Legends of Ninjago: Book 2: Rise of the Serpentine: Chapter 3: An Arrow in the Dark

Cole slammed his palm against his forehead as hard as he possibly could. What had he been thinking?! Waiting near Ann’s bedroom door to talk to her? And then of course he’d been so tired that he needed to sit down, and then of course he’d fallen asleep, and of course Ann happened to trip over him in the dark, and now he just looked like a complete idiot! What was he even trying to do? Ask her out? She was a ninja warrior, and he was in training! They didn’t even have a lot of free time to hang out in the first place, not to mention the fact that they’d only known each other for about five months. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

He collapsed on his bed in frustration and sighed. Why was he trying to do this? Was he that desperate for love? Didn’t he already have enough friends? But then again...

His mind drifted back to the previous spring when he had first marched up to the monastery and knocked on those heavy doors. A rough-looking guard appeared, asked for his name and intended business, then left him standing there for a few minutes. He was pushing a small pile of dirt with his shoe when the gate finally re-opened and...

The first mention he ever had of Ann was the scroll Sensei Wu had given him on the mountain. Given Wu’s line of work, he had been expecting an older woman, perhaps a little sour-looking, with her hair tied up in a tight bun, just like a dozen-or-so of his past teachers. Boy was he not expecting to see a beautiful young girl with silky hair and deep blue eyes. But the surprises continued when she spoke to him, because all his life he had been surrounded by girls who acted—well, girly—and gossiped, wore heavy makeup, and maybe even blushed when he walked passed them, but not Ann. She stood up perfectly straight, looked him dead in the eye, and talked to him as though he was a fully realised man. Maybe strange-sounding to some, but Cole found it surprisingly refreshing and, in some ways, elegant.

Then, there was the night Kai arrived. Up until that point, Cole was under the impression that no one else at the monastery knew about his or any other elemental power. As always, he felt severed from his companions by his stupid secret. But then... Cole’s mind replayed the memory like it was filmed on tape. The fire, and then the water, and the floating spear. Never in his life had he ever felt more alarmed and yet completely enchanted. His mind was chanting over and over, “She’s like you, you’re not alone! She’s just like you!” A part of him wished he had said something to her that night; asked her about her powers. He wanted to know more about where their powers came from and how she had dealt with them personally growing up. He wanted to talk to her so badly, but for some annoying reason, nothing he tired ever started a real conversation between them. But it never turned Cole off. If anything, the mystery and challenge was driving him mad and made him want to get to know her even more.

And yet—as Cole slowly brought his mind’s eye back into his dark room—even with her mystery, and her beauty, and her confidence and bravery compelling him to go after her, she seemed to recoil every time he attempted to get close. Perhaps he was overstepping some boundaries? He sincerely hoped not. After all these years, he’d finally found a girl that seemed perfect for him, but she always seemed so distant and unfeeling and... untouchable. Maybe it wasn’t love; just a silly crush. Maybe it would be better if he just forgot about it completely. It would certainly makes things less complicated and less awkward.

As he stared up at the roof, slowly drifting off into sleep, he wondered if Ann had nightmares, too. She seemed so brave that it was hard to imagine her waking up in the night, crying, but given everything she’d gone through, just like the rest of them—maybe even worse— she would have to.

That night, Cole dreamed that he was chasing someone, and that someone was chasing him at the same time. All through the monastery, down the mountainside, and into Ninjago City where he ran into King Samukai holding a torch above his tattooed head ready to beat him with the fiery stick and then he woke up to find that someone was shaking him.

“Cole... come on... Ann’s waiting for us,” said a very groggy Kai.

“What? Ann?” Cole asked, sitting up.

“Yeah, Ann’s taking over the lesson,” Kai explained, and then he left Cole to get changed.

Cole grabbed his training uniform as quickly as possible and shoved it over his head, then he brushed his hair, brushed his teeth, and shaved a little before finally meeting up with everyone downstairs.

“There you are,” Ann said when he finally arrived in the west courtyard. “In the future, try not to be late.” She turned toward everyone else and Cole felt his heart sink a little. “All right, follow me.”

