Chapter Twenty-Two: Restless and Loud, Unspoken and Wild

~The Words, Christina Perri

Reviews:

My Name: ugh—Lord Cassius. I sometimes can't believe he's Keefe's father. I hate him. And thanks for reviewing!

Moon Sophie Lark: thanks! And you'll see~ (side note: I think it would be super cliché... but I love clichés... So interpret that however you like)

Guest: thank you!

TheKeefester: thanks! I love the username, by the way. I'll add your vote in... But the cliffhanger! I almost cried. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!

SarcasticForever: okay, I'll add your vote in! Thanks for reviewing!

Right: okay, thanks for the feedback! I mean, obviously, for the plot's sake (even though this is mainly the KotLC plot), she probably won't remember anything big, but your right that she should remember the smaller things. And you're so right; Team Foster-Keefe forever!

Guest: okay, thanks for reviewing! I'll add your vote in.

Guest: okay!

BabaLooWho: nice, nice... Thanks for reviewing!

I'm just so freakin' unmotivated, I'm publishing a short chapter. Again. I promise the next one will be longer, though!

Recap: well, I petted (is that a word? It feels weird to say) Verdi, but then I felt pain...?

I'd say I miss the days when I was normal... but I doubt I ever was.

Word count: 980

ONTO THE NEXT CHAPTER!


Jamie removed her hand quickly, as if she had been burnt. She had to press her lips together to keep herself from hissing in pain. She would've been self-conscious about whether or not that made her look like a baby if she didn't have a bigger question on her mind; what was that?

Actually, that question was easy enough to answer; obviously, it was her Empath ability acting up. The real question was why. Could Empaths feel animals' emotions? She doubted it—which wasn't a good thing, because she didn't even have to focus to feel the tyrannosaurus's emotions! It really sucked—especially since it was pain that Verdi was feeling, and not something nice, like happiness.

Seriously, though; was it too much to ask for her to feel literally anything other than pain?

Even after she wasn't touching Verdi, she could still feel the aftereffects. It was getting... was "less painful" the word (well, it was a phrase, but whatever) for it? No, "less intense" described it better. Feeling the pain of an animal was... strange. Granted, feeling anyone's pain was strange since Jamie was a human (her actually being an elf was still up in the air), but still; it was best described as... loud.

Yes, Jamie was well aware that she was feeling an emotion, not hearing a sound, so saying that it was loud didn't really work. It wasn't as if there was a voice only she could hear that was screaming "PAIN!" like an Imagine Dragons fan. But it was like her ability was toying with her senses.

She felt like she could see the pain; it was a bright red, and visible like when you looked at a light source that was too bright, it was like it imprinted into your eyelids.

She felt like she could touch the pain; like if she reached her out and brushed her fingers against the air as if there was something there, she'd find that the pain was really right in front of her.

She felt like she could smell the pain; its scent had this iron-y tang—it was faint, yes, but it was there.

She felt like she could taste the pain; it tasted uncannily like tears.

And, yes, she could almost hear the pain—but just barely; it was like a ghost's scream.

It was overwhelming.

Wild.

Chaotic.

Uncontrollable.

It was loud.

Jamie was practically bursting with the need to ask questions in spite of the pride that usually kept her from doing so. But she swallowed them down and instead said, "She's in pain."

"Is she?" Grady separated the feathers on Verdi's neck, squinting his blue eyes. "The wound is pretty deep. Maybe I should treat it."

As Grady spread this death-and-rot-and-tuna smelling (not a good combination of smells; unfortunately, Jamie could now vouch for that) brown slime that Alden called "kelpie dung," the teal-eyed man caught Jamie's eye. He gave her a look—a look that Jamie could only describe as, "Hey, Jamie, did you figure out that Verdi is in pain with your freakishly strong and scarily powerful elf powers?"

At least, that was howshe interpreted it.

Either way, she returned it with a look of her own that said, "Well, duh."

Well, she hoped that that was the look she was giving him; she couldn't see herself, after all.

After wiping his hands on a cloth a gnome handed him, Grady turned back around to face Jamie.

"I think you were right, Jamie. She seems more relaxed now. You must be good with animals."

Jamie, good with animals? Yeah, right; they despised her.

But... she was often called an animal, if that counted for something...?

When Jamie didn't offer any response other than an—albeit awkward—smile, Grady cleared his throat, saying, "Well, come on, Edaline's probably waiting."


Questions:

1. Favorite quote from chapter twenty of When Wishes Come True?

2. What should Dex and Jamie's ship name be? Demie? Jex? Personally, I'm thinking Demie.

Please review on the poll—or, you know, just review your answer...

Linh SongxJamie Blair(Jinh): 5 votes

Fitz VackerxJamie Blair(Jafitz): 13 votes

Biana VackerxJamie Blair(Jiana): 2 votes

Tam SongxJamie Blair(Tamie): 16 votes

Dex DizzneexJamie Blair(Demie): 1 vote

Tamie wins, holding 43% of 37 votes.

And, remember; please review!

~Sarcasticsnark13