CATEGORIES: A, J&J HR, F

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the people here. I really think you could have
figured that out on your own, but that's okay.

PERMISSION: Please archive this, but tell me where it is.

SUMMARY: Jessie and a mysterious condition.

NOTES: This is actually the prequel to Opportunities Missed. It just makes more
sense that way.
 

She came from behind him silently. She was within two feet of him before Jonny
heard her.
He turned to defend himself, but it was too late.
She pulled the trigger.
The alarm on Jonny’s vest sounded.
“Oh man!” Jonny said, falling back onto the grass.
Jessie smiled.
“Gotcha’ again,” she said. “What does that make? Four to zero?”
“Yeah, three to zero.”
Jessie sat down in the grass, laying her laser tag gun beside her and removing
her vest.
“Four to zero,” she said.
“Okay, four to zero. Wanna’ play again?”
“I think that’s enough for today,” a voice said.
Jonny and Jessie both turned to find Race standing behind them.
“Hi Dad,” Jessie said.
“Don’t you guys have some homework to get done?” he asked.
Jonny and Jessie looked at each other and nodded.
“Yeah, we do,” Jonny said.
“Well, go get it done,” Race said.
The teenagers gathered their gear and headed for the door. Race followed slowly,
limping on his right leg, where a brace covered from his knee down.
“Where are your crutches?” Jessie asked, stopping to wait for him.
“In my room.”
“Dad.”
“I know. I’m supposed to be on my crutches,” Race said, repeating what his
daughter had told him so many times just that week.
Jessie smiled as they started walking again.
“You want to be in that thing for another three months?” she asked.
“No,” Race said reluctantly.
They made it to the door and Jonny held it open for them to enter.
Normally he and Jessie would have been playing in Questworld, but the system had
crashed the day before and they had to find other ways to amuse themselves while
Dr. Quest and Hadji tried to get the system back online.
Jonny and Jessie walked left towards the library and Race turned towards his
room.
“I don’t want to hear the TV on until your homework is finished,” he called.
“Go get your crutches,” Jessie called back.
She could hear her father laugh.

Hadji found them two hours later in the kitchen eating sugar cookies and talking
about a trip they were taking in two weeks.
“Hey,” Jessie said when she saw him enter.
“Hello,” he said. “Race asked me to find you and tell you that you should be
ready to go in one hour.”
“Go?” Jonny asked.
“To the party at Dr. Marquez’s house.”
“Oh. Did somebody tell me about this?”
“Yes,” Jessie said simply. “Your tux in on your bed.”
“Oh,” Jonny said.
Jessie pushed the plate of cookies towards Hadji.
“Want one?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“No, thank you,” he said. “I am not fond of those kind.”
Jessie shrugged.
“Suit yourself.”

Jessie hung on her father’s arm as they entered the ballroom.
She had finally made him consent to using a cane while they were at the party, a
compromise between nothing and crutches.
She was gorgeous if you went by the way all of the younger men gawked when she
came in. Well, a couple of the older ones too.
Jessie was aware of it, as she was with almost everything around her, but she
chose to ignore it and continued to walk with her father on her right and Dr.
Quest on her left, Hadji and Jonny walking behind.
Dr. Marquez saw them enter and broke away from the group he was talking with to
come greet them.
“Ah, Dr. Quest, Mr. Bannon, a pleasure to see you,” he said, shaking hands with
each of them. “Miss Bannon, you look beautiful.”
Jessie smiled gently as he kissed her hand.
“Jonny, Hadji.”
He shook hands with both of them, then turned back to Dr. Quest.
“There’s something I want to show you,” he said. “You too Mr. Bannon.”
he led them away.
Race looked over his shoulder at Jessie.
“I’ll be back in a little while,” he said.
Jessie nodded at him, then turned to Hadji and Jonny.
They all looked at each other for a few moments.
“Want to go out on the balcony?” Jessie asked.
Hadji and Jonny nodded.
They all walked together across the ballroom floor, the boys in black tuxes and
Jessie in a full length black dress, her red hair falling below her shoulders.
She still had the attention of the men in the room.
Halfway across the floor Johnny told them he would be back in a few minutes.
“Where are you going?” Jessie asked.
She didn’t like these parties, especially when everyone wandered off and left
her.
“Do you really want to know?” Jonny asked.
“Never mind.”
“I’ll be back soon.”
He turned and walked away.
“Are you skipping out too?” Jessie asked Hadji.
“No,” he said with a smile. “I am staying.”
They went on to the balcony which was virtually deserted except for a group of
three in the corner closest the doors.
Jessie led Hadji to the opposite end of the balcony and they stood at the
railing, looking out over the water.

