The Glade and Its Glitch: Book 2 Allies or Enemies

Chapter 19

 Jay sat up quickly in bed. He panted hard but attempted to steady his breathing. Hands shaking slightly, he got out of bed and headed toward the med bay. Still partially blinded by his sleepy eyes, he stumbled into the room.

Taking a seat beside Cole's bed, Jay released a breath. Resting his hand on Cole's, he allowed himself to relax a tad.

"Gosh I miss you, buddy," Jay said, talking somewhat to himself, but also to Cole, even though he knew he couldn't hear him. "I wish I could just spill all my secrets to you right now. I never should have kept Nadakhan and everything secret from you, and I regret that so much."

"You remember that day when we were visiting Little Nelson in the hospital? And we went up to the rooftop to hide from the news cameras because Kai had made the stupid post about his hair. And Nya did CyclonDo so the news never saw us, and so we went back down and continued with our lives and then fought the Time Twins?" Jay looked down, half expecting Cole to respond. But it never happened, so Jay continued. "Well, that didn't happen. At least not at first. What happened first was that Nya refused to take my hand, and didn't do CyclonDo, so we were spotted, but the news was just Darreth so it was ok."

"Clouse had found that lamp, one with a djinn inside. His name was Nadakhan, I mentioned him earlier. He's a pirate genie, who wanted to take over Ninjago to turn it into his own little kingdom called Djinjago. And now I'm rambling and getting all ahead of myself." Jay took a few deep breaths, a skill Nya had been trying to get him to learn, before resuming. "Nadakhan granted all of us three wishes. For the last one, he tried to get you to 'wish it all away' which caused you to get sucked into this evil sword he had. The more souls in the sword, the stronger he was."

"First Nadakhan framed us. He got us sent to prison, where we met Captain Soto, who offered us tips on defeating Nadakhan. After we escaped, Nadakhan found us again, and Kai was the first to go. He got cornered, and Nadakhan can be... persuasive. So Kai wished it all away." Jay shivered at the words. "Then I made my first wish, I wished that I wasn't a poor kid born in a junkyard. I wanted to impress Nya, and that was stupid of me. She already liked me for who I was. But I wished, and it turns out I am adopted." Jay laughed sadly and looked away from Cole. "It's so stupid. It's just all so stupid."

"After I found my birth parents' house, Cliff Gordon by the way, Nadakhan came to me again. I used my second wish to not be alone. So Nya showed up, and she seemed impressed by what was happening. The rest of the team, minus Kai 'cause he's dead, came too and we figured out where to go next." He looked back at Cole, "Am I boring you? I probably would be if you were alive. But you're not so you don't have a choice. Anyway, Zane went next."

"My dad had a yacht that we used. But we ran into a lightning storm. After we sent Zane below deck and used me as a lightning rod at the top of the mast, he came back again. Nadakhan went below deck with Zane and tricked him into wishing it all away. The boat got wrecked and we winded up on a shore. Soto had told us that the only way to kill a Djinn is with Tiger Widow venom. I had told you about my wishes, and you told everyone else. They were all mad at me, so I was nominated to be the one to milk the Tiger Widow, a big giant spider." Jay laughed and curled in on himself leaning against the chair he sat in beside Cole. "I guess you know why I'm scared of spiders now."

"Finally we reached the Tiger Widow's cave, I went in and got the venom. Yet once again, Nadakhan showed up. He was able to take the single vial I put the one thing that could stop him in, and pour it out. Wait, no, Nya had switched the canteens, he poured out the wrong vial. Oops, forgot about that, yeah. Anyway, You, Lloyd, and Nya had the venom, but Nadakhan kidnapped me. He brought me to his ship, the Misfortune's Keep, and I was trapped there. I was held there for about two months or so. Before you, Lloyd, and Nya saved me."

"You burst in and saved me. I was weak and defenseless." Jay paused, remembering Scrap-N-Tap and everything else he went through. The time he spent talking to Cole had passed quickly. Jay sniffed and wiped tears from his eyes.

"Nya and I left you and Lloyd, and we went to the lighthouse Zane's dad stayed at. While we were gone you and Lloyd got sucked into the sword. Then later at the lighthouse Nya was taken by Nadakhan. So I formed my own group of replacement ninja. We went to go attack Nadakhan. I dragged you, Lloyd, Kai, Zane, Master Wu, and others out of the sword with all the souls in it. We fired the Tiger Widow venom at Nadakhan to stop him. It hit him, but also splashed Nya. I stopped Nya from marrying a stupid creepy Djinn, but I couldn't save her from the Tiger Widow venom. I used my lash wish to wish that she took my hand and no one ever found the stupid Teapot of Tyrahn. The End." He rushed through the ending of the story, just thinking of Scrap-N-Tap made Jay worried and scared. He just wanted everything to be over.

Jay stood and left the room, still wiping tears from his eyes, as all of his emotions overflowed. But as he left he missed the subtle, barely noticeable twitch of Cole's fingers.