over backward. Jackson held his breath.
The Gruffoat shook his head like it had gone mad as flames spurted inside its helm.
Asena landed in a heap at Jackson’s feet.
His battle indicator flashed.
Zero.
“Asena!” Jackson screamed.
He knelt down and the Lyote pulled herself up on shaky legs. A few paces away, the Gruffoat gouged at the sand with its head and managed to put out the flames, although smoke still poured out of the eye and nose holes of its helmet.
Jackson’s battle indicator flashed critical damage — not a knockout but well out of the safe range to fight. His stat projection also showed severe damage to the Gruffoat — it only had 8 hit points left. What’s more, in another frantic shake of the head, the helmet came loose and landed a few feet away in the sand.
Asena let out a whine and took a shuffled step toward the enemy Djinn. Jackson’s eyes shot from the Lyote to the battle indicator, which continued to flash a serious warning alert.
Jackson knew Asena would continue to fight for him. He knew one more attack to the head could finish off the Gruffoat.
In the Underground, nobody forced a fight to end when a Djinn went into the critical health zone. In some cases, tamers would push their Djinn in order to get a clean knockout.
Just one more successful hit and the fight would be his. Just one more successful hit and Asena might be maimed for life or killed. His mind went to the Richards vs. Cohela match he’d watched on repeat since he was young. He didn’t want Asena to end up like that Tandile did — dead in some stupid match.
Drill screamed at his distraught Gruffoat, trying to get its attention for another ram attack.
Now was the moment.
Jackson looked at Asena. The Lyote trembled and stared back at him with pained, yet obedient eyes.
This was it.
Jackson took a deep breath and stepped into the middle of the ring with his hands raised over his head.
“I withdraw.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Gone.
Every. Last. Sun.
Gone.
The words played over and over in Jackson’s head. It felt like a dream. Surely he’d wake up at any moment, just as he did all the other times when something like this happened. But dreams didn’t smell like vape smoke and sweat. And even the dreams never hurt like Jackson hurt at that moment.
Jackson quietly looked over Asena’s injuries, applying the Djinn-Aid as he’d seen Kay do in matches past. When he was done, Jackson knelt at her head and gave her a comforting pat. The valiant young Lyote licked his hand and gave a weak wag of her tail, which broke Jackson’s heart even more.
“Too bad, kid.” Laila stood over him and, for once, her trademark smirk was absent.
It didn’t make Jackson feel any better. She’d screwed him over hard — along with Drill and Tak, they’d all played him for an idiot and he’d fallen for it.
“Go away,” Jackson said in a low voice. He didn’t have the strength to be mad. The empty, dark hole in his chest swallowed it all up.
“I just want you to know, it’s nothing personal,” Laila said. “I like you — I really do. But this is business. You were playing us and I had to put you in your place.”
Jackson said nothing, focusing his attention on Asena. Laila’s voice sounded muffled and distant. He wondered if this was what shock felt like.
“You had to know those side bets were going to cost you if you weren’t careful,” Laila continued. “Tak’s not the kind of guy you throw in with — he set you up.”
“Look, I really don’t need a lecture right now. Especially from someone who clearly had a hand in that setup,” Jackson said. “Just leave me the hell alone.”
Laila shrugged. “Like I said — it ain’t personal. Best of luck, kid.”
Jackson heaved a sigh, ready to be gone from the Underground. It still hadn’t really sunk in — everything gone. All he wanted to do right now was go to sleep and maybe — just maybe — wake up and find out it’d all been a nightmare. Some foolish part of him still clung to the hope that it wasn’t real.
He found Briggs outside the warehouse, leaning against a brick wall, cigar clenched in the corner of his mouth. Jackson hadn’t thought he could feel any lower. He realized he’d been wrong.
“Tough break, but you clearly had it coming,” Briggs said. The words came out in snips and Jackson knew at once that Briggs had found out about the side bets. “Can’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Go ahead,” Jackson said, throwing his arms open. “Lay it on me too. Everyone else has tonight.”
Briggs shook his head. He pulled his cigar out of his teeth and studied it for a moment before crushing it beneath his boot. “Good luck. I’ll see you arou
nd.”
“Where are you going?” Jackson grabbed the man’s shoulder. He felt Briggs stiffen under his hand and let go at once. But when he turned around, the ex-champion didn’t look mad. If anything, his lack of disappointment made Jackson feel even worse. “I told you — no side bets. You broke the rule, we’re done working together.”