Jonny came back from the bathroom and spotted Hadji and Jessie through the floor
to ceiling windows.
Then he spotted the table where the refreshments were and decided to stop by
there first.
There was a man there of about twenty who greeted Jonny with a smile as he
approached.
“How’s it going?” he asked Jonny.
“Not bad,” he answered, taking a glass of punch from the waiter.
“Just get here?” he asked Jonny.
“A little while ago.”
“You see the girl yet?”
“Girl?”
“Yeah, there’s this absolutely gorgeous redhead in a black dress.”
“Oh yeah?” Jonny asked, nonchalantly.
“Yeah. She’s over there on the balcony with some Muslin guy,” he said.
“Hindu.”
“What?”
“Hindu,” Jonny repeated, then walked away.

Jessie smiled when she saw Jonny walk onto the balcony.
“So you came back?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said, handing her the glass of punch.
“Thanks.”
Jonny smiled, thinking of the man he knew was still watching from across the
room and what he had said about Jessie.
“What took you so long?” Jessie asked, interrupting his thoughts.
Jonny shrugged.
“Some guy was telling me about you.”
Jessie merely smiled.

Jessie spent the morning playing in Questworld with Jonny. With her help Dr.
Quest had gotten the program back online just hours before.
At first she and Jonny had played in the flight simulator, but he had to leave
for an appointment.
After he had left Jessie explored the Mars surface in a geographically accurate
reconstruction inside Questworld, but after a while she got tired and sought out
her father in his bedroom.
Even though he had his own office, most of the time he worked at the desk in his
bedroom when he was reviewing papers.
The TV was on in the corner, tuned to CNN, but the volume was down so low that
it couldn’t be heard.
“hey,” Jessie said, entering the room.
“Hey ponchita,” Race answered without looking up.
Jessie stretched out on his bed with her head at the wrong end.
She yawned.
“Tired?” Race asked.
“Yeah, I’ve been a little sleepy today for some reason.”
“Because of the party, more than likely. We were all out pretty late last
night.”
“Probably,” Jessie said, yawning again.
She closed her eyes.

Jonny stuck his head in Race’s bedroom door.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey yourself,” Race said from his position propped up with pillows on the bed.
“How’d that meeting go with Dr. Daniel’s?”
“Pretty good from what I can tell,” Jonny said. “I spent most of the time
following Cindy around the grounds.”
“Dr. Daniel’s got a pretty daughter,” Race said.
“Yeah.”
“Yeah. That’s it?”
“Well, it’s that whole if you can’t say anything nice situation.”
Race laughed out loud.
“Well, at least I know you’ve been listening to me,” he said. “So, what did you
need?”
“I was going to see if Jessie wanted to go into Questworld with me. How long has
she been asleep?”
“About two hours. She needs to get up anyway or she won’t go to sleep tonight.”
Jonny nodded.
“Jess,” Race said. “Time to wake up.”
Jessie didn’t move.
“Jess,” Race said, leaning over and patting her leg. “Come on, time to get up.”
She still didn’t move.
Jonny and Race looked at each other. Usually all it took to wake Jessie up was
someone saying her name.
“Jess?” Jonny said.
He walked over to the bed.
Race slid down to the end of the bed and rolled Jessie over on her back.
She was breathing, but it was shallow.
Jonny gasped.
“Jessie!”
“Come on, Jess,” Race said as he pushed first one of her eyelids open, then the
other.
Her eyes didn’t move and there was no response from Jessie.
“Oh God,” Jessie breathed.

