Fractured

Chapter 23

We'd been home for a couple of days, and the press hadn't let up at all. We were all stuck in the house. Dad decided that the basement needed to be cleaned out, so he made it into a practice space where we could practice our bending without the press bothering us. We were all in the basement at the time practicing, all of us except for dad. He was up in his study trying to negotiate with the press. Which wasn't going anywhere. Our bending on the other hand, was evolving. Tess was bending the shadows and her newfound darkness within her soul. I was trying to figure out how to bend with just one arm, but I was having a bit of trouble. My aim and control were different now that I had only my right arm. Since my control was off, I almost burnt Will. Tess somehow saw it before it happened and tried to stop me, but Jem beat her to it.

"Ok, what just happened?" Izzy asked.

"Jem what did you see?" Tess asked.

"I saw Jessie bending fire at Will, but I didn't see what happened before that. What did you see, Tess?" Jem asked.

It was obvious that a weird twin thing was going on between them.

"I saw Jessie trying to figure out control of her fire without her left arm, but nothing after that." Tess replied.

"So, you guys saw pieces of the future." I said.

"I think that's what it is." Jem said for the two of them.

"But you each only saw pieces of the future." Will said. "How are you to know what the other saw?"

"That's a good question. Wait! I've got an idea!" Izzy said.

Izzy walked over to Tess and guided her to stand next to Jem. Then she guided Will to stand in front of her. She whispered something to Will that the three of us couldn't hear. Then she drew the water from the old fish tank dad put down here for Izzy to bend and started to bend it towards Will. Tess' and Jem's eyes clouded over the minute Izzy bended the water out of the tank. Tess looked at Izzy's direction confused, but Jem's eyes widened in fear. His right-hand brushed Tess' left hand and they each outstretched their opposite hands and they each bended, in unison, the water Izzy was bending towards them and back into the tank. They stood stunned; we all did. They bended water! I had gotten an idea then but didn't say anything to the others. I walked closer to Izzy to stand in front of the twins. I spun on my left foot and kicked out with my right and sent fire towards the twins. They instinctively took each other's hands when their eyes clouded over, and brought their free hands together, palms inward, and split the fire right down the middle by separating their hands, like a true fire bender. Izzy, Will, and I all stood gawking at what they just did. Tess and Jem had smiles from ear to ear, and Tess was giggling.

"That... Was... AWESOME!!!" Will said.

Will suddenly went silent and looked at the pile of rocks that were brought down for him. He widened his stance and brought his hand to the sides of his stomach in fists. The rocks flew towards Will and covered him from head to toe in a kind of rocky body armor. He took a step and the ground shook. Dad was down the basement stairs in no time.

"Is everything ok?" he asked. "The ground shook like an earthquake was happening."

Then dad saw Will covered in rocks.

"Was that you Will?"

The rocks fell off of Will, and he replied. "Yea I guess it was."

"Your bending has evolved. I didn't think it was possible." Dad said.

"Tess and Jem can see the future and bend our elements when they hold hands." Izzy said.

"We can only see the entire future when we hold hands though. If not, I can only see the beginning, and Jem can see the ending." Tess said.

"Incredible!" dad said in reply. "Has Jessie or Izzy found a new part of their bending?"

"No actually, well I don't know." Jem said.

"No, I haven't." Izzy said.

"I haven't either." I replied.

"Why don't you try, girls? You might be able to do something new." Dad said.

Izzy tried first. She drew water out of the tank, and bended it into an orb between her hands floating in the air, and she closed her eyes to concentrate. We waited for a minute for something to happen. Suddenly the water began to frost over and swirl in the air. Soon the entire basement was filled with frost and snow, and a snowstorm was brewing. When the indoor snowstorm disappeared, just as fast it came, the basement was covered in frost and ice like we painted the basement with it.