12 Chapter 12 (2/2)

He laughs slightly. ”I have noticed how protective you are over her. Ever since the mission I put you two on. What is going on between you two?” I can feel a small shake go through my hand. ”Umm...well...I don't know what you mean exactly.” He looks at me quizzically. ”I just want to know if there is anything going on between my top two assassins.” I take a deep breath. ”We have been getting closer. I would like to say she is starting to trust me, but I am not sure anymore.” He raises his eyebrow. ”Have you done anything to her? To throw her over the edge. It seems ever since you got closer, things have been getting worse for her. Especially in these last few days. Like after her getting drugged.” I carefully go over his words and hear the implied ones.

”With all due respect sir, I would never drug her, hurt her, make her do anything she didn't want to, or put her into any danger. If you think I made her go over the edge, you need to get your head out of your-” ”I understand the message.” Wilker cuts in. ”But if you don't want to heal any split lips, you will stop there.” I nod. ”I wanted to make sure she is okay. I want what is best for her. And if someone pushed her to this point, especially someone that is this important to the guild, and has done so much to become in my top assassins.”

I nod at the implied threat. That if I ever even try and lay a hand on her, outside of sparing and called for fights, I will not live to see another day. Or at least I will wish that I didn't. But I didn't understand why he was being so protective over her. I nod, ”I will not hurt her, but I don't think I am going to have a her when she gets back. I tried to talk some sense into her, but she wouldn't listen to me. I think she is pulling away. I think that assassin has thrown her over.”

Wilker looks at his hands. ”She is a lot of things right now. She is lost. She is mad. She is breaking. But she in not broken. This, whatever it is, has not broken her. She thinks she is at rock bottom, but that is because she has been falling for so long that she is imagining a bottom. She has made one for herself to jump back up with. Helping Zachery, which was a way to push up. Anyway, I also wanted to address the fact that Zachery is now on entrance level.

I nod slowly, wanting to hit him for letting Zachery back in. ”Okay.” ”I thought I should tell you, don't kill him. I know Jaycie won't but you, you just might. Don't.” I nod again. I stand up to leave, not waiting for him to dismiss you. When I get to the door, he says. ”She will be back. It might take two days; it might take two months. The odds of her being caught are very high. I sent her on this mission telling myself that she would and that we would find her. We will work to get back if she in not back in two days. But until thing, you need to stay calm. Take a break. You aren't aloud to practice for two days. No mission, nothing. I don't need you blowing up on anyone. Okay?” ”Yes sir.” ”Also,” He adds. ”Just because Jaycie walks out of here without being dismissed doesn't mean you are aloud to. Jaycie gets by with a lot more then you guys do. But she also gets punished a lot worse. Trust me when I say, you don't want to start following her habits.” I nod and walk out the door.

Three days later

I am packing a bag quickly. There are four people going on this mission. It was been three days. Jaycie should have been back yesterday. We gave her the benefit of the doubt and gave her an extra day, but she still wasn't back. We were going to her last known spot and checking things out. On this mission with me was two of my most trusted buddies and Zachery. I had all but begged for him to take him off this mission, but he wouldn't, saying I needed someone who doesn't care as much as me, to think rationally.

We headed to the hotel she was to be staying at, and I ignored Zachery. When We got to the hotel, I stormed up to the receptionist. ”Hello Sir, how may I help you?” I don't even bother to try and sound polite at first. ”A woman checked into this hotel about three days ago. Only one small duffel bag, black hair, blue eyes. She was probably wearing a cloak.” I said quickly. She looked slightly scared. ”Uhh...Sir. I can't give information about others. I am sorry.” I take a deep breath. ”She isn't just another person. She is an assassin and she could be in trouble. I need you to tell me what room she has.”

The woman looks scared out of her wits. I feel the other three walks in behind me. ”Have you figured out her room?” Zachery asks. ”Not yet.” I say through gritted teeth. Zachery looks at my face and backs off. ”Look ma'am.” I start again. ”I am asking nicely. Unless you want me going through every room in this hotel, I need her room now.” She nods. Then she starts to look through files.

When she gives us the information, I practically fly up to her room. I see her duffel bag, unopened. The bed is slightly ruffled. She at least got some sleep. I look around the room, until Zachery calls me. ”Garret, I found something.” I walk up to him, mad that he found something before me. ”What is it.” He points to the windowsill, and there is a pen. It looks just thrown there. I look out the window to were it is pointed. The perfect spot for a pickup. Or to be cornered and caught.

