Liana opened her eyes.
Nothing. All was dark.
She blinked. Several times.
Still dark.
Once more, she was blind.
She felt the cold manacles gripping her wrists. She was lying on her back on the icy stone table. The dungeon cell was still and silent. She shivered in the chill of the underground room, for her arms and lower legs were bare to the freezing air.
Was this another dream? How could she tell? It felt just as real as the vision—except for the fact that she could no longer feel Raven Frost's mind attacking her own and trying to bend it to his will. The strange pressure on her brain and consciousness was gone—and replaced by a new one.
"Oh!" Liana gritted her teeth and tried to suppress the pained groan that forced itself out of her chest. A headache like she had never known was suddenly making her whole body throb. It increased in intensity frighteningly fast, until all she was aware of the horrible pain rocking her head back and forth like a ship on a stormy sea. Out of pride she restrained herself from crying out—other than that initial groan—but she felt like screaming. Tears of pain leaked out from her tightly-clenched eyelids and slid down the sides of her head, soaking into her hair. Once in a while she would voice a shuddering gasp, and trembled violently. This was the worst pain she had ever felt in her life. She could never have imagined a headache could be so vicious.
For what seemed like hours she lay there, suppressing her screams and lying through the ordeal. She thought that terrible, fiery, heavy throb would never cease, and that she would lie there on that table until the pain killed her.
The headache, however, did cease; by and by, the pain gradually lessened, and by the slow, crawling minutes, her head began to feel lighter and lighter. Finally, it was gone.
Liana felt dizzy. It hurt to blink. It hurt to move. Perhaps that headache was an after-affect of fighting a mind-battle with a werecat sorcerer. She had no idea what had just happened; all she knew was that she was seemingly awake again, back in the dungeon cell where Raven Frost had left her.
She tugged on the chains, making them rattle quietly. She needed to get out of here. If this was real, if she really had somehow broken free of the Dark Sleep, she needed to escape before Raven Frost or any other of the Seven Sorcerers or Moon Tribe warriors returned. She tugged on the chains again, this time harder. They rattled, but showed no signs of erosion or being broken easily.
She forced herself to sit up. The movement made her head throb in protest, but not badly. She wondered if another monster-headache would attack again. None did.
She was faintly aware of a low throb pulsing from her left underarm, just beneath the wrist. Something warm and sticky was oozing from the scratch with each heartbeat.
Liana had to break these chains. She almost groaned out loud in frustration. She'd felt so proud of herself for fighting Raven Frost, but it would all be for nothing if she couldn't even walk out of the stupid room! Again she tugged on her bonds, this time angrily. Of course they showed no signs of breaking. Her shoulders slumped in defeat.
Did Raven Frost know she had broken free of the curse? Was he coming? Was he bringing other warriors? Would he curse her again? Liana shuddered. The nightmare that had given her sight still haunted her, leaving her shaken. She didn't want to ever be stuck in a dream like that again. She'd sooner die.
Liana pressed her lips together tightly. She just might, if Raven Frost decided it would be easier to do away with her than to fight her in the Dark Sleep visions. That's what the cats had done to the two police officers they had disguised themselves as, wasn't it? At least as far as the ninja knew. In any case, she knew that if she wanted to live and live not stuck in a crazy dream where she could see and Cole was a crazy Prince Charming psycho, she'd have to get out of here, fast.
However, it was impossible. She didn't bother trying to rip free of her bonds. A teenage girl couldn't break iron chains. She wasn't even a ninja. She didn't have elemental powers. She was securely trapped, and she knew it was only a matter of time before Raven Frost returned to the cell to deal with her.
Anger suddenly flared in her heart. Raven Frost. He was the one who had ripped her eyes blind of sight when she was a young child.
He was the reason Liana grew up facing discrimination and discouragement from nearly all she met.
He was the reason why her mother often cried for her when she thought Liana couldn't hear her.
He was the reason people so often tried to take advantage of her.
He was the reason Uncle George thought she was too helpless to go to college.
He was the reason she had always had such a hard time finding real friends.
He was the reason she was the way she was now: blind and thought of as helpless and useless by the world.
Her breath began to come out quickly. She could feel her heart hammering with rage in her chest. This wasn't the rage of a spoiled child who hadn't gotten the toy they wanted, nor the rage of a person who had been insulted by some mindless jerk. No. This was the rage of someone who had been wronged. Deeply wronged. How dare Raven Frost attack an innocent child who had done absolutely nothing to him?! He had half-mauled her for mere sport—not because he had mistaken her for a rabbit, not because he had felt threatened and had been trying to defend himself—he had ripped out her eyes simply because he could. He had ruined her life.
Liana's anger was so hot, so vengeful, so vivid that it hurt. She gritted her teeth and hated. She hated Raven Frost. She hated the Seven Sorcerers. She hated the Moon Tribe. It wasn't so much the fact that she was blind that bothered her. It was the fact that Raven Frost had been the one that caused her so much pain for years. She hated him. She hated him with a lust.
