Chapter Eight: My Mother is Who Now?!

I knelt down in the hard earth, pressing my fingers against the ground. The trail that Skylor had left us was starting to go cold. "What are you doing?" Shade popped out of nowhere, his arms crossed across his chest.

I rolled my eyes as I brushed some of the dirt off of my pants. "What do you think? Emotions are tangible to me. And like with footprints and scents, they can leave a trail. Of course the older the trail, the colder it gets." I gestured to the tunnel that I was examining, hoping he would catch my drift.

Shade's eyes widened in surprise as he looked between me and the tunnel. "You saying that you can track Skylor down using her emotions?"

"Yes and no. They're fading fast and I get the feeling that certain people will prefer it if I talked to them before wandering off on my own." I wrinkled my nose, the idea to seek permission before doing anything being a foreign idea to me.

Shade tilted his head as he peered down the tunnel. "What if I come with you? At least till my shift starts up? That way you won't be alone?"

I slowly nodded, liking the sound of that. "Yeah...that sounds like a plan that Lloyd and friends will get behind."

"You know that it isn't just them, right? You're the youngest one here." I chose to ignore that comment, already standing up and following the fading trail.

….

"Ella, I've got to get back. Stay right there, and I'll send someone up to continue on with you." Shade placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping my forward motion.

I glanced back at the rapidly growing cold trail, before looking at him. "The trail is going cold. They have to be up here within... I don't think Griffin is fast enough."

"Stay put." Shade left, disappearing from view.

I stayed still for the longest time, staring after him as I wondered if anyone was aware of the fact that I was perfectly capable of tracking down Skylor by myself. Ella! Come on! The trail is getting cold! At this rate, we'll never find her!

On it Star! I shook my head, before continuing forward, determined to find the missing elemental master.

….

I didn't just yelp!

Sure...whatever helps you sleep at night. I scowled at Star as I reached up and attempted to push the hand covering my mouth off. I didn't need her to cover my mouth. I can sense the anger rolling off of the cultists over her escape! "Skylor… you can let go now..." I ignored how muffled my voice was, sure that she was using Neuro's power to read my mind to know what it is that I am trying to say to her.

I felt Skylor shake her head as she moved deeper into the thick undergrowth. After several minutes passed with her hand clamped firmly over my mouth as she held me hostage, she finally released me and stepped to the side so that I could actually see her. "Sorry about that Ella. But Father only needs us two to complete the spell." Ah. That made sense. She didn't have my elemental power...yet. "I don't want your elemental power. Not with how dangerous it is."

I shot her a look. "Can you please stay out of my head?"

"I didn't read your mind. You were speaking out loud." Skylor moved to peer out of our hiding spot. "I believe the coast is clear. Let's go. I already contacted Neuro for help. Hopefully he will alert Kai...and the others." She hurriedly tried to hide the fact that she had a mega crush on the red ninja.

"You do know that as the master of emotions, that I can see that you have feelings with Kai and I can confirm that he feels the same way." I drily pointed out to her, before inching my way out of our hiding spot. "Let's get moving. It'll be harder for the cultists to find us if we keep on the move."

"Wouldn't that make it harder for Kai and the others to find us?" Skylor questioned my sanity.

I paused, licking my finger before sticking it in the air. "Hmm, wind is blowing nicely. And by the direction that it is blowing towards us...as in away from the others."

"So?"

"So... that means that it is blowing Kai's fear for your safety right to me. We can follow it to him." I shrugged, not seeing it as a big deal.

"Kai's worried about me? That is so sweet!" Skylor squealed, clapping her hands together with excitement.

I rolled my eyes as I led the way to him. "Really? Cause if I were in your shoes I would be extremely annoyed."

Skylor shot me a look. "Ella, one day when your older, you'll understand how much you need a guy in your life."

"Yeah...no. Not gonna happen." You sure about that? Having a nice strong guy on our side would be helpful...

Star!

I quickly glanced at Skylor to see if she had noticed that little conversation. She was concentrating on covering our tracks up using a variety of powers that she had absorbed. Good... I don't want to know what anyone will say if they ever find out about Star.

….

"Ella? Are you ok there?" Kai placed a hand on my shoulder, concern flooding off of him as his eyes glistened with it.

I shook my head, trying to dispense of the buzzing in the back of my head. "I don't feel too good..." Everything went dark as I fainted, vaguely aware of Skylor and Kai lunging forward to catch me.

…..

Groaning, I decided that waking up with a mega headache wasn't any fun at all. You telling me. What even happened? Star interjected, her voice groggy.

I have no idea. Looks like we're chained to some rock though. I scanned my surroundings, spotting Kai chained to another rock nearby, and a snake that I sensed was Skylor was chained to the same rock as me. "What did I miss?"

Chen grinned wickedly as he lifted up his hand...his scaly purple hand. "I have your powers. I am the Anacondrai now!"

Nope. Not happening. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. Star? Do you feel any different...besides our fainting spell?

Hmm, not really. I still don't see how we fainted. It was so weird!

I glanced around, already straining to break out of my bonds. "Come on! You can't possibly want to keep me here!" Pausing, I rethought that statement. "Actually, this cave is very beautiful. I wouldn't mind sleeping here for the night."

"Since when does the daughter of Annaliese Gemma Hawthorn sleep in caves?" Chen gave me a weird look, clearly puzzled by my fascination with the cave.

I felt all color drain from my face as I stared at him. Suddenly the fancy room he gave me made total sense... my mother was the murdered actress that still hadn't received any justice for what happened to her! But then, how did I end up on the streets? Chen shook his head, before ordering his men to leave; just as Kai broke free and attacked him. Skylor eventually broke out of her chains and helped Kai, saving him from her father. I glared at them until they remembered to come help me out.

…...

"This is just perfect. You all know that you're flying in the wrong direction, right?" I sniggered as I lifted a hand up, pointing to the distant collection of emotions on the horizon.

Zane blinked as he glanced back at me. I was riding with him for this trip, since I still can't summon a dragon. Skylor reckons that it's because I didn't know anything about my parentage, and was quite content on not knowing. And then Chen dropped that bombshell on me. "Are you sure that Ninjago is that way?"

"The fact that we're flying further away from any sources of emotions and not towards it means we're headed the wrong way." I drily pointed out.

"Everyone! Turn around! We're headed the wrong way!"

"Seriously!?"