The Glade and Its Glitch: Book 2 Allies or Enemies

Chapter 24

Lloyd spluttered as Kai dragged him down the hall, leading him to the med bay. As they ran in, Nya dashed over.

Kai immediately began to question his sister, "Any change?"

She shook her head and grabbed Kai's hand, "No, but we do think he's going to wake up soon. Any minute now we think."

Lloyd stepped over to Cole's bedside, now free from Kai's grip. Jay already had the seat beside Cole, so Lloyd just stood behind him.

The lightning ninja looked back at Lloyd, "Sorry for waking you, bud. But we figured you'd want to be here when Cole wakes up."

"No, yeah, definitely." Lloyd yawned, still half asleep. He was glad Kai'd woken him up, all the worrying about Cole had been driving him insane, and he was desperate for a change. Plus, the dream he'd been in had been getting seriously weird. And those eyes, Lloyd shivered, they were still burned into his mind. If he closed his eyes he could see them, sharp and unblinking.

"You alright?" Jay looked up, noticing Lloyd's blank and distant expression.

"Yeah," Lloyd dismissed Jay's concern and looked over as more people entered the room.

Zane walked in followed by Soar. Lloyd assumed Soar had also been asleep and was recently awoken by the white ninja. Despite all the excitement, Soar seemed unimpressed, but Lloyd attributed it to the fact that he'd only just woken up.

PIXAL met Zane in the center of the room. They quickly moved to walk side by side as they bustled around the room. Cole waking up meant that he was much closer to recovering, however, it didn't mean that he would be fully healed. The wounds on Cole's leg and chest had finally scabbed over, yet were still an angry red color. PIXAL wandered over to a cart and pulled out a wet cloth, draping it over the earth ninja's forehead, keeping him cool as he stirred.

Soar stayed in the doorway. He crossed his arms over his chest, an expression on his face that seemed to say: "I don't want to be here" or "I don't care about this".

Stirring again, Cole made a small noise that sounded half like a moan, and half like a whimper. The fingers on his left hand twitched, and Jay reached his own hand out to rest it next to Cole's.

"Come on buddy. It's ok." Jay muttered. Nya walked over and rested a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder to comfort him. He looked back at her, thankful for the support.

Mater Wu opened the door at the back of the room. He made his way over to Zane, adjusting his straw hat as he walked. "Any new news?"

With a nod, Zane informed Master Wu of the situation, "He's definitely well on his way to waking up. We probably won't quiz him as soon as he wakes. But I'm sure he can confirm what Soar's told us." He shot Soar a proud and assuring look.

Soar's anxiety shot through the roof. If Cole woke up, he would tell the ninja that everything Soar said was false. He doubted that the ninja would believe himself over Cole. After nodding back to Zane, and once the nindroid looked away, Soar began to slowly back out of the room.

"Guh?" Cole stirred again, shifting towards his right side.

"Cole!" Everyone but Soar crowded around Cole's bedside as the man awoke.

Lloyd looked off to the side, grinning, but his grin faded into confusion as he saw Soar walk out the door. Cole was finally awake. Soar should be happy. Right?

Making the decision to follow him, Lloyd walked out the door after Soar.

Cole blinked, fully awake but still groggy, "What?"

"Shh, don't try to talk buddy." Kai pushed Cole back against the bed, as he had tried to sit up.

Zane put a hand to Cole's forehead, partly to check his temperature, and partly to lay his head back against the pillow."Kai's right, just rest for a bit Cole. You're alright, we're all here."

Cole shook his head and tried to sit up again. But after Kai forced him back down again he gave up. Looking over at Jay, he tried to speak instead.

"Shhh, Cole, you need to rest." Nya leaned forward.

Cole tried to clear his throat, obviously set on speaking. "N-nadakhan."

Freezing like a deer in headlights, Jay jerked back slightly. Nya's eyes widened and she looked down at her boyfriend. Luckily for them, the other ninja didn't notice their movements or panicked expressions.

"What?" PIXAL asked, "I do not have any information on this 'Nadakhan' in my data banks. Zane?"

"None here either, he's probably just spouting nonsense, he's got to be exhausted." Zane sat down next to Cole and began messing with his IVs and such.

"No." Cole reached out for Jay's hand, which was still resting next to Cole's. "Nadakhan."

Jay looked up at Nya with pleading eyes.

She shook her head and shrugged as if to say 'I have no idea how he knows'.

Then Jay thought back to that night when he had explained what happened with the Sky Pirates. Cole must've been aware enough to hear what Jay said. Meaning that now he knew everything about Nadakhan.

"Hey," Jay made up his mind. If Cole knew, it was going to come out sometime. It would be better to do it as soon as possible and get it over with. "You guys remember that day when we visited that hospital? Then all the fans found us and we had to leave?"

Master Wu raised a bushy eyebrow, "Yes Jay. We remember. What does this have to do with Cole's situation?"

"Yeah," Kai looked up at Jay and his sister, "Then we went up on the roof and Nya did Airjitzu for the first time."

Zane looked over in Jay's direction, "Of course, we remember Jay. But why is this important?"

Jay looked down at his feet, "'Cause that's not what happened."