Legends of Ninjago Book 2: Rise of the Serpentine

Chapter 3: An Arrow in the Dark

Cole slammed his palm against his forehead as hard as he possibly could. What had he been thinking?! Waiting near Ann's bedroom door to talk to her? And then of course he'd been so tired that he needed to sit down, and then of course he'd fallen asleep, and of course Ann happened to trip over him in the dark, and now he just looked like a complete idiot! What was he even trying to do? Ask her out? She was a ninja warrior, and he was in training! They didn't even have a lot of free time to hang out in the first place, not to mention the fact that they'd only known each other for about five months. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

He collapsed on his bed in frustration and sighed. Why was he trying to do this? Was he that desperate for love? Didn't he already have enough friends? But then again...

His mind drifted back to the previous spring when he had first marched up to the monastery and knocked on those heavy doors. A rough-looking guard appeared, asked for his name and intended business, then left him standing there for a few minutes. He was pushing a small pile of dirt with his shoe when the gate finally re-opened and...

The first mention he ever had of Ann was the scroll Sensei Wu had given him on the mountain. Given Wu's line of work, he had been expecting an older woman, perhaps a little sour-looking, with her hair tied up in a tight bun, just like a dozen-or-so of his past teachers. Boy was he not expecting to see a beautiful young girl with silky hair and deep blue eyes. But the surprises continued when she spoke to him, because all his life he had been surrounded by girls who acted—well, girly—and gossiped, wore heavy makeup, and maybe even blushed when he walked passed them, but not Ann. She stood up perfectly straight, looked him dead in the eye, and talked to him as though he was a fully realised man. Maybe strange-sounding to some, but Cole found it surprisingly refreshing and, in some ways, elegant.

Then, there was the night Kai arrived. Up until that point, Cole was under the impression that no one else at the monastery knew about his or any other elemental power. As always, he felt severed from his companions by his stupid secret. But then... Cole's mind replayed the memory like it was filmed on tape. The fire, and then the water, and the floating spear. Never in his life had he ever felt more alarmed and yet completely enchanted. His mind was chanting over and over, "She's like you, you're not alone! She's just like you!" A part of him wished he had said something to her that night; asked her about her powers. He wanted to know more about where their powers came from and how she had dealt with them personally growing up. He wanted to talk to her so badly, however, for some annoying reason, nothing he tired ever started a real conversation between them. It never turned Cole off, though. If anything, the mystery and challenge was driving him mad and made him want to get to know her even more.

And yet—as Cole slowly brought his mind's eye back into his dark room—even with her mystery, and her beauty, and her confidence and bravery compelling him to go after her, she seemed to recoil every time he attempted to get close. Perhaps he was overstepping some boundaries? He sincerely hoped not. After all these years, he'd finally found a girl that seemed perfect for him, but she always seemed so distant and unfeeling and... untouchable. Maybe it wasn't love; just a silly crush. Maybe it would be better if he just forgot about it completely. It would certainly makes things less complicated and less awkward.

    As he stared up at the roof, slowly drifting off into sleep, he wondered if Ann had nightmares, too. She seemed so brave that it was hard to imagine her waking up in the night, crying, but given everything she'd gone through, just like the rest of them—maybe even worse— she would have to.

    That night, Cole dreamed that he was chasing someone, and that someone was chasing him at the same time. All through the monastery, down the mountainside, and into Ninjago City where he ran into King Samukai holding a torch above his tattooed head ready to beat him with the fiery stick and then he woke up to find that someone was shaking him.