Jack and Jill: Tumbling After: Jack and Jill, #3

Jack and Jill

Tumbling After

A Jack Lantern Story

Vance Smith

And

Aaron Michael Smith

Copyright 2018 Vance Smith.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Jack and Jill: Tumbling After is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

All Characters and Situations Copyright Vance Smith 2018

Ravania Entertainment and the Ravania Entertainment logo are Copyright 2018 Aaron Michael Smith.

Cover art by Patrick W.E. Smith

Preface

What is it?

Darkness still hung heavily across the streets of Dublin, speckled dots of light springing up here and there. Spots of orange in the blackness reflected back up into the night sky from puddles that clung to the ground from the day's rain. It was peaceful all about. Dublin city was sleeping, and wouldn't wake up for hours.

All that silence was broken in a moment. Engines howled as they propelled two cars down the wet streets. They stuck close together, swerving against their own speed and the narrowness of their path. Jill Wright clung to her chair in the gleaming red Ferrari, eyes wide. She scanned the road before her, suddenly reaching out, pointing a finger to the intersection that approached.

'Do not run that!' she insisted.

'Do you want to make it?' Jack asked, his hands strangling the steering wheel. 'I thought you said you wanted to make it!'

'We are in the middle of a car chase, Jack!' Jill snapped. 'This is too much!'

Jack's shoulders were hunched, his arms tensed as they careened down the road. The car beside them swerved dangerously close, and Jack grimaced as he veered away.

'Oh, they're going to try and push us off the road, eh?'

'Can you get us out of this?' Jill asked.

The car came close again. Jill saw its mangled front end, one of its wheels completely exposed. It had been through an ordeal. If they'd been doing their jobs correctly, this would all be over already. As it was...

The car smacked into the side of Jack's Ferrari, and he winced as he struggled to maintain control. The white car snapped left, burning rubber as it drifted around a tight corner, then started to put some distance between them. Jack glanced at Jill.

'This is it, Jill. Which way am I going?'

Jill looked at the intersection. She didn't know Dublin as well as she should. She knew they were going the right direction now, but if they followed the white car, she wasn't sure if they'd make it back in time. She glanced at Jack.

'What do you think?'

Jack glared at her.

'Right, it's obvious isn't it?'

'I thought so.'

'Right. Let them go. We'll catch up with them later.'

Jack smiled at her, then dropped to a lower gear and the car wrapped around a corner, protesting as he pushed his foot down on the accelerator. The engine screamed, and they leapt forward down another dark street. She checked her wing mirror, and saw a sleepy Dublin street falling away behind them.

'That wasn't exactly how we'd meant it to go,' Jill admitted.

'Not exactly,' Jack agreed. 'Not even close.' His eyes flicked to her, then back to the road. 'How did they know to reach you there?'

Jill hesitated. 'I mean, I may have given them the telephone number.'

Jack's eyes went wide. 'You... What?' he growled. 'Jill!'

'I'm sorry!' she said, throwing up her hands. 'I've been under a lot of stress lately. With mum that big, she's... She's a mess of emotions. She's been working, too. Says it's a way she keeps her mind off of everything.'

'That doesn't explain it!' Jack snapped.

'What else was I supposed to do?' Jill asked. 'I wasn't going to let myself be out of contact! This is important!'

'Yes, I agree with you, but that still doesn't make what you did okay!'

'I was, like... worried I would miss it, if I didn't. And you know I would have, too!'

'Jill, I am very happy you were able to get the call, but next time, don't forward your personal calls to the middle of a dark warehouses in the docklands.'

'I wasn't thinking!'

'We were on a case! We were surrounded by people selling magical drugs and weapons.'

'I'm sorry!' Jill said again.

'It's alright, I'm just hoping they don't come looking for us after the fact. We're not going to be popular. The client was insistent on finding out about his brother's business dealings.'

'We did find out about them,' Jill said. 'He's going to be mad about that, too, right?'

Jack cleared his throat.

Jill blinked. 'You think he'll still pay us?'

'I don't think that's the greatest concern we have at the moment, Jill.'

She nodded. 'Right. We've got bigger things to think about.' She checked her wing mirror again. She glanced to Jack, then back to the mirror.

Jack's shoulders tensed again. 'What?'

'What do you mean?' she asked.

'You've got that look.'

'Which?'

'The one you get when things have gone terribly wrong.'

'That one?' Jill asked.

Jack nodded. 'Yes. What's the matter?'

Jill looked in the wing mirror. 'You know those lads we were running from? The drug dealers, like?'

'The boys in the bright white sports car?'

Jill nodded. 'They're back!'

'Shut up!'

'I'm afraid it's true. And they don't look very happy. I mean, they're waving guns at us.'

Jack took a peek in his mirror. 'Oh, no.' He looked back to the road. 'You think you could do that thing?'

