"Let's move, they'll be looking for us soon," Cole said, standing up. He let out a small gasp and I saw his hand, dripping with blood.

"Cole!" I gasped, looking away and clutching the grass again.

"Ah!" Jay exclaimed, also noticing the blood.

"It was from... the glass," Cole explained as Zane gently took his hand and wrapped it in more torn cloth from his shirt.

"Is anyone else hurt?" I asked, looking at each of them. They shook their heads.

"We should go," Kai said, heading away from the river and towards a nearby wood. Cole helped me up, and I grabbed onto his arm, partially for balance.

We all walked towards the wood, and as we caught up to Kai, I took his arm also. He was shaking almost as much as I was.

"So what was that thing on your phone?" Jay asked.

"Oh crap-" I pulled my phone out of my pocket, remembering it had been submerged in water. It didn't turn on, and I let out a shaky sigh. "They were looking for four teenage boys," I muttered, "with your descriptions."

"What..." Kai's voice drifted off.

We walked silently the rest of the way along the edge of the wood, shivering in our soaked clothes, just hoping not to be spotted.

Finally, buildings could be seen in the distance.

"Maybe we can get a hotel room for the night," I sniffed.

"Isn't that expensive?" Cole asked. "Do you have enough money? And for food too."

"I don't know, I'll take the cheapest one. I don't even know where we're going now." There was a pause. "I guess if we want to avoid the police or whoever at this point, we should try to avoid civilization for the most part," I thought out loud. "I couldn't even guess why they would be after us- you guys. If we got a hotel..." I wouldn't have enough money for plane tickets. I didn't say that out loud because I wasn't really planning to send them to Japan.

I was lying to them. They thought they could trust me. They thought I could take them home.

They would have to find out eventually, right?

That they're not real.

That some people just made them up.

Then how are they even here?

I wanted to go home.

No, I wanted to go to Ninjago with them. That's all I'd ever wanted.

But right now... that was probably impossible.

I considered going to the authorities and seeing what they wanted. Then they might do something to them, and... I couldn't let that happen.

We made it to a road, and followed it to the closest gas station and Cole, Jay, and I went inside to get food. By then we were damp, not soaked.

Really, we got snacks, not "food".

The man at the counter looked at us weird. He had a scratchy-looking beard and a beanie and probably had tattoos.

"Y'all went for a swim?"

"Uh, yeah," Jay chuckled. "A swim."

The boys probably exchanged a glance but I kept my eyes glued to my wallet and the snacks we placed on the counter.

"I promise I will not run the car into a river next time," Cole said as we left the gas station, opening our chip bags.

"Please," Jay agreed.

It was very dark out and there weren't any hotels that we could see, so we just kept walking and snacking, with light conversation. One by one we finished our food. The moon floated into the sky and the cars that passed us were few and far between.

A sheriff's car started to approach at one point, and I dragged the others into the shadows of an alley behind a building. I watched with a pounding heart as it passed.

Why exactly are we hiding?

We walked on like normal again. I fell silent for the most part, listening to their voices.

I wanted to tell them.

They deserved to know.

There was a man on a bench we passed on the opposite side of the street.

"How about we ask him where the nearest hotel is?" Zane suggested, motioning to the man.

"Yeah, I'm exhausted," Kai agreed. "I'm gonna go ask him."

"I'm coming," Jay chirped.

I watched as they crossed the street and approached him. They addressed the man with a wave, and he stood up. We could barely make out the conversation.

Suddenly the man raised his voice and pulled out a gun-

I screamed-

Cole grabbed me protectively-

Zane ran over-

I watched in utter awe as Jay's lightning flashed, lighting up the street. The man lay on the ground. Cole's sure, comforting arms held my shaking body. The others laid the unconscious man back on the bench.

"What happened?" Cole asked as they came to us.

"We should move," Kai said. "I don't know if anyone saw that."

Another pang of guilt.

We commenced our journey, and Kai began: "I asked him if there was a hotel around here and he asked what we were doing out here looking for a hotel, but then he pulled out the gun and demanded our money. Fortunately Jay zapped him before he did anything," he said, putting his arms across the shoulders of the ginger and the android on either side of him.

"That scared me so bad," I said quietly, voice breaking.

"It's okay now." Cole still held me.

"We better find a place soon," Jay said.

"It's cold," Kai agreed.

"It is very late," Zane added.

"I'm so tired," I said with a dry laugh.

"I'm hungry," Cole said. "We'll get there."

I didn't know walking could be so hard. Plus, I was pretty out of shape at the time.

We all had to be freezing, soaked to the skin with the chilling breeze taunting us.

I don't know how long we walked. Maybe three hours total. Or more. I could ask Zane.

At one point I noticed Cole's ghost scar. It was glowing in the darkness.

Maybe they were real.

Finally....

A sketchy town, but a town.

There was a hotel.

I could have cried for joy.

There was a man behind the counter, half asleep in his chair. He managed to check us in before nodding off again, and we rushed off to find our room.

Two beds. Eighty-eight dollars and sixty-seven cents.

We'd manage.

We found our room and unlocked it with the card he gave us.

The clock said 12:26 AM.

I really wanted to shower, but I was too tired. We all were. I vaguely remember Kai exclaiming that they didn't even have shampoo.

Then I realized we didn't really have clothes to sleep in... I mentally facepalmed.

This was going to be weird.

It was okay; the beds were big enough for two people. Kind of.

I was the first one to lay down. I didn't want to actually get into the bed with my clothes from that day, so I took the blanket from foot of the bed and wrapped it around me, and laid on one side of a bed without touching the actual bedding.

I must have fallen asleep immediately.