Kai's POV

When only four of the five of us arrive back at the Destiny's Bounty, Garmadon seems confused. He looks between the four of us as if Jay is going to walk through the door any second.

"He's held captive again," Lloyd explains,"just this time, it's on purpose."

"What do you mean it's on purpose? Did you get the gemstone?" Garmadon asks. We all shake our heads.

"My sister, she's on our side now," I explain. "She's going to grab some of the gemstones and give them to Jay, who is going to bring them back to us."

"You converted Nya?"

"Well, it was pretty much all Jay, but yeah. She's with us now," Cole answers for all of us. We nod in agreement.

"Are you sure she's not tricking you?" Garmadon asks, hesitant.

"Well, no, but this is our best chance," Lloyd tells him. Garmadon nods, pausing to think for a second.

"The journey to the next gemstone is a long one. The Lapis of Lightning is in a temple in Birchwood Forest. Since the wind conditions get too unpredictable, you will have to travel over a day on foot," he tells us, making me groan internally.

"Mom is staying in the city to take care of the opening week of the museum," Lloyd tells his dad, who nods.

"It's probably best that way. Once Wu gets back, we can start on our way," Garmadon informs us before starting to walk away. "You four should probably get to bed. It's going to be a long couple of days," he advises.

The four of us go to our shared room to get ready for bed. Two bunk beds line the walls, one for myself and Zane and the other for Jay and Cole. On the floor between the beds, there's a mat for Lloyd to sleep on.

"Hey Lloyd, since Jay isn't here again, you can sleep above me if you want," Cole offers. Lloyd shakes his.

"No thanks. I'm fine with what I have."

I go and grab all of our pajamas from the clean laundry, handing them out to each of us. A while back, Jay insisted we all get coordinating pajamas to "boost team morale". It ended up sticking, and we all still wear them.

"I call first dibs on the bathroom," I tell the rest of the guys, sticking my tongue out. They all groan.

"No offense Kai, but you take at least double the time of all of us. Shouldn't you go last?" Cole suggests. I shake my head.

"Nope, I won dibs fair and square."

"I think it would be wise to settle this with a game of rock, paper, clamp," Zane suggest. When both Lloyd and Cole agree, I sigh. Grudgingly, I stick my hand in. At the count of three, we all stick our hands out. While the three of them have their hands curled up, mine is flat.

"Ha! Paper beats rock!" I celebrate. They groan. "And since it'll be a while until we can shower again, I'm sure as hell taking a long shower."

---

Nya's POV

All of my sisters look at me, stunned by the tied up Jay in front of them. We came onto the ship earlier than the rest of them. After giving him a quick tour, I brought him down to my workshop with all of my inventions since not only will people not come in the room regularly, but the door has a lock. Then, I tied him up and waited for my sisters to come back from the banquet.

Now that they're back, they're all shocked by the sight in front of them. Jay is fake squirming in the ropes, which I placed to avoid his arm wound, to make it all seem more believable. He also messed up his hair a little bit to make it seem like I actually kidnapped him.

"Auntie is going to kill us!" Skylor puts her hands on the side of her head.

"You know he stabbed her, right? What's to stop him from stabbing one of us?" Chamille asks, exasperated.

"Well, I let him know that if he tries anything, he'll end up with worse than just a black eye," I fake glare at him. When I look back at my sisters, who actually aren't my biological sisters, Chamille claps her hands.

"I like this Nya!" she exclaims.

"How exactly are you planning on keeping him a secret from Auntie?" Skylor asks. She walks over to him before squatting down, examining him.

"Well, she never comes down to my workshop anyways, so if I keep him down here, she'll never know," I explain.

"You're awfully quiet," Seliel observes, directing her statement at Jay.

"Well, Nya said that if I talked without being talked to, she'd cut my tongue off, and I happen to like my tongue."

"Dang it! I wish I thought of that," Chamille admits, groaning.

"Hey Nya, can I talk to you in private, please?" Skylor asks me, turning her head to look at me.

"Yeah, of course," I, unhappily, leave Jay with Seliel, Chamille, and PIXAL, entering the hallway with Skylor. She guides me into the adjacent room and shuts the door.

"Nya, the act was impressive, I admit it, but you know you can't trick me," Skylor tells me, leaning against the wall.

"What?" I ask, still keeping my cover. Hopefully, if I deny it, she'll believe it.

"Nya, you and I both know that you wouldn't hurt a hair on Jay's head. Don't even try to convince me otherwise. I won't believe you," she warns me before I even try. When I see that she's serious, I sigh.

"How could you tell?"

"Well, last time you were the only one who actually cared to feed him, and even though usually I would think him escaping would change that, you seemed more confused about it than upset. Also, no matter how much you try to hide it, I see how you look at him," she stands up straight.

"How do I look at him?"

"Like he's all that you see. Everything else gets fuzzy when you look at him, and he's all you can focus on. Even though you know he's the enemy, you don't want anything bad happening to him. You want to impress him, and when he's mad at you, it sucks, a lot," she elaborates. From the tone she's using, I can tell she understands in a way that's far past interpreting a look.

"How did you know?" I ask her, slightly tilting my head.

"I think that's what happens when one of them gets into your head. That's why it's so dangerous. They create doubts, and they take over your thoughts," she explains, sighing.

"Did one of them get into your head?" I ask, curiously.

"I think so," she admits, putting her face in her hands. "I thought my mind was made of steel when we started, but Kai managed to find a way in."

At the mention of my brother, I slightly gasp,"Kai?"

