Chapter 3

It did not take long to figure out that Jacob was not much of a talker. He only said what he had to say, and then he was quiet.
Shawn was not talking, but he kept looking warily at Jacob. Sure, with me, I can't get the kid to shut up. With Jacob, he's as silent as a grave.
Me, on the other hand, was whimpering like a five year old child. Unfortunately, I start crying from a paper cut, so you can imagine how much worse it was for me to have this wound.
We reached a hill...and it looked steep. Jacob looked from me to the hill, and then back at me. He sighed in frustration as he picked me up with little to no effort and started climbing.
"You can put me down now." I objected, my cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
"Deal with it, "Jacob didn't put me down, "We don't have time to waste, and your whimpering is enough to drive any man insane."
"Your concern is touching." I said sourly, my pride hurt by his biting words.
Jacob looked behind us. Shawn was right behind us. On top of his strange looks, there was an added feature. He was as pale as a vampire. He was starting to look like he was losing life or something. "Over a ring?" I thought, but then I thought about, "Lord of the Rings." Yeah, over a ring.
We finally made it to the top, and Jacob gently put me down. I bit my lower lip hard to keep from whimpering. I will show him!

He took out his canteen and poured water onto the wound. I screamed as I clutched my leg.
Jacob rolled his eyes, "Stop being a baby. The pain only hurts as much as your mind lets it."
"Gee, thanks for the sympathy."
He scowled as he tore my jeans and wrapped the piece around my leg tightly. He was gentler than he was a moment before, "Do you think you can walk?"
I would hate to know what would happen if I couldn't walk, "Yes, of course." I said perhaps too quickly.
His jaw tightened, "Don't lie to me."
"Well, first, you're mad at me, because I was being a baby, and now that I'm trying to be tough, you say not to lie. I am so confused."
Jacob looked at me, "It's true that you will slow us down, but it will not benefit me to leave you here."
I was even more confused. I could not see how it would not benefit him to ditch me. I decided that I probably shouldn't ask, because I doubted that I would appreciate the answer.
He must have seen the confusion in my eyes, because he said, "You're the bearer of the ring. You have the power of the ring within you, of course."
Yep, that should have been left unanswered. We started walking again-well, I was limping along. Shawn was glaring. Dark circles were under his eyes, and they were all red from lack of sleep. All in all, he looked kind of creepy. Note for self: Stay away from Shawn.

I didn't say anything, but I was looking at Shawn. Jacob was right, of course, but Shawn's obsession was almost more than I could handle.
Jacob grabbed Shawn, roughly, and I flinched at how animalistic Jacob was acting towards Shawn. Granted, I didn't touch him. I let the guerrilla have fun.
"You are coming with us, and if you so much as touch this ring, I will kill you!" he swore.
Shawn didn't say anything, but he cowered in fear, seeing no lies in Jacob's eyes. This led to my original conclusion-that Shawn was just a coward and would only get in the way. But coward or not, he still turned out to be a nuisance in other ways. Imagine that.
We started walking over rough terrain. The rocks were jagged and sharp. The boys didn't seem to have a problem, but I was not as fit as I was as a kid. I was slower, and I was breathing heavier.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain on the calf of my leg. I let out a cry of pain as I sat down. Fire felt like it was coursing up and down the veins in my leg.
Blood was soaking through my jeans. From what it looked like, it was as long of a gash as it was deep. I gasped in pain as I tried to lift my pant leg.
Jacob looked irritated as he grabbed his pocket knife. I looked at him wide-eyed, but he knelt down and cut my jeans to show the cut. He whistled through his teeth. That did not sound good.

