Ninja's Creed: Awakening

Chapter Twelve-and-a-Half: Jay Spills Some Tea

  Two hours, twenty minutes, three conversations, eight hundred ninety-two miles, and one hiding of the Destiny's Bounty later, the Assassins and Lloyd (sans Wu, of course) were unpacking their belongings in their London safe(pent)house and wondering what to do until they knew who and where Garmadon's contact was.

  "Well, what do people do in London on days like this?" Cole asked no one in particular, staring at the light rain outside the one-way windows. "We can't just sit here doing nothing, can we?"

  "We could try going to a tea house and browsing some stores around here until we get a hit on the associate", Jay suggested, walking into the open-concept kitchen/living area in which the Assassins were gathered (wearing a blue-hoodie/jean combo, no less). Like the safehouse in Rome, everything was modern and updated, with (to Lloyd's surprise, which subsequently gave way to confusion) a fully stocked fridge and bar and a dojo on the upstairs level, which could be accessed by a spiral staircase (which, strangely enough, led to the open-concept living room). Lloyd practically sprinted to the alcohol cabinet, retrieved a bottle of coconut Malibu, and poured it into a nearby cup with some pineapple juice for an easy piña colada. He needed something to calm his overactive nervous system, even if it was slightly illegal. "I'm down for that. Anyone else coming with?"

"Nah", Kai replied, stretching. "I need to clean Akiro and try to relax before risking my life again."

  "Why do you think I'm going to a tea house in a foreign country that I never even thought of sneaking into undocumented until two hours ago?" Lloyd asked, downing his drink and rolling his eyes. "Cole? Zane?"

  "Ditto on Kai's answer", Cole said, eating (what else?) a slice of what looked to be an Andes mint cake. God, I'd kill even more people than I already have for some of that, Lloyd thought. But based on the way the last cake he'd seen was clearly marked Cole's property, he wasn't sure if the shaggy-haired boy was the type to share his goods.

"I'm fine, thank you", Zane replied, giving a small smile and taking the seat right next to Cole.

  "Suit yourselves", Jay said, uncharacteristically cheerfully. "Lloyd and I are going to experience the culture of our sister country, and we're gonna have fun doing it!"

  The moment the words "sister country" left his mouth, everyone stopped what they were doing and started trying to think of a way to inform him of his error, while utterances of "Well..." filled the uncomfortable silence.

  "Buddy", Lloyd began, clearing his throat, "I appreciate the enthusiasm—like, seriously, this is the most I've seen from you in the day-and-a-half-and-counting that I've known you—but..."

  Then, for some reason, Lloyd thought of the possible repercussions that a correction could've had on Jay's self-esteem. He would likely feel embarrassment first, followed by the feeling that he shouldn't have said anything, which would lead to an overall dampened mood and some hurt feelings, both of which Lloyd didn't need right then.

  "What is it, Lloyd?" Jay asked. He was still smiling, but his face had fallen slightly at Lloyd's earlier statement. Poor guy, Lloyd thought. He thinks I'm gonna say something that'll ruin everything.

  So Lloyd gave Jay an equally bright smile and said, "...but you might wanna save some of that energy for our trip! Let's get classy, shall we?"

  Jay rocked on his feet, his eyes wide with excitement. "We shall!" he squealed, grabbing a nearby umbrella (one with the British flag on it, natch) and Lloyd's wrist and dragging them both out the door. As Lloyd stumbled out of the door behind his companion, he had just enough time to look back into the kitchen to see the other Assassins smiling at their friend's happiness. And right before everyone was completely out of sight, Lloyd saw Kai flash him the second-best smile he'd ever seen, give him a thumbs-up, and mouth, "Good job, buddy!"