130
"That will work great, thanks."
May was typing furiously, and Dani looked over at Amber for further validation. The Oni nodded encouragingly.
"Thanks for coming Dani. Mia and May think that eyewitness interviews about what happened on the beach will be our best bet for countering Matilda's claims about M."
Amber's face clouded, and her friend gave her a smile as she reached over.
"I'm sure he's fine, Amber. Your parents are looking for him…along with like all the law enforcement in Ninjago. He's a pain, but he's smart enough to take care of himself for a few days."
"Yo, Amber…any other friends you can call?" Mia interrupted, looking up from a laptop across the room. Amber hesitated, but Dani pulled out her phone.
"I'll call David. I'm sure he'll do it."
Amber shot her another grateful look, and Dani typed in the number. May was busy typing up the interview she had just had, one earbud in as she quickly transcribed what she had recorded on her phone. Across the room, Julien was muttering to himself. Amber looked over at him.
"Have you found those video clips you're looking for?" she called, and he glanced over.
"Some of them. What I really need is the footage of the night your parents were arrested. But it looks like they clipped it and deleted the original footage; I cannot find anything except those few seconds of Keyda blasting those guards."
Amber's brow furrowed.
"If they deleted it, how are you going to find it?"
"There are a few things I can try; nothing is ever really deleted. The problem is that it is much harder to do them from here. If I was actually in the building on their server, I would have an easier time."
"You went in once, didn't you? Couldn't you go in again?"
Julien just shook his head.
"No. Too risky. I will do what I can from here, but I may need help from Ashley…"
"And here I thought you said there was no reason to plant someone on the inside," Mia said, chomping on gum as she continued to scan different pages. Julien turned to give her a withering look.
"I just said it may not be worth the risk, considering that I can do everything from here that Ashley could do on the inside. I never said it would not make things easier…just that we did not technically need it."
"How's my brother?" Amber asked, coming over to Julien's hive of screens. Dani followed, her expression obviously curious. Julien didn't even look over as he pressed a key on one of several keyboards, and a video popped up on the screen closest to the Oni. Amber looked at it for a moment and frowned.
"Wait…he's not in there."
Julien looked up then, frowning.
"He must be in an interview."
He immediately began typing, and Amber's heart pounded. Half a minute passed and finally another screen popped up. The camera was grainy, but it had a clear shot of the room. Amber stiffened as she saw Theo sitting on one end of a long table, his expression stonier than she had seen in a while. On the other side of the table, Matilda was staring at him with a look that was almost predatory.
"What's she doing?" Mia asked. She had pushed her rolling chair over to get a better look, and May looked up as well as she realized everyone was gathering.
"Shh!" Julien chided, typing something else into his computer. Soon a little icon popped up to inform them that the footage was being taped, probably in case anything happened that Julien would want to keep as evidence. Amber still wasn't exactly sure what he expected to happen, but it worried her. This was the first time she had seen her brother interrogated, and she wasn't sure what to expect. She did know that if Matilda touched her brother she would go burn the entire building down.
"You aren't doing you or your family any favors by this useless silent treatment…" Matilda said, and Theo's expression didn't change. He just stared at her silently, and the NCST President shook her head.
"I'm giving you the chance to tell me your parent's plans before the trial. Cooperate, and things will be much better for you and your sister."
Amber felt a flash of anger, and for the first time emotion flickered across Theo's face. He still didn't say anything, but Matilda tilted her head, no doubt knowing she had found a nerve.
"I'd hate to get her involved, Theodynn. That's your name, isn't it? Your sister has been through a lot this last week; the last thing she needs is a warrant for her arrest…"
Theo was angry now, as well as all those watching. Dani's eyes were huge.
"She can't arrest Amber, right?" she asked, and Julien frowned, the computer screens reflecting off his round glasses.
"She's trying to force him to give something up. Say something she can use and then twist to further her point. But if he never says anything, then she won't have anything to work with."
"Amber's done nothing wrong. Legally, what happened at the beach was written up as an accident, no matter what image Matilda tries to spread." Mia added.
Theo still hadn't said anything, and Matilda's voice lowered.
"You won't get out of here until you cooperate, freak. I don't care how long it takes. If you want to go home, if you want your family to go home, you'll talk to me next time I deem you important enough to pull out of your cell. Do you understand?"
Amber felt tears sting her eyes. How dare she talk to Theo like that! On screen, Matilda was gesturing for a large man to take Theodynn back to his cell. The man pulled Theo up roughly, and the Oni teen scowled at him. Matilda stood as well, offering one last suggestion.
"Your silence is not a protection. The sooner you understand that, the less you will lose in the end."
And with that the interview ended. They watched as those on camera filed out of the shot, and soon the group was staring at an empty room.
"She's a real piece of work," May commented with a look of disgust, and Amber's eyes flashed through her tears.
"I want to go in there and just…"
"You can't, Amber. If you do anything to Matilda you'll make it nearly impossible to get Theo out of there," Mia cut in, giving her a stern look. "If it's going to make you this angry to watch the security cameras, then…"
"Amber's not going to do anything!" Dani cut in, and Amber flashed her friend a grateful look. The musician put an arm around the Oni protectively. "She's just angry…and can you blame her? Matilda O'Keefe is holding Theo prisoner until she gets what she wants."
