The Golden Princess

Telling Cole

Following Lloyd and Harumi is exhausting. She makes every excuse to be near him. We were going to get Zane. It looks like Harumi succeeded in warning her people and they got to him. I was holding Baby Wu though none of the Ninja knew who he was yet. Harumi stood beside me and we watched the Ninja get Zane into the ship. "Quit following me around," Harumi said suddenly.

I glanced at her. "No."

"What?"

"You heard. I won't let you hurt him any more than you already have."

She smiled. "I know. He actually is in love with me. It's perfect."

"No, it isn't," I snapped. "Stay away from him, Harumi."

"No."

"I'll tell one of the Ninja if you don't."

She snorted. "You won't. You aren't that mean."

I gave her a look of disgust but couldn't reply because Lloyd had come to stand beside us as the ship rose into the air. "Are you two arguing again?" Lloyd asked.

"She won't let me hold the baby," Harumi said.

Now my eyes narrowed. "I'm holding him. She always takes him from me when I'm holding him," I said.

Lloyd sighed. "That's true. Harumi, let Y/n hold him for a little longer. Then you can hold him."

She pouted. "But..."

"Please?"

She sighed. "Okay."

"How's Zane?" I asked doing my best not to smirk. I had won this round but I might not win again and I have to tell someone soon. Maybe Nya? Cole? Zane, when he wakes up?

Lloyd stayed silent for a minute then said, "He's out of it. We have no idea what Mr. E did to him. Though Zane was able to find out these people are working for The Quiet One."

My eyes landed on Harumi. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sure you guys can fix him," Harumi said in a confident tone.

He smiled at her. "Thanks for your faith in us." He walked away.

I ground my teeth together as she smirked. "See that?" She said. "I know how to work people. You should join my team."

"Over my dead body," I snapped. "Why did you even feed the poor anyway? Was it a cover so you could have meetings with your little group?"

She shrugged. "I don't like seeing people go hungry and yes, we did meet there a couple of times."

"What did you need Wu for?"

She blinked. "How did you...?" She shook her head and smiled. "I should have guessed you'd figure that out. We needed him to take the next mask. Only someone with Oni blood can do it. That's Lloyd and Wu."

"Well, I won't let you have any of them taking that stupid mask."

"You can't stop us. I already have a plan set in motion."

I handed the baby to her. "Here. I have something to do." I went in search of Cole and found him in the kitchen. "Don't people hate your cooking?" I asked moving to stand beside him.

"They might but I like it," he replied.

I nodded. "I suppose that's a good reason to be in the kitchen. Listen, Cole, I have something important to tell you but you can't tell anyone else until they figure it out themselves. Okay?"

He looked at me. "You want me to hide something from everyone?"

"Yes."

He thought about it. "Okay."

"You know how you guys found out that the Sons of Garmadon are working for The Quiet One?" He nodded. "Well, she's on this ship."

He froze. "Who?"

"Harumi."

He shook his head. "Your sister? I don't understand."

"Lloyd's the one who let the snakes out and that led to the Great Devourer. Harumi's parents were killed by the Great Devourer. Garmadon killed the Great Devourer and now Harumi thinks of him as this great hero. They want to bring him back. The thing is, the one they're going to bring back won't remember Lloyd so she's going to take his place and become Garmadon's daughter."

He stared at me. "What? So she's trying to get revenge on Lloyd and bring his dad back?"

I nodded. "She wants Garmadon to rule Ninjago. She thinks that he'll make everything peaceful and stuff."

He leaned against the counter. "We can't keep this from the others. They should know."

I shook my head. "They'll figure it out eventually."

"How are you so sure?"

My mouth twitched. "Because of the way Harumi acts. She disappears a lot and when she does she's contacting her people."

"You think the others will put two and two together?"

"Yes." I thought for a minute. "Oh, and the baby is Master Wu."

He blinked. "He's Master Wu?!?"

"Yup."

"Do I have to keep that from the others?"

I nodded. "Yes. You can't tell them."

"Can I at least tell Nya about Harumi being The Quiet One?"

I frowned. "Why?"

"Because she'll understand and keep it from the others too."

I thought about that. "Okay. I wish Zane was better so we could tell him too."

"Yeah." He hurried out of the room.

There. Now two of the Ninja will know and keep an eye on her. Now I just have to figure out what she's plotting. I went to Baby Wu's room and found him in the cradle. "Hey, little guy," I murmured picking him up. The thing he was wrapped in shifted and I saw a smaller design. "Hey, what's that?" I asked him. I carefully unwrapped him and stared. It was a map. I rolled it up. That's why Harumi keeps taking him from me. She's afraid I'll find the map. I wrapped Wu in a blue blanket and went in search of the others. I found them on the deck. "Guys, I found something," I said.

They all looked at me. "What?" Lloyd asked.

Harumi's eyes widened when she saw what I had. She shook her head quickly. I glared at her and held it out to Lloyd. "It's a map to the next Mask. The baby was wrapped in it," I told him.

He took it and unrolled it. "Well, this will make it a lot easier to find the Mask."

Nya looked over his shoulder. "Yeah. Now we won't be flying in a random direction," she said glancing at me. I raised an eyebrow questioningly and she nodded. Good. Cole told her.

"May I see?" Harumi asked.

Lloyd handed it to her. "Here."

She looked at it. "Wow. This means we aren't far from it." She handed it back and left the room as everyone went into the cabin. 

Lloyd set it on the table and they all started studying it. I have a feeling something bad's about to happen. A few minutes later there was an explosion. Everyone looked around and ran out onto the deck. I ground my teeth together. Seriously? She left to plant a bomb? I ran out onto the deck with everyone else.