***Hey, guys! Just wanted to thank you all for 4.2K reads and 339 votes <3 That's much better than INK was doing while I was writing it LOL

Also, you know when you have ghost readers, and it kind of freaks you out? By "ghost readers", I mean readers who never comment and never vote. So if you're a ghost reader and want to identify yourself, you can comment here 😁

The funny thing is, the most serious ghost readers won't do that :P I'm sure I'll still have forty-ish views per chapter or more that I can't assign to anyone (even after I account for readers viewing the same chapter multiple times). So I just want to thank you for scaring me LOL I will always wonder about you guys.

Oh, and there's also a chapter here, so I should probably get to that :)***

***(Jay's POV)***

It's the afternoon two days later, and Nya and I are just hanging out in the room she's sharing with Seliel.

That's when Zane comes down, announcing, "We've arrived at the Dark Island."

Nya looks up from her spot reading next to me, closing her book with a snap. "We'll be on deck in a moment."

"Excellent," Zane smiles. "I am pleased to complete this mission with you, my friends."

As Zane leaves, I lean over and give Nya a hug. "Are you good?"

"I'm fine." She bites her bottom lip. "You?"

"I'm a little worried about Lloyd and Cole," I confess. "At least Kai's with us, but we never learned what happened to Lloyd after Nadakhan got to him. And Cole's currently under hospital observation, since he's basically in a coma right now. I think Zane said he was asleep, but he's not waking up." I sigh, nuzzling her hair.

"I know it's hard for you," she says softly, placing her own arms around me and hugging me tightly. The gesture fills me with warmth.

I exhale as comfort fills the pit of my stomach. "Thanks for understanding, Nya. And you know you can talk to me if something's bothering you." I revel in her closeness and the fortitude she helps give me.

I personally think it's been amazing to have Nya as my girlfriend for two days, even though she's seemed kind of reserved. It probably has to do with Kai, given that he's not in the best mental state right now. She doesn't need to tell me what's wrong for me to put things together in my mind.

She wiggles against me, and I remember that I turned her book-reading into a cuddling session. I giggle, removing my arms from around her. "Sorry."

"You're fine." She gently smiles back, grabbing her shoes from the spot beside the loveseat – yes, my dad really did furnish this place with a loveseat. I didn't even know what a loveseat was called until Nya explained it to me.

"Are you ready to get this Dark Island thing over with?" I ask, reluctantly rising and grabbing my own shoes.

"Why wouldn't I be?" she frowns. "Our team and Kai have been wished into comas or craziness or who knows what by an evil Djinn. And we need to destroy that machine Pythor's making before something horrible happens to you. Pythor wants all of us gone, but you, especially. You're the only one who can stop his invention if he completes it – you're the only one who can get near that much electricity at once."

"See, those are the very reasons why I don't want to leave this ship," I sigh. "Any number of horrible things could happen to us! I don't want to die, and I can't lose you, either! Or anyone on the team, for that matter."

She steps behind the room's changing curtain to switch into her gi. "We're not going to lose anyone on the team. That's why we're running headfirst into danger."

"I know. That still doesn't mean I want to do it." I run a hand through my auburn curls. "Can we go over the plan again?"

"Sure. Seliel's staying here to run radio communications, given that she's still healing from her leg injury. Skylor and Kai have to stay, too, unless it's an emergency. We don't need Kai going bonkers on a mission right now, and Skye does a good job of calming him down. Unfortunately, we're losing a lot of force that way." She huffs out a breath. "So it's you, me, Harumi, Zane, and PIXAL. We head out to the island and basically do some investigating until we find something of interest. Then, we let the others know, and we totally sabotage the machine and take Pythor and Nadakhan captive. The police aren't willing to come to the Dark Island, and we can't take too many prisoners, so we'll just have to let the workmen disperse or...do...do away with them." She shakes her head.

We both know that our casualties on missions have been very few – when we fought the Serpentine, Lloyd was new to driving and ended up hitting and killing a snake. The only one of us who has ever purposefully killed someone was Kai – he blew up Sensei Kodokuna Yang, who essentially wanted to marry Skylor for her elemental power. That's all Kai and Skylor have ever told us about what happened. I somehow think there's more to the story, especially on Kai's side. Something tells me he saw some...pretty disturbing stuff.

So essentially, it'll be difficult for us to kill anyone if it comes down to it. We're not used to that consequence. We're still just kids, for crying out loud.

Nya punches my arm. "Are you good?"

I blink. "I...I was just thinking about what you said. Yeah, I'm fine." I rise, then crouch down on the floor to retrieve my gi from where I brought it in here earlier.

I walk behind the changing curtain and do my own switcheroo, then head out with Nya toward the deck. I absently grab her hand.

"So..." I begin. "We're splitting into teams on the Dark Island so we can cover more ground. Zane and PIXAL will form one team, obviously, and you and I can make the other. And then one team has to bring Harumi along." Hopefully, that team is PIXane, as I like to call them.

"Are you sure it's the best idea for us to team up?" she frowns. "We work well together, but...I don't want you somehow getting distracted because of me. Don't get me wrong, I'd be happy to team with you, it's just...I'm a practical person, and I know this mission is more important than who we want to team up with."