Dani shuddered then.
"She's like a villain in a T.V. show," she realized, and Julien scowled.
"Indeed. And that is why we are going to continue to amass evidence until she has no choice but to let Theo go."
The pianist processed that, and then bit her lip.
"But how do you know it won't just make everything worse?"
Silence fell, and Amber felt a knot of panic twist in her stomach. It was the same fear she had forced from her mind multiple times, and the fact that none of her cousins were answering Dani's inquiry wasn't really putting her mind at rest.
"Why the long faces?"
Amber and Dani glanced over to see someone coming into the room. It was Colby, his face covered with almost as many paint specks as freckles. His sisters didn't even look at him as Mia answered.
"Look, Cobes, if you wanna be in on the scoop you actually have to be here. We have enough to do without trying to catch you up every time you can bother to come in here."
He grimaced at his sister, and then glanced over. He caught sight of Amber and waved a little. She waved back as he came in.
"How's it going? You surviving in this stuffy room with all this tech?" he asked, and she shrugged. It had become clear that unlike his sisters, Colby did not have much love for technology, choosing instead to use raw materials to 'live out his artistic vision', or whatever he called it.
"We're keeping track of Theo," she explained and he nodded to himself.
"Yeah, I figured." His eyes flicked over to the figure next to Amber and he cleared his throat. "So…who's this?"
Amber blinked and then looked over.
"Oh, this is Dani. She's my roommate at school…"
"I'm going into music," Dani said, jumping in. "Piano, to be exact. I take it you're an artist…or just a messy house-painter."
Colby blinked and put a hand on his face, as if just realizing he must be covered in splatters. He flushed and Amber could feel his embarrassment, but it confused her. He was always covered in paint; why get self-conscious about it now?
"This is Colby," Amber explained. "He's Mia and May's brother….we all grew up together."
"Yeah. We're basically cousins," Colby said, cutting in as he continued to wipe at his face. "I've known Amber forever. Like…her whole life, really."
"So you must be helping to get Theo out of the NCST," Dani guessed, and he shrugged.
"Oh, well, yeah…course…"
Amber frowned; as far as she knew, Colby had spent the morning painting a mural on the side of the temple that he was calling "Superfluous." Unless abstract art was somehow magically going to win Matilda over, she doubted that it was going to be much help at all.
"Political cartoons!"
Amber and Colby blinked as Dani said it, snapping her fingers.
"What?" the youngest Walker finally asked, and the Musician lit up.
"That's how most artists influence politics, right? We could storm social media with political cartoons…"
Mia snorted.
"No can do. That would require Colby to actually draw realistically… which "cramps his passions by forcing him to mimic reality."
Colby turned red and turned to glare at his older sister.
"I probably could do it," he argued. Mia stopped typing and glanced up at him with surprise. Dani seemed confused as the two siblings seemed to be having some kind of silent conversation, and finally Mia's mouth quirked up in a knowing smile. Amber was just as lost as her friend; all she knew was that Colby was annoyed and embarrassed and Mia was very amused.
"Great!" Dani said. She was getting excited and bouncy, the way she did whenever she became part of some project. However, her excitement doused a little as something else occurred to her. "Geez…I wanna help, Amber. But I can't really think of how piano is going to make a difference."
Amber blinked. She was touched by how invested her friend seemed, and she shook her head.
"There's a lot more to you than piano, Dani…"
The girl's expression flickered with a rare case of insecurity.
"Nothing that can help right now, though."
"You're great with people!" Amber argued, and Dani glanced up. "You motivate people to do the right thing, bring people together…"
It was less of a brainstorm on how Dani could help as it was an attempt to cheer her friend up, make her realize that she was amazing for many reasons. However, the pianist's eyes sparked and she perked up.
"Bringing people together…that gives me a great idea!"
She dashed to the door, leaving the others in the room surprised.
"What?" Colby asked, and Dani just shook her head.
"You'll see! I'll see you later Amber, k?"
And with that, the girl disappeared out the door. There was stunned silence, finally broken when May cleared her throat.
"So…Political Cartoons, Colby?" she asked in a syrupy sweet voice. The fourteen-year-old immediately turned red and then scowled.
"Shut up," he muttered as he left the room, and Amber was left to shake her head in wonder at the twin's snickering.
"You said he would be here!"
Marty Openheimer IV was very close to losing his patience. He watched as Amber's parents glanced at each other and then back over at him.
"I said he could be here…"
"No one's seen him! Everyone we've asked…"
The headmaster trailed off, scowling and pulling his coat closer as a cold wind tore down the street of the northern village. He noticed the Oni shuddering as well, and Cole put a protective arm around his wife.
"That inn at the end of the street looks a little familiar," the ex-ninja was saying. "I think I may have stopped there before. It may be a place that exchanges room and board for work.
It was scandalizing, to think that M. may have affiliated himself with such a place. But Marty found himself hoping for as much as they headed down towards the inn. Even if it was below his station in life, working at an inn was a better fate than sleeping on the street. Especially in this weather. The mustached man shuddered again at the thought, pushing himself down the road until they had entered into the warm and muggy room.