Benton pulled the needle from her arm, capped it, and put it in the used syringe
receptacle.
“We cannot stop it, but this should keep it from spreading until we can find out
what kind of poison it is,” he said.
Race just nodded.
He was standing at the head of the hospital bed looking at his daughter.
They had moved her to a two-story building just to the north of the house. It
had originally served as a research facility, but when the experiments were
moved to the mainland, Quest had it stocked with enough medical supplies to run
a five-bed hospital.
From what the tests revealed, the poison had been ingested some time before and
had slowly entered the blood stream.
Benton had called Dr. Marquez and explained the situation.
Marquez had told him that no one else had fallen ill, but he would check the
food and contact the other guests.
Benton had also called the school the teenagers had been attending while at home
and had been told the same thing.
Just to be safe, Benton had injected Jonny and Hadji with the same thing he had
injected Jessie with.
Jessie was on a heart monitor, which beeped regularly.
Jonny slipped out of the room while his father and Race talked, Hadji looking
on.
He made his way outside and across the island to the lighthouse.
Somewhere off the coast a storm was brewing and the waves crashed against the
sea cliffs, blown up by the wind.
Every since they were little, he and Jessie had been warned to stay off the top
floor of the lighthouse.
They had never listened. Just three days ago he and Jessie had come there for a
little peace and quiet while their house was full of people talking to their
fathers.
Jonny opened the door, which squeaked on its hinges, and left it open. There was
another door on the other side of the lighthouse that led to the rooms housing
the hardware for Questworld.
Jonny climbed the stairs, avoiding the weak spots in the wood involuntarily
until he reached the landing.
He stopped and looked around at the empty room and the glass walls where he had
spent a lot of his time.
He liked it there, but today the dark clouds moving in, the high waves, and the
absence of Jessie depressed him.
Jonny took a couple of steps forward and caught sight of something in the
corner.
He walked over and picked it up.
It was the pendant from Jessie’s necklace. It had caught the last of the dying
light and reflected it so he had seen it.
He closed his hand around the blue stone set in silver that Jessie’s mother had
given her. Then he closed his eyes.

After two days Race had moved Jessie back to the house.
She had not gotten any worse, but she had not gotten any better either.
Race had put her in his bedroom and he stayed there with her for three days
without leaving. No one knew if he had slept or not.
Jonny never ventured any farther than the hallway outside the door. He was
afraid to.
Instead he spent his time at the lighthouse or in his room. He couldn’t bring
himself to go to school.
Her seat would sit empty beside him and he did not think he could handle that.
So many people - doctors, friends - came and went.
Jonny kept away from them as much as he could.
He was angry at them for already acting like she was dead.
After the people started coming, Jonny locked himself in the bedroom with the
lights off and didn’t answer when anyone came.
He left the hosting duties to his father and Hadji who could better handle it
than he could.
Until his father came, Jonny had been in his room two days, only leaving to walk
down the hall to Race’s bedroom and look at Jessie from the door.
“Jonny?” his father called through the door. “Are you in there?”
“Yes,” he answered reluctantly.
“Come out. I need you to help me.”
Jonny stood up from the floor where he had been sitting and crossed the room,
opening the door.
“Come sit with Jessie,” he said. “I have to get Race out of there for a while.”
He turned and walked towards Race’s room.
Jonny followed silently down the empty hall. Their guests had all left for the
day.
Race was waiting at the door.
“If anything happens, come get me,” he said quietly.
Then he and Benton walked away, leaving Jonny standing at the door looking after
them.
When they had disappeared from sight, Jonny went into the room.
He approached the bed slowly.
It was silent in the room.
Jonny sat down on the floor beside Jessie. She was still gorgeous even though
most of the color had gone from her face.
Jessie’s hand lay on the bed right beside Jonny.
He laid his face down on the sheets so that her fingertips were almost touching
his face, and closed his eyes.
Jonny was thinking about a winter three years ago when his father, Race, Jonny,
and Jessie had gone to Alaska to look into some strange happenings.
They were staying in a cabin forty miles from the nearest Inuit village.
Benton, Race, and the owner of the cabin went to the village to pick up some
supplies.
Jessie and Jonny stayed behind with Bandit to “hold down the fort.”
The men were gone for an hour when a freak storm blew up.
Race and Benton were trapped in the village and Jonny and Jessie were trapped in
the cabin with the fuel supply for the generator gone.
The months of darkness were set to end in two weeks, but for the time being it
was dark outside with the temperature forty below zero and dropping.
Jessie stood at the window.
“They’re not going to make it back in this tonight,” she said.
“I think you’re right,” Jonny said. “I tried to get them on the radio, but no
luck.”
“The generator is going to go out soon,” Jessie said. “Which means we’re going
to lose light and heat.”
“There’s wood in the mudroom,” Jonny said. “I’ll get a fire started if you’ll
pull out all of the blankets and flashlights.”
Jessie nodded just as the lights dimmed, then brightened again.
“Better hurry,” Jonny said.

