On a String

Chapter 5

Can't find the road to lead us out of this,
A million miles from where we burned the bridge,
Can't keep pretending everything's going to be alright,
with the whole world falling down on me.
'Oceans' by Evanescence.

Cole was worried.

It wasn't an emotion that the solid-as-rock Ninja of Earth often experienced. He was used to calmly formulating plans; developing successful battle strategies based on facts and figures and taking care of any problems head on with his scythe.

But those skills which were so useful on the battlefield and contributed to his value as a leader were next to useless in this situation, and Cole was feeling slightly out of his depth in the changed playing field. Kai clearly had problems, and Cole knew he wouldn't be able to handle them by himself. Heck, he didn't even know what his team mate's problems were!

Giving a small groan, Cole absently selected some bread and continued through the shop, Kai walking silently beside him. Thousands of theories were swirling around in Cole's mind about Kai's abrupt change in character. Although he was almost certain that the sudden change had simply been a diversion tactic, he couldn't say for certain and dismiss the other theories because something still wasn't adding up.

But the Ninja of Earth just couldn't place his finger on it.

Giving up, Cole turned to Kai. "Still wanna go to the skate park, mate?" he grinned. Kai looked at him briefly and for a second Cole thought he saw a flash of fear on the Ninja of Fire's face.

But, almost as if it had been some sort of illusion, the expression faded away like smoke on a breeze and was replaced with that emotionless front again, leaving Cole wondering if it had ever been there. Frowning, Cole pushed the trolley onwards. "Who are James, Zach, Natalie and Liam, by the way?"

James...

Zach...

Natalie...

Liam...

Cole paused. Each name had the same first letter as each of the Ninja...

-Jay.

Zane.

Nya.

Lloyd-

But the names themselves were completely different so anyone listening wouldn't be able to relate them to the team of Ninja. A weird coincidence, Cole thought, but he wasn't too sure that it had any relevance to what had made Kai change so quickly.

There was a slim possibility that it could be a coded message that they needed to get back to the others... but if it was important, surely Kai would have told him outright. What was the point in even using a code? They had been standing in an empty supermarket car park! It wasn't like anyone would have overheard them.

Besides, if it had been a code, then it raised the question of what the 'skate park' was and why Kai had felt the need to suddenly change his attitude as he spoke.

No. Cole doubted it had been a coded message from Kai. He had to look deeper- examine what had happened from a critical point of view and form possible explanations before eliminating them one by one from known evidence until he reached a solution.