"Welcome to the Rugged Peaks!" a booming voice said, and the three adults jumped and looked over at a man beaming from behind the counter. "Do you need some rooms for tonight?"
Marty scowled, but Cole spoke before he got the chance.
"No, thank you. We're looking for a boy…a runaway. Any chance he came through here?"
Marty came forward with the picture then, handing it to the man. He scanned the innkeeper's face, hoping for some glimmer of recognition. But as the burly figure stroked his chin he just shook his head.
"Sorry…can't say that I have. I can keep a lookout though."
Anger filled Marty's body, followed by a swift wave of despair. Where was he?! How far had M. gotten in a day? He was just a boy…a boy that could be anywhere in Ninjago!
"We have enough people keeping a lookout!" he snapped. "I want him found!"
The man looked at Marty in surprise, and the headmaster saw the innkeeper glance over at Cole and Keyda, as if for help. It only made Marty's blood boil further and he stormed off before he did or said something he would regret.
The walls were covered in framed news articles dating back decades to the present, and the headmaster scanned them as he tried to calm down. It wasn't so much that the innkeeper didn't deserve to be put in his place, but Openheimer's did not lose their tempers with strangers. Besides, if…
He paused in his thoughts as he caught sight of a familiar figure in one of the news article pictures.
Youngest Contestant Ever Wins Rugged Peaks Mountain Challenge!
The black and white picture depicted a young teen with a serious expression climbing the side of a mountain. Marty blinked and turned to see that Cole and Keyda were still talking with the innkeeper.
"You have been here before!" he said, his tone accusatory, and the adults looked over in surprise. Marty gestured to the news article and Cole frowned as he came closer. Marty narrowed his eyes. "You weren't here working for room and board…you came here to enter some silly contest. How on earth could you forget?"
Cole's expression was distant as he looked at the picture, and his wife's tone was hushed.
"You won a contest," she pointed out. Cole frowned.
"Apparently…"
For some reason, the fact that the ex-ninja couldn't even remember something as worthwhile as winning a contest made Marty all the angrier.
"How could you forget?" he hissed. "Did nothing matter to you in your youth? Competition, family reputations…were they all so easily blown off as trivial?!"
The Oni's eyes flashed as she turned to glare at him.
"His memory isn't good," she said coldly, her words clipped and perhaps even threatening. She had wrapped an arm around Cole, as if protecting him from something, and Marty narrowed his eyes.
"Then perhaps you can't help me after all," he snapped. "We've been going around to places you thought you remembered all day…but in reality, you had no idea where we were doing! You've wasted an entire day and M is still out there!"
"We'll find him!" Keyda argued. Cole's expression was still distant, like he was lost in some mind fog, trying to remember something. His wife's arm tightened around him. "It may take longer than a day to track him down…Ninjago is a big place!"
"Yes, it is a big place. That's why it will be better for me to find him myself!" Marty snapped. Cole looked up then, but the headmaster's eyes were full of loathing. "I should have never asked, or trusted you. You aren't even part of this realm anymore, not really. I'll find my son myself."
He turned and headed back to where they had managed to park his car. If he had known they would have walked this far into the village he would have brought it closer. As it was, he was going to have to go back out into the cold…
"Wait!"
It was Cole who spoke, and Marty stopped stiffly, not even bothering to turn around.
"It's dark now; wherever M is, he's hunkered down. We need to get some sleep if we're going to be able to keep looking…"
Marty turned incredulously.
"Were you not listening? I don't need you to find my son."
"Maybe not. But trust me when I say that it's not going to do you any good to search in the dark. You're just putting yourself at risk of exhaustion and a car accident."
"You have no idea what it's like!" Marty accused, glaring at the once-Ninjagoan and his Oni wife. "I've lost my son…I have no idea where he is! I can't rest until he's home safe!"
"We know exactly what that's like."
It was the Oni who spoke, and for once her voice wasn't quite as guarded. She met his eye evenly.
"It feels like your whole world is crashing down…like if you sleep it means you're giving up on them. And all you can think about is how you would give anything to have them back."
Marty didn't say anything, his fierce-some expression lessening somewhat as the Oni continued.
"But if you run yourself into the ground it won't do M. any good. He's safe, wherever he is…"
"How do you know?" Marty snapped, but the fight was starting to leave him as utter exhaustion began to set in. Cole was the one who answered.
"Because he's a smart kid."
131
Ashley came into the top room of the temple, feeling exhausted. Maybe she should have pushed a little more for a paid internship; it would have made it a little more worth it to go through all the hoopla she had just spent the day doing. The NCST was a constant hive, and she had become the messenger, running every which way. She had spotted Matilda twice through her many chores, but the NCST president didn't even notice her. It was probably better that way, the young woman decided.
Ashley entered the room and frowned. It was completely dark except for the computer screens washing over Julien, making his pale yellow skin take on a blue-ish glow.
"You're going to ruin your eyes," she pointed out, turning on the lights. Julien blinked and looked over at her.
"Oh, Ashley. Good, you made it back."
"Yup," she affirmed, stretching before coming over to take a seat next to him. "How's it going?"
