The Otherside: Jay McClayn: A Quest For Love (Book 4)

The next morning I woke up early in fear Loveless would strike with the bucket of water again. Jason did not want to let me go and I honestly did not want to let him go either, but I had to.

“I will see you in a couple days. I will try asking Loveless the fastest way of going about this to get back here sooner.” I said as I got up out of bed.

“I’m going to miss you.” He said getting up as well.

“I’m going to miss you too. That is why I am going to rush her so I can get back here faster.” He pulled me into a hug and then kissed my forehead.

“I won’t make this any harder. I am going to go get ready for the day and go train, so you can get changed and get Loveless taken care of.” He pulled away and headed for the door, but then hesitated.

“Are you okay?” I asked confused.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me into a passionate kiss. “I will be here when you get back.” He pulled away opened the door and quickly left. I wasn’t able to get out a goodbye before he left. I shut the door and then magically changed my clothes to jeans, a white tank top, and black boots. I opened my closet and pulled out my old black duster coat. It has been years since I have seen it. I put it on, braided my hair and grabbed my black saddle bag with the ingredients, a little bit of food and a change of clothes. I put the bag on my shoulder and walked over to Loveless’ room.

I knocked on the door. “Loveless, are you ready? I need to talk to you about traveling details.” There was no response, so I knocked again. After no response a third time. I opened the door to see Loveless crying into Nikki’s shoulder. “Is everything okay?”

Loveless quickly pulled herself together. “Get out! I will meet you in the kitchen in a minute!” She yelled at me.

“What the heck is your problem?!?” I yelled back as I stepped into the room.

“None of your business!”

I slapped my forehead. “Are you serious?!? You can’t keep running from your problems or your emotions! One day you will need to deal with them!” I yelled back at her. She lunged at me and tackled me to the ground.

“You can’t fight purely with emotions. If you do, a loss will surely happen.” I quickly pushed her off of me and she began swinging at me. I blocked her swings, but I missed blocking one and she hit me in the stomach. I felt the wind leaving my lungs. “We need to work on you and your hand on hand combat.” She said angered. “Now get out!” After she said that Nikki walked me out. I shut the door, but I didn’t leave. I was still catching my breath so I listened in.

“Shhh... Shhh... It’s okay. She was just checking on you. She cares about you too.” I heard Nikki say, trying to calm her down.

“I know... I just don’t want her know. I’m pathetic and weak.” I heard Loveless say back. So she can talk to Nikki? Then again Nikki is very easy to open up to. So I guess that makes sense.

“You are not pathetic or weak. Your powers are actually very rare and powerful. You need to not be so hard on yourself. Jay is going to help you with your emotions so just hang in there until you get that last ingredient.” I walked away after hearing Nikki say that. I realized that the conversation would not last much longer. I went to the kitchen and waited and I was right it wasn’t long until she came in with a black saddle bag with a broken red heart on it. The heart was broken in three and had black stitches holding it together.

“Ready?” She said acting like nothing happened.

“I have a quick question. Do you think we can teleport out some of the distance to save some time?” I said trying to ignore her change in attitude.

“I can get us almost all the way there, but we will have to spend the night. I will not have enough energy to get us back in the same day.” She opened up a portal after she said that.

“Go through.” She said as she pushed me in. She came through right after me. We were pretty high up on the mountain. “Let us set up camp here.” She ordered. “The ice isn’t too far away.”

I sighed and magically set up a tent and quickly teleported a cauldron to us. We put our stuff into the tent and then went and got the ice. It was very quiet between us getting the ice and back. I magically made a fire and put the cauldron over it and then began making the potion while Loveless watched. This was going to take a lot of magic out of me.

It took a couple of hours, but I finished the potion; the plus side of doing it in the mountains was less risk of the ice melting outside of the potion because it is so cold up here. Once I finished it, Loveless drank the potion and I did the spell. She was out cold and her hair slowly shifted its color to the light gray we were accustomed to. She was in theory back to her emotionless self. It was getting around lunchtime so I moved her into the tent and started cooking lunch. After I finished lunch I ate my share and waited for her to wake up, but she did not wake up until after sunset. I wasn’t sure if she was actually going to wake up until the next day, but she woke up. She was so quiet coming out of the tent and sat beside me, she made me jump when she put her arm on my shoulder.

“You know, you were right.” She paused “about our argument.” Her arm moved off my shoulder. I turned my head and looked at her with a confused look. “One day I will have to face my emotions, but right now I need a clear head. With my fighting style, I need a clear head to think strategically and win this to give you a happy ending.”

I sighed. “I understand, I just want you to know that emotion can fuel fighting style. It helps me be stronger and protect those that I love.”

Her expression was nonexistent again. “I was right about one thing, we need to work on your hand to hand combat. Especially if we are going to another dimension where your magic abilities might not work.”

I sighed knowing she was right. “When should we start?” I stupidly asked. She quickly stood up, grabbed my hand, pulled me up and then flung me to the ground on the other side of her.

“Now.” she responded after the fact.

“What the heck?!?” I asked rhetorically while getting up. “You used levitation! I thought you wouldn’t want me to use magic in hand on hand combat training.” It was weird only seeing a blank expression and grey hair again.

“Not cheating; Samantha may have tricks like this up her sleeves. We cannot risk it. Now, come on and show me how emotion fuels you.” it was weird hearing that with no emotion in her voice.

“I suggest you do not get me angry without Jason to snap me out. I can show you emotion, but not to my full extent, so get ready.” I rushed at her and began punching left and right she kept blocking.

“You have so much to learn.” escaped her lips right before kicked my legs out from under me. As I started to fall, she grabbed my braid and pulled me up and I got back on my feet. “I think we should work on this when we get back to your castle.” her stomach growled and she let go of my hair. “I have a good analysis of what needs improvement. Let us eat and rest so we have the energy to do this tomorrow.” I nodded. We cooked together this time and ate in silence; there really wasn’t much to say, and Loveless without emotions is constantly calculating and thinking about what needs to be done. She is normally too busy up in her head to talk. After eating, we went to bed to get the energy to travel back home. We woke up early and opened a portal back home.