That hate grew to a heat. That heat grew to a hum. That hum grew to a roar. That roar made the room shudder. The iron manacles around Liana's wrists trembled and groaned in protest.
"What in the world...?" Liana gasped.
Bang!
Liana jumped and bit back a startled cry. Where had that loud noise come from? Had one of the warrior cats slammed the door open? She sat still and listened. There was no sign of life in the little cell—other than a quiet, odd sizzling noise.
She moved her hands to adjust her position on the stone table... and heard the chains fall free from her hands and clatter to the floor. She traced the sizzling noise from them. They were smoking.
She was free from the iron bonds.
Liana decided not to waste time wondering how in the name of the First Spinjitzu Master the manacles had magically burst apart. She could freak out about that later. She hopped down from the table and groped for the door, which didn't take long to find. Her hands slid across the cold iron surface and stopped at a small uprising that led to a tiny hole, which she managed to wiggle the tip of her pinkie finger into; the keyhole.
Surely— surely that couldn't work again. Would it be possible for the lock of the door to burst apart such as the manacles had done? Liana wasn't sure how, and she felt stupid for thinking it, but... some part of her thought that she had something to do with the spontaneous combustion of the chains. Like when she had fought against Raven Frost's power.
She bit her lip. As she pressed her forehead against the icy door's side, she reached up and touched the cool stone pendant on her necklace. Raven Frost was right about one thing; she did think of her mother whenever she touched it. It had been a present for her twelfth birthday... she still remembered when—
Liana snorted and scowled at herself. What a dumb time to be thinking about one's mother! She had to be concentrating on getting out of here, even if her rough escape plan was utterly ridiculous and beyond any form of logic. Then again, it's not as if she had much of a choice. How else would she get out?
Liana laid her hands over the keyhole. She imagined herself feeling the locking mechanism within. She pretended she knew every bolt and every slide within the tiny iron interior. She played that she not only knew the lock, but was the lock. Then... she willed the lock.
She willed it to open. She imagined the mechanism turning, the thick little bar sliding back from its stone envelope to free the door from the wall. She imagined she could feel the iron bolts and slides squeaking in protest as it unlocked, and hearing that satisfying little click as it came free. She began to ask it to open.
Please open. Please open. Please open.
No. That wouldn't work. Such forces—whatever they may be at the moment—did not submit to pitiful pleading. No. She had to force it open. She had to master the thing she was trying to control. If she could make a pair of manacles burst apart, she could unlock a door.
You will open, she told the lock silently. You will open. You will open.
Nothing.
She gritted her teeth. No. Don't stop. Keep trying. She took a deep breath. Relax, she told herself. Breathe. You are in control. You control the lock. You are one with the lock. You are the lock.
You will open, she repeated.
Did something stir within the iron, beneath her fingers?
You will open.
What was that strange surge pulsing down her arms and into her fingers?
You—will—open.
Click.
Liana turned the handle. The door creaked open.
She stepped into the hall. All was silent. She could make out the sound of a torch flickering nearby.
For a few minutes, Liana just stood there in the hallway. She couldn't believe what had just happened.
Then she turned and walked determinedly down the cold, silent corridor.
* * *
Cole lurched to his feet. "We've got to get out of here."
Eagle Talon sat up in the hay pile. His eyes still bore that haunted look Cole knew was probably on his own face, but so was a grim line of determination. "Got a plan?"
"No." Cole sighed and put a hand on the door of the cell. "I just know we have to stop lying around and think of a way to escape. Maybe we can save Liana before it's too late—and everyone else."
"I think it's us we need to be worried about right now." Talon stood up, shaking off straw. "It can't be long before Twig Foot comes back with more warriors. Actually," he added thoughtfully. "It's strange that he hasn't returned yet. It's been a while."
"All the better for us." Cole stared at the door, tapping his fingers on it impatiently. Then he stopped. "Maybe... I can use my powers to get out of here."
Talon didn't look too hopeful at the prospect. He shrugged. "Doubt it. Whenever Moon Tribe sorcerers put you in a sleep, it saps away your elemental energy for hours."
"My earth powers, maybe..." Cole mused. "But what about my fists?" With that, he flexed his arms, summoning the strange power he had yet to accustom to. After a little hesitation, they flickered that same golden color as before, and he felt the flesh of his hands and arms stiffening.
Eagle Talon's thick eyebrows raised up. "Huh."
"Come on." Cole gave a small grin. "You switch to your nekomata form, and with our combined strength, we can bust down the door."
"Sounds mouse-brained to me." Yet Talon changed his body to his lion-like figure and crouched at the far end of the cell, where Cole joined him.
"OK, on three." Cole said, rolling his hands into fists and shifting his body into a crouch. "One—"
"Wait."
Cole glanced at him impatiently. "What?"
Talon looked at him, but for a couple of seconds, he didn't answer. He flicked his brown tabby ears uneasily. "Y— you won't tell any of the ninja about... about what you saw, will you?" He hesitated. "Especially about Dove Stream."