Julien hesitated, and Ashely didn't like the look on his face.
"What? What's happened?"
"Theo had another interview today," the brainiac explained, still typing as he frowned. Ashley's brow furrowed.
"And? Did Matilda do something? Did he say something he shouldn't have?"
"Theo was fine. He did not speak to her the entire time. She was getting quite frustrated, and finally sent him back to his cell."
Ashley relaxed a little.
"Oh. Then what?"
Julien sighed, finally glancing over at her through his glasses.
"He did not get dinner."
The redhead took in the information, frowning.
"They didn't feed him?"
Julien shook his head.
"The meals they do give him are small, but at least they always arrive on time. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. But today after the interview…nothing. He has not eaten or had anything to drink since noon."
Ashley clenched her jaw.
"You think it's because he won't talk to Matilda?"
Julien nodded, turning back to his screen.
"They cannot starve him completely, obviously. But they could cut his meals from three a day to two. Enough to still count as civilized while making him uncomfortable."
Ashley felt sick as she stared at the small screen playing footage of Theo's cell. He seemed to be asleep, and she felt a sudden anger that she had been running around fetching doughnuts and coffee and whatever else for the entire staff of NCST when they hadn't even fed her friend.
"She's increasing the pressure," she realized, and Julien sighed.
"Indeed. And to top it off, the twins reported that their posts are under attack. The NCST is trying to destroy our little rebellion. It has become too far spread to erase completely, but the computer team part of the organization must be working to block the posts as much as they can. I have been doing surgery on the blocks for hours, making sure to break them down enough to look like a mistake on their part, rather than someone purposefully trying to remove them."
Ashley sighed and leaned back into her chair.
"It may be a longer road than we initially thought, then," she translated, and Julien nodded. He turned and handed her a USB, and she frowned at it. "What's this?"
"I need you to get this plugged into a computer on their server. It will grant me further access to footage clips that I have not been able to reach…"
"I'm an intern! I don't have my own computer, Jules," she pointed out in irritation, and he scowled.
"I have made it quite clear that I do not appreciate being called that," he sniffed, and then turned back to his computer. "Use your wiles and your wit, Ashley. That is why we agreed to let you be the one on the inside, after all."
She sighed and pocketed the USB.
"Right. Sorry…it was just a long day. Lots of running around…"
"I saw," Julien answered, and she shook her head at the thought of her nerdy cousin watching her run coffees around and schmooze as many higher ups as she could.
"I'll see if I can get it plugged in anywhere. Do I need to give you a heads up when I do?"
He shook his head.
"Just open the file called '4-14' and I will be alerted and can take care of the rest."
"4-14?" Ashley asked and Julien smiled.
"Sure. The day the greatest robotics engineer in the world was born."
The redhead blinked and finally smirked.
"That's the day you were born, you punk…"
He shrugged, as if to say that the facts stood for themselves, and Ash pushed herself to her feet.
"You aren't half-bad at this hacking and techie stuff either, Julien. Maybe there's more in your future than just robots."
He shrugged again to acknowledge her compliment, diving back into his work. She shook her head.
"Get some sleep, alright? You're gonna be no good if you stay up all night…"
"Goodnight," he cut in, and she finally rolled her eyes and headed to the room she was sleeping in at the temple.
"Goodnight."
They never came. Hershel woke up to Baffa snuffling his face, and he groaned and pushed the sniffer away.
"Baffa…" he chided, and then realized. He sat up, his heart pounding. Was it…morning? Part of him felt relief; Imgloss had never come. But that didn't mean that he still wouldn't.
"You awake then?"
He looked up towards Tolan's voice.
"They didn't come?"
"No. I tried to tell you they wouldn't."
Hershel scoffed.
"They still could."
He felt a hand on his shoulder.
"If she was going to turn you in, she would have already."
Hershel wasn't so sure, but he allowed his brother-in-law to help him up.
"C'mon. Let's get breakfast started before Syn gets here. Then she'll know you can handle yourself…as long as you don't chop any fingers off."
For the first time in a while, Hershel let himself smile.
Keyda brushed through her hair again, sighing. They had slept at the inn that night, and she looked towards the window. Marty had said that they were to leave at the crack of dawn, and she knew that the man was tightly wound at the moment. She deftly braided her hair as she thought about the Headmaster. She had never liked him, or his father. But she also couldn't help but grudgingly understand what he was going through. When Theo and Amber had disappeared, it had felt like her life was over… all she could think about was getting them back. Granted, M. had chosen to leave, rather than being taken, but the fear was still reasonable.
She glanced over at Cole who was sitting on the bed, staring out the window in thought. She finished braiding her hair and came over to sit next to him. He blinked and glanced over as she slipped and arm around his waist.
"What are you thinking about?" she murmured, and he shrugged.
"This was me, a few decades ago," he replied thoughtfully. "Honestly, I don't remember much from that time, but I can't help thinking what it would have been like for my parents if they had known I had left."
"Your mom didn't ever know that you had left, right?" she prompted, and he shook his head.
"No. At least…I don't think so."
His expression clouded and she leaned in.
"Cole…what is it?"
