——Jacob——

Jay's warmth disappears when I wake up. I roll over, finding Jay tossing and turning once again.

"N-day, and don't freak out when a certain thing happens," Elliot says as he walks by.

What thing?

I look at Lily pleadingly.

"I woke him up last time, it's your turn."

I sigh, gently shaking his shoulder. His eyes snap open, but he doesn't bolt upright like he normally does.

"It's n day, and Elliot said not to freak out when something happens. I don't know what the thing he's talking about is though."

"Took long enough." He grabs his sketchbook and pencil, continuing his sketch.

"What took long enough?" Lily and I ask.

He draws.

"Man, I am tired of being clueless," I say, and Lily nods.

"Well, get used to it."

"Get used to it? Jay, I'm not going to get used to it. It's not right to lock people in cages to experiment on them."

He doesn't say anything.

"Also, what are you drawing?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Can I see?"

He shakes his head.

"Please?"

He shakes his head again.

"Uh, Jay? You're glowing," Lily says, and he looks down at his chest, bringing my attention there too. Sure enough, there's a small, blue circle glowing over his heart.

"Traitor." He slips a necklace over his head and tosses it between the bars of the window. The blue glow follows it.

"Whoa, what?" I scramble to the window and try to retrieve it, but it's too far. "What is that?"

"Nothing important anymore."

"Anymore?"

"Guess it was never important since I'm back here. Yeah, good luck explaining that one, traitor."

"Did you just talk to a ne—"

"Yes. Got a problem with that?" He looks up from his sketch.

"Nope."

"Yes. That probably means you're mental," Lily says.

"I probably am."

I laugh quietly.

A few hours later, a voice speaks.

"Sorry fah takin' so long," it says, making Jay freeze. Lily and I look at each other, and then at where it came from, but nothing's there.

"Yea', he'ya. How yeh doin'?" I look at the floor where the voice is coming from, and a spider is slowly making its way towards us. "Jay, don't ignore me. Why yeh even bother?"

"Is the spider talking?" Lily asks.

"I-I th-think s-so," I stammer, trying to calm my racing pulse.

"Oh, is the littl' guy scared o' me? I feel so accomplished."

"N-no, w-what are you t-talking a-about?"

It moves closer to me, making me back away.

"I knew choosin' a spider was a good idea."

"Choosing a spider? You choose your species? Lucky." Lily says.

Jay looks at the spider. "You lied."

"Not necessarily...Technically, I didn'."

"Traitor"

"C'mon, if I said the truth, yeh would'a run 'way. I had tah."

"And this is better than running away? Letting them degrade me to nothing, again?"

"It was the only way for yeh to tell these two."

"Wh-why a-are you t-talking t-to i-it?" I ask.

"T'is how teh future plays out."

"No."

"Yes," Lily says.

"You're not in this."

"Wow, yeh ar' rude."

"Ty..."

"Yes?"

He glares at the spider, making Lily laugh quietly.

It ignores Jay's glare and makes its way towards me. I yelp, running to hide behind Lily, making her laugh more.

"Ok, enough Ty, you've had your fun. Change back."

"Aw, but—"

"Ty."

"Fine. Yeh're no fun!"

I swear Jay's lips twitch upward for a fraction of a second, but it might've been a hallucination You never know. My mind does crazy stuff sometimes.

The spider grows blue fur and grows. It faces morphs into a tiger face, and soon, a full sized tiger stands in front of us.

That was definitely a hallucination.

"Szczęśliwy? Oh, nieprawidłowy język. Czekać."

"English please."

"Uno momento! Happy?"

"Jesus Jacob, stop shaking some much, it feels like an earthquake over here," Lily says.

"Jacob is the littl' guys name? Huh. He'ya Jacob, do yeh mind if I kill yeh and tear off yeh flesh for food?"

My eyes go wide, and I shake my head rapidly, making Lily burst out laughing.

"Please? It's not like yeh can stop me, I'm a tiger. And I have magic, I could kill yeh with the blink of an eye. I'm famished, I haven't eaten fer days, I might just kill yeh fer fun."

"P-Pl-Ple-ase-se d-d-don't."

