Jay's P.O.V.:
My alarm went off and I woke up. I noticed Nya was still asleep and we had some time before we had to leave, so I decided to get dressed and get the kids up myself.
Nya and I were taking the kids to meet Cole and his family for a fun camping trip in a cabin in the woods for the weekend. It was a small cabin with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a small living space and a kitchen. It was quiet and perfect place to relax and get away from things.
"Ok kiddos, who's ready for the camping trip?" I asked my twins as I walked into their bedroom.
"I'm ready Daddy!" Lily excitedly jumped out of her bed fully dressed.
"Dad, it's five o'clock in the morning." Jax groaned and hid back under the covers.
"Come on sport all you gotta do is get dressed and then you can sleep in the car, ok?" I said.
"Fine." He rolled his eyes and reluctantly got out of bed.
"That's better." I said. "Now let's get a move on kiddos, we're supposed to meet Cole, Seliel and Allison there in a few hours."
"Yes Dad." They both said.
Then I decided to wake Nya up. She seemed really tired.
"Good morning sweetie." I said as she woke up.
"Morning blue Jay." Nya said yawning. "Are the kids up yet?"
"Yep, I got them up myself. They're awake, packed and ready to go, or Lily is at least."
"Thank you." Nya yawned again.
"You look tired." I noticed. "Did I keep you up with my snoring again?"
"No, I leaned how to tune that out long ago." She said. "Zane had a problem last night and needed my help so I had to lend him advice."
"Oh ok. I'll do the driving if you want to catch up on your sleep before we get there." I offered.
"That'd be amazing, thank you."
We got everyone in the rental car, because it was too far to take the dragons, and drove out to the cabin. Other than Jax asking "are we there yet?" every five minutes and the occasional fight between the twins, it was a pretty nice drive.
After a few hours we were finally there. We met up with Cole and Allison outside the cabin. Cole told us that Seliel had something come up and she would meet up with us tomorrow morning.
By the time we unpacked and got everything situated it was already nightfall. The kids were hungry and anxious for something fun to do, so we all went out front to the fire pit and made a came fire. We had a lot of fun making s'mores and telling stories.
"...and the ghost was never seen again." Jax finished his scary story.
"Yeah like ghosts really exist." Allison rolled her eyes.
Nya and I both gave Cole a look and he put his hand over his mouth and shook his head no. I guessed that meant he never told Allison about the time he was a ghost or anything about Marro, Yang or any of those adventures. I can't remember if we told the twins those stories or not, but if we did they were probably too young to remember.
I couldn't help but I wonder why he chose not to tell her. I would have to ask him about that later once all the kids were asleep.
Cole's P.O.V.
After a few hours we all went inside and played a few board games until the kids got tired and went to bed.
"So Cole, I don't get it. Why didn't you tell Allison about you being a... you know what?" Jay asked.
"There's no reason she needs to know." I answered.
"There's no reason she can't." Nya added.
"Yes there is." I mumbled to myself.
"What's wrong?" Jay asked as he noticed I was upset.
"I just don't want her to know ok?" I said as I broke eye contact with them. "It was just a hard time for me and you know I don't like to talk to about it. The last thing I need is my daughter asking me questions about it."
"Is this about what you saw in the caves of despair?" He asked.
"No, it's about what I didn't see." I sighed and looked at my hands. "Sometimes I still don't see my reflection and now that I'm a father it scares me. I lost my mother when I was around Allison's age and I don't want her to go through what I did."
"I didn't know it bothered you that much." Jay frowned.
"It didn't used to, but lately it's all I can think about." I frowned. "Mainly because it's not just about me anymore."
"I get it, you have a family now." Jay said. "If you don't want us to tell her, then we won't."
"Thanks guys." I said.
"And we'll always be here to help you with Allison if you need us." Nya assured me.
"Of course." Jay agreed.
"Thanks." I smiled.
The place where my scar on my forehead used to be was starting to ache. Oddly, that had been happening a lot over the last few days. It usually only happened on occasion or when I use my lava arms for too long, but it kept happening more and more. That's why I always get so worried because Allison has that ability too.
"Hey you alright buddy?" Jay asked.
"I'm fine I'm just tired from the long drive over here." I lied. "You guys can stay up if you want but I'm gonna hit the sack."
