***I can't tell whether I've stumbled upon genius or whether my crackhead brain cells just want pizza.***

***(Nya's POV)***

"So in the realm of bad decisions, I downed two energy drinks on the way here this morning." Jay flicks a fidget spinner he found in the depths of our dashboard earlier, unable to stay still for more than a moment.

It's an early morning after the heart-to-heart Jay and I had last night. We stayed out stargazing and reminiscing on the past until twelve in the morning, and now, at 6:23 a.m., we're ready to spy on the mayor of Ninjago City. We broke into her house about half an hour ago and have finally located a hideout overlooking her office.

I quietly stretch an arm behind me. "The mayor will be starting work any time now, Jay. Quiet down."

He gives the fidget spinner a longing look before quietly stepping closer to me. "How well can you see through that crack between the boards? I don't think both of us will be able to watch her at once. It's kind of a tight fit." He crouches down beside me and presses his form close to mine, trying to get a good look over my shoulder.

I turn my face toward his. "We've gone over this, Jay. Your job is to run our recorder to keep track of any conversations the mayor has. If she makes any suspicious calls, you're our line of communication to Zane so he can trace them."

Jay rests his head on my shoulder, letting out a disappointed sigh. "I should've gone with one energy drink. We're going to be sitting up here for hours until Mayor O'Hara finishes work this afternoon."

I shrug my free shoulder. "Whatever the case, we're here to see if the mayor knows something about that anti-elemental android, and we're not leaving until we get answers."

The door below us creaks, and I steady my intake of breath before pressing my face up against the crack between the two boards in front of me.

This is it.

The mayor of Ninjago City stalks into her office, deposits a file on her desk, and flops down in her desk chair. I squint, trying to read the title on the file she just set down.

Final Election Campaign Budget.

Um, not exactly what I was looking for.

She opens a drawer and withdraws a sheet of paper, and once again, I squint to try to see it. I can't quite make out the words, but it appears to be some sort of advertisement. It has a colorful icon in one corner, indicating that it's not just a campaign file.

Interesting. Maybe something we can go off?

***Music Cue***

Jay awkwardly tries to reposition himself so he's not resting his head on my shoulder anymore, but as one hand reaches back behind him, a board creaks.

The mayor's eyes snap upward.

Not good.

Jay and I don't even dare to breathe, eyes trained on her every move.

She stares at the attic for a moment more before turning back to the advertisement.

Phew.

After scanning the document, she grabs her desk phone and dials a number. I watch as she punches in each digit, and I realize the area code is from Ninjago City. So it's not an out-of-town call.

She presses the phone to her ear. "Good morning. I'd like to place a catering order."

A...catering order? What, is she getting food for a campaign event or something?

My hope that we'd found a lead dissolves.

"Oh, I'm not ordering for a dinner event," the mayor smiles. "I'm actually interested in...other services of yours."

I blink. That's a strange way of putting things.

"No, I'm not interested in your rental event equipment," she laughs lightly. She grabs a pen on her desk. "I'm Mayor O'Hara. I believe you have a very spacious kitchen, correct?" She taps the pen against her desk. "I was directed here by a mutual friend. Tell me, is the kitchen spacious enough for a dozen combo pizzas? I need you to hold them for me until next week."

Jay nudges me, holding his phone screen up to my face. He has his notes app open, and in it he's written, Why would she store pizzas that long in advance?

I roll my eyes and motion for him to keep listening. And to keep recording this conversation.

"Yes, I know you don't sell pizza," the mayor sighs, her tone flat. "I said I needed to use your refrigerator to store a few." She massages the bridge of her nose. "Put your manager on the line, please." She pauses for a beat, then repeats her spiel about storing combo pizzas and all that.

"My coupon code?" she smiles. "I believe the code is green sauce."

Weird. And a little gross.

"No, I don't need the deep-freeze," the mayor insists. "Just refrigeration. I'm coming back for them next week."

Jay pokes me in the shoulder, holding up his notes app again. Can we get pizza after this?

I push his hand away and continue to watch the mayor.

"Good," she smiles. "Fantastic! I'll send my chef over this afternoon to get everything ready. Do you think you'll have enough room for my order by tomorrow at three?" She nods. "Wonderful. Thank you so much. My chef will talk prices with you this afternoon. Uh-huh. Have a great day." She places the phone back in the receiver.

Jay leans close, his breath warm and gentle against my ear. "All joking aside, I'm pretty sure she just degraded pizza by using it to cover up a murder," he whispers.

I nod, watching as she folds up the advertisement and tosses it back in her drawer. She withdraws a handheld calendar from her desk next, opening it to the month of April.

I scan what dates she has circled. Nothing catches my eye, but Jay reaches over me and snaps a picture on his phone.

"Good thinking," I mouth.