"Sometimes I forget how much I've forgotten…you know?" he said, and she just frowned. He dry-washed his face. "There are certain memories that are still vivid, but most are so hazy. Thinking about my mom…I just wonder if I knew more about her once than I remember now. Of everything I've lost…those memories are the hardest to think about."
She didn't know what to say and he exhaled shakily.
"I remember what she looks like, at least. I think I can remember her voice. And there's a key memory or two, but other than that…."
He trailed off, but then there was a knock at the door. They both glanced up, realizing it was probably Marty demanding that it was time to go. Cole seemed to shake himself off, but Keyda leaned in again before he could stand up to kiss him. He hesitated, seeming surprised.
"You remember things all the time," she reminded softly. "Maybe those memories aren't as lost as you think."
He scanned her face and finally smiled.
"I guess you're right," he said, and she rolled her eyes as she stood.
"After 20 plus years, I would have thought you'd have realized by now that I'm always right."
She went to go open the door that Marty was pounding, but Cole grabbed her hand. She turned to raise an eyebrow and he tugged her back into another kiss. The knocking didn't stop, but Keyda closed her eyes to ignore it for a few seconds longer. Cole pulled back.
"Thanks Keyds," he murmured, and she brushed his bed-mussed hair out of his face.
"C'mon Idiot…let's go find that runaway and get our son back."
M. woke up to the smell of pancakes. It took him a moment to orient himself as he looked down at the overly flowered quilt he was tucked under. That nice lady…that's right. The one who said he could spend the night.
He pushed himself out of bed and rubbed his face. The room was nice but very scarcely furnished; the woman had explained that it used to be her daughter's room but that she had taken most of her stuff with her when she had moved out. There was an old vanity on one side of the room and he headed over. His hair was sticking up all over his head, his uniform wrinkled. He grimaced, hoping the woman wouldn't realize he had slept in his clothes last night. M. managed to get his hair to flatten into a somewhat decent style and smoothed his school uniform out the best he could. Then he sighed and headed to the door to go downstairs, following the delicious smell. He padded into the kitchen and the lady was there. She turned to give him a warm smile from over the pan where she was cooking breakfast.
"I was wondering when you'd be up. Finally figured I'd just get started; my Ma used to say there's nothing like the smell of breakfast to convince people to get outta bed."
He smiled shyly and took a seat at the bar, watching hungrily as she flipped the pancakes.
"Now, have you had any luck remembering your uncle's name? If he lives somewhere around here, I'm bound to know him…"
M's hunger twisted with guilt and fear as he remembered the lie from the previous night. He tried not to squirm.
"Oh…well…you see I remember what he looks like I just can't really remember his name. That's why I was knocking on doors…to see if maybe I could find him that way."
She nodded to herself.
"I'll put out a notice on the community forum with a pic of ya. It'll probably be easier for your Uncle to recognize you than it will be to find…"
"No!"
She blinked and turned in surprise, and M. reddened as he cleared his throat.
"It's just…uh…I was trying to surprise him. For his birthday. So I don't want him to know I'm coming…"
"You were going to surprise him in the middle of the night for his birthday?"
M. swallowed.
"Um…his birthday was yesterday, actually. I got here a lot later than I meant to. There was some crazy traffic getting up here…the bus got delayed…"
He should just leave, before he dug himself down any further. The woman was looking at him closely now, and it was reminding him a little too much of how Amber looked at him when she was reading him. He shuddered a little, hoping that this woman didn't have similar talents. He almost pushed himself up from the bar to excuse himself from her home…but the pancakes smelled so good. It didn't help that he hadn't eaten much since leaving that Ronin guy's shop. The woman finally smiled. She was a nice, grandmotherly sort of woman, M. decided. He had never known his grandmother on either side, and for the first time in his life he wondered what he had missed out on because of that.
"Well…let's get you fed and then we can see what we can do about finding that uncle of yours."
M. sagged in relief and nodded.
"Thank you, ma'am. I really appreciate it."
A few minutes more and she was finally handing him a heaping plate. He dug into it ravenously, barely noticing when she excused herself to make a phone call.
It wasn't long before his plate was empty, and he finished his glass of milk gratefully. He looked up to see if the woman was coming back, but she still hadn't returned and he got down from the bar. He headed towards the door; it was probably best that he go now, before she could come back and ask more questions. However, as he got to the door he hesitated. The woman had been so kind, letting him stay the night when he had claimed to be lost, offering to call someone to help him. Heck, she had even gotten up early to make him pancakes. He couldn't just leave without telling her thanks.
He loitered by the door for a few minutes, trying to decide what the best thing to do would be. His eyes wandered into the small parlor to one side of the home's entryway, catching sight of a notepad on the coffee table. A note; he would leave a note, and then go. That would be the best thing to do.
M. hurried over; he was becoming a little antsy now, knowing she would probably be getting back at any second. He grabbed the notebook and went to pick up a pen that was lying on a newspaper on the coffee table; it looked like she was in the middle of doing a crossword puzzle. His eyes flicked across the page as he grabbed the pen, but he stopped dead as he caught sight of something. He swallowing hard as his heart began to pound, his eyes scanning the section of the paper over and over again.