Ann led the boys out of the monastery and into the woods to a place where they could still see the stars.

“Now,” she said, stopping. “First off, can anyone tell me how far we are from the monastery?”

All the boys looked around, but couldn’t see the building anywhere, or even any candle light. It was all about memory.

“We’re roughly thirty yards away,” Zane said crisply.

“Excellent, Zane,” said Ann, and Cole kind of envied him. “At least I know that one of you is paying attention.” Okay, now Cole was determined to prove her wrong. “For tonight’s lesson, I want each of you to lead me somewhere in the forest. Cole, why don’t you start with Kagami Falls.”

Cole was surprised but gathered himself quickly enough. The falls was a place he’d been to several times to train, so he should know the way. He looked around him and tried to memorise as much of this place as he could before checking where the North Star was in the sky. The falls was east of here, a little less than half a mile away. There were a few landmarks he could think in that direction, and when he began to lead the troop, he was sure that he was on the right path.

Many minutes went by of walking and climbing, but Cole was sure he knew where he was going. The falls should be getting close by now.

“Wait,” Ann said, quietly but firmly. “Did anyone..?” She stopped mid-sentence and hesitantly looked up at the trees above them.

Everyone froze and started looking around ever so carefully. Cole hadn’t heard anything over the sound of his own footsteps, but if Ann thought it was important enough to stop the lesson, it must be something big.

“What is it?” he asked in a whisper.

Over the months, Wu had also been training them to use hand signals to communicate in situations just like these. Ann began moving her hands very slowly so that they could understand.

Not alone. Trees. Unsafe.

Cole looked up but couldn’t seem to find anything in the pitch blackness. Animal? He signed. Ann shook her head.

“We should head back now,” Ann said out loud. “We’ve had enough for ton—AAH!!” There was a sharp whizzing sound, and then Ann screamed and fell to the ground.

Panic was the very first thing that went racing through Cole’s mind. What should he do? His training must have been paying off, because not a moment went by before he was already in a defensive stance protecting Ann. He had a large boulder at the ready, prepared to strike at anything that moved. Kai, Jay, and Zane did the same.

“We need—argh! To get back to the monastery!” Ann groaned as she tried to get to her feet.

Cole barely had enough time to even hear the next arrow, let alone see the blinding lightning bolt that zapped it in mid air, causing it to explode. He turned to see Jay, wide eyed and breathless, still in his attack position.

“Let’s go!” Kai cried, leading the way back down the mountain.

Cole went straight for Ann and asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said. “It just got my shoulder. I’ll be fine. I’m fine.”

He tried to take her word for it, but the way her voice sounded less than absolutely confident made him worry.

More and more arrows came for them in the dark, each one narrowly missing, or being shot out of the air by Jay, whose reflexes were getting even more unbelievably fast. But at one point, after an arrow barely missed Kai’s head, the fire ninja finally snapped.

“That’s it!” he yelled. “If they want something to shoot at, how about they shoot THIS!” He stopped and shot out five watermelon-sized fire balls that hit the trees and began to set the entire forest ablaze. Now that there was more light, they could see about six black figures darting from tree to tree overhead. They were armed with crossbows and seemed exceedingly agile.

“Well now we can see them,” Cole said, eyeing the silhouettes nervously.

“Yeah, and now they can see us!” Jay shrieked.

“We won’t make it to the monastery in time like this,” said Zane. “Kai, Ann, we need a smokescreen!”

“On it!” Kai called back.

Ann created a massive dome of water, designed to protect them from any arrows, but it looked kind of sloppier than usual; perhaps it was because she was only using one arm. Then Kai sent out a super hot stream of fire that began to evaporate the water upon contact, and soon they were surrounded by a cloud of mist. Zane added a touch of coldness to it so that it would stick around for longer, but the fog didn’t stop these assassins. They dropped down around them and cut the ninja off, unsheathing their long katanas. The four boys began to back up, closer to Ann, until they were less than five inches away from each other.

“Now would be a really good time to have some weapons,” Jay said, panicking a little.