“Are you serious?”
“You think this is all just some game?” Briggs asked, his anger rising. “Clearly, you’ve had no consequences up ’till now, otherwise you’d’ve listened to me and done as you were told. You don’t belong here and you’re not ready to take on the sport of Djinn taming.” He turned and slowly hobbled away, clearly in no rush to get anywhere.
“I don’t need you, anyway!” Jackson yelled after Briggs. “And I’ll make it without your help — just wait and see!”
Briggs didn’t turn around or even acknowledge he’d heard. Jackson vented a frustrated roar and kicked at the dirt, and the emptiness swallowed his anger once more.
The ride home remained just as bleak and silent. Jackson walked up the stairs of the quiet house and tried not to think about losing it. Without turning on any lights, he went into his room and shut the door behind him. He collapsed onto his bed and he cried into the pillow.
Jackson woke up late on Sunday and felt like he’d been the one battered to pieces by the armored Gruffoat. Though he had slept in later than usual, he’d tossed and turned all night and morning until his grandma finally roused him. Using all of his willpower, Jackson swung up and sat on the side of his bed, groaning.
A quick status check showed that Asena was continuing to recover well inside the ring. Closing the app, Jackson found a long list of notification: missed calls and unread messages from Kay, of all people.
Hey Jack, I heard what happened last night. Fiona messaged me. I’m really sorry. If there’s anything I can do, just let me know.
Jackson bit his lip and cleared the notification. He wasn’t deserving of her sympathy right now. From day one, she’d told him how terrible his idea was, and all he’d done was complain about all the help she was offering.
He messaged her back with three simple words: You were right.
She replied in an instant.
Do you want me to come over?
He stared at the response for a long moment before clearing the notification. He didn’t have the energy to deal with that right now.
He pulled on some dirty clothes and stumbled down the stairs, the sinking feeling still holding firm in his chest.
“You know, just because you’re old enough to stay out late doesn’t mean you have to every weekend,” Jane said when Jackson entered the kitchen.
“Sorry,” Jackson said in a dull voice. The last thing he wanted was an argument with his grandma. And his days of going to the Underground were over anyway. “I’ll be home earlier.”
“I’d like to start cleaning and going through some things,” Jane said as Jackson searched through the fridge for the Bovan milk to go with his cereal. Her voice was calm but he knew what she was implying: the eviction was less than a month away and they needed to start packing.
Jackson felt like he’d been punched in the gut, again. Less than a day before, he’d envisioned this moment going completely different: instead of wallowing in his failure, he would have been pulling up his screen to show the balance of his bank account to his grandma. The thought now only made the pain worse.
The rest of the afternoon passed by in a miserable series of boxes and cleaning supplies. Each time they took something down from a shelf, it reminded Jackson of his failure. Throughout the day, he toyed with the idea of telling his grandma about Asena. Now that he wouldn’t be sneaking off to any more fights, it didn’t really make sense to continue hiding her. Even if his grandma didn’t like it, Jackson reasoned there wasn’t much she could say when he turned eighteen in just under a couple of months.
The anxiety continued to grow and twist inside him. Finally, a couple hours into cleaning, Jackson couldn’t stand it anymore. They’d just finished up in the living room and Jackson just wanted it to be over. But just as he opened his mouth to broach the subject, his grandma spoke first.
“Do you… want to do the study, next?”
Jackson swallowed hard and answered with a nod.
He and his grandma took different parts of the office and reverently started packing items up.
Partway in, as the two made their way into the center of the study, a terrible new thought struck Jackson — when they finished cleaning the office and took down the pictures from the wall, the hidden vault in the wall would be uncovered.
Jackson quickly made his way over to the frame hiding the safe and paused…what should he do?
“Beautiful, isn’t she?” Jane said from behind Jackson.
Jackson tensed up, and his eyes settled on the actual image on display — a photo of his mother on graduation day from Crevajo College. She stood there, beaming with her diploma cradled in her arm.
“I never met anyone more dedicated to her work than your mom. But as much as she loved what she did, she loved you even more, Jackie.”
Unable to speak, Jackson only nodded again. His heart pounded in his chest and his throat grew tight. The room started to spin.
Jane reached out towards the photo with one hand, her fingers softly brushing her daughter’s cheeks.