Cole stared at him. There was an uncharacteristically plaintive, pleading note in Talon's voice, and he was gazing at Cole worriedly. With a start, Cole realized that Eagle Talon was afraid he would tell the other ninja about all the painful and private memories he saw in the werecat's mind—and he was afraid of the consequences he would face of having his deepest hurts revealed.
After a moment of hesitation, Cole shook his head. "No. I won't say anything."
"Not about Dove Stream?" Talon pressed.
"No. You know—" At this Cole cringed ruefully. "As long as you don't talk about what you saw about... me and Nya."
"Heh. Right." The big cat chuckled quietly—but not mockingly. Rather... as if the two of them were laughing together.
At this Cole laughed weakly, too. He felt an odd sort of connection in that laugh. Cole and Eagle Talon now shared a secret; they each had delved into the minds of each other, had witnessed some of the deepest and darkest memories of each other, and now had promised to never breathe a word of the experience. It wasn't the secret that strengthened the connection, but the sharing of the said secret. Almost as if they were... friends.
"All right." Cole steeled himself. "Remember, on three."
Talon nodded and crouched again.
"One..."
* * *
Liana stopped walking. Were those voices she was hearing? She strained her ears to listen. Yes—and if she wasn't mistaken, they were Eagle Talon and Cole's! She trotted down the corridor, her footsteps echoing quietly through the chilly tunnel. She ran one hand down the wall as she went, feeling the rough, damp cobblestone slide by. When cold steel slipped under her fingers, she stopped.
Their voices were louder here. Cole was saying something softly, and Talon replied in the same odd, secretive tone.
Liana opened her mouth to call to them, but her voice stuck in her throat. She wasn't sure why... but at that moment, she really, really didn't feel like hearing anyone's voice at that moment. What she really wanted to do was either beat the crap out of Raven Frost or sit down and have a good cry. After all that she had experienced—that awful Dark Sleep itself, with Frost's cruel revelation, her sight returned, and the strange and unnerving confrontation with Cole's disturbing clone—she didn't feel as if she had the strength to try to explain to the boys what had happened and deal with their questions.
For a split second, she pondered on leaving Cole and Talon in there just so she wouldn't have to face them. Of course, that would be unbelievably stupid and selfish.
She was disoriented, angry, scared, and shaken. She simply put her hands at the lock and concentrated on the strange power within her.
* * *
Cole and Eagle Talon braced themselves, staring at the door. "Two..."
* * *
Click. Liana felt the mechanism give away. The door was unlocked.
* * *
Three!"
The moment Cole and Talon charged, Liana swung the door open. She jumped back with a startled cry when the ninja and the nekomata burst out—but finding no door to knock down, ran into the wall instead.
Bam!
Cole's glowing arms crashed and sunk into the stone, cracking and shattering bits and pieces of cobblestone that clattered on the ground. Talon stumbled off-balance and slammed into Cole's back, knocking both of them down. Cole sank under the weight of the huge cat.
"Huh," Talon said, spitting out a couple of pebbles. "That worked better than I thought it would."
"Geh-off m'," Cole groaned under the blanket of fur crushing him.
Talon shook his head, slightly dazed, then looked up and saw Liana staring there. His eyes widened in shock. "L— Liana?"
"Wha'!?" Cole struggled under Talon's weight. "Dude!"
"Oh. My bad." Talon hopped off, shaking his fur. Cole voiced a brief groan and sat up. He blinked several times, as if wondering if his vision was all right, and stared incredulously at Liana.
"Liana! How—" he stammered. "How'd you get here?!"
"I walked," Liana replied gruffly.
Cole blinked. "Uh... didn't Raven Frost take you away?"
"Yes. Yes, he did. How observant of you."
Cole still stared at Liana—and well he should. Even if it had only been around half an hour since he'd last seen her, he felt as if he was seeing her after a very long time. Her bun now fell loosely in disarray. Her face was pale and drawn, and she looked strained. She stood tensely, as if expecting an enemy to jump out from nowhere and attack her. Her blue dress was rumpled and torn in some places by cat claws—no need for a genius to guess which cat had done it—and after a moment it could be seen that she was trembling, ever so slightly.
"What happened to you?" he whispered.
"I don't want to talk about it," Liana snapped.
Cole frowned. "Y— you're not Raven Frost pretending to be Liana, are you?"
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he knew it was the worst thing he could have said. Liana's milky eyes blazed. "Oh, you're accusing me of being a werecat again?!"
"Yup, that's Liana," Talon muttered.
Liana continued furiously. "Why don't you stab me with your scythe and see if I turn into an evil kitty!? I just saved your butts by unlocking that door, and now you're at it all over again! I risked my life coming to bust you out instead of finding my own way out of these stupid dungeons! You couldn't tell which person was a real cat if they caught a mouse and ate it! Go on, take my arm! Grab your weapon and make a nice big slice! Maybe if I bleed hard enough you'll finally realize that you have to use that thick head of yours for actually figuring out who's the spy and who's supposed to be your—!"