Missing: Marty Openheimer V. Last seen at the NCST building in Ninjago City. It is believed that the boy is a runaway, with possible Oni foul play. If found please retain and contact Ninjago City Police at the following number…
M's school picture smiled up at him, and his heart was pounding so hard he thought for sure all of Ninjago would hear it and use it to track him here. For a split second he thought that maybe the woman hadn't seen this section of her paper. She had seemed so nice, and hadn't treated him like a runaway at all…
"Son?"
He flinched and dropped the pen as her voice rang out. She must have entered the kitchen/dining area again. He couldn't see her from the parlor, which meant that she couldn't see him either. His heart was still banging around like a wrecking ball inside of him, and the first thought that came to mind was hide.
"Now, where did he go? Darn it all, Patty. You shouldn't have left him on his own…"
The parlor was stuffed with cozy bits of furniture, making it difficult to really find a good place to hide. Along the windows there were floor-length curtains covered in loud floral patterns. The windows on Patty's house were small, which meant there was plenty of curtain covering the wall itself. He immediately ducked behind the folds of the thick material, his back pressed up against the creamy wallpaper. Patty was headed this way, and M. held his breath as the older lady came into the room. He could make her out through the material, and he hoped that she wouldn't be able to see him as well. She didn't seem to realize where he was as she looked around, shaking her head.
"He must have left. After all of that, the poor kid snuck right out without saying goodbye…"
He felt a little twist then, his resolve faltering. Maybe Patty didn't know he was a runaway. Maybe she really was just trying to help him find his imaginary Uncle…
The doorbell rang and M. tensed up. His hands were pressed against his mouth, he didn't trust himself to not make any sound. Patty turned and headed over to the door. M couldn't really see anything, but he could hear what was being said.
"Oh, officers. I'm glad you came…but I'm afraid that the boy might have left…"
Officers? She had called the police?!
"May we come in, ma'am? We'd like to ask you some questions, and get a look for ourselves."
"Course! Come this way…."
M. wanted to sink into the wall. Or rather, sink through the wall so he could make it to the outside and take off running. It suddenly didn't matter that he didn't know where to go, just as long as he got away from here.
Patty led the two officers into the parlor, shaking her head apologetically.
"I figured the poor kid was a runaway. Should have seen him on the porch last night; shivering up a storm, stammering up some story about an uncle that he couldn't even remember the name of, wearing some wrinkled school uniform. I wasn't about to let him sleep out on the street somewhere, so I brought him in and sent him to bed. Perhaps I should have called you last night, but I didn't know who the kid was and there was the possibility he was telling the truth. Wasn't till this morning's paper that I knew for sure who he was and that calling you was the best course…"
M. felt a wave of humiliation wash over him as he listened to Patty describe the situation. He sounded so…pathetic. Desperate. But if he was being honest, he had been pretty desperate. That was the main reason he had taken to knocking on doors with his story about being lost.
"You really should have called sooner, ma'am. You could have looked up runaways online and you would have seen him there…"
"Don't have a computer. Never have." Patty shrugged apologetically. "Never really understood the importance of it."
The officer sighed, and his partner pulled out a notebook and pen.
"Can you describe the boy?"
"Oh, no need to describe him…looked just like this."
Patty held up the picture in the newspaper—M's school picture.
"Well…a little dirtier than this, I guess. But it was him, alright."
The officer nodded, scribbling down some notes.
"Right. And when's the last time you saw him?"
"Well, I left him at the counter to eat breakfast while I gave y'all a call, about 15 minutes ago. I called ya and then came out and the plate was empty and he was gone. As far as I know, he wolfed down the food and left." She shook her head again, the fact that M. was missing again obviously weighing down on her. "I shouldn't have left him alone. I didn't think he was desperate enough to bolt, but it seems…"
"Well, if it was just 15 minutes ago he couldn't have gotten far," the first officer cut in. He stood, tilting his hat at Patty. "We may come back for a further statement later, but for now we should really search the neighborhood. See where he's gone."
"West, most likely," Patty admitted. "Ain't nothing behind this street of houses but a mountain, and he didn't seem equipped for mountain climbing."
The officer nodded again, and the two Ninjagoan Police members got up to leave. Patty walked them to the door, sighing heavily.
"That poor boy…I sure hope you find him. And I know it's not my place to be saying so, but you ought to look into his home life. I never knew anyone to run away who wasn't suffering enough at home to make it worth it…"
"Thank you, ma'am, but don't concern yourself with the details. We'll handle it."
M. stood frozen as the officers finally left, the door closing behind them. After a minute or so, he heard a car start and could only assume it was them driving away. Patty had come back into the living room, picking up the newspaper again as she stared at his picture. She seemed so sad that he almost wanted to pop out of his hiding place, just to assure her that he was fine.
"Poor, poor boy," she finally said, folding up the paper and tossing it back onto the coffee table before heading back to the kitchen. M. listened as the sink turned on; no doubt she was cleaning up after breakfast, and he felt another stir of guilt as he realized that she had known he was a runaway and had purposely brought him in to give him a place to sleep and something to eat. But she had also turned him in. Though he couldn't blame her deep down, on the surface he felt betrayed and lied to. It spurred him on as he waited behind the curtain…waiting for the police officers to get further and further away and the older woman to leave the ground floor. Then he would make a break for it.