"Are you not listening? This ring already has an effect on you," Jacob said angrily and then sighed as he looked away, "I think I should hold onto this ring for now. We should take turns, and we will destroy it together."
"But this doesn't concern you." I folded my arms.
"How does it not concern me? This ring holds my sister. If I destroy the ring, she dies...and so do I."
"Then why do you want to do something like this? In fact, why should I trust you?"
"And why should I trust you?" he countered.
I looked away at Shawn and noticed that he was waking up. I cursed under my breath, "What about Shawn?"
Jacob noticed Shawn waking up for the first time and looked away, "We can't bring him."
"What? Why not? Where is he supposed to go?"
"Home, where he belongs."
"But he had a ticket, too, to get here with me."
"It's another part of the curse. Any guy who has ever had the opportunity to meet my sister is unable to resist her charms. He will only get in the way."
"Well, if that's the case, he will get in the way if we don't take him, because he's absolutely obsessed. Trust me, he wants to marry this chick."
It was Jacob's turn to curse, "You're right. If we don't take him, he will just follow us, until has the opportunity to steal the ring."

The man took a step back, but then became angry, "Are you crazy?! Take that damn thing off!"
I was taken by surprise as I slowly took the ring off and returned to normal. The man grabbed my hand and took the ring from me. "Hey! What the hell?!" I protested.
The man didn't bother looking at me as he walked away. He yelled over his shoulder, "It's getting easier, isn't it?"
I was getting angry, "What's easier?"
"Putting on the ring, of course. Humans are not mean to feel that kind of power. It's exactly what happened to Jewel."
I stopped in my tracks, "What? How do you know all this?"
The man finally stopped and turned around, "My name is Jacob. I am Jewel's brother."
"That...doesn't make any sense," I stuttered, "Jewel is from an old century."
"When she was cursed, so was I. She became so obsessed with the ring. She became the ring. Her overprotective brother became immortal."
"I don't understand. She said something about a king..."
Jacob snorted, "Jewel likes to blame everyone except herself. She was you...once. She was supposed to destroy the ring, but...she couldn't. The power became too much for her to handle." he grimaced. He obviously didn't like thinking about it.
I sighed as I looked at the hand that was holding the ring. I was truthfully hearing what Jacob had to say, but I couldn't help missing the ring, "But I'm the protector of the ring."

The man looked confused as he started following me, "You..are not close to this man?"
"Nope." I said simply as I continued walking without so much as looking back.
"But...you called out for him...I am so confused."
I sighed in frustration as I turned to look at him, "First thing's first. Who are you?"
He squinted at me with distrust written in his eyes, "I could ask you the same thing. After all, you are considered trespassing."
I folded my arms angrily, "I doubt you have paperwork stating that you own this land."
"No, but like I said, I have lived here for many years, and I am very territorial."
"Good for you." I muttered.
The man stepped into my way, "You will tell me who you are and what your purpose is here."
I rolled my eyes and looked at the trees in the distance. I knew that he would not stop pestering me, and then I wouldn't get anywhere. However, I decided to take a different approach. I slipped on the ring.
I fell to the ground, undergoing the change from human to unnamed creature. I could see the fear and understanding in the man's eyes as I was finally able to stand up.

Once I reached the top, I took a moment to study the stranger who had just saved my life. He was slightly rugged. I could see in his eyes that he had been through hell. He had long brown hair and bright blue eyes. I was truly taken aback by his timing, "Where...where did you come from?"
He shrugged his shoulders, "It feel like I have been here my whole life," he seemed to hesitate and then looked at me wearily, "I am not used to strangers."
I nodded my head and shyly looked around. I finally noticed Shawn on the ground. He wasn't moving, "Is he-"
"No, but he won't wake up for awhile."
"Good." I said as I started walking again.

I looked up. Shawn wasn't talking-he wasn't there. He must have kept walking, "That bastard!" I said angrily, inwardly kicking myself for ever trusting him in the first place.
I cursed him even more and suddenly screamed when I felt myself falling backwards. However, I stopped halfway and looked up.
A man that I had never seen before gripped my arm tightly. I looked down and realized that if I had fallen down all the way, I probably would have died.
The man slowly lifted me up, and I climbed the rest of the way up the hill.