"All right, all right, I'm sorry, OK?!" Cole shouted irritably, scowling. "Jeez! Do you have to be such a grouch?" He put an arm on her shoulder, asking gruffly. "Look, are you sure you're all right? You're—"
Liana flinched back as if his touch burned her. "Don't touch me."
Cole took a couple of steps back. "OK, OK! Gah-lee... What is with you?"
"Something happened." Cole looked at Talon at the sound of his voice. The werecat had reverted to his human form, and his gaze on Liana was startlingly grim. "Liana, Raven Frost did something to you. Tell us. What did he do?"
"Nothing," she muttered, twisting her lips in a scowl. At the same time, her trembling increased at the sound of the sorcerer's name. "I escaped. That's all that matters."
Talon frowned and opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly froze. Without a word, he shifted his form into Eagle-Randy, the young bandit boy's figure taking the place of the muscular werecat.
"Talon?" Cole whispered, tensing up.
Eagle-Randy's eyes were wide with grim terror. "He's coming. Raven Frost." His voice fell to a bare hush. "I smell his scent."
Cole and Liana froze. Their blood ran cold.
"Run."
Eagle-Randy whirled around and raced down the dimly-lit corridor. After the barest hesitation, Cole followed, hissing to Liana, "Come on!"
She blinked, then pressed her lips tightly together and ran.
The three of them fled as fast as they could down the tunnel. Cole snatched one of the torches on the wall and used it to light the way. The echo of their footsteps sounded loud as thunder. Shadows flashed by his vision. Eagle-Randy ran nimbly ahead, almost completely silent in his feline pace. Liana ran behind him, her shuddering gasps sounding weak.
For a moment Cole allowed himself to wonder dimly: just what had happened to Liana? What did Raven Frost do to her to shake her up so badly? It couldn't be the Dark Sleep; nobody in history had ever been able to escape from the spell, and here she was, awake and alive.
A snarl split the air. Eagle-Randy, Cole, and Liana all froze in their tracks. Cole felt a nasty lurch in his stomach when a large human shape appeared from the shadows of an adjoining corridor and blocked their way. The man's face came into the light of Cole's torch:
Raven Frost.
"Did you really think that you could escape?" he sneered, his feline teeth glinting in the dim firelight. "You man-kits are more beetle-brained than I thought. Even if I hadn't come back for the she-man, you'd have been caught by one of the tribe's patrols sooner or later."
Eagle-Randy feinted to one side. Raven Frost snarled and moved toward him, but Cole jumped for the sorcerer and tackled him. As Raven Frost snarled and twisted around to pin him down, Eagle-Randy raced down the dark tunnel.
"I'll get help!" Talon cried out in what was presumably Randy's voice.
"Sure appreciate it," Cole grunted sarcastically.
Raven Frost threw him off with a mighty heave, sending him sprawling. Cole felt his shoulder throb where the werecat struck him. He staggered to his feet and glared at the sorcerer.
Raven Frost's ice-blue eyes shone dangerously in the torchlight. "You just don't know when to give up, do you, Son of Earth?"
"Ninja never quit," Cole retorted. His mind searched frantically for some means of escape.
"Neither do the warriors of the Tribe of the Moon." His eyes flickered greedily to Liana. "That girl is mine, and I am not willing to let her go."
Liana stiffened and glared blindly in his direction. Cole gripped the torch harder. "What do you want with her?"
"It's of no matter to you." Raven Frost drew closer, still staring at Liana. "But part of her is in my control... and once I get a taste of my meal, I want to finish it off."
"I'm not yours to keep!" Liana snarled. "Just leave me alone! Haven't you done enough already?!" The tremor in her voice betrayed her terror.
Cole waved the torch at Raven Frost, making the flames flap wildly. "Back off, Fluffy. Another step closer, and I'll light both of your tails on fire!"
Raven Frost threw back his head and laughed. "Have you forgotten, Son of Earth? I'm the one who took your friend the Son of Fire—I was the one who drank his blood and made his form my own."
A cold chill ran down Cole's spine when the werecat's voice suddenly changed. Instead of the low rasp of an old man, the young, smooth laugh that left the sorcerer's lips belonged to Kai. From the lips of Raven Frost, Kai's voice cackled, "Each of the Seven Sorcerers can tame fire, but with the blood of Kai on my tongue, I am the Master of Fire!"
Cole and Liana jumped back with started cries when Raven Frost shot two balls of roaring flames at them, lighting up the corridor. Cole ducked and felt the burning heat fly over his head.
A surge of anger made Cole grit his teeth angrily. How dare Raven Frost use Kai's power?! Furiously, he thrust the torch at Raven Frost's face.
The flames hissed, and the werecat jumped back with a yowl. Snarling, he yanked the torch out of Cole's hands and flung it away.
"Earth!" Cole instinctively shot a clump of swirling dirt at the sorcerer. Another ball of fire met the ninja's element, and the dirt was set ablaze before scattering in the air with a burst of sand.