That is all it takes for me to fly out the door. They all follow me, but I am the fist one to the alley. My face goes completely pale. All over the ground is blood. There are imprints of were bodies fell and blood pooled. There are no bodies though. No way of telling if Jaycie was one of those bodies. I force myself to stay strong. I look around and footprints in the blood. One of them looks like Jaycie's boot. I hear the others let out a long string of curses. ”What is going on now?” I ask spinning.

All three of them have a dagger at their throat. There is a fourth one standing in front of his men and mine. ”Who are you?” The leader asks. ”Who are you and give me back my men. At least give me those two, you can have than one.” I say asking for my two friends. The leader laughs. ”Someone is a little salty to one of his teammates.” He looks me over. ”Who are you and why are you in this exact alley way?” He asks. I size him up. ”I am looking for someone. I am with a guild down south. That is all you need to know. Why are you watching this exact alley?” I don't bother asking who he is. Instead of answering me, he holds out a dagger. One of Jaycie's. ”Do you know who this belongs to?” He asks, but I am already launching myself at him.

I have him pinned and the blade out of his hands. ”How the hell did you get this blade? Where is she? What did you do to her?” He holds his hands up to show surrender. ”I am not the bad guy here. I am a bystander.” I look at him skeptically. ”I will prove it. I will let your men go.” He looks at his men and they release mine. I still glare at him, but I get off him, holding Jaycie's blade close to me. ”Okay, now that we aren't attacking anymore, we meet up with here before her mission. The night before. It was on accident. After a couple munities of talking, we all went our own ways.”

I am still scowling. ”So, what happened here?” The leader looks slightly sad. ”She got here early. We saw her make her rounds; she counted the same ten guards we did. When their boss got here, they passed around some words, and when he figured out it was only her, he decided to take her. When the boss couldn't win, the guards came. She killed off five before they got her with some sort of drug mix. They left the blades as a message. We brought them to our guild. We sent word to yours, we have no information on the ones she fought sorry.”

I look at her blade. I want to yell at them for watching her fight and not helping, but I can't. They are a diffrent guild. Had they tried tonhelp, and she had gotten killed, it would have started a guild war. I sigh. ”We would like to go collect her things.” The leader nods and leads us to their guild. When we get there, we have to take all our weapons off, and guards still escort us. Luckily, none of then notice my swords, so I am not without weapons. We get to the room with her blades and take them back with us.

After speaking with the guild master and thanking them, we head straight back to our guild. Wilker takes her blades from us and I can see he is stressing. Even though his stone cold face, and all the mental preparing he did, he still was stressing. I just went to my room and layer there. They had Jaycie, and she could be dead. The last thing we did was fight.

Two months later

I was in Wilker's office. He was talking to me about possible places Jaycie could be. Everything came back as a no, she couldn't be there. ”What about these northern mountians? In this area.” I ask. ”No.” Wilker answers. ”I meet with the group of people that live up there. Isn't them.” I was starting to crack. My temper was getting shorter and shorter. Everything was going to hell, and I couldn't stop it. Nothing could stop it.

I needed to find her real soon. The whole Guild had shut down to outside missions. Everyone was focused on finding her. She had been held longer the two months before, but after a month and a half, the guild always shut down. Always went all out to find the missing person. We still hadn't found any lead to her. I was looming over a map of the continent. But at this point, she could be on at completly diffrent one. That is the thought that scared me.

We kept looking before I heard an urgent knock one the door. ”Come in.” Wilker said. Zachery came rushing in and feel to a knee quickly. He didn't even wait for Wilker to say anything. ”I found her.” In the blink of an eye, I am in front of him, holding him by the collar of his shirt. He looks scared. ”Where is she? Where is Jaycie?” ”Well, I am not positive, but I might be right. I saw sand in that alley, so I have been looking. The city we were in has no sandy areas. All the territories that have beackes, we know the leaders of.” I drop him.

”The sand plains.” I say softly. I want to smack myself, I hadn't thought of that. Zachery nods. In all of two seconds, I am running out the door. I pass my buddies and tell them to be ready in half an hour. We are leaving, and I am not coming back until I find her. Even if I die in the desert, at least I tried. Half an hour later, My buddied, Zachery, Wilker, and I are all in a carriage, heading towards the sand plains. I am getting her back.