The generator died just as Jonny got the fire started.
Jessie had piled the blankets on a mattress she had pulled in from one of the
bedrooms.
She was sitting on top of them, dressing Bandit in a sweater.
‘What are you doing?” Jonny asked.
“Putting a sweater on Bandit.”
“Don’t put clothes on the dog,” Jonny said, crawling up on the blankets beside
her.
“Why not?” Jessie asked.
She set Bandit down on the bed and he crawled back into her lap.
“Never mind,” Jonny said.
Jessie laughed.
“You let me get away with everything,” she said.
Jonny just smiled.

Jessie ended up warming up soup on the fire for dinner, then all three burrowed
under the covers to sleep.
By morning Jonny had ended up with his arms around Jessie and her head on his
chest.
Jonny stayed there until Jessie woke up, just looking at her.
It was the first time in his life he had actually looked at her and seen her
like outsiders must.
He was stunned. She was so beautiful and he had never even realized it.

Jonny lifted his head and looked at Jessie laying unconscious in the bed.
He had never figured out what made her so pretty, but whatever it was it carried
over to her virtual self in Questworld.
Jonny stopped.
“Questworld,” he murmured.
Jonny stood, pulled the blankets off of Jessie, and lifted her from the bed.
He carried her down the hall to Hadji’s room and called his name.
Hadji appeared at the door with a look of alarm on his face.
“What is wrong?” he asked. “Has something happened?”
“No,” Jonny answered, heading for the outside door with Hadji following. “I just
need your help.”
“My help with what?” Hadji asked.
“Logging Jessie into Questworld.”

Jessie was situated in the chair with the viewing device over her left ear.
Jonny had done the same thing in the seat next to her.
“Do it,” Jonny said.
Hadji nodded from the control panel.
“Logging on to Questworld,” he said. “Subjects Jessie Bannon and Jonny Quest.
Going hot.”
There was a beep, then a flash of light and Jonny was standing in a rose garden,
one of Jessie’s favorite simulations.
And then he heard Jessie’s voice.
“This is great,” she said.
Jonny turned around and saw Jessie standing on one of the stone benches with her
arms out.
“I can finally move again,” she said.
Jonny approached the bench and Jessie fell in his arms and hugged him, laughing.
“When I heard you say you were going to log me in I was so happy,” she said.
“Wait,” Jonny said. “You could hear me?”
Jessie nodded.
“I can hear everything and feel it when people are moving around,” she said.
“It’s like I’m paralyzed or something.”
Jessie was still hugging him tight, but she suddenly stopped.
“My Dad,” she said quietly, stepping away from Jonny. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know,” Jonny said.
“Hadji!” Jessie called.
“Yes, Jessie?” his voice echoed back.
“Will you find my father for me and bring him back here?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said. “I will return shortly.”
“My poor Dad,” Jessie said.
Jonny started to reach out for her, but didn’t because he knew Race would be
there any second and would not like the situation.
“Don’t worry, Jess,” he said instead. “He’ll be here in a few minutes and you
can talk to him.”
Jessie nodded.
A few moments later, Race’s disembodied voice boomed from above them.
“Jess?”
“Dad!”
“Oh God, Jessie.”
“There was a lot of relief in his voice.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Are you coming in here?” Jessie asked, choosing not to call attention to her
useless body still in the chair.
“Yeah, hold on a minute, ponchita. I’ll be in there.”
Jonny looked at Jessie.
“I’m gonna’ go so you and your dad can be together,” he said.
“Jonny,” she said. “Will you come back later?”
Jonny nodded.
“Of course,” he said.
Then he just dissolved in front of her eyes.