“I tried to tell her she couldn’t juggle both — you and work, “ Jane continued. “And I really think she was considering slowing things down — doing more stuff from home, less traveling. She told me —”
Jane’s voice cracked. Jackson’s tears dropped onto the floor but he refused to look up.
“Before she left, she told me this was going to be her last trip,” Jane managed to get out. “‘Just one more, Mom’ — that’s what she promised.”
Jackson wiped the back of his hand across his nose and looked up. Jane’s trembling hand rested on the picture hiding the safe door. The seconds stretched by and after what seemed like hours, her hand finally fell away. Jane slumped down in the office chair and sobbed.
“All for the sake of an imaginary monster,” she said between shuddering breaths. “No Djinn is worth losing a daughter for.”
Jackson felt like he’d been stabbed in the heart. He wrapped his arms around his grandma, tears falling into her hair. Any thought of mentioning Asena vanished.
It took a while, but grandmother and grandson eventually regained their composure, leaving the study unfinished. An unspoken agreement passed between them: not yet.
After making sure his grandma was okay — meaning settled on the porch with a glass of iced tea — Jackson kissed her on the forehead, grabbed his jacket and told her he was going for a walk. He had no destination in mind, just away from the house and all it represented.
Jackson wandered out toward the fields at Tyle’s outskirts. Once he made it far enough from town that he wouldn’t run into anyone without seeing them coming from miles away, Jackson released Asena from her ring.
In spite of her brutal battle the night before, the Djinn looked no worse for wear. She greeted Jackson with a tail wag and a happy bark, but when she tried to jump up on him, she winced and dropped back on all four paws.
“I’m sorry, girl,” Jackson said, taking her furry head in both hands. “That was a stupid thing I did last night. I promise I’ll never put you in a situation like that again.”
All seemed forgiven already, however. Asena licked at his hand and then scurried ahead of Jackson along the dirt road, sniffing at the fence posts and bunches of grass.
They walked in silence, Asena lost in exploring her surroundings and Jackson lost in his thoughts.
His mind wandered all over, from Tak, Laila, Kay, and the Underground, to Briggs and his mother. Most of the time, his thoughts stayed on his mom longer than he wanted, and no matter how much Jackson tried to distract himself, he always came back to her.
The acute pain from the night before subsided in
to a dull ache. After a few miles, Jackson finally started wrapping his mind around the unfortunate reality: they would lose the house and move out. He tried to tell himself it wasn’t that bad, but the positive thoughts fell far short. He doubted that would change anytime soon.
Another buzz from his watch distracted Jackson from the cloud hanging over his head. He looked down and saw another message from Kay. He still hadn’t responded to her, although he’d received several more messages while cleaning and packing. Sighing, Jackson tapped the answer button.
“You really need to learn to turn off your GPS if you want to be left alone.”
Before Jackson could reply, Kay’s voice cut out and the call ended. Ahead, Asena’s head perked up and she turned to look behind them. Letting out an excited bark, she looped back in the opposite direction as fast as her injuries allowed. Jackson followed. Moments later, Kay’s bike crested over a small hill behind them, Sunshine running alongside the tires.
Jackson waited for Kay to approach, unsure what to say. She finally slid to a halt in front of him. Sunshine and Asena gave each other an inspecting sniff and then wandered off together to continue exploring the tall grass on the side of the road.
“How are you?” Kay asked.
Jackson shrugged. “I’ve been better. But it’s not the end of the world.”
As bad as he felt, today had been nothing like the day he’d learned his mom wasn’t coming home. He supposed it was the one good thing to come from the tragic event — that it wasn’t nearly as bad as the worst day of his life — although this probably still would rank second, even if it was a distant second.
“Asena looks like she’s doing well,” Kay said. Jackson agreed and they spent a few minutes watching their Djinn wander away down the road. They started walking — Kay pushed her bike alongside her and Jackson kicked at the rocks at his feet.
“I’m sorry,” Jackson said.
Kay gave him a soft, sideways smirk, but didn’t say anything.
“You’ve always been there for me, and I took you for granted and pretty much did everything you told me not to.”
“Yeah, you did,” Kay said. She sounded mad but had a smile on her face “And then you decided to trust Tak Rito, of all people, over me.”
Djinn Tamer: Starter: A Monster Battling GameLit Adventure (Djinn Tamer - Bronze League Book 1) Page 18
