Hey guys! Chapters have been a teeny bit shorter, as I've been half struggling to write, and half running around doing things. This week I actually traveled to New Jersey to see a play!

Anyway, I'll try to write chapters with a bit more meat on them from now on, as the story begins to wrap up. Enjoy, and thank you for reading!

Chapter 19-Ghost in a Storm

When Jay finally reached the ship, everyone was already waiting He hopped on, the sounds of the mob of villagers nothing more than a background hum. Jay felt numb, the poison and teapot hanging in a limp manner from his hands.

The atmosphere in the ship mirrored Jay's mood. He looked around, frowning at the obvious absence. "Where's. . . Where's Nya?"

Kai's fists clenched, and he didn't look up. "You took long enough. We could have gotten caught here. And we are kind of in a hurry. Where's Nya you say? Well the Djinn took her, while you were off wasting time in the island."

"Wasting time?" The sudden anger in Jay's eyes mirrored Kai's own. He tossed the Teapot and poison violently against the deck, causing them to bounce with a loud bang!. Lloyd jolted at the sound, looking up at his blue-eyed friend. "Getting that was wasting time? Dealing with Soto was wasting time? I don't know if you've noticed, but Cole's gone too. Not that you would care. And at least I got what I was supposed to. Where's Wu?"

Kai finally looked at Jay, realizing that he was, in fact, alone. "Wu's. . . Gone. The Djinn. . . well you know. That whole 'taking your soul' thing. Where's Cole?"

"Oh," Jay cleared his throat. "I'm. . . Sorry about Wu. And Cole well. . . We had a run in with Soto. And, long story short. . . Cole didn't make it."

"I'm sorry," Kai shook his head, standing up. "I didn't know. And I'm. . . pretty stressed about Nya. Sorry I snapped at you."

"Same to you." Jay gave a small smile, letting Kai know there were no hard feelings. "We'll. . . We'll fix it, won't we?"

"I sure hope so," Kai sighed before turning to look at Zane. "So, Can you get us back to Ninjago?"

Zane nodded. "I believe so."

"Then let's get going."

With Zane's guidance, the small group managed to set sail. The winds were strong, the cold breeze warning to a storm brewing ahead. Kai watched the distant clouds, hoping that they would reach Ninjago before the storm was unleashed.

Once the ship was sailing steadily, and Zane stopped directing Jay and Kai around the ship, they each went their separate ways, each consumed by their own conflicts. Jay traveled down to the rooms, wishing for nothing more than to be alone, in order to gather his thoughts after everything that had occurred in such a short span of time.

Kai knew he needed to be alone too, knew that he needed to breathe and think clearly, at least for a moment. But there was another pressing matter. Lloyd's well being worried him more than his own, so Kai set off in search of the young child.

He found Lloyd by the front of the ship, leaning forward in order to get a good luck at the ocean. Kai stepped up beside him, waiting for a minute before speaking up. "So how are you feeling?"

Lloyd jolted a little, as Kai pulled him out of his own thoughts, and into reality. Lloyd's blonde hair whipped wildly around him due to the wind, and he had to force it back in order to look at Kai. "Oh. . . I'm okay."

"You're sure?" Kai pressed, and Lloyd simply nodded, before turning back to the ocean. "Well. . . I'm glad to hear that then. Someone around here has to be okay."

"What do you mean?" Lloyd asked, taking the bait to continue the conversation.

"Well. . . I know Zane relied on Wu's judgment a lot. I can see he's definitely shaken up by all this. Jay? I . . . don't know how he's doing, to be fair. He's probably feeling awful about Cole, and worried about Nya. And let me say I am definitely not okay."

"You're not?"

"You better not tell the others but. . . No, most definitely not. I know Nya can take care of herself but. . . this is crazy, you know? If the Djinn was able to take down Wu. . . Well I'm kind of worried. So I'm glad you're doing okay. We'll need someone to keep us focused, after all."

Lloyd nodded again, but this time in a slow, thoughtful manner. A sense of pride spread warmth over his chest, coating over the worries and fears, at least for now. Lloyd turned away from the ocean, looking up at Kai, his green eyes as bright as ever. "We're going to fix this. You'll see!"

Kai smiled. "I believe you."

Cole watched as the storm brewed on the horizon. They weren't going to make it.

"C'mon Zane. You've been on the sea before, yes? You know there is no way we'll hit Ninjago before that storm hits us." Cole said, but Zane couldn't hear him. Cole sighed, wishing he could figure out a way to get a message to the others, but as a ghost, he had no effect on the world around him.

It was. . . far beyond frustrating. He watched as Kai headed off to speak to Lloyd, while Jay headed down, his head hung low, his usual, easy smile having completely vanished.

"I know you're feeling bad about Wu, Zane but. . . you need to focus." Cole reached his hand out, trying to grab onto the ship's wheel. Like dozens of attempts before, his transparent limp simply went through. With a defeated sigh, Cole moved back. "Well. . . Let's hope we get lucky then."

He headed down, following Jay's footsteps. Cole really needed to get through to someone. There had to be a way. One ran into plenty of ghost stories traveling throughout the sea, and they had to start from somewhere didn't they?

So Cole tried. Over, and over again.

But despite his frantic voice, Jay couldn't hear. No matter how loud Cole was, or how focused he tried to be, there was an impenetrable wall in between him and his friend. He didn't know how long he spent trying, pulled out of his focus only when the ship lurched in a violent manner. The shift on the floorboards beneath him didn't affect him, but he watched as Jay was forcefully thrown from the bed.

"What in the world?" Jay stood slowly, rubbing his head. The ship shuddered again, and Jay stumbled backward.