“We have powers, guys. We’re not helpless,” Cole reminded them, and as he said it he lifted up a large slab of stone and hurled it at one of the assassins who dodged the attack just in time. The masked mercenary lunged forward and his sword was aimed right at Cole’s chest, but he spotted this oncoming attack and in a split second, raised up another stone slab. The metal sword bounced off awkwardly and Cole pushed the stone forward, attempting to crush his attacker.

There was something very familiar about these assassins, but Cole couldn’t figure out what. Maybe he’d just seen them in a bad dream.

The others faired well in the fight, except for Ann, that is, who was struggling considerably. Her water attacks could only do so much damage. Thankfully, with Jay and Kai nearby, the assassins didn’t stand a chance and as Cole observed, he saw how much farther they’d all come since the Underworld. Their movements weren’t so awkward and clumsy but smooth and fluent. They knew exactly what to do when confronted with a katana and stayed in a defensive position until every threat had been neutralised. Jay shot a bolt at one assassin’s sword, electrifying it and sending it flying across the forest in a cloud of sparks, then Zane swooped in to finish him off. Kai simply warded off the warrior in front of him by blasting non-stop fire until he passed out, and Zane froze the other assassin solid.

Cole let out a breath as he saw the five lifeless bodies collapsed on the ground, but then he froze. Hadn’t there been six assassins?

He looked up just in time to see the sixth warrior jumping down on top of him, slamming his foot against Cole’s face and knocking him down the mountain. Suddenly he was tumbling over rocks and bushes and who knows what else, his world spinning, spinning, spinning, until he could no longer tell what was up or down, or where he was, or where his friends were, not to mention there was a throbbing pain coming from his head and shoulders and legs. When he finally stopped, he was lying flat on his back and he could barely breathe.

The assassin had apparently fallen with him and Cole could hear him groan from somewhere nearby. When he opened his eyes, the dark figure now stood over him holding a burning piece of wood from the fire Kai had started. His mask had fallen off to reveal a hollow, white face with tiny orbs of red light poking out of his impossibly deep eye sockets. That’s when Cole realised that this was a Skulkin. Flashbacks instantly dragged him under. He could remember the burning and the blisters from when he had been tortured and interrogated, and he became paralysed with fear. All of his training left his mind immediately, and his only instinct was to curl into a ball and hide. He closed his eyes, preparing for the worst, but then he heard someone yell and then there was a loud THUD. Then silence. Cole opened his eyes and saw Kai on top of the Skulkin, knocking him out with a nearby stone.

“Cole, are you okay?” Jay asked as he rushed forward.

Cole couldn’t seem to say anything at all. His mind was racing at a million miles a minute.

“Cole, are you all right?” Ann asked, jumping down from a large rock with Zane’s help.

That seemed to snap him out of it.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine, just a little...” he tried to sit up, but then found his whole world spinning again. His head was throbbing uncontrollably, and he couldn’t see anything.

“He’s hit his head,” he thought he heard someone say. “Lift him up. Hurry.”

He thought that maybe he was getting taller, or maybe he was flying. Either way, he was moving. “Where are we going?” he asked in a groggy sort of way.

“You’re gonna be fine, Cole,” someone said. Maybe it was Ann? Everyone sounded the same for some reason.

Suddenly there was light, and Cole groaned as his eyes started stinging. Then he thought that maybe he was finally lying on solid ground again, but it didn’t feel solid, it felt more like a soft cloud. Perhaps he had been flying, and all of this light was the sun. But then he felt something very wet touch his warm head, and he thought maybe he was laying on a storm cloud.

Blurry moments mixed with dreams slowly passed by. In the midst of it all, though, a steady image replayed over and over in his mind. It was a memory from when he was very, very little, and he was being rocked to sleep by his mother. She was singing an old song that he had forgotten a long time ago, and yet the lyrics sounded so clear and the melody felt so familiar. Back and forth he seemed to sway, feeling her warm body against his skin and nodding off to the sound of her singing and heartbeat.

Sadly, the images began to dissolve and the confusion from before settled back in. People came and went, the lights grew brighter and then dimmer, many strange noises bombarded his ears, and before he knew it, Cole was wide awake again. The first real thing he saw with any clarity was the ceiling; woody and dry. Then he noticed voices nearby, saying things he could barely hear.