"I don't care what yeh think." It takes a step towards me, making my heart stop. "Yeh're the smallest I could eat yeh in one bite."

"Wh-what a-a-about L-L-Lily? W-Why d-don't y-y-you k-kill h-her?"

She's laughing too much to call out my insult.

"Yeh look tastier." It licks its lips, leaping at me. I freeze, unable to move out of the way. "Yeh're so dead."

Deciding to accept my fate, I close my eyes, the tiger pinning me to the ground.

"She just wants to play, Jacob, she's not dangerous," Jay says.

"Not-uh Jay. I'm hungry. Do yeh know how long it took tah walk all 'way here as a spider? T'is dinner time."

I laugh quietly as I don't feel teeth digging into my skin, but a tickling sensation. "What the heck, just kill me!"

"She wants to play, fight back."

It only gets worse, making me laugh more. "Cut it out already!"

"You have to fight back."

"How? It's a tiger."

Jay's answer gets drown out from my laughter as the tickling moves to my sides. "No, stop it!"

I'm left with no mercy for a while, but it finally stops.

"That was hilarious," Lily says.

"Lily, if you don't shut up, I will do that to you."

"Ty will protect me."

"What does it have against me?"

"Yeh scared o' a spider!" The tiger says.

"So?" I sit up and look at the tiger, who's next to Jay now.

"I'll just tell yeh my goal, yeh can say if 't worked. Yeh're not scared o' me anymore, are yeh?"

"Well...Shut up!"

"Thought so."

"I hate you..."

"Remember I'm still'a tiger."

"You can't use that if you don't want me scared."

"Nah, I'm just saying I'm bigger, stronger, and faster than yeh. I can still beat yeh."

"Jay, why is there a tiger?"

"She saved my life about three times, but now, she betrayed me. Just like everyone else in the world."

"Yeh don' trust me anymore, I know. Look, I'm sorry that I lied, but yeh have tah understand, I h-"

"Understand what? That you're the reason I'm here, just as you were last time?"

"Jay...I was forced the first time."

"By who? Who on earth could force a tiger to do anything?"

"Nico and Elliot."

He exhales. "I can't trust you. Who knows what else important information you're hiding."

"Jay, yeh have nightmares ev'ry night 'bout this place, I couldn't tell yeh it was no use running. Yeh was goin' through too much."

"And you'd rather have me locked up than on the run?"

"Yeh're makin' this too hard on yeh'self Jay. Who else are yeh goin' to trust? These two? They haven' made yeh laugh. They don' know what happened to yeh. They haven' saved yeh life many times."

He runs his hand through his hair. "You could've at least warned me."

"How would she know anyway?" Lily asks.

"I know the future," Ty says.

"Then you know..." I ask.

"Yea', that's the only smart thing yeh're goin' tah do in yeh life."

"Wow, thanks for the compliment."

"Anytime!" She looks at Jay. "Besides, if I wanted yeh locked up, who'd I annoy? Like seriously, priorities! Gosh, get it straight."

Jay does not look convinced. "You said they wouldn't find us."

"Jay, do yeh really think I like seein' yeh in this state? All cut an' bruised?"

"That's what it seems like."

"Alex—"

"Don't call me that."

"Jaylex," I say, and they both stare at me blankly. "Sorry, continue."

"Look, I'm sorry fer lyin', it was fer yeh own good. Yeh has to put the necklace on though, it's too dang'rous withou' it."

"How? How is it dangerous? I'm pretty sure compacting a portal into a tiny pendant is dangerous."

"Jus' put it on."

Jay doesn't do anything.

"Jay..."

"Ok, ok, don't kill me," He says quickly, grabbing the necklace and puts it back on. The pendant slips under his shirt by itself. "You're lucky you're still a tiger."

"Oh, c'mon, yeh're better t'an me anyway."

"Did the tiger just say you're better than it?" Lily asks.

"Well, he is," It says, at the same time Jay says 'well, I am.'

"Or at least, I was, but it's been two months. And I'm not in good shape."

"Aw, don' wor'y, I'm hurt too. A beaver attacked me again."

"Hold up, I don't believe you," I say. "Jay is strong and all, but he's not that strong. I don't believe it."