"The storm," Cole said, quickly heading back out. The wind was blowing with more strength than ever, the sails quickly being torn apart. He looked over at Kai and Lloyd, watching as the young man tried to shelter the child. Cole then looked towards Zane, who was struggling greatly with the wheel, trying in vain to regain control of the ship.

Cole strode over, unaffected by the wind. He could see the island of Ninjago, not too far off from where they stood. If they stayed on course, at the very least the ship would wreck against the island, instead of sinking into the ocean. But with every second, the ship was blown further and further from its path, with Zane unable to do much on his own.

He had to do something. But what? He couldn't force his body to become solid. He couldn't touch or move things. He was shut out.

Unless. . .

It was a brief idea. A brief, crazy idea. But it was an idea nonetheless. Bits of rain began to pour, causing a strange sensation against his ghostly figure. Ignoring the feeling, he pushed forward, until finally stumbling into Jay as he struggled to emerge onto the deck.

"If this works. . . Sorry, Jay."

Cole closed his eyes, then stepped into Jay's clumsy body. An overpowering feeling of control was almost instant. Jay's mind was scrambled with worry and confusion, which molded perfectly against Cole's determined sense of purpose. In less than a blink of an eye, the ghost was in complete control of his friend.

Cole straightened up, heading towards Zane with a confident stride. Zane looked up briefly, then returned to struggling against the ship's wheel. Using Jay's arms, Cole grabbed hold of the wheel as well. "We need to steer towards Ninjago as much as we can. Better to shipwreck on the island than to sink."

Zane looked at Jay, then nodded slowly. "Together?"

"Together."

With the two of them fighting against the wind, the ship began to tilt, moving them back towards Ninjago. Zane gave a small smile. "We will make it!"

"Yes," Cole nodded, feeling rather odd at hearing Jay's voice emerging from his mouth. "We-"

He never finished. The winds finally succeeded in tearing down the main mast, blowing it backward and causing it to crash down upon the ship's wheel. Thinking quickly, Cole pushed Zane of out the way. When the mast hit the deck, both of them lost their balance, crumpling against the ground.

The ship was out of control now, and there was nothing to do except hold on, something that was becoming increasingly hard to do, as his mind had begun to disconnect from Jay's. He struggled to remain in control, feeling guilty at pushing his friend's consciousness away, but fearful of what might happen if he left Jay on his own.

"We're going to hit the island!" Kai shouted from the front of the ship, capturing Cole's attention. The man turned, watching as the island grew closer rapidly.

"Hold on to something!" Cole shouted.

As everyone fumbled to grab ahold of something stable enough to stay in place, the winds and rain continued to rage around them. Cole spotted tall, jagged rocks emerging from the ocean waters. The ship crashed head on against one, sending Jay's body flying over the side of the ship.

Jay's head was slammed hard against one of the rocks, the sudden flash of pain almost causing Cole to lose hold of his friend's body. The ocean flung him around, making it impossible to tell which way was up. Cole struggled to focus, and swim, but Jay's body needed oxygen desperately, and every bit of movement sent him closer and closer to losing consciousness.

Darkness began to pool around the edges of his eyes, and before Cole could do anything else, it enveloped him completely.

One second, Jay was struggling to emerge onto the deck. And the next, he was sitting up on a warm beach, surrounded by bits and pieces of the ship.

He looked around himself, trying to remember whatever had happened, but there was nothing in his mind that would aid him. There was simply a blank space in his memory, and this fact sent chills down his spine.

"Jay!"

He heard the voice and turned, half expecting to see Cole running towards him, with an explanation ready at hand. But despite the weird emptiness that seemed to take over his most recent memories, what had happened at the island was all too fresh. The realization of at all hit him anew, just as his eyes fell upon Kai's features.

"Kai," Jay said, his voice rough. He became aware of a stubborn pounding in his head. With gentle movements, Jay pushed himself onto his feet. "What . . . What happened?"

"We crashed into the island." Kai responded. "Good thing we're all okay. Lloyd and Zane are back the other way. I told them to stay together while I tried to find you."

"Island? We made it to Ninjago then?" Jay responded, looking around himself. "But where's the port? The town?"

"We must have landed on the opposite side of the island. Good thing too. Don't think that Djinn would treat us too kindly if we just crashed into the middle of the town." Kai began to walk back the way he had come, and Jay followed. "Zane said if it hadn't been for you helping him steer the ship, we would have been lost. So thanks for that. You really aren't as bad as I made you out to be."

"I did?"

"Yeah," Kai smiled, patting Jay's back. "You did."

Jay remained quiet, still struggling to remember anything. They reached Zane and Lloyd in the beach, both looking slightly disheveled, but otherwise unharmed. Lloyd smiled brightly at Jay, running through the sand to give the man a tight hug.

"You're okay!"

"Y-yeah." Jay responded, giving Lloyd a hug in return. He felt uncomfortable, with having absolutely no memory of anything, while the others seemed to remember the storm with perfect clarity. He rubbed the back of his head, wondering if the ache emanating from it was the cause of his lapse in memory. "Well. . . Um. . . So we're back in Ninjago then. What's. . . the plan?"

"Well. . . both fortunately and unfortunately we landed in the far side of the island." Zane said. "It'll be quite a walk from here to the town. I know speed is imperative, as the Djinn has Nya in his grasp, but I do not think we will make it very far without proper rest."

Kai held back his protests, opting for a small nod instead. "So. . . what, do you want us to take a nap on the beach? There's nothing but jungle for miles."

"Not true," Lloyd smiled, turning Kai around. He lifted his small hand, pointing towards a large shape in the distance. "There's a lighthouse!"