Jonny waited outside the door to the computer room while Race and Jessie talked
together.
He could hear everything they were saying, so he moved down the hall a little
until their voices couldn’t be made out.
All that time Jessie had been laying there awake, unable to move. If he hadn’t
been so selfish, if he had only gone in there sooner maybe she would be awake by
now. Maybe they would be playing on the jet skis or sitting in the top room of
the lighthouse wit their backs against one of the windows.
But instead he had locked himself in his room and left his father, Hadji, and
Race to deal with everything. He left Jessie there to suffer.
Benton suddenly burst out of the computer room, looked up and down the hall
frantically, and finally caught sight of his son.
He rushed up to him and put his hands on his shoulders.
“Son, where are the cookies that you and Jessie were eating before we went to
Dr. Marquez’s party?” he asked.
Jonny was caught off guard. He couldn’t remember eating any cookies.
Benton saw his son hesitating.
“Jessie said they were like sugar cookies.”
Jonny’s eyes lit up.
 

Benton examined the specimen under the microscope.
“How many cookies did you eat?” he asked.
“I only took a bite of one,” Jonny said. “I didn’t like it, so I gave it to
Jess.”
“Was it bitter?”
“No. It was just too soft. I didn’t like it.”
“How many did Jessie eat?”
Jonny thought for a moment.
“About three I think.”
“And no one else ate any?” Benton asked.
“Apparently not. There were four left when Jessie put them up and there’s still
four.”
“Okay.”
Race came in the room from the side door.
“Jonny, Jessie wants you. She’s still in the computer room,” he said.
“Okay,” Jonny said.
He left the room and started up the hall as Race and Benton began to speak.
“We have a problem,” Benton said.
Jonny stopped where he stood and listened to the rest of the conversation.
“What do you mean?” Race asked.
“I have identified the poison. It is tritochloristene.”
“Trito - what?”
“Tritochloristene.”
“I’ve never heard of it,” Race said.
“It is manufactured, mostly by the military, as an agent for chemical warfare.
You might know it by TCT.”
“TCT? But they just started developing that. It’s not stabilized yet.”
“Apparently it is. This form is very stabilized,” Benton said. “Do you know what
the effects are?”
“From what I can remember it starts with loss of consciousness, then slowly
shuts down the body,” Race said, growing quieter. “Which leads to death.”
“Jessie has shown most of the signs, but we stopped it before it spread past
loss of consciousness,” Benton said. “And there is an antidote.”
“Will it reverse everything?”
“That’s one possibility,” Benton said.
“What’s the other possibility?” Race asked.
“Since the poison had already spread, the antidote could serve as a catalyst and
make the poison spread again.”
“What do you mean?”
“If the second scenario happened, Jessie would end up dying anyway.”
Jonny was stunned.
He rushed back into the room.
“What did you just say?” he asked frantically.
Both men looked up, startled.
“Jonny, what are you doing here?” Benton asked.
“I thought you were with Jessie,” Race said.
“Did you say Jessie was going to die?” Jonny asked, ignoring  both men.
“I did not say that,” Benton said. “I said it was a possibility.”
Jonny tried to say something. He moved his mouth, but no sound came out.
Just when he thought things would be okay they got worse. How could Jessie die
now? They had found out what the poison was. There was an antidote.
Benton helped his son sit down in a chair by the door and explained the
situation to him and Race.
Eventually he got to another problem.
“Jessie will have to make the decision as to what we do,” Benton said. “It is up
to her whether she should live in Questworld or in the real world.”
Race and Jonny nodded in agreement.
“Now, who is going to tell her?” Benton asked.
It was silent for a moment, then Jonny spoke up.
“I’ll do it,” he said. “But I want to be left alone with her when I do.”
“Jonny, if you want I’ll do this,” Race said.
“I want to,” Jonny said. “And Jessie’s waiting for me.”

