The next morning, we were gathering troops and setting camp near the cave. Not too near, though, because the flowers would kill us.

Claire didn't come. She and Ben shared a heartfelt goodbye, as she stayed behind to take care of Alice. If anything happened to both of them... They were just thinking about Alice's well-being.

Now, let me tell you some other details about Ivylore that might have escaped me in the past. It kills you differently depending on how you're poisoned. If you breathe it, you bleed a lot from the eyes, nose, ears and mouth. You also cough up a lot blood. It kills you pretty fast. It also depends on the quantity. The Ivylore back at the school, when we were poisoned through the vents, was not much, which is why students weren't bleeding. If they had stayed inside longer, though... Let's not think about that.

If you consume it, which is stupid, you start throwing up all the time. I mean, non stop. It's pretty disgusting, because in the end you have nothing else to vomit and you just kinda choke to death.

If you touch it, you have a slim chance of survival. It drains you of oxygen and starts to choke you, but if you get to a hospital in time, you can live to tell the tale.

And then is the matter of injecting it, kinda like Chelsea's case. You don't really realise it until you start feeling dizzy. Again, it depends on the quantity. The more the poison, the faster you'll start seeing stars and the faster you'll drop dead. If it's not that much... Well, you can last about an hour at most. You feel sick and weak at your dying moments. When you start getting a fever... Then it's goodbye cruel world.

This was an infomercial on Ivylore flowers, brought to you by Jinx Raven.

Anyway, Jessie, Jasmine and the remaining recruits  didn't seem surprised when we started camp. They did seem pissed off, though.

They did lose a huge part of their "army" at the explosion and the Fatereaders did make it out alive, so their plan didn't go well.

They didn't really have long range weapons. They couldn't get their hands on them (very little people own guns and laws about them are pretty strict), but they did use crystals from Coalstar Cave to make daggers and stuff. They had trained a lot with those and were pretty good at throwing them.

We were good people and decided to give them a fair fight. We didn't use guns either.

Most of the fight was hand to hand, but we used our fair share of swords and daggers too. We had blacksmiths and all that.

«Hey, Jinxie?» I heard Jon call me. I was about to discuss some matters with the D.U. members. Like, how some of them were still unarmed, how some didn't want to fight and encourage them a bit. Not that I didn't need encouragement... I was about to get on a podium and talk to I don't know how many people.

«Yeah?» I turned around and smiled at him.

«You don't happen to have a weapon, do you?» he asked.

«Uh... No, why?»

«Well... I know you want to fight and I know you're the savior and all, so you're kinda obligated to, but I'm worried. I... I got you this. It was a special request from a blacksmith in camp.» he shrugged and gave me a dagger. It's sheath was leather and had a flower pattern in the middle. The hilt was pretty soft and felt comfortable.

«Thanks! You definitely had to.» I joked and hugged Jon.

«I'm not even surprised at your reactions anymore...» he laughed and hugged me back.

«It's beautiful!»

«Yeah, unlike you...» he rolled his eyes.

«Hey!» I punched him in the shoulder.

«I meant that you're not beautiful, because you're gorgeous! Dammit, stop hitting me!» he laughed again.

«Go to hell, monkey.»

«Anything for you, Jinxie.» he winked. I scoffed at his cheesy remark.

Kyle approached us. He looked pale and grim. His eyes said that he hadn't slept all night; they were red and had dark circles underneath them.

We hadn't seen Chris since the night before. He wasn't in the room when I woke up.

«Hey, Jinx? Are you gonna get up there anytime soon? They're growing impatient.» Kyle muttered.

«Yeah, I'll be there in a moment.» I told him. He nodded and started walking away. «Kyle, wait...» I ran after him.

«What is it?» he frowned.

«I know you have heard that a million times already, but... you know you can talk to me, right? I mean it. I'm here for you if you need anything.» I reassured him.

«Yeah... I'm fine. Don't worry about me.» he shook his head.

«Kyle, you're not fine! I know it's been less than a day, but you're still in no shape to get out there and fight!»

«What don't you understand? Do I need to spell it out for you? I'm fine! I don't need anyone's help, and like it or not, I'm gonna get out there today. You ain't stopping me, Jinx. I don't care if you're the savior, no one is saving Jessie Shane from me.» he hissed. He had never been so aggressive before. I was even more worried after that.

«Alright. If you change your mind, you know where to find me.» I replied. I blinked back a couple tears, because I'm a crybaby and can't handle being verbally attacked by my quite possibly traumatised friends.

Kyle stormed off.

I approached Jon again.

«Okay, I'm going up there. I hope I have better luck than I did with Kyle...» I muttered.

«You'll do great, shut up.» he pecked my forehead.

«Here goes everything...» I sighed and went on the podium.

After giving a not-so-inspiring speech, I rushed away before anyone could give me any feedback because that only made things awkward.