Cole tried to bite back a growl of frustration. His powers were still weak after Twig Foot's Nap Attack. He and Liana did not have any weapons to use as defense—only themselves.
"Liana," Cole summoned a small clump of boulders in midair and shot them toward Raven Frost. "Do you still remember how to use Spinjitzu?"
Raven Frost summoned dark energy to meet the stones and burst them apart with a loud bang, bits and pieces of rocks scattering across the corridor.
"I don't think I've used it since the last time we trained together in the gym!" Liana said, backing away uncertainly from the noise.
Raven Frost advanced with twin flames on either hand.
"Well," Cole said grimly. "It's time to refresh your memory."
Liana took a deep breath. "Ninjaaa—"
"Go!"
* * *
"How're your allergies, kiddo?" Matilda asked.
Lloyd sniffed, "Much better now. I should be fine as long as we don't run into any more cats."
It was at that moment the sound of running footsteps began echoing throughout the corridor. Matilda and Lloyd froze in their tracks. Instinctively Lloyd reached for a weapon, but when he only felt the folds of his dress, he voiced a small groan of frustration and settled for rolling his hands into fists. Matilda drew her wand from her robes and faced down the hallway, where the sound was coming from.
When a masculine figure darted into the light, Matilda shouted a word Lloyd couldn't make out and shot a blast of light at the dark form. The man yelped and jumped back just in time, ducking behind the corner.
Matilda's eyes blazed as she began striding to the intruder, but stopped when a familiar voice cried, "Stop! Matilda, it's me!"
"Talon?" Lloyd gasped.
The human figure shrunk down and for a moment melted into the shadows. Then a dark brown tabby cat trotted up into the firelight, and he glared balefully up at them. "That was almost my head you got!"
Matilda opened her mouth to say something withering, but Lloyd interjected. "Talon, how'd you escape? Where are Cole and Liana?"
Talon glanced curiously at Lloyd's dress, but ignored the oddity. "Raven Frost's got them cornered down the hall! If you don't come quick, he's gonna make crow's food out of them! And—" Anxiously he added, "Matilda, something's wrong with Liana. Raven Frost took her away, but she somehow escaped, but she wouldn't tell Cole or I what he did to her. Something's really, really wrong."
Matilda's expression grew grim at Raven Frost's name. "It's about time that old tom and I met again." She gripped her wand firmly and nodded. "Lead the way, Eagle Talon."
Talon turned, then paused. "As soon as you get there, I'm going to disappear. I'm not going to let Raven Frost catch me with you."
With that, the cat led the witch and the ninja wearing a girl's dress down the hallway as fast as he could.
* * *
Raven Frost shot a blast of dark magic at his human opponents. Cole and Liana's Spinjitzu vortexes disappeared as they were flung across the hall. They tumbled to the floor with brief groans. Cole felt his body ache from the impact, but he quickly picked himself up and shot a blast of earth at Raven Frost. Beside him Liana struggled to stand up—she was tripping over the hem of her gown.
"Ugh!" she sputtered. "I hate dresses!"
Raven Frost gestured with one hand. Cole's earth slowed in midair, then turned abruptly and smashed into the cobblestone wall. He was striding confidently toward the teens, grinning maniacally. The crystal orb waving from his necklace glimmered on and off like a broken lightbulb.
Cole braced himself and raised his hands up, as if carrying a huge weight. The ground before him shuddered, pebbles bouncing up and down and dust rising and falling from the floor and the ceiling. With a tremendous groan, a large portion of the ground was raised up, jutting out from the earth and spitting dirt into the air.
Cole attempted to rise the clump so high it would block Raven Frost's path, but the sorcerer knew what he was doing. Raven Frost grinned and shot a burst of green light from the palms of his hands, lighting up the entire tunnel. The force hit the risen floor and smashed it down. Cole felt the power strike his own, and he fell back with a frustrated cry.
Raven Frost began speaking slyly over the sound of the earth groaning and his own power hissing. "You know, I can't help but feel curious. Why is it you have allied yourselves with the blind female?"
"I have a name, you know!" Liana snapped. "And it's not 'Daughter of No One'! If you give me back my nunchucks, I'll show you just why the ninja—!"
"I was talking to the Son of Earth, kit," Raven Frost hissed.
"She's a friend of mine," Cole responded, glaring back at the werecat. For that moment, he decided to forget about his and Liana's recent spats. "I knew her a long time ago, and she's just as capable of kicking werecat-butt as any of us are!"
"Your friend, hmm?" The thought seemed to amuse Raven Frost, and he chuckled. "Forgive me, but I find that rather funny."
"What's so funny about it?" Cole growled. "I'm not hearing anyone else laughing."
"Oh, nothing much, except," he purred innocently, "friends don't usually keep secrets from each other, do they?"
Cole frowned. "What are you talking about, you crazy old cat?"
"Your friend Liana here," Raven Frost pressed. "She acts like your ally, but when I looked into her mind, I found something rather... interesting."
Out of the corner of his eye, Cole saw Liana stiffen. Her already-pale face whitened with fear—and something like guilt.