The next morning, we woke up early. The ring was even heavier in my pocket, and I was walking slower and slower. Sweat was pouring from my eyebrow, and Shawn starting talking about the ring once again.
"You are getting weaker," he pointed out the obvious, but I ignored him and kept walking, "You won't be able to make it to get it destroyed."
"Neither will you. You will go off and try to conquer the world!" my voice was barely a whisper, but I could tell that he heard me, because his lips tightened, and he quickened his pace.
I sighed as I struggled to breathe. I wanted this weight of responsibility to be taken away from me, but I knew that it wasn't possible. I had to destroy the ring, or die trying.
We started climbing up a muddy hill, and I felt myself slipping. Shawn was out of sight, and I knew that he made it to the top of the hill. "Shawn!" I called out as I felt myself slipping some more.

Shawn set his sleeping bag FAR away from me-probably afraid that I was going to turn psycho. It was tempting, but I knew what that kind of power could do to a person, and it wasn't good.
I tossed and turned. My hand kept finding the ring of its own accord. I wanted to toss it away, but someone else would find out about its power, and who knew where that would lead? I sighed, realizing that this was going nowhere. I shivered, snuggled closer inside my blankets, and tossed and turned for the rest of the night...

"Just forget it?! You just threatened me. Why did you come here, Shawn? Was it really for Jewel? I think you might know more about the ring than you're letting on."
"I just want to get out of here." now he was avoiding eye contact.
I sighed in frustration. He was close to the ring...and it was not just because of Jewel. Jewel was a cover-up. I had a gut feeling it had more to do with power. Yes, Jewel was beautiful, but her image wasn't physical, the power was.
I touched the ring again and felt an electric shock. I gasped and pulled back my hand quickly.
We had to set up camp, because it was getting dark. I dreaded having to be around Shawn for very much longer, but something told me that there was a greater purpose to him being here.

I took the ring out of my pocket and stared at it for a full minute before replying, "This ring is...powerful."
Shawn looked from me, to the ring, and gulped, "You're telling me," he hesitated before saying, "You should give me the ring. It's obviously too hard for you to handle."
"Ha!" I rolled my eyes skyward, "You wouldn't know how to handle the ring if it came with an instruction manual!"
Shawn shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't care, but I could see the anger in his eyes, "Fine, but don't tell me that I didn't warn you."
"What is that supposed to mean?" I said and followed him angrily.
"Nothing. Just forget it." he murmured.

Shawn looked at me in surprise. He didn't back down, but he didn't seem to know what to do, either.
"What's happening?" I asked shakily, but I knew exactly what was happening. I felt like the hulk. I was getting a lot stronger.
Shawn took a step back, "You..." he cleared out his throat, "You're not the same."
I looked down and noticed that I had claws, and my arms were bulky. I slowly took off the ring. I fell to the ground and screamed as I returned to normal.
I laid down on the ground and stared up at the sky for a few minutes before slowly standing up.
Shawn was standing 100 feet away, pale as a ghost, "Do I even want to know what happened to you?"

"I had the ring first. You stole it from me."
"That's not how I remember it." I pointed out. I regretted saying that as soon as it left my lips, because he slapped me-hard. I fell down and touched my face where he had hit me. My hand came down with blood on it.
"Shut up!" he roared, "It's mine, and I want it back-NOW!"
I put my hand in my pocket and found the ring. Just touching the ring, I could feel its power. I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I put the ring on. I felt the power course through my veins.
I stood up, slowly. I was looking at the ground. my body felt like it was going through shock therapy. I couldn't make a sound as my muscles twitched. Finally, I looked up, and noticed for the first time that everything I was looking at was red.

Shawn and I kept walking. I felt like the weight of responsibility was now put on my shoulders. I felt like the ring was bearing a hole through my pocket.
Shawn was quiet, probably still mad at me for what he, himself, got into. Finally, he broke the silence, "That...Kilmo...I don't like him."
"Probably because he doesn't like your future lover." I murmured. I really didn't want to fight again. I just wanted to find a way to destroy the ring.
Suddenly, Shawn stepped in my way, "I can't let you do it." he said.
I was taken aback by his behavior, "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean," he said angrily, "The ring belongs to me. I should be the one to hold it."
"I don't think so." I took a step back.
He took a step forward, "Come on, Kat, where are you going to go-back to where you came from?"
"That's a thought." my voice quivered, and I cursed myself for showing my fear.