I got in my tent to change. We were marching into battle soon.

I put on some more comfortable clothes. We didn't have any armor, despite the blacksmiths, bacause most of us didn't even have weapons. All I'm saying is that it was pretty much hand-to-hand and we figured that armor would make it harder for us to move.

After I changed, I heard Kyle from outside.

«Jinx? Are you there?» he asked hesitantly.

«Yeah, do you want me to come out?»

«If you can...» he muttered. I rushed outside.

«Of course I can you idiot!» I hugged him tightly.

«You said I could talk to you...» he looked down.

«Yeah! Wanna take a walk?» I asked him. He nodded.

We started walking around the camp.

«I'm sorry I snapped at you before... I know you just wanted to help...» he muttered. He did that a lot.

«Don't worry about it. I understand.» we walked in seance for a while. «I'm really sorry about Michael, Kyle...» I muttered.

«What are you sorry for? It's not your fault. This is all on him and Jessie. Yeah, Jessie might have been the one to send him in there, but he's the one that chose to stay.» he grumbled bitterly.

«Kyle, you can't blame him for this...» I frowned.

«Why? Because he's dead? Well, it's his own damn fault and I'm not afraid to say that.»

«Seriously, though... How are you holding up?»

«Barely.» we sat down on a bench. «I feel like this is on me too... He did join them because they threatened to kill me...» he mumbled.

«Don't talk like that! It's not your fault!» I yelled at him.

«You're only saying that to make me feel better.» he rolled his eyes.

«I've been in your place! I blamed myself for Pearl. I blamed myself for showing signs of weakness and not saving her. I won't let you do that to yourself!» I snapped. He sighed.

«You know what, Jinx?» Kyle's tone made me expect him to storm off again. «I know it's been too soon, but I've been so held up on the loss of my brother, that I forgot I still have a sister...»

«What?» I asked him. What was he talking about?

«You, stupid.» he smiled faintly. I hugged him tightly again.

«That's the sweetest thing you've ever told me...»

«Yeah, don't get used to it. I'm about to become pretty bitter.» he scoffed.

«Well, good for you I'm used to bitter.» I smirked.

That's when we heard Jon's voice from the speakers.

«Jinxie, you and Kyle better get your butts here, because we're about to go to war and you've disappeared off the face of earth!» he yelled. I rolled my eyes.

«We'd better go... He's gonna kill us if we don't and it would be a pity to go before the battle even starts.» I sighed.

«Yep.» Kyle agreed and we ran off to find Jon.

We found Jon near the "wall".

«Finally!» he exclaimed when he saw us.

«Shut up... We weren't that long...» I scoffed.

«Let me guess, still no sign of Chris?» Kyle asked him.

«Actually, he found me when you were gone. He said he's not going to fight and that he was going back to the hotel. I told him he could stay or visit whenever he liked, which was kinda stupid...» Jon replied.

«Oh, God... Did he say why? I mean, I know it's terrifying, going out there, but did he have a specific reason?» I asked.

«He just showed me his tattoo and walked away before I could say anything.» he shook his head. «It was a coward.» Jon frowned.

«That's no reason to run a way and not fight back! That way, you only prove fate right! That's exactly what we've all been trying not  to do!» I snapped.

«I know, okay? It's not like I could do anything to stop him... It's his choice, remember? That's what you told the people today.» Jon reasoned. I nodded.

«Are we going out there, or not?» I gulped.

«We don't really have a choice here...» Kyle shrugged.

We barged into battle. I'm not gonna give you any details, but the recruits were already out there and, unlike us, they really wanted to kill us.

We tried to avoid doing anything permanent, so we just knocked them out. I didn't get the chance to use the dagger (thank God for that, if I used it I might have hurt anyone more than I should).

And then I spotted Ben. He was fighting the worse person he could be fighting... His sister.

I was about to go help him, when I was attacked by another recruit.

«Dammit, not now!» I grunted. I tried to end the fight quickly, but I was distracted. I couldn't leave Ben like this. He wouldn't fight his sister, I knew him way too well.

Jessie had other things in mind; she wouldn't hesitate. I couldn't leave him like that, I couldn't do that to Claire. In the end, he managed to disarm her when I was about to go help him.

They talked for a while. In the end Ben kneeled next to her.

«No...» I muttered. «Ben, don't!» I screamed, but it was too late. Jessie stabbed him, and the creepiest part? She did it with a smile on her face (shocker).

She got up, leaving him on the ground. She told him something, then looked up. She smirked when she caught my gaze and then walked away calmly.

I unfroze and ran to Ben, but by the time I reached him he was dead.

I knew Jessie wouldn't hesitate. Ben was a lost cause the moment he started fighting her.

And now he was dead. Dead, because his little sister stabbed him and didn't look back.