The Glade and Its Glitch: Book 4 Escape

Chapter 8

Carrie curled in on herself as she sat on her and Lloyd's bed. She had no idea where Devin and Cassandra had taken Lloyd. But whatever it was they were doing it was taking quite a while.

"First Master please let Lloyd be ok." She muttered under her breath. Carrie remembered how the first time she'd mentioned the First Spinjitzu Master Lloyd had been surprised. The Glade didn't know much about the First Master, but they knew of his existence.

Carrie had been surprised Lloyd was surprised. She thought it was pretty much common knowledge. But apparently, most people in Ninjago didn't know about him.

Her thoughts continued to wander. First from Lloyd to the First Master, then they traveled to Protector. Protector had been the one to tell everyone about the Master. She'd fought in the Serpentine Wars, so she knew Wu and Garmadon. So of course she knew about their father. As queen of the Glade, she'd told many stories. A few times a month they'd have a bonfire and dance and sing and tell stories. Protector's most popular story was the Serpentine War and the origin of the Glade.

As Carrie thought about the queen of the Glade her thoughts moved to the current king of the Glade. Skylight. She'd put TJ in charge before she left the Glade and she hoped he was doing alright. She had faith in him, but she also knew he didn't have faith in himself. TJ was known for his calm and shy nature. But he was also known, by only a select few, for his determination and bravery.

While her mind was on the topic of TJ, her thoughts shifted to Skye. Carrie smiled at the thought of the two of them. TJ was obviously crushing on Skye, and Skye was pretty obviously crushing on TJ. However, they were both oblivious, making the entire ordeal hilarious.

Carrie was pulled out of her thoughts by the stone door sliding open. Lloyd was thrown in through the opening unceremoniously. His body was limp and his back was covered in blood.

"Lloyd!" Carrie cried out and rushed to his side. She knelt beside him and touched the middle of his back gently.

Lloyd moaned in pain and tried to push up off the ground.

"Shh, shh," Carrie hushed Lloyd and pushed him back to the ground. She looked up at the cave entrance.

Devin and Cassandra stood in the doorway. Devin had blood on his coat and was holding a whip in his hand. Cassandra stood straight and tall, smiling at Lloyd's bloodied body on the floor.

Before Carrie could do anything the door slid shut. She looked back down at Lloyd, "Stay still." She dashed over to their piles of supplies. After taking a bottle of water from the pile, she went back to her and Lloyd's bed and took her jacket, and tore a scrap of fabric from it.

Lloyd was barely conscious. After he'd passed out Devin and Cassandra had released him from the pole and dragged him back to the cave. He'd faded in and out while they brought him back. And while laying on the floor he continued to fade in and out. He watched Carrie come back to him and he opened his mouth to try and talk to her.

"Shh lay still." Carrie cradled Lloyd's head in her hands and rested his head on her balled-up jacket. With the water bottle, she poured water onto the scrap of fabric. "I'm gonna clean the blood off your back."

As Carrie rubbed Lloyd's back with the wet rag, Lloyd whined in pain. It would have been much worse if Carrie was cleaning his wounds with alcohol, but that didn't mean water didn't hurt too. Lloyd tried to get up again, but his arms buckled and he fell back to the floor.

Carrie poured more water on the fabric and kept washing Lloyd's back. She used small light circular strokes to gently clean off the blood. She used her free hand to scratch at Lloyd's scalp in hopes that it would calm him. Once most of the blood and grime had been washed off, Carrie set the rag and water bottle to the side.

"Alright Lloyd, come on." Carrie helped Lloyd get to his feet. He leaned against her the whole way back to their bed. She sat him down and spread her jacket back over the pine needles. "I don't want your back to get dirty." Carrie picked up Lloyd's jacket and brushed off the pine needles. "We sleep close enough, we don't need that much room anymore."

Lloyd put the shirt on with a lot of help from Carrie. Once it was fully on, he leaned forward and closed his eyes.

Carrie stroked his hair and let him lay his head on her shoulder. "What did they want?"

"Information. They asked about the Glade and the ninja. I didn't want to tell them anything but... I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, Lloyd, they tortured you. That's not your fault."

"I know... But still, I gave away information."

"Your team will be able to handle it. And so will the Glade. Now here, lie down." Carrie pulled Lloyd onto his side and laid him down on the bed. She lay beside him and rested her forehead on his chest.

"I'm so sorry." Lloyd wrapped his arms around Carrie.

"Try and rest Lloyd. Here, just listen to me ramble. Hang on I need something to ramble about."

"Yeah, I love it when you ramble."

Carrie let out a soft giggle, "You got anything you want me to ramble about?"

"What are you going to do when we get out of this mess?"

"Umm... Well, when we escape this place I'm going to go to a hospital and get my ankle taken care of. Then I'm going to stop Glitch and Devin and Cassandra and Soar."

"But what about when that's all over?" Lloyd looked down at Carrie, "What about when we're fully free?"

"Well, I'll resume my duties as queen of the Glade. I left TJ in charge so I'll take that back. I don't know what I'll do. Oh! I'll find my brother."

"I'll help you find him."

"Thanks. After that, I don't know what I'll do."

"What will you do once life goes back to normal?"

Carrie made air quotes. "I think you mean 'normal'. We're elemental masters, our lives couldn't be further from normal. But I don't know. I want to have kids someday, but that'll be a while. I like the name Edmund."

"Yeah, Edmund's a good name."

"It's my dad's name. But I'd need a boyfriend and then a husband before I have kids. Good thing I'm in no rush."

Lloyd hummed. His eyes drifted close, barely awake.

"Someday though. Good night Lloyd." Carrie shut her eyes and both prisoners fell asleep.