Cole really was gone. When we raced to the scene, we found Cole's hood detached and pinned to the tree he was stationed next to with a dagger, and a note attached.

To Sensei Wu's Ninja-

I have kept on my promise, and have taken something much more precious from you. You have one day to find Cole- or you'll never see him again. Begin where the moss grows in the forest.

The Phantom Ninja

"We've gotta go get Sensei. This has gone way too far." Kai said.

"And tell him what you idiots did to cause this? No way!" I protested. "We've gotta find him."

"Hold on, we?" Jay asked.

"I'm your friend, and Cole's friend, too." I argued. "I can help you find him."

"You care a whole awful lot, don't you?" Jay asked softly. I nodded.

"And you do too. Which is why we need to get crackin'!" I argued.

"But we don't even know which direction to go into! Moss grows on trees, which are everywhere, if you hadn't noticed!" Kai yelled.

"Wait, Kai, you've solved it! Moss grows on the north side of the trees!" Zane cried.

"Who's going to lead?" Kai asked.

"I think I should, since I solved the clue." Zane argued.

"You said I figured it out!" Kai returned.

"Well, technically-" Zane began.

"Guys! Let's not waste the one day we have to find him." Jay said sadly.

We began walking half-heartedly through the forest, until we reached a river with a rotted and destroyed bridge with inventing supplies and rope on the riverbanks, with a dagger embedded into the strongest wood post left of the old rotten bridge.

All four of you must find a way across, without using Spinjitzu.

"I'm starting to hate this Phantom Ninja." I complained.

"Well, let's just go on the branches above." Kai suggested.

"The tree wood is too rotted. Even the strongest of the branches would crumble under just one of our weights, not to mention all of ours." Zane countered. Kai went ahead anyway, and got his butt saved by Zane.

"You've put on weight." Zane noted breathlessly as he caught Kai.

"Put me down." Kai retorted. Zane chucked him, actually, to the us, and got off the bridge remains just in time.

"I think I have a solution." Jay declared. "The Phantom Ninja left my inventing supplies. I think I can make us jet packs."

Jay got to work, but we found out...only had materials for one.

"Go on ahead." Kai said. "We'll catch up."

Jay was about to do it, when I stopped him. "But we're failing the other condition. The rest of us have to come with you." I said.

"Oh, yeah." He replied glumly.

We contemplated what to do, when Jay brightened. "Give me the rope." He tied it around all of our waists in a chain.

"Wait, no!" Kai screamed as we took off in the air.

"How do we land?" I shouted. Bad question. We found out. We crashed in marshy land.

"I'm gonna kill you if you ever do that again." Kai said grumpily, freeing himself.

An arrow zoomed past us, with a note.

"Forget the note!" Kai yelled. "He had to be close enough to fire it. He could be anywhere!"

I stopped, due to a thorn in my bare foot, and watched in horror as my best friends were trapped in a net far up in the trees. I was only twenty feet away from the Phantom Ninja.

"I guess Sensei Wu only taught the girl how to avoid traps. Puzzle this. A man is drowning, but is not wet. Where is he?" The Phantom Ninja said. Definitely male, wore a dark gray suit, charcoal black garb.

"Riddle me this-" I called out. "Where's Cole, you idiot?" I sounded a lot more fearless than I felt. I was shaking with fear, as the Phantom Ninja coldly scanned over me.

"Don't call the person who has your friend as prisoner an idiot, little girl." The Phantom

Ninja said quietly, before scampering off.

"I'll get you down!" I called to the other ninja. I used the dagger from the last stop to cut the ropes. They knew how to fall safely.

"When I get my hands on that Phantom Ninja-" Kai began.

"I know the feeling, but we need to figure out that riddle." I said.

"Yeah, I have a feeling that he gave us Cole's location." Jay said.

"What else could he be drowning in?" Kai demanded.

"Lots of stuff. Sadness. Guilt. Debt." Zane suggested helpfully.

"I have a feeling Cole doesn't owe him money." Jay said.

I turned to Zane. "Didn't Sensei say there was a pit of sand near here?" I asked.

Zane's face screwed up in memory. "Not regular sand. Quicksands." He said, his face turning into horror.

"We've got no time to lose!" I shouted. "To the quicksand!"