Jessie was waiting by a reflecting pool, slowly dropping leaves in the water and
watching them drift away when she saw Jonny’s image on the glassy surface.
She looked up to see Jonny, who was standing over her.
“Hey,” she said. “What took so long?”
“I was talking to Race and Dad.”
“About what?”
Jonny shrugged.
“What’s wrong?” she asked as she stood up.
“I need to talk to you, Jess.”
“Okay.”
“Come on,” Jonny said.
He led her away from the reflecting pond. It disappeared behind them as a Greek
temple appeared.
Their footsteps echoed as they ascended the steps.
Jessie sat down first on a marble bench by one of the pillars.
“What’s up?” she asked as Jonny sat down.
“Do you want me to break it to you gently or get right to the point?” he asked.
“In all the years I’ve known you, Ace, I’ve never seen you break anything
gently.”
Jonny smiled even though he didn’t want to. Jessie always had that effect on
him.
“Good news first?” he asked.
“Sure.”
“They found out what the poison was. It’s trito . . . trito - something.”
“Tritochloristene?” Jessie asked.
“Yeah. How’d you kn - Never mind,” Jonny said.
Jessie smiled softly even though she already knew what was coming.
She had read about tritochloristene and its effects in a medical journal that
Dr. Quest had just a few weeks earlier. It wasn’t supposed to be stable yet, but
apparently it was. She knew that her outlook wasn’t good.
“Dad said there was an antidote that could completely reverse the effects . . .”
“But?” Jessie asked.
She knew about the poison, but not about an antidote.
Jonny struggled for a few moments, then stood up suddenly.
“They said you might die anyway!” he blurted out. “That when they give it to
you, you’ll either recover completely or die.”
Jonny stopped and looked at Jessie.
“Do you see what I mean about breaking things gently?” she asked smiling.
She was staring at the ground just in front of Jonny.
“Jessie?” he asked quietly.
“They sent you to tell me to decide didn’t they?” Jessie asked without looking
up.
“Yeah. They said it was your decision.”
Jessie nodded, then looked up at Jonny.
They both looked scared.

Hadji was reviewing the security tapes from the last week. He was trying to find
out how the cookies had been poisoned.
No one knew when the cookies had appeared in the house. No one remembered buying
them or anyone bringing them in the house.
Hadji had already watched seventy-four hours of security tapes in fast forward
when something suddenly caught his eye.
Outside the kitchen door he saw someone standing in the bushes.
Hadji slowed the tape so it played in real time.
He could see someone entirely in black stand up from the bushes, a gun in one
hand and a black backpack on.
Hadji began to zoom in on the image, but suddenly the screen flashed and the
tape was showing tape from a half hour later.
He rewound the tape and tried to watch one more time, but the same thing
happened.
Hadji noted the time and date from the tape and went to tell Dr. Quest.

Jessie had decided what she wanted as soon as she heard her options, but she
waited before she said anything.
She asked Jonny to sit back down. He complied instantly and sat down on the
bench next to her.
Then something happened that Jonny never expected. Jessie held her arms out to
be hugged.
Jonny put his arms around her without even thinking, resting his chin on her
shoulder. Jessie closed her eyes.
“If I were to die,” she said slowly, “do you think my Dad could go on?”
“I don’t know,” Jonny said quietly. “He would take it really hard.”
“What about your father?”
“He might,” Jonny said. “It’s just you’re family now.”
“Hadji?”
“He would be torn up, I think. He would have his meditation though.”
Jessie knew that Jonny was trying to comfort her with his answers.
“What about you?” she asked.
Jonny said nothing. He couldn’t. He just tightened his grip and closed his eyes.
He couldn’t bear to think of losing her.
Jessie was on the verge of tears. She knew that was how it would be.
She took a moment to collect herself before going on.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I just can’t stay like this.”
“I know,” Jonny said. “I wouldn’t ask you to.”