I stood up and got dizzy. It took a minute for my vision to clear up so I had to close my eyes and catch my balance on the wall.
"You sure you're ok?" Nya asked.
"Yeah I've just been getting these migraines and headaches lately." I admitted. "I'm sure it's nothing."
I saw Nya and Jay look at each other. I don't think they believed me.
"It doesn't look like nothing." Jay said.
"I'm fine, I'm just tired." I lied. "Good night you guys."
"Night." Nya said.
I managed to make it to the bedroom I was staying in and get into bed. I thought some sleep would clear my head.
>>>>>>>•••<<<<<<<
"Cole." I heard a voice say.
I kept looking around to see where that was coming from, but I didn't find it.
"Cole." The voice said again. "You're in danger."
"Who are you? Show yourself!" I demanded.
All of a sudden a person who was all too familiar to me appeared. Master Yang.
"What, you don't recognize me?" He snarked.
"Cut to the chase Yang, what is this about?" I rolled my eyes.
"Your daughter." He said.
"Oh no! Don't you dare bring Allison into your little games." I grew angry. "Whatever beef you have with me can be settled between us and us only."
"It's not me, it's Marc..."
>>>>>>>•••<<<<<<<
I heard someone knocking on the door and it woke me up out of the dream, or whatever that was.
"Cole?" I heard Jay's voice on the other side of the door.
"One second." I said. I made myself decent and opened the door. "What's up Jay?"
"Oh sorry." He apologized. "I heard you screaming and wanted to make sure you were ok."
"I wasn't screaming." I told him.
"If that wasn't you, then who...?"
"AHHHHH!!!!" We heard something coming from the forest. It sounded like a little boy.
We thought she might've been in trouble so Jay and I ran into the nearby woods to search for her. There were wolves and bears and who knows what else living in those woods. Anyone who didn't know what they were doing could really get themselves into trouble.
We followed the sound of his occasional screams until eventually they just stopped. We were about to turn back and resume our search in the morning when we heard something rustling in the leaves nearby. When I investigated I found a young boy lying on the ground in pain. He was near to passing out.
"Jay, over here." I yelled.
He came over and gasped as he saw him. Jay helped me get him onto my back and we started walking back towards the cabin. The whole way back he was too tired to say anything.
We got him back to the cabin and set him on the couch and he was so tired he fell right asleep. We treated all the wounds we could and other than a few deep scratches his injuries were mostly minor. Judging by how skinny he was and how ratty his clothes were, he probably passed out from not eating enough. There's no telling how long he had been living in that forest.
Nya heard us walking in and came into the living room to see what was going on. She saw the boy sleeping on the couch.
"Where did you find him?" Nya asked.
"In the forest." Jay answered. "He could barely move."
"What do you think happened?" She asked.
"I don't know, but judging by these scratches and bruises I'd say he was attacked by something." I said.
"Or someone." Jay panicked. "What if there's somebody out there?"
"Jay stop being paranoid." Nya told him. "I'm sure when he wakes up he'll tell us what happened."
"You're right." He took a deep breath.
"You guys can go back to sleep if you want. I'll stay with him in case he wakes up." I said.
"Are you sure? You didn't get very much sleep." Nya said.
"Yes I'm fine now." I told them. "I told you guys you don't need to worry about me. Right now we have bigger things to worry about."
"Ok but if you get tired come wake me up ok?" Jay said.
"Thanks but I'll be fine." I assured him. "Good night guys."
"Night." They both said before walking back to their bedroom.
I set there in the chair waiting for the boy to wake up. I was kind of enjoying the moment of peace and quiet. It gave me time to clear my head of everything going on.
After a few hours, the boy woke up in a panic. He set up on the couch and looked around confused and tired. Then he noticed me sitting on the chair next to him.
"W-where am I? Who are you? Am I being kidnapped?" He asked panicked.
"Hey it's ok, I'm not gonna hurt you." I told him calmly.
"What happened to me?" He asked.
"I was hoping you knew." I said. "What do you remember?"
"I..." He held his head. "I can't remember anything."
"What's your name kid?" I asked.
"I don't know, I seem to remember people calling me Matt, but I don't know if that's my name."
"That's as good a name as any." I said. "My name is Cole, but you can call me Mr. Brookstone if that makes you more comfortable. My friend Jay and I heard you screaming and found you in the forest nearly unconscious."
