Chapter 7 Haunting Past

I ate breakfast like normal and automatically started walking toward Master Wu's class.

"Where are you going, Kai? We don't have classes. It's break, remember?" Cole called after me.

Oh right. I laughed awkwardly. "I completely forgot. Thanks for reminding me."

Cole ran up to me. "No problem."

"So what should we do then? I've got a mountain of homework. Want to help me?"

Cole shook his head with a smile. "No way. I've got a better idea."

"What?"

"I'll show you." He took off running. I had to sprint to keep up with him. He ran down corridors I had never seen before. This really was a surprise. Where was Cole taking me? He stopped in front of a set of plain doors. I nearly ran into him.

"Where are we?" I asked.

Cole pushed open the doors. I followed him hesitantly. My mouth dropped. I couldn't believe my eyes. Cole turned around and spread his arms wide. "Welcome to the kitchen!" He announced.

It was amazing. Tons of food was just lying around. Cakes and pastries and sweet and savory goodies lined the counters. Magic bowls were stirring batches of dough. Fry pans flipped a batch of eggs by themselves. The air was filled with delicious smells that made my mouth water.

"How did you find this place?" I asked. I didn't remember seeing it on the map.

Cole shrugged. "I got bored one day and started exploring. I figured the food didn't just come from nowhere and I was right." He gave me a boyish grin. "Now let's dig in!" He grabbed a cake and started chowing down without bothering with silverware.

I shook my head and laughed. Cole had a crazy appetite.

"Are you sure no one will notice?" I asked.

"The kitchen runs itself, even if someone did notice, there's so much food here that no one's gonna miss a few things here or there."

I wasn't so sure, however, all this food was too good to resist. I started snacking on a cherry pie. It was delicious. We had the entire kitchen to ourselves. We ate and ate until we were full and then some more. When we were done, we walked back toward the cafeteria. Since we couldn't go into each other's house dormitories, it was one of the few places we could hang out. And neither of us felt like going to library.

So few people stayed at school during break that the house tables had been disbanded. Cole and I could sit at any one of the five tables. We sat at the earth table so we could avoid Chen, who unfortunately, had stayed at school as well. Honestly, it was like that guy was trying to make my life miserable.

"Hey, Cole, I want to ask you something," I said as we sat down.

Cole reached for a cupcake, even though he had stuffed his face in the kitchen. "Shoot."

"Why didn't you want to go to music school? And why is your dad forcing you into it?" The first thing Cole had ever said to me was he didn't want to go to the music school his dad had tried to send him to. Ever since then, it had been bugging me. Then, he mentioned it again when we were talking about break.

Cole sighed. "It's complicated. My dad is major musician. He's part of the Royal Blacksmiths, a quartet that's won the Ninjago Talent Show multiple times. He wants me to carry on his legacy, only I can't." He stopped.

I got the feeling it was a touchy subject. I wanted to press it more, but it would be insensitive to him. Maybe later.

"Well, I'm glad you came here instead. School wouldn't be the same without you."

Cole smiled. He was back to his normal self. "I'm glad I'm here too." He looked up at the ceiling. "It looks like the mail's here."

Everyday week, the mail came in around noon and was delivered to the dormitories at night if you don't own one. At lunch, you could watch the owls swoop in the building. Sometimes they would fly straight to their owners instead of going to the Owlery. They were very loyal creatures. I wished I could buy one. I watched a couple land on the tables next to students.

To my surprise, one landed next to me. It was the same owl that I had sent out last night. Cole seemed shocked too. It pecked my hand.

"Ouch! Alright, alright already." I untied the letter on the owl's leg.

Cole peered over my shoulder. "What does it say?"

I scanned it quickly. "It's from Nya!"

"Your younger sister?" Cole clarified.

I nodded. She figured out how to send an owl message? I smiled. Nya was resourceful. I summarized it out loud for Cole.

"She says she misses me and wishes she had come with me the day I left for school. Things haven't been the same since I've left. She hopes I'm doing alright with her gone." I laughed.

"What is it?" Cole asked.

"Nya says that if anything happens to me, she'll march up to the school herself, 'so don't make me come after you'."

Cole seemed sad. "You have a good relationship with your family."

"Yeah. Ever since our parents disappeared, we've looked after each other. We have our ups and downs, but we love each other a lot."

Cole sighed. "I wish I had someone like that in my life."

I didn't like seeing Cole this depressed. I rushed to change the subject. "Did you find any other cool places while you were exploring?"

Cole grinned. "Yeah."

He took me to a hall of mirrors that stretched or widened your reflection, a staircase that would turn into a massive slide, and a secret passage to the teacher's lounge. We had a great time. I hoped that every day of break would be like this one.