“What do you mean it just skipped ahead?” Race asked.
“While the tape is playing there is a half of an hour missing,” Hadji explained.
“It appears that the cameras were turned off during that time.”
“But why didn’t it trip the alarms?” Race said. “I thought that we had a trip on
the cameras.”
Hadji was searching the security system database while Dr. Quest reviewed the
videotape.
“I am not sure, but it appears that the system was hacked into through
Questworld,” Hadji said.
“By who?”
“I think I can answer that,” Dr. Quest called from across the room.
Race crossed the room quickly and looked over Benton’s shoulder at the monitor
he was looking at.
“Look familiar?” Benton asked, pointing towards the dark figure on the screen.
“I’ll be damned,” Race said. “If it isn’t Surd’s henchman Julia.”

Jessie sat alone waiting for Jonny to return. He had left to tell their fathers
her decision.
It was so quiet in Questworld.
In the center of the temple were several statues. The Fates stood among them.
Jessie stared at them, trying to remember what she had learned from her studies.
Clotho sat spinning out the thread of life, Lachesis measured it, and Atropos
carried the shears to cut it.
If she remembered right these were the immortals that determined how long a
person would live according to Greek mythology.
“I don’t remember them being in here,” Jessie said to no one.
Just as she said it, Jessie thought she saw one of the statues move.
She stood up from the bench and took a step towards them.
They dissolved suddenly.
Jessie gasped as they took on the form of a man with long dark hair.
“Surd!”
She spit out the name as if it were bitter.
He only smiled.
“Now you greet me like your father does,” he said. “You get more like him
everyday.”
Jessie stared at him silently.
“See what I mean?” he asked.
“What do you want, Surd?” Jessie asked.
“Why, I just wanted to talk to you,” he said, walking towards  her slowly.
“Check on my experiment.”
Jessie suddenly realized who had been behind the poison.
“Don’t think you’re going to get away with this,” Jessie said angrily.
Surd laughed.
“So very much like your father,” he said again.
Surd walked around her slowly.
“It has to be that Bannon blood,” he said.
Jessie stood perfectly still as Surd made his way all the way around her.
“The Bannon blood,” he said. “That’s something I wouldn’t mind having on my
hands.”
Jessie lunged at him, but he dissolved quickly.
She could hear his laughter as it faded away.
Moments later she hears Jonny’s voice.
“Hey, Jess, I - “
“He was here!” Jessie yelled. “He was here.”

“I cannot find how he got in,” Hadji said. “There is no trace of it in the
system.”
“Keep looking,” Jonny said. “He had to get in somehow.”
Jessie was pacing inside Questworld. She could hear the boys talking.
Her father had taken a position on the bench she had sat on such a short time
ago.
“Calm down, Jess,” he said.
“How dare he use me as an experiment?” Jessie demanded. “Then he comes and
taunts me.”
Jessie clenched her fists.
“We’ll worry about that later,” Race told her.
Jessie continued to pace.
“I have found a doorway,” Hadji’s voice drifted down into Questworld. “However I
cannot get through it. It seems to have been locked upon Surd’s exit.”
Jessie let out her breath, exasperated.
“Jess,” Race said quietly. “We’ll worry about Surd later. We have more important
things to do now.”
Jessie stopped and looked at her father.
“When it the antidote getting here?” she asked.
She knew that Dr. Quest and her father had called Commander Bennett to get the
antidote from the military and that it was going to take a little time.
“Tomorrow morning,” Race said. “They’ll be brining it by helicopter. They
haven’t exactly made an antidote as of yet.”

