He could hear pain in her voice and wondered if he was the cause of it. "She wants to know why I'm acting weird," Decebel told Jacque and Sally.
"Okay, Dec, you need to tell her she's talking to me…through you," Jacque instructed.
At the same time Decebel heard Jen say, "Is Jacque around? Put Jacque on the line."
Decebel looked over to Fane. "Are they always this bossy?"
Fane and Sally both looked deadpan at him, and at the same time replied, "Yes."
"Jen, I'm going to listen to Jacque talk and you are going to listen through me. I will then give her your response." Decebel explained.
"Ask her why the hell you're calling me Jen."
"She wants to know why the hell I'm calling her by her name."
Jacque raised a single eyebrow at him. "Are you calling her Jen?"
Decebel nodded.
"Yeah, that's not what you call her. You call her Jennifer…or baby…or smart ass, and even once I think you called her a mouthy little thing." Jacque waved her hand as she said, "Moving on. Okay. So, Jen, Decebel's been cursed." Jacque waited for Decebel to pass it on.
The girls watched as Decebel bowed his head and started shaking it from side to side. They looked at each other, confused by his behavior. Then his shoulders began to shake.
"Are you laughing?" Sally asked, bewildered.
Decebel finally composed himself and looked up. "She said, 'So someone else has cursed him. What's the big deal? I curse him all the time'."
They all started laughing; not only Jen's words, but at the puzzled tone with which Decebel relayed Jen's words.
Jacque rolled her eyes. "No, you dimwit. Cursed as in its 'Leviosa' not 'Leviosa'. Not curse as in dumb ass."
"She's asking why the hell you're quoting Harry Potter…again?" Decebel was getting more and more confused by the conversation the two girls were having--through his thoughts.
"Man, this would be easier if she had a cell phone," Sally grumbled.
Decebel looked at Jacque. "Let me try and explain, okay?"
"Go for it, lover boy."
"Jen, I was hit with a curse by a witch. According to Sally it affected my memory. There are huge holes – I can't remember so much... I'm really struggling with this because I feel like there are some things that I should not have been able to forget."
Jen didn’t respond right away. If he hadn't felt her in his mind he would have thought she was gone.
"You for-forgot me? You really don't know who I am." A statement. Her voice was so full of hurt that Decebel felt like his heart was being ripped from his chest. "So you feel like you shouldn't have been able to forget your true mate?"
"Yes," Decebel answered honestly.
Jen didn't respond.
"I think I hurt her," Decebel confessed out loud.
"Of course you hurt her, you oaf, " Jacque growled. "Now that the cat is out of the bag, ask her where she is, if she's okay, and how we find her." Jacque was nearly on her feet. Only Fane's hand on her leg kept her from jumping up and pacing.
"Where are you?"
Soon Decebel cringed and looked back at Jacque. "Does she always talk so, so..." He growled as he tried to come up with the word.
"So sailor-like? Get used to it, Don Juan. Whatever she said, I promise you she has said worse," Jacque snapped.