The Black-Hearted Ninja (The Dark Triangle #1)

Plan

Nya's P.O.V.

I had a plan. At least I thought I did. I was so determined to kill Cole. It's only now as the rage drains out of me that I realize how crazy I must have been.

          I still hate Cole. I think he should die, or at least be punished. But what Jay has done caught me so off-guard that I can't be angry. It's a mixture of surprise that he got his act together, amazement that we might be able to get the rest of the team back, and the fact that Jay was so compassionate. I didn't know if I could recognize love when I saw it anymore, yet there it was. Standing there right in front of me.

            And now Jay is telling me what he found. In all the time I spent with him, I never realized how intelligent Jay really is. He's constantly thinking, and he makes connections that nobody else would even consider. As I hear his explanation, I only get more impressed. Jay's confident-something I have never seen before. It's awakened something new in me, the will to fight but without the hate and bloodlust I had been feeling before. This is the kinder approach, the way a ninja is supposed to be. We are going to fight Cole, but not his way. This is our own turf.

I can't wait.

Jay's P.O.V.

I have a solution! I, Jay Walker, have a real solution that might be able to save the day! Never, in all my time of being a ninja, have I been the one to be a hero. And finally, here's my chance. I will do this for Nya. I'll get everyone back. The world is going to go back to normal, and all the things that were wrong will be right.

"So, the others pulled out some of Sensei's old scrolls. Like, prophecies and ancient ways and all that nonsense, and someone, Zane from the handwriting, found one about this demon." I say, pushing a paper full of neat lettering that looks almost typed towards Nya. She looks at it with interest. "It didn't have a name but apparently it was an evil spirit from the cursed realm. It possesses people who have been experiencing bad feelings like sadness, depression, and especially heartbreak, because they are easier to corrupt, and infects their minds. It takes their greatest weaknesses and desires and turns those things against the person, uses them as motivation. Apparently the demon itself has no sentient form, but takes the shape and personality of the person they've possessed."

"That's what happened to Cole..." Nya mutters.

"Exactly. There is a record of this woman, a really, like really long time ago, who disappeared from her village shortly after she found her husband cheating on her or something. They say she came back-and she was different. Her eyes were black, her fingers were claws, and she was bloodthirsty. She murdered her own children as warning to her husband. Then the 'other woman'. The guy, her husband, ended up going crazy and he died before she could do anything. She ended up jumping off a cliff."

Nya shudders. "Sounds like our Cole." She says. We share a glance and then scoot in an inch closer to each other. This story definitely isn't pretty.

"Then there's the legend of the jealous boy, pretty well known. He was in love with a girl but she married someone else. They say he committed suicide by stabbing himself in the chest with a sword. The next day, he showed up to her wedding, blood drained from his face and eyes a dark and barren wasteland. He killed her guests, then stabbed the groom in the exact same place he stabbed himself. When the girl he loved still refused his advances, he destroyed her. He then went on a crazed murdering spree through his village until his body literally disintegrated."

"I've heard that. It's practically an old wives' tale. You think he was possessed by the demon?"

"Sounds like it."

"You know, all these stories have a recurring theme of love."

"Love is the most powerful force in the world."

"I guess so. And Cole definitely fits into that model..." Nya says. She seems almost embarrassed to talk about it.

"Love is strange. Sometimes it makes you do things you do NOT want to do." I reply, trailing off. Blush.

"Do you think his body disintegrated cause he wasn't used to that much power?" Nya changes the subject. I nod. "Then we won't get that lucky with Cole. Having elemental powers means his body is used to it."

I sigh. "Yes, we won't get lucky. But there is another way. See, I was getting frustrated by the fact that the scrolls our friends uncovered only had a little information. So I did some hunting around and guess what I found?" There's a pause.

"You really want me to guess?" Nya finally says, kind of exasperated.

"I'll just tell you. Clouse's spell book!"

"But we burned it after Lloyd's father died!"

"That's what I thought too, until I saw it. It was hidden in Sensei's mattress!"

"Once we end this and Wu comes back, he's going to have some explaining to do."

"Oh, totally. But right now I'm glad he saved it because conveniently, there's a whole section on demons! Mostly how to summon them, but there's some information on them too, as well as the crucial piece. The release spell. Apparently, it can wrench a demon from its hold over a singular person and send them back to the cursed realm. But the best thing in the book is what's called the reversal spell, kind of like 'control Z' on a computer."

"An undo button?"

"Yes. It can heal any wound, and bring anyone back to life. It requires immense power, though, which is why we need to get some of the demon's power to use to perform the spell."

"So you're saying with these two spells we can banish the demon for good AND get everyone back?" Nya asks. "It's almost too easy."

"Sometimes the best solutions are the simplest." I say, proud of all I uncovered and pieced together.

"Jay, that's amazing!" Nya says. A smile spreads across her face. I've always been able to make her smile. She pulls me in for a long hug and I can feel myself radiating electricity. Gotta keep it together, I remind myself. I need to be calm. The spell requires calm.

"But wait..." Nya pulls back. Her brows have knitted together again. "What will happen to Cole?"

Oh yeah, Cole. The main problem. "Honestly, I don't know. He might survive, he might die. Either way, he won't be demony anymore."

"It's the best thing to do." Nya agrees. Then, she smiles again. "Jay, you are a genius. You know that, right?"

"Nobody's ever told me before."

"Well, you are. And we are going to take down Cole. Together."

"Together." I repeat, relishing the word.

"Tell me what I have to do and I'll do it." Nya continues. "We're going to end this our way."

"Together." I say again. "We're going to do the spell together."

        Nya stands a little taller than before and fast as lightning, gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. If I wasn't watching I could have missed it, but it definitely happened. A blush spreads across my face as fast as the kiss, but before I can do anything, she's taken off looking at the papers spread on the floor.

"Show me the book. I want to read it." Nya says, her back turned to me.

I nod and go to fetch the spell book. We're going to succeed. I'm going to do anything to make the spell work.

I'm going to do it for Nya.

Like everything else.