On a String

Chapter 17

They made it to the sand in record time and quickly searched the perimeter of the ship. It took a further five minutes for the group to come to the conclusion that Cole and Kai were nowhere to be found.

"They're not here," Jay gasped as they met at the prowl of the ship. "They have to be! Where else could they be? No, what am I asking? There is nowhere else they could be! They've gone! What's happening?"

Zane pointed at the sand grimly once Jay had stopped yelling. "Look. Footprints. They've ran off in the direction of the city,"

"What could they possibly want with Ninjago City?" Lloyd asked, his eyes wide.

Jay shook his head. "I don't know, but we'd better get after them! Find Sensei and tell him what's happening, quickly! Go, go go!"

The Master of Earth was crouching under a tree by the time Kai had made it out of the house, and the ninja in red would have dashed straight past had he not stood up and stepped in his path.

"Kai?"

Silhouetted by the light from the house, Cole could tell that his friend was a mess. Brown eyes were wide with panic and his mouth was set in a thin, grim line. "Cole!" Kai murmured as he continued to move forward, reaching one arm out to drag Cole with him. "Are you okay?"

Cole looked around the backyard as they ran. For someone who lived in such a small house, Clarissa had a huge backyard. As far as he could see, there didn't seem to be much more than a large, thick grove of trees and a washing line. "I'm fine, Kai," he replied, keeping his voice as soft as possible.

"I've got the papers and the intruders are still in the house. We'll be miles away before they figure out where we went. It's all okay," he breathed while turning around to check that the intruders really were still in the house.

"But... the blood. I thought you had been injured!" Kai said, confusion digging lines across his face. The blood, the blood (seeping through pale shaky fingers-). He looked at Cole, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"Blood?" Cole asked, the confusion in his tone matching Kai's.

"On the window sill,"

"No, that's definitely not mine," Cole chuckled, and then frowned at the words. "It's not mine..."

"The person we shot," Kai stated. "They made it out of the house..."

Cole skidded to a halt and looked back at the house. Through the broken window, he could clearly make out the intruders- who were armed with a variety of weapons- standing in the middle of the living room. Suddenly things were making sense. Like why the intruders hadn't given chase despite the broken window obviously showing where the ninja had escaped to.

Someone must already be out here, hunting them. The people in the house were simply trying to flush them out.

It was another trap.

Kai stopped next to him, his thoughts evidently running on the same track. Without speaking, the two ninja stood back to back, scanning the moonlit trees.

But it was hard to see anything in the night. Gnarled limbs reached out like hands, blocking the sky. Shadows stared from every side with wide, black eyes. Here, nature was present in her darkest form.

Death.

They waited, barely breathing as the trees creaked and dipped around them.

"Kai? Oh, Kai?" the silence was broken when a voice suddenly danced through the trees, gliding like the chimes of tinkling bells on a soft breeze.

But this was a graveyard. A silent graveyard. There was no breeze. And there were no bells.

Just death.