I own nothing but the story.

The motel room Ronin put us in was on the corner of a run down lot next to a pool topped with pine straw and leaves. It was small, not nearly as nice as our hotel at Ninjago City would have been, but it fit our needs, and that was all that mattered. The first thing Zane did when he got into the room was fall face first into the nearest bed, only to protest and stand up a second after. As fate would have it, the table we sat at in Misako's Place turned out to be softer than the mattresses we were blessed with. But after that first survey, we decided sleep was more important than comfort, and we promptly collapsed on to the beds and were knocked within minutes.

As I slept I had a dream about Cole. While one might think that it contained something important, perhaps a message shared from a mental connection, the fact that it depicted him tap dancing on the head of Detective Ronin proved the theory null. I woke up feeling vaguely horrified.

The following day was spent mostly inside, for neither of us had anywhere to go, and we figured we wouldn't need to be out and about just yet. However, that also meant that neither of us had anything to do, and until Zane's father Julien arrived that afternoon with snacks and hugs, we were left alone with our thoughts.

At first we discussed the situation, as well as our chances of finding Cole now that the police were on our side. Then we discussed what happened the other night, minute by minute, trying to construct a rational and possibly irrational explanation as to what happened.

First we discussed the car:

"Are you sure there was nothing out of the ordinary under the hood?"

"Yes, I'm sure! I've looked under enough hoods to know what they're supposed to look like, and nothing was wrong."

"How about under the car?"

"...I don't know. But there wouldn't be anything under the car that would cause that sort of breakdown, and it's been working fine since, so I don't know..?"

In the end, we agreed that we didn't know. Then there was the howl of the banshee creature, something that Zane seemed oddly specific about:

"I told Ronin that it was similar to that of the alarm cry of the ring tailed lemur, albeit much louder."

"How in the heck did you get that?"

"It's what it reminded me of. What did you think it was?"

"I don't know, not a lemur!"

"What else could it have been?"

"Not a lemur! No lemur lives in a coniferous forest! And no lemur makes a noise that loud and makes off with our friend!"

In the end, we agreed that we didn't know, and returned to square one. The only thing we were certain about was that Cole was in danger. Even if nothing happened to him, even if he had simply run off and gotten lost, he was still alone in a wilderness during the time of year where the nights only got colder, and he had already spent two alone. While he was dressed snug for an autumn day, I doubted long jeans, sneakers, and a hoodie alone could protect him from the elements.

"This doesn't feel real," I said to the ceiling from the top of the bed.

Zane let out a quiet hum.

"I can't believe this is happening to us."

Another hum. I looked over to the other bed, spotting Zane sprawled out on top of it with an arm over his eyes. I looked back to the ceiling, following a large watermark that zigzagged its way from above my head to the bathroom door.

"Do you remember last summer when Kai let us ride in his Jeep? And Cole got to drive it?"

Zane let out a noise of affirmation.

"Do you remember crashing into that tree?"

For the first time since we had finished talking, Zane peeked out from under his forearm, "I cannot see how any of us can forget that."

I felt a laugh escape me, and couldn't help but feel a bit shocked that I was able to laugh in this time of crisis. "Well," I continued, "This feels just like that. It didn't feel real then, either."

It was especially similar in that none of us were sure how we crashed. One minute, all three of us: Cole, Zane, and myself, were singing along to the radio at the top of our lungs, and the next minute, I had a mouthful of leaves and a face full of tree. The tree was small, and the damages minimal, but Kai was angry enough to kill. In fact, he almost did. As soon as he made sure we were alright, he tackled Cole to the ground, screaming bloody murder.

Zane and Nya had to pull Kai off of him, and I had done my best to see if he was alright, but Cole was still laughing too hard to care. Both of us got in trouble for reckless driving.

"We should get something to eat," I said with a sigh.

Zane was slow to answer, "I do not want to eat."

"You can't keep worrying like this."

"Give me one good reason as to why either of us shouldn't?"

His tone made me bristle, "Because it'll eat us alive. Like you said before, we've done all we could."

Zane let out a sigh.

I sat up, suddenly growing tired of all the lying around we'd done. "Let's go back to that tea place. Let's go around town. Let's go somewhere. See people. Maybe some of the people around here have seen Cole."

"Ronin told us not to do that yet."

"Well, we could try anyway," I looked down, "Plus, I want to talk to that Lloyd fellow again. That kid was weird," feeling something of a joke rise up inside of me, I lightened my tone, "One might even say the kid was a little too suspicious. Maybe he's got Cole locked up in his mom's basement."

I chuckled, but Zane refused to join in. Finally, I let my frustration shine through: "Zane—"

A harsh rap shook our door. I jumped and Zane lifted his arm.

A wobbly old voice called out softly, "Jay? Zane? It's Julien. Are you alright? I've brought snacks."

Zane was at the door in an instant. "Father," he said, relief evident in his voice.