"Why was I in the forest?" He asked.
"We don't know, but by the look of your clothes it looks like you've been in there quite a while."
He tried to get up but he was dizzy and exhausted. I helped him back onto the couch.
"Take it easy kid you've been through a lot." I told him.
"I'm sorry." Matt frowned and held his head. "I don't want to bother you."
"You're not bothering us at all." I told him. "You can stay with us until we get you back to your family."
"Thank you." He looked down and noticed all the cuts and bruises all over his body. "Was I in some kind of accident or something?"
"Like I said I don't know. You were in pretty bad shape when we found you, but you seem better now. Does anything feel broken?"
"No, everything is just sore. I do have this massive headache though."
"Maybe we can go back to where we found you tomorrow and see if anything there jogs your memory."
"Alright. Thank you." Then I heard his stomach growl.
"Oh you must be starving. Let me get you something to eat."
I ran into the kitchen and heated up some hotdogs we had left over and grabbed him a bottle of water. He ate it all almost instantly.
"Alright Matt, you could use some rest. You can sleep there tonight and I'll be right in there if you need anything." I said showing him where my bedroom was.
"Thank you sir." He said smiling.
"Have a good night."
"You too."
I went into my room and laid back down in the bed. I was glad we got to that boy when we did or he could've really gotten hurt. I was so tired I went right to sleep.
Jay's P.O.V.:
I woke up and went into the living room and found the boy sitting on the couch now clean and wearing some of Jax's spare clothes. Nya, Lily, Jax and Allison were already up but I didn't see Cole anywhere. The boy was sitting on the couch chatting with everyone.
I noticed Lily was being especially friendly with him. Almost as if she had a crush on him. I hoped that wasn't the case because she was way too young for boys.
"Good morning Jay." Nya said. "We were all getting to know Matt."
"I can see that, nice to meet you Matt. I'm Jay." I said.
"Thank you all for taking me in." He said. "I honestly don't remember much of anything."
"Well you're always welcome to stay with me... I mean us." Lily stuttered and blushed.
"Smooth." Jax said sarcastically.
"Shut it Jax!" Lily scolded him.
"That's enough kids." Nya said to them. "You guys go into the kitchen and get some breakfast. Allison's mom should be here soon."
"Oh boy. I can't wait for her to get here." Allison exclaimed following the other kids into the kitchen.
"Sorry about the twins." I apologized. "They're usually better behaved than that."
"That's ok." The boy said.
"Nya, Have you seen Cole this morning?" I asked.
"I don't know but he better wake up soon." She replied. "Seliel should be here any minute now."
"Yeah he must've been tired after all that last night." I looked Matt. "How are you feeling today?"
"Better. Thank you." He said.
"Did that medicine I gave you help with your headache Matt?" Nya asked him.
"Yes, thank you Mrs. Walker." He said. "I'm feeling much better now."
"I'm glad." Nya said.
"Do you have a cellphone or anything that would help us contact your parents?" I asked.
"No I already checked." He sighed.
"We think whoever attacked him stole his belongings too." Nya told me.
"I don't have any memory of what happened, or anything really." Matt said.
"Well I'm gonna go check on Cole." I said. "I'm a little worried about him."
"Ok." Nya said.
I walked over to Cole's bedroom and knocked on his door.
"Cole?" I said.
"Sorry Jay. I slept late." I heard his voice from the other side of the door. "Let me get dressed and I'll be right out."
"Alright, no rush." I said and I left. I hoped that Cole was ok.
Cole's P.O.V.:
This morning I got up to brush my teeth and when I looked in the mirror I couldn't see my reflection again. I kept staring at it and eventually I finally saw my reflection, but it was different.
My scar was glowing on my forehead which was strange because it only did that when I used my lava arms. I haven't used them a lot lately so that's why it felt so weird.
I did everything I could to cover it so my daughter wouldn't see it, but nothing worked. Then I heard someone knock on my door.
Jay's voice called my named. I told that I was getting dressed to buy me some time, but I was frantically looking for anything to cover my scar. Eventually I found an old ball cap in my suitcase and it worked to cover my scar. I was finally able to go out and enjoy the rest of the day with my family and friends. I just hoped we could figure out what happened to that boy. And I hope I find out what was going with me.