The Glade and Its Glitch: Book 2 Allies or Enemies

Chapter 31

 Once Jay stopped talking, Nya started rubbing his back. He'd fallen silent once his tale was done, and the other ninja doubted he'd start talking again for a while.

"It's alright Jay." Cole rested a hand on top of Jay's. PIXAL didn't bother to tell Cole to stop talking and rest. "We'll work through this together. Nadakhan, the Glade, whoever it is Soar is working with."

Jay's head shot up, "What?"

"What do you mean Cole? Who Soar is working with? What does that mean?" Zane questioned.

Master Wu held up a hand to stop the ninja, so as to not overwhelm Cole. "Yes, Cole, what do you mean by whoever it is Soar is working with?"

"Soar's got some other guy he's reporting to. You remember when I left? I followed Soar to this base and he called this hooded person and-"

"W-w-wait. Hold up." Kai cocked his head, "You followed Soar? He said he followed you." Kai turned to look behind him, "Wait where is Soar?"

Dareth looked around, "Lloyd's not here either. Something must have happened to him!"

"Dareth's right, I don't see Lloyd." Nya looked down at Jay and muttered, "That's got to be the smartest thing Dareth's said in a while."

He let out a small chuckle, "Yeah, but why would they both leave? That doesn't make sense. Cole's awake, we should all be here. Excited."

"Wait Soar told you he followed me? That's not what happened. I followed him because he was being suspicious, leaving the monastery in the middle of the night." Cole tried to sit up.

PIXAL grabbed Zane's arm, "If Soar lied to us about that, what other lies could he have told us?"

"You said Soar's not here, but he was? Soar's been living here the whole time I was unconscious?"

Zane nodded, "Well he saved you from Huntress. We had no reason to mistrust him."

"Soar saved me from Huntress?! This is so backward."

"But that would mean Huntress saved you."

"Yes. She did. I think she did. See there was this bear."

"A bear? Cole, I'm pretty sure Huntress is a person." Dareth frowned and looked over at PIXAL. "I think he's still delirious. First Soar being an enemy and then Huntress being a bear. He's probably still a li'l loopy."

"I am not loopy." Cole protested. "Soar attacked me and then Huntress saved me by attacking Soar. I know that's what happened. And think about it, Soar and Lloyd both leave. Doesn't that make Soar a little suspicious? And shouldn't we be even the slightest bit worried for Lloyd?"

Nya reached forward to rest her hand on Cole's knee, "I agree with Cole. But I don't know if I think Soar is an enemy yet. He could still be our ally."

"Nya we don't know if we have any allies. The people of the Glade are our enemies." Kai started but Cole interrupted.

"No. Huntress saved me. I would be dead, killed by Soar, if not for her. She's an ally."

"Cole, you were saved by a bear. Huntress is human."

"But, Soar knew it was her. He called the bear Huntress. It has to have been her. You even said he admitted that she was there."

"Yeah, he also said she attacked you." Jay put in, "Who knows what her stance is."

"The bear stared into my eyes." Cole pushed himself further upright. Despite PIXAL's protests he was still talking and sitting up. "Its eyes were human. There were true thoughts behind those eyes. They were silver too. It had silver eyes."

"Cole, dozens of bears could have silver eyes. Plus we don't know if Huntress has silver eyes or not." Kai added, "And them looking like they have feelings doesn't mean that they're human."

"Ok fine. Whether or not the bear was Huntress is beside the point. The point is that Soar was the one who hurt me. And now, he and Lloyd are both missing. Coincidence? I think not."

"Cole does have a point." Zane agreed, he was starting to see the sense in the reasons Cole gave. Add the fact that Soar had been acting strange the whole time he was with the ninja and- BOOM! -you've got a pretty good case for villain Soar. "But I don't know if I think Huntress is completely innocent. I do think that we need to go find Lloyd before something happens to him."

~~~

At that moment, Lloyd was being dragged behind Huntress as she fled from whatever was making the noises she heard.

"Slow down!" Lloyd hissed. He kept his voice down, the last time he'd yelled she had hushed him. But he spoke with urgency nonetheless. "You're going too fast. What are we even running from?"

"Soar." She spoke simply, which both irritated and impressed Lloyd. She wasn't giving him much information, but she was keeping her focus on getting somewhere safe. "We're going to the Glade."

Lloyd stopped and ripped his arm out of her hand. "Are you kidding?! I can't go to the Glade."

"What do you mean? Don't be silly." She turned and tried to grab his arm again.

He moved back away from her grasp, "No. Listen to me. I barely know you and as far as I know, you could be the enemy and Soar could be the good guy."

"Look, we have to keep moving. Can we talk about this later?" Huntress asked gently before snapping to attention again. Once again, she'd heard a noise off in the distance.

"No. You listen to me. I don't know who you are. You're being so annoying. And I can't-"

A whistle sounded through the air.

Without warning, Huntress lunged at Lloyd. He yelped and fell back as she landed on top of him.

THWACK!

A dart hit the tree next to where Lloyd's head had been moments before.

Lloyd cursed.

Huntress responded without thinking, "Watch your language."

Lloyd looked up at her in disbelief. "Did you just-"

"Shhh, get up. We need to run." Huntress pulled Lloyd to his feet and the two broke out into a run.

"Is that Soar?!" Lloyd asked as she dragged him along.

Huntress glanced back and caught a glimpse of orange and teal. Very different from the red and blue Glitch's workers wore. "No. That is not Soar."