The hug they shared made the room feel smaller. I rubbed at an arm.

"Have the police been in contact with you? Were you hurt in any way?" Julien held his son at an arm's length, checking him with an intensity that rivaled my mother's.

"We are all right," said Zane, "Just a little tired. And worried."

"And hungry," I felt compelled to add. Julien said he had snacks, after all.

"Jay," Julien turned to me for the first time, "Your parents are on the way. They had to stop to refuel, they told me to just go ahead and go."

"Okay," I said, feeling worlds better than I did before.

"Alright," said Julien. He moved to sit down on the bed, pulling out dozens of bagged goodies: pretzels; sugar free fruit snacks; several bottled waters. "Tell me absolutely everything, don't leave anything out. And remember," he held up a finger and wagged it at Zane, "Tell me only the facts. Leave the speculations for later. We don't want any human errors."

I couldn't help but quirk a smile at this.

Twenty minutes into the spiel my parents showed up, frazzled and worried. Despite the fearful look present in their eyes, I knew they were happy to see me.

"We've got the room two doors down for us, and another for Kai and Nya," said Mom, "They're on their way with your principal."

"Wu?" I said.

If Cole had been there, he would have scoffed and said, "No, you loon, the other one that lives in his closet and eats paste." Then Dad would have laughed.

Mom and Dad nodded vigorously, my mother continuing, "He knows someone down here, and he figures he could help out, and believe me, we need all the help we can get. Unless we find Cole before then. I hope we find him before then."

"Who does he know?" I asked.

Mom shook her head as she dumped several bags onto the bed, "He told us his nephew lives down here with his sister in law. Didn't he, Ed? They own a little restaurant, so we could go there for dinner while we figure things out."

I looked at Zane. He had his eyebrows furrowed, and we shared a look of understanding. Could Wu's family be...?

"So what's going on?" said Mom, "What have we missed?"

Julien looked over at her from behind his enormous lenses, "Zane was just describing the call he heard just before he went over to stop Jay from crying."

I drew back, "I wasn't crying!"

"A call?" said Mom, moving to sit down on my own bed, "What sort of call?" she looked towards Dad, then towards me, "What did it do to my baby?"

I suspected she wasn't referring to me.

"We...do not know," Zane spat the words like he was sick of saying them. I was too. I was sick of not knowing.

"He pounded his fist into the side of the car, and that was the last of him."

"There wasn't anything?"

"No, Mom," I grumbled, "we went over this on the phone; there wasn't even a set of tracks."

Julien looked up, "Are you sure? There are several ways one can lay tracks, and overlook them."

"We're positive," I nodded to Zane, "We went over it. There wasn't anything, not a footprint, or even a disturbance in the earth."

"And any tracks we missed are probably being found by the police, anyway," Zane added.

"Ah, but the police are human too," Julien said, "Remember to be thorough the first time, the police could have destroyed important evidence already."

Spotting the looks on my parents' faces, I said, "How about we avoid jumping to conclusions."

Zane let out a scoff, "You have jumped to conclusions, yourself."

"Well, we don't have to talk about them!" Zane was supposed to be on my side.

"Conclusions," Dad turned to me, "What conclusions do you got, son?"

Julien began to protest, because we couldn't speculate until we had all the facts, after all, but then Dad said we need to consider all the possible avenues this road could go, and Mom wanted to know how Cole disappeared if he didn't run away, and there was just so much going on I wanted to sit in a corner and plug my ears until everything went away. I tried to speak, to tell everyone to be quiet, to let us explain, to let us think, but my voice was lost to a sea of worry and uncertainty.

Zane didn't speak. He stared out the window, eyeing our car. From here, I could see the left wing of my flying contraption, the thing that brought us here. I wish I'd lost the science fair. I wish we all had lost.

An urgent hammering at our door forced everyone into silence. After taking a moment to inhale, Zane opened the door to meet Ronin's bizarre stare. His lone eye scanned the room, meeting everyone's gaze.

"Ronin," he greeted, "Part-time detective," he nodded at our parents. Then he turned to us, "You got some friends back here."

We stared behind him to see three people exiting a jeep that had its front end bent inwards. My heart lifted when I saw Nya pull at her brother's arm, following Wu towards the motel. For an instant, our eyes met, and I could see the concern in them, but for the most part, all I could see were questions. Lots and lots of questions.

"I know all of you are wondering what happened," said Ronin, refusing to step into the room, instead hovering on the doorframe, "but you don't need to worry," he said as Kai, Nya, and Wu all approached at once, "We've got everything all figured out."

Silence enveloped the room as shock gripped us by the throats.

After being enlightened about trigger warnings, I want to take a moment to say that this story is rated what it is for a reason, and that the characters are going to go through a lot of physical and emotional pain. Further details will be posted under the appropriate chapters.

Thank you so much for reading.