"My favorite place though was the kitchen," Cole said at the end of his tour.

I laughed. After all these amazing places, he picks the kitchen.

"Well, that was a lot of fun." A clock struck ten o'clock. I couldn't believe we had been up this long. "I guess I better go to bed. See you tomorrow, Cole," I said.

"Bye, Kai," Cole replied. We went our separate ways. That night, I dreamed I was in the dark room again.

This time, when I tried to back up, I ran right into a wall. The Overlord laughed at my pain. I balled my hands into fists. He had tortured me long enough. Time that I fought back. I tried to summon my elemental power. Small flames sparked in my hands and I charged the clock. I yanked on everything within reach until I ran out of strength and collapsed. I panted on the ground and looked up at the golden structure. I had done nothing.

"You cannot stop me!" The Overlord cried.

I was starting to think that he was right. I sighed. We couldn't find anything about the clock and I was powerless here in the dream world.

"But that doesn't mean we're going to give up!" a voice behind me said. I looked up in surprise. This was new.

Behind me, Cole, Zane, and even Jay stood defiantly. I smiled gratefully.

"You fools!" The Overlord shouted. "You can never win!" The room around us started shaking. The four of us looked at each other nervously.

"We're all gonna die!" Jay cried. Cole tried to use his earth powers to hold up the ceiling while Zane tried casting spells, but none of them were working. The Overlord cackled. I glared at the clock. There was nothing I could to do to stop it, even with my friends. I looked up. A massive chunk of the ceiling fell. It was going to smash me to bits.

I woke up in a cold sweat. I wished these nightmares would stop. I wondered if Mistaké had a tonic that would help me to sleep better. She had potions and teas for everything. I decided to get my homework done today. I didn't bother to get any breakfast. I wasn't hungry after all the food I ate yesterday.

The next few weeks were spent working on essays, practicing spells, and hanging out with Cole. School didn't start again until September, so I had a whole month of lying around doing nothing.

Meanwhile, my nightmares didn't get any better, but at least they weren't getting worse. Nobody had died in any of them yet, which was a plus.I wondered if I should talk to someone about my dreams. Nah. They would probably think I was crazy.

At lunch, I watched Cole stuff his face. The kid had a crazy appetite.

"How can you eat so much?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I'm a growing boy. I need all the food I could get."

I laughed. Already, he had cleaned three dinner plates full of food and was still going.

"Do you eat like this at home?"

Cole swallowed before answering. "No. My dad won't let me. He thinks that I spent too much time eating large meals, and wants me to practice dancing and singing instead."

That must be tough. "Are you any good?"

Cole shook his head. "Have you ever heard me sing?"

"It can't be that bad."

"Oh yes it can. I sound like I'm dying, and my dancing isn't much better. Did you know that my dad tried to make me do the Triple Tiger Sashay?"

I was confused. "What's that?"

"A ridiculously hard dance move that has never been successfully completed. My dad thought that since I was his son that I could do it. When I was SEVEN! Well, he was sure wrong."

I got the feeling that Cole had kept this pent up for a while. I wanted to help him, but I wasn't sure how.

"I'm sorry, Cole."

He snorted. "Ever since then, he drilled me every single minute of every day so I could get better. My dad enrolled me in a musical school without my consent. I was so happy when I got my letter from here, because I could finally get away from it all." He sighed.

I wasn't sure what to do. Cole looked so sad. "Sounds like you had a hard life."

"Hard doesn't even cover it," he replied. We sat in silence for a moment.

"Well, I'm feeling a bit hungry for some cherry pie. Do you want to come down to the kitchen with me?" I asked him.

That cheered Cole up a bit. "Sure."

The rest of the day, I stayed away from any touchy subjects and simply enjoyed Cole's company.

All too soon, it was time for school to start up again. I stood at the window and watched a hoard of students climb up the steps to the monastery. I looked for Zane's white hair and Jay's orange scarf. I spotted Zane and waved him over.

He zoomed over toward me. He looked more serious than normal. I wondered what was the matter.

"Did you find something?" I asked.

Zane frowned. "Kai, we have to talk."

"Okay…" I said.

He shook his head. "Not here."

I looked around at all the students. Then I saw Master Wu and the other teachers. "Meet me in the library with the others in an hour."

That ought to give Jay enough time to climb the mountain. Zane nodded. We separated so as not to arouse any suspicion. You could never be too careful. I hoped that I would finally get some answers. I tried to find Cole so I could tell him about the meeting. I trusted that Zane would tell Jay. As I walked down the quiet hallways, I thought I could hear something following me. It sounded like the clock from my nightmares.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

AN: As always, reviews are appreciated. To be continued next week…