Jay facepalms. "What is with you and these beavers?"

"Yeh better believe it, it's true."

"Prove it," I say, partly because actions mean more than words to Jay, and this will help the tiger gain his trust, and partly because I want to see this.

"Jay, these beavers had sticks, an' they were sharp. I swear, one of 'em flew."

"Jacob, I'm not better than Ty, no need to prove anything."

"Not so fast. I wanna see how good yeh still are."

"It's not a good idea."

"Yeh know yeh want to."

"Say you! It's not yeh, it's you," Lily says.

"Yeh wrong."

Jay shifts from foot to foot, trying to decide. "...Fine."

"Yay, some fun! I can get those beavers off meh mind!"

"By the way, what did they hurt?"

"A leg. I was in mouse form, yeh can't blame me."

"Kay."

"Every kiss begins with k...Sorry, continue." I say.

"Some'ne coun' us down."

"Since when do we have a count—"

"Suit yehself." She pounces on him before he can finish.

"And Ty starts off in the lead," Lily says, imitating an announcer.

"Wow, rude. Could've let me finish my sentence," Jay says.

"Yea', well, I timed it so that the down woul' be at the same time as yeh went down."

Jay clearly doesn't listen, closing his eyes. "Mm-hmm, sure."

"Well, it seems our opponent has decided to do nothing. Guess Ty will win soon," Lily says.

"See? I never doubt'd myself. Did I say Jay was alway' better? Yea' that was a lie."

Jay grabs one of Ty's paws and pushes her to the side while using his leg to help. It was so fast, I barely saw it, and next thing I knew, Jay was the one on top, with Ty pinned down.

"You sure about that? You don't seem to be winning."

"...I never doubted yeh."

"Mm, sure, not contradicting yourself at all."

"Exactly, glad yeh understand."

Jay shakes his head, letting her go.

"And the tables have turned, Jay has won," Lily says.

"How did you..." I ask.

"She talks to much, simple as that."

"It was the damage from those beavers. They reall' injured me."

I laugh quietly. "Why beavers?"

"I don' know, it's like 'ey know it's me. 'Ey know I'm a tiger, even though I'm in mouse form."

"But why are you here?" Jay asks. "You can leave and do whatever you want."

"It's gonna take a while tah get yeh trust back, ain't it?"

"I hate this grammar," Lily says.

"But you already know when that's going to happen because you know the future. You know what's going to happen to you, and don't bother telling anyone else what'll happen to them."

She drops her voice, only speaking loud enough to hear her, but barely. "The guard is going to help you escape soon. He needed to hear how you don't trust me anymore. He'll feel bad for what you went through, then losing me, and will want to fix that. This will be the last reason he needs."

"Could've just warned me before we were in here in the first place."

"Why'd you fix your grammar?" Lily asks.

"My old voice projected too much, that was a completely different voice. I choose my voice, gender, an' species. And Jay, I'm not allowed to change how things play out. Everything has to fall into place."

"Or just fall apart. Same thing to you."

"Your world's not falling apart, it's falling into place. I'm on the throne, stop holding on, and just be held," I sing quietly.

"What the littl' guy said."

"Wait...How'd Elliot know you'd get here by today?"

"He saw the beavers attack me, and I told him."

"That must've been an interesting scene," I say.

"It probably was. Now, people are going to be checking on you guys any minute now, so I have to go. Just hang in there, it won't be much longer."

"What if I don't want to leave?" Jay asks, and we all stare at him, utterly confused. "I have no family, no home, no life. At least here, there's Elliot, and some heat and food."

"Trust me, Jay, that's what they want you to think. You were the one who found me because they planned it. It's all a setup, don't fall for it."

"Wait what?" He asks, but Ty's already gone.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not sure about how Ty talks, I might change it to normal speaking. I'll just be writing, minding my own business, then realize I wrote you instead of yeh. Whoops.

And I don't feel like changing it right now, so it is what it is for now. Her voice can be changed, as she said, so it might be a completely different accent. And she might not be in the next chapter since she just walked out (or under) the door.

Anyway, vote, comment, share, have a hard time understanding Ty, etc.

Mc out.

Don't you love the 'congratulations!' after publishing a part? Lol