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Jinx woke to pain ricocheting around inside of her skull, bright and all-consuming, following shimmer-stained veins to her temples and down her cheeks. Her fingers twitched with the urge to shoot the source of her agony, but when she peeled open her sore eyes, there was nothing to fight. She hadn’t been hit over the head or knocked to the ground; she’d just woken up with a blinding headache.
She was in her hideout. That was good, safe.
Wrong.
She missed the basement of The Last Drop that she’d shared with her siblings where Vander brought her soup and Vi read her stories. She missed her room at Silco’s apartment where he made sure she had damp cloths for her head and brought her different types of teas until he found ones she liked. She missed her family, all of the pieces of it that had splintered away over the years, mosaics now shards of glass she couldn’t touch without cutting herself on.
A sneeze tore from Jinx like an explosion, jolting her into a sitting position. She’d never sneezed that loud before. It reminded her of Vander and his dad sneezes.
She groaned, dragging her hand across her mouth, wiping away the mucus. Her head continued to throb. She hadn’t even known she could still get sick after the doctor’s surgery; wasn't she more chemical than human now?
Something tapped Jinx’s arm. She bristled, reaching for a gun that wasn’t there, before realizing it was just Isha. The kid blinked up at Jinx with eyes as big as saucers and swimming with concern.
“I’m fine,” Jinx said. The words came out stifled by congestion, her own body betraying her. Her vision blurred just enough to make her feel a little unstable and her nose itched, so stuffed she couldn’t breathe through it.
Grimacing at the snot on her hand, Jinx rubbed her palm on her pant leg and pushed herself to her feet. Instantly, her vision filled with black and white squares, knocking her off balance. She clutched for anything to hold on to as she stumbled, desperately trying to stay on her feet. Somehow, she managed it.
When her vision cleared, Isha was watching her with eyebrows tugged down by worry. Jinx sighed and reached over to ruffle Isha’s messy hair. “It’s just a cold, Ish.”
Her constant shadow, Isha followed Jinx crossed the large blade of the turbine to her desk. It held mostly scrap materials and engineering tools, but in one of the drawers were a few first aid supplies. She fished out the painkillers and dumped two into her palm, debating whether taking them with water was worth the effort of obtaining it.
Just as she’d resolved to swallow them dry, Isha let out a little noise. She tapped Jinx’s arm again before scuttling off down another pathway, heading for the kitchenette that was less kitchen and more pantry.
“Thanks, kid,” Jinx said when Isha returned a few seconds later, a water bottle held proudly in one of her hands. The pills scratched at Jinx’s sore throat as she swallowed, eased by the cool water.
Isha didn’t answer — she never did, Jinx wasn’t sure if she could — she just grabbed Jinx’s hand and dragged her back to bed. It didn’t have a frame, but it had a mattress and blankets which Jinx had decided was enough. She fell asleep at her desk and on the couch and on the floor as often as she actually slept on the bed anyway.
Isha pointed meaningfully at it, looking between Jinx and the mattress with the kind of intense stubbornness only children could manage. Jinx wondered if she’d ever looked at Silco like that.
“We just woke up,” Jinx protested even though just speaking made her ears ring. She eyed the mattress, wanting to collapse onto it and sink back into sleep where nothing hurt. There was a time where she would have done exactly that, most of her life in fact. But she had Isha now.
“I know you’re hungry,” Jinx continued, trying to remember what food she had. Not much. Never enough. “We can go to Jericho’s. Or—”
She cut herself off with a bout of coughing that left her struggling to catch her breath, the force of it leaving her throat sore. Sipping water eased the pain and soothed the itch that suggested there was more coughing to come.
“You’d think having more shimmer than blood would mean I wouldn’t get sick,” Jinx muttered to herself, rubbing at her temples. The doctor’s surgery had saved her, but clearly, it had not made her immune to viruses.
Isha made a little frustrated noise, scrunching her nose as she tugged at Jinx’s hand again. Her face was set in a determined scowl.
“Fine, fine, you win.”
Jinx flopped onto the mattress. It did feel pretty good against her aching muscles.
Before she could get comfortable or make room for Isha, the kid was jogging away. Jinx sat up, frowning. “Hey, where are you goin’?”
Isha usually stayed at Jinx’s side, following her everywhere. The only time Jinx was alone was when she left Isha at the hideout to go to The Last Drop. The kid didn’t need to see the way she fell apart wishing she could hear Silco’s voice again.
Isha turned, impatience written in every line of her body. She tapped her left shoulder.
“I guess that’s not a terrible idea,” Jinx admitted reluctantly. Despite her history with Sevika, the ogre had proven herself useful — and she clearly had a soft spot for Isha. “Have Sevika get you somethin’ to eat, alright?”
Isha nodded before scampering off. Jinx sighed, falling back and tugging a blanket over her. Maybe if she slept, she’d wake up recovered, and then she could get back to the things that mattered. Like hosting bug fights.
Jinx dreamt of family, old and new, lost and found. Vi and Silco’s faces blurred in her mind until Mylo’s ghost chased them away, his unhinged laughter pulling her back to consciousness. For a moment, she could still hear it, coming from some corner of her hideout. Always watching, always laughing at her.
Slowly, the sound was replaced by sweet, childish giggles. Isha.
It was impossible for Jinx to tell what time it was or how long she’d slept, but her head still hurt. She stood, stretching aching arms over her head before following the laughter. Her heavy body was slow, weighing her down like she was trying to walk in the thick river water Silco had once dunked her in. Her nose was blocked, her throat sore and itchy.
Sevika and Isha were in the kid’s little tent, a blue marker in Sevika’s hand, the tip pressed to Isha’s arm.
