When Worlds Collide: Book Two, Earth

Chapter Six

you see?” he shot back.
“I... thought I saw Mom,” she said.
“You just miss her a lot, that’s why you thought you saw her. And I think about Yue all the time. That’s why we saw them.”
“But I saw a girl that I had never met before,” Aang said, and I sighed, realizing that I was off the hook.
The three talked for a while, and then Katara’s eye caught mine.
She furrowed her brow and sat next to me. “It wasn’t your fault,” she said.
I ignored her, looking up at the sky.
“It couldn’t have been. You said that you were in the car one second, and then in the ocean the next, right?”
I shrugged.
“So it couldn’t have been your fault.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “And that’s what makes me so upset the most. I. Don’t. Know.”
Hesitantly, she put her hand on my shoulder. “Sometimes, that’s best,” she told me.
“Sometimes,” I said. “Not all the time.”
She sighed. “They weren’t really here you know.”
I nodded. “I know. But that has me thinking. In my world, what happened to me? Did I just disappear, my family still looking for me? Did I die in my world? Or did everyone just continue on with their lives, as if I never excised?”
“You want to go home, don’t you?” she asked.
I chewed my lip. Did I? I sighed, and nodded. “Yea. Yea I do. More than anything,” I said softly.
More tears flew down my face, and without thinking, I buried my head into Katara’s shoulder. “But at the same time I don’t. I don’t want to leave you guys,” I sobbed. “But I miss my family. And my friends. Even Cody. Even if all I want to do it attack him or something.”
Katara hugged me, and I sobbed harder. Before I knew it, the boys had joined in on our hug.
After a few minutes, I pulled away and sniffled. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have just broke down like that.”
Katara hugged me again. “To be honest, I was waiting for it to happen.”
I smiled. “I kinda was too... so are we friends again? Please?”
She chuckled. “Yea. I don’t know how much longer I could go without talking to you.”
“Finally,” Sokka muttered.
Aang grinned. “Group hug!” he yelled, and attacked us all.
I laughed wiping away the few tears that remained. But one thing was still on my mind.
Why did I see Zuko?
“...and all our visions led us here,” Aang said.
“Where is here?” Katara asked. “The middle of the swamp?”
“Yea,” Aang said, looking up at a huge tree. “The center. It’s the heart of the swamp. It’s been calling us here.”
“Its just a tree,” Sokka said. “It can’t call anyone. For the last time, there’s nothing after us. And there’s nothing magical happening here.”
“Do you guys something called a jinx here?” I asked.
“No... why?” Aang asked.
“Because I think that we might want to start knocking on wood,” I said.
No sooner than I said that, a giant wave of water splashed up, causing me to yelp. Out of the water emerged a giant green monster.
We all scattered, and I saw the monster pick up Sokka, only to throw him to the ground again.
Aang shot a blast of air at the thing, cutting off hit arm, but it just grew back. The monster threw water at Aang, and the young monk flew backwards.
I hid behind a tree and peeked out just enough to throw a fire ball at the thing, then hid again.
Katara started using Water Bending to attack the creature. I started to throw more fire, and after a while, we finally destroyed it, only to find a man inside.
“Why did you call me here if you just wanted to kill us?” Aang asked him.
“I didn’t call you here,” the guy said, and we all looked at each other, not relaxing from defensive stances.
“We were flying over and I heard something calling me, telling me to land,” Aang said.
“He’s the Avatar,” Sokka said when the man gave us an odd look, “stuff like that happens to us all the time.”
“The Avatar?” the guy asked. “Come with me.” he beckoned us to follow him, and we reluctantly did.
He lead us up to the tree, moved a vine out our way.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I protect the swamp from people who want to hurt it,” he said. “Like this fellow with his big knife.” He nodded at Sokka and I smiled.
“See? Completely reasonable. Just a simple guy defending his home,” Sokka said. “Nothing mystical about it.”
“Oh the swamp is a mystical place all right,” the guy said. “It’s sacred. I reached enlightenment right here under this tree. It called to me like it did you.”
“Sure you did,” Sokka said. “It seems real chatty.”
The guy explained how the whole swamp was just the one tree, and how the world was all connected, and how the visions that we saw was just the swamp telling us about how our friends and family were still with us.
Once Sokka pointed out how we still needed to find Appa and Momo, Aang placed his palm on the base of the tree and concentrated. In no time, he was leading us to where he thought they were.

I peeked out from behind some vines to see a couple boats with men in them. Behind them, they were dragging Appa.
I nodded to Katara and she sent a huge wave towards them. Aang released Momo, and Katara and I started water bending, blocking a wave that one of the men was trying to attack us with.
“Hey, you guys are water benders,” Katara said.
“You too?” the guy asked. “That makes us kin!”
We both cringed, and the wave fell back to the watery swamp.
Sokka and the swamp monster guy joined us, and the scrawny water bended greeted him. “Hey Yu! Where you been?”
“You know, scaring some folks, swinging some vines,” Yu answered. “The usual.”

Later that night, we were with the swamp people, enjoying a meal with them.
Everyone was having easy conversation, so I easily slipped out to think.
I thought about my visions of my family. What

did they think happened? Were my grandparents alive?
Why was Zuko the first thing I saw?