1. The Dark Side of Destiny: Beginnings

Chapter 9 - Lesson from the Past

By the end of their first lesson with Wu, Cole was too excited about going back to be able to focus on anything else. All that night, all the next morning, all the next day, he couldn't wait to return to their training. And so it continued, every day after, he and the others found themselves waiting out the whole day until the time when they could return to that mysterious place.

Their training was simple, for now, though they often questioned their teacher about learning the Spinjitzu technique he had demonstrated to them. He simply told them that the harder they trained, the sooner they would be ready to learn it.

Now, it was about a week after they had started, and the boys were starting to become good friends. For the most part, anyway.

Kai and Jay were in the middle of practicing a move they'd learned the day before while they waited for Wu to show up. Cole was standing off to the side, watching until one of them was ready to switch out with him. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Zane.

"I just arrived and saw you watching them practice. I assumed you were waiting to spar with one of them, so I thought I should ask if you would like to practice with me instead?"

Cole hesitated. He didn't want to be rude, but . . . well, he was already learning that Zane was a bit different than the others. "Um, thanks Zane, but I was really just watching,"

"Oh, I see. Still, I believe that Sensei Wu would want us to train while we wait."

"Really, it's fine. I practice a lot at home, so . . ." Technically this was true, though he didn't get much opportunity to practice without his father seeing.

Zane nodded. "That's alright, then. I will just practice by myself." Guilt gnawed at Cole as he watched Zane move off to another area and start going through a series of motions by himself. Maybe he should have agreed to help Zane. But there was just something about him that made Cole uncomfortable. He always took things literally, and that made it hard to joke with him. And the way he would stand in the background sometimes and just watch everything, it wasn't normal.

When Wu arrived, Cole tried to shove the thoughts aside so he could focus on the lesson. He noticed their sensei's eyes flit from Zane to the other three, and Cole was worried that he might get angry for not letting him join them. But he said nothing as they assemble in front of him, and their lesson began.

Cole had suspected that Jay and Kai felt the same way about Zane that he did, but with a bit of remorse lingering in the back of Cole's mind, he was noticing it more today. At one point, when Jay tried to make conversation with him, Zane turned it from casual to rather formal, and their banter quickly died out. And when Kai make a joke to Cole, Zane cut in, clearly not understanding the point of the joke, or that it was a joke at all. Kai silently pointed at Zane and made a cuckoo motion with his hand. Cole didn't laugh.

Finally, when they were done, Cole found that he was relieved, for once, to be leaving. But sensei Wu stopped them before they could go. "Kai, Jay, Cole. I would like to speak with you three." Cole felt his face burn with shame as he approached his teacher. He had hoped Wu would forget about what he saw earlier, but it seemed he hadn't.

"Would any of you care to explain to me why you have been ignoring Zane?"

The three boys exchanged glances before Kai spoke up for them. "Sensei, Zane's . . . weird." He kept his voice low so it wouldn't echo on the cavernous walls and reach Zane's ears.

Their teacher glared at them, making the boys shrink back. "What is 'weird'?" he asked sternly. "Someone who is different, or someone who is different than you?"

"No, Sensei, he's weird weird," Cole explained, feeling a little defensive.

"We like the guy," Kai added hurriedly. "He's really smart, he's just . . . a little off sometimes."