Walk The Path

Chapter Nine

Aang reached for his phone in his pants pocket. The ringing of his phone alarmed him because the only person who called his phone was Gyatso, who was in the kitchen with him, so it had to be someone else. He pulled the phone out and furrowed his brow at the screen. "Zuko never calls me, this must be important," he pondered to himself. He decided to answer as he was walking around his kitchen trying to grab some semblance of breakfast before school.

"Hey, Hotman, I'm gonna see you in like 20 minutes what's so important that-"

Zuko caught him off in an irritable tone, "Aang, listen to me! This is very important. I won't be at school today and neither will Azula. We had some..family stuff go down. I need you to get Suki, Sokka, Katara, and Toph to meet me at a location after school. Do you have a pen?"

Aang's head was spinning from all of this information, "Whoah, just text me the address, alright. Calm down."

Zuko yelled into the speaker, "DON"T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! I can't text you the address, people could be monitoring our phones. I don't want anything getting hacked. Just follow a direct order for once in your life, okay?"

Aang's smile turned pensive, "Okay," he exhaled and found a pen and an old piece of mail. "Shoot."

After Aang wrote the address down, he became impatient, "Zuko, I still don't understand. What is going on?"

Zuko's tone became quiet and stern, "You'll find out today. Just get everybody here after school and everything will become clear. Oh, and make sure you're not followed!" Click. Aang just had even more questions now. There was something different in his voice but he couldn't place it. His gut after this phone call left him feeling uneasy. As he inhaled a bagel and cream cheese on his way out of the door, he tried to take his mind off of the weird conversation he just had with Zuko.

Suki, Sokka, Katara, and Toph waited by Aang's car in a state of unbridled confusion. "This is all so weird. What do you think this is about?", Katara asked the group. "I don't know, Sugar Queen, but the way Aang talked about it seemed like he was nervous about something. I'm preparing for the worst." Sokka chimed in, "Yeah, especially since Mai was asking if I had heard from Zuko or Azula. It's not good when your boyfriend leaves you a cryptic text and bounces." The three friends shook their heads in deep thought.

Finally Aang arrived at his car as everyone got in after he unlocked it. Aang noticed the scared look on Katara and looked behind his seat at the worried faces of his friends in the backseat and decided to be upfront. "Look, I wanted to say thanks for coming with me with so little information. I barely have any information myself. All I know is that we can't tell anyone where we're going and it's very important." The group was silent as Aang drove through windy back roads leading up to a mansion. Katara squeezed Aang's hand and gave him a sympathetic look. He smiled back at her, marvelled by how she was always so understanding and supportive.

Per Zuko's instructions, he drove around the back of the house and waited to be greeted by a man in a robe before exiting the car. The friends could feel a pin drop amongst them. After a few minutes, Zuko's Uncle Iroh in a long white robe approached the driver's side window. Aang had even more questions but somehow felt safe with his firebender teacher. He remembered laughing at the look on Zuko's face when he told him he knew his uncle quite well. The confusion in the care was palpable. Aang's door opened and a smiling Iroh spoke quietly, "Were you followed?" Aang replied with raised eyebrows, "No, no. We're in the clear." Iroh nodded and motioned for everyone to exit the vehicle. Sokka's fear and curiosity took over, "So, what is this about? Is this a cult? Because I am not into-" Iroh cut off the Water Tribe boy with a glare, "Do not speak until we are inside and speak only when I say so." Sokka furrowed his brows at being scolded, trying to avoid the smirks of Toph, Aang, and Katara. He felt less embarrassed by Suki rubbing his back with a smile.