"Yeah, the master of fire. I haven't been able to get him out of my head. I can't help but constantly think about him. Plus, last night, he seemed so disappointed in me. I didn't expect to, but I felt so bad about it," she rubs her temples. "I've tried to get him out, but nothing works."

"What have you tried?"

"Well, I've tried to make myself tired of seeing his face. I took one of Seliel's magazines and kept looking at the picture of his face, but that just made it worse. Then, I tried to push him out, but he just came coming back. I also thought seeing him in person again would help, but it just made things worse," she groans. "I can't think clearly around him."

"What if you don't try to get rid of it?" I suggest. When I glance over at her, Skylor is looking at me like I'm crazy.

"If I don't, it'll get worse," she tells me as if it's a fact.

"We don't know that. Auntie hasn't told us how to get them out, and considering nothing before has worked, it's worth a shot. I've noticed mine progresses slower when I just accept it," I shrug.

"Look Nya, I don't want yours to get any worse, considering being around Jay will definitely do that. I don't think you should watch him," Skylor tells me. I go to protest, but she continues talking,"You're extra susceptible to his tricks. I don't want his hold to get any worse," she tells me, a caring look on her face. Guilt floods through me from lying to her about my plan, but if I told her, she might tell Ciara when she comes back. That would ruin everything. I can't run the risk.

"Auntie will find him if he's anywhere else, and it would be suspicious for any of you to be in my workshop for long periods of time. This is the only way this can happen."

She goes to protest, but when she can't find an argument, she's sighs. "Just be careful, please," she tells me, wrapping her arms around me to give me a hug. I hug her back. "Do you think it's possible for it to also work the other way around?"

"For what to work?"

"Getting in people's heads. What if we could get into their heads?" she wonders, still holding me tight.

"Then, maybe we could find out how to get out of their hold, or we could level it out. I'll try to."

"You don't have..."

"I'm going to try," I tell her. "Now come on, let's get back."

The two of us walk out of this room and back into my workshop. PIXAL is looking at some of the inventions I'm working on. Chamille is close to Jay, observing his eye. Seliel watches Chamille carefully while Jay is tries to move away from Chamille.

"Auntie is going to be back any minute now. We should probably go up to the deck to greet her," Skylor suggests to the rest of our sisters.

"What about Nya?" Chamille asks.

"She's staying down here to watch our captive," she explains. "Now, let's go." The other three girls listen to her. Seliel teleports up to the top deck while the other three walk out of the door, shutting it behind them. I rush over and lock it. Once we hear three pairs of footsteps go up the stairs, Jay lets out a sigh.

"Chamille is terrifying," he admits. "I was afraid she was going to give me another black eye."

"I already told you I wasn't going to let that happen," I tell him, kneeling down in front of him to untie the ropes. I make sure I'm extra cautious around the gash in his arm.

"What did Skylor have to say?" he asks, standing up once I get all of the ropes off.

"She could see through the act," I inform him. His eyes widen.

"And? How come she let you stay down here with me?"

"Because she understands. I didn't tell her about our plan, of course, but she understands that the only way Auntie won't find you is if you stay down here," I explain. Grabbing the cup off the table next to me, I fill it up and hand it to him.

"Well, that's good I guess," he takes a sip of the water.

"Also, remember the thing we were talking about earlier?"

"Which thing? We talked about a lot earlier, which I don't have a problem with since I like talking, and I like hearing you talk, but it makes it a lot harder to know which 'thing' it is."

"The attraction thing," I say vaguely. His attention seems to perk up.

"Y-yeah, why?" he stutters before taking another sip of his water.

"I think that Skylor is attracted to Kai," I tell him quietly.

Jay's blue eyes widen in shock. "What makes you think that?"

"So Ciara and Mara used to tell us that you guys could 'get into our heads' and corrupt our thoughts. Skylor thinks Kai got in her head because she's always thinking about him. She wants to impress him, and she doesn't want anything bad happening to him, even though he's the enemy," I explain.

"Dang, Ciara really is failing at her job," Jay laughs.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, her job is monitor you guys, right? Thirty years ago, she had the same job with a different team. My mom, your mom, Cole's mom, Seliel's mom, and Skylor's mom were all on that team, in the same situation you all of in. Your mom was attracted to your dad, and he showed her that Ciara and Mara are evil, so she flipped. Ciara was supposed to keep you all from either flipping or being attracted to any of us," he explains, throwing in some laughs here and there. The information comes as a shock to me.

"I was confused why Ciara wanted my mom to call her Auntie in that video, but it makes sense now," I admit quietly. "Dang, she really is failing at her job," I say, louder now. Jay laughs.

"Do you think she knows that she is?"

"Definitely not. She's too caught up in her act to notice anything wrong," I admit. "Now, do you want to help me with this invention?"

"Oh you know I do," Jay walks over, standing next to me. "What are you working on?"

"I'm trying to enhance the motor for our ship. There's a temp in there right now while I work on the real one," I explain, gesturing towards the motor in front of me.

"Oh, a piece of cake," Jay jokes. I gently elbow him in the side.

"You won't be saying that after an hour."

A/N Sorry for a bit later update! I was busy this weekend. Also, I'm going on vacation again, so you guys might not get another update until Sunday (we'll see)

I'm soooooo ready for the finale of this book. There's a scene I've wanted to write for a while (also one of the first scenes I thought of). I'm hyped.

I know this chapter was a bit of a filler (no chapter is a true filler since it progresses a relationship/ some sort of plot line somehow) and the next one will be, but after that, things are picking up QUICK

Thoughts on the chapter?

Thank you all so much. You're the best