Avatar Rose: Dusk

Chapter 71: Rose

"Hey! Check this out!" Xander calls.

I walk around the corner, spotting him beside a white, old, creepy looking building.

"An asylum. You think it's still active?" I ask.

"Looks like it. Man, how awful would it be to get stuck in there."

"Yeah, yeah. We should go find the others. Make something up so it looks like we were actually doing what we were supposed to be."

Xander begins to walk away, when something catches my eye in the window. Someone is staring right at us. It's hard to make out, but it's definitely a young man. I stare back in wonder for a moment, but suddenly get really creeped out. I chase after Xander.

After about twenty five minutes of searching, I groan. "If they got kidnapped, then I'm going to be really pissed."

"There's Evan and Liesel. Let's see of they've seen them," Xander offers. He grabs my hand and leads me to them, which makes my face burn a cherry red.

"By the look on Rose's face, you guys can't find them either?" Evan asks dully. Funny, how he leaves out Xander because of that optimistic glow that seems to be glued to his face.

"You don't think they got hurt, do you? Oh, we should've never split up!" Liesel murmurs, her light gray eyes wide.

Evan squeezes her hand. "Nah, they have Gwen. They'll be fine."

His comment makes me angry. Not because I'm jealous of Gwen. I could definitely kick her ass, but everyone else seems to think the opposite. Ever since Evan, Gwen, and Nathan saw me recovering in the Water Tribe, I've been labelled as fragile and something to protect, not the almighty Avatar that everyone should respect.

"So how are we going to find them?" I ask.

"Hold on," Evan replies, lifting his hands up with his eyes closed.

I snort, keeping in a laugh because of his dramatic pose. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Trying to find Nathan's chi. Now shut up."

Almost exactly a minute later, Evan opens his eyes, a white toothed grin spread across his face. "Found him! He's underground."

Xander raises an eyebrow. "I think your creepy bloodbending technique is broken."

Evan ignores him. He starts to run in the supposed direction Nathan is. We all run after him.

"See? Told you," he says, pointing to the sealed piece of earth that clearly covers up some tunnel. I easily uncover it and hop inside. A flame ignites in my palm, setting a warm glow in the damp, dark place. It makes be claustrophobic.

Rowan is awkwardly standing there, looking mildly disturbed. Nathan's face is creased with an intense seriousness, while Gwen looks like she's about to beat up a girl pinned to the wall.

I clear my throat. "Are we interrupting something?"

The girl gasps. "The Avatar! Help me!"

I instantly recognize her. I tilt my head slightly. "Cho? What are you doing here?"

"You know her?" Nathan asks, acting as though he's disgusted that I have any association with her.

"W- we went to school together. We were friends!" Cho splutters, probably desperate to get out of her tricky situation.

"Yeah, when we were like six," I reply.

I don't mention the part that we weren't friends. Sure, I was the princess which meant people were desperate for my attention. But I have to admit, out of all the other rich snobs, she wasn't all that bad.

Her gaze studies me, then lands to my metal arm. I'm used to it by now, but it doesn't make me any less self conscious.

"She's a Fire Nation spy. Th- they're going to try to get answers out of her," Rowan explains, clearly not happy at all with the situation.

I roll my eyes. "She won't budge. Well, not unless we expose her identity to the whole town. If she makes that out alive, then the Fire Nation will either execute or banish her because of it."

"Y- you wouldn't do that! If I die, you lose all the information I have!" She splutters, but doesn't seem very confident in her statement.

"Take her above ground," Evan orders Nathan, seeing my idea just might work.

It seems brilliant until Cho begins to scream. She turns our advantage into hers. "THE AVATAR! THE AVATAR IS HERE! SHE'S GOING TO KILL ME!"

Heads turn. Eyes land on me, I stand there frozen from shock. The sleepy town had suddenly grown slightly crowded as the afternoon wore on.

I glance at everyone else, who looks just as shocked as me. Evan tries to stop Cho's yelling, but it's already too late.