I Never Knew

Chapter 16

***(Jay's POV; song for this chapter: "Count On Me" by Bruno Mars)***

"Nya?" I hear Lloyd answer the phone.

 It unravels me from some dream I was having about Paul and Holly from Breakfast at Tiffany's. I was Paul, though, and Nya was Holly. It makes me want to laugh. Nya is too intense to be Holly, for sure. And I am definitely not as confident as Paul.

"Skylor – what?" Lloyd shrieks. "Nya, please repeat that all over again. I think I heard you wrong." He puts the phone on speaker, just so he can hear better.

Nya's voice fills the room. "The Sons of Garmadon got to Skylor," she says solemnly. "They stole her power. She's...I don't think she's going to make it, Lloyd. Taking so much from her at one time..." She heaves a sigh.

Wait – the Sons of Garmadon couldn't take Skylor's power! That would kill her!

"Okay, where are you at?" Lloyd asks, taking charge.

"I'm at school. I threw up when I saw her."

Lloyd scrunches his face. "Eww. TMI!"

"No, it's not. The nurse excused me for the day. Unfortunately, I'm stuck here without Kai. He rode the ambulance with Skylor." There's a long pause. "Can you pick me up?" The words are small and miserable.

"Of course, Nya." Lloyd takes the phone off speaker and mutters words of reassurance.

I race to pull on my socks with one arm. I wish she would've called me. I know Lloyd doesn't have an arm injury that prevents him from driving, but I still could've helped her emotionally.

"If you ever find yourself in the middle of the sea,

I'll sail the world to find you.

If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can't see,

I'll be the light to guide you."

Oh, who am I kidding? Nya doesn't really like that kind of thing. She doesn't want someone to take care of her.

Lloyd hangs up, and I smile at him. "Ready to go?"

He rolls his eyes. "Stay here, Jay. I can tell your arm is paining you."

"You know what's paining me even more? Not being there for Nya."

He plants his hands at his waist. "Jay, this is a fake relationship, remember?"

Oh, right. He still thinks that. I'm horrible at lying, though! "Oh, y-yeah. But I'm still going to go." My cheeks are bright red.

"If that's what you want. I'm going to go tell my mom about the goings-on."

"All right. I'll let Cole know where we're headed, so there'll be someone to wait for Sensei Wu."

We each head off in separate directions. It's probably better that way, at least for now. I can't stand lying to Lloyd, and I'm pretty sure he despises my presence. We have to work out our friendship somehow. I miss my brother.

My thoughts drift to Skylor. She's always seemed so tough, but I guess a weapon that uses your strength against you must be pretty devastating. I hope against the odds that she'll be okay. I never thought the power-stealing operation would hit this close to home.