“Cole! You’re awake!” Cole turned his head over to see a familiar face staring back at him. Keaton’s eyes were especially big with worry and relief, but her smile was as warm as the sun. “Guys, he’s awake!” she cried, and soon his bed was surrounded by his friends.

“Where am I?” Cole asked.

“The medical room,” Zane answered, handing him a glass of water.

“What happened?” He tried to drink some, but his stomach felt a little upset.

“You fell,” said Kai. “You got banged up pretty good.”

“Don’t worry, the doctor says the damage isn’t too bad,” Jay said in a very sympathetic tone. “But you might want to avoid mirrors for a while.”

“What? Why?” Cole asked, panicking a little. He noticed a reflective tray on the nightstand next to him and grabbed it. But as he stared into it, he couldn’t find anything severely wrong with him at all, and then Jay started laughing.

“No matter what he tried, he just couldn’t fix your face!” He cackled.

“Oh, ha ha. Very funny,” Cole deadpanned, flinging the tray at Jay’s head. It bonked off of him and sent him stumbling back a few steps before colliding with the floor very loudly.

“No, it’s not funny,” Ann said. She was leaning against another bed one row down, away from everyone else with a bandage on her shoulder and her arm in a sling. She sounded particularly unhappy. “None of this is funny. We’ve just been attacked by Skulkin assassins who know who we are and where we live.”

“That’s a good point,” Kai piped up. “I thought all the Skulkins were being taken care of?”

Ann sighed. “Not really. People have been desperate for some good news, so they’ve been tinting everything to be all rosey, when in reality the threat’s just been pushed back a little, like a cornered beast ready to strike.”

"Pretentious much?" Jay muttered, rubbing his head.

“Do they have a new leader?” Zane asked. He turned toward her and folded his arms in contemplation.

“We don’t have any confirmed information, but... Wu believes that he knows who’s behind it,” Ann said slowly, as if she was reluctant to say anything.

“Who?” asked Kai.

But Ann wouldn’t say any more. “It’s Sensei Wu’s place to tell you, not mine.”

“Tell them what?”

Everyone turned to see Sensei Wu walking through the door. He seemed very tired and a bit dishevelled.

“Sensei Wu,” Ann said, standing up straighter.

“At ease. I came as soon as I heard,” Wu replied. He moved to her side with surprising speed and grace. “Are any of you badly injured?”

Suddenly the doctor, who Cole hadn’t seen standing in the corner of the room, spoke up.

“Ann Jing sustained an arrow to her right shoulder, Jay has a few cuts and scrapes, and Cole has a minor concussion,” he said, squinting through his spectacles. “All things considered, I’d say that they did all right.” Cole suddenly lifted a hand and felt his head where, sure enough, he found a thick bandage covering his hair. He wondered how he hadn’t noticed that before.

“And we already put out the fire in the woods,” Kai blurted, seemingly trying to add in some more good news, but really just calling attention to the major catastrophe which he had started.

“But we also found something that you need to see,” said Ann, walking forward with something in her hands. It looked like it could be a scroll, but from his bed, Cole couldn’t really see.

“What is it?” he whispered to Keaton.

“They found it in the woods,” she whispered back, leaning over the mattress to reach his ear. “Right after you went all loopy. I think it’s a message for Sensei Wu.”

Wu’s expression became very grave and he looked up at all of his students one by one.

“The time is upon us. Lloyd Garmadon is coming,” he said in a very frightening tone.

“Lord Garmadon?!” everyone exclaimed at once.

“No! Lloyd Garmadon. Garmadon’s son. My nephew,” Wu explained.

“Lord Garmadon has a son?” Jay asked, scrunching up his nose in disgust. “Who in their right mind would marry that ugly mug?”

“Uh... regardless, Lloyd has been waiting for a chance to seize control for a while now, and with the Skulkin army so desperate, it seems his wish has finally come true,” said Wu, staring off into the distance sadly.

“And you’re only telling us now?” said Kai, frowning. “We could have died tonight! I mean, it wasn’t that likely,” he shrugged his shoulders and grinned confidently, “but we still could’ve!”

