They Came Into Our World

~7~

"Let's move, they'll be looking for us soon," Cole said, standing up. He let out a small gasp and I saw his hand, dripping with blood.

"Cole!" I gasped, looking away and clutching the grass again.

"Ah!" Jay exclaimed, also noticing the blood.

"It was from... the glass," Cole explained as Zane gently took his hand and wrapped it in more torn cloth from his shirt.

"Is anyone else hurt?" I asked, looking at each of them. They shook their heads.

"We should go," Kai said, heading away from the river and towards a nearby wood. Cole helped me up, and I grabbed onto his arm, partially for balance.

We all walked towards the wood, and as we caught up to Kai, I took his arm also. He was shaking almost as much as I was.

"So what was that thing on your phone?" Jay asked.

"Oh crap-" I pulled my phone out of my pocket, remembering it had been submerged in water. It didn't turn on, and I let out a shaky sigh. "They were looking for four teenage boys," I muttered, "with your descriptions."

"What..." Kai's voice drifted off.

We walked silently the rest of the way along the edge of the wood, shivering in our soaked clothes, just hoping not to be spotted.

Finally, buildings could be seen in the distance.

"Maybe we can get a hotel room for the night," I sniffed.

"Isn't that expensive?" Cole asked. "Do you have enough money? And for food too."

"I don't know, I'll take the cheapest one. I don't even know where we're going now." There was a pause. "I guess if we want to avoid the police or whoever at this point, we should try to avoid civilization for the most part," I thought out loud. "I couldn't even guess why they would be after us- you guys. If we got a hotel..." I wouldn't have enough money for plane tickets. I didn't say that out loud because I wasn't really planning to send them to Japan.

I was lying to them. They thought they could trust me. They thought I could take them home.

They would have to find out eventually, right?

That they're not real.

That some people just made them up.

Then how are they even here?

I wanted to go home.

No, I wanted to go to Ninjago with them. That's all I'd ever wanted.

But right now... that was probably impossible.

I considered going to the authorities and seeing what they wanted. Then they might do something to them, and... I couldn't let that happen.

We made it to a road, and followed it to the closest gas station and Cole, Jay, and I went inside to get food. By then we were damp, not soaked.

Really, we got snacks, not "food".

The man at the counter looked at us weird. He had a scratchy-looking beard and a beanie and probably had tattoos.

"Y'all went for a swim?"

"Uh, yeah," Jay chuckled. "A swim."

The boys probably exchanged a glance but I kept my eyes glued to my wallet and the snacks we placed on the counter.

"I promise I will not run the car into a river next time," Cole said as we left the gas station, opening our chip bags.