Jay winks at me, then jumps when a knock sounds below.

My eyes dart back to the gap in the wooden boards.

"Enter," the mayor says, standing up from her desk.

Someone barely comes into my line of vision. "Mayor O'Hara, I'm here from the Ninjago City foster care system."

She smiles graciously. "Have a seat, will you? I've been excited for this appointment since I heard what happened yesterday."

"A tragedy indeed." The man steps further into view and seats himself in the mayor's guest chair. "I understand your concerns with the safety of New Beginnings at the moment. Rest assured that we've taken them under consideration."

My eyes bug. The mayor's been meddling around with Skylor's girls' home?

Something tells me the break-in yesterday has nothing to do with Mayor O'Hara's interest in the girls.

The mayor sobers her expression. "Have you come to any decisions yet?"

Jay grabs my hand and squeezes, begging me to look at him. I don't do it, my eyes glued to the scene unfolding below us.

"Yes," he nods. "We think a temporary move is in everyone's best interest. Although Miss Chen, the owner, has promised us she'll up security, it just doesn't seem like a great place to have the girls right now." He clears his throat. "All except for one. There's an elemental teenager who stays at the home, and though the City has charge of her, we're a little afraid to bring her into another home right now. It's unsafe for her to attract adverse attention to non-elementals."

Omigosh! All because of some crazed android, fourteen girls are going to be moved away from their mother-figure into unfamiliar homes!

Jay grabs my shoulder. "We have to get Skylor," he whispers.

The mayor nods sincerely. "I completely understand and support your choice. So this elemental girl – she'll still be staying at her current residence? Given that all the staff there are already elemental."

"Ideally, we'd move her in with a temporary foster family. We want her to be safe." He sighs. "At the moment, though, no one is keen on taking in an elemental girl. Too much press from yesterday. Even though most news people were kept away from the girls' home property, the local papers have all gotten testimonies from those who tried to break into the home. The public is aware of what happened, and most are taking precautions to protect themselves."

Jay stands behind me, grabbing me under the arms and pulling me up. I elbow him, intent on hearing the rest of this conversation.

"It's really a shame that this has to be done," the mayor sighs. "But I'm hoping this whole situation with the android will blow over. After all, it's just a freak accident, right?"

"Yeah." The man clears his throat. "What other concerns can I address –,"

"Nya, we have to leave now!" Jay hisses, fighting against me for the upper hand. His elbow flies backward and collides with a box, causing it to topple over with a crash.

I gasp.

"What was that?!" Mayor O'Hara exclaims.

Our cover has been officially blown.

I spot the window we entered through this morning and make a run for it. However, right as I do, Jay snatches me by the hand and points to the attic door.

"That window is three stories up!" he whisper-shouts. "It'll take too long to get down. We have to go this way!"

As he speaks, he lets me go and touches one hand to the electrical wiring on the attic wall. He clenches his eyes shut in concentration until suddenly, the whole building goes dark.

A power outage. So simple that it's genius.

"What's going on?!" the mayor cries from below us.

I yank open the attic door Jay referred to only to realize that it's a closet. Jay shoves his way around a box behind me, then pushes us both into the enclosure, trying but failing to quietly close the door behind us.

"This is a closet!" I spit. "Jay, we can't escape from here! We're sitting ducks!"

He grabs his phone out of his pocket and shines a light around us, then moans. "Crap, you're right!"

"I usually am!" I scan our surroundings in the light of Jay's phone. All I see are two file cabinets and –

A huge old arcade game. And the front of it is open.

I grab Jay's phone and shine the light inside to reveal a hollow interior to the arcade game. Something about that doesn't seem right, but given that I hear footsteps pounding up the attic stairs, we don't have much time.

I stuff myself into the bottom cavity of the arcade game, hoping for the life of me we can pull this off. "Get in!"

Without hesitating, Jay rolls in after me. He squishes his body into the game as best as he can before muttering, "I typically don't like to get PG-13 at the arcade, Nya."

"Just close the door!" I snap, my words muffled by the fact that my face is pressed into his shoulder.

He grabs the door to the front of the arcade game and closes it with a click.

I take a deep breath of relief right before I realize we're –

Falling.

***(Kai's POV)***

After a year travelling the world on an all-male vessel, awaking to the sound of female screaming is terrifying.

My feet hit the floor before I know what I'm doing, and I make a break for my bedroom door. I'm down the hall and heading toward the source of the screaming before I feel a cold draft and realize I'm still in my boxers.

However, given that someone must be getting murdered down in the kitchen right now, that's the least of my worries.

My bare feet slap against the wooden hallway until I finally reach the entrance of the kitchen, fists raised and –

"Get out!" Stella screams, slamming a broom against the ground. "Get out!"

It takes me a full five seconds to realize she's talking to a spider.

