Vamp match (Jasie)

6. The night of the full moon

When our hands touch a light appears. We can see it shining through the plants of the maze. That must be the portal. Till then I was happy to know I will get out of here and will finally be warm again, but then I realize what is happening. Jade is my vampire match, Jade who I was going to stay away from and absolutely not talk to unless necessary. Which is going to be kind of hard since we are stuck in a maze together. Yeah, the portal appeared, but who knows how long it is gonna take us to find it.

I decide that the sooner we get out of the maze, the sooner I can get some distance between Jade and me. At first, Jade seems okay to follow me without speaking. But after about four hours of walking in silence, we still have not found the portal. I am getting tired cause I did not have a lot of sleep since entering the maze. Besides that, I have been constantly walking. My feet hurt and it is getting harder and harder to stay upright.

When I almost fall over Jade catches me. That seems to startle me out of my fatigue and I immediately jump out of her arms and start walking again. I can hear Jade calling me, but I keep walking until Jade grabs my arm and pulls me to a halt. ''Josie, this is insane. You can barely stay upright and we have no idea how long it is going to take until we find the portal.'' I know she has a point and she must know it as well because she continues and says ''Just take a few hours of sleep and then we can continue.'' Begrudgingly I sink to the ground after taking a few steps away from Jade.

Jade goes and sits as well. I lay down and try to fall asleep, but after a while, I start getting cold again, so I sit up as well. Despite my intention to not talk to Jade I cannot help but ask ''how are you not cold''? She tells me that she does not have her vampire powers like superspeed and hearing, but she does not feel the cold or fatigue. ''Must be nice'' I grumble annoyed.

''You could sleep next to me if you want, might be warmer''Jade offers. ''No thanks,'' I say and go back to pretending that Jade is not here. I can hear Jade sigh before she starts speaking again. ''I think I have found a possible reason why you could not sense me''. Despite my intention, I look at her and she continues. ''Because you did not want to''. After that, I look away again. She might actually be right, I blocked her out after what happened in the prison world and after. This might mean that I also locked her out as a possible match and kept me from feeling her in the maze.

While I am thinking this through and pretending that Jade is not looking at me at the same time I start shivering again. Jade must notice, because she says '' Jeez, Jose, just get over here. We do not have to talk, but you are freezing.'' ''I'm good'', I say. Still not willing to give my intention to stay away from Jade up. Jade however does not seem to give up either. ''Okay, Jase, you are freezing, so you can either get over here or I will make you. Your choice. I am not letting you freeze to dead.'' 

''You do not have superstrength remember'', I say. Jade rolls her eyes  and says ''I do not need vampire strength Jose, you are freezing and almost falling asleep over there.'' She keeps looking at me like she used to do when I was young and would not listen and instead chose to be stubborn or do something that would be considered not so safe. After I few moments I decide to give in, she is right, that at least is something that did not change over the years.

Still not really enthusiastic, even if Jade is right, I stand up and walk the few meters over to Jade and sit down next to her. Still a little space between us. Jade gets closer to me and pulls me against her. At first, I want to get some space between us, but Jade says ''seriously, just get some rest. You can ignore me again once you have slept and are warm again.'' With a sigh, I give up and let Jade pull me further against her. After a moment I lay my head against her shoulder. She really is warm. When I lay my head against her shoulder she puts her other arm around me as well. I already feel warmer and have stopped shivering, so I decided to take her advice and just get some sleep while I am warm. The combination of walking, lack of sleep en newly found warmth makes me fall asleep within minutes.

When I awake again I am comfortably warm. Confused at first as to where I am, I open my eyes. When I open them the only thing I see at first is green. Right, the maze. Then I remember what happened. Jade, the reason that I am feeling warm. She pulled me on her lap while I was sleeping and my head is laying in the crook under hers. Despite everything, I am feeling warm, and safe. This is weird, cause when I think about Jade that is not the first thought that comes to mind.

Jade must have realized that I was awake, cause I hear ''good morning Jose''. Then everything gets back to me, and despite the fact that I would like to stay here and never move again. I also realized why I was trying to, apparently not so subtle, pretend like Jade is not here. So I get up as fast as possible and say ''we need to find the portal'' I expected Jade to try to keep me talking, but she stays silent as we start walking again.

Luckily, we find the portal after only a little over three hours of awkward silence. When we find it, Jade takes my hand. She explains ''don't wanna lose you on the way there''. I accept, because even if I have every intention to stay away from Jade. I am not taking the risk that I might lose her or not get with her through the portal. With a nod, I let her know it is okay and together we step through the portal to go back home.

When we return. It is still night. As soon as I realize I am still holding Jade's hand, I let go. My watch says it is only a little over an hour after we started the ritual. Time in the maze must have been different than in the real world. The four other vampires apparently were back after about five minutes. They probably found the portal after only a few hours in the maze.

My father looks happy that I found my match and am not forever stuck in the maze. That makes two of us even though my feelings about Jade have not changed. I am still nervous around her. Convinced more than ever that I need some time to figure out who I am by myself. Make sure that when I start a relationship I will not lose myself to the other person and forget myself. But above all, I am glad that it is warmer here. 

When we explained what happened, Jade tells that she could sense me, but that I could not sense Jade. Dorian and Emma exchange looks before Emma tells us that it is possible. We are still a match, but that I for some reason blocked Jade out. Which is why I could not sense Jade.

That means Jade was right, and she does not look surprised when she hears it. Me neither. This explanation is pretty logical, it is not like I was subtle in ignoring Jade since she has been back.