_________________________________

T h e H o l l o w s I n 
O U R F R E E D O M
_________________________________

"Oh shit." I cursed, rushing over to a panicking Jace, hanging upside down. It took me only a few seconds to realise what was going on.

"Jace," I said, trying to quieten his panic. "Jace it's a hunting trap." He continued to thrash, "for animals; you weren't meant to be caught—we're fine." He wasn't listening, though.

I reached upwards and cupped his face, which made him calm slightly. His eyes met mine, although I was upside down to him.

"You're fine." I told him softly.

"I'm upside down." He responded, making me break out of my trance with his Northern Light eyes.

"Right. Yes. That." I said, pulling my hands away, suddenly cold. "I need to cut you down."

"Soon, please—I can feel the blood coming to my head." I nodded, letting go of him and whipping out a knife from my waist band. Always prepared.

Jace dangled uselessly as I decided where to cut from; we had took part in training like this at the Academy, I just needed to put the pieces together.

Finally, I did. Well, either way, he'll fall.

"Okay, Jace I want you to get onto your hands, like push them against the part of the netting where your head is." I explained, watching him fumble slightly.

"Are you serious?" He asked, when I didn't respond, he sighed. He fought against the netting, ripping his arms up from his sides. Finally, he had his palms pressed against the netting.

"Good, well done. Now I need you to bend your legs, as if you're about to start crawling." I watched as Jace struggled to comprehend this for a few moments, but he was soon in the position I had guided him through.

I warned him beforehand, but I reached up to cut the netting under his legs. Then, when I heard the netting start to tear, I yelled, "jump!"

He did, landing not so softly. In fact, he stumbled into me, and I, of course, tried to stop his fall, conscious that the floor was both wet, and hard to hit.

We both fell back, me hitting a tree trunk with him against me. With the wind knocked out of me, I could only see him, and feel the pain of the hit rushing in. But I decided that Jace was more important.

He stared down at me, breathing rapid, Northern Light eyes shaking, body trembling slightly.

Then his eyes met my lips.

I jumped out of my skin when a twig snapped behind us, almost falling away from Jace.

It was Jameson.

His eyes flitted between us—he wasn't stupid; he knew.

"Uh–breakfast is ready, Elle didn't want me to shout...just in case." Jameson, being reserved about his relationship with Sky, was quite obviously uncomfortable seeing...whatever he saw.

Jace cleared his throat, nodding as he sorted out his clothes. He soon wandered back to the camp once it was obvious that Jameson wanted to speak to me.

I held my hands up in defence, beginning to walk. "I'm sorry, okay? Sometimes you just need a shag in the woods."

Jameson turned, walking beside me back to camp, but didn't reply for a while.

"Why don't you just tell him?" He asked, glancing at me.

I pulled a face at him, "that I need a shag in the woods?" I asked, watching Jameson's face morph into horror. He did, however, seem mildly amused—thank god.

"I mean, that you're interested in him."

I laughed, but I wasn't sure if I actually found anything humorous. "You make it sound like an archaic arrangement."

Silence followed, and I sighed, sensing that Jameson wanted an answer.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "It's not even that obvious anyway, so it's not a big deal."

"Everyone knows, Lexi." I froze, tripping over my feet.

"What?" I think the camp probably heard my yell, even though we were quite a few metres hidden into the trees. Jace most likely heard me, though; he didn't quite have Guardian speed.

"Well, maybe not everyone—but it is obvious." I groaned, rubbing my fingers against my forehead, probably smearing mud all over it.

"Are you scared?" Jameson asked next. His question surprised me.

I sighed. "I don't know," seeing the look on Jameson's face, I quickly put in, "honestly, I don't. I think maybe I'm still anticipating that he'll just laugh and continue to bat his eyelashes at Sky."

I kicked at some twigs, seeing the entrance of the camp approaching.

"He doesn't like Sky anymore."

I tripped again. "What?" Jameson rolled his eyes, not even sparing me a second glance before he continued to walk. "Wait," I said, catching up, "how do you know?"