He had been thinking of going west, actually…but now all he could think about was how nobody was likely to search a mountain.
132
Theo was sick of these same four walls. He stared at the glass, slowly dying of boredom. The vengestone cuffs had rubbed him raw at this point, so rather than adjust them he tried his hardest not to move them at all.
He heard footsteps and perked up, but nobody came to his cell and he sighed and leaned back against the wall. While he was glad to know that Ashley was somewhere in the building, it also made it harder to just sit in the cell because he kept finding himself hoping she would stop by again. And when she didn't…well. It just made the hours drag on that much longer.
His stomach clenched painfully and he grimaced. They weren't feeding him. He had a small breakfast, no lunch…and he was still waiting on dinner. Just another reason he hoped Ashley would stop by, and that she would bring food with her. It was because he wasn't talking to that crazy blonde lady. Ash had been right about that, at least; keeping silent did seem to be the best way to get under the woman's skin. But he found himself wondering exactly how long his friends' plan was going to stretch. Sanity-wise, he wasn't sure how many more hours he could spend in this tiny room, literally chained to the wall. He spent a lot of time sleeping, and when he wasn't dreaming of three course meals he was dreaming about his family. Amber especially. Ashley had said she was fine, but he needed to see her for himself…just to make sure.
He glanced down at the vengestone cuffs as his stomach growled again. He had spent a long time studying them, but he still wasn't exactly sure how the locking mechanism worked. If he had something long and thin enough, he might have been able to trip the lock. He looked around, but there wasn't a lot to use. He didn't even get to keep his food utensils.
Theodynn finally sighed and laid back down, since there was nothing else to do. He was angry, which was becoming a constant feeling at this point. He didn't generally stay angry about things, but he had been simmering the last few days and with each hour it just seemed to get worse. He closed his eyes, trying to take a calming breath. Someday, he would get out of here. And that Matilda creep wouldn't be able to touch his family again when he did.
Cole stared at the mountain in the distance while Marty continued to talk with the police officers. Or perhaps "talk" was the wrong word, considering how heated the conversation was getting.
"You mean you knew where he was and you let him escape again?!"
"Sir…we need you to calm down…."
"He's a fourteen year old boy! How far could he have possibly gotten?"
Keyda came over and took Cole's hand, and he blinked as he looked over at her.
"You ok?" she asked, and he gave her a little smile.
"Yeah, I'm good…"
"This still about your memories?"
He shook his head, looking back at the mountain.
"No. This is more…a hunch."
She followed his line of sight and raised her eyebrows.
"You think he would have gone there? It's not exactly…hospitable…"
"If he knew the police were closing in," Cole said, and then shrugged. "I dunno. In his shoes, it's where I would have gone."
"You were a contest-winning mountain climber," she reminded, looking over at the mountain. It was rocky, with not a lot of vegetation. It looked stark…and cold. "I'm not sure M has much experience with that."
Cole shrugged.
"He's already climbed out of several buildings. I'm just saying, the police tracked him to this location and have been scouring the streets pretty closely. The mountain is worth a look."
Keyda frowned, scanning the landmass in the distance. She finally sighed.
"Alright. It's just such a big area…"
"He'd want to be out of sight. We just need to find a cave, or some hidden divot in the mountainside."
Keyda went to answer, but by now Marty had come storming over.
"Imbeciles. Law enforcement is run by imbeciles. It's no wonder this realm has so many catastrophes…"
"Cole thinks M. went up the mountain," Keyda cut in bluntly, and Marty looked up at her.
"The mountain? What mountain?"
"That one," she said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes as she pointed out the large land mass in the distance. Marty turned, his confusion immediately replaced by a sneer.
"My son is no mountain climber…" he started, but Cole cut in.
"Maybe not. But the police haven't made any headway in the villages around here."
"Because they're idiots. We'll have to do it ourselves!"
"They may be looking in the wrong place," Cole corrected. He fixed Marty with a confident look, looking very different from the man who had seemed lost as he stared at a newspaper article the night before. "I say that there's a chance M went where he thought no one could follow."
"That's ridiculous," Marty hissed, narrowing his eyes at the ninja. "My son is not you. Regardless of what you have done in your past, there's no reason he would make the same mistakes…"
"You asked us to come!" Keyda snapped, and Marty's eyes flicked over at the Oni as she glared at him. "Why ask us if you weren't going to listen to our advice?"
"I don't need you to find my son!" Marty yelled, and her eyes flashed.
"It's worth the check, don't you think?" Cole asked, stepping forward to make sure he got between his wife and the irate Headmaster. Marty continued to glare, but Cole and Keyda were not cowed. After a minute, Marty IV finally glanced back over at the mountain.
"The police are already going door to door. Even if he's not up there, we can at least rest assured knowing that we checked…" the ninja continued, and Marty's fists clenched.
"I'm not going to rest assured until my son's found," he snapped quietly, but then he straightened, brushing off his suit coat as he gave the mountain a more determined look. He shook his head.
"How would we even check?" he finally demanded, and Keyda really did roll her eyes this time.
