it's locked, stupid: book two

ch. 4

Once I felt energized enough to get out of bed, I walked around the temple to find Jinora and my dad in the statue room. Ikki and Meelo ride in on air scooters from behind me. The wake from their bending causes Tenzin's robes to blow up and cover his head. I walk over to him and pull his robes off his head. 

"You can't catch me! I've the greatest air scooter-er of all time!" Meelo trips over and crashes into a statue.

"Meelo!" My dad exclaims, shocked. He runs to go tend to his son. I begin to follow him, assuming Jinora would come with. I notice she was still looking at Aang's statue. She turns around suddenly as if something was there. 

"Jinora?"

"Did you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"You know what, it's nothing. Don't worry." She smiles and walks off. 

I look over at the statue of Aang. "Is she- Her too, Aang?" I get no response, obviously, it's a statue. I walk in the direction of the rest of my family, but I suddenly feel a rush of spiritual energy. I spin on my heel. Nothing seems to be nearby, physically, but something is off. My spiritual connection has never been this strong. Ever. After the spirit attack during the festival, I grow afraid that something more dangerous than just a few rouge spirits is coming. 

My family and I, plus Tera, finish our first day at the temple with a lovely dinner, provided by the acolytes. While everyone chatted, I sat silently still thinking about the energy I felt near Aang's statue today. After dinner Tera pulled me aside.

"What is going on with you? You were quiet all of dinner and you barely touched your food." She asks.

"Nothing, just something weird happened today and I cannot get it out of my head for the life of me."

"What is it?"

"While we were in the room of statues Jinora was acting a little strange towards Aang's statue."

"That's what's bugging you?"

"No. When Jinora walked off I went over to the statue. As I was about to join my family I felt this overwhelming powerful rush of spiritual energy. More powerful than I've ever felt. It unsettled me. After the-"

"Attack." Tera finishes my thoughts. "You think that that attack is a bigger deal that Unalaq is making it seem?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Then, lets go find some answers, shall we? There's like a historical library here, right?"

"Yeah."

"Lead the way." Me and Tera walk to the temple's library. There wasn't much of all the extremely old books left. Aang preserved and restored everything the best to his ability. Tera and I begun reading the older books. It was mostly just old airbending techniques. Not much on why spirits would go dark and attack the human world. We seemed to be hitting dead ends left and right. Tera dozed off on couch. I went on a late night walk to see if that'll help me have a clearer mind. I see Jinora in front of a statute a way from all the others ones.

"Jinora?" She turns to face me and waves me over to her. "Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"Shouldn't you? Either way, you know a little bit more about the temples than I do, who is this Avatar?"

"I don't know. This statue looks ancient. It's made of wood instead of stone like the others. That method isn't used anymore unless its for small figures, but even then it's not the most popular method."

"Because it's not a bendable material."

"Exactly." Suddenly the statue begins to glow. My first instinct is to grab onto Jinora. So I do, and I keep her behind me. The glow begins to fade. "Are you okay, Jinora?"

"Why did a wooden statue glow?" Jinora asks.

"I have no clue. I think we need some sleep."

"But-"

"I know you probably have a lot of questions, but I have to spend a lot of time with you tomorrow and I don't want to deal with grumpy Jinora, okay? I'll answer your questions tomorrow if you go to bed right now."

"Fine. Night, Jay." She gives me a quick hug and walks back to her room. I stay at the statue and watch her walk away until she's out of my view. I look at the mysterious statue and examine it for any indication of the person's identity. I see an engraving hidden on the base of the statue.

"Wan." I whisper out loud.

"Who's Wan?" Tera asks from behind me. I jump slightly, frightened by her sudden appearance. "Sorry, but seriously. Who's Wan?"

"The statue I guess. I don't know what happened. I was here with Jinora and it started to glow, then it stopped."

"The wooden statue started to glow? Wow, you live a very weird life."

"Trust me Tera, I know."

"Well, do you want to go to bed? You've done a lot today."

"Bed sounds nice."

"C'mon beautiful." Tear picks me up, bridal style. "Bed time. You can sleep on the walk back to our room if you want."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Mkay." Tera kisses me on the forehead as I close my eyes. I fall asleep in Tera's arms and drift into a different world, unknowingly.