Chapter 4
Isha swears that she did actually try to sleep at first, but her emotions prevented her from slipping into unconsciousness. The anger at both Vi and Caitlyn caused a thrum of hatred to flow through her body, almost shaking as she thought about how they spoke about Jinx. She stared at the clock in the corner of the room, counting down the seconds until she would finally be able to go home and curl up on the couch next to Jinx. She sat up in the bed, almost disgusted at how soft it was. She could basically imagine Cait sleeping on these abhorrently soft mattresses her entire life, while she and Jinx shared a ratty old couch. Not to mention, her and Jinx had more than most undercity kids.
She understood on some level that Jinx had done bad things, but in her mind it was fully justified. Enforcers killed Jinx’s parents and would help Chross’ men, who killed hers. Any violence against enforcers was perfectly fine in Isha’s book. She wallowed in her hatred for a few more minutes, willing the clock to tick faster. It never did.
She let out a huff before sneaking towards the door, she somewhat heard voices coming from outside; naturally she was going to spy. She quietly knelt before peeking under the doorframe, searching for the outlines of anyone standing near it. As her scope turned up clean, she ever-so-slightly turned the knob, cracking the door open a hair. As she slowly pushed it open, a flash of pink hair caught her eye.
She quickly jumped back, flattening against the nearby wall to prevent being spotted. Isha counted to thirty, waiting for her heartbeat to slow down as she made sure she wasn’t spotted. As she slipped past the door frame, her eyes locked onto Vi’s lips.
“I’m not sure what to do, Cait, she’s just upset that we’re angry at Jinx,” Vi ran her fingers through her hair exasperatedly, “Especially you. She’s not over that stint at the temple.”
“It’s not my fault! Jinx purposefully led us there and attacked us. I do feel sorry for almost getting Isha caught in the crossfire, but Jinx had it coming.”
“Hey hey cupcake, calm down,” Vi once again tried soothing her girlfriend, “I don’t blame you for going after Jinx and I know you regret what happened with Isha, I just want you to be aware why she’s angry. That’s all.
Cait let out a sigh, turning her back towards Vi as she tried to regain her composure. Isha let out a small gasp as she once again ducked out of view. She waited about a minute before sneaking a glance at the older women, currently engaged in a heated discussion. Isha rolled her eyes, she couldn’t care less about their relationship drama. Right now, all that mattered was getting back to Jinx.
“You gotta learn to make do with what you got,” Isha could hear Jinx tell her, “You can make anything out of what you have, you just don’t know what yet.”
As Isha scanned the room, her eyes fell on the locked window. There it was — her ticket out. As she ran up to her exit route, she noticed that the window was locked. Isha let out a grunt, why would a Piltie need to lock a window that was so high up? Speaking of which, the fall would be the biggest obstacle in Isha’s path. She chewed on her lip as she contemplated her options. As her gaze drifted towards the bed, a lightbulb went off in her head. She rushed to grab the covers, knotting them together like she would the rope in the mines. As much as she loathed to think about her time before Jinx, it did come in handy in times like this.
Once her rope was at a length she was content with, Isha realized she still had to find a way to unlock the window. Luckily, she didn’t have to pick the lock as after a few minutes of searching, she found the key tucked in the bedside drawer. After dragging a small step stool underneath the window to reach it, Isha wiggled it open with minimal effort.
After tying the rope to the foot of the bed, Isha gave a few tugs to test the integrity of the rope. Satisfied that it would hold her weight, Isha took a deep breath before climbing onto the ledge and clutched the rope. As she prepared herself, she dared to look at the ground. Isha was immediately hit with a wave of dizziness as the sheer size of the drop hit her. She almost fell back, but managed to catch herself on the windowsill.
She shook her head, calming herself before bracing herself for the fall. Isha wiped her hands on her pants before holding tightly to the covers and began to slide down.
Her descent was much slower than expected, thanks to the friction between her clothes and the fabric she was using to lower herself to the ground. Unfortunately for Isha, she greatly miscalculated the length of the rope. She let out a small screech as she reached the end while still dangling six feet from the ground.
Her legs flailed as she tried to climb back up where she came. But in her haste, she slipped further down. A small scream left her throat as she lost her grip and began to free fall towards the ground. Isha closed her eyes, silently apologizing to Sevika and Jinx before her back made contact with, arms?
The fall was much quicker than expected, and as her fall was slowed by familiar arms, the comforting scent of gunpowder and a soft soap, accompanied by a muffled chuckle that she was hoping to hear all day.
Isha gasped as she sat up before wrapping her arms around Jinx’s neck.
“I missed you too,” Jinx laughed out, “Didn’t expect you to go this far though.”
Isha didn’t respond, opting to press her face into Jinx’s neck as she held back tears. Jinx hummed knowingly, petting Isha’s hair as the young girl began to sob.
“Was your time with Vi fun?” Jinx began slowly, “I bet you were bored out of your skull without me.”
Isha was gently set on the ground, and Jinx knelt down in front of her. After wiping her tears, Isha signed, “Was bored, missed you more.”
Jinx’s face softened as she pulled Isha into another quick hug. As they separated, Jinx pulled out another paper from her pocket, scribbling a quick message on it before folding it in half.
“Give me a second.” Jinx winked, before beginning to scale the side of the Kiramman mansion, climbing into the open window Isha escaped from. Isha watched in awe as her m- older sister pulled up her makeshift rope and climbed down the wall.
As Jinx reached her, she held out a hand for Isha to take.
“Come on Mouse, it’s been a long day.”