"You've got a world champion rock-climber," she reminded dryly, gesturing to Cole. "If he's up there…we'll find him."
"Ok…so the new posts are taking off, but we really need that video finished stat, May!" Mia called. Her sister huffed.
"You can't rush perfection, alright? Plus, Julien still needs to get me that footage from the arrest…"
"I am working on it!" the blonde snapped in the corner.
Amber sat in a corner, feeling both useless and frustrated. Over the past day something had changed, and she wasn't sure what it was. Everyone seemed more stressed, and she couldn't help but feel that maybe their little band of rebels was losing ground.
"What's the video about?" she tried. No one answered her and her eyes flashed. "What's the video about?"
At her second, angrier question, Mia finally looked up.
"It's basically an anti-campaign video. We going to compile all the evidence we have of Matilda being a real piece of work and release it in two days."
"Why two days?" Amber asked. "Why not just post it as soon as it's done?"
"The primary election debate for council chairs are in two days. We'll post the video that morning, and it won't give Matilda much of a chance to come up with a rebuttle before she has to debate."
Amber shifted position, her frown deepening.
"Why does that matter?"
"The debate is supposed to be her crowning victory," May explained from where she was editing footage. "In Ninjago, Political Debates are where the real fight is. By the time they're over, people know who they're voting for. By the time the actual elections come around voting is almost just for show."
Amber still seemed unsure, and Julien piped up.
"It is not enough to just try and get Theodynn free, Amber. If that had been our goal, we would be pushing the foreign diplomat angle. No…we are prepared to crush Matilda completely; take away everything she has worked for."
The Oni blinked in surprise. She could vaguely remember M. mentioning something about politics, but honestly she still wasn't sure how her family had anything to do with the Ninjago City Council. At least the rest of the ninja's kids knew what they were doing, she thought bitterly. As grateful as she was that they seemed bent on freeing Theodynn, with each passing day she was acutely aware of how useless she was to the cause. Had they let her go in blasting, she would have her brother home by now. But they had assured her there was a better way…
"Ugh!"
Everyone glanced over at where May was glaring at her screen. Her twin raised an eyebrow.
"Everything ok, May?"
She glanced up, still looking angry.
"This clip of Matilda slapping Theo is going to make the point pretty well that she's a manipulative, abusive witch. But I'm having to watch it like ten times in a row to get the timing right with the rest of the video and it just makes me so mad!"
Amber immediately flushed with anger. She had heard something about that, but she had yet to witness it. She immediately stood and headed over to see the clip, but May glanced up and minimized the program.
"Let me see!" the oni demanded, but the Walker twin just shook her head.
"No, Amber. It's just going to make you angry…"
"I'm already angry!" she shouted, and everyone was suddenly looking at her warily. They hadn't looked at her like that in a while…like she was some kind of timebomb. But right now she was too frustrated to care what all these Ninjagoans thought of her. "They have my brother and we aren't doing anything about it!"
"We are!" Mia cut in, shaking her head. "Amber, you've got to chill. We're doing everything we…"
"By sitting on computers? By watching something happen over and over and doing nothing? By making Ashley run around and feed everyone coffee in the building because somehow that makes it better? You've been saying for days that you have it under control…that he's going to be fine. But the longer she has him the more she's going to be able to do to him!"
"She cannot do anything to him, Amber," Julien assured, though he barely glanced at her as he typed furiously. "It would be against the law…"
"There are no laws with these people!" she snapped. "The kind who hurt people who didn't do anything. The kind that are willing to do whatever it takes to get what they want! I'm tired of waiting around for videos and hashbags and whatever to save Theo. I'm tired of just sitting here, useless, while he's locked up in some room…"
"It's going to be ok, Amber," May cut in, actually reaching out to touch the Oni's arm. "We are going to get him out!"
Amber just scowled, pulling away. She felt both ashamed at her outburst and incensed that no one seemed to realize that they weren't really doing anything.
"With every day he's still in there…I believe you all a little less," she finally spat, and she stormed from the room before any of them could say anything else.
"Interrogation methods? What do you mean?"
Matilda pulled her sunglasses down to give her assistant a meaningful look, and Alejandro sighed.
"Ms. O'Keefe…I would advise you not to do anything drastic with the primary debate only a few days away. There are five major candidates and only 1 open council seat…"
"I have something they do not have; evidence of actual change in the realm for the better," Matilda said airly. "Besides, if I'm going to stand a chance in that debate, I need something from the Oni. Proof that what I say is true…that Ninjago is on the brink of another catastrophe like we've had in the past, and I'm the only one who can stop it."
Alejandro studied her a moment and finally shrugged, going back to his notepad.
"I'll do some research. But if you're insinuating what I think you are…"
He hesitated and shook his head.
"Legally, your hands are going to be tied for the most part. You can drop his meals, turn up the heat during interviews…but the law prohibits anything inhumane, Matilda."
The woman leaned forward, her chin resting on her interlocking fingers.
"Even if the prisoner isn't human?" she asked quietly. Alejandro met her eye evenly, and she finally sighed. "Fine. See what you can dig up. I'll try more subtle measures to get our Oni to talk."
22