“You’re stealin’ my tats now?” Speaking felt like swallowing hot coals and the words came out scratchy and low, disgustingly nasal.
Isha’s head jerked up. When she saw Jinx, she leapt to her feet, not noticing how the move messed up Sevika’s work, drawing a long blue line from one of the little clouds on her arm. She lunged forward to wrap her arms around Jinx’s leg.
“Whoa, hey, you’re acting like I was in a coma or something. It was just a power nap.”
Isha peered up at her, and Jinx reached down to fix her hat before it could fall off.
“She’s been checking on you all day,” Sevika said, capping her marker and leaning back on the couch. “You slept through it.”
Jinx bristled at the idea of anyone knowing she wasn’t at tip-top shape. This wasn’t the first time Sevika had seen her ill; Silco hadn’t been able to stay with her all the time, no matter how much he wanted to, and Sevika was his second in command, which meant her job duties sometimes included checking on a sick Jinx. It never got any easier to be vulnerable in front of her though, especially because Jinx had never seen Sevika get sick. Maybe ogres were immune to germs.
“Well, I’m awake now, so you can get out.”
“Is that any way to talk to someone who brought you food?”
Jinx’s stomach let out a grumble at the mention of food, reminding her she wasn’t sure the last time she’d eaten. She tried to do better about that now, making sure she and Isha ate, but sometimes things fell through the cracks, and sleeping all day didn’t help.
Isha gasped, letting go of Jinx to retrieve a bag sitting at Sevika’s feet and hold it up.
“Thanks, kid.” Jinx took the bag and lowered herself onto the couch, as far from Sevika as she could get. Isha sank down between them, her side pressed to Jinx’s.
Sevika snorted. “Where’s my thanks?”
Jinx took a big bite of her food, cold but spicy enough to burn. She replied with a full mouth, “‘anks ev’ka.”
“Even the kid has better manners than you.” Sevika reached for her pocket, extracting a lighter and a cigar, clearly forgetting Jinx’s no smoking around the kid rule.
“Hey, I’m eating here, do that outside.”
Sevika rolled her eyes, but tucked the cigar and lighter away. “Funny you never cared when he smoked.”
Even the mention of Silco picked at the wounds on Jinx’s heart, scabs she knew would never fully heal. She wasn’t about to let Sevika see that, though. “He never smoked when I was eating. And he had the good stuff, smelled like, spicy. Like spicy trees.”
“Cloves?” Sevika deadpanned.
“Like the fancy muffins from Piltover that they only have in the fall.” She missed those muffins. Maybe it was time for another trip topside — she could show Isha the bakery Silco liked. And then they could vandalize the bank across the street.
“Cloves.”
“Cloves,” Jinx imitated under her breath before taking another large bite of food.
Sevika gave Jinx the exhausted deadpan stare she’d mastered so long ago. “I’m leaving. Don’t let your fever get too high, keep drinking water.”
Jinx grimaced. “Yeah, yeah, thanks, mom.”
She got narrowed eyes and a finger in her face for that one. “I’m not having Zaun’s best hope keel over just because you don’t know shit about keeping yourself healthy. If you’re not better soon, I’ll drag you to the doctor myself.”
The doctor’s lair was the last place Jinx wanted to go. He’d always been creepy, but after her shimmer surgery, she’d gained a whole new aversion to Singed. The memory of being strapped to his table with shimmer burning through her veins and her nightmares coming to life in front of her was too visceral.
The warm pressure of Isha leaning into her dragged Jinx back to the present moment. She tried to shake off the memories, knowing the darkness only led to more darkness. Her mind was a pit, too easy to stumble into. “Aw, don’t tell me you’re worried about lil old me? You really do have a heart!”
Sevika scoffed, picking up a box Jinx hadn’t noticed and tossing it at her. Jinx’s free hand shot up to catch it before it hit her in the face.
“Tissues,” Sevika said, already walking away. “Try not to get snot everywhere. Again.”
As much as Jinx wanted to be annoyed by everything Sevika did, she didn’t have the energy for it today. She tugged open the tissue box to blow her nose as loudly as she could. It made Sevika flip her off over her shoulder before she left the hideout, but it also made Jinx’s head spin. She counted it as a win.
After slurping down the rest of her food, Jinx nudged Isha. “Time for another pebble-weight championship? I think Sharptooth has what it takes to win it all.”
Isha, who was usually so excited about their beetles, pursed her lips and shook her head. She looked entirely unimpressed.
Jinx tossed her used tissue into the vent beneath the fan blade they were perched on as she tried to figure out how to convince Isha she wasn’t too sick for bug fighting. Isha didn’t need to spend time worrying about her.
“What if—where are we going?” Isha tugged insistently at Jinx’s hand, not relenting until Jinx stood and followed her. As soon as she realized they were headed back to bed, Jinx groaned. “Come on, Isha, I just woke up, and you’re already putting me back to bed?”
All she got in response was crossed arms and a stern look.
Jinx flopped onto the mattress, dropping the tissue box beside her. “You’re one strict jailer, you know that?”
Isha’s narrowed eyes scanned the bed before she picked up Jinx’s discarded water bottle and held it out. She watched as Jinx took a few big gulps. And it did feel good on her stinging throat, but Jinx wasn’t going to admit that. Isha was already drunk on her power.
“Anything else?” Jinx asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Isha appeared to think about it for a long moment before she took off her hat and climbed into the bed. Jinx moved over, making room for her.
The kid ended up curled right beside her, face against her shoulder. Warmth flooded Jinx, pricking at her eyes. She squeezed them shut and pressed her cheek to Isha’s hair.
“Alright,” she said, mostly to herself. “I guess we can rest a little longer.”