"Do you remember that night, Son of Earth, when she wanted to meet you on that bridge?" Raven Frost purred. No longer shooting energy blasts, he drew nearer to them, walking slowly.
"So what?" Cole muttered, noting Raven Frost's movement.
"Did you ever uncover the original reason as to why she wanted to meet you on that particular night?"
"Yeah. She came to tell me that Philip was dead," Cole retorted firmly. "But that's not really your business, is it?"
Raven Frost ignored the last bit and cocked his head. "Are you sure that was why she came to you?"
Cole's mind quickly reflected to that night. He had seen Liana standing on the bridge. Walked up to her. Greeted her. She'd asked about his life as a ninja. Then he asked about Philip.
He'd asked about Philip.
Cole's stomach dropped. Liana hadn't made a move to mention Philip. In fact, she had seemed startled to realize that he hadn't known about her brother's death. Did she ever give a reason for finding Cole? After all those years? He racked his brain frantically.
Raven Frost seemed to read his mind—and for all Cole knew, the werecat was reading his mind. "I'll tell you why that girl wanted to find you. Did she come for you when you were just learning how to become a ninja? When you and your team were grieving the loss of the Son of Ice? When you were transformed into a ghost? Was she ever there for you, when you might have needed her?"
"Please," Liana choked. Her eyes were wide with dismay, and her trembling increased. Desperately she pleaded, "Raven Frost, please... don't tell him—"
"Don't tell me what?!" Cole demanded, staring incredulously at Liana.
"No," Raven Frost said simply. "She was never there when you were in your lowest times. It was only when you're at the height of your career—when all the people of Ninjago love you, everyone knows your name, and you're a respected warrior—only then does she come to you. Doesn't that strike you as... convenient?"
"What are you saying?" Cole rasped.
"Don't..." Liana whispered.
"I'll tell you," Raven Frost declared, his voice rising. "I'll tell you what she came to you for. I'll tell the truth that she won't. She came to you—for money!" He cackled gleefully. "Greed and deceit is what brought her to you! She thought that because you were a celebrity, you would have loads and loads of those coins and green papers you humans use to take and give away! She thought that you would be so kind, so charitable, so much a good gentleman, that you'd grant her begging with a stash of cash!"
Cole felt a flash of anger at the blatant lie. "That's not true at all!"
"Isn't it?" Raven Frost purred. He gestured to Liana. "Don't take my word for it. Ask her."
Cole whirled around on her. "It's just a stupid lie, isn't it? Raven Frost is just trying to us against each other, right?"
He felt a cold chill run down his spine when Liana hesitated. She bit her lip, then whispered, "It— it's not like that..."
"Say it isn't true, then!" Raven Frost challenged her. "Go on! Even if you're blind, look that boy in the eye and say that it isn't true! Tell him I'm just making up wild stories! Go on!"
Liana stood there, trembling wretchedly. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Cole stared at her, his gaze fixed firmly on her face, as if she'd be able to feel the heat of his vision—which she just might have. Then, she spoke as if the words were wrenching her heart of her chest and shattering it on the floor.
"I— I'm sorry, Cole—"
Cole felt a horrible drop in his chest—like he had been kicked in the stomach. "Y— you— you lied to me?"
Liana flinched at the sound of his hurt tone and stepped back, as if scared he would hit her. "No— I mean, yes— I mean... I didn't mean— it's not like that...!"
"Why?! Why would you do that?!" His voice rose in pitch. "You asked me to meet you... because you wanted money?! Why the heck would you think—?"
"I'm sorry!" Liana cried wretchedly. "It— it had been so long, and I thought—!"
"You see?" Raven Frost cackled gleefully. "She admits it! She admits she deceived you! She just wanted to join your little team to gain your trust, so that it'd be easier to wheedle the money she wanted out of you!"
"T— that's not true—!" Liana protested.
A bolt of red light shot just above Raven Frost's head and shattered into the rock wall in front of him. He whirled around to see where the shot had come from, and when Cole followed his gaze, he saw Matilda standing at the end of the corridor, her wand aimed at the spot where she had just fired.
"Haven't you caused enough trouble, yet, Raven Frost?" she said coolly.
Raven Frost's light blue eyes widened in recognition. "Matilda Ravencroft." He stared at her, then chuckled softly. "Well, well... so they were right. You have returned." He cocked his head. "Why, you haven't changed a bit. You're just as lovely as you were the day you betrayed me."
Matilda scowled. "That's not going to work, you snake-tongued fox."
It was at that moment Lloyd came running up. Cole's jaw dropped when he saw the blue dress flapping ridiculously around his legs. "Lloyd?"
Lloyd's face flushed red. "What?"
Despite the harrowing situation of the present, Cole couldn't stop a stupid grin spreading across his face. "Why the heck are you in a dress?!"
Lloyd rolled his eyes and sighed, "Because for a little while, Little Leaf looked a lot more like me than I did."
