The Girl After

Chapter 29

We all set up camp in a cave. Bolin was incredibly jumpy after seeing a few "dark spirits", as Korra called them. And, if I'm being completely honest, so was I. Call me skeptical, but I'd always had my doubts about the spirits. They weren't supposed to have any interaction with anyone but the Avatar.

Yet here we were.

"Uncle," Korra's voice bounced against the walls around us, "why do you think the dark spirits are following us?"

Bolin clung to the arm of the creepy, monotonous female twin. He begged, "Can we not talk about dark spirits, please?"

"My brother hates ghost stories," Mako explained.

Eska looked to Bolin and said, "Don't worry. I will protect you, my feeble turtle-duck."

I must confess: A spark of jealous ignited in me as I watched him cling to her for dear life. I merely looked away — only to find the male twin, Desna, scooting closer to me. "I will protect you, as well," he said in a tone that matched his sister's, "my fair panda lily."

Threateningly, I said with a scowl, "Move away."

"Sadly, this isn't a ghost story," Unalaq said. "This is real. The spirits are angry. Because he's here." He looked to his brother, Korra's father, then averted his attention to his niece and went on. "Haven't you ever wondered how your father ended up in the South Pole? Why he's never taken you to visit his homeland in the North?"

Tonraq growled, "Unalaq, this is not the time."

"You're right. You should have told her a long time ago."

Korra, intrigued, looked to her father. "Told me what?"

Her father looked at his daughter, then away in shame. He then confessed that he was banished from the North Pole. I think it's safe to say that everyone was relatively shocked — Korra more so than anyone. Maybe I should've listened to the rest of the conversation, listened to the tale of a broken family. But I knew enough about that. I had my own that I was dealing with.

No, what truly had my attention was something whistling in my ear. I looked to my side with a hard glare, prepared to snap at Bolin to stop messing with me. But it wasn't him. He was strongly invested in the story, as were Mako and the creepy twins. I looked over my shoulder and saw a blur of movement in the distance. As Tonraq relayed the story of his banishment, I quietly stood to my feet. My wrist was quickly snatched and I was yanked back down, brought face-to-face with Mako as he hissed in a harsh whisper, "Where are you going?"

"Don't concern yourself with what I'm doing," I hissed back. "I'm not straying far; I only want to check something out." I jerked my wrist out of his grasp and said, "Focus on your girlfriend, will you?"

With that, I stood again as Mako grumbled something under his breath. I dismissed it and stepped toward the movement. For a while, there was nothing. I was beginning to think that I had only imagined any sort of motion nearby.

You're just tired, the logical side of my brain explained to me. People tend to hallucinate when they're tired and at a high altitude.

That was soon rebutted when a shadowy figure rushed past me, brushing my shoulder blade. I whirled around to seek whatever touched me. An uneasiness filled my stomach. I could feel something around me, watching me. Whether it was a good presence or not was up for debate. Despite this, I continued to search.

"Akira..."

I tensed at the sound of my mother's name. I whipped my head around again to find whomever was about to get a mouthful of my fist, but found nothing but empty space. It was at that moment that I realised how far I'd traveled from the group. I cursed under my breath and decided to rejoin the others. Maybe it really was just a hallucination.

"First, you're seeing things," I taunt myself. "Now you're hearing voices? Get a grip, Nani!" I turned around to go back to the group.

That was when I saw it.

A big, heinous looking Spirit. It had no mouth. It had two pairs of sickly green diamond shapes on the head that looked to be eyes. It was shapeless, appearing more as a cloud of steam than an actual physical being of matter. The apparition emitted a dark indigo hue that pulsated in a fashion that reminded me of a chest, rising and falling as one breathed.

I took a step back and looked up at the creature. It towered over me. "Get away from me," I commanded. It didn't listen. It simply watched. It watched me the way you watch a tigerdillo roam its exhibit in the zoo. I took another step back, and my back hit the wall of the cave.

Yell, my mind ordered. The others will hear you and come help.

But I didn't. Instead, I lunged forward. With my arm outstretched and two fingers extended, I aimed myself for a pressure point...

Only to run right through it.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, exactly. It had to have been my third most idiotic ideas in my nineteen years of life. I landed on the ground, hitting my knee on the opposite wall. The Spirit turned and looked at me again, probably internally laughing at me mediocrity. (Do spirits laugh?)

I lifted myself again. I glared at the Spirit and balled my hand into a fist. I thrusted it toward the Spirit, pumping a small blast of flames in its direction. The fireball went through it as well, extinguishing once it hit the wall. The Spirit hissed in response, "Akira..."

I felt it again. A twinge of anger that fueled my need to rid myself of this apparition. I firebent again, despite it having no effect the first time. The Spirit raised its tentacle-like limb and swung, knocking me a good thirty feet away. My back hit the wall, and a shooting pain left me limp on the ground.

"Leinani!" I heard my name being called by a shrill voice, though I couldn't focus enough to determine who it belonged to. There were other voices, some deep and some gloomy and some familiar, all shouting. There was a bone chilling shriek, then silence. The voices came to a calm.

I pushed myself up, supporting myself with one arm as my other hand held my head.

"Leinani, what just happened?" Korra's voice rang.

I groaned and slowly shook my head, replying, "I'm not entirely sure." Bolin and Mako assisted me to my feet, as Korra questioned her uncle about the Spirit and why it would've possibly wanted to attack me.

As we trudged on, I closed my eyes for a moment, and heard it again:

"Akira..."