Cassie calmly pushes the younger girl away and ushers the frightened arachnid into her palm. "I'll just put it outside, Stella. It didn't do anything wrong."

"It's an eight-legged invader," she breathes raggedly, taking a huge step away from Cassie. "It coming in here was wrong!"

Cassie shakes her head, her expression strangely downcast, and heads toward the front door.

I awkwardly take a step back into the entryway so no girls see me in my undies. "Um...everything all right in here?"

Rachel turns toward me, arching a blonde brow. "Apparently, some girls can't stand their insects."

"Does a spider even count as an insect?" Stella asks, crossing her arms.

I nod. "Okay. Well, I think I'm just going to get out of here before –,"

"Why are you hiding behind there?" Rachel frowns.

I blink. "Um...I...don't like spiders?" Abort mission. Abort!

Stella places her hands on her hips. "See? I'm not the only one who knows spiders are practically mutants!"

Cassie steps back into view, interrupting our awkward conversation with the shadow of gloom on her face. "Um, Kai, I really think you should go get Skylor."

The thin line of her lips sets me on guard, and I tense. "What happened?"

"Nothing yet, but...things are about to get a little out of control around here." She slides around the doorway, not even glancing at my half-naked form. "I'll grab you a robe."

"Wait up, Cass," I frown, swiveling toward her. "What do –,"

Stella giggles. "Wait. A robe? Are you" – she giggles – "decent?"

I scowl and turn back toward her. "Yes, I'm decent! I'm just...uh, cold. And a robe would help keep me warm." I nod like an idiot, but my mind is elsewhere. What's going on with Cassie?

"Then come out from behind the doorway," Stella taunts.

I roll my eyes. "Why?"

"To prove you're wearing clothes," she grins. Then, in a singsong voice, she cries, "I see London, I see France –,"

"What's London? And France?" I frown.

A large ball of fuzzy fleece suddenly hits me in the back, and I glance over to see Cassie staring up at the ceiling.

"I'm respecting your privacy," she says matter-of-factly. "There's your robe. Now get dressed and go find Skylor."

Afraid of what might happen if I disobey, I slide the robe over my shoulders and knot the tie. "Where's she at?"

"She's in the TV room going over paperwork." Cassie worriedly looks over to Stella and Rachel. "Can you two follow me upstairs for a minute?"

Without waiting to hear their response, I pace toward the TV room. I don't know what Cassie saw in the future that has her worried, but it's enough to set me on high alert.

When I reach the designated room, I poke my head in to see Skylor curled up on one of the sofas. She has a stack of paperwork in her lap and her reading glasses perched on her nose.

I knock on the doorpost before barging right in. "Skye, something's wrong."

She looks up, her eyes landing on me with a bored air. "Good morning to you, too. What is it now?"

Not this attitude again.

I cross my arms. "Cassie's worried about something, and for some reason, she told me to come find you."

Skylor's forehead furrows. "Cassie being worried could mean any number of things, Kai. What did she tell you?" She pulls off her glasses to look at me, rising from the couch.

"She said that things were about to go haywire." I turn and begin heading out of the room. "We can go ask her what's wrong if it helps, but this is definitely serious, Skylor."

She sighs, falling into step behind me. "You won't get anything out of her that she didn't already tell you. The curse of Cassie's power is that she knows everything that will happen, but can't tell anyone."

"Why can't she tell?" I exclaim, tossing one hand in the air as I walk.

"Because the future changes if she tells," she explains. "Cassie knows that oftentimes, if she reveals the future, people will try to change the future and impact everything."

"And what's so wrong with that?" I counter.

"If something important is changed, then lots of futures change," Skylor answers, her tone emanating stress. "That means Cassie's hit with hundreds of changed futures at once, and it's painful to experience. She has to relive everyone's griefs, joys, and mundane moments. It's too much information and too many feelings at once."

"But –,"

Before I can finish, the doorbell rings.

Skylor pivots abruptly to turn down the hall. "I have a feeling we're about to figure out whatever trouble Cassie prophesied to you." She suddenly teleports away.

"What – Skylor!" I resist a swear, rushing down the hall toward the front door. It's a short distance, but when I reach the doorway, Skylor's already greeting some stranger in an official-looking uniform.

"Can I help you, Sir?" she asks formally.

His grim face pulls into a weak smile. "I'm with the Ninjago City foster care system. Are you Skylor Chen?"

"I am," she replies, her voice never wavering. "How may I help you?"

He clears his throat, removing his hat. "I tried to call you on my way here, but no one picked up." The man's mouth turns down solemnly. "I'm actually here to move thirteen of your fourteen foster girls. The city has ordered to take them back under their care for safety reasons – effective immediately."

***Okay, but imagine this chapter's song as talking about an actual murder-***