The Glade and Its Glitch: Book 2 Allies or Enemies

Chapter 11

Jay and Lloyd made their way down to the meeting room.

"You sure Soar's up for this?" Lloyd asked.

After thinking for a second, Jay shrugged, "I don't know. But I also don't know if he ever will be unless we make him."

The two brothers soon met with the others in the meeting room. Nya stood up to meet Jay at the door.

"How was training? Kai and Soar will be here soon, he just left to go get him."

"It was good, I need to stop underestimating this guy," Jay punched Lloyd's shoulder playfully.

The younger brother rubbed his shoulder, "Thanks... I think."

"I'd take it as a compliment Lloyd," Nya offered her input, "You're not a kid anymore. You've grown up to be quite the young man."

"But you'll always be our little brother," Kai walked in through the doorway, "Now let's get this meeting started."

Soar took the seat at the head of the table, and Lloyd and Zane sat on either side of him. Next to Lloyd sat Kai, Nya, and Dareth. PIXAL and Jay sat on Zane's side, but there was an empty chair where Cole would normally sit. Master Wu sat at the opposite end of the table from Soar, and Misako stood behind him. Typically, Wu would sit where Soar was sitting, and Misako would sit where Wu was currently sitting.

Because Soar was going to explain what happened and lead the discussion, the ninja thought it best to let him have the seat at the head. "So you guys just want to hear about what happened?" Soar asked.

"Any information helps," PIXAL said leaning forward, "No detail is unimportant."

"Well, Cole had been on lookout duty. He must've seen something because he left his post. I thought that was strange so I followed him." Soar lied, he wrung his hands under the table.

"It's not like Cole to just leave his post. For any reason," Zane looked over to PIXAL, "I wonder if we could see what he saw on the security cameras?"

Soar froze, if the ninja saw that Cole followed him, instead of Soar following Cole, his cover would be blown. What would he do after that? He couldn't go back to the Glade. The number of people who wanted him dead was immeasurable. Protector, Sunbeam, Huntress, Skylight Supernova, the list would go on and on. Most of them couldn't kill him, or just wished he was dead. But people like Supernova or Huntress, could and would kill him if given the chance.

"Most of our cameras we moved to that spot near where we think the Glade is. There are a few still here, but some of them needed repair. Jay, did you ever fix those?" PIXAl looked over to her right.

Jay shook his head, "I haven't fixed the one by the courtyard, or the one outside of the med-bay, or the one by Lloyd's room."

Soar relaxed a little, now there was a lower chance of him being seen by the cameras. He might be in the clear.

But Jay continued, "Some of the ones out in the woods might have caught something, but they went down a few days ago. Since I just got back I haven't had time to fix them. Once I fix them we can process the data."

"What if Cole broke the cameras because he's evil and working for the Glade?" Dareth suggested.

"I think I prefer Jay's conspiracy theories," Kai said, resting his chin in his hands.

"I think it's a good idea," Dareth protested, "Think about it-"

"Dareth, you're testing our patience. I find it highly unlikely, no impossible, that Cole would betray us." Wu nodded to Soar, "Continue."

"After he walked for a while, he entered that underground base you guys found us in." He waved to Kai, Lloyd, and Zane. "We walked around for a while before Huntress came."

Lloyd sat up straighter. He still was curious as to why Huntress hadn't attacked him. She'd been right there and done nothing. Pulling his lip between his teeth his mind continued to wander. She'd been wounded, her shoulder had been bleeding. But she still seemed alert and dangerous.

"She attacked Cole first, I was hiding." Soar continued, "I tried to help Cole, but she hit me in the nose. When Cole realized I was there he tried to help me. But he failed." Soar looked down at his lap, faking a look of remorse.

Kai stood and put a hand on Soar's shoulder, "Don't worry man, Cole's strong. He will get through this. We need to be prepared. The Glade could attack us, and when they do, we'll fight back. Huntress won't beat us again."

Soar grinned to himself. Perhaps Glitch's plans wouldn't be as hard as they thought.