I clutch her hand tighter. "Of course we're teaming up. We need each other, Nya. I – "

"Jay, I don't...need anyone." She curls her free arm around her stomach.

My heart sinks. "Yes, you do."

"No, I don't. When I lost..." She clears her throat. "When I lost my parents, I managed to make it without them. It's not like I didn't love them, but I apparently didn't need them, or I wouldn't be here."

I furrow my forehead. "That sounds kind of harsh, Nya. You can still need people after they die."

"To me, 'needing' someone means not being able to go on without them. And I've gone on, Jay." She sighs. "I don't want to talk about this."

"That's because it hurts for you to talk about. It's a good discussion, Nya, it's just painful." I squeeze her fingers. "I think – "

"I think we need to stop. I'm not a needy person, okay?"

"Seliel would say differently."

"I'm so glad you're not her. She means well, but sometimes, she annoys the heck out of me." We finish ascending the stairs to the upper deck.

Zane meets us with a smile. "Hello, friends. What group divisions do you suggest for this mission?"

"Nya and I are a team," I pipe up.

"And you're sure that's what's best for the mission?" she asks, eyeing me seriously.

I nod vigorously. "You'll help keep me on task. We're a good team, Nya."

She studies me for a moment, then nods. "Okay."

I beam. "Okay, so that just leaves Zane and PIXAL. And Harumi."

"We would be happy to take Harumi," PIXAL quickly says. "I find her quite interesting when she's not – "

"I want to go with those two," Harumi says, jabbing a finger in our direction.

I blanch. "Uh...no one said you got to have an opinion." I may have suggested that Harumi come with us on this trip, but I still don't like her. She was involved with the people who killed my mom. She would've killed Nya, if my mom hadn't died to save her. I'm surprised Rumi hasn't knifed one of us yet, but I guess we've been keeping a good eye on her.

Nya clenches her teeth. "Harumi, you don't want to be stuck with us. Just go with Zane and PIXAL."

She raises an eyebrow, holding up her bound hands. "I'm less of a threat than I was back in February, if you haven't noticed."

"Look," Nya huffs, "you're going with Zane and PIXAL. Have fun."

She laughs humorlessly, rolling her eyes. "Fine. I was only thinking that you two might need someone to keep you on task. No need for anyone to get pregnant on our mission that's intended to save your precious teammates."

Nya scoffs. "No one is getting – "

I elbow her. "Don't let her get you riled up, Nya. It's okay."

"Whatever." She shakes her head. "I'm going to say goodbye to Kai and Skylor before we go."

***Music Cue***

"I'm coming with you." I turn and walk her back down the stairs.

"That girl – Harumi – gets on my nerves," she seethes.

"I know," I reply. "And it doesn't help that you're already on edge with Kai. Not that there's anything wrong with being upset about him, of course."

"Yeah." She sighs. "Are you sure you want to start dating while everything's so tense?"

"When is everything not tense for us?"

"Never." She exhales. "I know that we're more mature than we were back in February, but I'm concerned that something's going to split us up. I'm going to blow up at you, or you're going to idolize me as a painkiller again. I don't want that, Jay."

"Neither do I, but we're not going to let anything come between us again. I know you're not sure about the 'I love you's' or our future yet, but I am. And I know we're young and stupid and hormonal, but sometimes, you just have a feeling about a person, you know? A forever kind of feeling. And I have that with you."

"That's...really sweet." She stops in front of Kai and Skylor's quarters and leans up on her tiptoes, kissing my cheek softly.

Yep. She's been kind of reluctant to legitimately kiss me ever since the Nada-kiss two days ago. I know she trusts me, but something like that has to be hard to get out of your head.

So I'll take what she gives me right now. It's enough. She's enough.

Nya's finally mine, and I'm not messing that up again.

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

"This place is something else," I mutter as we enter the Dark Island's forest. As soon as we step foot under the thick, intertwined leaves and vines above us, the world goes dark.

"That's one way of putting it," Jay says nervously. "Flashlight?"

"On it." I pull the device from the belt of my gi and turn it on.

It illuminates the world in front of us, and I shiver at the shadows cast around us. Some seem to be...moving.

"I don't like this," Jay says quietly.

"Me neither," I confess. "Let's find this machine and get this over with."

"Good plan." He hums to himself, probably to stave off whatever evil might be lurking around.

I smile at his sweet, simple ways to keep from being afraid. If I'm being honest, they help calm me down, too.

"Tell me a stupid joke," I bid him.

"Huh?"

"Tell me a stupid joke. I want to hear something funny right now."

I can feel his spirits lighten, just a little, at the prospect of doing something to help me. Even if helping me is really just a disguise for me helping him.

"Okay, here's one," he smiles. In his best accent, he goes on, "What be a pirate's favorite letter?"

I roll my eyes. "'R'. Duh."

"No," he grins. "Everyone knows that a pirate's first love is the sea!"

"What does – oh." I giggle. "Stupid."

"That's what you wanted, right?"

