Fractured

Chapter 30

When I woke up, my neck was killing me. I couldn't turn my head, and I wanted to look around. I sat up so I could look around, and I saw other beds around me. In the beds were my siblings. I slowly stood up and felt the base of my neck. I felt gauze taped to my neck covering the brand I was given to mark me as a fire bender. I was starting to understand what Amelia was ordering. She wanted us to be marked so she knew who could bend what to control us better. Tess was in the bed next to me, and she was waking up.

"Tess?" I asked.

"Hmmm?" she moaned. "Jess?"

She opened her eyes completely and looked around for a minute before finding me standing next to her bed.

"Jess, what happened?" she asked.

"Dad had his memory wiped and doesn't remember us at all. Amelia had dad brand us with our element symbols. Well from what I remember he branded Izzy and I, not quite sure if you, Jem, and Will were branded." I replied.

Tess sat up carefully, andI saw the gauze on the base of her neck. I placed my hands-on Tess' shouldersand turned her back towards me carefully. When her back was towards me, Icarefully peeled the tape off of Tess' neck. The symbol that stared back at mewas for darkness (top left image), and her neck wasn't as red and swollen as I would have expected. Her neck had a cream spread over her brand, and I was guessing the cream was what was making her neck heal faster.

"What's on my neck?" Tess asked.

"A moon." I replied.

"So, I was branded?' she said.

"Yea, I guess so."

"Jess?" I heard Will's voice on the other side of Tess' bed.

I hurried over to him as he sat up.

"Jess, my neck hurts." Will said.

"Here, turn around." I replied.

I did the same with thegauze on Will's neck that I did with Tess's. Once I had the gauze off Will'sneck, I saw the earth symbol staring back at me (top center image). I explained to Will what dad had done and why he had done it. He didn't ask any questions, he just nodded in understanding and stayed quiet. I replaced the gauze on Will's and Tess' necks, so the cream didn't rub off. I then went looking for Izzy and Jem. Jem wasn't very hard to find. He was just the next bed over.

"Jem?" I shook Jem carefully.

"Hmm. Jessie?" he woke up.

I helped him sit up.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

Tess and Will came over and sat down next to Jem.

"Does your neck hurt?" Tess asked.

"A little yea." He replied.

"Turn around, and I'll take a look." I said.

Jem turned around, so Icould look under the gauze that was on his neck. I carefully peeled the tapeback, and a sun stared back (top right image). His neck looked worse than the others'. It was swollen and bright red. I replaced the gauze on Jem's neck, and looked for a medicine cabinet. I found one across the room, and I walked towards it hoping whatever cream was on Tess' and Will's necks was in that cabinet. I rummaged through the bottles, tubes, and jars for a few seconds, until I found something that looked right. I looked at the label, but it was too hard to read. I finally was able to read the label after squinting so hard I couldn't almost see. I had found the healing cream from what the label said. I rushed back over to Jem.

"Tess can you open this?" I asked.

"Sure." She replied.

She unscrewed the cap on the tube I found and squeezed some onto my hand. I started to spread the cream over the brand on Jem's neck, and the minute I did his neck looked a whole lot better.

"Anyone see Izzy?" I asked.

We all looked around, but all the other beds were empty. We split up to look for her, and I wasn't having any luck. Neither was Jem nor Will. I had looked everywhere that was close to me, and so did Will and Jem. I sat down on the nearest bed to take a breather. While I sat, I looked around and watched Will and Jem, but I didn't see Tess. I looked around for her blonde hair, but all I saw were my two brunette brothers. I looked down at my lap were my hand lay, and my own brunette hair fell into my face. I looked at my wrist through my hair for what felt like forever. I stared at the metal band on my wrist that was preventing me from bending.

"Jessie!" I heard Tess, but I didn't see her.

"Tess? Where are you?" I replied.

"Over here." She replied sticking her head out from behind a curtain I thought was a wall.

I got up and went towards her. She led me through a maze of curtains that blended right in with the walls completely hiding the entrance until Tess poked her head around one of them. I turned around to go get the boys, but they were already following. I turned back around to follow Tess, and she stopped abruptly.

"Where are you leading us, Tess?" I asked.

"I found Izzy." She replied.