'Could you be more vague?' Jill asked.

'Only if I try real hard,' Jack growled. 'Jill, you need to do that thing you do. With the disappearing.'

'You mean you want me to use my Void-Walker magic?'

Jack nodded vigorously. 'That's the thing!'

'We're too far!'

'We're not too far. We've been driving fast!' Jack said. 'Oh, that's the other thing. You need to use your magic to take everything. Us, the car, the hand tooled leather seats.'

Jill balked. 'I can't do that!'

'Yes you can!' Jack said. He gripped the wheel and Jill felt herself slam into the side of the door as they wound around a tight corner. The car groaned, then started forward again.

Jack looked to her. 'They're going to keep following us, it seems.'

'They're the ones that turned down the other street!' Jill growled. 'I thought they'd had their fun.'

'Apparently they just got confused?' Jack said with a shrug. 'Whatever made them change their minds, it's looking like--,'

The sound of gunfire rose above the screaming engine and Jack hunkered down as the shots peppered the back of the car. He growled in his throat, staying low, but peering ahead to keep them on the road.

'I've never moved that much mass in motion,' Jill said. 'I'm sure I could do it, but I'd need practice!'

'Consider this a pop quiz that you can't fail.'

'We're moving too fast!' Jill said. 'I've never opened a portal at these speeds.'

'Practice, right?'

Jill shook her head. 'Jack, there has to be another way!'

The mirror at Jill's side exploded as more bullets forced their way into the car. There was a sudden hissing from behind them, inside the engine bay.

Jack glanced back. 'They hit something! They actually hit something!'

'That's a bad hissing, isn't it?'

Jack nodded. 'I'm guessing so. Any time you want to open that portal would be great!'

'Where am I supposed to take us?' she asked.

'Our destination, I would guess.'

'What if they try to follow us?' Jill asked.

'You know the drill. Only what you will through the portal can come. If they drive in after us, they're going to be a smear on the road in the blink of an eye.'

Jill brought her hands up to her eyes, scrubbing them with the palms of her hands. This was stupid! There wasn't any way she was going to be able to pull this off. If she opened the poral, it would be too far away, or too close. They'd overshoot it, or they'd already be past it when she opened it, and that would accomplish nothing. She tried to drain her mind of all the competing thoughts that were swirling around inside. They weren't doing anyone any good. If she wasn't careful, she'd reach out to use her magic and nothing would happen. She'd done that before. It had been in the middle of a fight. It hadn't been very fun.

More bullets slammed into the rear of the car, and she heard something snap off in the engine bay, and start to rattle around. This was immediately followed by a loud grinding noise.

'Jill!' Jack snapped. 'Now!'

Jill reached out with her hand, her fingers spearing the air in front of them. Just as she did, an inky black line appeared in the air in front of them, just down the road. It slowly started to open. Jill pressed her hand against the magic that sprung out from her, and crossed the distance between her and the singularity. She forced more power into it, and the sliver grew into a black disk, hanging in the air.

'Bigger!' Jack insisted.

'I'm trying!'Jill screamed.

More magic flowed out of her, and the disk grew, but it still wasn't enough. They were right on top of it. She locked her jaw and dug her fingers into the air. A surge of power snapped down her arm and the disk surged. Blackness swallowed them up, and for a mere moment, that was all she saw. That was all there was. Then, as fast as it had appeared, the blackness vanished, and the tyres touched onto grass, and Jack cursed as he whipped the wheel to one side. They car slid, and the grass transitioned to pavement. Rubber screamed, and the car bucked as it collided with the curb.

Jack had his eyes screwed shut when Jill finally opened her own and looked around. She patted herself down. No cuts, no bruises, and no bullets. She was fine!

'Jack!'

He shook his head. 'We're dead!'

'We did it!'

Jack opened one eye. She saw the coal that served as his eyeball flicker and burn a little brighter. It darted around, then his other eye opened. He straightened in his seat, and a smile spread across his face.

'Told you it would work!'

'You did!' Jill said with a little laugh.

'That was pretty cool!'

Jill nodded. 'We just Void-Walked a car!'

Jack let out a satisfied sigh. 'We're awesome. What else is there to say?'

Jill smiled, looking out her window. They'd really done a number on the car this time. She glanced down at the curb. As far as parking was considered, they'd done a fair job at that, too. The car was right against the curb, yeah, but they were parked right out front. Jill could see the doors from where they were. Her eyes went wide as she looked at the face of the building.

'We're here!' she said. 'We're not too late!'

'Of course!' Jack smiled, then faltered. 'Actually, that's amazing. I was sure we were going to crash or something.'

Jill unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door, climbing up and out of the car. She leaned back over, peering back at Jack.

'Are you coming?' she asked.

Jack hesitated. 'I don't like these places. I get queasy.'