"Well," Jameson begun, "I can't be certain, but he doesn't seem to be trying to spend time with her as much as he did...before." He explained.

"So he...lost interest?" I asked, not be able to decide how that made me feel.

Jameson shrugged. "Possibly, or maybe I'm over-analysing."

"No, no," I said, shaking my head, "I don't dismiss your Boyfriend Intuition." Jameson smiled at this term. Though, as we entered the camp once more, the subject kind of left us.

I found Jace as he started to take a seat where we had previously been sitting. I joined him, startling him slightly as he settled himself.

He didn't meet my eyes until he did a double-take after glancing at me. He frowned down at my forehead. Then he reached out, fingers aiming for my face, sending my heart into a frenzy.

Knowing what I knew now placed me far closer to Jace than I was before. I felt like I had crossed an ocean, and that at least now we were on the same island.

His fingers met my forehead, and he ran his hands over the skin. He pulled away, looking at his thumb with a frown.

"You had mud on your face." He explained. Oh. Oh.

I watched him wipe it off awkwardly.

I smirked. "If you wanted to touch my face, Jace, you didn't need to come up with a useless excuse." Once again, he did a double-take, probably seeing the playful glint I knew I always got in my eyes when I became flirty.

In that moment, Elle handed us both a plate each, eyes conspicuously flitting between us.

Innocently, I dug into my breakfast, watching from the corner of my eye as Jace fumbled slightly.

Knowing that Sky was slightly out of the picture gave me confidence. I knew it was weird, since, technically, Jace couldn't get past Jameson, but I always thought it would be wrong to make a move when he was in love with someone else.

I think Jameson was right too, though. I knew Jace didn't love me, but I was scared to hear it from his lips.

The group ate breakfast mainly in silence, every now and then bringing up something for clarification, or, in Elle's case, a new way to transport our toilet roll. Honestly, I don't know—she's just a real camping geek.

Soon, we dispersed to get ready for the day. I left first, wanting to get a head start. I sat in the middle of our tent, unbraiding my hair, surrounded by my toiletries and clothes. Suddenly, the tent was unzipped by someone, who slipped in beside me.

I turned to see Jace leaning on his side, watching me. I smiled over at him, shaking my hair out.

"How do we wash?" He asked out of nowhere.

I frowned. "There's a river about twenty metres out." I explained, packing my toiletries into one bag and my clothes into another.

"A...river?"

I furrowed my eyebrows at him, "of course," I said, "we didn't choose a polluted one, though." With that, I got up and left the tent.

"Wait!" Jace called after me. I paused, waiting outside the tent for him. Just as I began to peer in, he emerged from the tent, his backpack on his back.

"I'm coming with you."

I rose an eyebrow at him, "you want to wash together?" I asked him.

Jace pondered this, but decided he didn't want to, or didn't know how to, respond. So he began to walk.

Well, this will be interesting.

_________________________________

Sexy time in the river

MOOD

aw Jameson is a love
quite awkward
but a love

Let's see what y'all think

Alexi and Jace?
Jameson??
Jace doesn't like Sky anymore? Did any of you spot this too? Or was it just Jameson?
Elle? (Lmao I had to, she's such a fimble I can't 😂)
Alexi and Jace...washing together? In a river??

-yes I agree

FABULOUS SONGS

Songs that played when I was writing this chapter (in order):
Echo - Foxes
Fix You - Coldplay
Hard for a Man - Say Lou Lou
My Eyes - Lumineers
Vincent - Ellie Goulding
Touch It - Ariana Grande
Six Feet Over Ground - Aquilo
To Build A Home - The Cinematic Orchestra
My God - Rae Morris
Truth Is a Beautiful Thing - London Grammar

END OF FABULOUS SONGS

Date written:
26/04/18
27/04/18

___________
Next update: Wednesday
___________

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE SPOILER:

Inches apart.
Only water to separate them.
Skin to skin.

But miles away by heart...or, maybe, just a little closer.