~Katara's Perspective~
I held the phone up to my ear as it continued to ring, waiting for my brother to pick up. It didn't seem like it would be happening for a while. Why did he never charge his phone?
Suddenly, the ringing stopped. "Hello?" a familiar girl's voice came from across the line.
"Suki!" I said. "You're back from vacation!"
She laughed. "Yeah. Iceland was so beautiful!"
"That's great!" I said, before the smile fell from my face. Zuko was leaning against the doorway watching me make the phone call. He didn't look too happy. "Hey, um, Suki? Can you and Sokka please come to the Jasmine Dragon as soon as you can?"
"Sure," Suki said. "No problem. Be there in a couple of minutes."
"Thanks!" I said before hanging up.
"I didn't say you could call anyone else," Zuko said, crossing his arms.
"Yeah, well, guess what?" I asked. "You don't get to tell me what to do." I pushed past him and walked through the door to join the other two inside.
I took a seat on the floor, sitting criss-cross-applesauce while Toph and Aang bounced around trying to touch literally everything in sight. I smiled. I remembered what it was like to be in middle school. Okay. Wow. That made me feel really old.
"So," Zuko said as he sat down on the floor, bringing me out of my thoughts. "What do you want to know?"
"How did you know I was an earthbender?" Toph asked.
"Your stance," he said. "The way you stood, the way you held yourself... the way you were preparing to fight. Plus, that's how you see, isn't it? Your earthbending?"
Toph nodded. "Yeah. I can sense the vibrations everywhere. That's how I'm able to figure out where everything is."
"What about you?" I asked. "What secrets are you hiding? Like, how did you get that scar? And why do you know so much about bending?"
Zuko looked at me coldly. "I said I'd answer Toph's questions. Not yours."
I clenched my jaw together, determined not to let him bother me. It wasn't working.
"Hey, guys! Look at this!" Aang voice came from across the room. He was pointing at a small jade dragon statue.
"Please don't touch that!" Zuko said. "It's my uncle's. It's really fragile."
"Oh," Aang said. "Uh, okay." He turned around to move away but as he did, he bumped against the table and a couple of scrolls fell out of Zuko's satchel.
"Hey, what are these?" Aang asked curiously, reaching down to pick one up.
"Don't touch those!" Zuko exclaimed. There was a weird sound of... of fear in his voice. He reached over to pick them up, but before he could I snatched one of them off the ground and opened it to read. Then I understood.
It was a firebending scroll.
YOU ARE READING
The Lies of the Phoenix
FanfictionI got out of the car, slinging my satchel over my shoulder as I closed the door. There wasn't really much in it: just a notebook, a couple of pens, my phone, and... something else. Something that could probably get me killed. That was pretty much al...