Before Cole could ask what in the world Lloyd was talking about, Raven Frost spoke again, facing Matilda. "Why am I not surprised to see the Sister of Darkness working with the Sons and Daughter of the Elements once more?"
"You were the one who broke into my cabin that night, didn't you?" Matilda accused stiffly. "When you disguised yourself as my nephew?"
Raven Frost dipped his head to her with a mocking grin. "As quick in the mind as ever, too. I hope I didn't hurt your dear little boy much, did I?"
Matilda snorted. "The kid didn't even know what happened. And I swear to you," she suddenly added viciously, "if you ever come near my sister's children again, I will personally make you hurt so bad, you'll be crying for the Dark Sleep as sanctuary!"
"Tut, tut, Sparrow Cry," Raven Frost murmured, taking a step closer to her. "Surely you can't think too badly of me for simply following the orders of my leader? Have you forgotten so easily the good times we shared?"
Matilda stiffened. "Don't call me that."
Cole and Lloyd exchanged a confused glance across the hall. "'Sparrow Cry'?" Lloyd repeated.
"Don't look at me," Cole muttered.
"Oh, my." Raven Frost chuckled as he looked at the ninja. "Do all female humans keep embarrassing secrets? Apparently you don't know everything about your friend Matilda here. Or, as I once knew her," he added, with a harder edge. "Sparrow Cry."
Lloyd blinked. "Wait— Matilda's a werecat?!"
"Ancestors above, of course not!" Both Matilda and Raven Frost chorused at the same time. They blinked and glanced at each other self-consciously.
"I told you, kid," Matilda growled. "I'm just a woman who has the magical talent of turning into a cat whenever I please."
"Indeed," Raven Frost agreed, to Cole's surprise. "You are not a bakeneko, nekomata, or a mix of the two—but you pretended to be, once."
Raven Frost turned and looked at Liana, Cole, and Lloyd, all of whom were frozen where they stood. Raven Frost told them, "Has anyone ever told you the story of the Red Battle? When your ancestors—the former Sons and Daughters of the Elements—nearly destroyed the Tribe of the Moon in a bloodthirsty crusade?"
Cole opened his mouth to defend the Elemental Masters angrily, but stopped when Lloyd gave him a look before saying uncertainly, "Yeah...?"
"They somehow followed the Moon Tribe into our tunnels, in the mountains—when the humans were chasing our warriors away after that terrible, terrible battle in the Yōkaiville land. Has it not struck you as peculiar, young ones, as to how exactly the humans found their way into the tunnels? Those entrances are held secret by the tribe, and are nearly completely unfindable, even today. It would have been impossible for an army of exhausted humans to have found those tunnel entrances."
Cole and Lloyd shared a glance. Neither one was sure where this was going. They looked at Matilda, but her gaze was frozen on Raven Frost, lips pressed tightly together.
Raven Frost seemed to relish his audience's anticipating silence. "I'll tell you how they happened to know about the tunnels, if your friend the Sister of Darkness won't." He cast Matilda a glare. "She—Matilda—used her deceptive magic to disguise herself as a normal cat. Many moons before the events of the Red Battle, she seemingly got lost in the mountainsides, and collapsed from exhaustion and hunger just as a patrol caught her scent. We had no idea of the Sister of Darkness or her abilities at that time. We simply brought her in, and healed and fed her till her strength returned."
At this, his voice began to grow darker—bitter, even. "She told us that she was a lone bakeneko from a forest destroyed by humans, who had her second tail cut off by humans when she was a kitten. She told us that in search of a new home, she had wandered into the mountains and and gotten lost.
"We took care of her. I took care of her." His face twisted into a scowl. "Out of trust and care we gave her the name Sparrow Cry, so that she would seem like one of us, despite being not one of our blood. We accepted her into the clan. We trusted her.
"That witch," Raven Frost's voice began to rise, shaking a bit. "was a spy in our clan. She learned where the tunnel entrances were. Where our sacred moonstone was. Who the Seven Sorcerers were. What our powers were capable of. And what's more—" At this he glared bitterly at Matilda. "She, acting as the sweet, young stray Sparrow Cry, beguiled me—enchanted me—into holding her in affection... until...!" He laughed bitterly, "Until I loved her! Yes, I loved her, and she pretended to love me back!"
"Eeeewwwwww!" Cole, Lloyd, and Liana chorused at the same time, making faces.
"Oh, for the love of Merlin!" Matilda threw up her arms in exasperation. "You mouse-brained idiot, I did nothing to you! I never even thought of using any of the toms like that! You allowed yourself to feel like that! You hurt yourself by your own feelings, and you have no one to blame but yourself!"
"Lies!" Raven Frost spat. "You bewitched me! You cursed me! You took advantage of my foolish youth and turned it to the advantage of the Elementals' victory and my clan's defeat!"
"I never sought after you. You sought after me." Matilda glared back at the werecat. "You fell in love with me of your own accord. None of my magic was involved."
Cole, despite feeling as if he would gag, had enough humor left to say, "You fell in love with a human, Raven Frost? That's pretty sick, bro."
