I sat in a booth across from Daniel, staring down at his papers while sampling another bowl of 'the best noodles in Ninjago'. They certainly were the best I had ever tried, even if they weren't super fresh.

"So, would the integral just be e to the negative x because it doesn't change?"

"Well," I leaned over to get a better look at the problem. "You have to move the negative sign down to the e too. It's reverse power rule."

He sighed. "Right, right. How do you remember all this stuff? It's so complicated!"

I smiled knowingly and shrugged. "I guess I've just got a mind like a steel trap."

"Don't help me on this next one, okay? I think I've got it this time."

I watched his paper as he began the next problem, my mind beginning to wander.

"So, are you joining the deck crew for musical this year?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. It seems really stressful. Moving stuff around on stage, keeping track of a ton of props. Plus, I'm already on build crew, and-"

"Yeah, but build is done like 2 or 3 weeks before show! They don't get to be backstage." I argued. I auditioned for the musical every year. I'm a good dancer, decent singer, and not much of an actor. Perfect for ensemble roles.

"No," he laughed. "We get to watch the show which, in my opinion, is much more fun."

"I could really use a friend to eat dinner with during show week."

"I don't… really belong on stage." He shook his head. "Plus, then I'd miss out on watching you. You're always great up there. Like you're made for it."

I smiled. Made for it huh? "Well, I think you'd have fun."

He paused, putting down his pencil to look up at me. "…I'll think about it." He smirked.

I lowered my eyes nonchalantly, bringing another fork full of noodles to my mouth. "And you'd probably be a lot better at it than calculus."

"Screw you," He rolled his eyes as I chuckled, his mom walking in as we laughed.

"How are you kids doing out here?" Skylor leaned on the edge of our table, clearing some wisps of hair from her face. "Made any progress with him yet?" she asked me.

"I think he'll be fine," I assured her.

"Was dad going to be home tonight?" Daniel asked, still looking at his problem.

"Late. I want you asleep when he gets back." She insisted.

"Cool," Daniel sighed.

"What… is it that Mr. Smith does again?" I glanced a Skylor.

"Well, he's a night guard. He's out at night a lot, sometimes he gets called to cover a day shift, and his hours are all over the place," she winked at me.

"Right. That makes sense," I nodded.

"Do I… need to take you home?" Skylor asked.

I glanced down at my phone. There were no new messages from either of my parents, or anyone on the team for that matter. Only the usual 30 messages from Jenna telling me how chaotic it was on the Bounty without all the parents, and how much she missed me, and a couple of cute koala pictures that I 'needed to see' despite my database being sure she had already sent me at least 2 of them before. Jenna was the master of lightning in training, and it showed… painfully sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love her like all of the cousins, but there's a reason I've turned off notifications for any group chat she's in.

"Yeah, I guess so." I sighed, starting to pick up my things. "Do you need any help cleaning up before I leave?"

"I can take care of that," She waved it off.

"I can drive Sierra home if you want," Daniel offered.

"You're finishing your review." His mom tapped his paper, still 10 questions from being completed.

"You're so right mother. Leaving for a fifteen minute break would hinder my progress exponentially!" Daniel straightened up, looking overly lovingly into his mother's eyes.

"And this is why you're my favorite child," She ruffled his hair mockingly in return.

"Gee thanks." Daniel rolled his eyes, returning to his paper.

"You ready to go sweetie?"

I picked up my things from the booth and stood. "I think so."

"You want me to carry one of those?" Skylor asked, looking at my assortment of different bags.

"No, I've got it," I assured her. I glanced back at Daniel to say goodbye. "See you tomorrow!" I stopped short, leaning over him momentarily. "And that's going to be over 2."

He let out a giddy moan before starting to erase the problem. "You're right! You're so right! See you then!"

—

The car was rather silent on the ride up. Ninjago City at night was filled with too many bright lights to think straight. The ride to the dock wasn't long. Infact, the ride anywhere in the city wasn't long. It seemed as if everything was about 10 minutes away. The school, the library, the nearest grocery store. And yet 10 minutes was still somehow too long to fill for us.

"So, how's your mom? I haven't talked to her much recently. I heard from Kai that she's thinking of taking you to the cave sometime soon?"

"Yeah," I smiled. "For my eighteenth she's going to take me down there with Nya and Jenna and we'll have a girls' weekend."

"Sounds fun." Skylor sighed. "Not much has changed with us. I've been teaching Daniel to cook, and Kai's been teaching him metal work, and he's been wood carving in his own time. Not to mention trying to keep up with classes. That kid does so much."

"…yeah," I sighed. But there's a lot more he could be doing.

The car stopped, the Bounty sitting just behind the windshield now.

"I'll come in with you. They should be back soon, right?"

"Yeah, hopefully."

I swung the car door open, pushing myself to my feet, and grabbing my bags out of the back. Skylor locked the car as we headed down the long dock towards the ship. I pulled out my phone and texted Jenna about our arrival. Only a moment later, her silhouette appeared in the glowing light of the entrance.

"Skylor! It's so good to see you!" Her bare feet hurried her across the dock to hug us.

"Always good to see you, Jenna."

"So how was the show?" She took a bag from my hands as we continued towards the ship again. "I'm sure you did great! You always do. It's been chaos back here though! You know how the littles get when their parents leave. But I think we've got it under control. I got all my brothers in their rooms, and Carter took care of his sister and… the twins." We squeezed through the doorway, dropping my things on the floor as we entered. "And then passed out on the couch." She pointed to him, lying noiselessly in the corner under a blanket. "So, keep your voices down if you can."

"He's a heavy sleeper," a voice came from over in the kitchen. I turned around to see Cryptor sitting at the empty dining table with a plate of food.

"Hey Uncle Cryptor!" I waved and moved over to sit with him. "Are those… hash browns?" I asked, sitting down.

"I was craving hash browns," he shrugged.

"Fair enough."

"Nice to see you again, Cryptor." Skylor walked over, leaning on the back of a chair.

"What's fire girl doing here?" Cryptor glanced at me.

"I was at Daniel's for a study session. Mrs. Smith drove me home." My tone urged him not to make a big deal of it, but those were slim chances to begin with.

"Right, you're still lying to your child, I forgot about that." He stood up, picking up his plate and moving into the kitchen.

Skylor sighed, following him. "We've been through this. Daniel isn't like the rest of you, he has the potential to be the most powerful being in Ninjago-"

"Oh yeah!" Cryptor crashed his plate into the sink. "And no one here would know anything about what it's like to hold the fate of Ninjago at their fingertips."

"You don't know know what it's like!"

"Oh don't I?"

"I have to live with it every day! It's unbearable! That amount of power is too strong to control!"

"Or maybe you just aren't strong enough to control it."

Skylor stopped, her silence hanging everywhere in the room.

"Does that scare you? That your son might be better than you? Is that why you lie to him? Let him live in his little fantasy realm? Just to hold him back his whole life?"

"Shut the hell up."

"Guys," Jenna interrupted, looking out the window. "Their back, and it doesn't look good."

I jumped up, opening the door for the incoming team, several tired bodies flooding through the door. But there were some noticeably missing.

"Jay, where's my sister?" Cryptor asked.

Jay glanced back outside, looking for someone. "It's not her I'd be worried about."