Jessie urged her family to get some rest as night came on, but none of them
would listen. They all took turns keeping her company while arrangements were
made for the following morning.
Commander Bennett called at midnight and told them the antidote would be there
by nine in the morning.
Jessie had often wondered what she would do if it was her last day on Earth and
she knew it.
Of course she had never thought she would be paralyzed and stuck in Questworld.
She had faced death so many times in her short life in so many different ways,
but something had always come along at the last moment to save her. It seemed
strange that Jonny couldn’t just appear and make everything all right like he
always did. But it wasn’t up to him anymore. It wasn’t up to any of them.

At seven the next morning she asked for Jonny to come back.
“Is it sunny outside?” she asked when he was standing beside her in the rose
garden.
“It’s not raining,” Jonny said. “Why?”
“Will you do me a favor?” Jessie asked.
“Anything.”
“When they give me the injection, I don’t want to be in here. I want to be out
of Questworld. I want to feel the sun one more time. Can you do that for me?”
Jonny could only nod.

The helicopter arrived at fifteen until nine, landing on the helipad in the
Quest Compound. Race met it there and Commander Bennett stepped out along with
an Army doctor.
They went back to the lighthouse, the doctor carrying a small box with the
antidote inside.
Hadji and Dr. Quest met them at the door and brought them inside.
There wasn’t any small talk. Dr. Quest took the doctor and Hadji into the
laboratory while Bennett and Race waited in the hall.
“How is Jessie?” Commander Bennett asked.
“She’s taking pretty well,” Race answered.
“How about you?”
Race shook his head and looked at the floor.
He struggled for a moment, trying to find what he wanted to say.
“She’s my only child,” he finally said. “I don’t have anyone but her.”
Bennett put his hand on Race’s shoulder.
He didn’t have anything to say.

Jessie was teaching Jonny how to dance. She had promised him at least twenty
times to teach him a few steps, but she had never had time before.
“No, left foot forward and for the last time, your hand goes here,” Jessie
corrected him.
She was trying to sound stern, but her eyes were laughing.
“Now forward, back, back, turn.”
Jonny turned Jessie and accidentally tripped her. He caught her in his arms
before she hit the ground and they both laughed, hugging each other.
“Don’t worry,” Jessie said. “You’ll get it soon enough.”
Dr. Quest’s voice came from above them.
“Jessie, Jonny. It’s time.”
“Okay,” Jessie called back, suddenly solemn.
Jessie had already said her goodbyes, just in case and so now she just hugged
Jonny tightly.
“Remember what you promised?” she whispered.
Jonny nodded and then both of them logged out.

Jonny carried Jessie back to the main house and into the library. Along the east
wall was a huge window seat where Jessie always sat to read.
Jonny sat down there with Jessie in his lap.
Dr. Quest and Race followed him inside.
Hadji waited in the doorway with the doctor and Bennett.
Race leaned over and kissed Jessie on the forehead as Benton injected her with
the clear liquid. Then both of them retreated to the doorway.
Jonny pulled Jessie close to his chest and looked out the window.
There was a swing hung in the tree. Race had hung it there for Jessie when she
was small. That had been so long ago, but Jessie still put it to good use.
It swung in the wind gently.
Jonny looked up at the sky, which was clouding over, then looked at Jessie.
“I’m sorry there isn’t more sun for you,” he whispered.
He pushed a strand of red hair away from her face.
They had known each other for so long and in a few moments he might not have her
at all.
Jessie suddenly drew her breath in and didn’t exhale. She shuddered and was
perfectly still.
Jonny’s eyes filled with tears and he turned his face to the window as one slid
down his cheek.
“Jess,” he said quietly and closed his eyes as more tears coursed down his
cheeks.
He felt totally alone in a way he had never felt.
He would never be woken up with Jessie standing in his doorway again. He would
never sit in the lighthouse with her again, just talking about things. He would
never push her in the swing again or - .
A hand touched his cheek and Jonny opened his eyes and looked down at Jessie who
was smiling at him gently.
“You’re not dead,” he said.
“Of course not,” Jessie said quietly as Jonny pressed his face against hers.
“But you see what I mean about breaking things gently?”