"Yes. Thank you." I sigh. "That reminds me of the dumb riddle Wu gave us before he left back in February."

"The one about the cow?"

"Yeah. How do you spell 'cow' with fourteen letters?"

"Walloper," Jay quickly replies.

I chuckle. "A walloper isn't a cow, Jay. And it's only" – I do the math – "ten letters, not fourteen."

"But it's a lot closer to fourteen than three is." He sighs. "I miss Sensei Wu. We need his advice and training, but he's not around to give it anymore."

"I know," I agree. "And we'll search for him as soon as all this is over, promise."

We walk for about an hour – I keep track of time using my watch – before I hear something decidedly sinister from not far off. It's a low tone that sounds like...

A voice?

"Jay," I breathe, "did you..."

"...hear that?" he finishes, swallowing. "Nya, I think..." He tugs me into a faster pace and pulls our radio communicator from his belt. He holds down a button. "This is team Jaya to home base. We think we may have company."

The response is only an infuriating static sound.

I pull on his hand to stop him. "What if that was one of Pythor's cronies? We need to stick around and find out where they're headed."

"Then..." He huffs out a breath.

"We're used to fighting villains, Jay," I remind him. "Whoever this is can't be any worse than Harumi Jade, or Nadakhan, or Lord Garmadon, or – "

Something suddenly rustles in the bushes behind us, and we both jump, ready to fight.

Nothing but shadow greets us.

"Who," hisses a low voice from nearby, "are you?"

We both swivel in the direction of the voice, but again, no one's there.

I swallow hard. "We're from the mainland of Ninjago. Who – "

Jay clutches the life out of my hand. "No! Don't talk to it! That's how it lures you into a false sense of security!" His voice says he is semi-freaking out.

"Calm down," I bid him. "It hasn't attacked us yet, so we still have a chance."

"If I wanted you dead," the creature breathes, "you would be."

"That still doesn't comfort me!" Jay exclaims. "Who are you? Show yourself! I can't take the suspense here!"

"I am Omega," it replies.

I take a deep breath. "And will you come out into the light so we can see you?"

"No. I'm afraid I would scare you away if you saw my true form." Something scuttles along the treeline.

"Again," Jay cries, "I do not feel comforted here!"

"What do you want with us?" I ask calmly.

"To distract you," it simply replies.

"From what?" Jay frowns.

I don't wait to hear an answer. Instead, I begin to drag him by the hand. We need to get out of here. If there's a distraction, it means that there's probably evil going down somewhere around here.

I hear more rustling behind us, and something urgent within me says to run.

"It's following us!" I bite out, breaking into a sprint. Jay lags behind me at first, but when he realizes that we might be in danger, he speeds right up and joins me in our run.

That is, until he suddenly slows, and between his drop in speed and my increase, we both trip and fall.

"Jay!" I yell. "We have to get out of here!" I struggle upwards.

He responds with a slight moan. "Nya, I don't feel so..." He doesn't finish.

I panic and shine my flashlight on him. "Jay? Jay, what happened?"

In the dim light of my torch, I see that his eyes are dazed. I place the flashlight on his stomach and run my hands over his face.

"Jay, are you okay?!" I ask, willing him to answer me.

"Shot," he mumbles, blinking and trying to focus on me.

"Where were you shot?" I swallow.

"Neck," he whispers. I can tell his consciousness is fading.

I quickly grab the flashlight and examine his neck to see a small trickling of blood – nothing big enough for a bullet of any kind.

I look down at his unfocused expression. "Stay with me, Jay. I need you to – "

I suddenly feel something place a cold hand on my shoulder. I snarl, creating a ball of water in my palm and raising it into the air.

Yet the only presence behind me is the shadows.

I swat at the cold feeling on my shoulder, and that's when I realize that the shadow is overlapping onto me, even in the beam of my flashlight.

The shadow is the enemy.

"What did you do to Jay?" I demand.

That's when a familiar voice comes to me from the woods – a familiar voice from Ninjago. "He was shot with a dart. Uncreative, but efficient."

"Pythor!" I growl. I launch a blast of water toward his voice, but it seems to stop short and splash to the ground once it hits the end of my flashlight beam.

"Yes, hello," he chuckles. "I think I'll just stay here in the shadows for now. Subdue her, please."

The shadow suddenly grips my arms, and I struggle against the cold, icky feeling that seeps into my muscles. I try to form my element, but the shadow seems to impede it.

"What do you want with us, Pythor?" I yell. "You had your shadow friends distract us until you got here, so you're obviously the mastermind." I try to wrestle against my unseen enemy, but it travels deeper into my body, hindering any movement.

"Yes, the mastermind," Pythor chuckles. "I think that term suits me quite well." He hums to himself. "Omega, dear, would you mind turning off that flashlight? I think it's time we take our precious ninja prisoners to see what we've been working on. After all, they're going to play a big part in it."

***Oh, GOSH. I'm not ready to be done yet 😡 I mean, we still have a lot of ground to cover. 4-5 chapters and an epilogue 😬

Any more predictions?

Questions?

Comments?

Concerns?

Does anyone think Jaya will still be a thing at the end of this book? Just wondering.***