Let me tell you, that place was loaded with traps. Kai helped us successfully navigate them, until where we saw Cole, in the very center of the quicksand, very still.

"We need to hurry." I said.

"Let's use the ropes." Jay suggested. We threw the line out, but nothing was happening. Was Cole alright? What was going on?

Panic and sorrow welled up within me. He had to be okay, right? Right.

"Well, if he doesn't want to be rescued." Kai shouted.

"What are you doing?" Jay demanded.

"WHAT?! Cole's our friend!" I shrieked.

"Oh. I understand now." Zane said.

"Just play along. Someone's watching us." Kai whispered to me and Jay. We took one last look. Maybe I shouldn't have. That's all it took for me to snap.

I was bawling because despite it being only a week and two days, I was in love with that idiot. In love. The real deal.

The charcoal gray ninja was waiting in a tree.

"So you left your friend to die." He said.

Confession: I snapped even more completely. I broke rank and stepped forwards ahead of Kai.

"You jerk! You idiot! He couldn't grab the rope! If he's dead now, you killed Cole Hence, not us, you did! I hope you have insomnia!" I shouted.

The Phantom Ninja became even more serious.

"We're not all a bunch of dummies." Kai said, looking at me. "That definitely was, though."

"You're not saying?" Jay said with a girly gasp.

My hands curled into fists as the hood dropped to reveal Cole's face.

"Him." Kai said.

"Me." Cole said simply.

"Question is why." Kai replied.

"Easy." Cole answered. "You all acted like you were entitled to lead. I wanted to show you that it wasn't true. You need me to lead you."

"What happened to our stuff?" Jay asked.

"Oh, it's back in camp now." Cole said. "I made sure I cleaned up before I left."

All during this, my anger built.

"And you didn't think how some of us thought you were dead?" I snarled. "You didn't think how worried we'd be? Or how some of us would panic at the thought of the Scythe of Quakes being stolen? Or that some of us genuinely care about you-"

"Relax." Jay said, looking a little unnerved.

The thing is, when we returned to camp, it was trashed.

"Seriously, Cole?" Zane said. "This is taking a joke way too far."

"I didn't do this." Cole said.

"I did." A female voice said. We looked up. A young woman in a blue garb jumped down from the trees.

"I heard that someone was imposing as me." She said. "Naturally, I had to check it out. So this is Sensei's ninja?" She clucked her tongue.

"You're the Phantom Ninja?" Jay cried.

"But you're a girl!" Cole protested.

"So what if I'm a girl?" The Phantom Ninja retorted. Zane tried to attack her, and Kai, but she defeated both of them.

"Come on, we've got to stop this." Cole chided, and he went to Spinjitzu. But The Phantom Ninja knew Spinjitzu, too, but hers was bigger, stronger, and in a reverse direction.

"Give up. Surrender to Seliel." The Phantom Ninja said.

"Seliel?" I asked.

"My father had creative names." Seliel said stiffly.

"Well, we're not giving up!" Cole shouted. We all crowded around her, and launched our Spinjitzu. It was the closest we've ever been, and Sensei had warned us that if we were too close, it could go horribly wrong.

Eventually, she tumbled to the ground, chuckling. "I guess Sensei Wu won our bet." She said.

"Bet? I thought you were worst enemies!" Zane protested.

"No, Sensei Wu once helped clear up a matter back when I was a teenage thief." Seliel said.

"What if she's lying?" Kai demanded.

"Then we'll catch her again." Cole asserted.

"Your stuff is mile west." Seliel said, and before she left, she kissed Cole on the cheek. He grinned sheepishly.

"Isn't that a great girl?" He said aloud. Jay and Zane chuckled.

"I'll get going." I muttered.

"What's wrong with her?" Cole asked.

"I doubt you'd understand." Jay said.

Later tonight, we were sitting by the campfire again. Me and Cole, that is.

"I didn't realized you cared so much about me." Cole said.

I turned red. "You're one of my best friends, Cole." I said. I took a deep breath. "And I love you. Like love love you."

"I kinda got that by the Bob Seger song." He said. I turned bright red. Then he placed a hand over mine.

"Girls like Seliel might be hot, but truly beautiful girls like you only come around every one in a while." He said. Then he kissed me.