Raven Frost glared wrathfully at Cole, but Cole managed to keep a straight face—at least, a halfway-straight face. Then, after a sudden realization, Cole asked, "Matilda. Is that why you use werecat words? You know, 'mouse-brain', 'beetle-brain'—all that? You even called me 'Son of Earth' once, years ago."
"Did I?" Matilda shrugged. "Yes, I suppose. I did stay with the Moon Tribe for nearly a year."
"You backstabbing, lying, cheating, sly vixen!" Raven Frost spat. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to find you again. Even seasons after you left, you've been on my mind—"
"Ew," Lloyd said.
Cole glanced at him.
"Sorry." Lloyd made a face. "Still grossing me out."
A new voice suddenly rang throughout the corridor. "Haven't you had enough of licking your old wounds, Raven Frost?"
Everyone turned in the direction Matilda and Lloyd had appeared to see an old man striding into the dim torchlight. He wore the same dark cloak as Raven Frost and the other sorcerers did. The man looked quite ancient, his receding hair snow-white and his cheekbones protruding from the surface of his leathery old skin. He bore a thin beard, the same color of his hair save for a few gray streaks here and there.
He raised his head to inspect the scene. "Matilda Ravencroft," he greeted politely.
Matilda granted a shallow dip of her head. "Sky Pelt," she returned.
A hint of grim amusement made Sky Pelt's eyes glimmer. "Your kind and our kind at war once more, are we?"
"Such is the way of things," Matilda agreed.
"Sky Pelt!" Raven Frost spat. "You old tom! Enough of senseless chitter-chatter among the enemy! Are the others coming?"
The old man nodded agreeably. "Oh, yes, of course. That is, a patrol ought to be down here soon. I simply came down to see what all the noise was about."
Raven Frost rolled his eyes. "Maybe," he hissed sarcastically, "you might consider assisting me in finishing these humans for good, before they find some way to escape like cowardly mice once more!"
"Don't get your tail in a twist, Raven Frost," Sky Pelt said lightly. "Of course I'm here to defend the Moon Tribe."
"Good."
During this peculiar exchange, Liana, Cole, and Lloyd had been standing by awkwardly, wondering what they ought to be doing at that moment. As the witch and the werecats talked, a flash of color caught Lloyd's eye. He looked down at Sky Pelt's chest, and caught his breath.
Like the other sorcerers, Sky Pelt wore a crystal orb on a silver necklace: a Lifesource. The color of this Lifesource was blue.
"Jay," Lloyd breathed.
It was at that moment Raven Frost turned on Matilda and shot a blast of dark energy at her. She deflected the blow with her wand, and the nasty exchange between the two began. Their power spurts of both werecat and human magic lit of the dungeon hallway, at times blinding the surrounding persons or making their ears ring with the clash of thunder and curses.
One blast from Matilda shot past Raven Frost's shoulder and hit the ground in front of Cole. He felt himself flung into the air and crashing into Liana, the two of them once more fell to the floor. Cole quickly rolled away from Liana; he didn't want to so much as look at her.
Meanwhile Lloyd was using the heat of the moment to leap at Sky Pelt and throw the old man to the floor, grappling for the key of Jay's torment. When Sky Pelt groaned and his body creaked alarmingly under the youth's weight, Lloyd felt a flash of guilt for throwing down a fragile old man.
Sky Pelt soon proved he was not as fragile as he seemed, though. He voiced a feline growl that raised roughly from his throat, and with startling strength he grabbed Lloyd and began to wrestle him around. Lloyd winced when he felt sharp claws piercing the silk material of his dress and digging into his skin, but that didn't stop him from reaching out and yanking Jay's Lifesource from Sky Pelt's neck.
Sky Pelt didn't notice the loss of the Lifesource. He summoned a spurt of energy to throw Lloyd off of him. He chucked the ninja across the corridor opposite where Cole and Liana were. Even as he fell, Lloyd made sure to grip the Lifesource tightly.
Sky Pelt stumbled to his feet with a grunt and shot a blast of light at Matilda. With a cry she fell back, groaning in pain. Raven Frost advanced on her.
With an angry shout, Cole leapt for Raven Frost. The werecat hissed and yowled when Cole dragged him to the floor, and tried to shake him off. Cole clung to his cloak behind him, then scrambled to his feet before Raven Frost could take advantage of his awkward position. Raven Frost too stood up, and he turned on Cole with a furious snarl. Cole gritted his teeth and punched the werecat in the jaw, sending him staggering.
Raven Frost shook his head as if to clear it, then crouched on all fours, glaring furiously at the ninja. Before Cole could defend himself, Raven Frost leapt up and flew toward Cole.
As he flew, his hands morphed into black-furred paws. The claws unsheathed. Cole saw the sorcerer coming for him, and tried to move out of the way.
The last thing Cole saw was the torchlight reflecting off of the surface of Raven Frost's blade-like claws.
Then—darkness.
And pain.
Cole couldn't remember ever having felt such pain.