Chapter 9: Ethereal

Jay practically had to drag Suzanne back inside. She was in a daze and refused to move very much, and would constantly mumble Skylor's name or, "I can't believe she did that." He groaned, and nearly tripped over Suzanne's limp feet.

"Oop! Sorry, Jay!" she said. "Wait, when did I get in the kitchen? Am I dreaming again? Was Skylor not here at all?"

"Not dreaming, and could you please stand up?" Jay muttered, and Suzanne jumped away. "You alright, though? I get that seeing your sister is a shock, but..."

"No, I get it. You guys weren't there, so its hard to imagine what this is like. I just... can't believe that she would run from me like that." Jay put a hand on the back of his neck, thinking. He couldn't think of any situation where he could even come close to Suzanne.

"You're right, I guess I don't," he replied. Suzanne shrugged, and smiled. He didn't get it. Was she Bipolar or something? Either that, or she could find the best in every situation.

"What about you?" she asked. "I've been meaning to ask you for a while."

"Wh- Me?" Jay stuttered. "I'm fine!" Suzanne lost her smile, and squinted, putting her hands on her hips.

"There it is again!" Suzanne pointed. "Oh no! You're allergic to me aren't you!" She stepped back quickly, and Jay laughed. He grabbed Suzanne's shoulder.

"Okay, that's not possible, what the heck made you think that I was allergic to you?!" Suzanne looked more than relieved, and she smiled weakly. Smiles, thank goodness. There were just some things that set her off laughing, and some that made her cry. Lord, she was ethereal either way.

"I thought that you were allergic to me because, whenever I'm in your line of sight, you turn red. So, I've just been wondering, you know? Maybe there is something in the air here," she concluded, smiling at herself. "Ha. I guess it was stupid to think that way, right?" Jay couldn't respond. She'd called him out.

"W-well, I haven't felt relatively sick since we came here," he finally mumbled. "But... I guess I haven't been totally honest about every-"

Moi purred beside them loudly. Thank the lord for that cat. She had wide eyes and anticipation on her face. Moi wasn't the smartest creature around, but she seemed to know when Jay was nervous or thinking about Suzanne.

"Hoiya!" she mewed, twirling her tufted tail. "Don' maeend mee!" Jay glared at the cat, sighing.

"Nevermind," he said before turning around. "But- just know that if you need anything, I'll be right here like I always am." He saw Suzanne freeze, and it looked like recognition flooded her mind. Before he could comment, she nodded briskly, petted Moi, and left for her room.

"Awww," Moi pouted. "Yoo wuh about to tell huh!"

"Moi, please don't," Jay muttered, and Moi's face went serious.

"Sahwee, Mistuh Jaee. I did not meen to intuwupt yoo." Jay lost his icy stare, and gave the cat a scratch behind the ears. Moi looked like she really did regret what she'd done, a look Jay never thought he'd see in a cat of all things.

"I'll tell her one day," he promised, and Moi jumped on his shoulder, apologetically nuzzling him. "It's alright, Moi." The little creature lazily stretched her paws, yawning and mewling. Jay looked to the knife that was still sitting on the counter. It just hit him.

Skylor had tried to kill Zane. They should be looking for her, not standing around. He strode quickly towards the blade, and nearly jumped back. There was something on the hilt of it, which was made of some sort of elaborate metal with carvings of serpents on the side. There was a patch of purple that stood out, and wondered how corruption had gotten on Skylor's weapon.

Moi hissed in his ear, and leaped to the tabletop. She curled her tail, and flicked it, motioning for Jay to back away.

"Let mee get duh naeef," she growled, tentatively padding up to the metallic blade. "I wil taek dis too Mistuh Za-ine." Jay nodded briskly, and checked his arms for corruption. Just in case. He began to walk back to his room, realizing that it was still barely morning.

Within around twenty minutes, a murder was foiled, a sister was found, the sister ran away, and a poison was there in her wake. It was too early for this. Every day since he became a ninja, it had been a constant barrage of crazy, random and overall spontaneous.

"Hey, what's up?" he heard a voice in front of him. Suzanne was standing in his room. Or rather, he'd somehow wandered into her room. He should at least check to make sure Suzanne didn't have corruption on her.

"We found a bunch of corruption on Skylor's knife. I wanted to make sure you didn't get any of it," he finally said after a moment's pause. "Check mostly your arms. That's where it would most likely be." Suzanne nodded, and gave him a hug, but quickly backed away.

"Oh, probably shouldn't do that until I check," she said, pulling up her sleeves. Jay's eyes told him there wasn't anything there. But there was. It wasn't corruption. On her left shoulder down to her inner elbow, an intricate pattern of black trailed around her arm, with a red spot on the outer side of her upper arm. The black lines looked like curled snakes that twirled around.

"I know, I know," Suzanne commented. "I've had these since birth. I guess it's just Anacondrai blood." She shrugged, and at this point, Jay was just happy there wasn't any violet anywhere.

"Looks good to me!" the Master of Wind beamed, giving him another hug. "Much better!" Suzanne always did seem to wear crazy sweaters or long, billowing sleeves to circulate air. Was she ashamed of these marks?

"D-do they hurt, at all?" he asked, pulling back to get a look at her.

"No, no, they're just birthmarks!" she replied, but she had a nervous look on her face. "Maybe we should go check Za-"

"Suzanne, how did you really get these?" She hesitated, and Jay thought for a moment that this was an extremely private matter, but then she exhaled in one slow breath, and spoke.

"Okay, I got these during my father's experiments. They don't do anything, I swear. It was just the only negative side effect. If the experiments hurt me, then I wouldn't be immune to poison, would I?"

"How come Skylor didn't have these done to her?" Again, Suzanne hesitated, and looked down.

"My mother's dying wish was that nothing harmful would ever happen to Skylor by my father's hand. She smiled, but she was worried for Daddy's sanity. He worked furiously to find a cure for her sickness, but it was a magical ailment, so basic Ninjagan methods couldn't save her," she concluded. "When I was born, he decided that he didn't want me to die in the same way, or any way for that matter, because I was the last thing that he and my mother saw together. He started subjecting me to tests, and with a little pain, I got immunity, as well as a few... extra abilities." She pulled down her right sleeve first, and pointed to the red circle on her other arm.

"This will glow if I come into contact with Serpentine poison, but I haven't tried it on corruption, so maybe if it touches me, it won't affect me?" Jay nodded, considering the possibility, but also out of having nothing to say.

"Pain?" he asked. His eyes couldn't leave her arm.

"Just what happens when you have Serpentine blood in your system," Suzanne assured him, getting on her toes to hug him around the shoulders. She was, by far, the shortest of all the people he knew. Even his mother was taller than her. He hugged her back.

"I've seen and felt what that poison does to you," he explained. "Heck, I almost became one of them."

"So you got bit, huh?" Suzanne smiled, back on her full feet. "After a long time, I could control whether or not I become one for a little while. I'm a little bit out of practice, though. I could try!" She took three large steps back, and Jay could feel where her hands had been on his own arms.

Her hands began to illuminate, and she traced an intricate circle of snaking patterns in the dark, and the yellow changed to red as she opened her eyes, their aqua color becoming the same cardinal tinge.

His breath caught in his throat as she saw her pale and freckled skin was swapped with purple scales in vertically symmetrical patches in random places. Her pupils swapped with that of a snakes, and the glowing ceased. She was definitely Suzanne, the wild hair didn't lie, but she was different. Still adorable, but different. Uncharacteristically shy, but now she was...

Powerful, amazing, beautiful. And he was hopelessly in love with it all.