'This is different!'

'This isn't!' Jack insisted. 'This is the same. Maybe worse.'

'Jack, please!'

'If you've seen it once, that's all you need!'

'They're in there right now. I've got to go... Are you coming?'

Another hesitation. 'I'll wait in the hallway.'

Jill smiled. 'That's good enough for me!' She straightened and bounded towards the doors.

'Slow down, will you?' Jack called after her. Jill looked back, to see Jack climbing out of the car. She smiled at him and shook her head. 'I'm not slowing down! I've got places to be!'

'It's really less exciting and more gross than you're imagining!' Jack said.

Jill laughed, but looked ahead of her and worked herself into a run. The doors were just ahead of her, and beyond that, the hospital. She couldn't believe she'd made it in time. It wasn't over, and she was going to be there for it. She couldn't have missed it. This was too important. Even Jack agreed. Family always came first. She looked back again, letting her voice carry into the dark of the night.

'Come on, Jack! I've got a baby brother to meet!'

Chapter One

Behind A Broken Crown

Joe Webb looked out across the green expanse. To his right, the ground sloped down, and in the distance, the ocean wrapped about the coast of the little island. He could see the harbour from here. He could make out all those boats. Howth stood across from him, and Ireland's Eye lay under his feet.

Joe had fallen in love with Howth the first time he had laid eyes on it. He'd always imagined he would have moved here, but things never seemed to line up as they needed to. Ireland had been his home for a very long time, now. Far longer than he'd intended. But there were still things he needed to accomplish here, and Joe refused to leave a job unfinished. Until such a day came that all his work was done, Joe would do what he needed to. He would live where he needed to. For the moment, that meant Howth, however much he loved it, would have to remain apart from him.

The young man at his side rolled his shoulders, then bent down, grabbing up the two large suitcases. They didn't look especially important to him, but the young man seemed to disagree. Joe looked him over for the hundredth time. He wasn't sure what it was about him, but Joe found the boy amusing. He was young. Joe didn't know exactly how young. Twenty? That seemed so young. Joe honestly couldn't remember being twenty. When you'd lived as long as he had, time started to blend together. Youth was but a moment, and Joe had long since moved past it.

'You want me to take one of those things?' Joe asked.

The boy smiled, shaking his head. 'I'll be alright, thanks.'

Joe shrugged his shoulders. 'It's your rodeo, kid. I'm just here to make sure things go smoothly.'

The kid smiled again. 'I appreciate that, too.'

They started forward. Joe looked ahead, to where the ground started to rise. There was a little nesting of rocks, springing up, out of the green grass. They looked innocuous to anyone who came to wander the island, but Joe knew the secret they held.

'It's not that far, now,' he said, pointing to the rocks. 'The access point is just there.'

'I've used it a couple times before.'

Joe grunted. 'What'd you say your name was again, kid?'

'Lucas,' the man said, puffing out his chest. 'Lucas Lucas.'

Joe let the little smile wind its way across his face. 'Is that two or three?'

Lucas narrowed his eyes, then his features softened and he laughed. 'Just the two. Parents had a sense of humour, I guess.'

'Didn't want to go too far, though.'

'No, no. And I suppose that's well enough. But it keeps things simple, you know?'

'How's that?'

Lucas shrugged. 'I only have to remember how to spell one name.'

Joe smiled. 'Well, Lucas Lucas, if you've been here before, you should know all the rules, right?'

He nodded. 'Yes, sir. No touching, no magic used on the crown. Just observations and tests.'

Joe grunted again as they started to climb the steepest part of the slope. It was the last bit of the trek, but Joe didn't like it. It took forever, and it made his bones hurt, and reminded him in yet another way that he wasn't young anymore. Things were changing, and that meant him, too.

'Do you think you'll discover something this time, Lucas?' Joe asked, drawing his mind away from himself, and focusing it on something else.

'Sorry?' Lucas asked.

They came to a stop just in front of the small outcropping of rocks. None of them were more than two feet tall, but they stood out to Joe. He'd always seen them, like a sore thumb amongst all that green. He laid a hand on the largest of the rocks, letting a trickle of magic flow down his arm and into the stone. The effect was instantaneous. The rocks parted, falling away from each other to reveal a gaping maw in the earth. There was a wet stone staircase that lead down, into the darkness.

'Every so often another country gets the idea that the Crown holds some great secret, and they have just the right tools or people to crack the mystery wide open and usher in a new kind of magic. You get it?'

Lucas nodded. 'I get it. And I'm just another face in a long line of faces that have tried and failed to learn the secret of the Crown, right?'

Joe shrugged. 'Something like that.' He stepped forward, and started down the stone steps, letting the darkness wrap about him. It was colder underground. It always seemed cold down by the Crown. Colder than it should have been. He