“I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t certain if he truly was behind it,” Wu said sharply. “You must learn to watch your tongue, young Kai.” Kai glared back.

“Still, this doesn’t seem like too big of a deal,” Jay shrugged. “We’ve battled the King of Darkness and won. Why should we be afraid of the Prince?”

“Because he can be... irrational. But very deadly, as shown by tonight. And do not forget that it was Ann Jing, Keaton, and myself who accomplished the most on that mission.” Wu had a point. If this was just a taste of what was to come, then they needed to get their act together.

“What do we do?” Cole asked.

“For now, the monastery is on high alert. All training lessons will be indoors if possible, but other than that, we wait,” Wu replied. “Wait for him to reveal himself, and then we strike. And in the meantime, you two need to rest,” and he pointed to Ann and Cole.

“Yes, Sensei,” they said together, nodding.

Wu turned back to the others. “You all performed admirably tonight. I’m proud to see how far you’ve come, if only over these last few months. In light of this, tomorrow’s training is cancelled. I suggest you make the most of your ‘relax time.’” He smiled directly at Jay, then left the room. Jay and Kai were both dumbfounded, and everyone else just stared in surprise. Sometimes it seemed like Wu could read minds.

After a little while, the three other boys retired for the night, leaving Cole with only Ann and Keaton for company. Ann was ordered to spend one night in the medical room, meanwhile Cole would be there for a week.

“I’m sorry,” he heard Keaton say in the quiet room. She and Ann were having a bit of a heart-to-heart. “If I’d been there, this never would have happened. I could’ve sensed the arrow in time.”

“Keaton, don’t be ridiculous. I’m the one to blame,” said Ann. “If I hadn’t upset you... the point is I’ll be fine. Now go back bed. You need your sleep.” Keaton gave a weak smile, hugged her sister, and then left. Now it was just Cole and Ann. Alone in the same room. Well, almost alone. Doctor Lee was just one room over, ready to leap into action if anything happened to go wrong in the night.

“She’s really sweet,” Cole said, referring to Keaton. He felt his fingers begin to nervously fiddle with the bed sheets and he tried to look Ann in the eye when he spoke, but not too much, because he didn’t want it to look like he was staring at her, but he also didn’t want to be rude and not look at her and... Ann was talking again. He snapped his attention back so that he wouldn’t miss what she was saying.

“She is,” Ann replied as she got into her bed which was on the opposite side of the room. They were both sitting up, though, so they could see each other.

He felt super awkward sitting there, especially after what happened yesterday, but maybe he could amend that? There was one way to find out. “Look, about what happened yesterday,” Cole began. “I’m really sorry.”

“You mean, when you were sitting in the hallway?” Ann asked.

Cole could feel his blood pressure skyrocket. “Yeah, it was super, super dumb. I just, uh, fell asleep, and—“

“—don’t worry about it,” Ann interrupted. “As Sensei Wu says, ‘if we fill our present with our past, we’ll never have a future.’”

“Right. Yeah,” Cole said, somewhat dopey-sounding. She was right about it being in the past, but at the present moment, Ann was just a few feet away from him. They could start a conversation and maybe end up talking for a while—how nice would that be? And perhaps now he’d really get a chance to know her. Over five months, all he’d been able to learn was that she’d been raised at the monastery by Sensei Wu, and that she didn’t like spicy foods that much.

“What are you staring at?” Ann asked, narrowing her eyes.

Cole suddenly realised that he’d been looking in her direction a little too long.

“Nothing!” he squeaked. “Sorry.”

Ann eyed him a bit and then said, “I think maybe your injury is far more extensive than Doctor Lee realised. I’ll call him back.”

“Uh, no! No, I’m fine,” said Cole, reaching up and touching his bandage confidentially, then he flinched when it began to sting uncontrollably.

“Don’t touch your head,” she said flatly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And don’t be too afraid to ask for Doctor Lee, okay? Goodnight.” Then she sunk down under her covers.

“Goodnight,” Cole replied, but internally he was banging his head against the wall.