the butterfly effect | l. garmadon

thirty-nine

  But I could worry about that later. My main concern was the lack of ability to help prepare for an attack by the Preeminent and the fact that my boyfriend had been lost somewhere in one of the Sixteen Realms, fighting the ghost that had once possessed him. The battle was far from over, but my part in it certainly was.

  "Do you think Lloyd will be okay?" I asked nervously. My eyes kept jumping to the sky, peeled for a rift that didn't come. Dad hesitated, unsure.

  "Lloyd will be fine." Ronin's voice came from around the corner, having overheard me. "If he was that light show that just blew a hole through the side of that thing, then he can take on Morro."

  I turned my eyes up to the mercenary. The last time I saw him face-to-face, he'd stolen the Sword of Sanctuary and fought me for escape - not that I had the skills to put up much of a fight. But then he'd helped give directions to the Tomb after Morro tried to trick us into our own deaths, and he stuck around to join the fight, too. I smiled weakly up at him.

  "Thanks, Ronin," I said sincerely.

  He seemed to realised that I was saying thanks for a lot more than just reassuring me. He grunted, shrugged it off, and quickly stepped to join Misako and the Senseis at the railing beside us.

  "How do you know Ronin?" Dad sceptically asked.

  I shrugged. "He helped us with the whole ghost thing." I turned my confused gaze to him. "How do you know him?"

  "Who do you think made the call?"

  Call? The call to the military? Wu and Garmadon abruptly turned toward Ronin with disapproving glares, and he raised his palms in surrender. I looked at him in shock. Misako raised her brows at the drama.

  "You called my dad?" My surprise twisted into a frustrated frown. Every time I was starting to think better about him, he'd pull the rug out from under my feet again. "You knew that my dad hated Lloyd and you called him, anyway?!"

  "Oh, come on, look at that thing!" Ronin gestured to the Preeminent with a look of ire. "We needed all the help we could get, of course I was going to call the military! I have a little girl to look out for, remember?"

  My frustration ebbed at the reminder of his daughter. "You could've at least warned me."

  "You needed the push," Ronin grunted. "Some rivalry ain't worth the fate of the world, kid. Even your dad knows that."

  Though reluctant and annoyed, I had to agree with him - I did need the push. Who knew when I would've finally gathered the courage to tell Lloyd? On the other hand, Dad didn't look too happy that a mercenary knew about me having a boyfriend before he did.

  "We'll discuss this later," Dad grumbled. I wilted. Maybe I should've let my powers ended me, after all.

  Or maybe the Preeminent would do it for me, because the paddle steamer wasn't nearly going as fast as it should be to escape a creature of such unholiness. The over-crowded boat sloshed along the water at a merry pace and without a care.

  Said creature was lifting her new house-clad legs experimentally, unsteady as a faun though not quite as cute. She placed it down and lifted the other, and horrible sounds of debris clattering and wood smashing crossed the water. We all watched in disbelief.

  "Oh, great," I said weakly. "Baby's learnt how to walk."

  "Let's just hope she does not learn how to swim," Wu said grimly.

  But she didn't swim. Instead, she swung her arm back and launched a house at us, and it sailed through the air like an arrow from god. The civilians screamed. I covered my head with my arms and gritted my teeth.