I hadn't thought a smell existed that was so good it would make me drool. Then again, I also hadn't thought that ordinary humans would be okay having me around. And here I was, with Wu and Misako, and they were fine with me there, and I was more than fine with the smell coming from the oven.

Homemade cookies. Literal, actual cookies made at home. It was like something from out of a cartoon, but it was real.

I took another deep sniff, and yeah, I was definitely drooling a little. Mmmm. "How much longer do they need to be in the oven?"

Misako glanced at the clock. "Probably only a minute or two more."

"A minute or two more?" I repeated. "That sounds like an eternity."

"But does it smell like one?" Wu asked teasingly.

I sniffed again, reveling in the scent of dough and chocolate. "It smells like I'm dead and in heaven, or whatever realm you end up in after you die that smells just like this."

Wu laughed. "It's good, right?"

"Beyond good," I said. "Has it been a minute yet?"

"Patience, Lloyd," Misako said gently.

I groaned. "Patience is the worst. Patience deserves to be banished. I mean, cookies shouldn't take this long! They smell too good!"

"Taking this long is what's going to make them taste good, though," Misako pointed out. "If we took them out early, they would smell fine, but taste raw or doughy."

"I guess," I said. "Has it been a minute now?"

"I'll check them," Misako said. She opened the oven and poked one of the cookies with a butter knife, then pulled the knife back and looked at it. "It came out clean. They're ready."

"Finally!" I cheered as she pulled the baking sheet out of the oven and set it on a pair of potholders. I hurried over to stare at the cookies, reaching out a hand.

"Don't grab them yet," Misako cautioned. "They need about five minutes to cool."

"Five minutes? I can't wait five minutes," I moaned.

Misako laughed. "You've waited this long. Give it a little longer."

I gave an exaggerated pout. "Fine."

"I'll grab the milk and cups." Misako turned away, walking toward the fridge.

Wu and I exchanged a glance.

I raised my eyebrows.

Wu smiled.

As one, we grabbed for the cookies and stuffed one into each of our mouths.

"Hot!" I yelped through a mouthful of burning-hot cookie. "Hot, hot!"

"Ow!" Wu said at the same time, covering his mouth with one hand.

Misako whirled around. "What? Oh. Boys, I said they needed to cool for a reason."

"I see the reason," I said, gulping down the bite of cookie and the pain along with it. "Ow."

"I always think it won't be so hot, and then it always is," Wu said solemnly.

Misako shook her head and brought over cups and a gallon of milk. "Here. Drink a little bit."

I took a cup and swigged several mouthfuls of milk, sighing as the heat from the cookie dwindled.

"Better?" Misako asked.

"Better," I agreed.

She laughed a little, shaking her head again. "There's no rush, the cookies will still be there in five minutes when they've cooled."

"But I might not be," I said. "Especially if I die from not getting cookies in time. What's the point of waiting?"

"Never put off until tomorrow what can be today," Wu agreed, and he took a big bite of another cookie, then gasped, "Ow!"

"The point of waiting is not having to say 'ow' with every bite," Misako pointed out.

I didn't pay her much attention. Wu's words had made me remember what I was doing. I wasn't here to bake cookies and be patient. I was here to heal, and then I needed to be on my way.

I flexed my wings consideringly under my hoodie. Only a few twinges of pain shot through them. I was almost ready to go. That sent a different kind of twinge through me, a sad kind. I was going to miss these two.

"-Going on, Lloyd?" Wu was asking when I tuned back into the conversation.

"What?" I asked.

"What's going on? You looked really upset all of a sudden. Is waiting for the cookies that hard?" Wu asked.

I shook my head. "No. It's just that, you know, I'm getting better. My wings are almost healed. And that means it's almost time to go."

"To go?" Wu echoed. "You're leaving already?"

"I mean, not at this moment," I said. "But yeah. Soon."

"When will you come back?" Wu asked.

Misako looked away. I think she already knew the answer, and from the way Wu was frowning, I think he knew it too.

I said it anyway. "I probably won't be able to. I'd like to, I really would, but I probably won't be able to. I'm sorry."

The look on Wu's face hurt my heart, as in actually sent a pain through my chest, sharper than the winges from my wings and hotter than the cookies.

"I'm sorry," I said again, hating the situation I was in and knowing I had only myself to blame. Garmadon had told us when we were young that connecting with humans would only end up in pain. I was pretty sure he'd meant pain of the "get locked up and experimented kind," not the "feel bad for leaving behind two people I'd only just met," but it was pain no matter which way you looked at it. Garmadon had been right. He had always been right, and I missed him in that moment as much as I missed Zane.

And Zane, he was counting on me. So no matter how much I wanted to stay here, I had to move on.